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It might be an odd question, and I could easily just Order two CD units and one hero, but I'd like to keep things kind of even for our campaign.

I'm painting up several different start collecting boxes to use at the start of our campaign (as I'm the only painter in the house) and as we play we will add a handful of minis after every time we play, that way I'm not bogged down with having to paint too much in one go.

To start we will have malignants Vs Sylvaneth, to which we will add a unit skeletons and a unit of wood elves.

To make out campaign more interesting than just two forces, we are going to add a second force each, which I will be working on in the background, so there will be more time to do more fancy armies, and so I have chosen chaos dwarves as they are my dream project I've never gotten round to doing. But as they are more costly than most armies (even using alternative models) I need to be way more frugal and be extra careful with my purchases.

So I need a starter force that fairly equal to a start collecting set (we are not playing with points, but I'd like to keep things a even as I can, even if only very vaguely) and the first 'expansion' unit or mini. After that I should have a good grip on what I need to expand, and can grab what I need with out buying something that could be a bit of a waste.

Hmm, perhaps 10 Ironsworn, 10 Fireglaives and a war machine of some sort? Seems like it would be more or less fair.

Perhaps a Daemonsmith, 10 Ironsworn, and 3 K'Daai Fireborn or Bull Centaurs. Gives you a leader, infantry, and heavy cav which is similar to what you see in a lot of the collecting boxes. Probably expand that with 10 Fireglaves if you wanted to branch out a bit.

Best bet would be a Daemonsmith (you get a Castellan and two Daemonsmiths in the Daemonsmith set FW sells), a Dreadquake Mortar, and a Deathshrieker Rocket Launcher. It is a great back up for your existing forces, fun to put together, and you wont need to paint a bunch of infantry. Both Warmachines may be a bit too powerful though, if so I'd recommend dropping one, of your choice, and adding instead a unit of Bull Centaur Renders to add a little more oomph to your Start Collecting! Malignants + skeles.