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Hello, I am new to AoS and never played any of the WFB versions. Some limited 40k mainly as Necrons and Tyranids has been my gaming so far. I am looking into starting as Legion/Nighthaunt in some variation, Beastclaw Raiders, or Sylvaneth. The typical format other than random get togethers or small local tournaments, are escalation leagues starting 1000 going up by 250 every week or two. What are your thoughts and suggestions? I enjoy the look to all 3 so that's not a deciding factor. I don't know to much as to how they play and think Legion/Nighthaunt regenerate some and have avoidance? Beastclaw moves fast and hit like trucks? and Sylvaneth create terrain and teleport?

I guess the first question that I have to ask when anyone asks this question is are you looking for easy mode power army or is that not as important? As you play 40k, AOS operates similarly where if you are looking for league/tournament wins, you will choose some factions over others for their better rules / more efficient point costs. If that doesn't matter then styles can matter more.

I would say it matters some, but not the end of the end all be all. As long as I am not just getting rolled every game and have a fighting chance to compete.

At present the armies that struggle the most are those without a Battletome; followed by those that had a very early battletome and are not quite up to date with how AoS has evolved.

In general those you've picked are doing well to strong so there's no issue there. Go for what you love.



On the visual front sometimes I open up a new tab for each model in the range on the store page. Then go through each model and really decide if you like it or not; closing the tab if you don't like it or get blown away by it. This can help you realise what the visual liking you have of a faction is. Eg you might find you only like the heroes or one or two models in the range; or you might find that you hate the core troops (a big issue if its something like skaven where you might have to make dozens to a few hundred).

Otherwise if gameplay is important to you go check some army lists and see what's popular and what their style is. Heck if you've an active player scene see if you can watch or even borrow an army for a game with different armies to see what they feel like to play with mechanically - sure you might lose but you might well find it informative in an army style to play.

The Legion / Nighthaunt is currently one of the top armies. From a competitive standpoint you can't go wrong there.

Sylvaneth can be annoying to face. They would fit your criteria for it matters some but not the end all be all. I consider them strong middle tier in terms of performance.

Beastmen we had the initial rush of players jump on them for the alpha strike shennanigans but all but one dropped the army as the stormcast and legion armies were still faceplanting them.

That doesn't mean beastmen are weak, that means that the people in my area require the top tier armies or else move on to something else. However I would consider of the three you mentioned, the beastmen being the "weakest" of the three (but they are capable, and definitely better than armies withotu battletomes, as Overread mentioned... but in a competitive environment you will likely not be facing many if any armies without battletomes you will be up against the twitter hotness)

I think any of those three will do you fine, but the Legion/Nighthaunt force is to me the strongest of the three rules-wise and point-efficiency wise until GHB 2019 comes out and repoints things.

Use the newest models if you want to “crack that meta”

So far I think I am leaning toward Beastclaw just due to the lower model count. I prefer to have to models fully painted and based while playing and it would let me jump in faster. I have 2-3 weeks of down time coming to crank an army out. If I did this I would probably build Sylvaneth on the side since there is all the forests to do as well as the models. My kids are down voting the Legion/Nighthaunt saying they are boring

I would say go with the beastclaw guys, then! They are definitely a lower army, and pretty fun thematically too.