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As I don't want to hijack one of the others, lets start a third StD thread

So I actually never played WHFB or AoS so far but got a bit into Warcry and have built some Beastmen for the AoS Skirmish (which I also never played due to lack of players...), so the modelling side is not new for me. The new Start Collecting-box for StD however tipped me over the edge to finally start a full AoS army and play it too.
So far I got said SC!-box and a Godsworn Warband which my FLGS had sitting on the shelve for far too long. This got me the following, which I already started to assemble:
- Lord on Karkadrak
- Manticore with switchable rider
- 5 knights with lances
- 5 knights with handweapons, banner and musician
- 14 sword'n'board chaos warriors with banner
- 5 chaos warriors with halberds
Unassembled so far:
- warshrine
- 1 chariot
- 5 knights
- 7 warriors

My questions are now:
1) Am I missing something? I want to go undivided and to stay loosely with the theme of heavy armored forces. I'm by no means a power gamer but perhaps there are some cool or fun units wich could complement my roster.
2) Should I bump the halberds up to 10 men or go for 2 units of handweapons? In a related note if I'm not giving the halberds to the warriors I could give the lance-knights a command section but they would clash optically with the new push-fit models and the handweapons on the knights seem pretty strong to me.
3) What to do with the chariot? It's only one and I'm not a fan of the model or the concept so most likely I won't get more of them. My first thought was to build it as a gorebeast chariot as that would look more interesting than just more horses.
4) Should I build musicians for the footslogging units? My rough idea was to use them more of a countercharge or anvil element in contrast to the faster units.
5) Are Varanguard worth their horrendous price in money? The models look incredible but 75€ for three models is way out my comfort zone.

Marauders. You want marauders. Their stats are good and they’re very buffable. A block of 40 (two boxes) is 300pts and can zip across the table.

In addition, Varanguard are amazing sculpts. I have 9. Think of them as $33 heroes each, not $100 units, because the price is rough. I have yet to try them in game, but an Everchosen army led by Archaon certainly LOOKS impressive!

 Shadox wrote:

- 14 sword'n'board chaos warriors with banner
- 5 chaos warriors with halberds
Unassembled so far:
- warshrine
- 1 chariot
- 5 knights
- 7 warriors


2) Should I bump the halberds up to 10 men or go for 2 units of handweapons?

Well, no matter what you do you should build +1 sword & board warrior. Why? Because they come in blocks of 5 & you'll be paying the same pts cost for 14 as you would for 15. So as you've already payed those pts...
After that I'd increase the halberds to 10.

Hmmm, what to do with that one last warrior? Well, I guess he can be an Exalted Hero.

 Shadox wrote:
4) Should I build musicians for the footslogging units? My rough idea was to use them more of a countercharge or anvil element in contrast to the faster units.

Yes. Banners as well. Doesn't matter what you intend their battlefield function to be.
1) They don't cost you any pts
2) They look cool. Especially the banners.
3) Their abilities come in handy.
4) I'd build that 15 strong unit a 2nd musician & a 2nd banner. That way you could split them into two units (x10 & x5) & have Banner/musician abilities in both if the mood struck.
Actually you could split them into 3 5x units if you wanted.... I'm just not a fan of 5 man units myself.

 Shadox wrote:
5) Are Varanguard worth their horrendous price in money? The models look incredible but 75€ for three models is way out my comfort zone.

If you're not comfortable with the price tag, then no, they aren't worth it.
But keep an eye out for used ones at a cheaper price/deals. Also don't forget to drop hints concerning Birthday/Christmas/etc gift times. Let someone else pay for them.

Personally, I traded stuff to a store for store credit for one box years ago, then bought a couple units on FB groups for almost half off. I’ve spent about $120 on THREE units of Varanguard total. Trade off some junk. And Facebook has the best shot of finding Varanguard. I’ve seen 4-5 sales in the past month and bought two of them.

My opinion: finish the full unit of warriors first. Next, go for the knights and the chariot. If you make it a regular chariot, convert the gore fiend into a spawn. If you do, you now have a detachment for your army - Karkadrak and 4 mounted units that do D3 MWs to a unit they charge (Dark Cavalry), you get an extra artifact, and a CP. Armywise, you can now add those warriors with a Sorceror as an anvil. The Sorceror can buff the unit with his aura and the unit can protect him and your backfield. If you're a Despoiler, you need a Demon Prince. If you're a Ravager, you need more cheap characters and Marauders and Cult Units for summoning. YMMV with the Shrine - it's great but you run into support bloat.

I've found Varanguard to be good but they work best with Archaon.