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How do?

Felt it was time to kick up the conversation a notch, as this sub-forum is often very game related*, and not chit-chat.

Title is the question of course. And I’d appreciate you sounding off on the why, because it’s always an interesting read. To kick you off, here are mine, in no particular order.

Oh, and there is but one rule I’d like to add to Dakka’s standing rules? No Dunking On Any Faction. Consider this thread a purely puff piece. You want to discuss stuff you don’t like? That’s an entirely valid topic best suited to its own thread

1. Gloomspite Gitz.

They’re Gobbos. They’ve got Squigs and they’re not afraid to use them. As a longtime Warhammer fan, it’s awesome for me to have a fully AoSificated army which I could still transplant into WHFB, both in terms of models and background. Absolutely always gonna be my top pick - especially as within the Tome I can get at least four distinct armies out of it (Squigs, Night Goblins, Forest Goblins, Trolls). And if I’m not too worried about utmost efficiency, I can still freely mix those four into whatever sort of army I care to field. Not to mention all the models are absolutely top notch. I for one am head over heels for Gloomspite - and I can see my collection only ever expanding into a truly ridiculous horde of spiteful sods!

2. Flesh Eater Courts.

This for me is predominantly about the background. It’s just......original. And I love the conversion opportunities it presents. Not to mention what I perceive to be a political satire behind them that we cannot, should not, and will not discuss on Dakka. They’re also in my opinion a masterclass on adapting units from WHFB into a compelling, self-contained AoS army. Just wonderful stuff!

3?

Here, I’m genuinely torn. It’s between Ossiarchs, and Stormcast. But I need to give it to.......

3. Stormcast Eternals.

Yup. The Sigmarines. Sure they’re the poster boys, and they are quite tropey. But? Ever since AoS debuted, I’ve thought they’re really, really cool. They look ace. They fight ace. And for my money, their background is ace. They’re also something I’ve long wanted to see in Warhammer - Holy Warriors not born of Chaos. Each one can go toe to toe with any pre AoS Chaos types, and probably win. They’re at once majestic and terrifying. And their flaws from the background? Masterful. No, seriously. Their functional immortality comes with an as yet to be fully determined price. If you go and get yourself all ded in the face, you’ll generally get re-forged. Some will come through seemingly entirely unscathed. Others? Well, you’ll either never be able to remember what you had for lunch last Tuesday, or you’ll just not be even remotely the same person - and everything in between. Sigmar knows this, but arrogance or desperation (or a mix of both) means he considers it justified. After all, he’s absolutely playing for keeps. Because against Chaos, you can’t do anything less.

So that’s my three picks, time to hear yours.

*nothing wrong with that, but I do like a chinwag thread.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Yup. The Sigmarines. Sure they’re the poster boys, and they are quite tropey. But? Ever since AoS debuted, I’ve thought they’re really, really cool. They look ace. They fight ace. And for my money, their background is ace. They’re also something I’ve long wanted to see in Warhammer - Holy Warriors not born of Chaos. Each one can go toe to toe with any pre AoS Chaos types, and probably win. They’re at once majestic and terrifying. And their flaws from the background? Masterful. No, seriously. Their functional immortality comes with an as yet to be fully determined price. If you go and get yourself all ded in the face, you’ll generally get re-forged. Some will come through seemingly entirely unscathed. Others? Well, you’ll either never be able to remember what you had for lunch last Tuesday, or you’ll just not be even remotely the same person - and everything in between. Sigmar knows this, but arrogance or desperation (or a mix of both) means he considers it justified. After all, he’s absolutely playing for keeps. Because against Chaos, you can’t do anything less.

Well said. They would certainly make my top three as well. Not because I am particularly fond of their themes or aesthetics but because they are so well designed to be the poster boys. They very much are the sigmarines of the setting and are also not pretentious about it. GW is not afraid to write them as unapologetic good guys, but also goes out of their way to ensure there is more to them and did so right from the start. They don't have a lot of the things I find irritating about marines, while retaining a lot of the things I do like. And most importantly they aren't half of the game's model releases.

Kharadron Overlords. Steampunk sky-dwarves done exceptionally well. Their fluff perfectly blends the dwarf culture we know from Warhammer with an industrial capitalist one, and the history for how that happened is very plausible. GW took the inherent question of 'how do we get a race traditionally portrayed as underground into the sky?' and came up with an answer that is both very unique and very dwarven. They still feel like dwarves but are also distinct enough that they are much more than simply 'but in the sky'. This is coupled with some really great models. I do wish the skyships were not downscaled though; it irks me that the frigate and ironclad miniatures are clearly physically incapable of transporting that many individuals, even if they are bigger in the fluff. But it isn't enough to dim my enthusiasm.

Flesh Eater Courts. You nailed it. The fluff is too good to leave them out of my top three. It is such a unique and awesome idea. And yeah, there is that political satire to it that makes them hugely relatable in a way.


Honorary mention to how GW split Chaos up with one combined mortal-daemon army for each god then slaves to darkness being both a faction on their own and part of all the mono-god factions via marks. I love that about AoS and hope 40k follows someday. It isn't really a 'favorite faction' per say but rather something they did with factions, but I felt it was worth including.

1. Slaves to Darkness
There is something I find fascinating about the concept of Chaos Undivided. Whether it's worshiping all dark gods equally or worshiping the one offering the most right now. I often prefer a more traditional rank and file army of elite warriors which the faction allows. At the same time, I have options for weird monsters and whatever the Chaos Shrine is too. Not to mention black and gold armor is so very, very slick.

2. Lumineth Realm Lords
It is more uncommon than one would think of fantasy settings/miniatures with elemental earth themes that isn't dwarves or rough-hewn stone men or mud blob elementals. The Stoneguard maintain a level of culture and elegance for an elemental type that is usually type cast as rough-and-tumble and/or salt-of-the-earth (pun intended) type casting. The same goes for the Spirit of the Mountain/Avalenor.

3. Ossiarch Bonereapers
I like the lore of this faction taking the greatest warriors of time that have died and merging their spirits into a bone constructs which I think look wickedly cool in an elite army of skeletal undeath. The idea of the bonetithe is neat to me. I also think their more creative units are rather inspired and daring. I like all the models in this faction. I wouldn't mind starting an army if I wasn't so far behind on painting already and really don't have the space without dropping other armies I already have.

Gloomspite: Just a wonderful update to a great Old World army. Absolutely love them

Flesh Eater Courts: an absolute gem of a reimagining for the cannibal part of the Undead. A concept so good it merits a proper resculpting to show them amidst their delusions.

Cities of Sigmar: Not for what they've done officially but for being the best example of what the completely open new setting can lead to when we're let loose in it. Some of the most stunning and creative armies have been made since the books release.

1) Seraphon/Lizardmen

I love the lore (not as much the new coalesced versus starborne lore but more the original lore) and how they're seemingly ferocious but actually some of the most "good" beings in the setting, and they're my favourite minis GW has ever produced, even the old ones still hold up for me. I love the aesthetic that borrows from Mesoamerican cultures and skinks are cute. Overall they're just very fun and they're what drew me back into the fantasy side of GW games.

2) Cities of Sigmar

I love the idea of cities of sigmar simply because you can use it to play a version of Dark Elves if you want, and I might use it one day to try to make the elf coalition army I always wanted to make since I was a kid with elements of Dark Elves, Wood Elves, and High Elves coming together to fight chaos.

3) Slaves to Darkness

I've always loved the look of chaos warriors and that hasn't changed, the new sculpts are even better! Great aesthetic and I find the mortals who succumb to chaos very interesting from a fluff perspective. Beasts of Chaos are a close runner up becuase the concept of non-humans being influenced by chaos is also really interesting and I enjoy the sculpts, especially the retro ones in the range.

Idoneth and Flesh Eater, because they're the best examples of building an army around an interesting, original concept, and having everything in the army fit in with that concept, instead of "here's some generic fantasy creatures, let's make some rules for them."


After that? I dunno. Orruk Warclans has hints here and there of really interesting millenarian / prophetic themes that unfortunately are really underdeveloped and still mixed in with too much "just smash 'em" generic ork stuff. Gitz get an honorable mention here too, but again they'd still held back by GW's seemingly pathological need to dumb down greenskins and not give them the credit they deserve, mistaking "goofy" for "not serious."

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:


1. Gloomspite Gitz.

They’re Gobbos. They’ve got Squigs and they’re not afraid to use them. As a longtime Warhammer fan, it’s awesome for me to have a fully AoSificated army which I could still transplant into WHFB, both in terms of models and background. Absolutely always gonna be my top pick - especially as within the Tome I can get at least four distinct armies out of it (Squigs, Night Goblins, Forest Goblins, Trolls). And if I’m not too worried about utmost efficiency, I can still freely mix those four into whatever sort of army I care to field. Not to mention all the models are absolutely top notch. I for one am head over heels for Gloomspite - and I can see my collection only ever expanding into a truly ridiculous horde of spiteful sods!

Um, yeah. What Doc said.
Plus I LOVE my Gloomspites Endless Spells - both the models & their game effects. And our terrain piece (I don't even care what it does, it just looks damned cool on the table). These models (+ squigs) were important in my decision to actually make the Gloomspite one of my main AoS forces.
W/L/D I've yet to play a game with my grots where I haven't had fun. As long as I get to blast something with a nuke shaped mushroom.

2) Beasts of Chaos
I have loved the minotaur models ever since their 5th ed(?) versions (I own alot of them 20+!). There is something very satisfying in putting down more minotaurs models than many players have ever seen together & trampling the foes under a virtual stampede.
I also love the Ungors. And the chariots. And dragon ogres. And....
I also like that I can include Chimeras & Cockatrices in the force (my opponents have learned to fear these particular beasts)
I love how this army plays. Especially its summoning rules.
My particular goal with this army is to use the Cockatrices to turn my foes awesome cool centerpiece things (Bloodthirsters, Teclis, Mega-Gargants, etc) to stone. I then buy a copy & then paint it up as a statue that appears in future games as terrain. Or shows up in our RPGs.
Right now Archaon is my target....
Not always as fun of games as my Gloomspite, but still plenty of fun.

3) Dwarves - be they an army out of Legends, Cities of sigmar, Fyre Slayers, Kahrodan, or some allied combo....
I've loved playing dwarves (and their artillary/tech) in fantasy war games since I started way back in WHFB 3e. And EVERY company makes a good looking dwarf model at some point. So I'll never truely run out of cool new models to expand the forces with.

My first love in old fantasy was Beastmen and I must that the trend continues in AoS. I still think that the good old bestmen have some of the best models and an interesting fluff. I'm not a huge fan of the tzangore or the upcomming hedonite beastmen, but I do hope Khorne and Nurgle will be able to bring interesting ones to the table in the future. Even the very retro models appeal to me. I actually really like their chariot which gives them a celtic vibe. I would also give a mention the Slaves of Darkness which have exceptionnaly pretty model. I also like their very wide range of fluffy opportunity to design good storyline for them. I have taken to include some SoD as allies, using the cultists of Ghur as a stylistic glue between the two groups. I hope Marauders will get either ggood replacement from Warcry warbands or new models in the future.

In second place, I love the Flesh Eater Courts for their hillarious, but also tragic fluff. They also have pretty interesting models, but I wish they expand their line and refresh some of them, especially things like Varghulf.

In third place, I would say that the Gloomspite Gitz have the most interesting style with creepy cartoon style that reminds me of the days of Warcraft 2 which I played abundently. The person who designed the Gobbapalooza needs a medal or something. They are simply awesome little models. I like the fact they have so much variety and already a pretty impressive model range and colorfull characters.

Nighthaunts/Death grand alliance.
My first dabble into AoS at the times when fantasy kits still dominated the game and round bases was just for the brand new kits.

Troggoths/Gloomspite Gitz
First force that realy hit my spot and the only one i currently own. Once you go troll you dont go back!

Cities of Sigmar
Too big of a fan of the old empire and dwarfs to let them go. If i would ever get a 2nd force, thouse dudes would be it.

Legions of Nagash - you can't beat a never-ending flow of rotten corpses and bones. Really hoping for a decent update which doesn't involve the word pirate.

Stormcast - my 2021 force. Aim to get 1k painted up and then go from there. These bad lads and lasses are immense. I've always loved how they look and via Mortal Realms I've suddenly got a huge force.

Nurgle - their models are utterly grotesque. Love them. Play DG in 40K and love how my Nurgle Daemons can be played in both systems.

Nurgle ranks above the context of this thread, as number 1 in 'favorite faction of all Warhammer' Nurgle's greatness cannot be confined to the context of one game!

1. Daemons. I think in the new background, daemonic invasions make a lot more sense and entire armies of Daemons fit in a lot better. I like the Order-Chaos focus and I think the look of a daemonic host fighting Stormcast is really cool. So my number 1 would be a huge alliance of daemons, which benefit from crazy looking troops and elites and massive centrepiece models.
2. Beastmen. One of my favourite Warhammer factions and still iconic to me. I think their playstyle holds the most clearly in this new world. I like the idea of "earthbound" chaos forces a lot.
3. Deepkin. I think they hit the nail on the head with their creepy mer-elf faction and they look really cool and also finally fulfilled a long held wish of many fantasy fans - a fish folk faction! Maybe the stuff with the ethersea or whatever it is that allows them to "swim" in the air is silly, but for people like me that buy stuff to use in roleplaying games these guys offer a great variety of cool models to make your undersea kingdoms with.

Honourable mention to Stormcast, I think the imagery of them as the minions of Order is really cool even if the background doesn't do a whole lot for me. I have a set of the minis and I look forward to painting them up.

An addition to my praise of Stormcast, which I forgot to include.

The flaw of reforming? We still don’t know how far it goes. We know it sometimes goes wrong, and you get those Lightning Gheist things first touched upon in the short fiction leading up to Soul Wars.

I mean, what’s going to happen overtime? If sufficient numbers lose their humanity, what happens then? Does Sigmar have the means and resources to imprison them? If the Chambers become ever more brutal due to soulless pragmatism, what would happen to faith in Sigmar? Example - if the Stormhost decides the most practical thing is to wipe out a village, word and rumour will spread. To mix setting metaphor, what if Stormcast are doomed to go all Flesh Tearers?

There’s a lot still to be played with there, narratively speaking. And I just hope GW don’t shy away from it, because Poster Boys and Girls will always be the main lens through which the setting is viewed.

After eyeing a number of armies I ended up picking up Lumineth. High eleves were my first warhammer army back with the starter with a bunch of spear and bow elves and cardboard Grom and Eltharion. I know they are polarizing, but I love the mountain spirits and the alarith hammer dudes look cool with a helmet change (cow face as mask, cow helm topper removed, or an alternate helmet such as from shadow warriors).

I think kharadron are actually my favorite, though I was a bit intimidates by the ships. I think their fluff is cool and the army concept flips typical slow dwarf army style on its head.

The gloomspite models and fluff are so gonzo and have always like the weedy little night goblins.

Third choice is tough. I agree with comments regarding Stormcast. The seas elves are very unique and interesting too. It may just be the newness, but the updated Slaanesh armory is very evocative and looks coherent without looking like a super formal organized army.

1. Fyreslayers. I loved the concept of Slayers in classic WHFB, even had a full army from the Storm of Chaos supplement while that lasted, so returning to a full army of slayers was somewhat nostalgic.

Aside from Stormcast/Khorne that came with the various starter set, they were my first "pure" AoS army. They were pretty damn boring to play for the duration of their first battletome, but the second tome kicked things up quite a few notches and they continue to be solid performers.

I like how their culture is different than classic dwarf societies, who are usually depicted as isolationist, declining empires. Rather than being in decline or exile like their cousins, they went out and thrived during the Age of Chaos. The mercenary nature of their society was a hard pill to swallow, but its grown on me and opened up alot of narrative possibilities that wouldn't have been an option with a traditional Dwarf tale.

Sadly, I sold off my Vostarg army prior to the pandemic, but I'm getting the itch to return to them.

2. Nighthaunt. The visuals alone in this army continue to blow me away years after their release. Taking the themes of the classic Wraith and Tomb Banshee and running with it to create an entirely new army was a pretty inspired choice.

Their lore is dark and twisted which I love.

I've been eyeing up some cheap starter set halves online, but their tabletop performance kind of makes me hesitate. But they are so awesome looking! I have a Craven King that I bought just for gaks and giggles to try something new(painting wise). Perhaps he'll be the cornerstone of my 2021 AoS Hobby!

3. Disciples of Tzeentch. Usually a Nurgle guy, but the Disciples of Tzeentch kind of inspired me.

Love the Tzaangors and to some extent the Kairic Acolytes.

Took me a while to realize it, but the Tzaangor kits are surprisingly versatile in how you can build them. I've been slow(slow, slow) growing a Tzaangor heavy army since their release.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
An addition to my praise of Stormcast, which I forgot to include.

The flaw of reforming? We still don’t know how far it goes. We know it sometimes goes wrong, and you get those Lightning Gheist things first touched upon in the short fiction leading up to Soul Wars.

I mean, what’s going to happen overtime? If sufficient numbers lose their humanity, what happens then? Does Sigmar have the means and resources to imprison them? If the Chambers become ever more brutal due to soulless pragmatism, what would happen to faith in Sigmar? Example - if the Stormhost decides the most practical thing is to wipe out a village, word and rumour will spread. To mix setting metaphor, what if Stormcast are doomed to go all Flesh Tearers?

There’s a lot still to be played with there, narratively speaking. And I just hope GW don’t shy away from it, because Poster Boys and Girls will always be the main lens through which the setting is viewed.

Haven't met the Knights Excelsior, I take it?

Not 100% up on my Chambers

1. Gloomspite Gitz. Gotta agree with you on the Gloomspite Gitz front, it's just a fantastic remake of the Night Goblin, Forest Goblin, Trolls and Squigs concept from WFB into a cohesive whole that really is more than the sum of its parts. Not only are the models absolutely fantastic and flavourful, but the fluff and rules (even if not hyper-competitive) are just filled with a passion you can feel that the designers poured their love into. I'm seriously considering starting them now that my Orruk Warclans army is now fully painted and based.... which leads me to...

2. Orruk Warclans. Probably personal bias for me since I play them, but I've always loved the concept of an elite Black Orcs centered army and this is basically that dialed up to 11. The Maw Krusha is consistently one of my favourite models because of its sheer presence and bulk that makes our local meta call it affectionately the "angry cabbage". Even fluff wise its hilarious that scholars speculate that it can only fly because even gravity doesn't want to mess with it. I also like the fluff behind how Brutes literally bash their armour in around them rather than through smithing, and the complete opposite with the Savage Orruks basically being the Orruk equivalent of flagellants. It's interesting seeing the two extremes together in one book.

3. Ossiarch Bonereapers. I've always liked undead but never so much the rotting zombie. ghoul or vampire aspect, which is why I could never quite get into Vampire Counts way back in WFB. Tomb Kings was the closest to having an all skeletal army, but Bonereapers basically answered exactly what I was looking for in an army in terms of the fluff and the aesthetic, and the concept behind the bone tithes and them being Nagash's answer to Sigmar's Stormcast is a cool army idea.

Sure, why not. More in order of aesthetics (and possibly fluff) since I don't play competitively so don't really care where that is.

1. Tzeentch. Always, always loved me some Tzeentch in 40k fluff, and since I avoided WHFB forever but somehow got sucked into AOS, well, had to do Tzeentch first.

2. Nighthaunt. Ghost models are just *sooo* cool.

3. Flesh Eater Courts. The models are ok, but I really like the AOS fluff of their delusional "we're nobility" thing going on. I don't have many models (just got one Skirmish force when they released) but will likely build more at some point.

There are, honestly, many various models that I like for many factions, but those are the top 3 that I would/am building an army for.

Legions of Nagash: Vampires, Ghosts, Ghouls, Zombies and of course the big guy himself. It's like all those old horror novels and movies have appeared on the battlefield.

Chaos Deamons: An army so random you could play the same list a thousand times and never get the same result.

Seraphon: It's an army of dinosaurs, that's all you need.

Still very much a Sigmar noob but I'll have a crack at it:

Ossiarch Bonereapers: Nagash is my husbando and I want him to make me his mindless undead butt slave. I like the more elite approach to the undead Bonereapers have.

Hedonites of Slaanesh: I love their playstyle so much lol. If we're just talking gameplay Slaanesh is the best army I've been exposed to. It's a degenerate playstyle involving spamming multi-wound badass heroes who as they get wounded and die can then sumon more big multi-wound heroes, and it's so fun lol.

Sons of Behemat: Some of the best-looking models GW has put out, can't wait to try them.

 Void__Dragon wrote:

Ossiarch Bonereapers: Nagash is my husbando and I want him to make me his mindless undead butt slave.

Ok, your a weirdo.... I believe the kinky fetish sites are over that way -----> (points you off into the wilds of the internet, in the general direction of "away from the rest of us"

ccs wrote:

 Void__Dragon wrote:

Ossiarch Bonereapers: Nagash is my husbando and I want him to make me his mindless undead butt slave.

Ok, your a weirdo.... I believe the kinky fetish sites are over that way -----> (points you off into the wilds of the internet, in the general direction of "away from the rest of us"

You didn’t spell “Slaanesh” properly...

He just thought the "r" in "Bonereapers" was part of the first word.

Well i love Beasts of Chaos, sooo....

Beasts of Chaos
Beasts of Khorne
Beasts of Slaanesh
Beasts of Nurgle
Beasts of Tzeentch

 Amishprn86 wrote:
Well i love Beasts of Chaos, sooo....

Beasts of Chaos
Beasts of Khorne
Beasts of Slaanesh
Beasts of Nurgle
Beasts of Tzeentch

Technically we already have Tzaangor and we will soon have Slaangor in February. The only thing missing is Khornegor and Nurglegor/Pestigor. For those I guess we will need to wait for a new codex for Blades of Khorne and Maggotkin of Nurgle and then those specific units could be rolled into the new Beast of Chaos codex.

I am sure they will have the Beasts of Chaos keyword, which will make them immediately eligible to be part of that army. I am sure they will be errata'd into the Slaanesh-marked BoC battalion as well.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
I am sure they will have the Beasts of Chaos keyword, which will make them immediately eligible to be part of that army. I am sure they will be errata'd into the Slaanesh-marked BoC battalion as well.

Me too. Now if only we could get fancy new Centigor, Razoror and Tuskgor Chariots that would be great.

The razorgor is the best model GW has ever produced and the best possible rendition of a razorgor that could ever BE produced. When the last star of the last galaxy collapses the razorgor shall stand witness, eternal.

 NinthMusketeer wrote:
The razorgor is the best model GW has ever produced and the best possible rendition of a razorgor that could ever BE produced. When the last star of the last galaxy collapses the razorgor shall stand witness, eternal.

Well, one of those 3 assertions is (probably) true.