# Empire or Dark Elfs?



## Falkenhyn (Jan 15, 2012)

Hey guys im looking in to starting fantasy i have played 40k for a long time but i feel the armys of fantasy have so much more life and flavor to them. 


So one of armys i has thinking of is The Empire coz i like the idea of big blobs of dudes supporting each other and Kal franz looks awesome id love to paint him.


The other is the Dark Elfs mainly for just how evil look(and are) im likeing the idea of the cheap warriors and id like to run Darkblade with a bunch of Cold Ones (All so darkblade another awesome looking dude id like to paint).

But thats about all i know about them so if you guy can tell me more about the 2 and what they do id be very thankful :grin:


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## khrone forever (Dec 13, 2010)

both, but Dark elves first  their awsome


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## Falkenhyn (Jan 15, 2012)

Whats the better army?


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## Kale Hellas (Aug 26, 2009)

well 

empire - you can paint to contrast ridiculously 
dark elves- are generally dark and grim.

empire - has detachments, cannons, greatsword, great looking models and dragons to an extent

dark elves- spearmen, reapeater bowmen, shades monsters including dragons, sparsley dressed women who bathe in blood.

and then both are great armies in general, personally i prefer empire because painting armour can get annoying to me sometimes


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## Tim/Steve (Jan 25, 2009)

You mean which one always stomps on the other and always wins... what would be the point in a game like that?


Empire have massed numbers, superb artillery, excellent but static shooting and one of the best magic defenses in the game.
DE have the superb hydra, massed mobile shooting and one of the better magic offenses around.

Empire are probably easier to play since you can lose a unit to a poor decision and not have lost too much (its not game over) and have all the tools needed to take on any threat, so long as you use them right, although they do lack 'power' in combat.
DE requires you to use your army as a combined force and support each unit with others, which can be tricky. They are also not very forgiving: your units are powerful but fragile, so taking a round of shooting can really hurt, but played well are incredibly hard to beat.

There are differences, but which is 'best' comes down to personal preference, aethetics and your own play style.
For me, I hate block infantry units, loads of boring painting or sitting back in a gunline. While I love maneuverability and using tactics to defeat my enemies instead of brute force. This means that I used to love ogres (but am a bit bored by their new book), think WE are immense and have started a lizardmen army that currently is entirely skirmishing and essentially has no combat... I did have HE for a bit but they bored me so I got rid of them. The 'best' army for me is probably WE and yet its regarded as amoung the 'worst' armies around at the moment.


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## The Dog Boy (Oct 6, 2011)

I would also mention that there are rumors of a new Empire army book within the next year, so if you get into Empire right now you may find yourself on the cusp of some great new models and units soon...or you may find you wasted all of your money and have to ditch most of your army and re-buy it to take advantage.
Dark Elves are currently one of the strongest tournament armies around and have been for some time, but you can expect their awesomeness to fade as new books continue to arrive.


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## kain1989 (Dec 1, 2009)

I'm not sure that empire is an easier army to play. dark elves probably have the best individual units in the game, very few of their choices are bad, and most of them are competetive.

But when you're choosing a new army, you have to go for fluff and models, If you go for power, then you might end up getting nerfed with new rules. Meaning you'll want to change armies if your current army becomes less competitive.

I play mostly wood elves, and I get massacred all the time, but I love the models, and fluff, and I've been able to start winning the majority of my games. so go for the army you like better, not which one you think is more powerful.


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## ExtraCrew (Jan 22, 2012)

I play an Empire a balanced empire army. Shooting is my stronger phase, but can hold my own in all the phases. I think that's why they are the army to start with, you can learn what you like. So when you want to start a second army you have an better idea for your warhammer play style. 

Cant wait for the new book.


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## olderplayer (Dec 11, 2009)

I like both armies. I have a box full of empire models and stuff waiting for the new book to be assembled and played. 

I prefer Dark Elves right now just because I have so many options and tricks available to deal with all threats and I am not as dependant on effective war machine shooting early and avoiding certain types of spells against steam tanks. Dark Elves have better core (repeater crossbowman and spearmen) and special units (black guard are more effective than great swords and cold one knights with the new BSB rules are better than empire cav). Dark Elves have underpriced hydras, super magic casters, and excellent characters (mostly because of the magic items available to them).

The new book for Empire is reportedly (strong confirmations) coming out in May or June and will likely alter modestly how the army will play (reducing the template size of mortars and takng away a lot of the magic items in the army book but making empire cav units more viable again). Empire has excellent war machines with engineers making mortars and cannons very accurate. Empire has tremendous magic defense with extra power dice from archlectors and warrior priests. Empire has unbreakable steam tanks and flaggellants that can be core with arch lectors but they need to be screened or buffed because they die fast. Empire characters can be very good with captain as BSB, warrior priests heavily armoured, arch lector on war alter, and lvl 4 wizards with access to lore of life. Empire's core units are only okay with a lot of options that make swordsmen and halberdiers worth playing in larger units with handgunners worth playing as smaller units or detachments and smaller detachments of militia or other units.


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## Falkenhyn (Jan 15, 2012)

Sweet thanks guy’s im going to go out and get both army books and read them but im thinking Dark Elf’s mainly coz i run 3 shooty army in 40k and I wont some thing more challenging, And for the half naked woman bathing in blood lol.


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## olderplayer (Dec 11, 2009)

Best of luck. Dark Elves are a good choice to learn the game because you do have shooting (repeater crossbowmen are among the best shooting units in the game and are core and the repeater crossbow on the dark rider fast cav with their bait and flee and rally, march and shoot abilities is vastly under-rated in 8th edition) but you will have all facets of the game (magic, shooting, combat, interference and redirection) to play with and a competitive army as well.


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