Where to start with AOS?

[Tom1988]

Hi All,

I have just joined the forum as I am planning to start collecting, painting and playing Warhammer AOS  but my question is where to start? After looking at all the models, collecting and painting a death alliance army appeals most to me.

I am thinking of purchasing the start collecting sets for flesh eater courts and skeleton horde (assuming these can play in the same army).  Can anyone advise the books that I would need to be able to understand and play the game from the off?

Thank you for any advice

Tom

[chord]

Were you thinking of playing competitive or more friendly games?

If you want competitive I would recommend the General's Handbook 2017 and use that to help plan your army.  

If they are more friendly games a start collecting set is the way to go.

[xaljorn14]

Flesh eater courts works better on its own.  They lack synergy with the rest of death for the most part.   You'll either want the flesh eater court battletome or the new legions of Nagash book depending on which way you go.     

The basic rules are available for free in the warhammer age of sigmar age.   There you can also download the battle scrolls for every model so you can see what they do.  

Start collecting sets normally get you the most bang for your buck. 

[Tom1988]

2 minutes ago, chord said:

Were you thinking of playing competitive or more friendly games?

If you want competitive I would recommend the General's Handbook 2017 and use that to help plan your army.  

If they are more friendly games a start collecting set is the way to go.

Thank you for this.

At the moment just friendly games between a few friends.

[chord]

1 minute ago, Tom1988 said:

Thank you for this.

At the moment just friendly games between a few friends.

Then I'd say a start collecting box,  and the AoS app for the warscrolls.  Then if you find things are unbalanced between the various start collecting boxes just talk it out about how to balance it.    The General's Handbook 2017 has some a good variety of battleplans you can use (not just competitive)  There are also user-created ones around you can locate. 

[Tom1988]

3 minutes ago, xaljorn14 said:

Flesh eater courts works better on its own.  They lack synergy with the rest of death for the most part.   You'll either want the flesh eater court battletome or the new legions of Nagash book depending on which way you go.     

The basic rules are available for free in the warhammer age of sigmar age.   There you can also download the battle scrolls for every model so you can see what they do.  

Start collecting sets normally get you the most bang for your buck. 

This is useful to know before I went out and bought both sets! In that case I would lean towards the Legions of Nagash just because of the bigger variety in models and types of units.

So how do the other subsections of this alliance fit in as some only have a handful of models?

Thank you for the great advice about the free downloads.

[chord]

1 minute ago, Tom1988 said:

This is useful to know before I went out and bought both sets! In that case I would lean towards the Legions of Nagash just because of the bigger variety in models and types of units.

So how do the other subsections of this alliance fit in as some only have a handful of models?

Thank you for the great advice about the free downloads.

I don't know much about Death so somebody else will have to jump in.   This free user created file has a lot of free battleplans that may be good to start with 

 

[Twitch of Izalith]

Hi @Tom1988 I think legions of Nagash (LoN) will probably suit you pretty well if you would like to play a mixed Death army with lots of options.

Just before you dismiss the Flesheaters start collecting box its worth mentioning that kit also lets you build Vargeists (giant vampire bat monsters) and the Vampire Lord on Zombie Dragon - both of which are strong units for legions of Nagash. That only leaves you 10 spare Ghouls - which can be used as allies in matched play anyway.

The 2 start collecting sets are a great start that you can build on - I started my own Death army with those 2 sets in February.

Good value expansions once you want more models are the Deathrattle Barrow Lords set and the Nighthaunt Tormented spirits if you want to go for the full variety on offer.

In terms of books I would recommend the Generals handbook and the LoN battletome to get a really solid background to the game and your army.

If you want to save a bit of money up front then you can just download the warscrolls from the website or use the app. I think the books are very much worth getting  though.

[BarrowLord]

Legion's of Nagash does a good job of big tenting everything barring Nighthaunt and Flesh Eater Courts.  In particular Deathlords, Deathmages, Deathrattle, and Soul Blight come out with strong synergies.  Nighthaunt is present, but lacks the same sort of focused buffs and none of their units are battleline (but it is suspected they will get their own book this summer).  Flesh Eater Courts are not present at all.