How to build 1000pt (approx) army

[GrumpyD]

Hi guys.

 

My little one wants to start collecting AOS, and has settled on the tzeench battleforce. I have said I will collect another chaos army so that he has 2 in total.

 

What's the best chaos army I can get for around the same price as the battleforce?  Preferably STD, but nurgle  khorne or beasts of chaos will do too.

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by GrumpyD
Added beasts

[Grimrock]

It depends on what you mean by 'best', but most factions should be able to come up with around 1000 points for a similar cost to the battle force if  you're smart about your purchases. For example if you went with Slaves to Darkness you could get a start collecting box, the new Gresh's Iron Reapers box of chariots, and an extra box of chaos warriors to make a list like this:

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness

Leaders
Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (230)

Battleline
5 x Chaos Knights (160)
- Ensorcelled Weapons
1 x Chaos Chariots (120)
- Greatblades
1 x Chaos Chariots (120)
- Greatblades
1 x Chaos Chariots (120)
- Greatblades
20 x Chaos Warriors (360)
- Hand Weapon & Shield

Battalions
Ruinbringer Warband (140)

Total: 1250 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 85

Some factions may be harder than others due to things like faction terrain (Skull Altar for Khorne or the Herdstone for the Beasts of Chaos) or requiring a lot of trooper models (Beasts of Chaos in particular). What exactly are you looking for in terms of an army? Are you looking for the most competitive choice? Something roughly balanced with the Tzeentch battleforce? Or maybe just something that plays differently?

[GrumpyD]

Hi thanks for the reply.  

 

Something that's roughly balanced with the battleforce.  I don't really want to ruin his initial enjoyment of the game.

[PiotrW]

6 hours ago, GrumpyD said:

Hi guys.

What's the best chaos army I can get for around the same price as the battleforce?  Preferably STD, but nurgle  khorne or beasts of chaos will do too.

One potential problem with StD: the quality of the models is... mixed. IMHO, that particular range is one that needs some definite refreshing on GW's part. Not sure how important aesthetics is to you or your kid, but if it is...

Overall, if you want to go with StD, definitely get their Start Collecting! box, as it has some really good models which, also, form a necessary core of an army: a Leader and 2 or 3 Battleline units (depending on whether you will field Chaos Warriors as two small units or a single bigger one). You can expand from there in various directions. Personally, as I value the coolness factor, I'd consider adding the three monsters released under Warcry banner (Ogroid Myrmidon, Fomoroid Crusher and Mindstealer Sphiranx). If you want units with a lot of personality, there's the Godsworn Hunt: a cool group of "Chaos barbarians" initially released for Warhammer Underworlds (Shadespire / Nightvault / Beastgrave / Direchasm, depending on the year). Another WHU warband that will be be released in the future, Khagra's Ravagers, will quite probably end up available for StD, too (they are a unique group of Chaos Warriors, after all). Gaunt Summoner on Disk (and the one without a Disk, if you go by the warscroll keywords) is a Tzeentch unit available for StD - and he has this interesting ability of summoning various Chaos daemons (so, again, variety). And don't forget you can use Ally points to import some non-StD Chaos units into your army...

Here's a quickie list Not saying it's a good list, but it's colourful

Allegiance: Slaves to Darkness

Leaders
Chaos Lord on Karkadrak (230)
- General
Theddra Skull-Scryer (70)
Ogroid Myrmidon (140)

Battleline
5 x Chaos Knights (160)
- Cursed Lance
5 x Chaos Warriors (90)
- Hand Weapon & Shield
5 x Chaos Warriors (90)
- Hand Weapon & Shield

Units
5 x Godsworn Hunt (60)
1 x Fomoroid Crusher (100)
5 x Garrek's Reavers (60)
- Allies

Total: 1000 / 1000
Extra Command Points: 0
Allies: 60 / 200
Wounds: 77
 

[Grimrock]

6 hours ago, GrumpyD said:

Hi thanks for the reply.  

 

Something that's roughly balanced with the battleforce.  I don't really want to ruin his initial enjoyment of the game.

Hmm, well slaves could actually be pretty frustrating for that Tzeentch battleforce because they're pretty resilient to magic and the base warriors can be pretty resilient against shooting if you have a lot of them. Khorne might be a good choice though. They have a pretty good value in their mortal start collecting box and they can handle some of the tzeentch magic while also still being vulnerable to the shooting so they don't completely counter the army. If you pick up the start collecting box, a couple slaughterpriests, a box of mighty skull crushers, and a Skull Altar, you could make this:

Allegiance: Khorne
- Slaughterhost: The Goretide

Leaders
Bloodsecrator (120)
- General
- Command Trait: Hew the Foe
- Artefact: Thronebreaker's Torc
Bloodstoker (80)
- Artefact: Talisman of Burning Blood
Slaughterpriest (100)
- Blood Blessing: Killing Frenzy
Slaughterpriest (100)
- Blood Blessing: Bronzed Flesh

Battleline
5 x Blood Warriors (100)
- Goreaxe & Gorefist
10 x Bloodreavers (70)
- Reaver Blades
10 x Bloodreavers (70)
- Reaver Blades
6 x Mighty Skullcrushers (320)
- Bloodglaives

Units
1 x Khorgoraths (100)

Battalions
Gore Pilgrims (140)

Total: 1200 / 2000
Extra Command Points: 1
Allies: 0 / 400
Wounds: 90
 

I believe that's the same number of points as the Tzeentch battleforce and should make for some interesting games. If the buffs go off on the skullcrushers they can be a serious problem for the Tzeentch force but should be manageable with good play and focus. The troops are good for grabbing objectives and screening, and the priests can dish out some pretty serious damage. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by Grimrock