WHFB statistics based on over 2,400 Warhammer Fantasy battles, with nearly 600 evidenced by battle reports (over 500 of which have links to reports with photos and maps or YouTube videos).
I've just resumed development work on WFBattles.com and will soon be uploading some new features.
In the meantime, I thought I'd delve into the database a bit to see what kind of interesting snippets I could come up with (based on battles submitted and the member polls). At the time of writing we have...
In terms of the overall picture:-
Daemons of Chaos are now
top of the Warhammer Fantasy league in win % in all games and those evidenced by battle reports. Warriors of Chaos come a close second with Ogre kingdoms and Dark Elves snapping at their heels. Warriors, Ogres and Dark Elves have all previously enjoyed time at the top.
Poor old Tomb Kings are well and truly stuck to the bottom of the all battles table and the other armies are all within 5% points of each other in the middle of the pack.
An Army by Army round up (especially useful, I think, for Warhammer Beginners) and a decent discussion starter for forums, blogs and Warhammer social media sites...
Beastmen
The least used or battled against of all the armies. Beastmen have most success with monstrous infantry (except for Ogre Kingdoms of course!) so presumably, Minotaurs are the name of the game.
Beastmen have a good record against High Elves and Dwarfs (and Tomb Kings - which army doesn't!) but they most enjoy fighting The Empire. The Beasts are more reliant on any other army on movement (yes, they even just about top Bretonnians), it's been the most influential of all the phases in Beastmen battles. When it comes to luck, Beastmen don't have a lot of it but it has helped them out most in scraps with Orcs & Goblins. This army has the worst magic defence according to our voters.
Bretonnia
Voted the army with the best movement / maneuverability in the game and the 3rd best armoured. Bretonnians have a good track record against Tomb Kings, Lizardmen and Beastmen, they also have a surprisingly high draw rate against Orcs and Goblins (for reasons unknown!). Wood Elves and Vampire Counts are the Brets most challenging enemies, maybe because of all the forests and the tar pits hampering movement and preventing the Brets from defeating their opponent on the charge turn. Bretonnian players rely most on their core units and Trebuchets have been marginally more decisive in battle than Pegasus Knights.
Daemons of Chaos
The most successful army (except in tournaments where Dark Elves take the crown). Daemons also have the least proportion of drawn battles (I guess that Daemons don't "do" draws, they win or vanish back into the Realms of Chaos !) and have the most fun, at least, when they play against Wood Elves.
Daemons are the least wanted by other army players, possibly because of their models which are voted 3rd worst across the whole army range. This army is the 2nd most used in large 3,000+ pts battles (Dwarfs come top). A third of all Daemon battle reporters select the custom lord, presumably a Daemon prince as their best unit - more than any other army using lord level characters.
Dark Elves
Most used in 2,000 pt battles with best overall record but high loss record against High Elves although it doesn't look so bad when you take the high % of draws into account. High Elves are the most common opponent in tournaments.
Despite dominance in shooting, magic is over twice as influential on the battlefield than ranged weapons. Dark Elves are really keen on infantry as a troop type, only Dwarfs use more infantry but then the Dwarf army is a lot more restricted in it's troop types than just about any other army.
Dwarfs
The most blood thirsty army in the war against Chaos and the non-aligned races.
Dwarfs spill more of Warriors of Chaos blood than anybody else. Dwarfs are the most loved army and yet the miniatures are the least popular across the Warhammer world, which brings into question GW's official stance that... "it's all about the models". It seems that for Dwarfs that it's more likely to be "all about the battles!" The Dwarf army has been voted as having the best magic defence and best ranged offence.
Special Units are far more important in battle for Dwarfs than all the other armies and with Ironbreakers, Irondrakes, Hammerers, Slayers and some war machines is it any wonder ?! , Only high Elves come close (presumably thanks to White Lions, Swordmasters and Phoenix Guard).
High Elves
The most painted army and by far the most common foe of the other armies, only Beastmen, Dwarfs and Warriors of Chaos fight other armies more often - which I guess means that people get to see more painted High Elf armies on the tabletop than any other.
Elves have the least luck and, indeed, require the least luck to win. High Elves are the most featured in battles with full battle report links. Along with the Empire, High Elves have the most evenly distributed success across the movement, magic, shooting and combat phases
Lizardmen
The least painted army (must be the size of those dinos!) but it doesn't seem to affect their performance because they are one of the most balanced armies in terms of wins, draws and losses (45%, 10%, 45%) and rank 6th.
Lizardmen are more likely than any other army to choose Custom Hero as their best unit and come second only to Warriors of Chaos in naming Monsters as their best troop type (it's a case of Troglodon, Carnosaur and Stegadon vs Mutalith, Chimera and Slaughterbrute - which would you choose ?). Lizardmen are voted the most balanced in magic offence and defence.
Ogre Kingdoms
Ranked first in the "Professional Mercenaries category, that is, Most fun to play (combined with) requiring the least luck to win.
Ogres are the most wanted army by other army owners. Monstrous cavalry, which must be Mournfang are more influential than any other army's monstrous cavalry, only The Empire's Demigryphs come close. Ogres are surprisingly unimpressed by the impact that their relatively high movement has on games, only Skaven rate movement lower. Ogre players don't seem to rate monsters very highly in the outcome of a battle despite having access to the Thundertusk, Stonehorn and a giant.
Orcs and Goblins
O&G is the most collected of all the armies and they are the "luckiest winners", I think we all know that you need a little luck with the greenskins, what with their unpredictability. This army rates magic, movement and shooting almost as important as one another in battle but by far the most important phase remains combat (only Warriors of Chaos, Daemons, Ogre Kingdoms and Beastmen rank combat more highly). The moral of this story, don't site around chatting with your doom diver crew over some stolen Bugman's XXXX, you need to get stuck in! Orcs and Goblins are one of only 3 armies (along with Beastmen and Tomb Kings) that does not feature in the top 5 best performing in movement, magic, shooting or combat.
Skaven
For some reason Skaven are by far the most Loathed army overall (in fact the single most loathed army by owners of 9 other races!) Skaven is the only race other than Wood Elves to count shooting as it's best turn phase and the only army to count Rare Units as it's most important unit type (rated twice as important as most other armies). So, if you're facing Skaven expect to face a lot of Doomwheels, Hellpit Abominations and Warp Lightning Cannons or catapults.
Skaven were voted as having the highest magic offence (The Dreaded 13th possibly ?)
The Empire
The master of stalemates, The Empire has the most drawn battles (vs Dwarfs) and the most drawn battles overall (joint 1st alongside Orcs and Goblins).
The most balanced in troop type composition of all the armies but they don't rate their custom lords highly. Only Dark Elves are equally unimpressed by their Lord's performance in comparison with other units. Empire armies are similarly unimpressed by their custom heroes, it seems they put their faith mostly in core and special units. They also favour war machines above all other armies except for Dwarfs and Skaven. The Empire is the most owned army by those who have more than two armies in their collection (Beastmen, Daemons, Vampire and Wood Elf players are most likely to also own Empire)
Tomb Kings
Ranked last in the "Professional Mercenaries category that is... Least fun to play and requiring the most luck to win or draw. The only army to count chariots as it's most important Troop Type.
Tomb Kings are more reliant than any other army (except for Vampires) on their special Lord level characters to win them battles and they also rely on magic and monstrous beasts (ie Tomb Scorpions) more than any other army (except for Daemons). Tomb Kings are by far the least feared of all the armies by their foes. Amazingly, they have more success with chariots than either infantry or monsters! Last but not least, Tomb Kings are firmly rooted to the bottom of the all battles league table. The stats are telling me... they need an infantry upgrade (only Brets and Ogres have less success with their infantry and that's because we're talking about archers / men-at-arms and gnoblars! [note: Ogres count as Monstrous Infantry])
Vampire Counts
Voted best army book and worst ranged offence (no surprise there). Vampires are great against Wood Elves, Beastmen and Bretonnia (but here's the surprise... they win against Warriors of Chaos 52% of the time and win or draw 61% !!!)
Vampire Counts like using Special Characters more than any other army and they much prefer hero characters over all the other armies (Konrad perhaps ?) Vampires are the second most reliant on their magic phase (after Tomb Kings) and the impact on a battle of their movement and shooting (Banshees and Terrorgheists) is rated 2nd worst of all the armies. Only Warriors of Chaos rate their combined movement and shooting as less influential and that's because they're too busy lopping of heads in close combat to bother with either.
Warriors of Chaos
By far the most feared army. One of only 4 armies (including Daemons of Chaos) to count Customised Lord as it's most important unit (Daemon Prince presumably!)
Voted best miniatures, strongest army and best combat offence and defence and one of the best army books - what's not to like !?. Warriors of Chaos players are extremely happy with the contribution of close combat to battle performance, only Daemons and Ogre Kingdoms come close (and Beastmen but, that's because their magic and shooting rating are so low!). Warriors of Chaos are the most likely to rate Monsters as the best unit in their army. Presumably this is the combined effect of having a Chimera and Daemon Prince.
Wood Elves
Count shooting as their best turn phase.
Worst book according to the polls and weakest army, I'm assuming that the age of the army book has a lot to do with this! Poor old woodies have also been voted the worst in combat offence and defence. I'm afraid to say that when it comes to the polls there are not too many positive points to make except that they rate 2nd in movement (after Bretonnia). The poor down trodden Wood Elf player is also the most likely to own another army.
On the bright side, Wood Elf players do seem to punch above their weight, performing better than both Tomb kings and Orcs and Goblins in the all battles table and even better in the battles evidenced with full battle reports. So,
it seems that those who have stuck with Wood Elves and mastered them are getting their just rewards. It's also notable that they perform significantly better in larger points value games (which I personally find surprising).
In my next post I'll detail the new features I'm working on, which are mainly the items listed in the WIP pane of the
WFBattles.com home page plus an army by army comparison table for Best units, Troop Types and Phases that I have used to help me collate the above.
The army comparison page will use the same data as the
Army Selection page but will show all the armies side by side rather than on separate pie charts and will also have the same filters and sorts that are available on the
Army vs Army / Battle Count page.
Please join the site and help me to create the most informative Warhammer Fantasy database this side of the Chaos Wastes. I'm just developing WFBattles.com for fun so it will never cost you anything other than the minute or two it takes to post a battle or vote on a poll.
All images used with their respective owner's permission. Please see the
WFBattles Links and Credits page.
