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Hello everyone, currently I am in a dilemma of sorts as I am debating between either taking a single army for fantasy at a very large point value (5000pts) so I can run whatever I want to out of the army, or taking x2 smaller Fantasy armies (3000pts) to change it up and play with some different. Just curious what you guys have and which one of these you prefer and why. Thanks!

Two armies sounds like a lot more fun then one army. I would avoid two horde armies so the painting does not take its toll on you.

Depends on your style? I like to build one big army but that's because I like to experiment with the entire book. I want to be able to field a list of whatever I want whenever I want and I learn the army better by using it more.

I started playing skaven at first and didn't quite like them but once I started playing ogres well I fell in love with that army and grabbed everything I could simply because I like it so much. I have a woc and empire army but I haven't done what I did with ogres. So just start wit one and see were it goes

It depends if you like the first army you choose. I think its better to start with 1 army and learn it through and through. I say that because as long as you like an army you'll enjoy being able to pick it up and make whatever kind of list you want. I'd say 4000 points is pretty solid and then you can start something else if your tired of it.
I have 3500 of skaven and still want some more because I want a huge army. I also now want to start another army but I want vampire counts which is a horde army so I'm not sure I'll start them because 2 horde armies will be terrible to paint lol

Just start with a 2500 point army then decide if you want to make it bigger or buy another army. Do not buy 2 armies at the same time and try to build them to 2500+ at the same time because you will get overwhelmed, fair warning :p

I like variety. I love my WoC army, but it just can't do certain aspects of the game. I'm currently assembling my WE army to take the opposite side of the spectrum, and I'm very happy to have both. I'll likely dabble in others simply due to army ADD, but these are going to be my two main armies for the foreseeable future.

It also kind of depends on what army you're looking at for your main big force. Empire would be the ultimate swiss army knife and give you plenty of variety, for example, while WoC is a sledgehammer that's generally more one dimensional no matter which units you pick.

I'd say it depends on your preferences and your budget of course, but also on the army/armies.

Painting two horde armies will be a pain, that's for sure (or just painting one 5000p horde army, for that matter). Playing two armies that are very similar gameplay-wise will be a bore in the long run.

Also, some armies are less versatile than others - even with 5000p of Beastmen or Tomb Kings you'll still be more limited strategy-wise than with 3000p of Empire, for example. 5000p of Empire on the other hand will give you a wide spectrum of opportunities for many different builds.

Personally I tend to immerse myself in one army at a time (for me it was Skaven, High Elves and Empire, in that order), and exclusively paint those models, read that army book and build lists for that army only (I still play Skaven from time to time but my growing Empire force is consuming most of my hobby time right now).

i would definitely slow-grow one army up to 3k (if thats your goal) and then ask yourself the question again.

There is a lot that goes into making an army that big, and it can easily overwhelm anyone who gets too much too fast. Plus you will be able to plug holes in your army as you encounter them rather than just plopping a huge army down and realizing that it doesnt function as you thought it would.

I have ADD when it comes to this hobby.
I started with and Skaven are my absolute favorite, but because of my Warhammer ADD I tend to drift and want to do other things as well
So I built a Warriors of Chaos army because they are almost polar opposite..then added some daemons to use as allies in friendly games...which turned into a full daemon army.
I digress.
I'd say pick an army you really like and start there. Don't commit to the 5000 points right away because you may find that maybe 3000 points in you would like to do 2000 points of something else.
As you go you can always change it up.
I doubt I will ever get everything painted, my plastic crack has overwhelmed me and there will be no recovery.
But it's worth every second of it.

I have multiple 40k armies which I really enjoy. On the other hand for fantasy I have one 5500ish Empire army which I never get bored of due to its versatility. It really comes down to whether or not you feel that modelling/painting/ and playing one army will become dull or not. Personally, Empire are so varied in design and list making that they leave me satisfied. 40k I do get bored and swap between my imperial armies....however those models are a lot more uniform in composition than my Empire mercenaries