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So Ive bought warhammer for years but haven't actually played as much mainly because I can never stick to an army. Either two things happen I either get interested in the army but when I get some models I find them boring to paint or I like the models but dislike playing them. I can never seem to settle with a single force long enough to have a meaninful series of games. Longest Ive collected is Grey knights and necrons which I kept for a few months and had a dozen or so matches each. Other armies either never hit the table or hit once.

Now I seem pretty fickle when it comes to 40k I can be really into an army for a while then quickly loose interest and have my eye drawn elsewhere and I hate been like that because all Ive wanted all those years is to just get one army I can make my own and feel right about. I don't want to give up on warhammer but im done spending so much buying army after army I swear Ive owned all 40k line up by now one time or another. So help a guy out how can I fix myself, how can I finally find that army to stick with and how do I keep with it because Ive tried and always failed.

How do I make the next army stick.

get a spare armoire? then put all the armies inside it?

In your circumstance I would do this:

Make a list of every army you have or had.

Next to each write the reason you started it and the REAL reason you stopped that army. ie hated working on it, or the way it played, or Phil made fun of me for buying it, etc..

Start crossing out armies until you get to just one.

Chances are it is one of the armies you have had the longest and played games with. This may not solve your problem ,but maybe it will provide some clarity to it.

I have collected (7) armies now but I always seems to jump back to my Dark Angels, even when they had their terrible 6th edition codex. .

Urg I've had this problem a lot. Not so much with my main army (Tau) which has definitely stuck around, but I want to have a 2nd force and can never seem to settle.

So far this year I've gone for Scions, Elysians, Blood Angels and now Red Scorpions. This time it WILL stick. What did it for me was some great looking models (Sevrin Loth looks ace) great things to make them look unique on the table from FW and fluff that is interesting and totally different from the Tau.

It's not always easy with 40k. There are some great looking models, so always something to turn the eye, and then of course play style and cost can come into it at times.

Good luck with it, you'll get there!

Good luck mate, took me every army in the game to get to my Ravenguard, was worth it in the end though, my mates said they would stop playing me aswell if i didnt settle ...

The fluff is key here, choose an army because you like the story, the characters and the concept. Come up with some fluff for your particular army, like stories of how your mods or paint choice came to be in the 40k universe.

In historical we always said to choose an army that "you could love even when it loses".

Playing Dawn of War 2: Retribution got me into playing 40k and is what made me fall in love with the Orks. Might I suggest giving those games a look and find an army in those games that you enjoy seeing on the battlefield. Dawn of War 1 is what got me into Tau despite the fact that looking at the Tau kits on the shelf didn't really excite me all that much.

Over the years, I have mained...

Chaos Marines [2nd ed]
Dark Eldar [3rd - 4th]
Space Marines [brief fling in 4th]
Imperial Guard [Starting at Eye of Terror Campaign to early 7th]
Blood Angels [Late 6th to release of current SM codex]
Space Marines [Current codex to present]

I've always loved the Imperial Guard, and played them a bit using a friend's models until the plastic Cadians came out in the EoT campaign. I still love them, but my gaming circle is competitive, so they've been 90% shelved for now. I strongly dislike what they did with the current codex. I've pulled them out a couple times, but KNOWING that I've got such an uphill battle, and being able to basically predict the outcome of the game right from the get-go has made playing them pretty chore-like.

I started Blood Angels, as an assault-focussed army that would be resistant to edition change. Meaning that I now play Ult-Red Marines, because I can play a better assault focused army with Ultramarines than I can with Blood Angels. But also because the new SM codex is good, and I can play things other than assault-focussed, which is good because I prefer the shooting game and my Guard are just crappy right now, in 7th edition.

I had fun with Dark Eldar, as they were the opposite of my sit'n'shoot, plod-along Guardsmen. The lack of updated codex for... ever... eventually left them cold in my box. I still have a handful of the models kicking around, but that's just for nostalgia. I rather like the new models better. I'd play them again, except that Eldar are their super powered cousins, and you can do anything DE can do, but better. The competitive nature of my gaming circle makes that unappealing.

I liked that Chaos had / has cool looking minis, but I was more interested in DE at the time, and the desire to pick them up just never rekindled. There are Legions that I'd like to play / paint, but my favourite colour is red, and the BA kits are just fantastic for converting and the assorted bits... just great kits. I like taking my models and repurposing them towards something else. For example, I have one each of Lib / DC / Furioso Dreadnaughts, that I've made AWESOME by picking up a couple of gun arms and now they're SM Dreads that are kicking ass and taking names. Well, as much as Dreadnoughts are capable of doing, anyhow.

My favourite part of the hobby is making conversions, and by using BA models to represent SM units, I'm having a blast. Things like chopping the "pistol" versions of specials that the Death Company kit comes with [Hand Flamers, Inferno Pistols... Plasma Pistols] and splicing them to bolters, I'm building my own combi-weapons. I bought a bunch of Dark Vengeance bikers [Mono-pose models] that I've chopped up and made into bikers with Grav Guns. And a Chapter master with PF and Shield Eternal, using BA bitz.

I've cut up the Captain from the BA / Nid box, give him a Psychic hood, a Storm Shield, and made an Axe head from the Librarian Dreadnought's Halberd, and now I have a Librarian in Terminator Armour, with Storm Shield.

I've made Death Company into Honour Guard, with a Standard from the Sanguinary Guard.

I've made Death Company into Legion of the damned, with a Combi-Plasma, Plasmagun and a Plasma Cannon. And a Power Fist, of course.


So for me, the army that has my strong interest at the moment is allowing me to make all kinds of "simple" conversions, that add up to a force that I enjoy playing with and building, that's one of a kind.

For me, taking models that are not "standard" and making them work with a different list is a hugely rewarding challenge. I've always loved the Lizardmen models, but nobody plays WHFB where I am. Even less with the whole AoS thing... but I'd love to take some Lizardman models and make them into counts-as Orks!

Go unbound and just get the models that you like, and forget about focusing on a traditional army build. Very easy now that everything's on data sheets.

Maybe try a different game?

 MWHistorian wrote:
Maybe try a different game?

But I love 40k and I wouldn't have kept trying over the years if I really wanted to play something else. I just need one army to stick thats all.

DarkBlack wrote:
The fluff is key here, choose an army because you like the story, the characters and the concept. Come up with some fluff for your particular army, like stories of how your mods or paint choice came to be in the 40k universe.

In historical we always said to choose an army that "you could love even when it loses".

Yeah problem is my interests change quickly with time and influence. I could be reading some book or playing a game or watching a series and get inspiration to buy an army but within weeks it wears off. I'm trying to figure out what army is beyond temporary interest. So far no luck, its like when I was really into fallout 3 a few years ago I was totally ready to make a brotherhood space marine chapter (sounds awesome right) lucky I held off because a few week later I was into something else. Tau I think thanks to some cyber punk book i had an idea for a future police force scheme for tau and on and on it goes lol

My friend has space wolves and he loves them from the lore to the models to playing he wouldn't even consider another army I just want to find my similar one army but what I like changes so often.

Now I really only have the cash for one more shot at it for a while. I want to get the next army right for better not worse.

With regard to changing interests, you could try making a list of interests from your past that *still* interest you, and finding common themes in them.

Might give you a better idea of what's likely to interest you in the future.

My recommendation is to take a long look at some models on the GW site. Which faction speaks to you? Alternatively, imagine yourself as a general of an army. What kind of force do you see yourself leading? A fast raiding one? A horde of warriors? A wall of armor? A third suggestion is just to read some fluff for the various armies and find one that you like.
Good luck

I've been playing 40k (and Warhammer in general) for almost 20 years now. I've pretty much always played Chaos or would go back to it after trying something else for a time. I'm trying to move away from the evil armies, however there really is no 'good' army. I don't like being the bad guy!

I would love to find an army that suits my playstyle. Admittedly, this is very hard to find on account of switching armies so frequently. Currently, I am just about finished painting an Eldar army to an acceptable (for me, anyway) standard. Mostly just so I have something painted to play with. Upon actual completion of that, I intend on taking my time and painting a competitive force to a very high standard. But I don't know which. I feel kind of lost. Is that weird? I think it's weird.

So in summary, I am in the same boat. I always have been. I do believe that I will one day find it, though. It'll be like my proverbial holy grail!

DarkBlack wrote:
The fluff is key here, choose an army because you like the story, the characters and the concept. Come up with some fluff for your particular army, like stories of how your mods or paint choice came to be in the 40k universe.

In historical we always said to choose an army that "you could love even when it loses".

Go with this. If you don't have a deeper connection to your army, you're only going to lose interest again. You could also choose an army that is easy to customize (like making your own IG regiment or SM chapter), and flesh out their history, look, and quirks (and you can add your wins/losses to this history, giving your characters personal vendettas and so on). Give your army reasons for fighting and doing what they do.

 Los pollos hermanos wrote:
So Ive bought warhammer for years but haven't actually played as much mainly because I can never stick to an army. Either two things happen I either get interested in the army but when I get some models I find them boring to paint or I like the models but dislike playing them. I can never seem to settle with a single force long enough to have a meaninful series of games. Longest Ive collected is Grey knights and necrons which I kept for a few months and had a dozen or so matches each. Other armies either never hit the table or hit once.

Now I seem pretty fickle when it comes to 40k I can be really into an army for a while then quickly loose interest and have my eye drawn elsewhere and I hate been like that because all Ive wanted all those years is to just get one army I can make my own and feel right about. I don't want to give up on warhammer but im done spending so much buying army after army I swear Ive owned all 40k line up by now one time or another. So help a guy out how can I fix myself, how can I finally find that army to stick with and how do I keep with it because Ive tried and always failed.

How do I make the next army stick.

Sounds like a psychology issue and not a 40K one. I play nearly every codex. I solved my problem by never selling any and just cycling through them as fancy strikes. No one has any idea at my store what Im bringing next. hell, i hardly do. So I get it. I slved it by simply selling my soul to GW and realizing that I dont want to HAVE to choose between armies. And really: why bother choosing if you dont have to?

Interesting, you have tried EVERY army and still can't find one you like? Most people have one army that is their first love, and sometimes it takes a few armies to find that.

The question to ask yourself is, what do you want to get out of the game? Do you want to win? Do you want to build and paint? For most of us, its both. Personally, I like options. I could never stick with an army that does not have a variety of units and multiple ways to play. The good news is, with formations and allies, you don't need to stick to one army unless its Tyranids. Maybe your army is "Imperium," in which case you have a shelf full of codexes to choose from. If you want them to look uniform, pick color schemes that compliment each other.

You don't have to pick ONE army anymore.

You don't have to make the next army stick. I don't either.

Buy an army that has your fancy at that moment, glue it togetherand if it still has your fancy play with it. You don't have to paint it fully before bringing it to the table.
That's only throwing another blockade in front of you having fun with the army on the table.

Make sure you have choice. If you buy 1500 points on the dot and you're always playing the same army over and over, naturally you're going to get bored. If you had 3000 points, there'd be a much larger variety of armies you could field.

Maybe you could organize a campaign and build your army as the campaign goes on. Start at 500 point battles and play larger battles as the campaign goes on. That way you gradually buy yourself an army while you also get the feeling of progress because the army changes over time (a 500 point army looks very different from a 1500 point army).
It's also easier to paint the gradually growing army rather than painting a big force you've just bought.

 War Kitten wrote:
My recommendation is to take a long look at some models on the GW site. Which faction speaks to you? Alternatively, imagine yourself as a general of an army. What kind of force do you see yourself leading? A fast raiding one? A horde of warriors? A wall of armor? A third suggestion is just to read some fluff for the various armies and find one that you like.
Good luck

Look, Gaming style and Fluff all must be good to avoid army hopping. All of these aspects could be tailored in some level. One option is to keep several armies.

I like look of Dark Angels very much and play style is good. But their fluff is awfull so I can't play with them. Luckily I can take Dark Angels models and use them with CSM with little modifications. Then I use terminators from battle at Calth because look. Dinobots, warpsmith and sorcerers are pleasant to me. And CSM have Fabius http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Fabius_Bile. So much good fluff.

Side note: Gaming aspect is not so important to me. Fluff and models are most important in that order.