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Deciding on an army


RaritanAnon

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So I've been mulling over the different armies for a bit, since about November/December when I started getting into Sigmar and I still haven't settled on an army I'm 100% happy with. I've even been posting around here in the various faction forums trying to come down to an 100% conclusive decision to no avail. At this point I've done enough list building drafts and competitive research for a lifetime, it feels like. 

The main three that I've been unable to say a direct 'no' to are Fyreslayers, Flesh Eater Courts, and Tzeentch Daemons. I guess I can give a brief run down of what I think and see if you guys can help me out. I mainly want a semi competitive 1000pt army to play around with, and I can always expand later. Let me know if I'm wrong on any points, too. 

Fyreslayers

  • Expensive, $$$ wise - sort of horde based army.

  • Strong in melee, weak at range generally, monster choice is surprisingly squishy.

  • Very few options.

  • Really love the models and the fluff, plus I've always liked dwarfs.

  • Allegiance rules and whatnot are very strong

  • Don't seem to be very easy to customize or convert

  • Strengths of the army rely on huge blobs of 30 Vulkites

  • Battalions are largely over costed

  • Large pool of Allies to take from, but army largely relies on internal synergy

  • Very durable troops, underwhelming on heroes

  • Old release, unlikely to be revised any time soon

Flesh Eater Courts

  • Very cheap $$$ wise, two starter boxes

  • Army encourages customization, with three warscrolls that need kitbashing

  • Few options to pick from, but strong with battalions

  • Very awesome fluff, models are slightly old but still look good

  • Not incredibly strong competitively, but not bottom tier

  • Allegiance rules are hit or miss, artifacts are strong though

  • Very limited/no allies

  • Relies mainly on slightly squishy heroes to stay alive, army crumbles without regeneration

  • Very fun army wide regenerating mechanic

  • Strong big monsters

  • Very old release, will likely not get updated til GHB2018

Tzeentch Daemons

  • Middle-road affordable, has a SC! Box but most expenses come from Blues/Brims

  • Army very weak in melee, relies mostly on ranged/magic

  • Huge range of Units and Allies to choose from

  • Very very strong Allegiance abilities and traits

  • Considered close to top tier, competitively

  • Tzeentch is largely the only chaos faction I like

  • Mostly don't want to run mortals like Tzaangors/Acolytes

  • Hard to personalize since Daemons are intrinsically daemons

  • Fluff pretty much recycled as 'lol tzeentch', hard to get behind

  • Very fun horror splitting mechanics

  • Very recent update, Chaos is always supported

That's about all I can think of right now, in no particular order. Can you see me swinging either way, with how I have this typed out? I tried to keep a neutral sort of tone but who knows. There's no rush to get started or anything, but I would like to start collecting some time soon, so I can stop stressing over this so much. 

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As a Flesh-eater Courts collector (and sometimes player) my advice in that regard is only collect them if one or more of the following applies:

  • You really like the models - you're going to be painting a lot of the same thing, especially if you go ghoul-heavy.
  • You have the time and patience to convert everything (and a cool idea) - the models are quite basic and for me it's hard to make them feel personal to you through paint scheme alone.
  • You really like the way they play - because frankly their only trick is regeneration and unlike, say, Tzeentch there aren't a lot of different army configurations or play style to experiment with.

Not trying to put you off. In my experience FEC players are some of the most enthusiastic and dedicated out there, and their background really inspires the imagination. I just think you need to be really sure before you commit to them. I think you'll either love them or hate them.

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So, from your descriptions, you seem to favor FEC and Tzeentch. The lack of variety and expense of Fyreslayers seem to be a sticking point, and for decent reason.

So then it seems you like the fluff of FEC but the playstyle of Tzeentch Daemons. Might I make a suggestion? Mix them. 

Now I don't mean just play narrative play, but convert Ghouls and such to be the Tzeentch cult members, a valiant order of once knights twisted and mutated to horrible spawn and monsters under the power of a Daemonic Mastermind. They see themselves still as Protectors of the Faith (or whatever) but the angels/citizens they fight for and with are really cackling Daemons. The illusions of Tzeentch are mighty, and only grow stronger on broken pride, honor, and lingering guilt.

Gameplay wise, you get to play with more of the Chaos range, allowing you to take your own Kaeric Acolytes/Tzannagors, or even delving into Chaos Knights or various monsters. Obviously best if you put narrative, conversions, and creative fun first and foremost.

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4 minutes ago, flamingwalnut said:

So, from your descriptions, you seem to favor FEC and Tzeentch. The lack of variety and expense of Fyreslayers seem to be a sticking point, and for decent reason.

So then it seems you like the fluff of FEC but the playstyle of Tzeentch Daemons. Might I make a suggestion? Mix them. 

Now I don't mean just play narrative play, but convert Ghouls and such to be the Tzeentch cult members, a valiant order of once knights twisted and mutated to horrible spawn and monsters under the power of a Daemonic Mastermind. They see themselves still as Protectors of the Faith (or whatever) but the angels/citizens they fight for and with are really cackling Daemons. The illusions of Tzeentch are mighty, and only grow stronger on broken pride, honor, and lingering guilt.

Gameplay wise, you get to play with more of the Chaos range, allowing you to take your own Kaeric Acolytes/Tzannagors, or even delving into Chaos Knights or various monsters. Obviously best if you put narrative, conversions, and creative fun first and foremost.

Haha, that would be a neat idea but I mainly actually want to play matched play and junk. 

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23 minutes ago, RaritanAnon said:

Haha, that would be a neat idea but I mainly actually want to play matched play and junk. 

Depending on your playgroup, it would be fine in Matched Play, you'd be using all Disciples of Tzeentch rules, just a few Flesh-Eater Court models and some lore inspiration. Of course, if the locala aren't up for counts as and/or you aren't up for converting a bunch, might not be worth it.

Though, honestly, if you aren't up for converting, FEC might be a bit too bland. Their models don't QUITE do their lore justice, but that is just my opinion. As well, if it EVER comes to matter, Daemons convert right over to 40k, so bam, two armies for the price of one.

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28 minutes ago, flamingwalnut said:

Depending on your playgroup, it would be fine in Matched Play, you'd be using all Disciples of Tzeentch rules, just a few Flesh-Eater Court models and some lore inspiration. Of course, if the locala aren't up for counts as and/or you aren't up for converting a bunch, might not be worth it.

Though, honestly, if you aren't up for converting, FEC might be a bit too bland. Their models don't QUITE do their lore justice, but that is just my opinion. As well, if it EVER comes to matter, Daemons convert right over to 40k, so bam, two armies for the price of one.

Oh I'm fine with converting. That was one of the benefits of picking them. And yeah, they are a bit bland, with regenerating their only shtick and the models being a holdover from WHFB basically hum.

Funnily enough, a player in my group just swapped from Flesh-Eaters to Fyreslayers actually. He's recommended me Fyreslayers as long as I can get over the price of starting. I'm sorta inclined to believe him but it's easily one of the most expensive armies to start up. 

That's true on Tzeentch and 40k. I haven't played 40k since about 5th Ed but I hear Tzeentch is in a good spot with the new book. That's a solid maybe. I don't know if I 100% agree that I like FEC models more than Tzeentch but I do like the fluff a hell of a lot better. Tzeentch will always be just Tzeentch. They're also really finicky to model and convert. I do enjoy converting and personalizing my models. 

One other thing is that, with Fyreslayers, I can add other Dwarfs and junk. I always liked the old Dwarf/Dispossessed look since back in the day for WHFB. Just food for thought I suppose.  

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46 minutes ago, RaritanAnon said:

Oh I'm fine with converting. That was one of the benefits of picking them. And yeah, they are a bit bland, with regenerating their only shtick and the models being a holdover from WHFB basically hum.

Funnily enough, a player in my group just swapped from Flesh-Eaters to Fyreslayers actually. He's recommended me Fyreslayers as long as I can get over the price of starting. I'm sorta inclined to believe him but it's easily one of the most expensive armies to start up. 

That's true on Tzeentch and 40k. I haven't played 40k since about 5th Ed but I hear Tzeentch is in a good spot with the new book. That's a solid maybe. I don't know if I 100% agree that I like FEC models more than Tzeentch but I do like the fluff a hell of a lot better. Tzeentch will always be just Tzeentch. They're also really finicky to model and convert. I do enjoy converting and personalizing my models. 

One other thing is that, with Fyreslayers, I can add other Dwarfs and junk. I always liked the old Dwarf/Dispossessed look since back in the day for WHFB. Just food for thought I suppose.  

Honestly, you are in the same boat as I am, always stuck between a lot of decent choices with no clear cut winner. lol

I could go through a thousand pros and cons for every army, I've done so myself. One big help: can you proxy the army? Play a bunch of games with what you like, see how they play. That might shine a lot on a clear winner. You can write any lore, paint whatever, and even expand however, but if you hate how the army plays, it is kinda moot, and a sad waste of money.

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1 hour ago, flamingwalnut said:

Honestly, you are in the same boat as I am, always stuck between a lot of decent choices with no clear cut winner. lol

I could go through a thousand pros and cons for every army, I've done so myself. One big help: can you proxy the army? Play a bunch of games with what you like, see how they play. That might shine a lot on a clear winner. You can write any lore, paint whatever, and even expand however, but if you hate how the army plays, it is kinda moot, and a sad waste of money.

This is why I eventually added how competitive the army would be. Thankfully all three are kinda competitive, with Tzeentch arguably the strongest. 

And I don't think I know these dudes at the shop enough to proxy junk quite yet. 

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