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Okay, I've never collected a Fantasy army for Warhammer. I've had pieces here and there, but never enough to constitute an actual army of any size.

I might be able to get started collecting AoS models soon, but I'm looking for help in rounding out my thoughts on where some armies are at. I am looking for correction on where my mind is seeing these armies are at right now. Competitiveness isn't necessarily my end goal, but I also don't want to be in the position where no matter of list building will generate a win. As a help, in WarmaHordes my favorite army is Skorne, though most of my current collection is Mercs.

Also any tips on the general play style the army favors would help as well. I don't know why my preferred playstyle in AoS might be, but anything might help.

First pick: Beasts of Chaos
They, along with Tomb Kings, have been one of my favorites since I started looking in to Fantasy, and back then, Gors and Ungors were in the same unit. I like the diversity in the army, and how it has grown since then. They have ranged units they can spam, they have decent monstrous infantry as well as monsters, and I like the models. The addition of Tzaangors and Slaangors helps add to that diversity as well. Nor are they boring humans (though, Chaos Warriors armor is legit).
Cons: They have never been known for their resilience, and I haven't kept up with them as much since the Herdstone went quiet. They also seem to get more models from the servants of other armies than anything focused on their own.

Second pick: Death
Okay, this one is a bit odd. I like the look of the Bonereapers and I'm getting to like the Ghosts of Nighthaunt as well. So this one is split. I'm not so much a fan of the Vampires leading Skeletons, and the Flesh Eaters are just too tiny a collection (good for a Warcry Warband, though). Nighthaunt should be pretty easy to build up as they are in all the starters and a lot of cheaper easy-to-build boxes to work from. The Mortarchs are also impressive models alongside big Nagash himself.
Cons: I've never blended while painting, and that's a little intimidating for the Ghosts. The Bonereapers also seem expensive for what one gets. Death armies are also not known for their shooting capability, and that seemed to have gotten worse since the Khemri were left to the sands of history.

Third pick: Seraphon
Lizards riding dinosaurs. I almost shouldn't have to say much more. Good magic, diversity of units, and a solid core of warriors to work with. The artwork of them is inspiring. I can even paint them to match them up to the local gila monster.
Cons: While the artwork is amazing, the Saurus models are somewhat lacking, still presenting a bit of a derpy facade aside from the newest Scar-Veterans. Also, there seem to be quite a few Lizardmen players around here, and I hate being that deep in the pack without a very good reason.

Fourth pick: Sylvaneth
On the lower end of my top 5 Fantasy armies were the Bretonnians and the Wood Elves, and part of what I loved about the Wood Elves, were the Tree Spirits. Though I grew up in the desert, my favorite vacations are in the forests, and Druid is my favorite RPG class.
Cons: Much like FEC, very limited model selection with only Monstrous Infantry having any shooting. Good for Warcry, but maybe not quite enough to build an entire army with.

Well no army is totally helpless but in terms of power I would rank them as:

1) seraphon. ATM they are doing VERY well in tournaments. Kroak is gold. Fangs of sotek is gold. Ability to buff skinks to shoot crapload of mortal wounds(bloodthirster going "poof" at once isn't all that unlikely). Ability to shoot when enemy charges them(not many units in AOS that can do that) AND then run away on 4+ is just awesome. And other subfactions than fangs of sotek is also good. Ability to reduce damage by 1 for coalesced seraphon is just awesome. Got charged by unit that does D2 attacks? Sorry. Half your damage output just went poof. They also have 1+ save monsters(so 2++ until degrades), salamanders that are just frigging NASTY(february I ran tournament. Seraphon vs ogres 3 salamanders ran over 11/12 ogre gluttons. That's 44 damage caused. T1 move, shoot, charge, kill...).
2) bonereapers. Rock solid. With the big bad special character you can go for 3+ rerollable saves. Looooooots of hits with rend thanks to exploding 6's weapons and buffs. Basically you are generating 5-6 times as much "CP" as regular factions that ignore CP affecting things like lumineth spell. Only drawback on that front is lack of reroll charge ability. The catapult can make mincemeat of anything though is bit swingy(3-4 attacks, hitting on 2+, wound on 3+, no rend and damage flat 5). Excelent character sniper. Opponent has 3-4 5 wound heroes? Allocate one attack each. Each failed save dead hero...Good magic, brings back dead models. Only issue is speed though with their +3" move for disclipine point(their CP equilavent) and subfaction that gives run+charge for all can be surprisingly fast.
3) nightgaunt(Btw combining these and bonereapers is rather hard. Don't recall can one take other as allies. IF not grand alliance: death is only option but that's real, real, real, real bad. Grand alliances aren't really a thing these days. You are losing too much bonuses that way). They are on bit of weak side though can work. Issue is you pay big premium on ignore rend on all units and fly on all units but you don't get to use those on all(some units will face tons of attack with no rend or face mortal wounds, some units fly around on open field) and their big faction ability requires rolling 10" charge(9" with certain battalion) so very unreliable.

Other 2 I'm not 100% sure but neither are super good armies. Though it's not like it's total impossibility. LAst tournament I attended sylvaneth did win but of course that was played by guy that seems to have been dominating finnish tournaments and took sylvaneth as a form of handicap The sylvaneth seems to be more of melee focused army though. With cool ability to get dryads with succesfull spell cast. Very dependant on trees it seems.

Beastmen seems to be really struggling unfortunately. Haven't seen them do that well alas.

If Beastmen are your 1st pick, go with them.
You can make decent, themed & fun lists with them. Gors/ungors, Minotaurs, Dragon Ogres, monsters, fast stuff (chariots & Cetigors) Chaos god specific. Assorted mixes.
Other than the new slangors I'm not sure what you mean about getting more from the servants of other armies than our own. Everything we Beast players need is right there in our own Tome. Though of course being Chaos does allow us to draw in some allies. And if you feel the need? You could always take the one Mega Gargant that will ally with Chaos. THAT'LL get the foes attention.

Me? I prefer putting a pair of Chimera & 2+ Cockatrices on the board to eradicate targets. This deadly flock sticks together spewing MWs into targets & presenting a formidable melee threat. It does its job well & draws attention & fire. Meanwhile I've got chariots, Centigors, & assorted gor/ungor units taking objectives.
Sometimes I'll include a unit of Zangor Skyfires.
And make sure you utilize that ambush rule.

Meanwhile, waaay back at the herdstone (even though the one relic was errated away in the Generals Handbook), as far away from the enemy as it can be placed, my Shaman is busy kicking ungors into the fire & summoning more cheap units into my foes backfield/flank - often chariots, spawn, razorgors, or my favorite; Cockatrices. Every great once in a while I'll get enough summoning points to call in another Chimera....

tneva82 wrote:
nightgaunt(Btw combining these and bonereapers is rather hard. Don't recall can one take other as allies. IF not grand alliance: death is only option but that's real, real, real, real bad. Grand alliances aren't really a thing these days. You are losing too much bonuses that way).

I wasn't thinking of running Grand Alliance, more that I hadn't really finalized on which I would prefer to run between the two, and that they were pretty much sitting on the same spot together.

ccs wrote:
Other than the new slangors I'm not sure what you mean about getting more from the servants of other armies than our own.

Basically Khornegors and Plaguegors as the Blades and Maggotkin get updated. Meanwhile all the other models date back to 7th Edition or even farther besides the Tzaangors and Slaangors.

ccs wrote:
If Beastmen are your 1st pick, go with them.
You can make decent, themed & fun lists with them. Gors/ungors, Minotaurs, Dragon Ogres, monsters, fast stuff (chariots & Cetigors) Chaos god specific. Assorted mixes.
...
Everything we Beast players need is right there in our own Tome. Though of course being Chaos does allow us to draw in some allies. And if you feel the need? You could always take the one Mega Gargant that will ally with Chaos. THAT'LL get the foes attention.

That ability to be complete in one book is what I was most concerned about, and largely one of the points of diversity I was talking about. The other concern is that my play style would prefer something that was just tougher, but I guess that's more of a concern for when I get my feet under me.

Oh, being able to add in from the others will be fun, in fact that was one of the reasons that the Beasts of Chaos first attracted my attention in those days gone by before they split Daemons in to their own book.

ccs wrote:
Me? I prefer putting a pair of Chimera & 2+ Cockatrices on the board to eradicate targets. This deadly flock sticks together spewing MWs into targets & presenting a formidable melee threat. It does its job well & draws attention & fire. Meanwhile I've got chariots, Centigors, & assorted gor/ungor units taking objectives.
Sometimes I'll include a unit of Zangor Skyfires.
And make sure you utilize that ambush rule.

Meanwhile, waaay back at the herdstone (even though the one relic was errated away in the Generals Handbook), as far away from the enemy as it can be placed, my Shaman is busy kicking ungors into the fire & summoning more cheap units into my foes backfield/flank - often chariots, spawn, razorgors, or my favorite; Cockatrices. Every great once in a while I'll get enough summoning points to call in another Chimera....

Those are some good ideas.

What are your thoughts on the Endless Spells? I know they can be somewhat hit or miss, and it depends on the army, but would they be worth looking at investing in down the road?

 Charistoph wrote:

ccs wrote:
Other than the new slangors I'm not sure what you mean about getting more from the servants of other armies than our own.

Basically Khornegors and Plaguegors as the Blades and Maggotkin get updated. Meanwhile all the other models date back to 7th Edition or even farther besides the Tzaangors and Slaangors.

Well bear in mind that the Beasts book will also be updated again at some point. Like the Tzangors presently I'd think it very reasonable to expect Slangors etc to appear in our own pages at that point. (whatever other gors exist at that point) They ARE flavors of Gors afterall.

On the age of our models: So what?

 Charistoph wrote:

ccs wrote:
If Beastmen are your 1st pick, go with them.
You can make decent, themed & fun lists with them. Gors/ungors, Minotaurs, Dragon Ogres, monsters, fast stuff (chariots & Cetigors) Chaos god specific. Assorted mixes.
...
Everything we Beast players need is right there in our own Tome. Though of course being Chaos does allow us to draw in some allies. And if you feel the need? You could always take the one Mega Gargant that will ally with Chaos. THAT'LL get the foes attention.

That ability to be complete in one book is what I was most concerned about, and largely one of the points of diversity I was talking about. The other concern is that my play style would prefer something that was just tougher, but I guess that's more of a concern for when I get my feet under me.

Oh, being able to add in from the others will be fun, in fact that was one of the reasons that the Beasts of Chaos first attracted my attention in those days gone by before they split Daemons in to their own book.

Other than the new Slangors the Beasts of Chaos book is fully complete. You don't need to go dipping into other books to make a strong, fun, thematic, or diverse force.

On tougher units. That's not your typical Gor, let alone ungor. Chariots, dragon-ogres, Bullgors though.... Most of the units don't have great saves. You will take casualties (with summoning you can replenish those if you want). And the bravery score of many units leaves a bit to be desired. Now if you can fight within the influence of your herdstone battleshock isn't a worry. My stone is rarely far enough forward though.

 Charistoph wrote:

ccs wrote:
Me? I prefer putting a pair of Chimera & 2+ Cockatrices on the board to eradicate targets. This deadly flock sticks together spewing MWs into targets & presenting a formidable melee threat. It does its job well & draws attention & fire. Meanwhile I've got chariots, Centigors, & assorted gor/ungor units taking objectives.
Sometimes I'll include a unit of Zangor Skyfires.
And make sure you utilize that ambush rule.

Meanwhile, waaay back at the herdstone (even though the one relic was errated away in the Generals Handbook), as far away from the enemy as it can be placed, my Shaman is busy kicking ungors into the fire & summoning more cheap units into my foes backfield/flank - often chariots, spawn, razorgors, or my favorite; Cockatrices. Every great once in a while I'll get enough summoning points to call in another Chimera....

Those are some good ideas.

Thanks.
* I noticed the Mortal Wound spam in the fall of 2019 when helping a friend dust off his own ages old Beastmen collection for use in AoS.
"Huh, that's nasty. And I already own enough chimeras/cockatrices to make that work." Now I own more cockitrices to account for summons.

* The summoning: It seemed a shame not to make full use this ability as I was already including shamans & a herdstone. Unless I decide to run a minotaur herd that evening....

*My shaman: Originally I only ran 1. But once people realized what he was up to.... And with the coming of the damned Lumineth archers.... Now I run two. One, my "back up", is painted to match my herdstone and literally hugs the backside of it doing nothing more than existing. The hope is that the opponent will overlook him. It works sometimes.
The other one is painted to match the sacrificial ungors he's mixed in with. Should he go down, & the back-up be overlooked, then the summoning shenanigins resume next round.

 Charistoph wrote:

What are your thoughts on the Endless Spells? I know they can be somewhat hit or miss, and it depends on the army, but would they be worth looking at investing in down the road?

In general I LOVE endless spells be they generics or faction specific. Even the predatory ones.
That said? The only time I really use them with my Beasts is if I'm running my minotaur herd. With the minotaurs my shamans run near the front lines. When I'm playing most of my Gor lists with the summoning my shamans are never really in range to make good use of alot of them.
Endless spells are one of those things that you'll just have to tinker around with as you find wich ones work well for you

ccs wrote:
Well bear in mind that the Beasts book will also be updated again at some point. Like the Tzangors presently I'd think it very reasonable to expect Slangors etc to appear in our own pages at that point. (whatever other gors exist at that point) They ARE flavors of Gors afterall.

On the age of our models: So what?

Just a general concern that they'll be phased out as their own army due to lack of studio interest and having to rush in to dedicating to a God or Slaves. Honestly, I was surprised to see the army book come out, as I was half expecting the army to go the way of Khemri and Brets.

ccs wrote:
Other than the new Slangors the Beasts of Chaos book is fully complete. You don't need to go dipping into other books to make a strong, fun, thematic, or diverse force.

Good to know, but also having some interesting options to go beyond that to keep things interesting is also a good thing.

ccs wrote:
On tougher units. That's not your typical Gor, let alone ungor. Chariots, dragon-ogres, Bullgors though.... Most of the units don't have great saves. You will take casualties (with summoning you can replenish those if you want). And the bravery score of many units leaves a bit to be desired. Now if you can fight within the influence of your herdstone battleshock isn't a worry. My stone is rarely far enough forward though.

Yeah, that's one of the concerns I have coming in new is that it will feel like a steeper climb than others.

I might just be focusing more on Warcry for the near future, which will allow me to mix things up on a model basis.

As a side note, one other difficulty with Beasts of Chaos or Seraphon is that compass arrow on the GW page. I'm not seeing those models at my LGS, even the bigger one that's been around forever.

If I want to get Bullgors or Kroxigors, I'll have to be looking at either someone local getting rid of theirs or going direct to GW. I can't even get them through Amazon.

 Charistoph wrote:
As a side note, one other difficulty with Beasts of Chaos or Seraphon is that compass arrow on the GW page. I'm not seeing those models at my LGS, even the bigger one that's been around forever.

If I want to get Bullgors or Kroxigors, I'll have to be looking at either someone local getting rid of theirs or going direct to GW. I can't even get them through Amazon.

EBay is your friend.
There's no shortage there (NiB or otherwise) & they'll ship quicker than going through GW atm....

ccs wrote:

 Charistoph wrote:
As a side note, one other difficulty with Beasts of Chaos or Seraphon is that compass arrow on the GW page. I'm not seeing those models at my LGS, even the bigger one that's been around forever.

If I want to get Bullgors or Kroxigors, I'll have to be looking at either someone local getting rid of theirs or going direct to GW. I can't even get them through Amazon.

EBay is your friend.
There's no shortage there (NiB or otherwise) & they'll ship quicker than going through GW atm....

I prefer to support the LGS, but sometimes they don't want to support what I have or want, I guess. I do know that some will do the ordering for me, but that's still an annoyance when you want to get it now before the significant other can find out about it.

There will be no escape, no blessed oblivion. I can end your life as easily as I can extinguish a candle, and before your corpse is cold, I can reach out and grasp your soul. You will be my slave for all eternity, and I shall laugh at the depths of your pain. Such is the power of Nagash.