Picking an army to suit playstyle

[Will]

Hi!

I'm a bit of a vet of 40k and to some extent WHFB, looking to get into AoS with a new army. I've fallen foul recently of painting up an army (for 40k) which didn't really suit my usual playstyle, very static, very durable, but kind of dull. My own fault really for perhaps not proxying it beforehand.

With regards to AoS, i'd like to play a fast, aggressive army. The kind of army you'd describe as having good alpha strike. Can be cavalry heavy, but it doesn't have to be. I don't mind if its a bit of a glass hammer either, the faster and punchier the better. Pretty basic requirements

Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. But also, if you'd like to expand to the general playstyles of other factions too, that would be pretty cool. I'm sure there are plenty of newbies in the same boat as me.

Sorry if this info already exists elsewhere!

Thanks for reading!

[The Jabber Tzeentch]

There are many factions that can fit this style of army to be honest. Almost to the point that ANY faction can be designed with alpha strike in mind.

Destruction armies do particularly well as they have good movement bonuses so can get first turn charges pretty easily.

Stormcast Eternals can alpha strike by using deployment tricks. Bloodbound and Brayherds also have some speedy movement.

[Dez]

Ironjawz iz BEST!

[Will]

Handy. So each faction is pretty flexible?

[The Jabber Tzeentch]

Handy. So each faction is pretty flexible?

Within reason, yes. But I think you'll find that there's a lot more versatility in the armies than in previous edition of Warhammer. Especially if you don't confine yourself to one faction.

[ElectricPaladin]

1 hour ago, Will said:

a fast, aggressive army.

 

1 hour ago, Will said:

Can be cavalry heavy, but it doesn't have to be

 

1 hour ago, Will said:

I don't mind if its a bit of a glass hammer

 

1 hour ago, Will said:

the faster and punchier the better

 

It definitely sounds to me like you are describing an army in the Destruction Grand Alliance. You might do well to start collecting the entire alliance - probably with a focus on Greenskins of some description, since the Beastclaw Raiders are rather tanky - and then specialize as you learn their style. However, the words I would use to describe pretty much every Destruction army I've read about are fast, aggressive, and punchy. You've also got some neat cavalry options in the form of Orruks riding pigs and you can easily splash in some Ogors riding mastadons if you're running an Alliance army.

I don't know much about Orruks, but I get the impression that both Orruk armies are pretty fast and punchy. Ironjawz wear heavier armor, so I imagine they are a little more of a hammer hammer and less of a glass hammer, whereas the (probably?) squishier Bonesplitterz are (probably?) either faster or hammerier to compensate.

[Dez]

Ironjawz iz best!

Ok ok enough of that...but let me give you some reasoning!

Ironjawz, when you look at their Warscrolls alone, look far from fast. This is deceiving, and I'll describe why below. What Ironjawz can do is move fast, hit hard...and take a punch in return. They do not however have much in the way of shooting or immunity to mortal wounds. 

In the Destruction Alliance, the Allegiance Battletrait let's you roll a d6 for extra movement in the Hero phase as long as a unit is within 6" of a general or Hero. Nice! They also have a Battalion, Ironfist, which let's them move ANOTHER d6 in the hero phase. Now if you take the Ravager Command Trait, you can add 2" to the Allegiance Battletrait. I can tell you, this is how you get first turn charges before your opponent has a chance to buff up his forces and can change the tide of battle downhill for your opponent. 

The Mawkrusha is an awesome model, and hit's like a tank. it can also take some damage, and if you chose the Talisman of Preservation from the artifacts list it has a 4+ save vs Mortal Wounds which is hot sauce. 

Megawarboss will also smash anything it touches, and has a 3+ save and 7 wounds. He will mow through units, and can make your Brutes immune to battleshock as well as reroll 1's to hit.

Warchanter gives a unit +1 to hit, I always take one

Weirdnob is ok...I skip it. 

Brutes are your workforce. They will chop through units, and if it has a 4+ wound characteristic you reroll failed hits! They have a 4+ save and 3 wounds each.

Gore-gruntaz are like mounted Brutes with 5 wounds that move 9". I usually use the Warchanter buff on them to be sure they hit as much as possible. This unit is fast and tanky.

Ardboyz get work done. They have 2 wounds and a 4+ save, and can take a banner for +2 Bravery abd a musician for +2 charge. This makes them fast and more resilient, they are the grunts grabbing objectives while he rest of the army clears the board.

[Will]

All signs point to destruction! Thanks for all the advice so far! Really helpful!

[Vasshpit]

1 hour ago, Dez said:

Ironjawz iz best!

Ok ok enough of that...but let me give you some reasoning!

Ironjawz, when you look at their Warscrolls alone, look far from fast. This is deceiving, and I'll describe why below. What Ironjawz can do is move fast, hit hard...and take a punch in return. They do not however have much in the way of shooting or immunity to mortal wounds. 

In the Destruction Alliance, the Allegiance Battletrait let's you roll a d6 for extra movement in the Hero phase as long as a unit is within 6" of a general or Hero. Nice! They also have a Battalion, Ironfist, which let's them move ANOTHER d6 in the hero phase. Now if you take the Ravager Command Trait, you can add 2" to the Allegiance Battletrait. I can tell you, this is how you get first turn charges before your opponent has a chance to buff up his forces and can change the tide of battle downhill for your opponent. 

The Mawkrusha is an awesome model, and hit's like a tank. it can also take some damage, and if you chose the Talisman of Preservation from the artifacts list it has a 4+ save vs Mortal Wounds which is hot sauce. 

Megawarboss will also smash anything it touches, and has a 3+ save and 7 wounds. He will mow through units, and can make your Brutes immune to battleshock as well as reroll 1's to hit.

Warchanter gives a unit +1 to hit, I always take one

Weirdnob is ok...I skip it. 

Brutes are your workforce. They will chop through units, and if it has a 4+ wound characteristic you reroll failed hits! They have a 4+ save and 3 wounds each.

Gore-gruntaz are like mounted Brutes with 5 wounds that move 9". I usually use the Warchanter buff on them to be sure they hit as much as possible. This unit is fast and tanky.

Ardboyz get work done. They have 2 wounds and a 4+ save, and can take a banner for +2 Bravery abd a musician for +2 charge. This makes them fast and more resilient, they are the grunts grabbing objectives while he rest of the army clears the board.

You had me at Ironjawz iz best....

@Will What was the 40k army you didn't like that you painted?

And what is your go to in 40k?

[Will]

5 minutes ago, Vasshpit said:

You had me at Ironjawz iz best....

@Will What was the 40k army you didn't like that you painted?

And what is your go to in 40k?

The army was Nurgle Daemons. My flying Daemon Princes do all of the heavy lifting. They aren't proactive enough by themselves though, generally.

I guess I could give them a go in AoS!

My favourite 40k army is my Thunderwolf Cav heavy SW list, plus Knight. 

[Vasshpit]

2 minutes ago, Will said:

The army was Nurgle Daemons. My flying Daemon Princes do all of the heavy lifting. I guess I could give them a go in AoS! They aren't proactive enough by themselves.

My favourite 40k army is my Thunderwolf Cav heavy SW list, plus Knight. 

Well if that's your go to now I think you'd enjoy or at least should look into Beastclaw Raiders.

Very heavy calvary army (mournfang) backed up by heavy hitters, like your knight, in the form of Thundertusk and stonehorn.

[Karchev23]

Seconded, I myself am a Beastclaw player and hard hitting mobility is what we do. Also have pretty good staying power ( especially stone horns ). Low model count can be a gift and a curse. On one hand less models to paint!, on the other we can struggle quite abit in Matched play objective games. Beastclaws excel in the alpha strike, first turn charges etc. So in objective games I usually go for all out offensive goodness. 

[Vasshpit]

@Will

Also, since you're a Space Wolves player, then you may have some Fenrisen wolves around, you could proxy them as Frost Sabres.

A lot of folks do as the actual model is still resin and FW are just a great set of models.

I've got 12 waiting to be painted up for just this.

[Bjarni St.]

What you're describing sounds like Beastclaw Raiders to me. Wallet-friendly (for Warhammer), competitive, with some pretty nice models and the rest easily proxied with a variety of other models (looking at you Yetis!).

If you want to go down that route, every Alliance has some version of a "cavalry/monster army" that's playable on the table but I wouldn't recommend anyone enter AoS with a new army of something that hasn't had at least something like an End Times expansion, if not a proper Battletome.

[Dez]

Bah weedy ol' Stonehornz and uvva llamaz? A Mawkrusha would literally eat dem gitz fer breakfast...if it were desperate! A Gore-gruntaz gonna make a bacon sammich outta Mournfang too.

IRONJAWZ IZ BEST

(Now I'm having fun!)

[Undead4Life]

For other ideas: 

The Stormcast Eternals have a pretty crazy deepstrike combo with their lizard-riding dudeguys. Clearly I don't know much about it but I'm sure someone can fill you in.

As for Death, you could always go Soulblight Allegiance and use Blood Knights as Battleline. BKs are some serious heavy-hitters, and when buffed by the various Vampire Lords are downright brutal. In addition to that, their banner bearer brings back a dead model every turn and they heal if they do damage. 

If you are thinking Chaos you could go with a Varanguard list; at 1000 points you can fit six Varanguard and two Gaunt Summoners; super elite.

Chaos is also home to the Clan Skryre Mortal Wound Deepstrike Death Squad, aka "Rat Cheese."

Explore all your options before you cease bathing and paint your skin green!

[Dez]

Hey I bathed just this week!....I think.

[Vasshpit]

7 minutes ago, Dez said:

Hey I bathed just this week!....I think.

Sniff, sniff....... yes. Yes he did.

[ElectricPaladin]

2 hours ago, Undead4Life said:

As for Death, you could always go Soulblight Allegiance and use Blood Knights as Battleline.

As a Death player, I'd actually avoid this. Unless you really like the Death aesthetic, Soulblight is a really unknown quantity. It's a terribly incomplete faction, and I'd put money on it either remaining a secondary faction or (more likely, given the new painted vargheist on the back of the crypt flayer box) if it gets expanded, it will be with new kits and potentially a radical change in playstyle and aesthetic. I wouldn't want to start the game with a faction that's in such an unsteady place unless I knew I was into the Grand Alliance as a whole, and therefore certain I would find a use for the models somehow.

[BrAiKo]

3 hours ago, Dez said:

Hey I bathed just this week!....I think.

Hmm not sure I believe that.  There are several on this forum who suspect diz guy is really an aelf wearing green paint.  He can read, and counts to lotz.  I wouldn't trust him.

[Dangermouse425]

Sounds like you need an Ironfist in your life. Beastclaw Raiders are a fad. Ironjawz are forever.

The way it works is combo-ing with the Destruction traits and GHB stuff. Plus a cheeky bit of Gordrakk.

Hero Phase: 
Rampaging Destroyers move: D6"
Ravager Trait: +2" to Rampage roll
Ironfist Warscroll Battalion move: D6"
Movement Phase: 
Gore-Gruntas Basic Move: 9"
Charge Phase: 
Charge Distance: 2D6"

For a grand total of 11+4D6" in total! If you take the average roll of D6 as 3.5, that's an average distance of 25". Considering most armies are deployed 24" away from each other, you only have to roll averagely or better to get a first turn charge. Or, you let them go first and smash them on your turn 1! 

This gets even better when you combine Gordrakk's Command Ability which allows you to buff the whole Battalion.

Gordrakk The Fist of Gork - 700

Warchanter - 80

Warchanter - 80

6 x Gore Gruntas - 360

3 x Gore Gruntas - 180

3 x Gore Gruntas - 180

3 x Gore Gruntas - 180

3 x Gore Gruntas - 180

Ironfist Warscroll Battalion - 60

2000pts on the button! Oink oink! 

[Dez]

....am I going to get more Gore-Gruntaz now? I'm going to get more Gore-Gruntaz, the charge of the Bacon Brigade will go down in infamy!

 

[Dangermouse425]

INTO DA VALLEY OF DEFF RODE DA SIX 'UNDRED. WAAAGH!

[Will]

Thanks again everyone. Currently poring over the destruction war scrolls!