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Ok, so it took me six months to cave and be willing to give AoS a fair go. Before venturing forth into this Brave New World, I've given myself a budget of $100-160 retail cost for a AoS force as I want this game to live up to the 'cheap buy-in' mantra. Basing isn't an issue as I've a metric ton of 25mm rounds left from rebasing some space marines.

I'm not sure what faction or theme I want to go with apart from a few ideas, but I'm open to suggestions and help

Current ideas for a faction/themed force are:

-Gobbos. Greenskins get everywhere and I'm thinking maybe a box or two of regular gobbos + shaman

-Slaaneshi themed warband. HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GOD? Last seen: Tyrion and Teclis's all-you-can-eat Elven buffet. Plan is hellstriders and marauders, plus a mutation sprue to kitbash.

-Wood Elves. Not going to lie, I like the idea of a force roaming the Realm of Life so I can go with a vibrant meadow-y basing theme...Unsure on this but a spellsinger and some wildwood rangers are a given if I go this route.

And here's the catch: I'm not overly keen on: Skaven, High or Dark Elves, Khorne or Nurgle or any of the human factions.

Suggestions appreciated

I'm actually thinking Tzeentch Daemons might suit you. Especially in terms of price.

The Chariot box alone can net you an Exalted Flamer, a Herald on foot, 2 Blue Horrors easily converted to be the Blue Scribes, and potentially another disc for a random model as a sorcerer.

All you really need then are a few Pink Horrors, a monster, and regular Flamers.

With a max of $160 budget, should be enough to get you 3 Heroes from the Chariot, one on the Chariot itself, 10 infantry, 1 monster (if a daemon prince), and 3 fast shooting units (if Flamers).

I'm basing these on Canadian dollars though so you might get more with US.

What play style do you enjoy? The Hellstriders have some great rules, but you would want them in combat early and hopefully surviving for a few rounds. Very different from the elves, which would hang back early.

If you like gobbos, I've had my eye on spider riders myself. The plastic box is pretty good bang for your buck, and you can convert a boss on gigantic spider easily from it. Their ability to inflict mortal wounds, and even more if you have the boss use his command ability, is quite powerful.

WOOD ELLLVVESSSS!!! Sorry, but I have an almost religious view of them. But yeah, as some others have said, what playstyle do you enjoy. Wood elves are a kind of shoot 'n' run kinda army, with cavalry to do some close combat (not to mention the dragons and Orion). They are fun to paint, and you can base your army around different seasons.

@Lou Cypher - I'm using AUD :( 160 USD would be grand but sadly I'm on the penal colony. I've been looking into Tzeentch, though if I went this way I'd mix mortals and daemons, still the chariot is very good bang for buck

@coldgaming- I'm not sure on my playstyle. Sometimes I like all-out assaults while other times I like to see my foes break themselves upon my defenses. I did play O+G back when WHFB was still a thing (sold them all though,such was my knee-jerk). The reason for gobbos is a min unit is 10, so a box gives me two min units from the get-go.

Most of the time my tactics involve making it up as I go along...so I'd say I prefer an adaptable army that has a mix of quantity and quality.

 SpinCycleDreadnought wrote:
@Lou Cypher - I'm using AUD :( 160 USD would be grand but sadly I'm on the penal colony. I've been looking into Tzeentch, though if I went this way I'd mix mortals and daemons, still the chariot is very good bang for buck

@coldgaming- I'm not sure on my playstyle. Sometimes I like all-out assaults while other times I like to see my foes break themselves upon my defenses. I did play O+G back when WHFB was still a thing (sold them all though,such was my knee-jerk). The reason for gobbos is a min unit is 10, so a box gives me two min units from the get-go.

Most of the time my tactics involve making it up as I go along...so I'd say I prefer an adaptable army that has a mix of quantity and quality.

I think the gobbos are cool but not sure how effective units of 10 would be. In that army I think you'd want something that could hit hard, while maybe the gobbos are more for objective grabbing/reinforcements. Forgive me for plugging the spiders again - they have speed, hitting power with mortal wounds, synergy with the boss, easy to convert the character, two wounds a piece so won't drop quite like flies, good deal on the plastic box. For $127 AUD you could get 19 spider riders (2-3 units as min unit is 5), 1 big boss on spider, and 1 goblin shaman. That's a nice mix of combat power, manoeuvrability, longevity and some magic ability. From there down the line you could really beef it up with an arachnarok. Alternatively you could grab from across the goblin spectrum, switch one spider box for a regular gobbo box and then you've got your 2x10 gobbo units, though I might recommend putting them in larger groups.

Sorry, I'm a little hyped on spiders these days. In small warband sort of games, I think the wood elves would be a cool bet too, as every model you put on the table would be important to your survival and you have fewer guys you can lose before the game starts to get out of reach. I think it's important to get a character/magic user in there somehow, as the ability to dish straight mortal wounds every turn is crucial.

I just went on a shopping trip for you to see what Wood Elves you could get. I decided the following would make a good starting structure for an army:

1. General
2. Wizard
3. Cavalry
4. Infantry

Seems like a nice mixed structure to begin with - the other limit I placed is it must not be direct only, so you could get it cheaper else where if you wanted.

1 x Araloth AUS$24 - your general
1x Spellweaver with Staff AUS$28 - your wizard (finecast I am afraid)
1x Wild Riders/Sisters of Thorn AUS$45 - cavalry, nice looking kits!
1x Wildwood Rangers/Eternal Guard AUS$47 - Infantry

Seems like a nice little army there, coming to AUS$144 in total. :-)

Speaking as a Wood Elf player?

The only "Must-haves" are Waywatchers and Waystalkers(the "hero" version of the Waywatchers).
No joke. I'm "politely asked" to bring no more than 5 Waywatchers at this point by some players, because they're that damned good. When I had to do a learning game with a new player two weeks ago, I ran 5 and basically played like a moron so that I didn't just annihilate his stuff.

Additionally, you cannot go wrong with Hunting Hounds. Pick up Fenrisian Wolf boxes and you get the maximum amount that your Spellweaver can summon in one go.
It also opens you up to expand and add in Orion at some point, who makes Hunting Hounds one of the most ridiculously frustrating units to face.

Eternal Guard are fantastic as well with their ability ("Fortress of Boughs" Unit can't move but gains +1 to all hit, wound, and save rolls), and get better if you have a Glade Captain with Battle Standard planted nearby(Roll a dice each time a Wanderer unit from your army that is within 8/18 inches of the Banner of Athel Loren suffers a wound or mortal wound from a spell; on a 4+ the wound is ignored).

Also? Pick up the Age of Sigmar app and download all the Wood Elves(not the Sylvaneth listed stuff, Wood Elves) stuff. There's a formation in there called the "Wanderer Host" that you can use as a guide to build up to.

It's:
1 Glade Lord
1 Spellsinger
2 units of Glade Guard
1 unit of Glade Riders
1 unit of Eternal Guard
1 unit of Wardancers, Waywatchers, or Wildwood Rangers.

Demons - so when you realise its a silly game you can migrate to 40/30k

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Forest-Spirit-Warhost This is what you want. I just bought it and it's a fun army with everything you need. I would recommend buying it from a store with a discount. I got mine for $180.00. The only thing you may want to add later is another box of dryads.

Man, I played against a gobbo army the other day, and it was amazing. 1 giant and just squigs and gobbos all over. Pure fun to play against and the stats of AoS made them stand apart from my undead army. Whatever you choose, everything now feels like its own thing which is my biggest hurdle with the old gw system for WHF and WH40k.

But seriously - Gobbos!

@Broxus, the forest spirit warhost blows up my budget ala Manfred and the Old World :(

@Wilson, I know it's a silly game played for lols which is why partially why I want to give it a go. The other reason is a depressing absence of generic fantasy skirmish games- almost everything is sci-fi or steampunk.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, it seems it's down to wood elves and gobbos, though I'm still torn on those unless I have a better plan.

May I suggest (and I know it's not in your list) just getting the base set? I picked one up from a buddy who decided he was out of the minis painting business, not because he thought thte game was poor.

Benefits include two starter forces that are fairly decently balanced plus the rulebook/warscrolls all in print form.

If you haven't played a game or watched a play through, I highly suggest looking up: Realms of Conflict's Age of Sigmar Battle Report Episode 2 on youtube. It lets you see how the forces play as they use the starter box and play the biggest fight scenario it includes.

privateer4hire wrote:
May I suggest (and I know it's not in your list) just getting the base set? I picked one up from a buddy who decided he was out of the minis painting business, not because he thought thte game was poor.

Benefits include two starter forces that are fairly decently balanced plus the rulebook/warscrolls all in print form.

If you haven't played a game or watched a play through, I highly suggest looking up: Realms of Conflict's Age of Sigmar Battle Report Episode 2 on youtube. It lets you see how the forces play as they use the starter box and play the biggest fight scenario it includes.

While it's tempting, neither side appeals to me from a faction or themed force side.

I've decided though on Wood Elves, probably going to get a box of glade guard or wildwood rangers post x-mas. Thanks everyone for the advice

broxus wrote:
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Forest-Spirit-Warhost This is what you want. I just bought it and it's a fun army with everything you need. I would recommend buying it from a store with a discount. I got mine for $180.00. The only thing you may want to add later is another box of dryads.

That's a great army...

For Sylvaneth. It's not a Wood Elf army.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 SpinCycleDreadnought wrote:

privateer4hire wrote:
May I suggest (and I know it's not in your list) just getting the base set? I picked one up from a buddy who decided he was out of the minis painting business, not because he thought thte game was poor.

Benefits include two starter forces that are fairly decently balanced plus the rulebook/warscrolls all in print form.

If you haven't played a game or watched a play through, I highly suggest looking up: Realms of Conflict's Age of Sigmar Battle Report Episode 2 on youtube. It lets you see how the forces play as they use the starter box and play the biggest fight scenario it includes.

While it's tempting, neither side appeals to me from a faction or themed force side.

I've decided though on Wood Elves, probably going to get a box of glade guard or wildwood rangers post x-mas. Thanks everyone for the advice

If you can, try to hunt down the old Wood Elf Battalion.
It included:
24 Glade Guard
8 Glade Riders
12 Dryads

The Dryads are, as it stands alongside of Treemen and Tree Kin, looking to form an entirely new army it seems(called the Sylvaneth). There are scenario/Realm rules though where Forces of Order can have them appear similarly to Daemons.

For a Cheap buy-in you may want to look at Azyr Comp point costs to give you a good idea. It's the most accepted and used point system for aos and gives you an idea of a units bang to buck ratio. Just Google Azyr Comp. Ogres are an inexpensive buy in, as are wood elf Treemen.

Also, you may want to look at all the formations for each army and shoot directly for one of those.

 SpinCycleDreadnought wrote:
Ok, so it took me six months to cave and be willing to give AoS a fair go. Before venturing forth into this Brave New World, I've given myself a budget of $100-160 retail cost for a AoS force as I want this game to live up to the 'cheap buy-in' mantra. Basing isn't an issue as I've a metric ton of 25mm rounds left from rebasing some space marines.

I'm not sure what faction or theme I want to go with apart from a few ideas, but I'm open to suggestions and help

Current ideas for a faction/themed force are:

-Gobbos. Greenskins get everywhere and I'm thinking maybe a box or two of regular gobbos + shaman

-Slaaneshi themed warband. HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GOD? Last seen: Tyrion and Teclis's all-you-can-eat Elven buffet. Plan is hellstriders and marauders, plus a mutation sprue to kitbash.

-Wood Elves. Not going to lie, I like the idea of a force roaming the Realm of Life so I can go with a vibrant meadow-y basing theme...Unsure on this but a spellsinger and some wildwood rangers are a given if I go this route.

And here's the catch: I'm not overly keen on: Skaven, High or Dark Elves, Khorne or Nurgle or any of the human factions.

Suggestions appreciated

Think the elves and tree folk are a while aay. The tree boys just got reboxed so may be a wait.