Preferred Fantasy Army Composition?

[Mr. White]

When you play your fantasy army, or large skirmish games, how do you prefer the sides to be made up?

Warhammer Style - each side being a distinct nation or race
Battle of Five Armies Style - each side a conglomerate of groups divided along some boundary though (ex: good vs evil)
Oathmark Style - anything goes in any side

Some other style…

[jon_1066]

Really depends.

In the old days it had to be option B because we were hobby gad flies and didn't settle on a single faction (probably because we came from D&D which encouraged a broad collection of figures but not lots of one type).  So if you wanted anything resembling an army it had to be a collective of multiple races and types

Nowadays probably A because the games played are smaller (hello Dragon/Lion Rampant!) and that suits the collection of figures I have.

[OSHIROmodels]

Nothing Gamey 

[dadlamassu]

Most of our large fantasy battles come from our campaigns set in Morval Earth.  So the armies may be a single race (rare) or a mixed force of a number of races.
Our most recent campaign is the Belmainian Civil War - The background and the 8 battles with character accounts can be found starting here:
http://www.morvalearth.co.uk/ME_Belmain_Civil%20War/Intro_Belmain_History.htm

The armies - figures used or repurposed in brackets
The Ever Victorious Army of Queen Indrana (me) included Humans (Darkest Africa and fantasy tribesmen and amazons; dark age infantry, Ancient Assyrians, Vikings; Khmer and others); Goblins; trolls; Uruk Hai; and more

The Army of Queen Parsifa (Richard) included Humans (LOTR Rohan, medieval and Dark Age infantry, Samurai, Chinese); Dwarves; Beastmen; Orcs; Minotaur; Giants (Combat Hex miniatures); half elves; ogres

So, in short, mostly B with A sometimes as we use a scenario (campaign or stand alone) and use the races/forces that fit the scenario. 

[ithoriel]

All of the above, with a preference for option 3: Oathmark Style.

[zemjw]

It depends on the group.

Major races like dwarfs, humans etc I tend to view as one race, possbily with a few allies.

Skaven and undead on their own, as they don't get on with anyone

Goblinoid races together

chaos - anything goes

So a mix of A and B. Oathmark's approach is one I don't actually like, although I get why he did it. If everyone can fight on every side, then everything looks and feels the same

edited to add undead - can't believe I forgot the skellies

[Pattus Magnus]

All three, depending on the game.

Currently I am enjoying the Oathmark approach and mixing different fantasy species together in a kingdom. I respectfully disagree with zemjw’s assertion that it has to result in boring uniformity when anyone can take any  of the troop types, though. I have found that with the kingdom building limiting choices each kingdom tends to have a character of its own. The catch is that the character depends on playing the kingdom in a campaign- if a new kingdom is just cobbled together for a one-off game that doesn’t happen (and I concede that could become flavourless quickly). Purely a matter of taste, of course - I like developing my kingdom and it’s back story, then sticking with it for a series of games, but some of my pals prefer pick up games.

[WitchQueenofAngmar]

Oathmark & Battle of 5 Army styles, I like the flexibility in fielding armies based on models I have, as well as the narrative challenge of how these people came about to working together.

[punkrabbitt]

It depends on the setting the army comes from. My dwarf army is all dwarf, plus a few giant eagles. My Lunar army from Glorantha is a little bit of this, a little bit of that. I plan halflings and skeletons together.

[Elbows]

Simple; it must make sense in the setting I wish to game.  The only one I wouldn't bother with would be stuff like Oathmark's style.

[Ogrob]

I would say Oathmark style. I don't care much anymore for the traditional good and evil dynamics in fantasy games, and much prefer that any race can be any morality. With something like Oathmark or SAGA Age of Magic I can make my own themes and my own fluff.

[nickdives]

Depends on the setting, Hyboria or LOTR as per the books, otherwise, I have humans either Empire style or Medieval style allied with dwarves of the same styles, Orcs and goblins with the usual hangers on, skeletons as is, or chaos anything with spike, tentacles etc. Giants and ogres allied with anyone vaguely humanoid!

[dadlamassu]

Other than LOTR games with the grandchildren we don't play the "Good v Evil" type games.  Our armies are based around our Morval Earth setting or maybe our setting is just as much influenced by our collections.  The various nations have histories that explain the mix of races in each.  We do have what might be termed "Lawic" and "Chaotic" forces engaged in warfare but this is more like a medieval religious war than the traditional fantasy type.  In the last battle of the Belmainian Civil War the main protagonists (two queens) were vying for the throne of a "Chaotic" mainly human kingdom of Belmain.  It is "Chaotic" not because it is "Evil" but because the alignment of the main deities worshipped there.  That did not not prevent neighbouring "Lawic" states sending troops for political reasons to support one or other side.

Thus in our large battles you will probably find all sorts of races and alignments fighting alongside each other (and sometimes squabbling). 

[eilif]

A with just a touch of B with allies being justified by setting and alignment. Both of my large fantasy armies illustrate this.

Currently I'm working on a fantasy human army built from Runewars Daqan. It's entirely human with the exception of their Rune Golems.

Similarly my Chaos army is majority human warriors, but their berserkers are Beastmen and they are joined by a unit of wolfmen.

Both forces are unified by a theme and color scheme and though I imagine them having a bit of WHFB'ish ambiguity in their motivations they're mostly aligned on Good and Evil divisions.

[Cubs]

Somewhere between A and B for me. I like to have a general faction, but then a few mercs, mates or general hangers-on from interested parties/related factions seem reasonable.

Having said that, any weird combos (Dwarves & Elves, Undead & Anyone) would need a good back story to explain why they're hanging out together.