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My friends have decided to get into Age of Sigmar after more or less rage quitting shortly after it was released. The General's Handbook seems to have fixed most of their issues. Having historically been a 40k player, I don't have the wealth of Fantasy models that most of them do and am finding myself in a situation where I need to build an army. I'd like some advice, because it seems like I can go in pretty much any direction, but would rather not spend much money.

Here are the rules. Assume that I have roughly $200 USD available and that I'll be paying full retail for everything I buy. Assume that I already have the General's Handbook, and access to any rules GW has linked to on their website. In other words, if I want to use a Warscroll Battalion that GW is charging for, I'll need to buy the appropriate Battletome, but am perfectly happy using the freely available rules and Warscrolls. I'd also like to stay within one Grand Alliance... no mixing Death and Order. for example. I'd also like to stay within "current range" models. No units that are only listed in the legacy "Compendium" section.

Now that you have the rules, go to it. I'm thinking 1,000 points. I could go any direction, but would prefer to avoid Stormcast Eternals and Khorne Bloodbound. Those two armies seem everywhere right now.

Any ideas?

Maybe this link will help a bit?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Wl3zJzmXcXrievqvnoqtlOMHwG3-SCtRXMWfKFQ2ZVw/edit

Laughatdo0m wrote:
Maybe this link will help a bit?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Wl3zJzmXcXrievqvnoqtlOMHwG3-SCtRXMWfKFQ2ZVw/edit

Unfortunately, I'm at work and am not able to look at Google Docs. I'll have to check when I get home. What's on the document?

1000 point lists for every faction and their retail cost.

Laughatdo0m wrote:
1000 point lists for every faction and their retail cost.

That's amazing. I just realized I could pull it up on my phone. It's looking very much like I'll be picking up some Seraphon soon. Can't go wrong with Space Dinosaurs, especially considering they're one of the cheapest armies to build at 1,000 points. Add in some discounts and I'm looking at ~150 USD.

Thanks so much!

I can't attest to how effective a list this is, but you can do a 1,000 point Order Serpentis list for approximately $200.

HEROES
Dreadlord on Black Dragon

BATTLELINE
5 Drakespawn Knights (x3)

OTHER
Drakespawn Chariot

1,000 points exactly.

I'm more worried about not spending much versus being particularly competitive. None of us are competitive tournament players. This is very much a casual, beer and pretzels environment. The main reason that pre-General's Handbook AoS failed for my group involved several players having summoning heavy armies (Daemons, Undead) and us being woefully unable to create balanced battles that still allowed for summoning.

I was going to suggest Beastclaw Raiders, but if you are being casual that's a bad idea (they are OP). At any rate, I don't know how much of a converter you are but an Ogre Kingdoms battalion box will net you several units and plenty of pieces to convert characters/maneaters from, especially if you grab a mournfang kit as well for the bits. You'd be well over 1000 points with that.

Mannfred and 6 Morghast is roughly 1k pts iirc...

Close to $200.

But yes, the 2 of the Seraphon box set is actually a competive 1kpts and you can pick up an additional hero.

Pretty sure I've decided on Seraphon. Realistically, they'll be easy to paint as they're mostly scales and scales are easy mode... basecoat, wash, drybrush.

So I got really bored and did a points per dollar spreadsheets on Sylvaneth, seraphon. stormcast eternals and death. Most armies average out to about 5-6 poinits per dollar,

Death is freaking ridiculous. Nagash is the most dollar efficient model in the game at a whopping 11 points per dollar(all of these were onlline retailer prices not MSRP)

With nagash, the fleshtearer box and the skeleton horde box you can get 2200+ points of models for less than 250 bucks

Laughatdo0m wrote:
Maybe this link will help a bit?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Wl3zJzmXcXrievqvnoqtlOMHwG3-SCtRXMWfKFQ2ZVw/edit

I'm just getting into AoS too after 3 years off gaming and had just played 40k before. Going with Slaves to Darkness and cheaping it out even more! Chariot rider will be my lord, and since the box comes with 12 warriors, one will be the replacement rider. Extra warrior #2 will be another lord or hero using the Chaos Knight extra weapons, and extra Gorebeast from the chariot will be a spawn.

You're missing $CA and $UK costs for the Chaos Lord in the list and Daemons of Khorne $CA is off as well

Using Reaper and Mantic models for counts-as my 2000 pts death army cost ~$125 all said and done.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Using Reaper and Mantic models for counts-as my 2000 pts death army cost ~$125 all said and done.

I'm too much of a hobbyist. I love the assemble, conversion and painting too much. The Mantic models are just so much worse than GW in terms of miniature quality. I do agree that they're cheaper... but it's just not an option for me. I actually backed the first Kings of War Kickstarter and have a crap ton of Undead models sitting in a box in my closet. When I actually saw the quality, I left them in the box. After looking at all the concept art, the actual models felt very much like a bait and switch.

I suppose the context of them being Mantic zombies is probably relevant... GW makes Mantic look good in that specific instance.

You can builda 2k death army for 200$. It would be hyper elite but you can. Nagash, skeleton hordes, flesheater courts is about 225(ebay prices) and clocks in at around 2200

 Kriswall wrote:

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
Using Reaper and Mantic models for counts-as my 2000 pts death army cost ~$125 all said and done.

I'm too much of a hobbyist. I love the assemble, conversion and painting too much. The Mantic models are just so much worse than GW in terms of miniature quality. I do agree that they're cheaper... but it's just not an option for me. I actually backed the first Kings of War Kickstarter and have a crap ton of Undead models sitting in a box in my closet. When I actually saw the quality, I left them in the box. After looking at all the concept art, the actual models felt very much like a bait and switch.

So true.. If not decided yet I'd say go Sylvaneth: beautiful models and some new great models. I think the army is competitive and has options for different strategies. The starter set and a few boxed sets should bring you to 1K points easily (you'd probably best pick a wargrove you'd want to build and buy the additional sets based on that). The can be painted quick (a few browns and greens and they look good from a distance) but if you want you can also spend a lot of time and paint on them to a high standard ofc.