Getting started

[TheRadiant]

After several years of not caring about AoS, it was through the RPG that I finally began to find things about the setting that resonated with me and I am thinking about getting into the tabletop game properly. But I am not yet sure what army to play. Now, I have a couple of favourites. I would be very grateful if someone could tell me their pros and cons, their strengths and weaknesses so I can make an educated choice. My favourites are:

Flesh-Eater Courts

Ossiarch Bonereapers

Greenskinz

Beasts of Chaos

Slaves to Darkness

Any input would be welcome.

[Neverchosen]

Welcome @TheRadiant

I think if your initial interest lies with the RPG that you should focus on the faction that will help you enjoy that game system more fully. So if you play the RPG using minis I would actually recommend focusing on a faction that would function as your most common antagonist. So if your games typically see you in the woods fighting off Beasts of Chaos, or in mines staving off attacks from Gloomspite Gitz then selecting said army will give you access to a number of models to help fill out your scenarios. I play Slaves to Darkness and most of my Tabletop RPG's now feature evil armoured knights and the occasional demon. I also argue that under their helmets they could easily be orcs, elves or dwarves or whatever else the narrative dictates.

Then if you enjoy AOS and expand into a second army choose the faction that best represents your character. My second army is Idoneth Deepkin which worked for my gaming group as many of them like to play as elves but some of them prefer to use my chaos warriors for their heroes. However if your group plays as a variety of heroes from various races then Cities of Sigmar could be an interesting choice as it provides the ability to allow your friends to play as a model that more closely resembles their character. 

I hope that helps as I am not overtly familiar with the AoS RPG or if you personally use models in your games. I do hope to check it out at some point though as I have heard positive things.

Edited July 25, 2020 by Neverchosen

[Sputnik]

Flesh-Eater Courts - Relatively easy to get into as the start collecting box has most of what you need and there are are fairly few models. But...there are fairly few models, expect to paint a lot of the same thing. They do have at least one build that has been competitive for a long time, so a fairly powerful 'pick up and play' army. 

Ossiarch Bonereapers - New models with decent variety and can be painted to look very cool (I think so anyway). Their strongest build has just been nerfed but they are still a very tanky elite army. You get to take Nagash! 

Greenskinz - There is no old school Greeskinz army anymore, but orcs can be played as Ironjawz, Bonesplitterz or 'Big Waaagh'. They have a few competitive builds, but all rely on smashing and bashing, so you have to like that playstyle. Oh, and I hope you enjoy painting green!

Beasts of Chaos - In a bad place at the moment competitively and a lot of the models are older. One of those armies that you really have to love to get over their limitations, and paint all those goatmen!

Slaves to Darkness - They have some of the best new models in the game, but for some reason those beautiful new models have been given pretty ineffective rules. I would take them anyway - rule of cool wins for me. This is one of the most varied armies in terms of ally options and builds. You get to take Archaon!

[TheRadiant]

Oh, I forgot...any comment on Gloomspite Gitz?

[Mcthew]

Like Neverchosen, be directed by your RPG focus. If you're into supernatural adventures, then Nighthaunt or Legions of Nagash are the way to go. Great aesthetic, lots of variety.

If you're dabbling in a more horrorific/Lovecraft type adventures then its gotta be Nurgle or Tzeencth for me, for the models.

Straight up fantasy, I'd go for Gloomspite for the fun of it. But for gameplay flexibility where anything literally goes, you can't beat Skaven.*

*(Actually Kharadron do - if your thing is steampunk, and their last battletome made them a tad better on the tabletop!)

[MaatithoftheBrand]

If you are interested in Gloomspite they have an awful lot of variety and places for your army to grow, and indeed can give you a lot of variety for RPGs, both Soulbound and D&D/generic fantasy characters/villains

The army has a core of the Moonclan Grots - goblins, with a variety of wacky villain leaders - shamans and bosses, and the Grotapalooza who can be RPG villains in their ow right as all manner of strange goblins, creatures of the Underdark/Shadowfell/Feywilds, and what have you, with their strange fairy tale elements and mushroom creatures. One even wears a big mask like the goblins in Chult in the Forgotten Realms. With hordes of grots, elite warriors and bosses, and then squigs - ridden squigs, hearded squigs, gigantic squigs, squig artillery that spits smaller squigs..., even without dabbling with the other elements of the Gloomspite the Moonclan gives you a lot of options.
Spiderfang are a cavalry force of goblins on giant spiders of ever increasing size - in game they add a lethal short range punch to a goblin force, particularly in dense terrain like forests or cities. In Soulbound they range from massed Spider Rider mooks through to monstrous araknarok spiders and powerful shaman kings, especially if you add in the flavour of them having bosses swollen to physically imposing brawlers by magical venom.
Then they get monsters - Troggoths can be an army in their own right, and have a surprising amount of variety within themselves if you want a monstrous, elite army. Rockgut and Fellwater Troggoths offer a decent choice in battleline for AoS, and there are few fantasy settings or regions in a D&D world that don't have trolls - with these two options being able to be all manner of standard/rock/cave/ice/venom/skrag trolls. The Forge World Troll Hag is a monstrous wizard, a decent advisor to a big boss of a Soulbound campaign, being able to be a bodyguard and sage advisor both to a warlord, and in another setting could be a troll wizard or even an enormous annis hag or similar. The Dankhold Troggoths/Trogbosses are giant-sized commanders - a tough unit to crack, and as the recent "solo play" rules from GW themselves show, major villains in their own right. In D&D or similar, these could be enormous mountain trolls, a troll king, a stone giant or who knows what else - they are big, covered in strange Feywild/Underdark details and intimidating to put down in front of adventurers. 
Gloomspite also get access to the Aleguzzler Gargant - a classic hill giant and a fun bruiser, in case you want even more variety in the strange monsters your gloomspite general/evil wizard/hobgoblin warlord has managed to coax into service.

With Gloomspite as your base, you can then spread out into mixed Destruction if you want more options in your DM pockets - the upcoming Sons of Behemat give you enormous giants if the Dankhold Troggoths/Aleguzzler Gargant aren't big enough for you, the Mawtribes give you Ogors if you want heavy infantry marching behind your thievin' mobs, with sabretooth monsters, enormous fantasy creatures as mounts, a variety of wizards and heroes, and gnoblars for a different asthetic to your tides of little gitz. Then, of course, there are the Orruk Warclans - if you want heavily armoured or tribal orcs for your adventurers to have a more... traditionally martial... foe.

 

Edit to add: Whilst I think that Gloomspite offer an enormous amount of variety, I agree with what others are saying - be led by the kind of RPG adventure you want to run/play. Gloomspite are straightforward villains - teeming hordes of stupid brutes or low-level enemies, with a few cunning commanders or wizards, and the option for some Feywild or Underdark flavour. If you want a gothic horror or undead campaign, Nighthaunt or Death in general, with you being able to pick up the Ossiarch / Flesh Eater Courts as your focus if you so wish. Beasts of Chaos have some very fun models, but I personally think offer fewer stories - unless your players really enjoy the "pushing back the Wilds" themes. Slaves to Darkness give you a lot of models and themes too, possibly more than Gloomspite, although I think the models have a touch less character, and from an RPG point of view I can see more times a team of Soulbound/adventurers would square off against a troll lord than a Chaos Warshrine

Edited July 25, 2020 by MaatithoftheBrand