I have a Knight-Incantor, the book, and $200. What do I buy?

[Malcivus]

Howdy all! First post about my first foray int AoS! I played a little bit of 40k (Space Marines, natch) but I have always looked at WHF and AoS  lovingly from afar. My step-son wants dinosaurs, so I will be getting him some Seraphon, but that is not what this thread is about. No, this thread is about the "normies" we all know and love: Cities of Sigmar.

As the title says, I have come into the possession of the lovely Xandria Azurebolt from the "Mortal Realms" monthly subscription thing that GW does, as well as the Cities of Sigmar Army Book. EvilBay strikes again! I have about $200 to spend on my initial purchases for this army and I come seeking advice on what exactly I should get. I have found a few of the Warriors of the Great Cities boxes still left in the wild for about $170...are these worthy purchases still, or should I be focusing on the start collecting boxes and maybe some cherry-picked units? A bit of fluff from 40k I really dug was the Tyrants Legion, or basically Space Marines in command of Imperial Guardsmen, to bulk out their numbers but also used as meat-shields. Now, surely the Stormcasts are not nearly so callous (or maybe, hopefully, they are, I need some grimdark), but that is a theme I am interested in pursuing: Transhuman/Supernatural Warriors leading Mortals into battle, spending their lives so that the Mighty may live...thats a fun quote: "So that the Mighty might live".

Anyway, maybe that will give you guys an idea of what I am looking at, any advice is appreciated. Only stipulation is for now the General or Adjutant MUST be a Knight Incantor.

 

Thanks!

[zilberfrid]

For Cities, start out with a Celestial Hurricanum.

After that, it depends what you want to do. One of my favourites is the General on Griffin, which also gives you a regular General and battlemage, and incidentally is a real good sculpt.

If you want grimdark, try Sorceresses and Coven infantry. She'll sacrifice lots of them every game (for the greater good, of course).

If you like dwarves, get the Greywater Fastness SC.

I'm not sure the Firestorm boxes are still worth it at that price.

Which city strikes your fancy?

[Malcivus]

8 minutes ago, zilberfrid said:

For Cities, start out with a Celestial Hurricanum.

After that, it depends what you want to do. One of my favourites is the General on Griffin, which also gives you a regular General and battlemage, and incidentally is a real good sculpt.

If you want grimdark, try Sorceresses and Coven infantry. She'll sacrifice lots of them every game (for the greater good, of course).

If you like dwarves, get the Greywater Fastness SC.

I'm not sure the Firestorm boxes are still worth it at that price.

Which city strikes your fancy?

I like them all in their own way, but Anvilguard and Tempest's Eye are probably my favorite.

[ogarrah]

The start collecting  for whatever city you fancy is definitely a good way to go, it gets you a decent amount of models for a really good price. Also, for your son, Seraphon is getting a new battletome within the next couple of weeks, so I would wait to see what changes before purchasing any models.

[Malcivus]

14 minutes ago, ogarrah said:

The start collecting  for whatever city you fancy is definitely a good way to go, it gets you a decent amount of models for a really good price. Also, for your son, Seraphon is getting a new battletome within the next couple of weeks, so I would wait to see what changes before purchasing any models.

Awesome! good to know on the Seraphon front! Thank you for your reply.

[rockmanko]

If you want to start with easiest / most cost-efficient way and you like dwarves

Get the Greywater Fastness Start Collecting x 3,  you will get a very solid foundation.

 

Irondrakes/Iron breakers x30

Gyro-copter x3

Warden King x3 + Runesmith x3 --> I will suggest convert / proxy for two Runelord

 

Knight Incantor(with Everblaze Comet) + Celestial Hurricanum in Hallowheart is great (unless you are not a spell guy)

 

[Malcivus]

How does something like this look? I like the look of the old Swordmasters of Hoeth minis, and may have just snagged two units of the plastics to represent Black Guard or Phoenix Warriors. Obviously going up to 2000pts from this I would add in the Hallowheart Battalion, etc. Thinking about converting the Hurricanum to be more....Arcane looking...thinking the Chained Floaty Rock from the Shattered Dominion set as a focal point and call back to the City's sigil.

 

 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Malcivus

[zilberfrid]

On 2/27/2020 at 7:15 AM, rockmanko said:

If you want to start with easiest / most cost-efficient way and you like dwarves

Get the Greywater Fastness Start Collecting x 3,  you will get a very solid foundation.

Irondrakes/Iron breakers x30

Gyro-copter x3

Warden King x3 + Runesmith x3 --> I will suggest convert / proxy for two Runelord

Knight Incantor(with Everblaze Comet) + Celestial Hurricanum in Hallowheart is great (unless you are not a spell guy)

I would also add at least one Blood Bowl team to that. With only minor conversion, you now also have a unit of Longbeards in dynamic poses, plus imagery of Bugmans that can be conversion fuel for a dwarf themed Celestial Hurricanum.

[rockmanko]

5 hours ago, Malcivus said:

How does something like this look? I like the look of the old Swordmasters of Hoeth minis, and may have just snagged two units of the plastics to represent Black Guard or Phoenix Warriors. Obviously going up to 2000pts from this I would add in the Hallowheart Battalion, etc. Thinking about converting the Hurricanum to be more....Arcane looking...thinking the Chained Floaty Rock from the Shattered Dominion set as a focal point and call back to the City's sigil.

 

 

the question is which way you want to go / how competitive are you building

Theres a bunch of obvious choice people test out to be more cost efficient / effective unit

 

or you just want to build and use the model you like then just go

AOS is fun.

[Acid_Nine]

You know, if you like the idea of marines / stormcasts leading a bunch of expendable meatshields, then maybe look into flagellents. if your knight incantor is your general they are battle line, and they are certainly expendable and fairly cheap points wise. Play hallowheart and put warding brand on them, and suddenly you have little suicide bombers that cause mortal wounds on a 4+ and more mortal wounds when they flee from combat. A fairly heartless concept if I say so myself!

[Landohammer]

So I know you bought the Cities book, but based on your original post it looks like you favor human models and would prefer an army akin to a Space Marine force.

If that is the case, I would actually encourage you to make a Stormcast Eternal army, and perhaps ally in some Cities of Sigmar units.  Stormcasts are the direct parallel to space marines, and they are a fantastic starter army since they are low model count and have multiple "starter" boxes still widely available.

If that is the case, the Stormcast Eternal Exorcism Soulstrike box is a great deal and you can still find a few around for about $160 US. 

Then you can use your remaining budget to buy some Free People units such as Greatswords, a Steamtank, or maybe some artillery.

Making an all human Cities army might be a bit tricky, since Free Peoples don't actually have a start collecting box. You would have to buy each unit at full price and they are a high model count army. 

Also note that unlike 40k, almost all of AOS rules are free and easily accessable via the App. So books and datacards aren't always necessary. Once you memorize your allegiance and chapter abilities, you can really just leave your book at home.