Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

So I've been bit by the hobby bug again, and want to finally bite the bullet and get into AoS. I've been painting up a 40k Bad Moons army for the last few months, and I'm a little burnt out on painting green at this point, so what better way to switch things up than by painting a bunch of pale skinned ladies? (and snakes)

For a new player to the game, what would be my best bet to get started? Ideally I'd like to work towards a Temple Nest list, though I'm not sure if this would be a viable strategy. As well what should my first purchases be?

Any advice would be fantastic! Thanks!

You've chosen a good time to get into DoK!

First up there's THREE new releases coming for them. This weekend there's a new Warcry starter set with two new warbands in them. These warbands operate in the main AoS game and the DoK warband is looking very nice

Here's a heads up on their AoS rules https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/10/21/warcry-shadowstalkers-and-scions-in-warhammer-age-of-sigmar/


Suffice to say that if you don't want the boxed set there will likely be stock on ebay and forums from split sets so you might well be able to pick up the DoK team without much hassle. Right now they look like they'll be more of an elite group (the Slaves to Darkness Warbands which all the other Warcry unique bands are, are more chaff units taken in big blocks).


Then in November there's a duel Slaanesh and DoK boxed set going on sale with snakes, winged aleves and a brand new snake leader (not a character). If you like the snakes then that would be a sure choice to pick up; again either the whole set and then sell the half you don't want or swap the half for another player who wants more Slaanesh or find split kits on ebay.

Shadow and pain details - for the DoK that's 2 packs of snake ladies and 1 pack of winged along with the new leader (leader isn't a character so you can take more than one).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-vCP8CAxgs




Finally there's a new campaign book "Morathi" coming in November as well. We don't yet know the full contents of this book but its bound to be good for the DoK. Again another thing to keep an eye out for




So its a busy time for the DoK and if you like snakes then the discount on a duel pack will be very welcome considering that DoK tend to be on the more expensive side for pure witch aelves.
After that the getting started set is fantastic value as the Blood Cauldron kit currently builds ALL the leaders for the army which are not either Morathi or the new Shadow and Pain leader. So at least one or two Getting Started sets will give you a good foundation of leaders and options.


Note that snakes you can take as battleline instead of witch aelves, but only if you take a Bloodwrack (either on its own or on a Shrine - both built from the Cauldron Kit) as your general. So if you do buy into Shadow and Pain I'd also get at least one Getting Started set to give you all you'd need. With that you'd be decently on your way to 1K points worth of models - esp if you take an Avatar from the Cauldron kit (since you'd built a shrine you'll have the avatar spare); and you'd have two queen models to use as well (hag and slaughter).

You will need a boat load of Witch elves (as a person whose painting DOK right now) even if you do a temple nest cause WE are..pretty damn amazing at killing like..everything on the board.

you'll get well and tired of painting 50-60 of them right quick.

everything Overread says is right solid.

I've seen almost all snake armies do decently well. Witch Aelves are certainly a very strong choice to take, but you can do well with snakes. Certainly for getting started right now with what's coming over the next month I'd push for snakes. Even if just because that duel set will at the very least make it cheaper to get at snakes and melusai.

Thanks for the quick replies!

Good to hear that there's some new stuff right around the corner. Since I'm headed to my FLGS today after work I'm thinking the start collecting box is a good starting point. The duel box will definitely be a purchased item as well, I'll just need to find someone to take the Slaanesh models off my hands. If the big duel box is coming out in November, would a decent start be a Start Collecting box, split the duel box with someone, and then a 2nd Start Collecting box? Or should I mix some other units and purchases in?

Either split the duel box or find someone to swap with. If you swap you'd basically double your model count, but you'd want to start early looking. I would wager the DoK will be more popular than the Slaanesh - but that's just a gut feeling.

Figured I'd update here rather than start another thread.

I wound up finding 2 people to split box sets with, so I've got myself sitting on 10 each of the Blood Sisters and 10 of the Blood Stalkers. With the 2 Start Collecting boxes, that should be 20 sisters and the 10 stalkers. I am a little lost as far as how I should build the 10 harpies though. Would it be better to build them as Heartrenders or as Lifetakers?

Heartrenders have both a ranged (12inch) and close combat attack and also rending. Their strength is that they can appear from the shadows where you want them; strike with their javelins without having to get into close combat and then have a chance (4+ on dice) to move 6 inches away. On their appearance they also get -2 rend for that turn only.

So used wisely they can strike and retreat and never have to enter combat. Which is important because they have a save of 6+ and only 1 wound. So they are very fragile.


Lifetakers are very similar, but can only deal damage in close combat. Whilst they have 1 more attack in close combat and they can also move after completing their attacks before an enemy can make theirs. For this unit its a must since otherwise when they take return hits they could really hurt them


For both they favour hitting ground units near enough to terrain that lets them basically escape (6 inchs) from a followup charge in the following turn.


They are light harassment units ideal for threatening a far objective or loan unit or such; but not heavy hitters nor suited to long term combat. That said they can also be good to pop-up for supporting another unit and getting aura buffs if they come to support a queen. Though you don't want to hold them back from appearing too long into the game.





I'd say go for the heartrenders first and then some lifetakers later. The heartrenders at least can strike from afar and avoid combat which will help them stay alive longer. Lifetakers will likely require even more careful use to ensure you get more than one turn's use out of them.

Sounds like a fairly solid idea. I'll probably get the Heartrenders built over the next few days. Then it's down to trying to prime all of them for painting (very hard with strong winds and subzero temperatures)