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Logically I feel like I've made the right decision by starting my first army.

I chose eldar because I liked the models, they're easy to paint, they're fairly strong. And few in models (I'm not the most persistent painter..) and my friend plays tau (the army ill more then likely fight most of the time)

But something somewhere down inside me says that I should play orks.. I love their models and their lore. I love their idea. But I'd never paint them all. And I'm not the best painter to make them look good.. but I've always thought it'd 'my' army. Scrap heap fliers and mechanical toolboxes shifting forward.

But as for my ability to use them as a hobby I feel like I'd suffer. I feel like I'd never be able to paint them well last, or play them well against tau, thus making me hate them.

Has anyone else ever had this issue?

I've had this exact issue, actually. I started out with Tau, because they were the least douchbaggy, and that's more or less it. As I went on, I was bored with the army, becuase, one, the models are simple geometric shapes with no real edge and feel to them, and they played way too effective on the battlefield - Mind you, I like when I have to fight to get my models to work like I want them to. So I looked into Orks at last, because I, deep inside, always loved them and wanted them, it was their barabric nature that kept me from them. When I was done with Tau, I knew that anyone in this galaxy are barbaric, and I caved in to the madness!

No I have a somewhat sizable Kill Team of Orks, and really, though good paint is great for any model, Orks don't suffer too much. If there's paint all over, it will hurt a Guardsman, but not a Boy, 'cause he's supposed to be somewhat messy. I find them to be very good to train on and to play with, as they have their issues you have to think of while playing, and when you paint them, you can go from the somewhat simple Boyz to the rather complicated Bikerz.

Go for it, and live the dream of the WAAAGH!

It is not the lore that is going to play the game. Nothing stops you from reading about orcs and playing with a good army instead. You can even scratch build models in your free time.
It is better to have a working army that you don't love, then a bad army you feel forced to play, because you like it. Burns people up very fast.

I think you've made the right decision regarding Eldar. The reasons you listed are exactly the right reasons for choosing a first army. You'll learn to paint, get them looking good, you'll learn to play, learn the game. And you'll gather a sizable, well painted army, relatively quickly (at least quicker than you might) due to the lowish model count, which will keep you going for years.

As to your Orks, remember that this can be a loooong term hobby with long term projects. Orks can be your long term project. Buy the odd kit from time to time, build and paint them when you fancy, no rush (since you have a fully playable eldar army), no burn out. Take it easy, keep all the bits in your Ork box, and return to it whenever you fancy. As the Dane says, you'll end up with a wee kill team, then a small army for those really fun 750-1000pt games, a change from your eldar that you've been playing for 2 years. Eventually, over time, you'll have huge horde.

People take years and years over some projects, but it's rarely their first army. Your first army is about learning to paint, and learning the game.

I think you're doing it right.

Tbh I know I've made the right decision.. but you know when you have that burning feeling in the back of your head 24/7 telling you that I'm doing the wrong thing. It's almost like having split personality disorder! I wanted to make this army my project. Spend a lot of time enjoying my hobby and building my army up. I just don't know I'm doing that with eldar because someone told me I should. Or because I want to.

My biggest downfall is I always ask opinions I suppose. And I'm easily swayed. Like if I said to my friend "oh do you think this is kool' even though I might think it's the most awesome sauce thing on the table, as soon as he says no it'd completely put me off for some reason :/


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On top of that if the rules don't reflect it for me.. I'll be kinda miffed. Like I like illic Nightspear. The concept of him is awesome. But game play.. He might get 5 shots a game. Wounding say 3 times... Hardly the most game changing character. Where I could have a huge bulking warboss. For less points that WAAAAAAAGHS his troops into battle, smashing and tearing his way through space marines and guard alike! I could have a trukk full of flamer wielding orks toasting every tau in sight as they've tried to blow up my other 10 trukks I have.

The concepts in my heads are so vivid it's hard to focus on an army when I love the idea of another army more. I got rid of my ork codex because my friend told me they weren't very good and I was better off with eldar. They are also crazy expensive. I could spend £150 less buying eldar for the same point cost buying orks. I'd probably struggle painting all my orks too. I can't paint like a rusted effect either... So after I've painted them would I fall out of love with them? Sure the 'eavy metal team make em look so awesome. But ill never paint that good. Ever. On top of it all, people always say eldar are better to game with. So its hard choosing :/ and now I've bought a unit of wraith guard, and a war walker.. but I just don't have the enthusiasm I should I don't think..

Sounds like what you really need are some orkz.

You no wanna be some elfdar.. even the good sports will get mad and multiply the anger by every wave serpent you field.

It sounds like you want to play orkz. You don't have to rush and buy 2000 points right away. And you don't have to paint them before you play. It took me a year to do more than prime mine. I've done research, slowly amassed painting supplies.. figured out which models I want to make pretty and am happy with my hobby progress.

To think I almost started with Tau because I liked kroot and rail guns and knew they were gonna have a new codex in 6 months (at the time I started).

Exactly... I made a 1500 point list. Once I'd done that I included everything I actually liked.. So afterwards I was like.. okay.. now what?

With orks when I made a 1500 point list it was more... "so shall I take this or this?" "How many of these can I fit in therr" but holy crap it was expensive! But maybe that might be a better thing? It would last me longer then if I rushed getting eldar, because they're more overpowered?

What's your opinions?

It's hard to say. I think eldar might suit you better, because they are almost exactly what you're looking for. Low model count, competitive, relatively easy to paint, etc. However, if you don't feel enthusiastic about working on eldar and playing with them, you probably shouldn't go for them.

My advice would be to take a few days off Dakka, it might help with realizing what exactly you want.

The question you have to ask yourself is what aspect of the hobby is the most important to you and go from there. For me, 40K is made up of 3 things: modelling (and converting), painting and playing. The most important aspect of the hobby for me personally is modelling, then playing and lastly painting. I chose orks because they're insanely fun to convert and play with. Painting them might be a pain as I'm a slow painter, but I know I'll finish painting them eventually.

When you've made your 'top 3' you have to look into each aspect in detail. For example, if playing is the most important aspect of the hobby for you, you have to ask yourself: how important is winning? For some people, wins or losses don't matter as long as they play the army they want to. Then there's others who want to make competitive lists (and there's nothing wrong with this either!). Again, realizing what exactly you're looking for will help greatly.

I wouldn't recommend working on orks and eldar at the same time. From what I know about you from previous threads, you prefer a single project to work on. That's the impression I got anyway.

If you got the moola, go get some ork models to mess with and just start painting collecting a hodgpodg. eventually it will become big enough to play games with.

Everyone has had this issue at one point or another. The not painting them as well as you'd like part is just temporary, if you like the models you will probably paint them often enough and improve anyways.

I had the same thing happen to me, albeit over a longer stretch of time. When I first got into 40k, LOTR was huge and elves were really appealing to me so I bought Eldar. A lot of Eldar. I took a break and came back to a nearly full army and played them for a while but didn't feel "right" doing it. Started playing orks this year and it's way more fun even though it's much more of an uphill battle.

Orks are also one of those armies that I've had no trouble finding used models for. I have a nearly 2000 point army and I think I bought two boxes at retail price. So even though there's a high model count, it could end up being relatively cheap if you do a bit of hunting.

This is why I have 1,500+ points in 7 different armies. At the end of the day, this is a hobby and 1.) should be fun, and 2.) requires lots of time and commitment, so you need to enjoy what you're investing in, time and money.

Honestly, play both if you want. It's not hard to get two armies up to about 1500 points. If you need to, start out slow with the Orkz, and just see how you like them. Nothing wrong with playing two armies

Orks are best. Zaniness? Check. Fun? Absolutely. Dakka? All of the Dakka.

i'd say go for it. Check the forums for tips on speed painting to help you out. Loving the army makes it worth the effort

Also, if you are going to go with orks, and aren't going to be playing in Gw shops, to keep the cost down, check out the Marauders range from Mantic. One of mantic's better ranges, I've seen them used in a 40k army alongside gw miniatures and they fit in great.