8th Ed. Rank your favourite WFB armies!

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Rank all 16 WFB armies from your favourite to your least favourite. Which would you most like to own and least like to own? The criteria of your selection (play-style, models, fluff, etc.) is entirely up to you. Bold the armies that you currently own.

For reference, here is a list of all 16 armies:

• Beastmen
• Bretonnia
• Chaos Dwarfs
• Daemons of Chaos
• Dark Elves
• Dwarfs
• High Elves
• Lizardmen
• Ogre Kingdoms
• Orcs & Goblins
• Skaven
• The Empire
• Tomb Kings
• Vampire Counts
• Warriors of Chaos
• Wood Elves

Here is my current ordered list (armies do shift positions from time to time):

BEST

1. Chaos Dwarfs (⬆ +1)
2. Warriors of Chaos (⬆ +1)
3. Tomb Kings (⬇ -2)
4. Lizardmen
5. Vampire Counts
6. Ogre Kingdoms
7. Dark Elves
8. Wood Elves
9. Dwarfs
10. Skaven
11. Orcs & Goblins
12. Daemons of Chaos
13. The Empire
14. High Elves
15. Bretonnia
16. Beastmen

WORST

Funny how things change over time. A few years ago, Lizardmen were easily my number one, followed by Warriors of Chaos and then the Tomb Kings in third and finally the Dark Elves rounding out the top four. Ogre Kingdoms were in my bottom 5, but I really liked the models they got for 8th edition as well as their 8th edition army book. The Netflix Castlevania show, as well as the new Vampire stuff released by GW has really boosted my love of the army. Not gonna lie, they are constantly threatening the Lizardmen for my current fourth place spot.

Discuss your choices. Why do you like or hate them?

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Rank all 16 WFB armies from your favourite to your least favourite. Which would you most like to own and least like to own? The criteria of your selection (play-style, models, fluff, etc.) is entirely up to you. Bold the armies that you currently own.

For reference, here is a list of all 16 armies:

• Beastmen
• Bretonnia
• Chaos Dwarfs
• Daemons of Chaos
• Dark Elves
• Dwarfs
• High Elves
• Lizardmen
• Ogre Kingdoms
• Orcs & Goblins
• Skaven
• The Empire
• Tomb Kings
• Vampire Counts
• Warriors of Chaos
• Wood Elves

Here is my current ordered list (armies do shift positions from time to time):

BEST

1. Tomb Kings
2. Chaos Dwarfs
3. Warriors of Chaos
4. Lizardmen
5. Vampire Counts
6. Ogre Kingdoms
7. Dark Elves
8. Wood Elves
9. Dwarfs
10. Skaven
11. Orcs & Goblins
12. Daemons of Chaos
13. The Empire
14. High Elves
15. Bretonnia
16. Beastmen

WORST

Funny how things change over time. A few years ago, Lizardmen were easily my number one, followed by Warriors of Chaos and then the Tomb Kings in third and finally the Dark Elves rounding out the top four. Ogre Kingdoms were in my bottom 5, but I really liked the models they got for 8th edition as well as their 8th edition army book. The Netflix Castlevania show, as well as the new Vampire stuff released by GW has really boosted my love of the army. Not gonna lie, they are constantly threatening the Lizardmen for my current fourth place spot.

Discuss your choices. Why do you like or hate them?

This is gonna take a little bit of thought. Please hold...

 

[Imrahil]

The only ranking I could possibly come up with is esthetic-wise. Mostly because I never have gotten a battle in or read enough of lore to establish a decent knowledge of all armies.

I will just be here for the show, until I have found the time to look over all the armies again.

Grrr, Imrahil

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

The only ranking I could possibly come up with is esthetic-wise.

That is perfectly valid approach to ranking the armies. In fact, I'd say that it is probably the most important criteria that I personally applied when making my list. Tomb Kings topped my list due almost exclusively to how much I love the models and Egyptian aesthetics. No matter how strong or interesting a play-style an army might have, I'd never buy one if I didn't like the models. That's not to say that army fluff and game mechanics don't play a role, but liking the aesthetic look of the army is number one in my books.


I'd love to see how you would rank the armies based on aesthetics!!

 

[Lizards of Renown]

The only ranking I could possibly come up with is esthetic-wise.

That's the question isn't it? What's YOUR favourite armies! Not the most powerful, as that has been discussed to death.

In fact, I'd say that it is probably the most important criteria that I personally applied when making my list. I'd love to see how you would rank the armies based on aesthetics!!

+1

I still need time to think about my favourites. Top 8 or so will be hard, the rest will be a bit meh.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Top 8 or so will be hard, the rest will be a bit meh.

For me it was the reverse. The top of the list was much easier to compile than the bottom. I knew my ordered top 5 instantly, but had to put in much more thought as I transitioned through the middle and bottom of the list.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

For me it was the reverse. The top of the list was much easier to compile than the bottom. I knew my ordered top 5 instantly, but had to put in much more thought as I transitioned through the middle and bottom of the list.

For me I will deliberate over my favourites and closest to favourite. As it goes down, I will care less and less.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

For me I will deliberate over my favourites and closest to favourite. As it goes down, I will care less and less.

Let's see this list!

 

[Lizards of Renown]

I think this is it...

FAVOURITE

• Lizardmen
• Tomb Kings
• Ogre Kingdoms
• Bretonnia
• Dwarfs
• Orcs & Goblins
• Wood Elves
• Daemons of Chaos
• The Empire
• Chaos Dwarfs
• Vampire Counts
• Warriors of Chaos
• Skaven
• Beastmen
• Dark Elves
• High Elves

LEAST FAVOURITE

Basically the top 6 are pretty solid, the rest fall into a jumble of don't really know.

Aside from High Elves, definitely least liked army. Would collect pretty much anything else before them I think.

 

[ASSASSIN_NR_1]

Okay, I'll give this a shot, mostly based on appeal, and not so much strength. A lot of the time it comes down to how well I like the actual models I think.

1. Lizardmen
   - There is a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way down to second place
2. Tomb Kings
3. Wood Elves (because the trees are cool)
4. High Elves (because Dragons!)
5. Dark Elves (because less aawesome dragons but hydras)
6. Dwarfs

And honestly I don't really care about the rest, when speaking facitons as a whole.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

FAVOURITE

• Lizardmen
• Tomb Kings
• Ogre Kingdoms
• Bretonnia
• Dwarfs
• Orcs & Goblins
• Wood Elves
• Daemons of Chaos
• The Empire
• Chaos Dwarfs
• Vampire Counts
• Warriors of Chaos
• Skaven
• Beastmen
• Dark Elves
• High Elves

LEAST FAVOURITE

That's an interesting list. I'm surprised to see the Daemons of Chaos, one of the armies you collect, placed so far down.

So far I'm to only one not to rank the Lizardmen in the top spot.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

That's an interesting list. I'm surprised to see the Daemons of Chaos, one of the armies you collect, placed so far down.

So far I'm to only one not to rank the Lizardmen in the top spot.

Yeah, it was interesting when I laid it out. Collecting and playing wise, I wanted a really f*****g evil army and this was my choice in the end. I am really a bit of an odd person where I don't generally play bad guys, but I felt the urge to do evil... But then when I was rating them from top to bottom that's where they came...

I honestly would have collected Orcs & Goblins if my friend didn't have them already. I love those guys, so much fun.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I honestly would have collected Orcs & Goblins if my friend didn't have them already. I love those guys, so much fun.

That makes sense, nobody wants a mirror match. Outside of the O&G, the DoC are your top ranking evil army.

Now maybe we can add some Chaos Dwarfs into the mix!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

1. Lizardmen
   - There is a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong way down to second place
2. Tomb Kings
3. Wood Elves (because the trees are cool)
4. High Elves (because Dragons!)
5. Dark Elves (because less aawesome dragons but hydras)
6. Dwarfs

Nice to see the Tomb Kings place so high!

High Elves (because Dragons!)

Dark Elves (because less aawesome dragons but hydras)

Warriors of Chaos have dragons too... two headed dragons (with some converting)

Dwarfs

Might I interest you in some Chaos Dwarfs?!

 

[Imrahil]

I think this is my list

Lizardmen*
High Elves
Tomb Kings
Dark Elves
Bretonnia
The Empire
Dwarfs*
Orcs & Goblins*
Ogre Kingdom
Wood Elves
Beastmen
Skaven*
Chaos Dwarfs
Warriors of Chaos
Vampire counts
Daemons of Chaos

* From these armies I own models for AoS. These are the same sculpts as per 8th edition and made the transition to AoS

Grrr, Imrahil

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I think this is my list

Lizardmen*
High Elves
Tomb Kings
Dark Elves
Bretonnia
The Empire
Dwarfs*
Orcs & Goblins*
Ogre Kingdom
Wood Elves
Beastmen
Skaven*
Chaos Dwarfs
Warriors of Chaos
Vampire counts
Daemons of Chaos

* From these armies I own models for AoS. These are the same sculpts as per 8th edition and made the transition to AoS

Grrr, Imrahil

Three of my top five armies are in your bottom five! Nice to see TK rank so high again and it appears that I still remain as the only person who didn't rank Lizardmen #1.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Three of my top five armies are in your bottom five! Nice to see TK rank so high again and it appears that I still remain as the only person who didn't rank Lizardmen #1.

For me, I feel a certain sense of loyalty towards the Lizardmen as they were the ones who were really the stepping stone to getting me back into the hobby.

Plus I still love them very much. Dinosaurs riding other dinosaurs? And a T-REX on the roster?!I Yes please!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I would have thought that @Killer Angel and @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl , both consistent contributors to these threads, would have shared their preferences by now! How do you guys rank the armies?

 

[Imrahil]

For me, I feel a certain sense of loyalty towards the Lizardmen as they were the ones who were really the stepping stone to getting me back into the hobby.

+1

Grrr, Imrahil

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

This sounds fun! Apologies for not contributing sooner because I missed this thread entirely. Here's my list:

BEST

1. Dwarfs (awesome lore and models, balanced rules and with the additional bias of being my first army!)
2. Orcs & Goblins (hilarious lore, some recent new models from GW and the bias of being my second army by a narrow margin as I got my first Greenies alongside the backbone of my early Dwarf force in the Battle for Skull Pass box)
3. Lizardmen (Still love my Lizards, still enjoy smashing face with Saurus and Dinosaurs)
4. Skaven (Another funny army with the bonus of having most of their range still intact)
5. High Elves (A fun army with great models, but can be pain to paint compared to my other armies)
6. Beastmen (Though these guys may well leapfrog High Elves once I've built up a decent army of them and finished my 8th book)
7. Tomb Kings (Awesome idea, fantastic lore and some great 8th Ed plastics, spoilt a fair amount duly by GW not doing anything to improve their rules and squatting them, and by other companies avoiding making alternative models for fear of a Cease and Desist order)
8. Bretonnia (Better human face sculpts, the potential for fantastic heraldry designs and none of the silly skull obsession or petty squabbling the Empire has. Oh, and like dinosaurs, who doesn't have a fondness for classic knights like those toys they played with as children?)
9. Chaos Dwarfs (Great lore and original idea sadly ruined by the lack of attention from GeeDubs)
10. Wood Elves (I like the Celtic aesthetics and Welsh-sounding names of these lads and lasses, but again GW didn't give them enough attention and missile factions are also pretty tricky to play)
11. Ogre Kingdoms (Fun, silly lore and great models, though still haven't managed to beat them yet)
12. Daemons of Chaos (Interesting lore and rules concepts, Khorne models are particularly good, though other than the Lord of Change the other Gods' models are poor in my eye)
13. Warriors of Chaos (decent models and background ruined by broken rules)
14. Dark Elves (Another faction with the potential to be particularly broken in melee, with inferior lore and models to WoC, in particular I do not like Witch Elves)

Down quite a long way...

15. The Empire, replete with the worst possible repertoire of GW human face sculpts before Stormcast . Also I can't get my head around the idea of GW choosing Renaissance Germans as their protagonist faction when pretty much all they did (and much of what the Empire does in Warhammer lore) is fight each other. Heroes should be flawed, but not that flawed, and I'm surprised they weren't wrecked by Chaos far sooner than the End Times (probably all thanks to Dwarf aid )

And surprise, surprise, to the pits of Hell after the recent shitload of unnecessary attention GW gave them...

16. Vampire Counts (Why GW gave this dreary, unoriginal, literally soulless faction so much attention over wonderful ideas like Tomb Kings and Chaos Dwarfs is beyond me, people have no taste)
WORST

Six armies is a lot (especially as I have around the same for 40K too), but if I had near-infinite money, lived in a castle, still existed in the glory days of GW when Fantasy was their flagship game and lived in an alternative universe where they'd given Chaos Dwarfs the same largely-fair treatment as the other factions, I would also add Bretonnia, Tomb Kings, Wood Elves, Ogre Kingdoms and Chaos Dwarfs to my collection.