Probably the most frequent advice is along the lines of "pick an army you love, and love even when it loses often". This is good advice because as a beginner you will have to gain experience, probably by playingwith more experienced players who will probably beat you a lot no matter what army you are using.

Hence, rather than outright tabletop effectiveness (especially if it's only effective in the hands of a master),

there are other major considerations for beginning players:

• Will this army allow me to experiement with a variety of styles of play? (e.g. because the list is so flexible)
• Will the figures easily morph into other DBM army lists so I can explore other options?
• Will (some of) the figures form the basis for another army so that I can paint only a few more figures and get access to either different styles of play, different historical opponents or eligibility to different themed compettions (one's where only certain armies are allowed)?

A lot of these reasons are because you are likely to play your first army for quite a long time (unless you paint fast or have very deep pockets and even then it's probably best to stick with one army for a while). You also probably don't know what style of army will suit you in DBM.