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Hi guys!

I'm new to the forum and the world of Warhammer Fantasy so I'll introduce myself. My name is Guylian, I'm 26 and currently living in both Aberdeen, Scotland (for work) and Plymouth, GB (my home). I'm looking to get into gaming and playing tournaments when I can. I don't really know anything about fantasy warhammer and am partial to picking models that look cool as opposed to being functional in a game so any advice against picking something that looks good but is ultimately a terrible idea would be great!

My current idea is to buy The Island of Blood set. I love the more human style races and would love to start a High Elves army focussed on Chrace livery although I'm not sure if High Elves are practical for a beginner(?). I also like the look of the Empire, Brettons and Chaos but ultimately would like a Wood Elf army if Citadel are looking to bring in some new units in the not so far future.

I'm not sure on my play style as I haven't played WH before but I always liked the idea of close combat and long range superiority but not a huge fan of magics. I'm assuming that a good army should contain a mixture of units from all the categories in the WH list (i.e. Lord and Heroes, Core Units, Special Units, Rare Units...?)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks,
G

Of the armies listed, my imagination is that Warriors of Chaos are the "easiest" for a beginner. They have good magic, almost no ranged but the best CC in the game. Personally, I love the look of the models as well.

Empire are very rounded - pretty good at everything, best at nothing. Great if you like shiny armour and pennants.

Brets are generally considered tricky to be good with, as are Wood Elves. This is not saying that they are bad, just a hit harder.

High Elves are versa tile and powerful in every area, but die quite easily. They require more strategy than Warriors of Chaos (at least than a basic WoC "Run in and kick them in the fork" strategy), but should be easy enough to have fun with. As long as you are happy for your models to look like wimps...

I have always been interested in anything that Khorne has to offer. The idea of a bunch of bloodthirsty berserkers is always a good idea in my opinion!

I actually like the High Elves designs and their fluff is quite good too. It's a shame they don't do a HE vs WoC starter pack like the Island of Blood, then I could have the best of both...

I would like a wood elf army but I was told they aren't worth getting at the moment as other armies can tear them to shreds, at least until they update them, hence why I was drawn to High Elves. Maybe I should collect both HE and WoC... Problem solved!

Ogers are a cheap and easy to play entry level army. The new high elfs are probably going to be that too.

Niteware wrote:

Empire are very rounded - pretty good at everything, best at nothing. Great if you like shiny armour and pennants.

Don't forget the hats. Empire has the fanciest of hats.

To the OP: I second what everyone has said so far about WoC. They have the BEST CC infantry in the game. One of my favorite units is what I call "The Hammer of Khorne": 18 warriors with Mark of Khorne and extra hand weapon, banner of swiftness. Throw in a MoK Exalted Hero with extra hand weapon, and you've got 50 strength 4 attacks, assuming everyone in your front two ranks gets to fight. At WS5 and I5, you're going to punch holes in your opponent's units.

To the OP: I second what everyone has said so far about WoC. They have the BEST CC infantry in the game. One of my favorite units is what I call "The Hammer of Khorne": 18 warriors with Mark of Khorne and extra hand weapon, banner of swiftness. Throw in a MoK Exalted Hero with extra hand weapon, and you've got 50 strength 4 attacks, assuming everyone in your front two ranks gets to fight. At WS5 and I5, you're going to punch holes in your opponent's units.

Sorry for being really dumb but I can only assume that gives every unit 2 weapons? Sounds pretty awesome but is that heavy on points? I think you've pretty much sold WoC to me though!

Yeah. The unit will cost you 324 points. 14 each plus 2 for the weapon, 2 for the Mark of Khorne for 18 pts each.
Each warrior has 2 attacks base. The extra weapon will give them +1 attack, the mark will give them frenzy for another attack
/the banner is 15 points, command is 30.
The exalted hero will be 110 plus 10 for the mark and 3 for the weapon for 123 pts.
He'll have 6 attacks
You can get creative for more points.
So you're looking at 492 for the unit.

That's almost a 5th of a 2500 point game. Is that not a tad bit excessive? Or is that the point of Chaos?

That is a cheap unit for Chaos really. They are elite and tough but pricey, so very low model count.

Btw, Mindrazor that unit and you have 50 S8 attacks. From 19 models. Just saying...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

wfischer wrote:

Niteware wrote:

Empire are very rounded - pretty good at everything, best at nothing. Great if you like shiny armour and pennants.

Don't forget the hats. Empire has the fanciest of hats.

To the OP: I second what everyone has said so far about WoC. They have the BEST CC infantry in the game. One of my favorite units is what I call "The Hammer of Khorne": 18 warriors with Mark of Khorne and extra hand weapon, banner of swiftness. Throw in a MoK Exalted Hero with extra hand weapon, and you've got 50 strength 4 attacks, assuming everyone in your front two ranks gets to fight. At WS5 and I5, you're going to punch holes in your opponent's units.

Just thinking this through and need to pull you up on the numbers - you only get 1 supporting attack. So running 6 wide with an Exalted and a unit Champ would give you 33 attacks.

WOC is the easiest to learn, but they have options for more advanced stuff ( like Marauder horsement or those Slaanesh things ) and most of their things are just "up in your face"

WOC might even have the best generic character statline in the game ( i think VC might be closest to being dominating in that aspect ) you have wizards that can use armor items, you have a hero with minimum 4 attacks, you have a wide selection of grim looking and awesome mounts.

So with a block or two with chaos warriors, and some knights, backed up by a exalted, some warhounds and you should have a decent set-up already.

Im having a minor mind-blank here regarding the specific rules for frenzy and charging... however surely there are issues with a 1/5th of your army being redirected and baited around? Particularly in the case of a new player who might not have the experience to deal with those type of tactics early in their playing career.

alex87 wrote:
Im having a minor mind-blank here regarding the specific rules for frenzy and charging... however surely there are issues with a 1/5th of your army being redirected and baited around? Particularly in the case of a new player who might not have the experience to deal with those type of tactics early in their playing career.

Basically you have a BSB and someone with high leadership, because you have to take a leadership check to NOT charge, so in the events you are forced to charge but dont want to you can reroll that with the BSB and have it at a high Leadership.

And you have to be careful not to lose a fight if you want to keep your frenzy, so having the frenzy banner from the armybook on your most important unit you want to keep frenzy on, and then having a Exalted/Lord with it to have a greater killing power.

If cost is an issue like it usually is when "buying" into a system I would go with the HEs they are strong at the moment and are well rounded and low model count.

They are fragile but still have access to resilient units via the special choices. They have a decent shooting phase and access to all the normal spell laws giving you a lot of options when making list.

Hi guys,

Been a while, I work offshore so I don't always have time to get on here. Thanks for all the advice. I quite like the idea of both so I've decided I'll get both Codex's (codices?) and give both a shot!

Just to pop in: I'd always take the Halberds over Additional Hand Weapons.