Why that army?

[Big Kim Woof-Woof]

A question that always fascinates me.... why did you choose your army (or armies)? In the flesh, I often ask my fellow generals this, and often the answers are rather intriguing. 

Was it the background? The models? The way they play? Because they're more likely win you a game? Or.... ? 

Please do indulge me. 

[Marcvs]

5 minutes ago, Big Kim Woof-Woof said:

A question that always fascinates me.... why did you choose your army (or armies)? In the flesh, I often ask my fellow generals this, and often the answers are rather intriguing. 

Was it the background? The models? The way they play? Because they're more likely win you a game? Or.... ? 

Please do indulge me. 

I choose Stormcast because (I try to put them in order of their importance for my choice):

1) I was told they were the "posterboys" so they were safe from any "squatting" and their rules, while not necessarily "good", would aways be current*

2) I read the lore and liked it more than other factions -in short, their tragic hero vibe

3) I read that they had a large roster and you could keep exploring different playstyles while only collecting one army**

4) I saw I could pick up decently sized collections for relatively cheap on the 2nd hand market

*in hindisight, I hadn't conidered how this could also be a curse, sometimes feeling the hobby-fatigue of having to buy and paint new models to stay "current"
**looking at my 20k points, I had underestimated what "only collecting one army" would entail

[Koala]

25 years ago, when my friends started playing Warhammer Fantasy, i was late to the party and when i decided i wanted to join most factions were already taken.Except Chaos.

So it was decided that was my faction.

 

And somehow it stuck.

Today i own every faction broadly labeled "Chaos" except Skaven ( might change in 4th.Ed ). 

In 40k as well. 

[OkayestDM]

1: Stormcast - the Greek/roman aesthetic coupled with the immortal demigod champions theme appealed to me greatly. A clear "goog guy" faction, all dressed in heavy armor.

2: Ironjawz - look no further than the megaboss on foot. Brute strength coupled with bulky, rough-hewn armor and an overall theme of violent savagery made them a good counterpoint to the Stormcast I was collecting. 

3: Tzeentch - I've always loved the "cunning, scheming, deceptive" factions in games (Romulans are my favorite Star Trek race), and the undertones of mutation and cosmic horror were icing on the cake.

4: Beasts of Chaos - I honestly got into BoC because of the models. Beastmen-type models have a place in most fantasy game systems, and though the community is often split on them, I quite like the Bullgors (minotaurs are my favorite fantasy monster.)

5: Cities of Sigmar - I had started collecting Wanderers because classic eleven factions have always appealed to me, and I love hit-and-run fighting styles in games (though I'm also keenly aware that it often isn't fun for the other player.) When they were grouped into Cities, I saw it as an opportunity to have a respectable elf faction - as nothing else existed that appealed to me at the time. 

6: Ossiarch Bonereapers - At this point, I had at least one of every Grand Alliance except for Death, but the available selection at the time did not appeal to me. When ossiarch were released and I saw the Necropolis Stalkers for the first time, I knew they were the faction for me. The lore bit of elite, specially crafted and assembled legions that served as a twisted Nagashian mockery of the Stormcast was icing on the cake.

7: Lumineth Realmlords - Spiritual successor to High Elves, hailing from the realm of Light, crusading to burn chaos from the realms, sporting unique spirit temples? This faction was the Elves I had wanted, and better thanks Elves I already had at home. Some of the Aesthetics were a bit of a miss, but the themes were so good, as were the hinted at future releases. Wave 2 was everything I had hoped it would be, and with Foxes being my favorite canine, the Wind Temple was a solid win for me.

[Gaz Taylor]

My Ogors I painted up for AOS so I could play in Clash of Swords in the days of Mo Comp (I got a sportsman trophy for using 2 Thundertusks and a Stonehorn which were filth at the time!!!) and then at an event ran by @Ben which I can't remember but I won best destruction for smashing stuff and getting points (not winning games!  ). My memory is really hazy since becoming a Dad!

I currently have Kruleboyz waiting to be painted and my plan is to start and finish them before 4th edition drops. I also have the Flesh Eater army box which I'm going to paint up to use as a Spearhead force as I think we will see rules for using them in games like Combat Patrol. I chose them both as they have cool models  

[Gitzdee]

1 hour ago, Gaz Taylor said:

My memory is really hazy since becoming a Dad!

Yeah whats up with that XD, very relatable.

I picked up O&G because i always liked the vibe they had going on with orks, goblins, trolls and the different animals included in the army. It all really spoke to me at the time. Im also a bit of a clumsy big ork myself so i guess that also kinda connected with me somehow. I somehow also prefer to pick the bad guys over the good guys because most of the time i just think they look more tough/ dangerous. First warhammer game i tried was with the battle for skull pass and i played the gobbos using my friends models. It was all just meant to be haha.

Besides my love for Destruction armies i do own some Sylvaneth and Nighthaunt. Thats actually just because i let my wife pick them for my birthday. I do think she choose well and i went from there.

I always had a sweetspot for 40k Orks, i just cant picture 40k without them, same goes for my Eldar Wraith army. Much nostalgia from playing the dawn of war games too.

Also tried Space Wolves at some point but then Primaris happened and those just didnt click with me so they are kinda just gathering dust at this point.

Im a sucker for fantasy and i expect to own a whole lot more armies in the future. Also buy more individual models i just like to paint some day.

Edited February 22 by Gitzdee

[Vasshpit]

Kruleboyz:

Design. The model range themselves are incredible to me! Everything from anatomy to what I refer to as "functional fantasy' in their armor, weapons, etc is just incredibly well designed an I still get big smile every time I look upon them. They lack the more cartoonist and stylized look of their cousins in gitz and jawz and really give off a sinister vibe that is lacking in other Os &Gs ranges an I'm totally and completely here for It. 

Theme: I've mentioned it before but it was a bit of a gamble for Geedubs to deviate from their tried and true greenskins design and I'm glad hey did. It really does set them apart and make them unique to AoS. Cunning orcs that still maintain that brutal savage strength to rip a man's arm out of its socket is impressive. And to see them use ranged weaponry with such precision justs rounds off the appeal for me. Their use of psychological warfare is terrifying. The eery swamp theme is just icing on the cake! 

Can't wait to see what's next for them. 

[Boss Casman]

So, my first Warhammer Fantasy army was the Lizardmen - I picked them because they look like little dinosaurs! 😁 They also turned out to be a solid midtier army in WHFB, which was nice. (At least they were solid midtier with how I built them in my local scene). Their glow-up in the past little while has really reignited my passion for them, too!

My second Warhammer army was Tomb Kings, though I really only picked them up towards the end of 8th. I was drawn to the idea of a fully mounted chariot army (and with the Old World, that vision can come to pass! Good things do come to those who wait!). The Tomb Kings Ride To War!

My most recent Warhammer army is Ironjawz. With the new game just starting to get rolling, I decided to lean into an army that was built from the ground up to be AoS, and I've always liked the various Orcs (and Orks, and now Orruks), so the new Brutes and Megabosses were a big draw. Plus, one of my friends tends towards "Always Be Dwarfs" so we could always have justification for rivalries. Lots of games, lots of grudges added, lots of grudges settled, and lots of fun!

[Beliman]

Kharadrons Overlods:

[✓] Duardins / Dwarfs.
[✓] Victorian-Steampunk with some Norse Patterns.
[✓] Flying ships.
[✓] Honorable" pirate-like" society (the Code).
[✓] Awesome design and aesthethics.
[✓] Unique arche-type (a lot of firepower, vehicles, and flying/fast dwarfs).
[✓] One of the most grounded backstories for an army (appart of being, you know, steampunk flying dwarfs).
[✓] In an universe with godlike beings,  realms made of magic and weird stuff everywhere, KOs are based on aether-science. 
[✓] Best miniautres in the whole AoS range (that's a FACT, not an opinion).
[✓] Artillery

Edited February 22 by Beliman

[zombiepiratexxx]

FEC - love the lore! Wanted to do a Strigoi army back in WHFB days but didn't for various reasons. The AoS lore for them is fantastic and then they added the new models in with the 3.0 Battletome and I just loved them all the more. 

Skaven - Love painting them. Their lore is also good, they're very different to most of the other armies and are really representative of Chaos being, well, Chaotic. Some amazing models in the range too and some of the most fun I've had putting brush to plastic. If they do get a refresh in 4.0 my wallet is going to be crying. 

[01rtb01]

Stormcast - loved the look of the sacrosanct when they dropped, read stuff, loved the background.

Slaaneshi mortals - the range is stunning and I've been waiting for plastic noise Marines since 1996 so this is the best stopgap I'll get. I also loved what they did with glutos and there was more depth added to slaanesh other than the stereotypes. Made it more interesting. 

Lumineth - ancient Roman/ Greek feels and really love the mini range. 

Seraphon - they had me at the refresh and the updated saurus and especially the slann upgrade. 

 

I gave AoS 1.0 a wide berth as I despised the fact they nuked the old world and really didn't enjoy the new fluff. When 2.0 dropped it felt a lot more developed and what they did with the necroquake drew me in. For me, the way the narrative has genuinely developed alongside updated/ brand new model ranges has been brilliant and the broken realms series read like narrative of old. 

[Flippy]

Good question. In the past (i.e. 25 years ago) I used to collect Elves exclusively – High Elves , then Wood Elves (and some Eldar). That was very much a Tolkien-inspired sentiment and I always felt that the main story of the Old World is the story of Elves. Fast forward to AoS and it turned out that the High Elves are no more and their so-called spiritual successors are aesthetically very different. I love Dawnriders, Wardens, Lord-Regent and Eltharion… and that would be all.

I started with Ironjawz, as the physique champions of the Mortal Realms. They seemed easy to collect (not many kits), easy to paint and easy to play with a very high level of verisimilitude (vey important!) – they act exactly how you would expect them to, based on the fluff and the looks of the models.

I also had some Kharadron, bought for me by a friend after he organised the sale of High Elves. I really like the models, but at the same time I find their strong ravenously-capitalistic theme problematic… Anyway, I finished a small but reasonable army and shelved them. No intention to expand here.

Then came Bonereapers, as they really scratched the “proper army” itch. Infantry, cavalry, war machines, military supremacy. It also helped that – of all Death factions – they are the least “evil”. I think they are the biggest army I currently own – and almost fully painted. I will likely expand them once they receive their second wave from GW.

Seraphon swept me with their refresh; not a single weak model! I really like their current “magitek deamons of order” angle and intend to expand my force even further. I’m also building an Idoneth Warcry band and this may of course lead to the full AoS army. So, it seems that in the end (as IDK are the last faction that I was always interested in) I will always come back to the Elves.

As for why – I would say it’s always the combination of models, background and the way background is reflected in the game. I never really cared about the win ratio and even stopped using OBR and Starborne Seraphon the moment they felt OP.

Edited February 22 by Flippy

[Ejecutor]

Back in my teens I joined WHFB and got a decent chunk of High Elves because... I liked elves (sorry @MitGas).

After something like 10 years I came back with the Mortal Realms issues and took a decent chunk of Stormcast (14k), mainly because they were the closest thing to a human faction with new minis and they were cheap to collect, but once the new CoS was released I sold them all and moved into CoS because the wide range from SCE caused me fatigue.

Why CoS? I lost that elves appeal, and I was waiting for TOW, planning to join Bretonnia, but CoS minis are way better. I have now that appeal for human-based factions. Their new aesthetic is rad, and lore-wise they are super interesting as well.

Until that point, all my plans were fulfilled. I wanted to be a one-army man until Ushoran came into play. I always found their lore super funny, and the human-wannabe approach made them appealing to me. Also, their miniatures are amazing. So now I have two armies.

** Note. When I talk about minis from CoS and FEC I only refer to those produced for AoS as are the only ones I collect.

[MitGas]

No need to be sorry, you‘ve developed a wonderful taste in armies after your misguided aelf-youth! 😜

[Sabush]

My army from WHFB days was Dark Elves.
I like them for many reasons: I'm a big fan of Elves in most fantasy settings. I'm a fan of the more evil factions. I like intelligent and clever factions. I'm a huge fan of the asthetics, especially the art from the 6th ed rulebook grabbed me. I like big blocks of infantry and an organised mixed arms military force.

For AoS I don't feel like there's a good Dark Elves alternative at the moment.
DoK are just the witch elf stuff that I wasn't a huge fan of. The rest of the Dark Elves range is stuck in CoS, and that doesn't feel right to me.
Eventually I started collecting Kruleboyz because I like the asthetic and the playstyle appealed to me.
But they don't feel 100% right, even though they do tick some of my boxes (Evil, clever, mixed arms).

Edited February 22 by Sabush

[Asbestress]

I've always been into "regular human beings" factions in fantasy/sci-fi settings, and one of the first factions I ever got minis for was Imperial Guard, although I'm not really into 40k anymore (I want SOME hope at least), so it's only natural Cities was one of my favourite factions when I got into AoS.

I was (and still am) a huge fan of the mixed races aspect of the faction (I get to have humans AND dwarves?!), so I hope that doesn't get entirely axed in the future 🥲

The moment the faction became my no. 1 favourite (surpassing Gitz) was when we first saw the Fusiliers, and of course the rest of the range refresh. I always liked armies that focus on conveying their themes and the new Crusade themed kits are imho amazing in that regard, really showing us that aesthetically and culture these people really belong in the horribly dangerous Mortal Realms, from their much heavier armour and big shields to all the gargoyles on equipment, and of course the gargoylians.

My favourite "idea" (that I'll probably try showing more using conversion) for a Cities army is a force that actually (somewhat) feels like they brought a fort/city to the battlefield, currently mainly showcased on the Zenestra, Fusiliers and Ogor kits. I'll most likely try sourcing some extra Zenestra palanquin floors and roofs to convert some tower/lamp post looking banners and maybe a dual purpose Steam Tank/mobile home/field building with the palanquin floor tiles on the "roof" of the tank and some Zenestra style roofing above that.

And of course, Steam Tanks. If they take them away without a Cogfort/Border Walker/more crazy Ironweld vehicles I will riot (and probably continue building up my Tank Corps via it hopefully staying in Old World...)

[Sception]

When I first started warhammer way back in early 5th edition I was captivated by the Undead, especially the characters of Nagash and Arkhan who just seemed like fun villains with funny big hats. and I loved that.  But then the vamp count/tomb king split happened, splitting my army in half with my favorite characters not appearing in either half.  So I got rid of my undead (big mistake in retrospect, but oh well), and started over with Wood elves, who were about as far opposite as I could go thematically, and who had a really cool and unique play style to them.  I stuck with Wood Elves until 7th ed vampire counts which pulled me back with the updated model range.  Then End Times: Nagash happened, bringing back my proper unified Warhammer Armies: Undead type faction with Nagash and Arkhan back in the spotlight, so I abandoned my Wood Elves and expanded my vamp counts with tomb kings stuff to play proper Undead Legion again... just in time for WHFB to be discontinued in favor of Age of Sigmar - a terrible downgrade at the time given the awful quality of AoS at release.  But AoS kept Nagash and it kept Arkhan so I kept with it as slowly over time the community stepped up to fix GW's mess, turning AoS into an actually pretty decent game by the time 2nd edition rolled around, just in time for Nagash to take over the narrative much to my delight.

Now I mostly play Soulblight, since that's what I have most painted (legacy of my now defunct Legion of Sacrament plus a cursed city box set), but I've purchased small armies worth of each of the current undead factions in AoS and am slowly working on getting them painted up.  Meanwhile I've dived right back into Warhammer Fantasy with the release of Old World, rebasing a bunch of my older Tomb Kings and Vamp Counts models back onto squares for the rank & flank game.

[01rtb01]

Upon further reflection and reading other comments here...

I started back in 4th Ed wfb. At various times played dark elves, orcs and gobbos, chaos dwarfs and my main army from 6th to the end was skaven.

The ratties were sold off when they killed off the old world. My first main army for AoS was actually gobbos. The plastic squigs, gobbapalooza, manglers, fanatics and characters had me sold. This was after picking up the 2.0 core set. I played gitz for 2.0 but they were moved on to fund other armies and somehow I've got the aforementioned stuff. 

I genuinely hope that 4th edition doesn't strip things back like 10th Ed 40k as it's lost a lot of character and army depth. Now there's just a vacuum imo. I sincerely hope AoS doesn't do the same, small tweaks would be fine.

[Twisted Firaun]

For me my army choices always come down to the following: Do I like the lore? If yes do I like the models? and finally, can I make my army unique.

The reason I was drawn to THE SCIONS OF LONG LOST NEHEKHARA!!!! was originally because they were undead not-egyptians and as an Egyptian American and a Fan of the first two Brendan Frazier Mummy movies that spoke to me on a near spiritual level. This lead to a bit of disappointment when I saw that I had gotten into the hobby far too late (2015-2016) and no one had them in stock anymore. This lead to me reading about other factions and their characters, which inevitably lead to my corruption into Tzeentch and Slaanesh and their armies. When I discovered kit-bashing was a thing, I was hooked for life. I could bring my craziest ideas to life and fid ways to run them in the game without being looked at funny, and I've stayed with the hobby ever since.

[Greyshadow]

Great question!

I chose Ogors as, at the time they released, they opened up an entire new region of the Old World that held significance to me. The stories in their book told of crossing the Worlds Edge mountains into the Plains of Azgorh and then to the Mountains of Mourn. This location was significant because my first experience playing in the Old World was Heroquest. Our party of heroes were ultimately defeated in the abandoned sky castles of the Mountains of Mourn in the expansion Against the Ogre Horde. I was hoping to continue our story from where we left off with this new army. I also loved the beautiful, characterful models and the Brian Froud influences. Also, having a small model count was a big factor too as I wanted to get my first army on the table quickly.

For my second army, I chose Cities of Sigmar. This army allows me to see the horror of the Warhammer universe through human eyes. To me they are the protagonists. I love the historical influences, they look like something out of a Rembrandt painting. Love the pageantry and colour of them too.

Edited February 23 by Greyshadow

[Big Kim Woof-Woof]

A short (-ish) treatise on my love affair with Slaanesh... 

Ancient History: Very early on, back in the early 90s, I somehow came into possession of a deck of Warhammer Combat Cards. Amongst them was a card of a Champion of Slaanesh. It was the bald one with the snake body. I loved that model, and, eventually, it turned out to be the first metal model I ever bought. It cost me $7.95 (Aussie dollars). I was still a kid, and couldn't really afford much, certainly nowhere near enough to start an army! But my small collection of models was predominantly Slaaneshi. I was mocked by my friends for painting my HeroQuest Chaos Warriors in purples and pinks! When I grew up a little, my first army was a Chaos one dedicated solely to Slaanesh.  I sold off my original collection around Warhammer's Seventh Edition. But when Age of Sigmar came along, I re-immersed myself in the hobby, and started accumulating a new horde of perverted souls. 

I'm A Sybarite At Heart: If I were magically somehow transported to the Warhammer Realms, I'm pretty sure I'd be a Slaanesh devotee. I'm a prancing, vain, self-aggrandising, arrogant clown! Sound about right? And I've got a deeply obsessive personality. I do so many things to excess. I mean, my current Hedonites collection stands at over 10,000 points worth (not all painted yet, mind). Without getting too personal, I've had a history with addictive... things. I'm a good boy now, but I kind of live vicariously through my Slaanesh worshippers! They are what I wish I could be: a glorious, beautiful creature, exquisitely dressed and adorned with shiny things, indulging every whim to excess! 

Colours Of The Wyrd: A simple one, this. I love painting purples and golds! Can't imagine that this penchant of mine would suit, say, Orruks.

Such Gorgeous Trinkets: Slaanesh miniatures are the greatest. I love every model in the current range. Even the Daemonettes, which I prefer to the Juan Diaz ones which other people seem to prize (I found them impossible to paint!) I've generously peppered my current collection with 'classic' models which I've patiently hunted down via the internet. I've got that bald snake-bodied champion sitting waiting on my painting desk, ready to be painted again (can't remember if this'll be the third or fourth time I've painted that sculpt!) OK, there's been some duds over the years... I'm not going to try to defend the previous Keeper of Secrets sculpt, or Azazel. But as it currently stands... I honestly can't think of a faction of models that is as flawless as the Hedonites. I might be prejudiced, but there you go. 

Khorne Is A Benny: I've never liked Khorne. All that shouting, stomping, angry nonsense. Did his mummy not love him enough or something? Red's not the only colour, dear. What a twit. 

[JerekKruger]

My answer is I am terrible at choosing an army, because so many different factors come into play that it becomes hard for me to pick a true winner. Factors that I look at include:

(i) Aesthetics. This includes both the minis themselves, as well as the accompanying artwork. Obviously the minis are more important, but when there's an amazing piece of art for a faction I do find myself drawn to it.

(ii) Lore. This tends to be less of an issue for me in AoS, although there are still factions whose lore just doesn't call to me (DoK for example). In WHFB though, the lore of a faction was a big deal for me: I liked Wood Elves, but it always bothered me that they'd have very little reason to be fighting away from Athel Loren. Meanwhile Orcs and Goblins, or Beastmen could be literally anywhere and needed basically no excuse to fight.

(iii) Paintability. Once I've picked out an army that looks good, I start to think about paint schemes. If I can't find one that I like, that's a negative. I have this issue with S2D in AoS: if I don't want them to look like they are marked by a specific god, I am left with very few colours I can use, and when we rule out black as a colour I hate painting I am left with even fewer. So whilst the minis are great, I can't find a paint scheme for them that I like. Meanwhile Sylvaneth are almost bad in the opposite direction, as I can't decide on what season to paint them.

(iv) Gameplay. Ultimately, if I'm going to play games with an army I want them to play in a way I enjoy. In MTG terms I am mostly a Timmy: I enjoy experiencing extremes. What time prime might describe as "win more", I describe as "win funner". So whilst KO tuck a lot of boxes for me, they just don't do it gameplay wise.

(v) Roleplay potential. This relates to lore to an extent. Basically I love investing my characters with back story, and some factions allow this more than others. S2D is supposed to be a faction of powerful individuals all seeking greatness, so focusing on characters makes sense (though it hurts when your mighty Chaos Lord dies to a stiff breeze), whereas for Nighthaunt this feels much less doable.

If I try to max out all of the above, I end up with no factions, so I have to compromise. At the moment I am working on a Dark Elf army for TOW which is mostly a result of looking the minis and rules (plus having picked up a great deal on eBay).

[MitGas]

Well, I started in WHFB with Chaos and gravitated towards Tzeentch in time, mostly due to the artwork, the final nail in the coffin were Thousand Sons however. Magic wasn‘t actually a deciding factor. I liked their look instantly but what I liked even more was their background, where the Emperor falsely condemned them (back then the background was a bit different; now they (Magnus) are pretty much fools and destined to become traitors. I prefer the old way more however. 

everything else about Tzeentch, from lovecraftian themes to mutations to his capricious nature made it even better. 
 

I like a ton of armies however, even some Eldar and Aelfs! 😋 But I‘ll always be a loyal Tzeentchian (mostly due to me being too lazy)!

[Big Kim Woof-Woof]

4 hours ago, JerekKruger said:

 

(i) Aesthetics. This includes both the minis themselves, as well as the accompanying artwork. Obviously the minis are more important, but when there's an amazing piece of art for a faction I do find myself drawn to it.

Oh yeah, that's something I forgot to mention... artwork. I've got a folder of illustrations that I find particularly influential, and often go and browse through it when I need an injection of inspiration. 

[Boss Casman]

@Big Kim Woof-Woof I hear you on the gorgeous models for the Hedonites - this one alone nearly sold me on a little army:

 

Just fantastic! 😍