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.

I'm considering starting to play whfb and I just wondered how many points worth of models you got in each battalion box, which ones you guys thought were the best value for money, the best for a beginner and what you would recommend adding to them to make a good starter army ?

Naturally battlions are the easiest way to quickly build up a large force with a couple of these boxes.

how many points you get out of a box depends on how old the armies codex/army book is at the time, as the older codexes tend to be overpointed for the equivalent for n army with a newer book. i would say most battlions will net you around 600-800 points depending on unit upgrades taken such as banners and command groups.

I would say the best value box is probably the island of blood as you get an army for either skaven or high elves and the other to either swap or ebay for more.

personally in terms of functionality an quality of the units you get i would say the top boxes (in no particular order) are:

Ogre Kingdoms
Dark Elves
Lizardmen

IMHO

Lizardmen 885 +125
Skaven 475 +50
Bretonnia 480 +25 (includes a Pegasus Knight, but you need 3 for a unit)
High Elves 694 +50
Warriors of Chaos 769 +150 (this includes magic banners and Marks)
Ogre 719 +100
Empire 618 +120
Wood Elves 720 +50
Dwarfs 751 +50
Orcs and Goblins 600 +50
Tomb Kings 737 +15
Vampire Count 480 +25
Beastmen 410 +50
Dark Elves 695 +100

Island of Blood (as per the roster):
High Elves 943
Skaven 659

Edit: need to fix WOC and HELF cuz of new book / battalions.

Thanks for the quick replies

phatonic what are the + numbers for ? What would you guys recommend adding to the dark elves or the woc ?

Candle_man wrote:
Thanks for the quick replies

phatonic what are the + numbers for ? What would you guys recommend adding to the dark elves or the woc ?

+ are for magic items etc from the rulebook&armybook.

As for Dark elves, the battlion isnt the biggest way to go, BUT You can use the corsairs as a few assasins.
Get a couple of more warriors(with spear)

and another group of crossbow guys. From there you should have a supreme sorccerer and a lvl 2. Add another box of cold ones after that and a Cauldron of blood as your Bsb... and say thirthy of witch elves and you got a propa 2k+ list... (oups! forgot the important part! one hydra ) As for dark elves they are one of the more expensive fantasy armies mainly due the huuuge amount of finecast models :/


As for warriors of chaos It all depends on what gods you want to please. the battlion isnt the best way to go any longer as marauders are to overcosted now and normal warriors are better pointwise to take. ( that is unless you want a marauder army) If so i suggest mark of nurgle on them with aditional handweapons along with Festus attached to them to grant them Poison attacks and a regen save

Mhm else for WoC Skullcrushers of khorne - deamon prince - BsB on deamonic steed or Disc of tzeentch tend to be no brainers these days.

Ahh ok thank you


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just read the rest of your post thank you ill probably only be looking for around 1/1.5k points to begin with and dark elves do seem rather expensive due to the fine cast models :(

If I was to start woc I would probably take nurgle as it seems to match my paint style but I'm still very undecided :|

Nurgle is a good choise, you could pick up some Nurgle charriots for 125p each and they are core, A good damn core if you ask me

The pure point totals can be misleading. For example 2 bretonnian boxes and a peg knight will net you a solid core for your army with next to no wasted models. Making it a great deal

A battleforce is only worth the money if you are using all the parts

If I was to go with high elves what would be the most viable option for 1000 points, getting iob and adding to it even though I can't use the gryphon until higher points games or getting the battalion and adding a Mage from iob off eBay and another gw choice and trying to get a cheap iob rule book off eBay ?

Candle_man wrote:
Thanks for the quick replies

phatonic what are the + numbers for ? What would you guys recommend adding to the dark elves or the woc ?

I can't speak much for WoC, but I know that the Dark Elf Battalion is a great starting point, since everything in it is very viable. Get another box of Corsairs, another box of Warriors (assemble 4 as Xbows and 12 as Warriors) and a Supreme Sorceress and you have a pretty decent list. I've worked this out before and, from memory, you can get all that for under £100, which is certainly not bad for a viable list.

As for dark elves, the guys at my meta prefer more warriors / crossbows over corsairs any day. They say they are more a unit for.. fun rather than a more competive list.

 phatonic wrote:
As for dark elves, the guys at my meta prefer more warriors / crossbows over corsairs any day. They say they are more a unit for.. fun rather than a more competive list.

And they're wrong. Corsairs are one of the most competitive units in the book. Most durable vs shooting. Amongst the top 3 combat units in the book. And they meet your core tax.

 thedarkavenger wrote:

 phatonic wrote:
As for dark elves, the guys at my meta prefer more warriors / crossbows over corsairs any day. They say they are more a unit for.. fun rather than a more competive list.

And they're wrong. Corsairs are one of the most competitive units in the book. Most durable vs shooting. Amongst the top 3 combat units in the book. And they meet your core tax.

Really? i'm suprised i never see them at tournaments.

Thanks guys this is really helpful I think it will be a choice between the two elven races for my army lol