Neverchosen

I think this would work in the future after the model lines have expanded, but as of now certain armies are so small already that any further restrictions would result in those armies being more homogenous on the tabletop. I do think the idea of Heroes not buffing themselves does feel pretty nicely flavoured.

Welcome @RQItami People have listed some great suggestions and I thought I would add a few more. Slaves to Darkness and Beasts of Chaos are really fun monster heavy armies that feature loads of infantry options. All of the God specific armies are good options in that regard as well. Cities of Sigmar is a really great army for big centre pieces and you can build around them and with a few smart purchases make a completely new army with a different centrepiece model. Stormcast and Cities expand into each other in a natural way and I think are a good investment army if you are interested in the long haul. Sylvanth are another cool option as you can mix in Treelords and Kurnothi models to your liking. I would also argue that you can happily play Idoneth not relying entirely upon Eel spam. Just because something is the most viable option doesn't make it a requirement. I play a pretty mixed list and it works fine I think of my list working somewhat like a Brettonian army with the Namarti being more elite versions of peasants. I also think that Idoneth have the coolest centrepiece models in the game.

Gnoblars need a hero! I demand a full low tier but playable Gnnoblar army to come out of Broken Realms!

I keep trying to explain to my friend why he should build a City of Sigmar army and paint it ethereal to have an army that he can run it as either Cities or Nighthaunt. He is very intrigued by the prospect of ghost Dwarves/Duardin. 😇 Maybe I should do it myself... 🤔

I honestly can't help but imagine my chaos warriors being made up of various species of fantasy beings. I often use them in D&D to basically stand in for heavily armoured characters of any species and they typically function as villains (I let my players choose whatever minis they want to use for their characters). I still imagine them recruiting elves, orcs, dwarves and any other species willing to convert to their cause. I know that might not be lore friendly but it is just how I imagine my army under their helmets.

Why thank you, @Kramer. Such high praise from one of the more talented and creative posters on this forum. I have always wanted a dark fae army and I think that is the closest that I will get. However, you have blown me away with your much more well thought out and creative ideas. Sadly it is well beyond my budget and skill set, so I hope someone steals my idea and I can look on jealously from afar.

As people have already answered regarding which armies in AOS feel like Tyranids, I will take a slightly different approach to answering this question. So if you are interested in proxying Tyranids into AOS: You could make a cool insectoid themed Beasts of Chaos army but you would want to use very few if any of the models featuring those garish bioweapons. Hormagaunts seem like really good proxies for basic infantry like Gors and both armies feature tons of monsters. It would be fun to read the rules of Beast of Chaos monsters and finding the right model to fit those rules. Genestealers could make for the basis of a really cool bestial Flesh Eaters army from Ghur. Genestealers would work for Ghouls, Aberrants from GSC could make could cool Crypt Horrors (converting the weapons to feel less sci-fi), I dunno maybe Zoanthropes for Flayers? I don't really know the Tyranid range well enough to know for certain what would be a good proxy for each unit. You would need some creative list building to accomplish a goal of using a purely proxied Tyranid focused AOS army. This is the best route to take if you are interested in the Tyranid model range but do not own them and want to play AOS as opposed to 40k. That way you can buy the proper units that fit your army with little to no concern with how they would function in a different game system. Also, if you are a dedicated Tyranid player this could help you expand your force but also likely to include a lot of redundancies for your army. If you were into kit bashing there are some cool options for Tyranids in AOS: I think that mixing Tyranids with Sylvaneth for a frightening spite themed army would look fantastic. Idoneth might have some fun options if you want to see them to ride massive mutant sea bugs into war. Finally, Tyranids make for really cool Chaos mutations in AOS, again this is mostly useful for kit-bashing, but you could proxy some chaos monstrosities like Demon Princes, Spawns, Fomoroids, Soul Grinders, Beasts of Nurgle, Fiends etc. I believe that Tyranids work better as mutants/demons/mutations for Chaos in AOS than in 40k, since as they have no rules in the system so people wont arbitrarily assume it is a Carnifex or a Genestealer like they would in 40k. I think the kit-bashing route might be the best way to go if you already have a Tyranid army you can use any extra bits and in some cases you can proxy some units. This also allows you to buy new units and learn to paint and play with new model ranges.

I cannot speak with the same level of experience or confidence as many other folks in this thread. However, my vote is for Chaos Knights as I still remember their glory from fantasy and can barely recognize what they have become. I will always run them though as my friends that played back in Fantasy treat them with a degree of respect that they do not really deserve in AOS.

I feel Nurgle and Beasts are more likely than Slaanesh as Shadow and Pain will still be relatively recent and most of the Slaanesh line is useable in 40k and it seems they attempt to make these boxes specific for their respective game systems. Maybe they will make it hellstrider heavy and include the new hero, but that would be extremely similar to Shadow and Pain. However, past years have not always given each Grand Alliance a box, so maybe the forces of Chaos will take some time off and visit family for the holidays. It is really all speculation at this point. 🤔

I feel like we are going to get something undead related soon... doesn't mean a new army and could easily be a Warband for Underworlds or Warcry. Although, personally I would rather a Destruction double dip. I feel Gordrakk needs more allies in line to help him burn down Azyr.

The Iron Golems are just learning the true words of the Gods, but their skills will improve under Archaon's tutelage. Maybe some Uzkul-Dhrazh-Zharr artisans can swing on over to the Eightpoints and show 'em a thing or two? Who needs hammers when we can get production rolling our lovely Hellcanons once again! 🤗 Heck if we work hard enough maybe we will be blessed with a nice pair of wings for our efforts. 😇

We accept all in the Eightpoints and our Iron Golem's will give humans, aelves or duardin all the hammers they could ever need. I am just here trying to leave you some of our literature... but as one of the Dawi-Zharr I feel you know our work (I was playing along as a spiritually enlightened yet easily offended Undivided follower of the dark gods. Particularly as my army features quite a few hammers as well)

As a disciple of the dark lords of Chaos I kinda feel like hammers should belong to everyone dude ✌️ Bleed, Change, Ooze and Indulge is my simple mantra.

I still want Grotbag Scuttlers to have a ramshackle pirate theme.

That is awesome, I have begun to surreptitiously dip my toes into that world and I am a big Chaos fan. My cousin has purchased a Genestealer army and bought me a pair of second hand knights (I plan on building and painting them so they can function as either Chaos or Imperial). However, I find the rules and community to be a little overwhelming at times, and I might stick to my convoluted but open ended fantasy world. As @Kramerpoints out, I think that a Tempest Eye City of Sigmar army might be a really fun project for you to possibly delve into as it permits a mixture of Dispossessed and Kharadron Overlords.

Welcome @ChaoSwede I will say that you should follow your interests both in terms of aesthetics and play style. All of the armies can be really fun and it really depends on who you will be playing with and against. For example will you mostly play friendly games, develop complex narratives. enter tournaments or maybe play a mixture of styles? Here are some thoughts that might be helpful: Chaos: Disciples of Tzeentch are a fun magic heavy army that will allow you to play with a combination of shooting, summoning and casting. The best part of Tzeentch is that they open you to different army expansions and game systems. Disciples can readily add Slaves to Darkness forces to their ranks. Tzaangors can be used as the basis of an eventual Beasts of Chaos Army and also are usable in 40k. Demons and Tzaangors can be used in 40k and Kill team and there are rules for most of your troops in Warcry. So with one army you can open up at least 4 game systems (AOS, Warcry, 40K and Killteam) and have a good starting point for numerous armies (Disciples of Tzeentch, Slaves to Darkness and Beasts of Chaos, meanwhile for 40k they can open up Thousand Sons and Demons). Skaven are another fun army that others have suggested and seem really fun to play and paint. Outside of Skaven and Tzeentch Chaos has minimal shooting but most of the armies are great for defensive play styles. Order: Stormcast are relatively cheap to collect and have a lot of great shooting options and are very defensively oriented. I think that they suit your defensive healer style of play. However, if their ubiquity or plainness is an issue you can instead opt to build a gunline heavy City of Sigmar army featuring some Stormcast as a defensive core. Some powerful paladins protecting a militia of an organized alliance of humans, dwarves and elves appeals to me personally. This is also probably the most diverse range of miniatures and it works very well tabletop rpgs giving you access to various models from common fantasy races. Kharadron are another fun option although they are also useable with City of Sigmar armies (depending on your subfaction). Destruction: Destruction armies do not match your play style particularly well... from an outside perspective but might still work. Most destruction armies tend to focus on aggression and melee combat. However, you can heal with Ogors and within Orruk Warclans Arrowboys are a decent long range option. Gloomspite Gitz are a really fun army with a fantastic choice of minis that might be worth checking out and they have access to shooting and healing but are mostly a fun horde army. Death: Like Destruction it is more combat focused, but unlike Destruction factions Death is really great for healing and summoning. Flesh Eater courts are really strong and thematically rich. What they lack in shooting they more than make up for in summoning healing abilities. Legions of Nagash also has the ability to return slain models from the dead and can be used to create really rich and thematic lists. Ossiarch Bonereapers seem to have the best shooting of all Death armies with the impressive and powerful Mortek Crawler. Nighthaunt are one of the best model lines in the game but from my understanding not a very strong army. I apologize as I feel as though my thoughts were maybe a little unfocused and possibly confusing. Best of luck in picking your army and I hope you enjoy the hobby.

Interesting it seems the allied Mega Gargants might be named characters? I wonder if they will have specific rules or if Warhammer Community is just being cute? https://www.warhammer-community.com/2020/09/08/lumineth-and-friends/

I am in a really odd place with these recent elegant blade designs. They seem possibly fitting for Malerion, Slaanesh mortals and Soulblight. I am inclined to agree with folks that it is the latter option... yet I am a really huge fan of all of these armies and would be excited for any of them. However, the fact that they just keep leaving us these little teases is driving me nuts... I am dying for a proper reveal. I am also somewhat nervous about the eventual fate of Legions of Nagash as I know several players of that army.

I really like diversity in the model ranges and I like the idea that people can see themselves reflected in any media, particularly one that is as creative and dynamic as this one. I do often feel that there is a lot of gatekeeping in Warhammer: including the high cost of entry, dense lore, and problematic stereotypes (often dealt with in a fairly satirical manner). I do not personally want my hobby to offend others and I really want it to be open for as many people to enjoy as possible. So personally, I am all in favour of the models and stories reflecting as many people as possible to help people feel more included within the hobby. Even if this diversity does not permeate into an expanded market, I am still a fan of people hopefully feeling more welcome into the hobby. I will always love and embrace the use of customization and personal story telling that makes this hobby so creatively fulfilling. Inclusivity should be the goal and if people find that alienating… well there are plenty of ways to build and model your armies to your own tastes as people wanting more diversity have been doing it for years. I always think that the argument that the lack of females reflects reality is really silly. Female soldiers are and always have been real, whereas Trolls and Dragons don't particularly fit any true form of real world verisimilitude. I am happy that female models are being included in various factions and that many of them are heavily armoured and well armed. I also enjoy the introduction of named female characters but I am much more interested in seeing diversity represented on the tabletop, as it is how I most directly and regularly engage with the hobby. Personally I really like Hedonists of Slaanash: narratively, aesthetically and rules-wise. But I am also aware that some people find the depictions to be somewhat problematic. I am hoping to purchase Shadow & Pain and add some Slaanesh units to my Slaves to Darkness army and also start a Daughters of Khaine army… but I also do not want to offend anybody’s sensibilities. This makes me debate getting the box but I am still leaning towards purchasing it knowing that I will create (to some extent) my own lore* for the models. So I do hope that GW will continue to add greater diversity to their line and I am grateful for the movement towards greater inclusivity and hope they will aim to continue to do better going forth. *My army is themed around the notion of a crusading force that had become tempted by the demons they had sworn to defeat now they return home with the intention of starting a new crusade in support of those demons. I feel this narrative makes Slaanesh a natural fit, even if my storyline is only tangentially influenced by canon AOS lore. I also do really like the idea of a bunch of empowered aesthetes fighting alongside 'beautiful' Hellraiser style demons against the tyranny of mankind, even if the lore for some reason treats them as the villains.

I think this is a really interesting and valid point. We often consider an army "squatted" only from a rules perspective. But for Games Workshop's point of view there is the additional consideration of which army to update in terms of models as opposed to rules. Brettonians were one of my favourite armies but they really were more or less abandoned even before the switch to AOS. Furthermore, there are armies that sell well even when they are in need of updated models due to their sheer popularity but Games Workshop is less incentivized to update as they will continue to sell (Tyranids and Skaven come to my mind).

I personally feel all armies will get updated eventually but how that will look and when is up for debate; whereas I feel Tyrion and his ilk will be the obvious direction for Lumineth and Sigmar will probably just open another chamber. However, I did not include Slaanesh or Daughters of Khaine simply because we are aware of a relatively minor update for both already. But in all fairness, I did use the announced update of Underworlds as proof for Lumineth so I should have applied it to those factions as well. I have stated before that I hope for Slaanesh mortals. I would personally want them to be Aelven and possibly even follow Malerion (I will always argue that Slaanesh will have tried to exert some influence over Malerion, the question is will the Lord of Pleasure have succeeded in stroking Malerion's pride?). But with the the new hero and what we have seen of the Underworld's Warband, I am now suspecting that wont be the case. 😢

We also know of the upcoming Lumineth Underworlds warband and maybe some future love in Broken Realms. If anything I feel like Lumineth are the army that we can feel most confident about getting updated, except maybe Stormcast.

My hope would be to add a Mega Gargant to each of my current armies and paint them to match. Narratively, I would consider the gargants siblings that all fight under different banners but on occasion join together to smash up the mortal realms as a motley gang that needs to let some steam off. The price of this line means it is likely a few years off... but a man can dream 😔 My Idoneth would run a Kraken Eater and my Slaves to Darkness either of the other two... but the Chaos bits in the Aleguzzler and the ability to use multiple Mancrushers in a unit seems interesting... I am assuming that Man Crushers are using the old Aleguzzler kit correct?

I suppose this brings up a question of functionality... I assume you could still cast ungors into the fire even if the stone fell over 😛

I think if this is done, that certain terrain pieces would be much more difficult to destroy than others. I have stated in a few threads on the idea of siege mechanics that it would be nice if different materials represented different degrees of durability. For example a stone wall would be harder to breach than a wooden palisade. Luckily the ones listed here are actually for the most part rather durable. The Bone-tithe Nexus, Herdstone and Bad Moon Loonshrine all look like they would be much more durable than say, a Fane of Slaanesh, Charnel Throne or Gloomtide Shipwreck. Wyldwoods representing a wooded area should also be hard to destroy but in a different fashion, maybe less durable but with more (the terrain equivalent of) wounds? So maybe make attacking the Herdstone an option but also something that will take a number of turns as opposed to the relatively simpler task of smashing up a Charnel Throne. Also this is the perfect thing for narrative or open play scenarios. If someone has an underpowered army or less experience with the game, maybe give them a chance to sabotage faction specific terrain to help even the odds.