Best Faction for DW Beginners

[Ruckdog]

With the holidays coming up, I figure that there will be plenty of people picking up the game for the first time and/or trying their hands at a new faction. Is there any one faction that stands out to you as a good one for beginners? Under the 1.0 and 1.1 rules, the conventional wisdom was that the Americans were a solid choice for a new DW gamer, but I'm curioius to see if another faction has taken its place, or if there is now no real difference in this regard. Please feel free to discuss below!

[Creon]

My vote is for the Indian Raj.  They are tough, hard hitters across all range bands.  And they get the British flyers attached.

[Ruckdog]

Good point about the Raj, I would never have thought about that since I haven't played with or against them yet.

Only two votes so far! I'd love to know what you guys think, especially the more active players out there. Please take a second to put your $0.02 in .

[markymark1970]

Played against Prussians several times.  They seem pretty straightforward to me.  Americans seem to be as well but have not played against them.  Most other factions have a lot of options, might be a little less easy to master.

[Landlubber]

Sorry I've been away from the boards for a bit. Real Life always gets in the way.

Gotta weigh in here for my trusty FSA. Of the original four factions, they are the simplest, most straightforward fighting force. Yeah, yeah, the Prussians have their Tesla bizarro weapons, and the Japanese have rockets that set everything on fire, and the British have...well, whatever they have. But you just can't beat the Orlington main guns when it comes to wrecking hulls. Point, and fire. Pretty simple. Plus, that American steel gives them a slight edge in survivability.

I do very much like most of the follow-on factions, but I feel that many of them require a degree of finesse to play properly--especially the Alliance factions.

Just my $0.02.

[CDR-G]

Of the main factions, FSA.
There is now enough variation in the FSA to make them interesting. Their air is quite strong. An all Air Battle group from them would be strong, except for gunnery.
The British Raj is pretty straightforward. They would need KoB Air.
The new KoB is not hard to play, and quite strong. Redoubtable turrets and really cool subs.

[Delta]

Sorry to dig up a relatively dead thread, but I am new to the game and I am thinking of playing Raj. I like the models and the rules. My question is, are they so solid in stats that there is very little room for finesse? Are they a point and shoot faction primarily that I will tire of after only a few games? 

[Ruckdog]

I can't say for sure, since I haven't used them or played against them. However, being a part of the Britannian bloc means that you can always add Britannian or Australian units to spice things up a bit if they get stale .

[Delta]

Good call! I like the look of the australians too so thats good! A joint raj-Australians force would be really really cool, especially if I paint them in the same scheme.

[Creon]

The raj is a good, all around faction.  You can design a fleet that's all boarding, all long range shooting, or a mix of both.  Teh down side of the Raj is limited models.  They have all their sea ships, except a dreadnaught, but no flxibility. The lend lease and British Allies make up for that.  And you don't have as much to learn.

[CDR-G]

FSA is straightforward, but it is so large that it also has many options for style and tactics.
So sure but I agree with Creon the Raj have so many tools that they can do the straight ahead attack quite well.

[Delta]

I would love to see a raj dreadnought, Taj Mahal sitting on top of a massive ship.

[Ruckdog]

I wouldn't be too surprised to see a Raj dreadnought eventually!