Top 10 Core Units

Here is one that will get people arguing/discussing, let's hope the latter!   It's what I think are the top 10 choices in the Core units for Warhammer Fantasy.  I am taking into account not just their stat line but upgrades, magical banners and typical builds using them.   Come inside and see if you agree.

10.  Gor (Beastmen) are a wonderful unit.  A lawnmower if you will.  They are quite cheap and easy to take in VERY large units.   I would say of all the top 10, this is going to be your biggest unit.  They CAN take shields, but you never do, instead relying on extra hand weapons, primal fury and the Beast Banner.  The Beast Banner BSB is basically a must if you're running a giant horde of these.   Strength 4 is nothing to sneeze at.  Add in the mandatory Wyssan's Wildform caster (or more) and you have a giant destruction machine.  It's not rare to see these fellas at Toughness and Strength 5, winning combats purely on outkilling the other guy.

9.   Dwarven Warriors are a very, very versatile unit and in the grand scheme of things a bit underrated.  In eighth edition there is no reason for them NOT to have Great Weapons.  You have other anvils in the army you can use (like the awesome Hammerers).  From there they can be upgraded to Rangers or Longbeards, each with their own different use.   Add in high toughness, awesome leadership for a core unit and heavy armour and you're going to really shock people in a fight.   Not to mention the potential a lord or hero adds to this unit to take on the really scary stuff.

8.   Ghouls (Vampire Counts) are the best core unit in the VC book hands down.   Two attacks, T4 and poison go a long way in what's normally a really, really fragile army.   Sure, they crumble, but they are only 10 points each and can be revived with Invocation as the battle goes on.  And at I3, they aren't actually that slow and go at the same time or before lots of other core units.

7.   Savage Orcs... I almost feel bad for putting them this low.  Put them in a horde with the Lucky Shrunken Head, extra head weapons and the Big Uns upgrade and you actually might have the single killiest non magic buffed core unit (maybe unit) in the game.   Think about it.  3 attacks, 5+ ward, Str 5 on the first round and only 10 points each.  Hmmm... maybe they should be higher.

6.   Black Ark Corsairs (Dark Elves) aren't necessarily scary when you first look at them.  T3, S3... not much to them really.   But then you add in the cheap extras.  Frenzy Banner, extra hand weapon, cauldron of blood.  Right there, 4 attacks each.  Nothing to sneeze at.  THEN add in the very easy to cast for Dark Elves Okkam's Mindrazor and... well... something's gonna die.  ANYTHING is going to die.   Add in a Master or Dreadlord for Ld9 and a horde of 30 these is putting out 60, Strength 9 with hatred attacks.   Good bye any unit that's ever existed in history.

5.   Empire Knights might be too high for some but from personal experience they've always done me so well.  The inner circle upgrade makes them downright deadly on the charge.  Str 6, 1+ armor charging with WS4 and probably a cheap priest or even a BSB inside.   On top of it they are probably the fastest really hard core you are going to get, able to really reach out and touch someone early in the game before support can help the opponent.   People might wonder why I am putting these here and not Knights of the Realm and it's simply because of the rest of the army.  Artillery and magic is going to soften up the enemy before you get to them.   Plus the buffs of Empire are so much better.  A Hurricanum giving them +1 to hit, Hatred from a priest, Light magic, etc.  

4.   Bloodletters (Daemons of Chaos) are... well... scary.   You go to a tournament and you'll see a horde of these in every single top table daemon army.  Or two.  Or three.  Sure they're T3.   But they have Killing Blow.  They're daemons so don't break, WS and S5, very good I, MR1, cause fear.  Plus you can buff them up with cheap loremasters and magic standards.  Normally they wouldn't be this high.  But the fact that they are SO much better then the rest of the core in the book and so feared by everyone puts them really high on my list.  AND?  Only 12 points.  For all that.   Wow.

3.   Ironguts (Ogre Kingdoms) are fearsome.  Simply put.  Sure they are double the points of anything else on this list (or more) but what else is Str 6, 3 attacks, 3 wounds, M6, full supporting attacks and heavy armour?   What else has easy to cast buffs from Gut or Beasts magic?  You have to cause three wounds to reduce their output at all.   A horde of these with the Rune Maw become practically immune to magic.  You don't debuff these fellas and you aren't doing much to them.  They cause fear and can take a magic banner themselves without a BSB.   A brutally efficient piece of destruction.

2.   Saurus Warriors (Lizardmen) were going to be on this list.  Everyone's been looking for them.  Cold Blooded ALONE could put them here.  High T, S, 2 attacks, 4+ armour with parry for an anvil.  TONS of magic.  Hard as nails characters.  You'll simply never break them and at 11 points each, you're going to have a ton of them in a unit or have many multiples to deal with.   Lizardmen also have really cheap screens so you are pretty much always getting the fight you want and if not, you hold them until you get help.

1.   Warriors of Chaos.  Was there any doubt?  WS5, I5.  Marks.  Awesome armour.  Halberds, extra hand weapons or shields.  Is there anything they cannot take on?  Is there anything they cannot do?   Why number one?  The rest of the units above are so good because of supplementary help.  Warriors can walk around the field without magic help and still smash elite units.  Even Swordmasters, the end all be all of lawnmowers, can do little against them.   Fifteen points base?  I'd take them at 16 or 17 still.   SO AWESOME.   Every army wishes they had them.

So, let's hear your top 10.  Let's hear who is too high and who is too low!