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I was lucky enough to get first at a regional for Ard Boys. Had some great games vs fantastic players. All were great sportsmen and had a blast. I was not expecting to place let alone get first so I never put thought into what army i would choose if I won. So I would like some help weighing in the reasons for choosing an army. Pros and cons for choosing what army is what I am hunting for.

I have close to 5000pts of guard, including superheavys. Also the army I placed with. I have 7000pts of Dark Angles, including deathwing, ravenwing. I have 2500pts of Necrons. Few squads of sisters and grey knights.

I am hesitant to choose Dark Eldar as they are so old and the future is unsertian. Same with grey knights and sisters. Necrons are possibly getting a new dex soon, so models might be out of date soon. Space wolves are too close to release to get them as I am sure most will be redone.

I am interested in things like cost, if things are going to become obsolete, current model ranges, metal vs plastic, competitiveness of current dex and other reasons to choose some armies. Just looking for advise and thoughts. I have played most armies in my day so want to weight the decision well. I am not against getting more of any of the armies I have. So all armies are on the table as possibilities. I just don't know for sure if that is the best route.

Thanks in advance.

Sisters, then give them to me...

But really, pick what you want. An obscure army you almost got into, something you thought was pretty...

Sort of a chance to start over/something new. Otherwise, I'd still be open for a few extra sisters...

Go Daemons, all metal minis if you can. 2 greater daemons, max blood crushers, 3 soul grinders, then fill the rest of the army with plague bearers.

Building a new Ork WAAAAGH! is not a bad option.

Chaos Daemons is the best bet. Even if you decide you don't like them they are valuable to 40k and Fantasy players. There are also few worthless models, the stuff that isn't so great in 40k is probably useful in Fantasy. If you pick Sisters you will get Repentia, Arcoflagellants, and Penitent Engines(I know someone who received 9!). Just about every army has units like that, the ones that sell bad. GW will give you alot of that kind of stuff. That sort of thing can't really happen with Daemons.

1st off. Congrats on your prize.

I won up in Seattle last year and took sisters as my prize. I was worried that i'd end up getting "Repentia, Arcoflagellants, and Penitent Engines" as WC_Brian said. Thing is.. Anyone who actually won the prize in the past and inquired about sisters would know that the Repentia, Arcoflagellants, and Penitent Engines are not available. Not even the throne of judgement or the exorcist were available. Why? Because they are direct only models.

I ended up recieving..

9 Sisters of battle squads.

10 seraphim.

2 saint celestines (only one was calculated into the points)

9 immolators

2 cannonesses (only one was calculated into the points)

1 Inquisitor Box

1 Landraider

My buddy Jay took 1st down in Dallas and recieved a similar army with more seraphim but only got 3 immolators and a few rhinos instead.

I'm also going to call bullsh*t right now on the guy who claimed to get 9 penitent engines. Those have been direct only for 3 years now.

I would probably get Chaos, maybe even Chaos Demons. New model line, excellent minis. Otherwise Sisters. And gratz.

That was 2 years ago and GW only made it official policy to give you stuff that retailers carry last year. The 9 pentinent engines happened before they started doing this. But yeah, basically you can only get what they sell in stores so certain armies are a good thing to get. If you want a almost pure sisters list ask for it. The only stuff standard stores carry anymore is the battle sisters, immolators, and seraphim. I'm not even sure the inquisitor box isn't direct sales now.

Go for Orks or Chaos Daemons. These 2 armies don't play like any of the ones you currently have.

Imperial guard because they are HORRIBLY expensive to build an army even with plastics

Orks and SM are too easy to get on ebay.. Demons well I just dont like them very much and I doubt youd get blood crusher spam

Plus IG has the newest models

IG being expensive and the newest seems smart. Plus you get allot of bang for the buck. I am cautious of armies that are not stable. Basically armies that are going to have massive changes. I think chaos, eldar, orks, guard, SM are pretty safe at the moment. Blood angles, Space wolves, necrons, sisters, grey knights, dark eldar and Dark angles seem to be in the realm of minor to major over hauls. Nids I have not idea.

Your thoughts on armies keeping there current ranges. I am curious if my above list is spot on or I am way of the mark.

I am leaning towards more guard stuff and eldar. Any reason why eldar might be a bad choice?

You do not want to take eldar.. Why? Because GW doesnt play Eldar and GW doesnt produce models for the strongest unit in the codex

Look at the battleforce.. Its a mess and a waste of space.

You'll get prob 2 of those and a bunch of crap that builds you a legal yet pretty poor army

Always pick stuff you think GW employees play which is basically imperium armies

IG as I stated is probably the best choice moneywise, and the more people that pick IG the more thought will go into it.. because they'll get more complaints :p

I would pick Eldar but I have to agree with Kirasu on the Eldar Battleforce being crappy. Its the weakest battleforce and if you got stuck with a few of those that would be terrible. The Eldar would be good if you ended up with a Wratth host of Wind Rider Host or MechDar but in the end that isn't likely. It is probably better to bolster your IG.

I have to agree, IG seem the way to go, but wouldn't it be fun to try for dark eldar?

If an 'ard Boyz winner picked DE, maybe that would convince them that there *is* interest in the army?

Yeah DE would be cool. I used to play them a long time ago. Pretty sure if they do release them again the entire range will be redone. So they are not high on my list. If newer then they would be my number 1 choice hands down. I will buy them on release. As for guard they are probally gonna be my choice. I do however hope they are cadians not catachans. As i run cadians the catachans just will not fit. So if I go that route I hope they understand "CADIANS"

I think if the overall winner chose DE then they would get the hint. Don't think they will get it at the semi's level. IMHO.

Deffwing Orks! Meganobz and Battlewagons!

Yeah, that would be great...If you actually get to choose what you get. I am thinking that the guard loot will be better then some other armies just because of newer range, and less metal. Orks, might be a pretty good choice as well. Newer range, lots of plastic, competitive, lots of models and some good molds. Just not sure a random ork draw would be as good as a random guard draw at this point. Can always find orks for sale as well. Guard not so much, now anyway. Any other reasons orks would be good if drawn randomly? I tend to see orks as very focused. Well the ones that do well anyway. I still have not made up my mind. Would love some arguments for other armies. Like orks, eldar and others. The reasons for guard seem pretty cut and dry. I am thinking in a void here. Not really what I play. As my forerunner is an army I already own. Ideas?

Can never go wrong with Orks. The great thing about the codex, is even if it is a random draw, every unit (that GW makes, so not including flash gits) has viability in competition, so most likely not much will go to waste. Orks have so many different builds to run with, mech, green tide, dread bash, hybrid that I'm sure 2500 points of orks can easily create a strong basis for any of those army types. Anyway, I am a little bias as all i play is orks/orcs, so just my 2 cents.

i'd go with nids.

your gunna walk away with a decent amount no matter what.
if they give you a gaunt swarm army score, theres a gakload of models, and half a nidzilla if you choose to put upgrades on what other models they didn't give ya.

nids seem like the obvious choice in that theres really no "terribad" models to get.

orks are good as well, because no matter what your coming out with a fully funtioning playable army, you will most likely get 120 or so boyz and a gazzghull + a couple of battle wagons at the least. then probly a couple of battle forces.

1. Friends don't let friends start MEQ armies.

2. I second the Waaaugh! idea; You can't go wrong with Orks!

3. If you're IG isn't already heavily mechanized, or have enough vehicles to go completely mechanized, I would inquire with GW and explain that you have 5k points worth of IG and few vehicles, and was hoping to use your 2500 points to mechanize your IG list.

Dashofpepper wrote:3. If you're IG isn't already heavily mechanized, or have enough vehicles to go completely mechanized, I would inquire with GW and explain that you have 5k points worth of IG and few vehicles, and was hoping to use your 2500 points to mechanize your IG list.

Doesn't matter to them. They wont let you have input on the list. They do promise that they will build a legal army and throw in extras to make sure you are happy.

A couple of people have commented that GW has previously honored theming requests. One guy wanted non-slaanesh daemons and got no slaaneshi stuff. He listed it off.

Chaos deamons seem like a good bet as you could use them in both 40k & fantasy. Otherwise it looks like Space Wolves & Nids are the next in line for codex upgrades. If all else fails, just pick Dark Eldar. I only got 2nd place at the semi final, but that $100 is going to my DE army.

2 years ago I asked for mech guard and got a ton of chimeras and tanks. I think, in the past, as long as you said a theme they would try to honor it. Nothing to specific like sending an army list, but if you said Slaanesh daemon army I'm sure you'd get all the slaanesh stuff along with Grinders and maybe furies (since they are non-aligned).

I heard this year that it would be $500 in online store credit from the GW website. Don't quote me, that's just what I heard....twice. If that's the case you might be able to customize your order.

I would say Mech Guard, but that's because I play IG and you can never have too many.

Good points all around! The 500 voucher seems at odds with what they were saying. I would still assume you get tot ask and go from there. Hope anyway.

Too bad you can't pick Elysian Drop Troops.

Have to also go with the chaos daemons.

1.Chaos Deamons
2.Chaos Space Marines
3.Chaos Space Marines / Chaos Deamons Combo list

You cant even get a 2500 pt useful guard army for 500$.. Why do they care? It costs them like 10% the real cost.. I really hope this isnt true, as it would be just another example of GW slapping its tournament players in the face.. In this case going back on their prize agreement

Hell 500$ is more like 400$ when y ou factor in the fact you could get more models for 20% off somewhere else.. A pretty basic 2500 pt guard army costs around 800$

Edit - The most BASIC guard army I could make comes out at 500$ for 1700 pts.. If this is the case GW will be hearing from me because I cannot get a 2500 pt guard army which is the ARMY OF MY CHOICE

3x battleforce
1x command squad
3x leman russ
1x chimera
500$

Thats not even 1850 legal..

So daemons are a possibility. What are some pros and cons of a deamon army, given that you would get the army for free? I know much would need to be replaced. I have never played vs a deamon player so I know next to nothing about them. So kinda a moron when it comes to them.