Might make a second army, advice needed

[StepwisePilot]

So, I have Ironjawz. I like Ironjawz, they are fun. I am however, nearly at 2000 points of ironjawz. As such, once I'm finally there at 2000, I'd like to start another army, as one does. Would be fun for variety. As such, I've been looking at factions and such, see what catches my eye. Sure, may be odd considering I can't maybe Thursday evenings very reliably these days, but someday.


Basically, my idea is to list the factions I'm interested in, say somethings of why I'm interested, then talk about what I'm looking for. For what it's worth, the main reason I picked these 4 is because I like how they look for the most part. Funny enough, there is 1 faction here from each grand alliance. 



CITIES OF SIGMAR

Ok, so if I went with Cities of Sigmar, I think I'd want a ranged heavy list, with rifle guys or whatever, but am currently undecided. I'd still want some melee though. I'm not sure which subfaction would suit that better though. In particular, if I went with them I'd want mostly dwarfs and humans, would rather avoid the elves. Also, I'd rather go pure cities. I know certain subfactions can bring in other things, like stormcast, but I don't want that.




BEASTS OF CHAOS

Ok, so I'd want this to rush forward and smash things. Sort of like my Ironjawz, but with more hair. I especially like the look of the bigger units, like Bullgors, Doombulls, and Ghorgons. These are the guys I know the least about.




NIGHTHAUNT

They are gorgeous models. I could stop there honestly. I like how they can come back to life. However, I fear that they aren't the most durable models, as they look rather spindly, which would make transport a pain.




OGOR MAWTRIBES

Ok, I like how they are an elite, low model count army. If I play them though, I'd likely focus on the gutbuster side, and not get into the Beastclaw raiders until much later on.
I actually have made a list for these guys, mostly to see what I'd need to get if I did go with them. If requested, I can post said list later on.



THINGS I AM LOOKING FOR

Ok, so something I like about Ironjawz is that they are fairly low model count. At 2000 points (I'm currently at 1500), my army is exactly 40 models. They are more elite, with much less chaff, and I enjoy that. I don't hate hordes, but they can be a pain to move around the board. Something I do hate though, is summoning. I'd have a demon army, but I don't like summons. It means I have to buy and own way more than what I need for the actual army, otherwise I'm missing out on parts of the army. I don't know if any of the 4 above have summoning though. Anyway, that means that if any of these require summoning, they are instantly out for the most part, unless there are ways around it.



Another thing that may be of interest, but is not required, is a different playstyle from Ironjawz. They are all about going as fast as possible into melee, with no ranged attacks at all (Outside of the Maw-Krushas shout). Its not a deal breaker though.



So, hopefully that makes sense. I also hope it didn't ramble too much.

[Jack Shrapnel]

cities of sigmar and nighthaunt tend to be more horde than elite armies, so you get something different from ironjaws there. The one which is cheapest to build would be nighthaunt as you can take advantage of starter set models for a cost savings. Cities of Sigmar however can get alot of their troop units from third party models (ie: you just need a human with a sword / pike, and there are alot of other games you can source models from if you want to do the work as long as the scale is similar). I know Tim built his entire cities army from third party models so its completely possible.

nighthaunt has summoning BUT it's bringing back dead models, so you don't need to buy more models than you own. Because they're so light, the spindly nature doesn't matter. Haven't heard anyone yet complaining about breakage.

Ogors play VERY similar to your ironjaws in a lot of ways, but can also be grabbed in that new boxset, and are a low model count army so cheaper to build.

Beasts have some super cool models and are kind of a cross between horde and elite in that you can kind of go either way with them. I don't currently play that army (but am constantly tempted as the models are very nice) so can't really comment too much on playstyle... as I have not played against the latest army book.

[Hi I'm Derek]

Second that (Gutbusters) Ogors play like Ironjawz. Their army synergies are a little worse, their dudes are a little tougher and fast as heck but for the most part they do the same thing Ironjawz do. BCR-focused armies are a lot more unique since you flood the board with massive monsters that can cap objectives, do good damage and are outrageously hard to remove.

Shannon is on point about Nighthaunt 'summoning', but if you don't like hordes they probably aren't your cup of tea, most lists are going to run multiple 40 model blobs of Chainrasps. In reference to fragility and transporting, it's mostly a non-issue. My one buddy brings over a literal TUB of Chainrasps over to our place to play often. Like a bunch of painted dudes just thrown in a pile. They seem to weather it just fine.

Cities of Sigmar is perhaps the single most diverse allegiance outside of a Grand Alliance. They have an outrageous model range (which as Shannon says are easy to find proxies for), any of which can be used together.

They can build infantry swarms, huge spellcaster blobs, dwarves, elves, an army consisting of just tanks, elite armies of just cavalry, or artillery gunlines.

I think Cities have a great book with lots of options, but the big thing to be wary of with Cities is that it doesn't really support mono-factional or themed armies well. You can play an army of just Dispossessed but it's going to perform worse than if you soup up and allow yourself access to the full range within the book. Same goes for "allies", it's super common to see a Knight Incantor thrown into Cities lists for the automatic unbind, or as a good wizard-general, or for gunline armies to see Kharadrons augmenting Irondrakes and Freeguild. Embrace the soup!

If you want an army that feels extremely different from Ironjawz but still does work my vote would be Cities of Sigmar, specifically either the human/dwarf/kharadron gunline or (my personal favourite) the luminark/hurricanum + wizard squad bundle, maybe even with a buncha endless spells. The two 'elf' units most often used in either are shadow warriors and darkshards, but both are easy to proxy if you really dislike elves.

[StepwisePilot]

Thanks guys. You've both been a big help.

For what it's worth, I think I've narrowed it down from the 4 factions to just 2. Ogor Mawtribes or Cities of Sigmar. I'll do further research. on these two.

To reply to Hi I'm Derek (I'm terrible with names, so despite the fact we met I can't remember yours, hahaha), I'll look into the soup part of Cities. I suppose I am fine with some outside factions, as long as it's mostly heroes and such. Also, despite not wanting elves too much, I'm fine with souping it up otherwise, hahaha.

Shannon, you have Ogors, right? I don't think I can grab that new set, as it's pretty much sold out now, but would you have a recommendation on a good proxy for the hero tyrant from that set?

Anyway, the main choice I need to make now is if I want closer to Ironjawz (Ogors), or something more different (Cities). I'll eventually know, hahaha.

[Hi I'm Derek]

My name's Derek! My username alludes to the fact that it's impossible to remember who everyone is on here lol

Shannon might have a better recommendation but I think the old Ogre Maneaters make for great conversion material - slap on some Glutton/Irongut bits and boom you got a dude with a ton of character that looks different from the rest of your army. Just make sure to get them the right base size I think the Tyrant is mounted on something weird like a 50m or somesuch.

Kevin (Typhus on here) has an Ogor army as well and might have other conversion/third party suggestions if you message him.

[StepwisePilot]

Well, now I feel stupid not remembering your name when it's right there, hahaha.

There actually is a specific Man Eater ogre that I like the look of. Maybe I could take it to convert, assuming I go that direction of course. Then again, GW does eventually release the new models from those boxes on their own, so I can only assume the same would eventually happen for the tyrant. Of course, that would not be for a long while.

[Jack Shrapnel]

I often use the pirate maneater as a tyrant... I also have a metal tyrant with the double club... maneater models are awesome... just not cheap unfortunately


ogres are a great army... I've been playing mine since 6th edition warhammer and the older sculpts still hold up

[Hi I'm Derek]

The WHFB Ogre range is some of the best GW ever dropped!


You know... for the most part

[Jack Shrapnel]

ooh that one is painful... VERY glad the updated the butcher model

[StepwisePilot]

For maneaters, I was thinking either this:

www.games-workshop.com/en-CA/Ogre-Kingdoms-Paymaster-Maneater


Or this:

www.games-workshop.com/en-CA/Golgfag-Maneater


Now that I actually look and pay attention though, the second maneater is more expensive than the first. Hell, out of the 8 maneaters, 6 are at $35, while 2 are at $50. Why the price difference?

[Hi I'm Derek]

A mystery that can be solved by looking at the arcane days of Warhammer Fantasy:

warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Golgfag_Maneater
warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Bragg_the_Gutsman

Take a look at the URL of the second one you just posted. Look familiar?

[StepwisePilot]

Ah, so they used to be named characters. So, they are priced higher in case people are still buying them for use with WHFB. Either that or they were higher to begin with, and GW doesn't want to lower prices, hahaha. Probably the second option.

Thanks.

[Hi I'm Derek]

It's the second one: GW prices special characters higher and always has, regardless of their size, sculpt quality, whatever. It's the same for the Wurrgog Prophet (https://warhammerfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Wurrzag), who became a generic leader but is still $10 more than the Savage Big Boss.

I'm personally just glad they kept SOME of the named character sculpts around, a lot of them were dope.