Big Guys surrounded by waves of small dudes – which army to choose?

[Hannibal]

Hi all,

I´m searching for a new project and due to aesthetics I like some big cool looking centerpieces surrounded by a crowd of smalish dudes. Some examples are:

Great Unclean Ones with lots of PLaguebearers and Nurglings

a swarm of sqiug herds with some Mangler Squigs

Something like this.

 

Well, what do you think: which faction could run such a theme pretty well? Any ideas / advice?

 

Thanks in advance

HTG

[amysrevenge]

Flesheater courts: Terrorgheists surrounded by hordes of ghouls (that was my main list for 2019)

[Baron Klatz]

I think your first suggestion coupled with your profile picture is telling of your future project.

But yeah, Nurgle's solid as well as anything chaos with towering greater daemons leading it if not Archaon himself, Gloomspite and Ironjawz are overflowing with potential be it a Megaboss going on a monster hunt with Bonesplitterz, kicking around Moonclan grots, a Troggoth force leading the charge for the scampering greenskins or your giant spider option leading skittering clans and mutants. That's all on top of your Squig suggestion.

If you want godly options then look to Death to have Nagash leading anything from elite Ossiarchs as a bodyguard or hordes of deathrattle plus the noble Flesh-Easter courtiers in their gallant masses following their king on a dragons to a royal banquet.

And Order's got Alarielle, Celestant-prime, Morathi's true form and the Eidolon of the Deepkin to bring the mortals to war.

You've got tons of great options.

I think going with your gut might be best here, Nurgle's got the aesthetic you want and you can spread your hordes out even more with Slaves to Darkness or Clans Pestilence if you want to mix in a swarming rat plague to escort your lumbering diseases.

Edited February 12, 2020 by Baron Klatz

[Beastmaster]

Ogor Stonehorns surrounded by lots of Gnoblars should do the trick. 😁

[NauticalSoup]

Orruk Warclans can do this a couple of ways. The Rogue Idol and Megaboss on Mawkrusha are huge models and can be coupled with a swarm of smaller Savage Orruks or Ardboys. Megabosses/brutes/goregruntas are also substantially bigger than Ardboys in Ironjawz.

[Gareth 🍄]

Mawtribes - big beasties and cute little Gnoblars.

[Kramer]

Have you thought about Skaven? 
basically all the four Chaos gods work, but skaven in particular have the great contrast in size. 

The other one I haven’t seen mentioned is Seraphon. 

[Forrix]

Archaon surrounded by a crowd of Greater Demons would be pretty lit....

[Skreech Verminking]

The skaven are a natural pick.

You’ll be able to field a ton of clanrats and other more infantry based units while supporting them with gigantic packs of rat ogres and Stormfiends.

And when you’re feeling like an ork with his need for speed, the doomwheel will be one of your best friends.

if all of those mentioned craziness isn’t big enough for you, I would go no further then to the heart of a skaven speerhead, the Verminlords.

this Daemons are The grand Manipulator of the army, able to even go toe to toe with other greater daemons, no Skaven army will feel complete with out them.

want something much more horrifying, I’d ask the clans moulder for some support.

at first they may not look so great but with their brutish beast also known as rat-ogres, your enemy's will soon learn to fear their brutal charges.

Go a bit further and your line could soon be bolstered by not less then 4Hell pit abominations.

You can probably already guess what that thing does and looks like.

Not much will survive against such a beast, even daemons will soon learn to fear them, for else there is nothing more horrifying then to die by one of many ways this beast can bring death.

[sorokyl]

in addition to what has been mentioned:

Hellpit Abominations surrounded by giant rats
Nagash surrounded by underlings (either ossiarch or nighthaunt) 
Colossal squig surrounded by squig herds (colossal squigs even explode into more cave squigs!)
Arachnarok spiders surrounded by spider riders and moonclan grots  (Arachnaroks are the only model besides Archaon on a 160mm base...)
Idoneth has a couple of pretty large models. 

Honestly, MOST armies have big models and little models, just pick what flavor you like the best... 
 

[Lord Krungharr]

Do an Exalted Lord of Change, and then a ring of Battleline Flamers, and then a ring of teensy Brimstone Horrors.  BURN THE WORLD!

[Skreech Verminking]

Let’s not over exaggerate,

but how about 3Hell pit abomination, A verminlord warbringer and 200Clanrats!

[mojojojo101]

Sylvaneth

Treelords > Kurnoth Hunters > Dryads

Trees on Trees on Trees.

[zilberfrid]

I'd say Cities, Karl Franz on Deathclaw with a lot of Freeguild dudes.

Fyreslayers could work too, anyone on Magmadroth with a lot of bearded strippers around him.

[King Under the Mountain]

 

Large Ships surrounded by  smaller troops and  balloonboys.

 

If this sounds interesting then enlist into the Kharadron Overlords today.

[ledha]

gloomspite gitz are probably the best for that

Big trolls, medium trolls, goblins

Big spiders, little spiders

Big squigs, little squigs

And little goblins everywhere

It's the best "big guys surrounded by waves of small guys" army

Also, Ossiarch Bonerepeaer. Katakros is a good centerpiece and is towering over the mortek guard.

[Chikout]

If you can be patient it might be worth waiting for the sons of Behemat. I would be very surprised if they won't ally with gloomspite. There may even be a combined faction like we saw in the Ko book. 

Sons of Behemat will likely be the very definition of big guys. 

[Inquisitorsz]

Depending on your definition of "little guys" you could do that theme with pretty much any AoS faction.  
Nagash and Skeletons. 
Celestant Prime or Stardrake and basic foot soldier stormcasts
Daughters of Khaine have Morathi and normal foot soldiers  

I actually can't think of an AOS faction that doesn't have some big monster or hero kit and small regular foot troops. 
Stormcast and Ironjaws is probably the furthest removed and I'd say that's still possible. Ogors don't usually take many gnoblars but they are technically there and you could still do that kind of army.   
Cities of Sigmar is a bit weird coz it's a melting pot of so many different things, but there's still dragons and steam tanks and stuff like that. 
Nighthaunt is the only faction without a big monster although you still have the black coach. But there's always Nagash and you can take Arkhan in a NH army. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Inquisitorsz

[Eldarain]

This is a great thread to highlight how 2.0 has done a great job of giving most races a nice internal balance between little and big dudes

[Barbossal]

I think Seraphon gives you some fun sizes to play along with. Big Guys in the Dinosaurs, Kroxigors, and small guys in the Skinks & Chameleon skinks. Heck, even the saurus look small when up next to the dinos!

[Dolinarius]

If you really wanna bring the smallest possible bases (25mm)+ the largest possible one, there are not that many options

LoN: Mortarch/Nagash + Skelleton/Zombies

Skaven: Verminlord + rats

FEC: Terrorgheist + Ghouls

Cities of Sigmar: provide several possibilities: Blackdragon/General on Griffon/Hydra maybe even a Phoenix + basically every infantry in the book. 

Gits: Trolls/Squigs + your tiny green ****** 

That's - as far as I have it in my mind - the combinations with the largest differences. 

 

 

[Eevika]

The only real choice is Khorne Vorgaroth and some blood letters. 

[Myrdin]

Cities of Sigmar is a good pick, but be warned that there is no real "cheap chaff" in that book.

The cheapest unit is 80pts. And there absolutely are armies who can do even better price wise (Goblins come to mind). 

For the big stuff, there is a lot to pick from. Gryphon, Dragon, Phoenix are the 3 flying ones, Hydra, Kharibdis, Steam tank, Hurricanum (this is a must for any CoS army), for the non fliers.

Hmmm.... well technically: Regarding small stuff, , you can get  evencheaper chaff, by going  Scourgerunner Chariots at 60pts and Gyrocopters 70pts. These are however single model units that cap out at 3 models per unit, so if your strategy involves congo lines of infantry and such, this might not work. Otherwise though they will also give you plenty of shooting, on a fast mobile platforms. However due to the chariots being on 120mm bases if you run to many the actual table space becomes an issue, and may hamper your movement unless all the big stuff is the flying variant. Just take two/three units of the 80pts infantry just to fill out Battleline requirement and you`re golden.

 

I`d also say Beast of Chaos are a possibility .... but with the state of the book right now I would not recommend them unless you really want to challenge yourself with sub-par warscrolls and relying solely on the speed of your army to grab objectives while loosing ground in both combat, magic and shooting. There are some nice cheap big monsters like Cygor and Gorghon, a flying Chimera and some Cockatrices. But the selection is not as wide as with CoS. 

Edited February 13, 2020 by Myrdin

[azdimy]

I love a Keeper surrounded by Deamonettes

Edited February 13, 2020 by azdimy

[Neverchosen]

I think Beasts of Chaos fit your needs but as @Myrdin suggests they are not in a great competitive space right now. I also think Flesh Eater Courts is a fantastic choice as their start collecting set is pretty much exactly what you have outlined.