8th Ed. Rank your favourite WFB armies!

[Killer Angel]

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?

I will remedy right now!

first places, order as it stands:

1. Lizardmen (my first love, the army that introduced me to the hobby)
2. Tomb Kings (my desiccated heart lies entombed beneath the sand, waiting for TOW awakening)
3. Dwarfs (grudges, honor, sturdiness and warmachines. What's not to love?)
4. Wood Elves (the only elves i can stand, plus i like their playing style)

Middle ground, more or less listed in this way, but things are not set in stone:

• Skaven
• Chaos Dwarfs
  
• Vampire Counts
• The Empire (there's something epic in being a mere, poor human with no powers, facing dragons, monsters and undead)
• Orcs & Goblins (with orcs that fall in the bottom tier, and goblins high tier - especially forest)
• Daemons of Chaos

The bottom, not in particular order. They are still nice armies (especially from a visual pov) , but i find them uninspiring, or i loathe them for a reason or another.

• Beastmen
• Ogre Kingdoms
• High Elves
• Dark Elves
• Bretonnia
• Warriors of Chaos

 

[ASSASSIN_NR_1]

Nice to see the Tomb Kings place so high!

Their aesthetic, is just awesome, and quite unique, not as unique as the Lizardmen's I guess but they don't really have any competition for second place in that sense.

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

Well you are correct, but they are malformed evil dragons (I realize Black dragons are to and extent as well, but much less so I think) and I just don't fancy the designs, neither on tabletop, artwork or in the total war games - even so it is a plus that they have dragons, and I definitely don't dislike WoC, I guess I'm generally more for clean designs, and find the evil factions and by that WoC, to be a bit messy.

Might I interest you in some Chaos Dwarfs?!

Nice try , but no I find their large teeth, and tall hats weird, which I realize is silly since I've placed the elves so high up, but that's not so much because of the elves as everything else in the armies, but still.
I guess they are kind of equal to WoC in my mind, which isn't too bad, they are certainly far above Empire and Skaven.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

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

Interesting list... you did not disappoint. I was curious how you would rate the Empire, VC and WoC. WoC achieved a higher rating than I thought you'd give them!

Surprised to see the Orcs & Goblins beat out the Lizardmen. You and I are the only ones that didn't rate the Lizards in the top spot. I figured Dwarfs would have your number one position, frankly, I would have been shocked and saddened to see anyone but the Dawi leading the pack.

in particular I do not like Witch Elves

Which makes sense, as they are my favourite of the Dark Elves models!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Wood Elves (the only elves i can stand, plus i like their playing style)

Their playstyle is really unique among all the armies. Nobody plays quite like them.

but i find them uninspiring, or i loathe them for a reason or another.

Intriguing, which aspects of them do you loathe?

I guess I'm generally more for clean designs, and find the evil factions and by that WoC, to be a bit messy.

I'm the exact opposite, although I must say that for the large part, I'm not a huge fan of the WoC "mutations" angle (which is why I would never buy or field a unit such as the Forsaken). That said, I find myself drawn to the evil armies.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Because I like stats, numbers, rankings and tables...




And averaged out among the six of us:




Of interest:

• Lizardmen (as expected) claim the top position, but the Tomb Kings are not far behind!
• Chaos factions end up occupying the bottom three positions, with only the Chaos Dwarfs securing a good position (6th place).
• Evil armies are the least liked (accounting for 6 of the bottom 8 positions and only 2 of the top 8 positions)
• Dwarfs are more liked than Elves

 

[Killer Angel]

Intriguing, which aspects of them do you loathe?

Ogre Kingdom
always found them boring, just a big pile of flesh and muscles that rolls over across the battlefield into your direction.
Of course I'm biased because this was the way the a friend of mine that owned them was used to play them... I'm pretty sure they can be played in a more fun way, but in my eyes a game against them is not fun

Beastmen
similar to OK, but more interesting. they could aim at the upper bunch, but they cannot beat CD, Skaven or goblins, which i find more appealing.

High Elves.
they are elves, never been fond of pointy ears (WE are in a high place also because of alliance with forest creatures, which is a big bonus)

Dark Elves
see high elves, but eeeeevil.

Bretonnia.
Wisually stunning army, but i simply loathe their extremized background of arrogant nobles and disposable peasant. I just cannot root for them

WoC
lore-wise they are solid but if i want to go for chaos, then for me it's "all in", and Daemons are more interesting.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

Because I like stats, numbers, rankings and tables...

• Dwarfs are more liked than Elves

But of course! Damn pointy-ears!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Chaos Dwarfs (Great lore and original idea sadly ruined by the lack of attention from GeeDubs)

I agree with you that the Chaos Dwarfs really could have benefited a great deal from a little more attention from GW. While I love the Legion of Azgorh entry, it suffers a bit because it is more of a sub-faction than a full blown army. Even if they didn't provide further models, a few extra unit options in the rules should have been warranted:

• more than 1 special character
• more than 1 generic lord choice [combat Chaos Dwarf lord, Bull Centaur lord]
• a couple of slave units consistent with the lore [Orcs, Ogres, etc.]
• a cannon [by which I mean a real cannon that follows actual cannon rules (the Hellcannon is a stone thrower). How is it that Ogres and DoC have cannons but the Chaos Dwarfs do not?!?]
• greater warmachine variety. The Dreadquake Mortar is essentially an inferior Hellcannon. A Hobgoblin Spear Chukka would be nice or something similar

On top of that, they screwed up the rules for one of the coolest models. The Iron Daemon should have a grinding attack in close combat like the Steam Tank does. Forcing it to rely on its Thunderstomp was a huge error that largely negates the unit from competitive play.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Ogre Kingdom
always found them boring, just a big pile of flesh and muscles that rolls over across the battlefield into your direction.
Of course I'm biased because this was the way the a friend of mine that owned them was used to play them... I'm pretty sure they can be played in a more fun way, but in my eyes a game against them is not fun

They do seem like more of a push forward smashy smash army, à la WoC. Not to say they can't be played more strategically, but I feel your point is valid.

they are elves, never been fond of pointy ears

But of course! Damn pointy-ears!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

Obviously people's personal assessment of the army tiers may vary slightly, but this is at least provides us with a ballpark figure. Looks like there isn't much of a discernable pattern when it comes to how we rate armies in terms of their power level.

Evil armies are the least liked (accounting for 6 of the bottom 8 positions and only 2 of the top 8 positions)

As discussed above, there is a definite pattern here...

 

[custodi]

Ooh, interesting.

For me:

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

High Elves are so highly ranked because I grew up on Tolkien and was always fascinated by the Noldor. Lizards are just really cool. Skaven are too funny not to rank highly. And I like the KNIGHTS thing a whole bunch for Bretonnia.

 

[Imrahil]

Nice list. Second person to not rank Lizardmen at the very top though

High Elves are so highly ranked because I grew up on Tolkien and was always fascinated by the Noldor.

I very much love Tolkien's world and all creatures in it. Have a look in my painting blog to find some Noldor Elves painted up

Grrr, Imrahil

 

[custodi]

Nice list. Second person to not rank Lizardmen at the very top though



I very much love Tolkien's world and all creatures in it. Have a look in my painting blog to find some Noldor Elves painted up

Grrr, Imrahil

Third according to the tables @NIGHTBRINGER posted (Nightbringer themself with Tomb Kings, then Lord Agragax with Dwarfs, then me). Although that's not really a surprise given the forum.

I will do that. I'm 99% sure I'll be amazed (at least partially because I can't paint worth a damn myself).

 

[Lizards of Renown]

I will do that. I'm 99% sure I'll be amazed (at least partially because I can't paint worth a damn myself).

Don't worry, there are lots of us painting neophytes hanging around the forum getting depressed when all the Michelangelo's break out their model equivalent of the Sistine Chapel...

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

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

Good list!

(it does hurt my heart to see the Chaos Dwarfs all the way down in 13th, lol)

Third according to the tables @NIGHTBRINGER posted

Our numbers grow!

 

[Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl]

(it does hurt my heart to see the Chaos Dwarfs all the way down in 13th, lol)

How do you think I feel at seeing my Beasty Boyz at the bottom of pretty much everyone's list except my own?

@The Great White Lizard The Warherd need backup!

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

How do you think I feel at seeing my Beasty Boyz at the bottom of pretty much everyone's list except my own?

@The Great White Lizard The Warherd need backup!

They really seem to be quite unpopular. That's okay, nothing wrong with going against the grain and taking the road less traveled. It probably means that less people own them (not that we can accurately extend this small data set out to the general wargaming public). I in my mind that is actually a good thing. My two favourite armies (TK* and CD) are both significantly rarer than just about every other army out there (with Bretonnia being another rare one). On the negative side, it does mean that they get less stuff from GW. Can't have it all I suppose.

*TK being so popular on the forum seems to be an anomaly, at least in comparison to what I have anecdotally seen outside of this forum.

 

[Lizards of Renown]

TK being so popular on the forum seems to be an anomaly, at least in comparison to what I have anecdotally seen outside of this forum.

I think this is just an indicator that those treading the hallowed halls of Lustria Online are a cut above normal men

Plus

 

[BrotherSutek]

The fact that Dogs of War aren't even on the list shows how far they have fallen

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

The fact that Dogs of War aren't even on the list shows how far they have fallen

I left them off the list because as far as I know, they never had an 8th edition army (or a FAQ/Errata updating them for inclusion into 8th edition). They were an interesting force though, but sadly, largely forgotten in the most recent WFB edition.