New player needing advice on army

[Damian]

Just started playing with some friends and looking to start an army that will be fun to play.  1000-1500 points respectively (beginners)

Two of my friends bought the Box set containing Stormcast and Nighthaunt, my other friends have started the Nagash and Skaven armies...

So i'm looking for a fun army that will be able to be played with them without getting steamrolled (as I have read these few armies are arguably the best performing with the recent updates)

The ones I had in mind are either …

1. Sylvaneth - Love lore and models, how would they perform and what would the best route to building the army be?  Start collecting box?
2. Demons of Tzeench - Looks ok, focusing on Pink horrors with a few wizards …  dislike the tzaangors so it would be a demon-only army which I feel would be weak
3. Fyreslayers - A dwarf riding a fire dragon, sign me up - but expensive to buy models would cost me a fortune to build my army...
4. Daughters of Khaine - Great looking army, but again the cost of building a 100-1500 point army would be very expensive, and not sure how effective they would be.
5. Flesh eater courts - Love the models but read they are the weakest of the undead factions
6. Seraphim  - Lizardmen riding dinosaurs … looks like fun but I hear I would need to focus on magic rather than saurus (melee) so that woud rule out the 'start collecting' box

Those are the 6 that have peaked my interest and just looking for advice on which one (looking at my friends armies) would be best suited without me getting my rear handed to me (well, at east not every time)

 

 

[Overread]

Hey and welcome to AoS! 

At present most of the armies that have "new" battletomes are doing well in the competitive scene; armies with older books from when AoS was a bit different/less refined are decent to good - the Overlords suffer the most as they've no mages and 2.0 AoS is quite magic heavy. Seraphon get access to some powerful magics and summoning abilities to put more models on the table plus they've agreat Battleforce out now which is a brilliant way to buy into them with some discount. 

Fyreslayers and Daughters of Khaine both suffer from having somewhat expensive models, partly because the rank and file troops of both armies are based on models that, originally (in old world fantasy) were elite purchases and priced as such. GW hasn't revised those prices and so they are still on the expensive side. Fyreslayers are a bit older in battletome, but I hear they do well. Daughters of Khaine do really well at present and many think that they might get a bit of adjustment at some point as they are placing heavily in competitive games (that's not to say that they are unbeatable of course). 

With Tzeentch don't forget that demons have both summoning and access to an allies system so you can bring in other demonic entities. 

 

 

Often as not one side of choosing is rules and power; the other is visuals. Personally I find that visuals is important because you're going to spend hours building and painting long before you get any game time with your models. Sometimes what I tell people is to go to the GW store and start with an army. Open a new browser tab for each model in that line. Then go  through all those tabs, look at the pictures (perhaps even google image search some) and close the tab on any models you don't like the look of. This can sometimes help tell you what you really like in an army.

You might find you' don't actually like many models, but just like the idea of the army. Or you might find you love one or two units but not most of the army and none of the core troops; or you might love core troops and are not as struck with some monsters etc... Basically you can use this method to judge your own interest in an army and see what you really think about them.

 

 

 

For Daughters of Khaine I can say that they are a great army with a Battleforce boxed set out now which is great value. It's a glass-cannon style close combat army, which means that they've got few ranged options and primarily want to be in close combat (even their ranged units). Furthermore whilst they can be buffed to be strong, they are somewhat fragile so if you take a lot of punishment you might lose out; positioning, screening and getting the charge on the enemy are key helpers because they they do hit they hit hard. 

There are several viable builds. You can build a general mixed army; focus your army around Morathi; build it around witch aelves (lots of core infantry) or even around a Bloodwrack medusa (on shrine or on its own) and then a lot of Blood Sisters (serpent women). They've no real slouch units, though there are always some that don't compare "as" favourably; but in general everything works well. A solid army with a fresh Battletome that runs well. 

 

But don't let me sell you on just them, I'm sure players of the other forces you've mentioned will be more than happy to jump in to tempt you to their side

[Yoshiya]

My primary army is Slyvaneth and they are a great and flexible force that I feel can hold themselves against most things in the game whilst still letting your opponent have fun (though many complain about 2+ save Treelords Ancients and Wyldwoods).

Practically every model in the range is useful beyond just wanting them for looks, though outside of the Dreadwood battalion you don't see much in the way of Spite-Revenants.

All but one of the heroes are wizards and that one is a combat monster which matches what you said about wanting to be magic heavy. Additionally, if you take the popular Gnarlroot battalion all you need is a box of Tree-Revenants and a SC! To have the core of your army, all whilst getting an extra cast on your wizard to really double down in the magic feel.

My only warning point is that you're going to need Wyldwoods to make the most out of the army. That said, if you're not playing competitively you honestly don't need many despite what others would make you think. I currently only own one (really need to get more though...) and just borrow from the store if I need more. Despite that it find myself generally doing pretty well though my community is particularly on the casual side. Personally I'm aiming for about four which adds a not insignificant extra cost to the army.

As for the others, DoK is consider overpowered by many in the community at the moment due to their highly efficient battle line troops which you can stake buffs on to be incredibly hard to remove whilst effectively deleting whatever they come into contact with.

Seraphon were an army everyone thought would do extremely well on paper but never seemed to end up dominating so I'm tempted to say they're on the balanced side.

Tzeentch took a bit of a hit with increased points costs this time round making them a pretty elite army. Especially with pink horrors coating 200pts for 10. That said, they still dominate magic outside of Nagash and with smart play still seem to be able to hold their own. Just don't expect things to be easy with these guys.

Fyreslayers have some of the hardest to remove battle line in the game but unfortunately they suffer from poor variety in the range coupled with being a horde army with elite troop pricing making them somewhat rare. I've heard great things about the troops but the magmadroths (the most unique models) are generally considered a bit overpriced points wise.

Flesh eater courts I haven't heard much about but the new summoning rules were a pretty big boon to them j believe. The SC! box is great for them having almost everything in the range in it though I believe outside of elite horror or flayer armies you're going to need a lot ghouls. They also have an annoying issue where their heroes are made from the same kits as the troops leaving you with uneven troop sizes.

[Damian]

Thanks for replies, so if I went with Slyvaneth, what other models wold people suggest I buy 'Apart from the SC box'?

Tree revnants I have read mentioned, a Wyldwood or two and maybe a 2nd SC box? (May as well use up my Christmas money...

How about a leader?  Drycha? 

[Overread]

If you can get the Vale of Ghyran that would give you 4 woods with discounted price (GW UK doesn't have it any more but some 3rd party stores still stock it so hunt around, it's still out there but in limited supply). If not then GW still has a dedicated set of 3 woods for sale. 

Pick either of those up and you've got enough to set you up for ages. Also don't forget its just a wood so you can put them right down on the table as just an ordinary bit of woody terrain even if you're not using your tree spirit faction. 

[Damian]

So, a Wyldwood consists of 3 pieces (3 models)?  or is each individually piece (model) considered a 'Wood' ?   

eg, so when I place my free Wyldwood, I place all 3 piece on the board, not just 1 piece? 

[King Taloren]

It consists of 1-3 pieces of citadel woods. So the entire Citadel wood model and base. Most players do just 1 piece since dropping 3 tends to be a rude move considering how much table space that would eat up.

[Yoshiya]

1 hour ago, Damian said:

Thanks for replies, so if I went with Slyvaneth, what other models wold people suggest I buy 'Apart from the SC box'?

Tree revnants I have read mentioned, a Wyldwood or two and maybe a 2nd SC box? (May as well use up my Christmas money...

How about a leader?  Drycha? 

Assuming you go with a Tree Lord Ancient with the SC! You have a few choices. You battalion of choice will dictate your choices somewhat though. If you want to go Gnarlroot then you need at least one box of Tree-Revenants which gives you another battle line.

Branchwraiths are another solid hero and many lists run one Branchwych and one Branchwraith due them being cheap wizards that both go up to two casts in a Gnarlroot list. For the other heroes, Drycha is your primary anti-horde which the army struggles with when using her worms, whereas Durthu is an incredible combat focused monster (if you want him I'd recommend getting another SC! to get more Dryads at the same time).

Alarielle is a monster and deserves a spot in any list however note your opponent make not be happy to see you show up with one (even those she's pretty well balanced for a god tier unit).

For troops, your core is always going to be Dryads outside of Dreadwood. I find two units of 20 work will with min-sized Tree-Revenants though maybe just take one large block.

Kurnoth Hunters are the true hammers of the army, equipped with either scythes or swords theyll wreck practically anything whilst their 4+ rerollable save makes them extreme hard to remove. Fit in as many as you can/want is my advice. Bow Kurnoths are good too though their usage will vary on terrain and frequency of enemy monsters (which I found they excel at chunking their way through from their incredible range).

 

For more advice, just go to the Mets chat for the army where you'll see a lot of discussion on different lists. Slyvaneth have quite a few different viable builds right now so it's hard to say which models you need to get (except scythe Kurnoth who I'm totally not biased towards...)

[Kirjava13]

1 hour ago, King Taloren said:

Most players do just 1 piece since dropping 3 tends to be a rude move considering how much table space that would eat up.

Would you mind letting my semi-regular Sylvaneth opponent know this?

[Barbossal]

The Seraphon battleforce is fantastic and a great starting point. You do not need to build aagoc heavy army with them. I run a dino heavy list and I have been rolling my local group now that I am partnering an Astrolith Bearer that can provide rerolls

[Damian]

1 hour ago, Barbossal said:

The Seraphon battleforce is fantastic and a great starting point. You do not need to build aagoc heavy army with them. I run a dino heavy list and I have been rolling my local group now that I am partnering an Astrolith Bearer that can provide rerolls

aagoc ?  Sorry, not familiar with that term?

A dino-heavy army sounds great fun, how would I expand from the Battleforce?  A carnosaur+scar veteran?  Add myself an Astroith Bearer? 

[King Taloren]

1 minute ago, Damian said:

aagoc ?  Sorry, not familiar with that term?

A dino-heavy army sounds great fun, how would I expand from the Battleforce?  A carnosaur+scar veteran?  

I think he meant to say magic. Lol

[Kirjava13]

1 minute ago, Damian said:

aagoc ?  Sorry, not familiar with that term?

A dino-heavy army sounds great fun, how would I expand from the Battleforce?  A carnosaur+scar veteran?  

It depends on what you're into. If you just want some fun models, the Start Collecting box includes a Carnosaur/another Troglodon, and the Carnosaur is THE mini (along with the Stormfiends) that got me back into Warhammz.  You get some Saurus Warriors and Saurus Knights too, but general opinion on the latter is that their Cold One mounts look pretty derpy.

[Damian]

And an astrolith bearer?

[Barbossal]

Yes! I meant magic haha

After the battleforce just grab another Stegadon or Bastilladon, and Kroxigors or a Salamander. That fills out the requirements for the Thunderquake.

I find the Astrolith Bearer pretty essential since we only reliably hit on 4+. Rerolling hits for all units wholly within 12" is amazing when you get a nice Bastilladon beam cooking an enemy unit

 

[Joakim]

Alternative advice

 

see where and what army you get the best deal on already assembled and primed or even painted to a decent standard

 

youll spend time on just getting models ready and you can go faster to playing like that by buying an army that you can supplement on-going

 

when I started playing Warhammer I had good friend letting me use their painted armies while I got my own first army painted.

hooefully you have such friends too. That’ll also help you find out your play style - that’ll matter too as it sounds like you enjoy the more competitive part too.

 

good luck and enjoy!

[Avatar Rage]

Honestly just follow your heart.

As for constructive advice, here we go:

Go for the army that you like the look of the most.

Take note of the batte line units for that army (download the app for details). These will form your armies backbone. Make sure that they aren’t too pricey.

Sylvanth, Seraphon, Flesh Eaters and Tzeentch demons all have good/flexible starter sets. The Fyrslayers have a decent one but not as good as the others. DoK don’t have one. 

Tzeench daemons might make neat army to play doubles with your skaven buddy. But keep in mind you will be primarily fighting at range and with magic ( which you will have a lot of).

Seraphon and Sylvaneth are a bit more accessible to newer players, in my opinion. Both are very flexible armies with a lot of potential growth for the future.

 

 

[Damian]

Thanks for the replies, think i'm gonna head for the Seraphon battalion box and add in a few additional monsters (as suggested above)… a 2nd bastiladon and a Salamnder, with an astrolith bearer. 

 

**Question... what should I arm the Skinks with? i', thinking javelins as they are hardly fighters and i'm sure they would get slaughtered in melee...?

 

[rokapoke]

1 hour ago, Damian said:

**Question... what should I arm the Skinks with? i', thinking javelins as they are hardly fighters and i'm sure they would get slaughtered in melee...?

 

Blowpipes. Increased range, and a block of 40 can really get work done. 

[Damian]

Thanks, and for magic, a Slann or a skink priest?