Im starting WarHammer, Thinking of starting Hordes of Chaos.

[Jacaran]

Hello. Ive ran into a big commuity of people in my area and my age that play GW games. Not much LOTR, mainly 40k and fantasy. I want to start into one of the games and Ive choose Harhammer Fantasy. So how can I start Warhammer and play Chaos?

I know I need the rule book and army book. Yet what else? CAn I get some info about the Hordes of Chaos. Ive looked into Gods and stuff and I think I want a Tzeentch army. I like birds a lot and lots of his warriors come in air or bird forms like the Champion.

Im looking for a cool, competitve and agressive army. The thing is, just about EVERY game I play or have played I ALWAYS end up taking stuff I like and making crap armies and almost never winning. Im tired of always losing and now Im not the dumb little kid at the LGS thats expected to lose. So I do want something competetive. In computer games and the few games Im really good at, I win when Im always attacking or ALWAYS harrasing the enemy. I was reading the army choice thing and say Hordes are aggressive and I like their theme of demon chaos crazy stuff. Also in the other minis games Im playing, Im playing the very expesnive Russians who favor quantity over quality. To lighten my cash I really do want something that focuses on quality.

So what does chaos have to offer? Are they very aggressive and can be comptetive?

How are they compared to the Bretonnians? Im also considering them because I like cavalry and their theme appeals to me the most out of all the armies. Would they fit what Im looking for? (meaning attacking) The other thing is I like Chariots too, which Hordes have.

[Jimmy_boy]

I would say go for the hordes of chaos over those goody goody brettonians, not that I'm biased or anything :shifty:

Anyway, welcome to the realm of chaos. If you decide to start collecting this army, then certainly quality over quantity is a resounding feature (with the exception of marauders). You will have access to a massive variety of units and characters, be it a mortal, daemon or beast army. We are truly spoiled for choice. As for some more details - there is so much to discuss I would recommend having a looksy at some of the other topics, and certainly get the army books (both hordes of chaos and beasts of chaos). However, I will briefly go over the main things chaos has to offer you.

Firstly, chaos is a close-combat machine. Once our units get into combat not many other units in the game can stand up to them, as they have both excellent equipment and stats. Chaos warriors are well-armored and powerful, marauders are cheap and give us something we can field in large numbers, and chaos knights are some of the best cavalry in the warhammer world (albeit at a high points cost). There is potential to have infantry heavy, cavalry heavy, magic heavy etc armies with chaos. You can even have large hordes of marauders if you want to go quantity over quality. A chaos army is no pushover, and even when I first started out my opponents had great difficulty breaking my army down.

Daemons and beasts can be used to supplement a mortal army. As I've said I field mainly mortals, so someone else is probably better suited to tell you about these. I will say that a daemonic general must lead a daemonic army (unless they have a daemonic gift which says otherwise) and a beastman general must lead a beastmen army.

Now onto the marks. There are plenty of topics on these so I would suggest looking through and reading some of them. I will just give a brief summary of each:

1. Undivided (ie. unmarked really) - basically most units get the mark of chaos undivided for free. If your general is undivided, then you can give different units in your army different marks

2. Khorne - two words: close combat. Although it is quite an expensive mark, it will make your army frenzied and incredibly potent in close combat. You will also get plenty of dispel dice. The downsides are that you will have no magical support yourself, and your opponent can take advantage of the frenzy on your troops and lure them out of position.

3. Nurgle - my least favourite mark, which I never use even in undivided armies. It makes your units cause fear and makes your characters harder to bring down by giving them an extra wound. However, it is very pricey and I don't think the points cost is worth the bonuses it provides. If you give sorcerers this mark they will use the lore of nurgle. However I have no experience of using this and cannot really comment.

4. Slaanesh - My personal favourite mark. Makes units and characters immune to psychology, and if given to sorcerers they will use the lore of slaanesh. Although not particularly destructive, it is some of the best support magic in the game and if used correctly can swing battles greatly in your favour. There is a topic very recently which discusses this lore so I won't repeat it here.

5. Tzeentch - Quite a good mark too. Although it is cheap to put onto regiments/chariots, it is exceptionally expensive to give to a character. The lore of Tzeentch is OK, but somewhat unreliable. On the plus side your army will be have plenty of power dice at its disposal, and some of the magic items which are available to characters of Tzeentch are very helpful.

That's the marks in a nutshell.

Finally, a couple of negatives. Quality over quantity is good to an extent, but you have to be careful to field enough models to put up a decent fight. A unit of chosen knights of khorne is excetional once it reaches combat, but if it is targeted by enemy warmachines then that's one expensive red smear on the battlefield. Basically, I've seen people put all their eggs in one basket and lose because of it (for example, I heard once of a unit of 25 chosen khorne warriors with a character in them. Got flank charged by something nasty, fled and got overrun. Lets just say it was all downhill from there). Also, chaos have virtually no shooting. We can take a hellcannon, but it is unpredictable at the best of times and can even be devastating for your own army.

As for brets - also quality over quantity, it is a largely cavalry-based army. I recommend posting in the brettonian section to get a better response since I know very little about them.

[Jacaran]

How much does it cost for the paints, modelling supplies, minis, and books combined in USD? Whats a guess or average? I want to know how expensive this hobby is.

[Jimmy_boy]

Originally Posted by Jacaran

How much does it cost for the paints, modelling supplies, minis, and books combined in USD? Whats a guess or average? I want to know how expensive this hobby is.

Well, to build a 1000 point army, as well as paints etc is gonna cost. In England it'll cost u around £100 - £200, but that's if you buy it new from GW. I got my army pretty cheap because I got it off someone I know, and also some off e-bay. I've got around 3500 points and I've spent less thatn £100. I suggest you shop around if you're on a budget (like me!)

[Stonehambey]

Originally Posted by Jacaran

The thing is, just about EVERY game I play or have played I ALWAYS end up taking stuff I like and making crap armies and almost never winning. Im tired of always losing and now Im not the dumb little kid at the LGS thats expected to lose. So I do want something competetive

It takes more than a good list to be competitive I'm afraid. Such is the beauty of WHFB. Even with a top notch list you may still find yourself getting whooped up and down the field in your first few games. Don't worry too much, you'll learn the way the game works over time and will eventually get a lot better

Ciao

Stonehambey

[coenono]

To me Chaos is a great starting point. I personal started out with high elfs. And I had several problems when i started out. When I went with chaos it was deffently a lot easier to win battles and enjoy the game. I think chaos is one of the more forgiveing armys out there. As long as you keep your knights screened by something...usually hounds. and u avoid the lure of demons ( They have there place...but personally for me not in low point games), u can, for the most part, line em up and turn them loose.:yes: Also, and posiable the best part, chaos is going to cost you ALOT less (money) to field a army then the rest. Additonal there are alot of chaos players out there so you can find some sweet deals on ebay. Some of those models will come paint which if you paint like a 5 year old like I do this is just a added bonus.

As far as what you should get, this of course is just my opinon, but Id get a unit of Knights and go from there. Next being some warriors support the army with some bestmen or mauraders( I dislike mauraders), and some hounds to screen your knights.


Characters in a chaos army are hard indeed to mach pound for pound against. Marking them is a mater of opion but i like to max my opions so my general will always be undivided. The only other thing i would add about marks is for nearly the same price of a level two chaos mage you can have a warrior/mage buy giveing a champ the mark of tzeentch. The magic is unpredictable at times but it gives your army something it is lacking... and thats range.

[Jacaran]

There are some Chaos units that I really dont like and I would probably refuse to field them like horrors. So I want to know of this units can be used together. Half of this game is the hobby, I want to be painting things I think are cool and that I like.

Lord of Tzeentch
Lord of Slaanesh
Champion of Tzeentch (I think these models are super cool, Id try and field 2!)
Mounted Sorceror of Chaos
Knights of Chaos
Chaos Warrior Chariot
Warriors of Chaos

I would kind of think Cav heavy would be cool, yet Im not sure how the Champs would keep up.

EDIT: Also how many paints do I need? How many different colors? Im looking at a guide on painting Tzee Warriors and there are a lot of colors! :wacko:

[DavidVC04]

Tzeentch has some pretty wild colors if you want.

You can always buy the basic and then use white, grey, and black to mix up shades. That's the cheapest way to do it.

[K.Young]

There are some Chaos units that I really dont like and I would probably refuse to field them like horrors. So I want to know of this units can be used together. Half of this game is the hobby, I want to be painting things I think are cool and that I like.

Lord of Tzeentch
Lord of Slaanesh
Champion of Tzeentch (I think these models are super cool, Id try and field 2!)
Mounted Sorceror of Chaos
Knights of Chaos
Chaos Warrior Chariot
Warriors of Chaos

I would kind of think Cav heavy would be cool, yet Im not sure how the Champs would keep up.

EDIT: Also how many paints do I need? How many different colors? Im looking at a guide on painting Tzee Warriors and there are a lot of colors!

Yea they can be used together but youll get killed over and over again. Your troops will be overexpensive and youll get beat down and lose loads of points. You need marauders, i didnt like them either cause i wanted the army to be similar. All chaos warriors and knights. It didnt work out, warmachines and outnumbering will kill you, You need marauders, some fast cavalry, and daemonic units. trust me all mortal chaos without marauders isnt that great. Your very vulnerable to range and march blocking.

[Ophanim]

I quite like marauders. I mean they only have an average stat line in the grand scheme of things, but they (like warriors) have some really cool conversion options, and with light armour and shields - with a full command you can feasibly put 4 blocks of 25 strong units for 800 points even. Backed up by horsies, furies, warhounds, and/or beastmen (skirmishing screens) can be a really intimidating army. Or if your like me field them and a hell cannon (2k points and above), opponents won't like you for very long.

Having bare chested warriors gives you all kinds of conversion and paint options. For the feral look - splatter them with blood. Ritualistic - cover them with tatoos (if you have a steady hand). Followers of Tzeench - ech gods know how many things you can do with 'em. The list goes on... and on