NeoSoul

I looked at the warscroll because I wasn't familiar with this endless spell. It says that one model from the unit that rides it dies afterwards... and since the Chaos Lord is a single model in the unit, wouldn't it kill him if he were to use it to move around faster?

Sorry if this has been asked somewhere, I tried to search through other posts first. S2D is my 3rd army that I mainly got because I love some of the models (especially Varanguard and Archaon) and from a painting point of view. I'm trying to look at my options and find how to best complete my list for 2k with what I have or adding 1-2 purchases max. I would especially want to play my Archaon and my 9 Varanguards. I don't mind which allegiance but I think that Host of Everchosen is best for that. Archaon + 9 varanguard fills the battleline requirements and puts me at 1670/2000. I also have the following: 10x chaos warriors 5x chaos knights 1x Chaos Lord on Karkadrak Khagra's Ravagers 1x Chaos Lord 1x Chaos Sorcerer Lord My current thoughts would be to add in the Chaos Sorcerer Lord, Chaos Lord and buy one of the warbands (Untamed Beasts, Corvus Cabal or Spire Tyrants) but I don't know if the sorcerer lord is even that good now that his spell is basically an other mystic shield (or if it should be stacked over mystic shield to resist -1 rend?). Otherwise, I wonder if I should get an other box of Varanguard and play 12 of them but I'm afraid that I won't have enough heroes to make good use of command abilities. I like the Chaos Lord on Karkadrak but not sure how good he'd be in there and his command ability would be useless. I know Warshrines were very popular but with the way that they changed them with 3.0, I'm not sure if they're that important anymore. I would love to fit Be'Lakor in as I really like the model but it pushes it over 2k points unfortunately and I think I heard that he could no longer be taken with Archaon but I missed the reason for it. Any input would be appreciated. I also wanted to double check, it seems like 3.0 says that Archaon is now considered a general in the other 4 god specific allegiances but not under S2D (I'm asking because I'm trying to figure out if there would be a way for me to have say Chaos Lord on Karkadrak as the general with universal enhancements and 2 strong auras while running Host of the Everchosen or if, as I understand it, Archaon absolutely needs to be the general there to unlock all of the special features).

I am still new to AOS. I won my first 5 games against many different armies with the Start Collecting box (470 points). I then tried my Megaboss on foot but still had to go with 500 pts so I traded the Warchanter out and lost. Then I finally got my brutes so 750 points but lost to Legions of Nagash. I now got my Morgok's Krushas cause I loved the models so that could push me to 840 points. What would be the best things for me to grab next? I really love the Brutes models so I'd prefer to go with more brutes than Ardboyz if possible. Here are some of the things I'm looking at for next purchases: 1- An other Brutes box (some with extra range so I could have a unit of 10) 2- Maw-Krusha or Gordrak (Gordrak seems more interesting but I prefer the look of the Megaboss on Maw-Krusha and people say it's better... still not sure I understand why he would be better though even though I know it can be customized, Gordrak's buff and dmg output seems possibly better while the +1 save defensive bonus seems good for the Megaboss but it seems hard to skip the free Mighty Destroyer each turn). 3- A 2nd Start Collecting box (I could definitely use 3 more goregruntas with polearms and a 2nd warchanter as my army grows in size... not very excited about having to build and paint a 2nd set of 10 ardboyz though but I know they can be quite good). 4- A weirdnob shaman (people say he's very bad but the unreliable teleport spell might be interesting and potential extra CP per turn and ability to try to unbound enemy spells?) OR a Fungoid Cave-Shaman (I really don't know much about this one)? Then still looking at: 5- 3 more gore-gruntas (not worth it I think because of the price tag compared to a 2nd Start Collecting box). 6- Rockgut Troggoths (they look cool and decent unit that would also give me a ranged attack but not ideal since I can't buff them I think). 7- Dankhold Troggoth or Arachnarok Spider (same as above). 8- Ironjawz Ironskull's Boyz (very cheap but also apparently not very good and models look soso). 9- Bonesplitters (would be forced into Big Waagh! and I'm not sure I really like the models). I am also wondering about Big Waagh! vs Ironjawz Alliegeance. I think BW seems possibly stronger but that I need a full scale army for it to work (can't do it yet). The Ironjawz warclan bonuses (Ironsunz and such) don't seem very good and I lose very powerful customizable abilities on my Megaboss for it... if I were to have Gordrak, can I pick one of those and he will be unaffected by the traits (how does it work)? What are your thoughts on Gordrak vs Megaboss on Maw-Krusha? Finally, I don't really know how I'm supposed to deal with Legions of Nagash. I wiped out like 30 skeleton units several times but they were brought back to life each following turn and I ended up getting stuck in that army, unable to go snipe his heroes at the back of his army (I did kill one but a 2nd one was still far behind). How do you approach those kind of armies as Ironjawz?

Thanks for the reply. I did end up going with Ironjawz in the end (my Start to Collect units are all built and primed, I'm waiting on my first box of Brutes that I ordered). Unfortunately, out of the few local players, one does play Fyreslayer and an other one does play Seraphon so hopefully I can figure out ways to still stand a chance (I might play my first game by the end of the week). The low model count is a bit of a bummer though but the Maw-krusha, megaboss and brutes all are models that I find look very nice. I'll have to play and figure out the depth there is to them because so far, from all the Battle Reports I've watched, it only seemed like they charge in and hope for the best (I'm too new to the game to realize the strategic depth to it yet I think). I'm looking at OBR or Nighthaunt as a possible 2nd army eventually but I'm obviously focused on IJ for right now as I'm just getting into it.

I'm just getting into AOS. I decided to go with Ironjawz. I built my Start Collecting box which puts me at 470 points if I'm not mistaken. I ordered one set of brutes which could put me at 600 pts (and am tempted to grab the Mogork's Krushas models as I find they look quite nice, there aren't many IJ models and maybe I could squeeze them in somewhere for AOS). The other local AOS players are also still rather new to the game for the most part but they are experienced 40k players. They're playing 500 points games but the plan on going up to 750 points soon (and eventually 1k+ obviously). I'll want the other models for sure (especially the Maw-krusher) but for right now, would you suggest that I swap out 5 ardboys for the 5 brutes if I play 500 points? What about 750 points, what models would you recommend I get next? I read mixed reviews concerning the shaman. The Megaboss on foot looks like a really cool model but I think that people seem to say that he isn't very good. If it helps and makes any difference, the other local players play those: 1- Fyreslayers (I don't know them too well, I saw two priests, a forge, some other dwarven infantry and magmadroth he'll use once he has more points) 2- Beastclaw Raiders (the player mostly focuses on the beasts and charges in hard) 3- Seraphon (coalesced with the sort of large raptor and the smaller ones). This person also apparently has Nurgle, Storcast and a 4th I forget. 4- Slaves to Darkness (start collecting box, he has Archaon but can't play him at those points yet) 5- Stormcast Eternal (the guy mostly wants to field 6x of a unit that flies, I forget the name). 6- I think I've been told someone has Khorne, one has kharadron and I forget what else. Overall, Fyreslayers, Beastclaw Raiders and Seraphons is what I'm most likely to play against first. I know Fyreslayers can't block spells so I thought shaman would be a good idea. Beastclaw Raiders will charge me hard so I'm not sure how I should handle that one. I know very little about Seraphon, I only saw him getting his army almost all wiped by Fyreslayers during their game but he still won because he gained more points from having more units for objective points (and mobility).

Thank you very much for the in depth answer! I ended up going with IJ for a first army but I still love OBR's looks and would probably like to have a super tanky army. I'll keep all of this in mind whenever I inevitably end up looking for a second army. The whole reasoning about the Mortek Guards makes a lot of sense.

Thank you for all of the information! I just went and got IJ to start with but this info will still be useful once I inevitably consider a second army (I really love the StD and Maggotkin models so it's likely they'll be in my mind for that) : P

Thank you for the answers, that was very helpful and I'll keep those things in mind.

Hello! (Disclaimer): I couldn't find a faction specific section so I'm asking these questions in the appropriate Grand Alliance forums. I want to get into AOS and I'm having a hard time deciding on which army to go with as many of them look unique and cool. I watched a long video that roughly went over every faction but it was slightly outdated (not all of the 2nd edition tomes were out yet back then). The look of the army is my most important criteria as I love to collect miniatures and want to be motivated to paint them. However, I still want to play the game, I like strategy games and RTS (I normally do well at them) so since I'm having a hard time deciding based off looks, I'm trying to learn a bit more about the different play styles. I'm not usually a big fan of cookie cutter builds and metas in games, I know it can change a lot but I'm trying not to totally ignore people's comments about some factions severely underperforming as I'd still probably like to be able to win games once in a while once I get decent at it. The factions that I'm hesitating most between right now are Orruk Warclans, Slaves to Darkness, Maggotkin of Nurgle and Ossiarch Bonereapers. This one post is about Ossiarch Bonereapers. Here are some pros and cons I'd see with them so far: Pros: - There are some models that I like more than others but in general, unlike any other faction, I think that I like every single Ossiarch Bonereapers models as they're all new models, very nice and detailed. - Tier lists and people seem to be saying that this faction is very solid for competitive play. - The units are supposed to be very tanky. - Elite units means that I can have fewer cooler models instead of spending countless hours painting small units that I don't like as much (in theory). - Cool and unique aesthetics that I haven't seen in other games. - Nagash looks amazing and fun to play with. - Bones and armor might be easier to paint with basic techniques such as wash/dry brush for someone like me who is a novice painter (I can do an ok job but nothing spectacular and painting faces might be difficult for me). Cons: - They're supposed to be super slow. - Most of the lists I looked at seem to be spamming almost nothing but a ton of Mortek Guards which is a shame because they're alright looking for infantry but they're probably my least favorite in the faction and it means I couldn't use all of the other cooler models that I'd want (Morghast Archai/Harbingers, Necropolis Stalkers, harversters and Deathriders). - There is no Start to Collect box and apparently many of the other local players are new and only using their specific starter box as an army. This means that I have no idea what I should buy to get started with OB and have a similar amount of points to play with those people. It also means that I guess getting into OB would cost me quite a bit more money. - No large really cool looking beast (like Archaon, Megaboss on Maw-krusha, etc.), it would be very cool to have some sort of large bone armored dracolich. I guess Nagash is pretty large though and replaces that option. So here are my questions: 1- Is Mortek Guards spam almost necessary (and making it so the other models can't really be used)? 2- If I have to buy everything new, is it much more expensive to start with OB since they don't have a Start to Collect box? 3- What should I look into buying first to match the Start to Collect box of other factions in terms of army points? 4- What makes Ossiarch Bonereapers fun and unique to play with in terms of game play and mechanics? Do they have something that they're very good at? 5- Any other specific useful information you think I should know about them that could make me interested in them over an other faction?

Hello! (Disclaimer): I couldn't find a faction specific section so I'm asking these questions in the appropriate Grand Alliance forums. I want to get into AOS and I'm having a hard time deciding on which army to go with as many of them look unique and cool. I watched a long video that roughly went over every faction but it was slightly outdated (not all of the 2nd edition tomes were out yet back then). The look of the army is my most important criteria as I love to collect miniatures and want to be motivated to paint them. However, I still want to play the game, I like strategy games and RTS (I normally do well at them) so since I'm having a hard time deciding based off looks, I'm trying to learn a bit more about the different play styles. I'm not usually a big fan of cookie cutter builds and metas in games, I know it can change a lot but I'm trying not to totally ignore people's comments about some factions severely underperforming as I'd still probably like to be able to win games once in a while once I get decent at it. The factions that I'm hesitating most between right now are Orruk Warclans, Slaves to Darkness, Maggotkin of Nurgle and Ossiarch Bonereapers. This one post is about Maggotkin of Nurgle and Slaves to Darkness so it'll be in two parts. Maggotkin of Nurgle: Here are some pros and cons I see so far: Pros: - Very unique and flavorful models. I particularly love the Blightkings type of units and the Glottkin. - They videos I watched said that they were very durable units. - The tier lists and videos I saw were normally saying that they weren't very top tier but that they were still good and competitive. - They can take in a few other Chaos units in their armies if I understood it right and Chaos has many other factions that I find interesting. Cons: - I don't really like the "daemons" type of models and the summoning Gardens so much (visually). - The info I found seemed to be saying that most of the units I prefer for the looks aren't very good competitively and that you basically have to mostly play daemons units (I don't know if it's still the case). - They're apparently very slow. So here are my questions for Maggotkin of Nurgle: 1- Would I be hurting myself in terms of mechanics and army potential if I wasn't going with the daemons (or hardly any of them)? I know this sounds very vain but there's about half of the models that I love and the other half that I dislike so if the looks is a big factor for me and I have to field half or more of my army with models that I don't really like and have to paint them too, it may not be ideal for me. 2- What makes Maggotkin of Nurgle unique and fun to play in terms of game play and mechanics? Do they have something they're very good at? 3- Any other useful information about them that can make them more appealing than other factions? Slaves to Darkness: Pros: - The new Start to Collect chaos knights and chaos warriors are quite possibly my very favorite infantry models in the entire game (and Archaon is also one of the coolest large models in my tastes as well). Some of the other StD "human" sets are quite unique and cool as well as a few demons. - I don't quite understand how that works yet but it seems like you can incorporate different other Chaos God faction units and gain different bonuses which sounds pretty nice and many other Chaos factions have models that I find interesting as well. - The Everchosen (Chaos Knights/Warriors?) that are my favorite models seem to be fairly durable and have many units that have good mobility? - Archaon is supposed to be very powerful (but also fragile) and I could get a full army without having to paint an endless amount of small models I think. Cons: - My biggest worry is that tier lists and videos seem to put them as being absolutely terrible for competitive play. Are Chaos Warriors/Knights as terrible as what people say? They do almost no damage and can only do something good if all the stars align? - I don't really like some of the older models like the Marauders (the older Chaos Warriors also aren't as nice but still much better than most of the other older models I've seen). - I like monsters and beasts and it seems like this faction doesn't have many of these, mostly humans in really cool armors. - I'll definitely want to get Archaon if I play this faction and it seems like he's a pain to carry around. So here are my questions for Slaves to Darkness: 1- My main concern as I wrote above is the viability of the faction. Several of the local players are also rather new to the game but play some factions that are considered to be strong at the moment (Seraphon, Stormcast, Fyreslayers) and I don't know if I go with the starter kit up against theirs, if I'll love my models but end up very frustrated if it's as loopsided as some people make it sound. 2- I don't quite understand where StD stand for in terms of lore. It seemed like they were basically humans that are cheap frontlines for the different Chaos gods? Does this make them a bit "flavorless"? 3- Can StD incorporate a few models from an other Chaos faction (that point was unclear to me)? 4- What makes Slaves to Darkness unique and fun to play in terms of game play and mechanics? Do they have something they're very good at? 5- Any other useful information about them that can make them more appealing than other factions?

Hello! (Disclaimer): I couldn't find a faction specific section so I'm asking these questions in the appropriate Grand Alliance forums. I want to get into AOS and I'm having a hard time deciding on which army to go with as many of them look unique and cool. I watched a long video that roughly went over every faction but it was slightly outdated (not all of the 2nd edition tomes were out yet back then). The look of the army is my most important criteria as I love to collect miniatures and want to be motivated to paint them. However, I still want to play the game, I like strategy games and RTS (I normally do well at them) so since I'm having a hard time deciding based off looks, I'm trying to learn a bit more about the different play styles. I'm not usually a big fan of cookie cutter builds and metas in games, I know it can change a lot but I'm trying not to totally ignore people's comments about some factions severely underperforming as I'd still probably like to be able to win games once in a while once I get decent at it. The factions that I'm hesitating most between right now are Orruk Warclans, Slaves to Darkness, Maggotkin of Nurgle and Ossiarch Bonereapers. This one post is about Orruk Warclans. Here are some pros and cons I'd see with them so far: Pros: - Quite possibly my very favorite model in the entire game (Megaboss on Maw-krusha). - I love the look of the Ironjawz models in general (especially the brutes). - I often like melee units more than ranged units in games. - I think that if they kill a unit, they have a RNG chance to snowball and cover more distance? Cons: - They seem to be placed rather low on the current tier lists from what I've seen. - The video I've watched said that they were very reliant on lucky dice rolls and so they weren't as reliable and as strategic as some other factions might be (not sure if it's still the case). - I love the Ironjawz but I don't like the Bonesplitterz' looks at all (I'm guessing it's mostly old models) and I wouldn't be very tempted to buy and paint those. - The other Destruction factions don't interest me that much (Trolls are kind of cool though) if ever Grand Alliance is important but I think that can be ignored. So here are my questions: 1- I don't quite understand the whole thing about having different types of armies within the same faction. I know that I can play with only Ironjawz and not buy/use Bonesplitterz' but would this hurt my army potential? I'm trying to understand if Bonesplitterz are meant to fill in some roles that the Ironjawz can't do and if they're meant to be used together or not necessarily. 2- Can they be used competitively or will it feel like I'm bashing my head against a wall? I doubt the local players are all tournament experts anyways but since I haven't played AOS, I don't know how big of a deal those tiers are like (it seems like many people agree that Skavens and Flesh-eater Courts are very powerful and hard to deal with while Slaves to Darkness are absolute trash tier and very hard to win with). 3- What makes Ironjawz fun and unique to play with in terms of game play and mechanics? Do they have something that they're very good at? 4- Any other specific useful information you think I should know about them that could make me interested in them over an other faction? *Edit 5- I forgot to ask, can the Orruk models from Beastgrave be used or not for AOS? They're some of the best looking models but since there's only 3 of them, I'm guessing all you can do is replace 3 brutes with them for looks for fun?

Thank you very much for all of the replies! I think I'm leaning more towards Ossiarch because I love all of their models (Nurgle I don't like the demons as much but the other ones I love and Slaves to Darkness I love the chaos knights, some demons, the large flying beast and some of the other humans look really cool but several other models look old and not as appealing visually). It's just too bad that Ossiarch don't have a starter box yet and no super cool large beast like the flying one the Chaos Knight is on, the Nurgle, the dinosaurs from the Seraphon or the drake(?) from the Ironjaws but you can't have it all : P I'll look into the faction forums as suggested. Just one thing I forgot to ask is if things change a lot with different updates every couple of months or years. For example, the site that I read through that was explaining the game and factions was saying that Seraphon was the only army that wasn't safe to buy because of no recent update and that their models were old but then I read on other groups that they're one of the strongest at the moment. I'll go with what I like best visually for a first army and I'll try to make it work, I just wonder if it would be likely (for example) for Slaves to Darkness to go from low tier competitive to mid/high tier with an update and then Ossiarch getting nerfed hard or if the changes aren't that drastic normally. Basically, I'm just wondering what GW's approach to try to balance the different armies is. I know video games aren't exactly the same but to make a comparison still, some companies tend to heavily nerf the top contenders, others will try to mostly buff up the underdog ones and then you have others that do both at the same time.

Hello! I just turned 36 years old and collected many miniatures (D&D/Warmahordes) in the past but I haven't gotten into Wargaming yet. I had bought a lot Hordes miniatures as I really liked some of the models, painted several of them, started reading some of the rules but I never actually played a game. I now just moved and unfortunately for me, there doesn't seem to be a community for that game in the city where I now live. I would have liked to play some Wargaming for real and I know Warhammer is the biggest one and easier to find people to play with (there are some Warhammer AOS nights in the city where I live). All I know is that AOS is supposed to be friendlier to newbies than the other miniature game I mentioned. I am familiar with the genre and many concepts but I don't know Warhammer table game that well still. I only have played Warhammer Online (video game) when it came out many years ago so I have a vague idea of some of the races and I have played games like Warcraft/Starcraft which were heavily influenced by Warhammer and took some mechanics and ideas from it. I'm also guessing that a good deal of the Warmahordes rules that I read were heavily influenced by Warhammer as well and probably similar on many aspects. That being said, I'm possibly interested in getting into AOS and Wargaming. I read quite a bit on the subject but I'm obviously a bit lost and overwhelmed for the moment. Collecting and painting the miniatures is an aspect that I enjoy so I would like to go with one of the armies of which I like the aesthetics best. Many of them look cool but I narrowed it down to 3 that I think are overall my very favorite for the moment (there are some specific models that I really love from other armies but I tried to go with the ones where I would like the look of many of the units) and my questions are based off of that. Those 3 armies are Maggotkin of Nurgle, Slaves to Darkness and Ossiarch of Bones. 1- I'm a bit confused about the 4 factions and then the other armies within them (like Maggotkin of Nurgle and Slaves to Darkness both being within Chaos). Does it mean that I have to play "Chaos" and then use a mix of whatever armies are within this faction or do you actually play a specific one (like Slaves to Darkness) and the Grand Alliance is more for the story? I'm basically trying to understand if there are 4 different factions/armies or if there are 20+ of them. If you get to mix them together and play per faction, I would then have to consider the models of the other armies within the same Faction (meaning that Maggotkins and Slaves being both in Chaos would maybe be more tempting to get). 2- What would be the main strengths and weaknesses of each of those 3 armies (a link to a site that talks about it can be useful if it's too long to answer)? I'm guessing any of them is "viable" at a casual level of play? 3- I think that Ossiarch of Bones might be my favorite looking army overall (but the other 2 also have many models that I love). However, it doesn't seem to have its own starter box the way the other 2 armies do (you have to get a Skeletal Horde box that I don't like much aside from Arkhan in there). I guess that this means getting started with Ossiarch of Bones would be more expensive? This is part of what confuses me because it seems like this one box set is made to start up with any Death faction? Could I skip the starter box in this case and if so, what units should I get first (I know it would sound dumb but I just really like all of the Ossiarch models aside from that box while I love the models in the starter box from the other 2 armies and about half of their other models)? 4- Why are there so many Order factions while Destruction only has 3? I thought that Orcs and goblins were together under the "Green Skin" banner but I'm guessing AOS might have changed many things like this from when I was younger? 5- Any idea on what armies are generally considered "weak", "strong" and "newbie friendly"? I'm sure I could find some of those answers by reading through more Warhammer AOS guides or watching videos but I'd like to figure these out fast so that I can make up my mind on an army before looking further into it (it's always a hard part for me when getting into a new game).