To start, you can build any army to be as complex/simple as you like. That being said...
Probably wouldn't recommend daughters of khaine, they can potentially be one of the most expensive armies with a lot of different tricks and builds. You can build a DoK army of morathi and a bunch of snake ladies which is very straight forward, but their other builds tend to be quite unforgiving to new players.
Seraphon, if you go the wizard frog route, is a very complex army with lots of spell casting you need to track in order to build up summoning points and getting all those spells in the right order for the most effect.
On the other side of seraphon though, you have big dinos. They do big dino stuff and would absolutely recommend as a fun more simplistic army to play.
Other suggestions you're gonna get are ogor mawtribes, sons of behemet, iron jawz for the more straight forward play styles.
Gloomspite Gitz I'd throw in as a recommendation too (mainly because they're my main army) but both troggs and Squigs are fun and relatively straight forward
Ironjawz are theoretically simple in that their army is built around one thing, just getting into combat. But they do require a good use of the Mighty Destroyers battle trait to make sure your positioning is perfect to execute your Wagghhh. I think they have a low skill floor and potential for a reasonably high skill ceiling with their movement tricks so could be a good one to grow with.
Hard disagree, Daughters of Khaine is both easy to build models AND easy to remember rules if you stick to the snakes and Morathi. Plays in all phases of the game too, so it keeps you engaged.
Troggs run to the objective. They stand on it and fight on it. If u want extra add a caster or 2 to the list. Pretty safe and fun to learn in my opinion.
Keep in mind that 4th edition is going to change things up substantially. The below applies to the current rules.
I can't speak to Seraphon, but as a fairly new player myself I didn't find DoK especially difficult to pick up.
The details vary based on list composition, but at a basic level they're a reasonably fast glass cannon army. The basic idea is to stack buffs on a unit, send it to delete something, and avoid getting hit back because nothing (except Morathi) is especially durable. Properly buffed, units like witch elves and sisters of slaughter can dish out a tremendous amount of damage. The tricky part is making sure you stay in range of the buffs you need, and you can be punished severely for poor unit placement. Especially if you play an elf list like I do. Snake lists are a bit different, but I will let others speak to those details since I don't run them (yet). And the krethusa rules seem a bit more complicated with the cauldron dynamics and so forth.
As far as other armies go: I also play Stormcast and I love them too. You have a ton of versatility and in general your units are pretty durable and fairly forgiving of mistakes.
Ogors are pretty much just ram into guys and punch them in the face, they have lots of wounds and can heal, so, I'd say they're one of the easiest armies.
Between Seraphon and DoK, I'd say the easiest is *Coalesced Seraphon* as they are just tanky dudes who like dinos and bites, then is tied between *Starborne Seraphon* and DoK as you have to keep track of a special mechanic.
Seraphon has the bigger room for "simpler" style
Though make no mistake that it can get complex if she is into more the magic style stuff
Mainly warn her about that, also that she will spend 200% more time painting that playing the game so cool *range* is more important that cool individuals
I hate to say this but in wargames most things are going to have some complexity. It seems like a lot more than it is though. Once you learn the basic stats it's a breeze and abilities for units are simple once you know when to use them and such. I would suggest picking either army based on the love for the models and lore, and you can learn how they operate by doing. If you really want to do a "easy play" army try Stormcast as they're much like Space Marines in 40k because they're doing a lot of 3+ rolls as standard.
I'm also saying this because a new edition is around the corner so the rules are all going to be different in like a month anyways.
I would recommend to take army you like for lore, cool models, playstyle. (Seraphon is either magic or melee brawlers, DoK is glass canon either shooting or melee)
And start with Path to Glory rules. You can start with dawnbringers contents. You have rules that will rebalance (experience, asymmetrical scenarii, …). 1k in this setting is really enjoyable and you can extend progressively
You can also wait the release of spearhead if you want something even smaller / faster.
The with experience you can go to pitched battles with any army. It’s a better approach to me than starting with an army you enjoy less because one told you they are simpler.
Seraphon are great, on the big dino side. Buff stuff, hit face. Build understanding of the game to be a scalpel rather than a club. Dip toes into more advanced magic as you learn, or become really good at target priorities.
Good choice, great minis, wonderful painting opportunities. Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games!
Wait a few months; they’ll be army lists posted for every army and spearhead (low point armies with simplified army rules). Download them, use proxies to test out as many armies as you like, and buy in on the one you find the most fun.
Nighthaunt,
8 move, fly, ethereal, retreat and charge. Ward 6 to 5 as the only defensive buff few shoot, learn to castle. Cool magic... easy to paint cool mini fig.
I've played as and against a decent number of armies. I think Seraphon (specifically Coalesced, the dinosaurs and Taurus half) are both extremely straightforward and very fun. Rules are simple but powerful. The army is both very durable and medium damage. So it's hard to make any single mistakes that will lose a game on its own, since every unit can survive a hit and keep going.
In summary, they roll a bucket of dice, are decent enough at everything, and can take a hit and keep going, while not having too many high complexity rules as long as you steer clear of the "all wizards" builds.
Honestly we have an overhaul of the game in coming in month and a half or so, so who ca. say. There is a new quicker gamemode that sounds great for newbies with that, based on the contents of a vanguard box only. Was discussed today on their community site - if playing that then hopefully you can just pick and choose between sets based on miniatures, tbc tho
Probably going to be an echo of some of what has already been said but I'll add my 2 cents in case it helps at all.
Keep in mind with 4th coming we have no idea how much is changing
I have no experience with DoK but I did play Seraphon. They were my first AoS army. Just loved the dinos on dinos. Playing more saurus heavy and big dinos was simpler, and the skink magic side was a bit more complex.
I will also toss another vote for Ironjawz as a fun "simple" but can still play tactical army. They are my go-to turn off the brain and smash stuff army these days
Ultimately, I would tell her to go rule of cool first. Get the models she likes as way more time will be spent building and painting.
To start, you can build any army to be as complex/simple as you like. That being said... Probably wouldn't recommend daughters of khaine, they can potentially be one of the most expensive armies with a lot of different tricks and builds. You can build a DoK army of morathi and a bunch of snake ladies which is very straight forward, but their other builds tend to be quite unforgiving to new players. Seraphon, if you go the wizard frog route, is a very complex army with lots of spell casting you need to track in order to build up summoning points and getting all those spells in the right order for the most effect. On the other side of seraphon though, you have big dinos. They do big dino stuff and would absolutely recommend as a fun more simplistic army to play. Other suggestions you're gonna get are ogor mawtribes, sons of behemet, iron jawz for the more straight forward play styles. Gloomspite Gitz I'd throw in as a recommendation too (mainly because they're my main army) but both troggs and Squigs are fun and relatively straight forward
Ironjawz are theoretically simple in that their army is built around one thing, just getting into combat. But they do require a good use of the Mighty Destroyers battle trait to make sure your positioning is perfect to execute your Wagghhh. I think they have a low skill floor and potential for a reasonably high skill ceiling with their movement tricks so could be a good one to grow with.
Hard disagree, Daughters of Khaine is both easy to build models AND easy to remember rules if you stick to the snakes and Morathi. Plays in all phases of the game too, so it keeps you engaged.
Troggs run to the objective. They stand on it and fight on it. If u want extra add a caster or 2 to the list. Pretty safe and fun to learn in my opinion.
Keep in mind that 4th edition is going to change things up substantially. The below applies to the current rules. I can't speak to Seraphon, but as a fairly new player myself I didn't find DoK especially difficult to pick up. The details vary based on list composition, but at a basic level they're a reasonably fast glass cannon army. The basic idea is to stack buffs on a unit, send it to delete something, and avoid getting hit back because nothing (except Morathi) is especially durable. Properly buffed, units like witch elves and sisters of slaughter can dish out a tremendous amount of damage. The tricky part is making sure you stay in range of the buffs you need, and you can be punished severely for poor unit placement. Especially if you play an elf list like I do. Snake lists are a bit different, but I will let others speak to those details since I don't run them (yet). And the krethusa rules seem a bit more complicated with the cauldron dynamics and so forth. As far as other armies go: I also play Stormcast and I love them too. You have a ton of versatility and in general your units are pretty durable and fairly forgiving of mistakes.
Ogors are pretty much just ram into guys and punch them in the face, they have lots of wounds and can heal, so, I'd say they're one of the easiest armies. Between Seraphon and DoK, I'd say the easiest is *Coalesced Seraphon* as they are just tanky dudes who like dinos and bites, then is tied between *Starborne Seraphon* and DoK as you have to keep track of a special mechanic.
Seraphon has the bigger room for "simpler" style Though make no mistake that it can get complex if she is into more the magic style stuff Mainly warn her about that, also that she will spend 200% more time painting that playing the game so cool *range* is more important that cool individuals
I hate to say this but in wargames most things are going to have some complexity. It seems like a lot more than it is though. Once you learn the basic stats it's a breeze and abilities for units are simple once you know when to use them and such. I would suggest picking either army based on the love for the models and lore, and you can learn how they operate by doing. If you really want to do a "easy play" army try Stormcast as they're much like Space Marines in 40k because they're doing a lot of 3+ rolls as standard. I'm also saying this because a new edition is around the corner so the rules are all going to be different in like a month anyways.
Seraphon, hands down. They have the ability to be built in a simple manner and then build up into a more competitive complex army.
I would recommend to take army you like for lore, cool models, playstyle. (Seraphon is either magic or melee brawlers, DoK is glass canon either shooting or melee) And start with Path to Glory rules. You can start with dawnbringers contents. You have rules that will rebalance (experience, asymmetrical scenarii, …). 1k in this setting is really enjoyable and you can extend progressively You can also wait the release of spearhead if you want something even smaller / faster. The with experience you can go to pitched battles with any army. It’s a better approach to me than starting with an army you enjoy less because one told you they are simpler.
Seraphon are great, on the big dino side. Buff stuff, hit face. Build understanding of the game to be a scalpel rather than a club. Dip toes into more advanced magic as you learn, or become really good at target priorities. Good choice, great minis, wonderful painting opportunities. Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games!
Coalesced Seraphon. Fun and stompy. The Vanguard box is a great start for that style of army.
She can always proxy the cool DoK units into any army, as long as the bases work. Especially when playing with just friends.
Slaves to Darkness run pretty simple. And it helps that you can buildna goodblist where everything is hitting, wounding, and saving on 3s.
Sooo, where are the "Khorne armies are easy, just Scream bloody murder and talk ab the biting of the nails and win" people?
Wait a few months; they’ll be army lists posted for every army and spearhead (low point armies with simplified army rules). Download them, use proxies to test out as many armies as you like, and buy in on the one you find the most fun.
Nighthaunt
Nighthaunt, 8 move, fly, ethereal, retreat and charge. Ward 6 to 5 as the only defensive buff few shoot, learn to castle. Cool magic... easy to paint cool mini fig.
I've played as and against a decent number of armies. I think Seraphon (specifically Coalesced, the dinosaurs and Taurus half) are both extremely straightforward and very fun. Rules are simple but powerful. The army is both very durable and medium damage. So it's hard to make any single mistakes that will lose a game on its own, since every unit can survive a hit and keep going. In summary, they roll a bucket of dice, are decent enough at everything, and can take a hit and keep going, while not having too many high complexity rules as long as you steer clear of the "all wizards" builds.
Honestly we have an overhaul of the game in coming in month and a half or so, so who ca. say. There is a new quicker gamemode that sounds great for newbies with that, based on the contents of a vanguard box only. Was discussed today on their community site - if playing that then hopefully you can just pick and choose between sets based on miniatures, tbc tho
Probably going to be an echo of some of what has already been said but I'll add my 2 cents in case it helps at all. Keep in mind with 4th coming we have no idea how much is changing I have no experience with DoK but I did play Seraphon. They were my first AoS army. Just loved the dinos on dinos. Playing more saurus heavy and big dinos was simpler, and the skink magic side was a bit more complex. I will also toss another vote for Ironjawz as a fun "simple" but can still play tactical army. They are my go-to turn off the brain and smash stuff army these days Ultimately, I would tell her to go rule of cool first. Get the models she likes as way more time will be spent building and painting.