# Getting back into fantasy. Army pros and cons?



## Ralziel (Mar 1, 2014)

Brother in law and some of his friends have just started playing fantasy, and I've not played a fantasy army since undead were just undead, so been a LONG time. We're going to start playing together in the very near future, but I'm not sure where to go with starting an army. I've always liked the idea of Skaven, but not sure how good they are. I used to play undead, so I assume the Vampire Counts have some similar rules I might remember. And I love Dwarves. Why? Because they're big and beardy of course!
But really, I have no idea how the armies are in their play styles these days. I'm an Imperial Guard player in 40K and I love the way they work. Any advice would be well appreciated.


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## Dave T Hobbit (Dec 3, 2009)

If you are looking for good shooting, Dwarves look like the best option of the three.


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## iamtheeviltwin (Nov 12, 2012)

All of the armies in fantasy have a mostly unique feel with a few crossovers. My general recommendation for choosing an army is to first find the aesthetic you find most appealing and are willing to paint/play with over the long run. Army play style is my second consideration.

In general, Skaven are considered an upper tier army right now. They have an older army book, but still lots of toys and power. The overall army style is hordes of rats backed up by weird magics and machines and a handful of tough/powerful characters and units.

Vampire counts are also pretty top-tier and in overall play style are similar to Skaven. Hordes of faceless undead that are the delivery vehicle for a small group of rock hard beat-stick characters and monsters.

Dwarfs just got a new book and some new models. The general play style of Dwarfs is a castled gun-line surrounded by a small handful of hard to move/kill troops.

If you enjoy an IG style of massed infantry with "mechanized" elements I think Skaven would be up your alley. They have some fantastic war machines and artillery and generally field masses of rats.

Empire could also provide another IG-like choice, complete with Tank.


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## Ralziel (Mar 1, 2014)

Well, I'm thinking of going for something a little more melee focused than IG were. I do like horde styled play, and I enjoy shooting, but I thought I'd go with something a little more full of choppaz seeing as I'm kinda relearning.

I'm leaning towards lizardmen and HE/DE. The elves sound to have a really fragile but hard hitting play style with great magic. And lizards cos dinosaurs. Which are about as close to a bane wolf as I'm going to get to, I assume. I'm of course always on the brink of heresy too. I've heard daemons are amazing, but I'd rather have big scary warriors than loads of little daemons. More fun for painting and such too.

I'd consider ogre kingdoms, really like the models and from what I've read they're a good laugh to play. Shame my wife REALLY doesn't want any in the house. She has a thing about ogres, being a long time wow player. Not sure why that means I'm not allowed to play them. I'd have thought she could rage at them a bit.

Cheers for the input (Y)


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## Alsojames (Oct 25, 2010)

You could always play Skaven with hordes upon hordes upon hordes of clanrats.

Or slaves. Muahahahahaha.


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## JAMOB (Dec 30, 2010)

Ralziel said:


> Well, I'm thinking of going for something a little more melee focused than IG were. I do like horde styled play, and I enjoy shooting, but I thought I'd go with something a little more full of choppaz seeing as I'm kinda relearning.


Well, the new dwarf AB gifted them the ability to either 1) castle like they always have 2) focus on CC (though these guys are crazy slow so watch out) or 3) combine the two to your hearts content. I'm not super sure on what units work, as when I play them I just see short people with big weapons... Canons are brutal, the organ thing is pretty dope too, and dwarves just refuse to die... Seriously, t4 4+/5+ on every model (as in 4+ or 5+) just takes forever to take out. Hammerers are apparently brutal though...

If you're looking at Elves, try Wood Elves? They're my army, and therefore my favorites so I am quite biased, but they are extremely rewarding to play (though a much different style of play than you are used to). Their combat isn't amazing though, so maybe not.

I've heard terrifying things about WoC in combat.

HE are pretty brutal too, I'd go into more detail but I have to go... suffice it to say magic speed shooting and CC all wrapped up in one.


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## Ralziel (Mar 1, 2014)

Funny you mention wood elves. Been looking at the new army rumours, and wood elves and brets are getting redone to come in line with the new ruleset this summer, so considering kicking up as wood elves when the new rule set hits. I have some old wood elf models from years ago. Just some glade riders and some bowmen (they're the best ranged i hear?), but it's something to paint so i'm at least doing something while waiting for the new models to hit shelves


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## JAMOB (Dec 30, 2010)

If you want warmachines stay away, but WE have the best BS shooting in the game: bs4, s4 at short range (15"), and they can move and shoot with no penalty. I'm not sure how all of that will change, but I have a hard time believing they will get worse.


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## Xabre (Dec 20, 2006)

High Elves are a lot like Eldar; they're a specialist army. Their core troops are as good as other armies Specials, and they pay for that. High Elf Spearmen can fight in 4 ranks and most of the units in the book have Always Strike First. Our (yes, my army) archers are pretty impressive, too, with 30" bows. No power behind them, however.

In Core alone High Elves have Spearmen, Archers, Seaguard (Spearmen with bows), a Fast Cav option _and_ a knight on horseback cavalry option. When you add in Specials you get a very powerful heavy cavalry unit, 3 different types of chariots (including one that flies!), 2 more archer types (one being skirmishers, and the other having access to flaming magical arrows), squads of ASF with great weapons, and a really strong anvil unit in Phoenix Guard (Fearless, 4++, magical weapons....)

Rares get you bolt throwers, eagles, the new Phoenixes... plus you have access to some pretty amazing magic. Characters aside (*coughTecliscough*) their casters have access to the 8 lores, plus High Magic. Loremasters are a new Lord unit that can take the sig spells for ALL 8 lores, in armor with greatswords. Dragon Mages fly around on Sun Dragons (the weakest ones, but still a dragon) and throw fire magic, and that's a Hero. 

And did I mention dragons?


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