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Hello guys,

i am in need for 2 armies to play against each other. My wife and I will be playing against each other. I would like 2 good looking armies that goes well together like dwarves vs orcs thematicaly. I really like all elven armies, but don´t what army to go versus them. What do you think guys? What army would go great with elves to make fluffy battles full of hate and old grudges? Mind you i don´t thing i would go with HE vs DE, thats just too much elves with wuite simillar armies.

Thanks for suggestions.

Dark Elves vs Chaos or Lizardmen as they share a border to the north with Chaos and frequently raid Lustria.

Wood Elves vs Beastmen would also fit well as they've clashed many times.

Lizardmen vs Skaven.

They hate each other, are both exotic and look pretty cool.

So, really, we're looking for two armies that go well fluff-wise, one of them being elven?

Well, all of Eldarain's suggestions are fantastic (and probably the most frequent clashes), but, depending on how you define "fluff", there are many more. For example, Grom's (a Goblin Warboss) invasion of Ulthuan is an event in the background so although HE and OnG might not clash that often, you could easily recreate such an event.

Similarly, there are many references to Wood Elves clashing with Empire, Brets and Dwarves (usually over territory/trespassing, Wood Elves are like that) and Dark Elves frequently raid several settlements on the hunt for slaves/plunder/violence, so almost any matchup would work well there. So, at the risk of sounding like someone from GW, there are very few limitations on the background you can put into your games. Put some thought into it, and it should work!

I totally forgot about The Paunch's raid on Yvresse. (Particularly sad as High Elves were my first army.)

A themed force on either side including Eltharion, Grom and the Wyvern mounted Shaman would be really cool. You could create a custom campaign centered around the Goblins knocking down the Menhir stones that maintain the Magical Vortex.

Island of blood. save yourself some money.

OR

High elves vs dark elves.

Lizzardmen and high elves are friends not very fluffy that they would be fighting eachother. But lizzardmen and dark elves very fluffy

High Elves vs. Daemons is one of the most important events of the entire Warhammer World's long history.

The only main issue would be to avoid putting the Banner of the World Dragon on a unit of White Lions and shoving every character possible under it's protection... Should also avoid Alarielle for similar reasons as she can really bend Daemons over backwards when using Lore of Light.

But you have tones of awesome battles to theme the armies around:
- The original Chaos assault in which the Elves first learn to fight as an organised army, led by the great Anarion... The sacking of Avelorn in which Anarion's wife the Everqueen is killed and their children presumed lost.

- Anarion & Caledor Dragontamer lead the armies of Ulthuan in a desperate last stand to enact the Great Vortex to siphon the power of Chaos from the world, confining the Daemonic hosts to the poles.

- N'kari's many rampages across Ulthuan in it's search for Anarion's decendents
Perhaps the most recent battle where Tyrion & Teclis are secreted away to the Shrine of Asryan and forced to face down the Keeper of Secrets as the Daemonic hosts overrun the Phoenix Guard & other defenders.

- Teclis leading a High Elf contingent to the lands of The Empire during the Great War against Chaos.

- The fleets of Lorthern coming to aid the armies of Men and Dwarfs during the most recent incursion led by Archaon. (even though that one's been re-written because the Storm of Chaos campaign's ending was so god-awful!)

Vampire Counts and High Elves would be a good mix.

Different army playstyles, themes and you can easily forge a narrative against one another.

some fluffy match-ups off the top of my head...

- Dwarfs v Skaven
- Dwarfs v O&G
- Dwarfs v HE
- HE v DE
- WE v Beastmen
- Empire v Beastmen
- Empire v VC
- Empire v Skaven
- Empire v WoC
- TK v Skaven
- TK v VC
- Lizardmen v WoC
- Lizardmen v DoC
- Lizardmen v Skaven
- Brets v Beastmen

Yes, I know you said no HE v DE, but oh well! Also, not a lot of history, but Dwarfs v TK or VC fits fluff as well as Dwarfs despise the undead.

Empire vs Skaven? The Overempire vs the Underempire.

But both may require many models.

Well I basically can think about any mashup in warhammer world even Bret vs Empire or Skaven vs Skaven, but I cant figure out or remember any Skaven vs Wood Elves/Beastmen conflicts...

High Elves vs Daemons of Chaos
- The rivalry that pretty much started it all, a truly iconic piece of Fantasy Lore. 626 is right, High Elves have a few ways to absolutely troll this match-up, but I think in casual settings like this it's a bit of a non issue.

Lizardmen vs Skaven
- The Rat and The Serpent. The Skaven emerged from their underground labyrinths and a really bloody conflict arose in Lustria that crippled one of it's greatest temple cities. Would involve a lot of painting as Skaven armies are enormous from a model count perspective.

Dwarves vs Orcs and Goblins
- Dwarves and greenskins of all flavours have fought throughout the Fantasy timeline. Night Goblins in particular have tried to infest Dwarven strongholds on many occasions. Not limited to just goblins though, Dwarves and Orcs love killing each other as well and rarely need an excuse to do so.

Empire vs Beastmen
- The Beastmen loathe mankind vehemently and constantly raid and ransack villages and major cities of the Empire. There have been several landmark conflicts between the two, but in general The Empire represent everything that the Beastmen hate, so it's a narrative waiting to happen really.

Tomb Kings vs Vampire Counts
- Probably not great because of the Undead vs Undead matchup and what that means from a rules perspective, but a great rivalry nonetheless. I think just about all Vampiric lineages in the fantasy world can be traced back to the Tomb Kings that Nagash cursed. I'll let you delve into the fluff for yourselves but basically the Tomb Kings and Vampires hate each other passionately, despite their shared undead tendencies.

There are plenty of others, though these are very prominent ones in relation to the lore of Fantasy. Others would include;
Warriors of Chaos vs Empire
High Elves vs Dark Elves
Dwarves vs Skaven
Skaven vs Skaven
Brettonia vs Beastmen.

In essence, The Shadow is right. Without giving a cop-out answer and seeming like a sales-person for GW there are instances within the background that have brought all races together, as either friend or foe (and sometimes both). There's nothing stopping you from simply picking the two armies you like the most and then creating your own storyline based around a number of characters that you give names/history to yourselves.

Thanks guys!

So if the Warhammer world is almost anything goes, what would you recommend having playstyle and fun games in mind?

What 2 armies will go great together, to have fun, both armies should be great to play with and fun to play against.

For example people say that playing versus dwarves is pretty boring, is it true?

bendercz wrote:
Thanks guys!

So if the Warhammer world is almost anything goes, what would you recommend having playstyle and fun games in mind?

What 2 armies will go great together, to have fun, both armies should be great to play with and fun to play against.

For example people say that playing versus dwarves is pretty boring, is it true?

Dwarves, and, to a lesser extent, Wood Elves, do have that kind of stigma attached to them, being able to play very gun-line orientated armies and, in their previous books, that was pretty much the only way they could be competitive. Nowadays though, both armies have plenty of fun tools that should make playing against them a lot more enjoyable.

As for playstyle, I'd always recommend Empire for a beginner, as they are the jack-of-all-trades army, and can pretty much be run however you like them. They're a great army for getting to learn the game with. A good addition to Empire would be WoC or Ogres, as they're both strong armies that are easy to grasp and are somewhat different to Empire, being tougher, harder hitting but a lot more costly, which should make for some interesting games. Bear in mind though that Ogres are very vulnerable to Cannons, of which Empire can take plenty so, in a friendly setting, it would be best to stick to a maximum of one cannon (unless the Ogre player wants a challenge of course!)

Forge that narrative son !

Ok guys i narrowed it down to Wood Elves (which i will take 100% surely) and i am deciding between Warriors of Chaos and Dark elves, i can´t decide. I like looks of both.

Considering you didn't want two armies of Elves I'd say your looking at Warriors...

Wood Elves vs Warriors is an interesting matchup. Whilst both Armies are elite, one is very shooty and squishy and the other is tough and excels in combat. Should be interesting!

Wood Elves V.s Dwarves. Battle of the Pine Crags is a constant in all WE army books. I am not too sure how the game would go thought