Fluff or victory?

[charliemachina]

I play 40K and I'm thinking about starting Warhammer again. My armies tend to be fluff themed and then I make them a workable idea.

For Fantasy i like the ideas of either

A Dark Elves WITCH ELF Army that fits the fluff

or

A Lahmian army

I'd like thoughts on how this woulf fit fluff and yet be genuinely compeitive, strengths, weaknesses, suggestions and units.

Anyone else get distracted from making competitive lists by the need to fit fluff.

Cheers Charlie

[gcsmith]

A lahmian can be competative quite easily, they seduce, so seduce your opponent into a trap, like entice them to your general then in one turn outflank with zombies or watev. easiest of the 2 i know to make comp

[Herald of Nurgle]

The Dark Elf Witch Cult can revolve around two main themes - Khainate forces or Hag Graef (I've not read my army book for a long time but thats where the main Cults of Excess are, right?). This gives you access to a pool of...
- Crone Hellebron (Lord) - the one who makes it possible. This is the gal you want leading any Death Stars you have in this army. Make up for her low armour by sticking with Executioners, or try to just rely on a big brick of Frenzied Witches. Keep her out of challenges and go for the mooks.
- Death Hag (Hero) - the Witch Cult Hero choice is also deadly, but suffers from the lack of options available. The main reason you take the Hag is for the big obsidian statue of doom you can upgrade her with. Go ahead - it's fun! Place the Cauldron of Blood nearby each Core you're bound to be taking if you want a true Witch Cult army, and go mad with the Blessings of Khaine.
- Witch Elves (Core with Hellebron) - Hellebron is awesome for this very reason. Think about what you want a Witch unit to do - tear the f*ck out of enemies with Frenzy and everything else. Take Witchbrew on smaller units to make sure that you won't be torn apart by lack of static resolution. Go forward with reckless abandon, and take heads for Khaine!
- Assassins (Core Character) or Shadowblade (Hero) - Assassins are Khainate units of course, so theres no problem taking them here. Think of them as utility choices. Also, remember to have them accepting Challenges - all of the Khaine abilities come in useful for beating the crap out of enemy heroes. If using Shadowblade, I recommend NOT using his 'awesome' 'I pop up in one of your units' ability, unless you're sure the rest of your army will be ready for it.
- Hag Graef Executioners (Special) - Meet the elites of your already elite army, my good sir. Killing Blow... Str, what, 5? This is where you place your first wave, to be perfectly honest. The great armour (for this army!) in the Executioners will allow your Witch Elves to get into combat with Frenzy and all intact. If Crone is in the unit, then you want them dead center - remember the Khaine bubble of doom. Chop!
- Hydra (Rare) - Not technically a Khaine unit, you know, but still relevant. You don't actually have any Khainate units abailable in Rare anyway, so you might as well ask yourself which you prefer - Reapers or Hydras? All about your taste. Having Bolt Throwers means you can at least have some shooting at the foe while you advance, while Hydras can back up the full run of your true Khaine units. Meh. I go for Bolt Throwers

[charliemachina]

Great information there.

Witch Elves army sounds very fun, i'm leaning that way.

What about magic?

Is that not very fluff, is the cauldron enough?

Cheers

Charlie

[murrburger]

Witches have a beef with the Sorceresses, so you may have some magical problems. (You always have the Ring of Hotek, but you can't fully rely on it.)

I don't really know how you'd do a Lahmian army, because there isn't much of a running theme to it... it's pretty much the same old thing. Maybe lots of skeletons with some Tomb King stuff on them? (Wait for new TK skeletons to come out)

[Herald of Nurgle]

The idea of a Lahmian army rotates around the Vampires more than any other, but at the same time you could say that a Beauty and the Beast thing is in effect.

The units I would take are:
- 1+ Vampire. This isn't optional anyway, I believe, but at the same time it is worth considering. The Vampiric Powers you take will be The Courtly and The Master. Master abilities rotate around Lord of the Dead if you're into that sort of thing or Avatar of Death if you're thinking about a sort of 'Noble' Vampire.
- Isabella Von Carstein. Think of her as a Lahmian.
- Varghulfs. Unleashing the Beast.
- Blood Knights, Black Knights, Grave Guard. Defending the Lady Vampire's honour!
- Zombies. Can model as normal Peasants.