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I would really like to pick up some fantasy models to put together and paint, but I've never played WHFB and wouldn't really want to do tournaments or build giant armies or anything. I've been looking at the older "warbands" rules and think it would be neat to pick up about 200 pts of a couple armies to play against each other (plus painting!). I'm not leaning heavily towards any two armies at the moment, though I do like the look of Goblins and Skaven.

What would be two evenly matched groups at this point level? Would you recommend just picking up the Island of Blood set?

Honestly yeh, Island of Blood would be a good way to go.

Gives you everything you need. Dice, rulers, templates, a rulebook and given how popular High Elves are you wouldn't have any problem selling or trading them for more Skaven which you are already leaning towards.

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
I would really like to pick up some fantasy models to put together and paint, but I've never played WHFB and wouldn't really want to do tournaments or build giant armies or anything. I've been looking at the older "warbands" rules and think it would be neat to pick up about 200 pts of a couple armies to play against each other (plus painting!). I'm not leaning heavily towards any two armies at the moment, though I do like the look of Goblins and Skaven.

What would be two evenly matched groups at this point level? Would you recommend just picking up the Island of Blood set?

200 is way too low to really work, you'd want to go around 600-800 or so minimum. You can proxy stuff in just fine, and build up a nice little force over time around that level without investing too much. But 200 just doesn't work unless you go for shenanigans like warbands.

Island of Blood is great if the armies appeal to you both.

If you want the skaven pick up IoB it's a great buy.

If not I like 1,000 pts as it keeps everything nice & even as far as points % for the force organization.

I was actually planning on shenanigans. Mostly I just want to paint them up, but I'd like something that's playable for 2 people.

You don't get a playable army at 200 pts. In WHFB, the very least is 750-1000 pts.

Sigvatr's right, you really need 800 absolute minimum if you want to play a game of proper fantasy. That is, unless you're using the Regiments of Renown rules (or similar), which sounds like something you plan, or would like, to do. In which case, you'd only need about twenty models. I don't play RoR at all regularly so I couldn't say what's good and what's not, but it doesn't sound like you want anything at all competitive either, in which case there's no worries there.

I'd just go with Goblins and Skaven, since they're the two armies you like the most.

Hmmm... Yeah, I borrowed a rulebook and am a little daunted. I have a few people interested in mordheiming it, so I might just buy a couple boxes for fun and make warbands.


Thanks for the tips!

Warhammer is not a pick-up game. It's complicated, but that's also what's fun about it.

You could, if you still wanted to play it, get the Islands of Blood box, and then just buy a bunch of bases and some movement trays. Have the first rank or two with your models, and then have empty bases on the rest of the movement tray.

It's a really easy and inexpensive way to proxy an easy 1000-1500 points using little more than the IoB boxed set.

But if you don't wanna dive into the rules, just stick to Mordheim. It's a good game.

I feel like somewhere in between Mordheim, Fantasy and a nice ole RPG is my dream game. Like a daggone Holy Grail!

I have a friend who has tons of models (his dad used to run a GW store), so the plan at this point is to learn the rules, play a few games and go from there.

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
I feel like somewhere in between Mordheim, Fantasy and a nice ole RPG is my dream game. Like a daggone Holy Grail!

Look into Malifaux.

 Shas'O Dorian wrote:

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
I feel like somewhere in between Mordheim, Fantasy and a nice ole RPG is my dream game. Like a daggone Holy Grail!

Look into Malifaux.

Malifaux has the size of Mordheim though. Just a small warband, so I don't feel like it is "half way between fantasy and mordheim" but rather it's a better balanced and thought-out version of Mordheim.

From what i know mordheim is around 5 models. Malifaux V2 tends to go between 8 and 18 depending on your list. Still small but a bit bigger than mordheim.

warbands then. the rules are for like 6th edition but they still work with proper adjustments.

 Shas'O Dorian wrote:
From what i know mordheim is around 5 models. Malifaux V2 tends to go between 8 and 18 depending on your list. Still small but a bit bigger than mordheim.

Depending on the team but the 5 models tend to be your heros... and for my opoment who we now call rambo the goblin with Bs7 and innsane fighting abilitys,... gawd i hate that gobling with his crosbow!
mordheim can go from low to like 20 models.

only skaven can have 20 in a warband everyone else is limited to 15 or 12 models

 Shas'O Dorian wrote:
From what i know mordheim is around 5 models. Malifaux V2 tends to go between 8 and 18 depending on your list. Still small but a bit bigger than mordheim.

Warmahordes is bigger than malifaux, and faster, but many folks like to play steamroller competitive...however, reenacting campaign battles from the story/fluff is pretty fun.

The other drawback is you are relatively anchored to a warcaster or warlock in the rules

I don't like warmahordes. It's very alpha striky. You cannot strike back in CC and I have to intentionally gimp myself to have a fun game.

If you opponents general dies, they lose. I have had several games where due to not knowing or misreading a rule or forgetting to move one model I could win on top of turn 2. That's just no fun for me.

Feel free to give it a try but don't fall into the trap that it's about monsters & warjacks (Steampunky robots) those lists do NOT do well. A few casters can run beast / jack heavy but much more common you'll see one jack (that you get for free or dirt cheap due to a discount from the caster) 2-4 units of infantry & a couple solos.

I decided to pick up some dwarfs and some orcs for painting reasons. I'm going to play around with the warbands idea a bit before deciding if I want to build a full army up.

As for warmachine, it has a lot of tactical depth and balance, I've just played it for a while and no one is into it around here anymore.

After doing a bit of thinking, I just don't think I care for gigantic epic battles. HOWEVER!!! I am digging these rules. A friend loaned me the rulebook, and everything just clicked (though I suppose 'wheeling' will take some practice).

What I'm wondering now is: would any of you play at the 750 to 1000 point level? I feel like I could feasibly build two armies at that point cost, but I hear all the time that >1500 is where it's at.

Also, I'd like to add to the Warmachine and Malifaux bits. Warmachine in my area has become a 50 point minimum game. No one plays Malifaux around here, and I'm still reading the book, but (why not?!) I picked up some models cheap just cuz.

Warhammer is good at 1000 points as well. It can be limiting due to the % system but still fun. We are getting ready to start a warbands league next month playing from 300-800 points

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
After doing a bit of thinking, I just don't think I care for gigantic epic battles. HOWEVER!!! I am digging these rules. A friend loaned me the rulebook, and everything just clicked (though I suppose 'wheeling' will take some practice).

What I'm wondering now is: would any of you play at the 750 to 1000 point level? I feel like I could feasibly build two armies at that point cost, but I hear all the time that >1500 is where it's at.

Also, I'd like to add to the Warmachine and Malifaux bits. Warmachine in my area has become a 50 point minimum game. No one plays Malifaux around here, and I'm still reading the book, but (why not?!) I picked up some models cheap just cuz.

My co-workers and I built a table in the warehouse of our office. Every week we play a 1000 point FFA with Triumph and Treachery rules. It's a blast. We've moved to 1500 but it worked well enough at 1k. And as a bonus, everyone gets to play together. Check it out.