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Based purely on personal feelings on said army, not ease of learning curve or any of that, which WHFB army would you recommend to a new comer and why?

Also I heard at least one Army is being discontinued, is that right and if so, who's going? Got a feeling I heard Tomb Kings for some reason?

The only army that is currently under troubles is Bretonians, however considering that GW just revamped the WE, who were similarly ignored for ages, its far more likely that whilst Brets are the next Fantasy force which will get an update (though when that comes is anyones guess - GW has increased their release pace; but they've also got another 40K rules launch and rumour of a new fantasy this year - though the latter is mostly based upon previous release patterns and there are no real fresh rumours of an accurate date).

From what I hear TK are a bit underpowered at present, however I very much doubt that GW would drop them at this stage.

As for what army; eh; go with what you want. Visually or tactically. Really the only way to "avoid" armies is if you want to go competitive and want the best possible current choice (remembering that what works oft comes down to the competitive meta which can change and vary with time and location so what works in one area might not work in another so well).


As for a random suggestion come join the ranks of the pointy ears and become one with the forests and join the WE!

Firstly, I very much doubt that GW will be dropping any army completely. GW learned their lesson with the squats episode, something which really angered many players. GW may not update an army for ages, but it costs them nothing to keep the models on the website for those who do want to buy them. Only Bretonnia are in any danger of being drastically changed, and that's moving them into the Empire book (or a combined "Kingdoms of Men" book, or something). Even there though, they'll have their differences.

As for beginners armies, purely from a beginner's stance, no other factors added in, I'd recommend any of the following:

Empire - These guys are the Jack of all trades, master of none army, and they're neither particularly elite or hordey, somewhere in between. They'll allow you to experiment with tons of different styles of play and find out which works for you.

Ogres/WoC - These two armies have a very simple, easy to learn playstyle that allows you to get to grips with (most of) the game fairly quickly. They also have a small model count, allowing you to amass a good-sized army reasonably quickly (especially so for Ogres as their Battalion is a great deal).

Hope this helps!

Its not so much "which army for a newb" I was getting at, more "I love this army because of [insert] and would recommend based on that"


Automatically Appended Next Post:
My misses really likes the new wood elves, she neither paints nor plays but I'd be happy to build an army that she takes an interest in (she's really not to concerned with my space wolves, marines or tyranids one way or another)
Gotta admit the new WE models are right up my street. Both the armies in IoB are nice....
Unlike 40k there's not a single WHFB army I don't like they all have a wealth of minis I think are cool

What aspect of the game appeals to you most? Magic...i would suggest TK as they really dominate in that phase (for the most part). Shooting...Empire or Dwarfs can bring lots of firepower to bear. Movement...Elves and skaven both have good standard movement values with Wood Elves being especially mobile think guerilla army. And CC...WoC are the best at this bar none IMO.

Bye bye lizards...

They just gave them a new book with tons of new models, the Lizards aren't going anywhere.

Tomb Kings and Empire are both very flexible armies, and can be set up in many effective ways, rather than being a single list army.

I prefer using flexible armies - so both my Empire and Tomb Kings were brought over to Kings of War after the latest and worstest Warhammer Fantasy Battles came out - both armies can be used for Kings of War with little change (excepting the bigger, high ticket, items in each).

So you can have an army for two different (if somewhat similar) games at no additional expense.

The Auld Grump, who really did not like the latest WHFB - but does like the miniatures for Empire and Tomb Kings.

*EDIT* Both armies also have plenty of alternative models - the Perry twins do a nice range of plastics, and I have been using Reaper miniatures for the characters in my Tomb Kings army.

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
They just gave them a new book with tons of new models, the Lizards aren't going anywhere.

Just wait and see

ahzek wrote:

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
They just gave them a new book with tons of new models, the Lizards aren't going anywhere.

Just wait and see

Haha, we'll have to wait a long while for that.
No, you're dead wrong.

ahzek wrote:
Bye bye lizards...

So much LOL, nice try kid.


Personally I would suggest High Elves, for no reason other than they were the first army I collected when I started playing the game back when I 10 around the time of mid-5th edition. Beautiful miniature range, strong and balanced army book and an integral part of Fantasy lore.

alex87 wrote:

ahzek wrote:
Bye bye lizards...

So much LOL, nice try kid.


Personally I would suggest High Elves, for no reason other than they were the first army I collected when I started playing the game back when I 10 around the time of mid-5th edition. Beautiful miniature range, strong and balanced army book and an integral part of Fantasy lore.

My misses likes HE, for the right reasons to... She just likes how they look. Has no idea how how the game works or who's who

alex87 wrote:

ahzek wrote:
Bye bye lizards...

So much LOL, nice try kid.


Personally I would suggest High Elves, for no reason other than they were the first army I collected when I started playing the game back when I 10 around the time of mid-5th edition. Beautiful miniature range, strong and balanced army book and an integral part of Fantasy lore.

Also, it's the *other* half of the island of blood set, so you can get a fairly affordable start to your army too.

There are two choices for armies.

Pick who you like the look of & learn to play / adapt them to your stye. This is my preferred method. You will be spending a LOT of time with these models so pick ones you like otherwise you're not going to enjoy the game as much.

Option 2:
Pick the one you like the playstyle of and paint them / convert them to your liking. I don't like this option as much since there are some models not much can be done with. One of the reasons I won't play HE is I hate most of the models for their core choices, even though the playstyle intrigues me.

I started off both Fantasy and 40k by picking an army based 100% off looks. I hated the play style of both those armies so much. After awhile I finally looked more into the play style i wanted and switched to an army that does that. I like it a lot more now then I ever did. But I still only use models I like the look of for those armies.

As for recommending an army I think it comes down to a few factors. But if I put those aside I would vote for Dark Elves/WoC/Ogres.
Dark Elves: I really like the various builds and things you can do with them.
WoC: some of the most brutal games I've played have been against these guys and most of their stuff seems to be pretty good/great.
Ogres: Personally I just like almost everything about these guys.

I am biased towards HE as they are my army, but WoC are a real powerhouse right now and pretty fun. Look at the models to se what you like the look off and see what people say about the playstyle of the army. Some require a lot of thinking to use effectively while others are far more forgiving. Also, Vampire Counts seem pretty cool at the moment and some of the models are great!

 Xiorell wrote:
Its not so much "which army for a newb" I was getting at, more "I love this army because of [insert] and would recommend based on that"

If you're looking for advice on a new army, then this is really completely the wrong way to go about it. You and I may have completely different likes, dislikes and playstyle, so me recommending something based on my personal taste is really rather pointless.

I'm not looking for advise, I was curious WHY people would promote said army. Why they like it, what they this k makes it stand out over another

I just started a Skaven army.
Cowardly rodents with wonky technology that is just as likely to blow them away as it is to blow the enemy away. What's not to love?
I admit I was torn (and I still am) between the rats and Vampire Counts. The potential for customisation is just unmatched. There are a million different sources of inspiration for a theme to your shambling hordes. The ability to raise the dead is also something worth considering.

An army I can't see myself playing in the forseeable future is the Empire. It is TOO varied, it just feels like it lacks an identity.

The problem of recommending an army to a newcomer is, with the balance that Fantasy has (quite miraculously, looking at how GW is treating 40k), it's very much down to what the new player wants.

I could very easily suggest Vampire Counts, because I think they're a fantastic army. Great freedom to design your own Vampires through magic items and bloodline powers, flexible army building lets you play the army in a variety of ways. Lots of casters gives you a lot to do in the magic phase.

Visually and thematically, the army runs the gamut for stereotypical Undead. While Tomb Kings focuses on skeletons, mummies and stone constructs, Vampire Counts fills out nearly everything. Skeletons, zombies, ghouls, wights, banshees, ghosts, vampires and necromancers, plus throws in some spooky halloween stuff as well like giant bats. The only Undead stereotype not present is Mummies, which Tomb Kings have sole access to.

However, there's some caveats. It completely lacks a shooting phase outside of some screamer units. Its 'elite' units tend to be less elite than other armies elite units, which is made up by another army wide issue, model count. You'll be painting a lot of stuff with Vampire Counts. At 3000pts, your model count will easily break 150 models, from large models like Mortis Engines and Coven thrones, Dragons and Terrorgheists to legions and legions of infantry models. You'll even end up needing to paint dozens of Zombies, since even if you don't ever plan on taking them, Vampire magic gives you the ability to just raise new units of them and reinforce them easily.

If a new player isn't into old Undead stereotypes, wants a shooting phase, or just doesn't want to paint that many models, then me recommending them is a bit of a waste.

Dogs of War are geting phased out, also Chaos Dwarves and Fishmen.