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So, after a hiatus from the hobby I've decided to come back. I have been a space wolves player for awhile now and am anticipating the new codex and models. But, as a builder and painter, I get extremely bored painting and building the same army for long periods of time. So, as more of a side project I was looking to build a new xenos army alongside my space wolves. I need help deciding which. I already have ordered the codices of orks, eldar, tau, necrons and tyranids off ebay for cheap. Now since they haven't arrived yet and I haven't been able to look over them, could someone help me by giving me a brief overview of each. I really get behind the fluff of armies, and I'm so curious how each are played. I have done a little research on my own and looked at various lists on here of each but nothing substantial. Any help, tips or Input [code]will be greatly appreciated!

The poll is just out of curiosity to see which of my choices has the better fluff.

I'm looking for an army that plays differently than my pups. I didn't want to do another power armored army (even though I find dark angels fluff to be awesome). I wanted it to be visually different from the wolves, have awesome fluff, and be able to build lists that are enjoyable to play (semi-competitively) and fun non-competitively. I have yet to play in more serious tournaments, but I would maybe like to keep the option of doing so there.

Eldar are like the Elves from Lord of the Rings. Their time is ending, but they are still extremely powerful. Tyranids are a hivemind force, where in they consume all of the biomass of a planet to spawn all of their soldiers and then move on to the next planet.

Necrons are an ancient race of metal warriors who are rising up from planet graves called Tomb Worlds to reek havoc on all mortals. Tau are primarily alien but often take recruits or POWs and fold them into their army for what they call the Greater Good. I believe they are led by several higher up psykers.

Sorry I couldn't go into more description, as I don't have the fluff memorized or their codices. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/ is a great source for an overview on all of the above armies.

Thanks for the reply. I have been trying to read the backgrounds of armies but it's hard to as there is so much. For me, it isn't so much about building a hardcore, dominating kill everything list, but connecting with the army I choose. Wanting to read the stories, liking how the models look and wanting everything . Dominating the table is a bonus.

Yeah, honestly, it is tough to have someone else tell you what army has the best fluff. Because most people connect with an army for their own various reasons.

What time of army do you want to play?

Orks - Goofy, very chaotic, kill everything (including themselves) wacky technology

Eldar - Elitists. They have an expert for everything, Aspects. They also have ghosts that inhabit bone suits. Shuriken weapons and some of the best psykers in the game.

Tau - The ultimate modern technology. They have a strong caste system and work together to take down their enemies. Amazing ranged weapons. missile launchers, rail rifles, etc.

Necrons - Egyption undead robots...from space. An ancient race brought back through machines bent on destroying everything.

Tyranids - Swaaarms. If you want an army of insects this is your army.

Orks are wild 'n crazy. They have a heavy mob mentality based entirely around conflict. Everything from politics (the biggest, toughest Ork is da' boss) to economics (teeth are money) is based entirely are beating the gak out of everything. Beat the gak out of enough stuff and you get bigger. Being bigger means you can beat the gak out of more stuff. Such is the way of the Ork. They have gestalt psychic abilities that most Orks can't actively control. This leads to events where Orks in mass numbers manage to affect the reality around them. The greatest of these events is the WAAAGH, which unites Orks in a battle frenzy against whatever is putting up a good fight.

Eldar are the old race. The wise but arrogant former rulers of the known universe. After their empire reached a point of peerless power and near limitless excess, their collective psychic presence birthed the Chaos God Slaanesh. After devouring most of the souls of the now fallen race, the Eldar not in their home system had to take up the mantle of preserving their species. These Eldar, fearing the excesses that led to their kind's downfall each devote themselves to a path, a lifestyle focused on a single aspect of the whole of living (fighting, art, care, psychic abilities, construction, etc.). Eldar will 'travel' along one path until they are satisfied and switch to a new one, abandoning everything that defined their previous path. Each path also has many sub-divisions that leads to a great diversity in the abilities of the Eldar. Eldar warriors are thusly incredibly diverse, but each is a master at what they do.

The Tau are the youngest of the races. They were still in their pre-historic stages of life in the 30K era when a warpstorm seperated their sector of space from Imperial space. Now, they are a technological marvel. Under the guidance of the 'benevolant' Ethereals, Tau-kind was ushered under a flag of greatness where every citizen works in thevway that they can toward The Greater Good. Without inner conflict, the Tau quickly advanced and exceeded the technology of the Imperium. Though their tech is advanced, it is also practical. The titans of other races are just dealt with through liberal use of space craft weaponry. The Tau are expanding and attempting to incorporate those races they encounter into their empire. The Kroot and Vespid are both races that the Tau encountered and assimilated For the Greater Good. The Tau always try to negotiate first, but do ot hesitate to fight when it is called for.

The Necrons are the ancients. The oldest race; even moreso than the Eldar. Known as the Necrontyr, they waged a great war with the Old Ones. Originally,this was a battle they could never win. However, the C'tan, the oldest of creatures, born in the infancy of time and parasites to the stars themselves, offered their services to the Necrontyr. They offered the secret of their immortal metal bodies, the necrodermis, so that the Necrontyr could prevail and crush the Old Ones. The Necrontyr leader, the Silent King, gladly recieved this boon and had every living Necrontyr converted to necrodermis. This, however, was the C'tan's trap. The C'tan consumed the souls of the Necrontyr as they underwent the process. The Necrontyr were now able to push back the Old Ones, with the assistance of the now much more powerful C'tan, but it had come at a price. After their victory, the Necrontyr turned against the C'tan. Using their still unmatched technology, the Necrontyr shattered the C'tan into shards and sealed the shards away. The Necrontyr then entered a state of hibernation so that the great race could rebuild its empire in a time where Chaos has less presence in reality. Now, they are awakening. Some are roused from their tomb worlds by the shards of the C'tan seeking their lost parts and pawns to control. Their eldritch march is a death knell to all that lives. Some have been awakened by the threat of the Tyranids, that threaten to destroy all biological life in known space. Others still are attempting to reestablish what they once had in that time before. All of them use technology far beyond the scope of the younger races, and they feel nothing for those creatures that grew during their slumber.

The tyranids are space bugs. They come from somewhere else. They eat everything. They kill everything. They are the locusts and nothing will survive their swarm.

~~~~

If you want a contrast to your Space Wolces, I wouldn't suggest Orks. I'd recommend something with a sleaker aesthetic (compared to the SW's bulky one). Maybe going shooty would help, too. Eldar, Tau and Necrons are all solid for both. If you want to go for a more monstrous appearance, Tyranids are fantastic.

Honestly, you can't go wrong. They're all cool. My personal favorite are the Necrons. Space Egyptian Terminators are pretty badass. The rest are good too, though.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Orks are wild 'n crazy. They have a heavy mob mentality based entirely around conflict. Everything from politics (the biggest, toughest Ork is da' boss) to economics (teeth are money) is based entirely are beating the gak out of everything. Beat the gak out of enough stuff and you get bigger. Being bigger means you can beat the gak out of more stuff. Such is the way of the Ork. They have gestalt psychic abilities that most Orks can't actively control. This leads to events where Orks in mass numbers manage to affect the reality around them. The greatest of these events is the WAAAGH, which unites Orks in a battle frenzy against whatever is putting up a good fight.

Eldar are the old race. The wise but arrogant former rulers of the known universe. After their empire reached a point of peerless power and near limitless excess, their collective psychic presence birthed the Chaos God Slaanesh. After devouring most of the souls of the now fallen race, the Eldar not in their home system had to take up the mantle of preserving their species. These Eldar, fearing the excesses that led to their kind's downfall each devote themselves to a path, a lifestyle focused on a single aspect of the whole of living (fighting, art, care, psychic abilities, construction, etc.). Eldar will 'travel' along one path until they are satisfied and switch to a new one, abandoning everything that defined their previous path. Each path also has many sub-divisions that leads to a great diversity in the abilities of the Eldar. Eldar warriors are thusly incredibly diverse, but each is a master at what they do.

The Tau are the youngest of the races. They were still in their pre-historic stages of life in the 30K era when a warpstorm seperated their sector of space from Imperial space. Now, they are a technological marvel. Under the guidance of the 'benevolant' Ethereals, Tau-kind was ushered under a flag of greatness where every citizen works in thevway that they can toward The Greater Good. Without inner conflict, the Tau quickly advanced and exceeded the technology of the Imperium. Though their tech is advanced, it is also practical. The titans of other races are just dealt with through liberal use of space craft weaponry. The Tau are expanding and attempting to incorporate those races they encounter into their empire. The Kroot and Vespid are both races that the Tau encountered and assimilated For the Greater Good. The Tau always try to negotiate first, but do ot hesitate to fight when it is called for.

The Necrons are the ancients. The oldest race; even moreso than the Eldar. Known as the Necrontyr, they waged a great war with the Old Ones. Originally,this was a battle they could never win. However, the C'tan, the oldest of creatures, born in the infancy of time and parasites to the stars themselves, offered their services to the Necrontyr. They offered the secret of their immortal metal bodies, the necrodermis, so that the Necrontyr could prevail and crush the Old Ones. The Necrontyr leader, the Silent King, gladly recieved this boon and had every living Necrontyr converted to necrodermis. This, however, was the C'tan's trap. The C'tan consumed the souls of the Necrontyr as they underwent the process. The Necrontyr were now able to push back the Old Ones, with the assistance of the now much more powerful C'tan, but it had come at a price. After their victory, the Necrontyr turned against the C'tan. Using their still unmatched technology, the Necrontyr shattered the C'tan into shards and sealed the shards away. The Necrontyr then entered a state of hibernation so that the great race could rebuild its empire in a time where Chaos has less presence in reality. Now, they are awakening. Some are roused from their tomb worlds by the shards of the C'tan seeking their lost parts and pawns to control. Their eldritch march is a death knell to all that lives. Some have been awakened by the threat of the Tyranids, that threaten to destroy all biological life in known space. Others still are attempting to reestablish what they once had in that time before. All of them use technology far beyond the scope of the younger races, and they feel nothing for those creatures that grew during their slumber.

The tyranids are space bugs. They come from somewhere else. They eat everything. They kill everything. They are the locusts and nothing will survive their swarm.

~~~~

If you want a contrast to your Space Wolces, I wouldn't suggest Orks. I'd recommend something with a sleaker aesthetic (compared to the SW's bulky one). Maybe going shooty would help, too. Eldar, Tau and Necrons are all solid for both. If you want to go for a more monstrous appearance, Tyranids are fantastic.

Honestly, you can't go wrong. They're all cool. My personal favorite are the Necrons. Space Egyptian Terminators are pretty badass. The rest are good too, though.

My philosophy is pick the one you put first on your list. Same thing with coin flips. Heads is usually te one people really want.

Thank you for the replies. As of right now, I have absolutely no idea which one haha. I guess I'll have to wait for the codex of each and spend time looking through them. I'll probably watch some videos on YouTube to see what completed armies look like and get a feel for how each play.

I'll continue reading, and wouldn't mind more input. All of them sound cool so it'll be a difficult choice.

RickS1169 wrote:
Thank you for the replies. As of right now, I have absolutely no idea which one haha. I guess I'll have to wait for the codex of each and spend time looking through them. I'll probably watch some videos on YouTube to see what completed armies look like and get a feel for how each play.

I'll continue reading, and wouldn't mind more input. All of them sound cool so it'll be a difficult choice.

Yup this is what you want to do. Make sure to take visits to these:

http://www.lexicanum.com/
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Home?_requestid=2930411
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/#&panel1-1

And when you finally decide don't buy 2000 points, buy a battleforce, build it, paint it, and go from there.