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I want to start the Warhammer Fantasy army, however I don't know which I need to pick. Right now I'm debating between SKaven, vampire counts' and lizzardmen. right now I play Chaos Space Marines in Warhammer 40K and want something totally different. I like the idea of a horde style army that is fun to play and I like it to be some what competitive. What do you guys think?

Well, one thing to keep in mind with Fantasy, especially if you are coming from 40k is that there is a LOT more balance in Fantasy between armies. For the most part, there are strong builds for every army out there (the exceptions having less forgivness, flexibility and variety) and you can choose an army that really suits your playstyle and what you want out of the fluff and appearance.

That said, Skaven are an ideal horde army. They pack tons of cheap, extremely expendable troops at the front while your mages and mad science run amok on the flanks or from behind. Vampires can be horde-ish, with big blocks of zombies and skeletons constantly being refreshed by magic while your more elite and fighty units get into stronger positions. Of the three you listed, Lizardmen are the least horde-ish, as their basic troops are either unsuited for hordes (Skinks die too quickly and have more uses, Saurus are too expensive) but are actually quite solid as a mid/elite style army.

Thanks for the infor i think i will be going with skaven. Mostly because of the looks. Cant thank you enough because i really want a horde army and I was ready to go with lizzardmen.

Lizardmen aren't horde at all unless you go all skink. And I'm not sure I would recommend that. Their base infantry is semi-elite and very good. But they are often backed by Slann casters, who are one of the best in the game, and then surrounded by even more elite infantry.

Horde armies are Vampire Counts, Skaven, Orcs and Goblins (potentially), Tomb Kings.

O&G and TK are probably as far from CSM as you can get. Skaven have a lot of warp weapons that are a bit chaos-y.

coganaut wrote:
Thanks for the infor i think i will be going with skaven. Mostly because of the looks. Cant thank you enough because i really want a horde army and I was ready to go with lizzardmen.

I hope you like painting fur...

coganaut wrote:
Thanks for the infor i think i will be going with skaven. Mostly because of the looks. Cant thank you enough because i really want a horde army and I was ready to go with lizzardmen.

Well your wallet will in the futture hate you after the supposedly last clan rat box you buy, or the time when you have painted a metric ton of rats.

Waddup with all the SKaven hate? D:

Skaven are probably the most expensive army in WHFB.

They are the IG of WHFB... Tons of infantry and some big stuff.

I'm in the same boat. Trying to decide on which army to start.
I'm selling off my 40k. And at the moment its a toss up between brettonians as a 'tribute' to my own family heraldy and heritage. Put my ancestors into the warhammer world so to speak.
The other option are beastmen, because at heart I'm a chaos fanboi.
I'm sick of power armour so I discounted woc for that reason.

Time to paint and finances are also limited.

If time to paint and finances are an issue - go Ogre.

 thenoobbomb wrote:
Waddup with all the SKaven hate? D:

Nobody loves rats, filty animals only desrving of death

But as for recomending an army I would suggest either Ogres or perhaps Dark Elfs

 Eetion wrote:
I'm sick of power armour so I discounted woc for that reason.

There are plenty of WoC options that avoid the main warriors. Counts-as, marauders, God-specific warbands - I can't see the warriors being devoted to Slaanesh, can you? And no, painting them pink or purple doesn't solve the issue, that just makes them look silly (well, in my opinon).

If you play skaven be ready to have a 400ish model army. Most skaven players field 100-200 Slaves now days. since they are an insignificant amount of points and can trample things if positioned right. Lizardmen have awesome flame throwers =D and can go horde style as well.

Puscifer wrote:
Skaven are probably the most expensive army in WHFB.

They are the IG of WHFB... Tons of infantry and some big stuff.

Isle of blood kits -,- e-bay 40$ each.............

Puscifer wrote:
Skaven are probably the most expensive army in WHFB.

They are the IG of WHFB... Tons of infantry and some big stuff.

IG got nothing on Skaven. you can hit 300-400 models on the table without really trying(aside from all the painting and assembling)

Night Goblins are th most expensive IMO. I own both and play both games. I love my lil ratz and gobbos. If you want a challenge then these are the armies, I never field slaves. If you want broken and easy, WoC. Ogres are good but you have to learn them, lizardmen are a hoard army also, All of the elves armies take some playing to learn, dwarves kick butt and are easy to learn. There is a different flavor for everyone. Human armies take some getting used to as well as Daemons. But always remember fun is the name of the game.

Also agreed on the balance in fantasy. It's a much more level playing field. EVen armies considered sub par in previous editions have a good chance of winning in 8th edition. if you do some research.

 Anfauglir wrote:

 Eetion wrote:
I'm sick of power armour so I discounted woc for that reason.

There are plenty of WoC options that avoid the main warriors. Counts-as, marauders, God-specific warbands - I can't see the warriors being devoted to Slaanesh, can you? And no, painting them pink or purple doesn't solve the issue, that just makes them look silly (well, in my opinon).

Followers of all the Chaos Gods war against one another constantly. Just because they aren't Khorne doesn't mean they don't live for battle. In fact if anything behind Khorne, Slaanesh warriors actually make the most sense of the big four.



Back on topic:

Skaven or Lizardmen are probably fairly even - My recommendation would be to just choose based on aesthetic between those two.

Stay away from Vampire Count's though. They're not a good choice for a new player as they're so much slower and skip two aspects of the game almost entirely (psychology & shooting) making it harder to learn the game overall.

Grovel wrote:
Followers of all the Chaos Gods war against one another constantly. Just because they aren't Khorne doesn't mean they don't live for battle. In fact if anything behind Khorne, Slaanesh warriors actually make the most sense of the big four.

To be clear, I'm talking about the models "Chaos Warriors", not the actual existence/profession (or lack thereof) of "warrior" in the setting for Slaaneshi armies/warbands. I'm simply saying that there are ways of building a WoC army without having to use the Chaos Warriors models themselves, and that in the case of certain themed warbands (my example being Slaanesh), it would be better not to - i.e. there are more aesthetically appropriate models for the Prince of Pleasure's soldiery, in my opinion.