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So after years of dancing around it, I've been thinking about picking up an AoS army. I've been playing 40k for years and while I still love 40k, the AoS models have definitely caught my attention. I've also read that AoS is a bit more balanced at the moment than 40k. I plan on picking up the core rule book, not just for rules, but also lore, then the general's handbook, possibly malign sorcery later. I watched some faction focus videos on YouTube, but I'm still on the fence and would like to hear from you. So I'm currently looking at either Chaos Alliance(Slaves to Darkness, Blades of Khorne, or Maggotkin of Nurgle) or Death(Nighthaunts, OBR, or Flesheater Courts). All have eye catching models. I'd like something not overpowered but not a dumpster fire. Something with plenty of up to date models. Up to date rules, but hasn't been hit with pages upon pages of faqs/errata to learn. As for playstyle I can switch up and do a bit of anything, but if an army CAN do it all I tend to lose focus. I currently have several 40k models that could still work in AoS (Be'lakor, Demon Princes, and a Bloodthirster), Slaves to Darkness seems like it would be the place to start but it also has probably the least eye catchers to me. Any thoughts on the armies I listed lorewise, or rule wise? Appreciate the input!

First you don't want malign sorcery that's how obsolete as of the generals handbook 2020.

If you want to read up on armies 1D4chan has good guides to how each army plays, breaks down every unit in the book so I'd advise reading up some there.

At the moment is say avoid night haunt they Arnt in a great spot at the moment.

Well the Endless Spells in the Malign Sorcery set are still valid for play and, honestly, the book in the set is tiny so the models are the greater part of the cost you are paying for. Granted you might not want every single one all the time, so either you hunt for one you want on ebay you get the set and have a variety of choices.


If you want up to date models then Slaves to Darkness is a bit half and half - you've got some fantastic models in the warcry sets that join into slaves to darkness and you've got a new getting started set - but you've still got things like the old marauders hanging around.


Ossiarch Bonereapers are fully new and pretty tough and hard to defeat. They've had a bit of a nerf to an overpowered option in the recent updates, but that's something everyone expected (a +1 to all saves on an army which generally had 3+ saves to start with was VERY powerful).


That said as of right now every AoS army has a single Battletome which is fully up to date with 2.0 rules. There's an Errata and FAQ on the GW website for each one, but they aren't vast things so the adjustments are fairly easy to learn and use and its not pages and pages of printouts.

There's also a cheaper rule book in the handbook which has the rules plus some of the FAQ/Errata additions - its a more practical size for gaming as it is smaller and cuts out all the lore/fluff/hobby elements that the big rule book has. It does still have the older Malgian Sorcery elements, but that's mostly things like realm-rules and artifacts - small things that are easily updated in the recent generals handbook (and even up to that point not everywhere always used realm-rules in games -it varied region to region)


Ossiarchs and Flesheaters both have smaller armies in diversity and where they have diversity its often duel or triple kits and weapon/head swaps and the like.
Both are actually quite affordable. Ossiarchs have very nice prices when you consider that they are, in points, quite expensive an and elite style army. Meanwhile Flesheaters have almost all their models in their Getting Started set. Plus they can do a hoard of ghouls or their book also has the option to exceed the normal monstrous creature limits and take an army which is basically zombie dragon and terrorgasts - so if you just keep buying getting-started sets you don't waste the models.

Both are close combat focused and have no real ranged units besides a few mages and such. So they are both going to get up close and nasty. Ossiarchs work by being tough to kill and dealing out good damage, but are typically slower in moving. They can speed up, but they are more like an unstoppable wall of death. Which makes them harder to beat, but can mean that they quickly fall behind early in the game in holding objectives so you have to have a good plan to steal the win from your opponent.

Hmmm So I think I've narrowed it down to Flesheater Courts or Ossiarch Bonereapers.

FEC: I like the lore. The models are cool. I like that their start collecting box is a fantastic value. FEC seems like a fast, but semi fragile, can be elite, buzz saw melee army. Can play the objective better than OBR

OBR: I like the models. The lore is cool, but kinda classic GW plot. Slow moving, elite, death star ish force that falls behind early game.

Question. Are the endless spells in the battle tomes?

The Endless Spells for both those armies are in the battletomes.

This is tougher than I thought. OBR seems stronger overall, better looking models, and might be more forgiving to a new player. FEC has better lore, a bit cheaper to start, could be better at objectives.

FEC also has fairly old models that don't look quite as crisp and good as OBR will, if that's an issue.

Their models still look ok to me, not horrifically old. How important is the objective game in AoS? Like 9th edition 40k style objective points important or not so mucb. Haven't picked up the corebook yet lol.

What about considering paint? Ossiarchs can take a very simple scheme really well; Flesheaters have lost of mixed pallets with armour, bone, exposed rotting flesh etc... Perhaps Ossiarchs might be an army easier to paint up quickly and look good whilst flesheaters might take more time and require more skill.

Of course you might want that challenge and desire to really get your painting skills going.

 l0k1 wrote:
Their models still look ok to me, not horrifically old. How important is the objective game in AoS? Like 9th edition 40k style objective points important or not so mucb. Haven't picked up the corebook yet lol.

Well, since controlling objectives/scoring pts from them is how you win 99% of the missions....

ccs wrote:

 l0k1 wrote:
Their models still look ok to me, not horrifically old. How important is the objective game in AoS? Like 9th edition 40k style objective points important or not so mucb. Haven't picked up the corebook yet lol.

Well, since controlling objectives/scoring pts from them is how you win 99% of the missions....

In the current edition of 40k, with the way objectives and secondary objectives work, you can score dozens of points in a turn. If you only score 1-3 points it would be easier to make up the points that OBR gives up in the early game

I am new to this but from my understanding both are really good on the table. Take my opinion with a pinch of salt.

OBR seems to really love using the catapaults to rain death while screening out with solid infantry slowing pushing up the field. Solid model line being new and shiny and that mortarch is a beast of a model with his own diorama going on.

FEC arguably the best value for money seeing as 3 start collecting is the way to go. They are nasty at spawning more stuff out of thin air. The Archregent is their newest model and a really solid hero always worth his points in summoning. Their monsters, Ghoul King on Royal Terrorghiest are solid and some of the bests imo. Can rock a swarm or monster mash list and still be decent. Models are older though but being ghouls mostly you can't tell much different from afar.

Tough call but both are under the same Death Allegiance so maybe a good gateway to expand to the whole of death in future?

Despite the start collecting box of FEC being an amazing value, I think I'm going with OBR. The models just look better, and being an elite army it should be "too expensive".

 l0k1 wrote:
Despite the start collecting box of FEC being an amazing value, I think I'm going with OBR. The models just look better, and being an elite army it should be "too expensive".

Something helpful to note is that starting with a Warscroll Battalion is not a bad way to go.

I'm a fan of the Kavalos Deathriders battalion. 2 boxes of riders and a Kavalos hero box, you're good to go.

That was one of the thoughts I had. I just wanted to read through the battle tome a couple of times and see what Christmas bundles will come out before committing to making any purchases. Though I'll probably buy the endless spells and Bone Tithe Nexus anyway lol.