My "Help me making up my mind" thread

[Jator]

Hey, people!
So, I haven't tried AoS yet, but I bought the new Core Book (I like shiny books with background and maps), and despite not having any friend interested in the game right now my hobby mind cannot help but wonder what would be the right army for me to start with this game.

  I told myself to focus on factions with low model count (slow painter. Used to move regiments altogether), and new miniatures (to feel reassured that the army is fully supported by GW) but the heart wants what the heart wants, and none of the factions I am considering to meet any of those conditions, as you will see.

  My idea is a collection around 1000 points, not necessarily "competitive" but neither sub-par.

  My options right now:

  Skaven.
  Pros: Already own an untouched "Island of Blood" set, a good starting point.
  Cons: Yet I will still need lots of miniatures, even focusing on big models like Stormfiends. And no battletome yet.

  Flesh-eaters courts
  Pros: Like the fluff, models seem easy to paint.
   Cons: Very limited unit choice, boring models, doubts about how much love will receive from GW.

  Spiderfang Grots
  Pros: best way to have a goblin army with a relatively reduced model count, funny models.
  Cons: Even more limited unit choice. Unlikely to receive a battletome.

  Starting boxes and other ways to save money are factors to consider.
  I'm also open to other suggestions. I mean, I would love a troggoth army, but I still don't know what kind of players I'm going to find, so I better make ar army "legal" in all ways of play.

 Thanks!

 

 

[michu]

I have three recommmendations:

Ironjawz - low model count, supported, with allegiance abilities in GHB and you can always use Troggoth allies (or Gargant with his ability to kill specific model in the unit - useful to disrupt opponent's unit coherency). Models are quite big and not that hard to paint (just paint body and heads separately). And Mawkrusha on the battlefield is such a wonderful sight. 

Skaven - you could play Skryre army as it also has low model count (Stormfiends as battlelines), but allied unit of Clanrats is useful for holding objectives. Unfortunately it's not a cheap army, it doesn't have Start Collecting (SC Pestilens could help with Warp Lightning Cannon) and some models are still in metal.

Stormcast Eternals - Also more elite army than many others. There is no doubt it will be supported, recently got new models and it's really good for simple painting techniques. And it's quite strong right now (especially if you play Anvils of the Heldenhammer stormhost).

[Overread]

Few thoughts:

 

1) One thing I do when making army choices is I go to each army I think I want (or all of the armies) and one by one I open a new browser tab for every model in a specific army. I then go through each tab and close any tab where I find I don't "like" the model. In the end it tells me when I like a faction for one or two iconic models or for a whole selection of models at once. It also helps you get an idea of what the spread of liking is - ergo do you really love the elite super unit that you'll only have 1 of; or the grunt troops that you'll have loads of.

2) Right now any army with a Battletome is fairly "Safe" as far as we are aware. The factions without a battletome are often smaller and can even be down to just one or two models. They are still viable ,but often rely upon alliances to build up a viable force (varies though some only need one or two additions).

3) Stormcast are certainly capable of being elite, likely to last forever and modern. Daughters of Khaine also do elite pretty well also - though their base troops can be a bit expensive and they lack a getting started box (despite being very recently released - note that the Blood Coven kit which is a Blood cauldron and one box of witchs at heavy discount - is discontinued but there appears to currently be healthy stock in the independent market for now). 

[TheKingInYellow]

Sylvaneth should be on your list.  Recent models, can be low model count, easy to paint.

[Ragnar Alpaca]

Of the three you listed I would not go with flesh eater courts, you said you don’t like the models so definitely don’t go for them. Spiderfang are in a good spot imo, as the new grot army will come out sometime in the future and those models might get incorporated into that army, (especially the arachnarok spider, it’s an awesome model, and was the centerpiece of a story in malign portents.) Skaven though you already have a large number of models for and would be my suggestion for you, it would be quite easy to make a 1000 point army with the stuff you already own and a few more purchases.

[michu]

I agree with @Ragnar Alpaca. Skaven army from Spire of Dawn (or IoB) is worth 730 points. You could add Warp Lightning Cannon and Balewind Vortex for Warlock Engineer and now you have 950 points army with 1 additional command point at the start.

[Jator]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
As @Ragnar Alpaca said, I should probably discard the FEC. I like the fluff well enough, but I would have to paint a lot of crypt ghouls, and I really don't feel like it.
As for @michu, I didn't expect to have these many points just with the IoB's skaven, good to know. Guess I should buy the GHB to properly ponder this.

 I'm in no hurry thou, so I'm going to keep wondering about this a bit longer. Any other tip will be appreciated, like the ones I've been given so far.

Cheers!

[Kirjava13]

Whilst I want to encourage everyone to play Skaven, if you don't want to paint a lot of models then Clanrats are absolutely not a good choice- on top of needing them in large numbers, they're surprisingly (and irritatingly) detailed, making getting them to the table quite the chore. I've seen it referred to as, "doing time in the Clanrat trenches" on Reddit and boy oh boy, there is truth to that.

[michu]

Can agree with that, painting Clanrats is a chore (and it doesn't help that I'm already a slow painter).

[Circus of Paint]

If low numbers are a preference, Idoneth Deepkin do that really wel as they are an elite faction.

If you’d rather stick with Destruction, then as others have suggested Ironjawz would be ideal.

[Ragnar Alpaca]

3 hours ago, Kirjava13 said:

Whilst I want to encourage everyone to play Skaven, if you don't want to paint a lot of models then Clanrats are absolutely not a good choice- on top of needing them in large numbers, they're surprisingly (and irritatingly) detailed, making getting them to the table quite the chore. I've seen it referred to as, "doing time in the Clanrat trenches" on Reddit and boy oh boy, there is truth to that.

They don’t have to be that difficult, I’ve seen people use only about 5 colors on clanrats and just wash and drybrush them and they can get a batch of 20 done in a couple days. There are so many of them they don’t all have to look amazing.

[AaronWilson]

The answer to this is only ever Skaven, those furry little overlords are my favourite thing to see on the table.