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I'm thinking of taking up fantasy warhammer I've been a 40k player for a whole but would like to give it a go,
What army would you recommend for a bengineer and would you like to give me a 1000 point example?
Cheers

Empire. You get to participate in all the phases adequately, and you can get a decent amount of stuff on the table.

As for a 1k list, this is the basis of what I would go for:

Battle Wizard Lord, level 4, dispel scroll on lore of light

30 haberdiers, full command

3 DGKs, standard and muso

The Demis can be swapped out for cannons and such. If you do that, the lore on the wizard lord should go to something like heavens.

Well do you like magic dependence or not? Do you like warmachines or not?

If you like magic, I would go Dark Elves or perhaps Lizardmen.
If you like dependence on magic, go VC or TK.
It you hate magic, go Dwarves.

If you like warmachines, best is Empire or Dwarves. Albeit you can manage some warmachines in almost every army.

Do you like dependable troops or randomness? This goes from Dwarves on the dependable side to a pure Goblin force. Skaven are also on the undependable side - in all ways - war machines, troops, magic, special items...

Do you like monsters? Then I would look Dark Elves or Ogres but again, each army can go monsters if it wants.

Finally the core question which army inspires you to paint them?

The only three I would stay away from are Bretonnia, Beastmen and Wood Elves... that is unless you like a challenge...

DAaddict wrote:
If you like magic, I would go Dark Elves or perhaps Lizardmen.
If you like dependence on magic, go VC or TK.
It you hate magic, go Dwarves.

I would never advise starting with Dark Elves or Lizardmen. They are both tricky to get the hang of.

As for VC and TK, they both bring up complicated gameplay mechanics. I.E. Crumbling.

Dwarves are a good army to start with, but they skip out on magic, which is a major gameplay phase.

The two best starting armies are ogres and empire.

While I agree, the best choice is what army inspires you... After getting your butt handed to you a few times, you will find out what does and doesn't work... So if he really likes the look of Dark Elves or Skeleton hoards or Dwarves. I say go for what appeals to you...

With your warnings, I think knowing what you are getting into is the key. But if you are highly motivated by the look of an army or say you like the model of a crypt horror then go for it.

For my part, I hate the idea of Empire or Ogres but that is not the point. What inspires the guy painting and paying for the army.

HONESTLY.......pick three armies that you think look really cool. Then come back with what kind of play style you like. It's easier to give an opinion from there (not taking away from anything these two fine gents said). Worry about the super competitive stuff later. Right now your eyes should be on boxes of 24 skinks for $35. The game can actually be decently priced at the start if you let. If you are looking at Skaven or High Elves, Nothing beats the box set, and you can usually convince a buddy to split it 50/50.

In general, you want to start out with High points per model and low cost per model set ups so you can get your feet wet. So getting the Box set, taking the high elves, and snagging a White Lion Chariot is a smart buy since it is a good price for what you get on the field.

Save the big monsters (Like Dragon Riding Elf Lords etc)for after you know what you really want.

@Earth Dragon.... Amen. I agree it will be easier to talk about play style preference with 3 armies to chose from or with one absolute army to give you advice on tactics and builds and what they can accomplish...

Definitely a big plus to HE or Skaven is the starter boost... Ideally if you can get a friend to be interested in the second army, you can each have a great starter. But don't take this as a push for one of these!!! This is just a cost savings possibility.

Play vampires or daemons, they only use half the rules.
(nearly no shooting, no panic, no fleeing, no taking psychology tests).

-Matt

I would say don't play skaven - they break half the rules and have weird special or exceptions to everything, not to mention the most Unique models out of all of the other armies combined.

They are very confusing to play. Dwarves, Brets and wood elves are similar because the books are from several editions ago.

High elves are getting a new book next month, but will most likely have lots of new models, but the old ones will stay.

HawaiiMatt wrote:
Play vampires or daemons, they only use half the rules.
(nearly no shooting, no panic, no fleeing, no taking psychology tests).

-Matt

There's a real divide on whether this'd be a good idea or not. On the one hand it'd be good, because it'd be far easier to learn how to play the army (since you have less rules to learn), but on the other hand your knowledge of the game and its rules as a whole is sacrificed. I'd start with an army which teaches you everything, just so you can get to grips with the game. That said though, the most important part in starting a new army is how its aesthetics appeal to you.

buckero0 wrote:
I would say don't play skaven - they break half the rules and have weird special or exceptions to everything, not to mention the most Unique models out of all of the other armies combined.

They are very confusing to play. Dwarves, Brets and wood elves are similar because the books are from several editions ago.

High elves are getting a new book next month, but will most likely have lots of new models, but the old ones will stay.

But to counter this, if you think the Skaven look cool, play Skaven. Then myself and others will point you which units to break in on. Same with Dwarves, Brets and Wood Elves. If you don't like the look and feel of the army, nothing else will matter. The Vampires have simple rules, but if you don't feel like painting 80 zombies, you aren't going to like the army. There is nothing that says you CANT paint bret nights with solid color schemes versus the griffin and lion multi-colored garb they have in the promo art. I've seen armies that look just fine with a more modest, and even a more uniform look with all knights fashoning a goldish armor and solid green garb.

I'm a huge advocate to just get what you want, play basic troops and some great bang for your buck special troops (points wise) and fill in the gaps later.

And..once you have an idea of what you want, consider picking up an army in the Swap Shop here or elsewhere online.

It would depend, of course, on where you are intending to play.

At your house or a mate's place, where you got the army is a non issue.

If at a FLGS or other commercial place (like GW) then you SHOULD spend money there to help the place you play at.

im not a huge fan of magic, i prefer cannon and long range fire plus, solid hard to kill infantry and static hold the line type 'strategy' so the dwarves do really appeal to me, especially because they sound quite forgiving to a new player with high toughness and saves.

however . . . i like the sound of empire because they are humans no fancy magic or monsters just good old fashioned swords and black powder (i know they have magic but to me id only field it for defensive purposes)

so its between the two dwarves or empire, just 2 questions

1. how do the empire fare in close combat and how tough/weak are they?

2. do the dwarves have anything in the way of cavalry or fast movment static lines are all well and good untill you get outflanked by horses

thank you for all your input gents all your comments have been very helpful

I play Empire but not Dwarves. I would say that the power of Empire is in their 1+ save choices: Steam Tank, Demigryphs, Inner Circle Knights. All move fast and all good in combat. Empire Infantry can be more killy than you think but you have to support the crap out of them to get them there (hatred, Hurricanum, magic) The shooting in an Empire list is more of a support than a focus usually trying to take down one or two of the opponent's big toys before combat starts. I think Dwarves is more of the dedicated shoot shoot shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes, then shoot some more. They try to deplete your lines before they hit them so they can mop up whats left.

Dwarves it is I have been scouring the forum and the hatred people have playing against dwarves is surreal but I don't mind I like the little guys and I like shooting and I love the fact they can cancel magic very easily, thanks again lads