Settling on an Army I'll love to paint and play?

[Skitarii]

Hey guys,

I just cant seem to find an army in fantasy I love to paint and play.

I've flip flopped a bit in the last few years. Played Orcs and Goblins, Vampire Counts, and Lizardmen, in that order spanning the last two editions.

From my experiences, I know I don't want an army that's crazy unreliable. (Sorry O&G)

I don't want hordes of weak core infantry. (Sorry VC)

I want some versatility in most; if not all turn phases.

And the most importantly I want to enjoy painting the models. (Bye Lizardmen)

The only model lines left that I like are Dark Elves, Brettonian, WoC, DoC, and Beastmen.

What Armies would you guys suggest? Anything else I should consider?

[phoenix01]

Empire? That seems to the flavor of the day.

[ElectricPaladin]

I'm sorry, man. If you don't love Lizardmen, then I don't understand your tastes. Good luck, though. I hope you find what you're looking for.

::Aside:: It's ok, Salamander. I love you. Let's go set some orks on fire - that always makes you feel better.

[pauljc]

I've been having tons of fun with my Ogres. Easy and quick to paint, fun to convert. Reasonably cheap to build an army (as a store owner went with something I could make out of a battalion box, with a few additions, as a way to inspire my customers). And putting down 20 models on the table against a horde of Empire is a giggle.

I don't win many games, but even 6 basic ogres stomping into the fray is great. And yesterday my unit of 4 measely Lead Belchers literally did a mini-gun job on a unit of Chaos Knights. Rolled 5's and 6's for multiple shots and chewed up most of the unit (damn pesky 2+ save!).

Plus I like to look at my opponent's armies, y'know, knights are canned food, horde units are all you can eat meat buffets, etc etc.

[Thornblood]

Warriors of Chaos probably give you the most amount of flexibility in how you want to play- from a marauder horde, to an elite chosen army, to a cavalry force to something that gives you access to most of the forgeworld monsters, as far as tactics go you have plenty to choose from, and gorgeous models with alot of variation (not to mention the avatars of war characters and units).

Dark Elves are similar, but less so. Whilst all those options are available, they are in a more limited kind of way, but you have some really nasty shooting potential. Also, with Dark elves your going an a delicate toughness 3 army, but can play a much swifter game- if WoC are a broadsword, DE are a rapier. Really nice sculpts on the DE line with the expection of the hydra.

WE, Brets and Beastmen are a bit nerfed in this edition, whilst daemons play like an elite undead force.

Similarly whilst Empire are the fllavour of the week, there are planty of build options within the book, but I feel it does rely on hordes of light infantry.

Personally I like the DE models better, but WoC gives you the most versatile build options.

[Nightstalker]

Either Warriors of Chaos or Darkelves:

both are reliable

Not sure what you count as weak core infantry but Dark Elves with their toughness of 3 might fall into that category.

WoC on the other hand lack a little in shooting, where the Dark Elves are pretty good at it (and all the shooting is reliable)

so its up to you if you prefer weaker core but with excellent shooting quality or strong core but with mostly short ranged shooting.

[Skitarii]

Sorry I guys I should clarify the 'weak troops'. I didn't just mean toughness. I mean overall less then average stats. ex: Skeletons ws2 str3 T3 I2 etc.

I do like the idea of have some quality shooting in my army. So I am leaning towards dark elves. I'd like to use Black guard but are they as useful as executioners with their cap of 20 models in a unit? Also what are your guys thoughts on Corsairs versus Spearmen?

Also have you guys had any experience with a WoC army using a hell cannon(s)? Does the Maurader box set come with great weapons?

[Dubledox]

From your list I think the obvious is Dark Eldar. They can be extremely competitive, have great magic and shooting phases, any infantry from run of the mill (price wise anyway) spearmen to black guard and wyches. Plus all the other vile stuff the army does like hydras and the cauldron. Most of the models are pretty sweet too.

I play WoC, and I can say that the hellcannon is awesome. My first game with it is misfired and made all the psykers on the board take a miscast. I infernal puppeted his slann and it exploded taking about 10 temple guard with it, and also exploding his skink priest. I think my guy suffered a str. 6 hit which I saved.

Most of the time it just decimates units with its str. 5 loveliness. It'll get hit like empire artillery did with its update though, it does too much damage for the cost.

Marauders come with flails, hand weapons, and shields.

[Thornblood]

A friend plays dark elves. His small unit of ten corsairs with the little repeater crossbows plays havoc with our armies. So many shots... so many shots...

Im afraid he hasnt taken any black guard or executioners, so i cant really comment. The small unit size shouldnt be much of a problem though unless your opponents take some hefty hordes or busses.

[Chronowraith]

Executioners can be awesome. Give them their banner of always strikes first (hag graef I think?) and you have great weapons that strike at initiative 5.