# the infamous "new to warhammer" thread



## starhawks (Jan 14, 2009)

hey, as some of you may know i play 40k, but have recently been interested in maybe experimenting with fantasy...so i have a classic question...which army? with 40k, i really enjoyed playing eldar and space marines, if that helps at all...i really like the look of bretonnians, tomb kings, and high and wood elves...so out of those four, which is the "best"? or which would be best to someone starting fantasy? thanks for your help


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## Amra_the_lion (May 26, 2008)

well high elves play well in all phases of the game, good movement, good shooting, great magic and good close combat. You an make a well rounded or one phase heavy list with great results.

plus giant plastic dragon. mmmm dragon


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## scruff (Mar 3, 2008)

Here's the (patented) Scruff scale!
As usual, I will give you three entries for each category!
FUN ARMY
3rd: Vampire Counts
_Combinations. Undead Bretonnians = Black Knights. Undead Empire Orders = Blood Knights. Undead Militia = Zombies. CONVERSIONS AND THOUGHTS ^_^_
2nd: Warriors of Chaos
_HOW many conversions can I make? The WoC have gifts, which can be expressed in many ways. They also have marks, in the same way_
1st: Orcs and Goblins
_We has great horde! But wez stupid, see? Wez chose ta fight all da time, see? Awesum!_

POWER ARMY
3rd: Warriors of Chaos
_Vastly overpowered compared to previous books. Nuff Said? Lizardmen fell against these lot, defeating the usual practice of a new book being better than the previous one_
2nd: The Empire
_Stat Swap time!_
1st: High Elves
_My army doesn't take any checks at all and causes Fear! Well, mine ALL STRIKE FIRST_

LOOK ARMY:
3rd: Up to You
2nd: Up to You
1st: Up to You
(One category that can't be judged)


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

For winning power, Daemons, Vampire Counts, and Warriors of Chaos are generally taken as the most powerful.

But the main thing that Fantasy has is that it's all balanced. Unlike 40K, there are no hard counters, so whatever army you take, you have a chance at winning. There's no "OOOh, I don't have a S8+ or Rending weapon, and he has 3 Land Raiders, how can I win?". You can hit and wound everything, and stuff that you can't doesn't have the ability to do enough damage to your army on it's own.

I'm a fan of the Warriors of Chaos. They are the typical Norse Warriors (I like Marauders), and the big heavily armoured warriors outclass most elite infantry (with S and T of 4, WS and I 5, 2 attacks apiece, and Ld8, Re-roll panic).

However, don't listen to me. I have a special place in my heart for the Warriors, as I love the Fluff, etc behind them.

With fantasy, if you see an army you like the looks of, ask about it. What's good and whatnot. If you're still not sure, or you've narrowed it down to some (or even all of them ;D), just ask away.

Have a look at the Sticky threads at the top of the Forum - there is a thread detailing the majority (all but 5, I think, as the Lizardmen are slightly outdated) of the armies.


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## Dafistofmork (Jan 9, 2009)

My oppion is to always go for the army whose fluff intrests you more-yes, you will win more with one of the power armies, but if you do not enjoy all aspects of the hobby including the fluff (which IMHO is the most important) then there is little point to playing them, unless you are a die-hard tourny winer who hates losing, and the only thing i have to say to them is that they are not experiancing the full hobby.

also, due to the excelent balancing any army can win, but it is harder with others than some. there is probaly some one out there who can use ogers (hated by touny players who think they are rubbish) to beat deamons (the tourny whore).

some one did a power scale a little while back, and the only difference between the top tiers and the lower tiers was that the lower ones had less advantages than the upper ones.

now onto the armies you have chosen-bretts have lance formation and are a sledgehammer army, and are the fastest army out there. tomb kings are an old army, but unlike dark eldar and space wolves can still hold there own with a unique magic phase, chariot units and bowmen who always hit on 5's. high elves have a unique force organisation chart, are good in all phases of the game and can take (plastic) dragons as hero choices. wood elves are the ultimate "run the enemy round in circles then hit them where it hurts the most" army, with exclent shooting, skirmishers and hard hitting forest spirit units, including the mighty treeman.


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## maddermax (May 12, 2008)

I'll just repost my bret's rant from another thread - saves writing it again 


As my main army is Bretonians, I have to say they're pretty awesome, I love them. Quite simply, their main units are heavy cavalry, but they move faster than most armies heavy cavalry, and they have the lance formation to make them actually useful as a main battle unit plus they have all sorts of cool extras (ward saves for all, good magical defence and free champs). In my army, I only have a couple of units of peasant archers - good for taking care of small/light units like warmachine crew or single mages, and all the rest are moving 16" a turn - no other army will ever out pace you.

They usually do pretty well in tourneys, and most players have trouble dealing with an army so different from most - nearly all 2+ saves and moving fast.


Though I love them, they do have their weak points:
Small armies, if you go all knights. I have 60 models in my 1500 points army - but 30 of them (or about 200 points worth) are peasants (mostly harmless). All knights would mean only about 40 models - half or less what most armies have.

If their charge doesn't go off well, they'll have a hard time winning combat - especially against stubborn and unbreakable foes.

Their magic is next to useless - its great for defence, but don't expect much more than that.

They also don't have much in the way of variety - they have a few different types of cavalry, they have flying cavalry, they have peasants of different flavours and they have one war machine - so sometimes it does feel a bit limiting. 

However, they are a lot of fun to play, and the medieval/Arthurian theme though is pretty fun to play around with too!


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## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

whatever you choose make sure of a few things first.

-like your armys look and fluff
if you dont like how it looks you could change that but the fluff etc is very important. if you dont bond with your army you dont have fun

-make sure you arent the umptienth player in your environment
mirror matches are the pinnacle of boring. if you go daemons and everybody else plays daemons this takes away the fun factor. 

-consider your style of play
competitive or for fun? if you go tourney playing the power armies are almost a must have. for fun? everything is viable and just choose what you like

-go trial play a few things
trial play some armies at your local GW who basically are gonna have everything. find what suits you and start there. dont go nuts on models from the get go. smaller games can be just as fun (unless your Vampire counts ) 

considering the four armies you wrote up id consider only high elves as the rest of those armies are still a bit old. the bretonnians are sturdy but if you dont get the charge than that will be that. the tomb kings need a new army book and wood elves means buy a forest to go with them as you have to field them near one to take advantage of em 

hope that helps!


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## starhawks (Jan 14, 2009)

hey thanks all for the great feedback, at this point I think iv narrowed it down to warriors of chaos or bretonnians, ill have to experiment with both before going ahead with them


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## Eugene (Oct 27, 2008)

Which army can be builded to be competitive while still saving lots of money?


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## Ascendant Valor (Jan 3, 2009)

If shelling out the cash is your chief concern, I'd recommend you opt for Warriors of Chaos. They're a fairly elite army, so you won't need much for numbers, barring which forces constitute the bulk of your army. Not to mention you still have the trump card of variety over the Brets. That way, you will pay relatively little (even more so if you can find some decent online stores or use eBay) for a decent, not-so-boring army.

Brets have the "elite" factor, too, but as has been said before they tend to be a one-note army. If you're any kind of cavalry enthusiast or an equestrian (like myself:so_happy, you'll love nothing more than to send "hordes" of knights into the teeth of your enemy.

I could go on a decent rant, but I'm feeling lazy right now. Hooray America.


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## Eugene (Oct 27, 2008)

Hm.. I don't know much about Warhammer Fantasy, but is the Warriors of Chaos stable right now? As in .. no new codexs or miniatures on the corner and all?


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## Gharof von Carstein (May 19, 2008)

very very stable actually. WoC is one of the new armies and very competitive in several set ups. you should definetly try it.


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## Eugene (Oct 27, 2008)

Hm, sounds interesting, I will look into them more.


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## The Sullen One (Nov 9, 2008)

starhawks said:


> hey thanks all for the great feedback, at this point I think iv narrowed it down to warriors of chaos or bretonnians, ill have to experiment with both before going ahead with them


Go for both. Like Maddermax I've got a Bretonnian army which I'm slowly expanding, as well as a Warriors of Chaos army which I'm trying to build along a Bretonnian theme. Both armies have the advantage of being powerhouse forces, capable of battering the enemy with heavy units, as well as having some of the best looking units (in my opinion) in the game, namely Pegasus Knights and Chaos Knights (or my Chaos Pegasus for that matter).

Admittedly Bretonnians are for the player who prefers cavalry to infantry, though with a bit of luck archers can be devastating against enemy units. Chaos on the other hand offers a reasonably balanced force combining the best elements of elite and horde armies.

Ultimately though go for whatever army or armies appeal to you.


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## newsun (Oct 6, 2008)

Also realize that this is a hobby where people are often trading and selling off armies, so you first pick does not have to be what you stick with.

I started with Daemons not that long ago as a xfer from 40k and I didn't really end up liking what I had nor want to expand on that force. So now I have moved on to other armies.


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## Eugene (Oct 27, 2008)

So how does Warhammer play like? Is it like 40K? And is it a fact that it is more expensier?


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## newsun (Oct 6, 2008)

Eugene said:


> So how does Warhammer play like? Is it like 40K? And is it a fact that it is more expensier?


Same stat lines so it's similar, yet totally different in play style. Movement in Fantasy is much more critical. I feel 40k is more point and shoot, pick priority targets to eliminate and move on. The 360 LOS vs arc of visibility is huge. Though with 40k there are the objective missions so there is a different meta game for winning that does not involve killing and sometimes just denying an objective.


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