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Guys please help, I'm having HUGE problems with deciding on a 40k army : orks, eldar, CSM.
Orks are funny, but their lore isn't epic
eldar are cool but have toughness issue and I hate bikes
CSM are good i just finished painting up my brother's terminator. It awesome! Could you guys give me more lore and fluff about chaos because I still consider them...
well chaos!

Orks are great for conversions. They had great background material in the older editions though I think a lot of it has been grim-darked in recent times.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Portal:Orks

Eldar can be fun and are pretty easy to paint if you like using washes. They are viable without using bikes too. Toughness and strength are certainly issues when you get into CC, but with move, shoot, run via battle focus, they should be able to keep falling back out of charge range for at least a turn or so despite stupidly short ranges on most of their guns.

CSM... well... CSM are one of my two armies (along with Eldar). I love them but they suffer a lot from GW apparently hating them and all who play them

If you want to play CSM I suggest using the regular Space Marine codex and using counts as.

In terms of fluff, I again point you at Lexicanum: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Portal:Chaos

Eldar are so good right now that you can look at the whole Eldar range, ask "which of these units tickle my fancy" and bam, that's probably a viable list. It's pretty rare that that happens in 40k.

If you don't like bikes? Don't take them. If you want high toughness, take wraiths andinfantry in tanks. They're all absurdly tough.

Orks if you want to have fun and not care if you win or lose.

Eldar if you want to win and don't care about whether people like you.

CSM if you enjoy twirling your mustache and shouting "Curses, foiled again!" as you lose repeatedly.

How is this even a choice? Two of those armies are at the bottom of the barrel and have been for years. Eldar is the only one that is consistently a top tier army and is currently crushing all comers.

For chaos: do you have a particular god or legion you have an affinity to? If its a god in specific I would encourage you get into Daemons. They are very fun to play and don't get curbstomped often compared to chaos marines. And afterwards you can build off them into chaos marines or renegades and heretics, or even into 30k for word Bearers.

I am not looking for winning what I am looking for is maybe losing but closely!

sushi2001 wrote:
I am not looking for winning what I am looking for is maybe losing but closely!

The three armies you have listed aren't involved in those kinds of games frequently.

My suggestion would be Eldar or Orks. Eldar are currently one of the top armies, and even their casual armies are strong enough to make for a decent game. Orks aren't all that great. But they are one of the most fun armies to build and play, especially if you're into kitbashing/converting.

Just dont pick CSM. Its not even that they are the underdog army. They are expensive, brutally seen by GW our helicopter parents that we being evil means we should not only have to dish out more money, but also struggle in every which way while playing while little Timmy is given free bees left right and center.

Love your wallet, save yourself the trouble of spending hundreds of dollars on Books and Rules you need, to pay for more expensive units, that dont do any specific job well and cost more as models from a shipping and import standpoint.

I was going to put chaos away into afar away shelf anyway

Eldar because they are in a good spot and personally have always wanted to play them myself. Eldar 4th ed Codex was the first GW book I ever bought, and I just read it for fun.

I currently play CSM and would say wait for their new codex (whenever that is) the army is in a bad spot.

Orks are just fun. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. Either way, you are gonna have a good time playing them just cause of how goofy they are.That, and everyone will like you at the FLGS. EVERYONE likes orks.They are also SUPER customizable.

Eldar are one of the best armies out right now. So much so, that people actively refuse playing against them. Even if you don't bring all the cheese to the table, people will still not want to play you. Too many people have soured the eldar name at this point. The lore is also mostly whining and looking down on others while they die off slowly. Which isn't my cup of tea. That being said, You'll win easier with Eldar. Once you understand the mechanics of the army, it basically plays itself.

CSM... Well CSM is not looking too hot right now.

That being said... I fully ENCOURAGE playing CSM. If you like the lore and the army. Just pick the one you like the most. If won't feel good just to play an army that wins. Not if you don't have any connection to the army. Plus, there is a ton of customization within the army itself. You can tool your HQs with many different builds, kitbash and customize your army and make it look good. If you like older SM vehicle models, they make great conversions for CSM since it fits the lore of making use of everything they can find. They also have some of the most cool and unique models.

You'll also look unique on the tabletop. A large CSM army often has a cohesive theme that also allows you gives you freedom with how the models are posed and look. Want a khorne berserker drinking blood out of skull? Go for it, he'll look just fine next to a cultist charging with a barbwire covered bat, or a standard CSM firing his boltgun, or a mutated beyond reason chaos spawn ripping a guardsman apart. While none of these models look the same, they all feel like they fit together.

I'll be honest, the army desperately needs an update and it shows on the table top. So your not gonna win a lot with CSM right now, and a lot of people are bitter about that. Even I can be sometimes after a hard loss, but don't let that discourage you from picking it up. Against other new players or easier lists, they can be a ton of fun and give a little wiggle room to make mistakes.So, go with CSM, they're fun, customizable, and you'll be underestimated. So much so, that you'll dumbfound others when you win... Just as planned.

TL;DR: Orks are fun, customizable, and lovable, Eldar are strong, but stuck up and hated, CSM is weak but has some of the richest lore and coolest models.

As someone who owns all 3 of the armies, I'll suggest the following;

Eldar might be a little too strong for you, but the eldar have never had a weak codex release. They have always had viable armies available to them, and have never been considered terrible (though there was a brief time that they weren't considered top tier...this was due to an edition change though).

Right now, you can put together any eldar army that isn't guardian spam and have it do very well. If you stay away from scat bikes and the wraith knight, most people won't consider your army to be cheesey. Avoiding formations should quell anyone who is upset.

Orks have had roughly a 50/50 split for good dexes versus bad, and are right now in a rough spot. They have a few builds that are good, and most of them are expensive cash wise. They also tend to be a large army, so if being a hobbyist isn't for you, I'd walk away. On the other hand, if you love conversions, orks are probably the best army in the entire game for you.

I would never suggest that anyone play CSM for any reason currently.

If you don't like thinking, and like to win all the time, then play eldar. pretty much any unit other than guardian and rangers (who are still very solid) will win you the game easily. You will have problems finding players to play against, because not many people want to spend 3 hours getting beaten down by eldar. 2 of the gaming groups near me has outright banned eldar.

CSM are bad, especially terminators. You need to sort of spam helldrakes to have a chance. Very very hard to win. Also, they're unlikely to get a boost in the future, given that they're a "bad guy" army, and GW has typically made them weaker. They have the sweetest range of miniatures though, and conversion opportunities abound, especially if you steal miniatures from the space marine range and convert.

Orks are very fun, but at the same time, relies on mono-builds to stay competitive. A lot of randomness.

My advice is to not play 40k. Other than being absurdly broken, the gameplay has gotten stale and boring. If you like the look, collect, convert, paint, enjoy the lore, but not play. When there are games like x-wing, warmahordes, infinity, mallifaux, FoW, which are far more balanced, and fun, you have no excuse playing 40k. 40k has the best model range, but the worst balance and gameplay.

Currently Orks and CSM are having a bad time. But It would not be unlikely that they got buffed to the same power lv as the other armies in the next year. At the current rate the meta could have shifted completely when you have finished your army.
The 3 armies differ hugely. I would look at a lot of battle reports to see them in action and calculate the cost of the armies in money and time before you start.

Orks I think are the most fun of the 3 (no bias here.... none what so ever ) and are a nice middle ground between the unfun for your opponent Eldar and the desperately dated while being highly impractical CSM codex. Orks have enough punch to win games in casual to even tournament level but its an uphill battle in competitive play. Win or lose Orks are a blast to play as or against so it creates an enjoyable experience for most. Orks definitely need to bring well thought out lists but personally I have had some fairly good experience with my Orks and I'm bringing such uncompetitive options like Flash Gitz and Killa Kanz

Sure you could play Eldar but lets face it, who would want to be a pointy eared git when you could be a proppa Ork

People serioisly have a boner for bashing eldar as too easy to win with...

I play eldar and have good, close matches all the time. It is not the power of the army that does this, it is how you and your opponent choose to play.

Play to have fun and generally you will, regardless of what army you play.

Same reason that I play CSM and get fun, close matches; people at my club play to have fun most of the time. Not that I wouldn't mind the CSM codex getting some actual love and attention

Which part of the hobby do you like the most? Because each one does one part of the hobby VERY well.

Chaos: Assembling the kit right out of the box and painting.
Orks: Converting EVERYTHING to a crazy degree.
Eldar: Playing (and winning) the game.

Sure you can convert Chaos too, but that's not the primary use. They have some awesome kits already and at most, you kitbash or use a bit of Green Stuff. With Orks you ruin other kits with Ork stuff made from plasticard and wood and really build the model like a fething science project.

I really don't know because my brother and cousin are collecting chaos and i don't want to be a mean person bringing eldar.

I have a very bad habit of bringing as much cheese as possible thats why I'd like to maybe stay clear of eldar, although they have howling banshees and dire avengers: in my opinion the best squads to defend and deal with Tactical squads.

I already have some orks (260pt) and i played a few kill teams with them, I got lots of disappointment, being completely blasted off the table by deathwing in the first match and ravenwing in the second, but oh how satisfiyng was to later in both games decimate the two!

So I figure orks might be a good alternative, anyway I can ask my brother to lend me his chaos for a game or two.

Banshees really suffer from being T3/S3.

but have AP3 which is perfect for slicing up tacticals

sushi2001 wrote:
but have AP3 which is perfect for slicing up tacticals

Sure, but have to roll a 5 to wound

I switched from SM to CSM because coolness. With CSM you are pretty free to modelling (like orcs), fluff is great and there is so many warbands. CSM is a bottom tier now but these things changes.

Eldar is good too, I like their arrogance. Orcs have some great models but I do not like fluff. And Chaos have Daemonforge, warpsmiths and renegades-

I would suggest you choose army that you like most. Rules and power levels will change,

yes but the trouble is that I like the lore of orks.
eldar, i just pity them for everyone killing them, altough i now think i shouldn't because they are so strong in the 7th edition.
chaos well... chaos they are the bad guys and thats cool but they also have some serious issues with lore like cannibalism so not very tempted to go for them as well as eldar.


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And when playing orks you will loose a lot, but there still will be a lot.
I tend to like semi elite armies- not grey nights, but more maybe like SM in numbers.


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although i like how chaos plays.

You can make low model count, elite Ork armies.

How?

I don't have the most recent Ork codex, but you used to be able to take Nob squads, Nob bikers, 'Ard Boyz etc... give them all trukks, add in a few stormboyz and you have a mobile, relatively low model count, pretty hard force.

sushi2001 wrote:
yes but the trouble is that I like the lore of orks.
eldar, i just pity them for everyone killing them, altough i now think i shouldn't because they are so strong in the 7th edition.
chaos well... chaos they are the bad guys and thats cool but they also have some serious issues with lore like cannibalism so not very tempted to go for them as well as eldar.

So you should go for orks then.

Yes so arks it shall be (Or later i will change my mind and start a new army.)
and no you can't have 'ard boyz, but nobz on bikes and just nobz are still fair game so orks it shall be! unless i randomly change my mind!