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Alright, first off, I'm a n00b to 40k. Before this I'd assumed I was going to play I.G, but recently a friend suggested I play Tyranids. I can't decide, and it's driving me insane. So: which one do YOU think I should play?

If I ever manage to nail down which of the dozen or so armies I'm trying to choose from to focus on next, I'll let you know.

Orkz
Actuly if I had to make a choice between IG and Nidz I would more than likely go with IG,but that's only because Nidz have never really apealed to me.
Really it's all a matter of what army you like,what's going to fit your playing style which you like the look of.
Take a bit of time in deciding because wich ever choice you make your going to be spending a lot of time with that army.
good luck and remeber......Orkz

You're going to have to face the music and realize that you will eventually want to start every army. So which to start first?

If you are a noob, you might not know what playstyle you like, so go by the models. Do you like tanks/infantry? Lots of shooting. Or do you like alien creatures and killing things in close combat?

Either way you can't go wrong. With the IG potentially getting a new codex sometime in late 2009, it might make more sense to go Tyranids so your army will not have to change when the new codex comes out.

Oh, I think a good ~80% of the people I know who've started a Guard army get sick of painting/assembling the legions of guardsman you need and ended up switching to Armored Company. Before you start Guard, you need to ask yourself, do you think you have the fortitude to handle that many tiny plastic men?

Aduro wrote:Oh, I think a good ~80% of the people I know who've started a Guard army get sick of painting/assembling the legions of guardsman you need and ended up switching to Armored Company. Before you start Guard, you need to ask yourself, do you think you have the fortitude to handle that many tiny plastic men?

This is true,but if he went with Nidz would he have the fortitude to handle that many tiny plastic bugs?

Is painting more interesting to you or gaming?

Start out with a squad of one or the other and see if you enjoy assembling/painting them.

You can always proxy models in a game to figure out if you enjoy the gameplay. It's a bit
more difficult to start over modeling.

Go with Orks. They can be shooty, close combat, horde or specialist You can make them Blood Axes, which means they emulate Oomies (aka IG). You can make them your own clan...which happens to fight bugs alot. The modelling opportunities alone are what got me into it.

But if it's a choice between IG or Nids, I would go with IG...who doesn't like tanks?

I would suggest staying away from IG since they are pretty much crippled under the 5th ed rules.

Nids on the other hand was my first army and I Love them, and still love them to this day. There current codex allows for a mind boggling amount of variety.

so in short go with Nids!

Man, whatever you do, have some self discipline and buy one squad. I would suggest a regiment box. See how long it takes you to do the box. Get it modeled and painted. Play with it, learn the game some. Don't do like my dumb ass did, and buy an entire army. Then another, then another. I have over a dozen armies that I can field. None of them approach being finished.

High Commissar Biffsmack wrote: Alright, first off, I'm a n00b to 40k. Before this I'd assumed I was going to play I.G, but recently a friend suggested I play Tyranids. I can't decide, and it's driving me insane. So: which one do YOU think I should play?

New Guard Codex is coming next year, so starting them now is a double-edged sword. Yes, a number of units won't be going away (ie. Guard infantry will still be there, as will pretty much everything), but a lot of it will be different, so it's bad to get comfortable. On the other hand, the 'Nids are a stable list, with a maximum of 4 years before their next revision, so I wouldn't worry so much.

But go for whatever army captures your imagination and try to avoid being like some of us here, where everything captures our imagination and we just buy everything...

BYE

Yeah, friggin GW LOVES chumps like us. Call us bread, call us butter; call us feth in crack whores.

Dez wrote:Go with Orks. They can be shooty, close combat, horde or specialist You can make them Blood Axes, which means they emulate Oomies (aka IG). You can make them your own clan...which happens to fight bugs alot. The modelling opportunities alone are what got me into it.

But if it's a choice between IG or Nids, I would go with IG...who doesn't like tanks?

I would avoid going orks. Sure they are the flavor of the month right now, but eventually GW will see the error they created in 5th and correct it and orks will not be the power house they are now.

ChaosDave wrote:I would avoid going orks. Sure they are the flavor of the month right now, but eventually GW will see the error they created in 5th and correct it and orks will not be the power house they are now.

Maybe in ten years, after 6th edition is out and the Space Marine codex has been re-vamped twice.

If the orks are going to get weaker anytime soon, it's going to be because the next wave of codices is more powerful, not because GW's going to go back and change things. I agree with the point of not going for whatever's the most powerful right now. Pick an army that you like the models of.

I would second the opinion of a few people here and suggest painting a few models and see what you like doing. I only ever finish armies I enjoy painting. With this in mind, I would point you in the direction of the small £5.00 sets (or whatever it is in dollars) where you get three or four models. These are great for trying out some painting schemes.

I'd start of collecting tyranids. The battleforce box set is one of few that can be legally used without having to buy any extras. It is a neat little package!

If you start a guard army now and new models emerge that you dont like the look of then you are in the spit.

my biggest warning about tyranids is that they have no individual personality, so if you want to be able to write good fluff its going to be REALLY hard, they are also very repetitive to build and almost depressing to paint.
dont get me wrong nids are pretty damn cool, but if you want heroics or any form of IC then nids arnt for you

ChaosDave wrote:

Dez wrote:Go with Orks. They can be shooty, close combat, horde or specialist You can make them Blood Axes, which means they emulate Oomies (aka IG). You can make them your own clan...which happens to fight bugs alot. The modelling opportunities alone are what got me into it.

But if it's a choice between IG or Nids, I would go with IG...who doesn't like tanks?

I would avoid going orks. Sure they are the flavor of the month right now, but eventually GW will see the error they created in 5th and correct it and orks will not be the power house they are now.

Meh, never go with an army because it's FotM. I would still play Orks if they cost 10 points per boy and couldn't move and shoot and had a BS 2! Hey waitaminnut......

Go for the models you like. Starting to see a pattern? I love Orks, and I keep adding to my army at a ridiculous rate...just like some of the other plastic crackheads around here I just love building, painting and playing with them!

Personally, both IG and Tyranids are very good choices, and it doesn't really matter which one you choose as either way you win.

As mentioned before, IG are getting a new codex sometime in the new future, that being Q1 2009.

So if you do get IG, just get a Battleforce or 2. This is the stuff that will not change barring some crazy move, so you're pretty safe there, and painting and building them will keep you very busy.

Besides the fact that I don't like Orks, they seem to be a dime a dozen nowadays (Flavor of the Month) and aren't very challenging so sticking with IG or Tyranids is a good plan.

Use IG models to "count as" Tyranids.

"That's no Sentinel! That's my Carnifex! RAWR!!!!"


Eric

Thanks everypeoples. So far that's 2 for I.G and 3 for 'nids (correct me if i'm wrong), and a bunch of you for buying small sets and seeing which models I like/which ones I like to paint. See, my friends, that's what I'd do normally, except for three things: first I like both of the models equally, second I don't have enough time to order a small set and paint them because I'll be getting the vast majority of my army through asking for it for christmas (and that's really close) and third the parent/guardian I'm currently living with is totally paranoid about buying stuff online, and my other parent/guardian's laptop has recently decided to be convenient and crash, and as such the only way I'm going to get any models is asking relatives to get them for me; so I don't know if I could pull that off.

Anywhoo, I'm going to tally your votes soon, so thanks again and keep it coming.

Then let me throw my hat in the ring with the Tyranids.

I know, it's kinda shocking given my love of the Guard, but Tyranids are a stable Codex. They're not going to get a revision for a long, long time so you can do whatever you want with them right know safe in the knowledge that GW isn't about to completely nerf your army. Plus Tyranids are free from the curse of Special Characters that every other recent army has been victim to.

The same cannot be said about Guard, which I and many others have grave concerns about.

BYE

You know, despite a strong 40k scene where I live ATM, there are very few Ork players. Only one Ork army at recent tournament - came third mind you.

grizgrin wrote:Yeah, friggin GW LOVES chumps like us. Call us bread, call us butter; call us feth in crack whores.

QFT

Not trying to be biased (I play Orks), but I think Orks are a good army if it's your first. They're cheap $$$-wise, they require little strategy to play (keep running up till you're on the enemy), and you can field lotz of them. They also have some of the nastiest units in the game (Lootas, for example).

I would personally choose Tyranids over IG.

Tyranids and the Guard both have lots of options for customizing your own force, but ultimately, Tyranids win here. Nids are the only force that can be ALL close combat, and IG will never be CC at all. Almost as terrible at CC as the Tau. Yet Tyranids can also go long range if you so please, and can be very effective at it, whether it be having TONS of attacks with the Devourer, or a Bolter-equivalent (Minus AP) with the Fleshborer (And it gets even better when you add a toxin sac). Almost every Nid attribute can be upgraded for any unit, which can't be said for the guard.

I'd say the biggest advantage of Guard over Nids is their disposal to more tanks than any other army (whereas Nids can't take any tanks at all, which can really hinder them in some battles). So, if you like Tanks and lots and lots of low-power shooting, go Guard. If you like lots of customizability and potential high-power shooting (or full-on close combat), go Nids.

High Commissar Biffsmack wrote:I'd assumed I was going to play I.G

Play Guard, Bugs are lame.

Just be aware that the Guard Codex update doesn't come out until early next year, so keep your purchases small.

I know, it's kinda shocking given my love of the Guard, but Tyranids are a stable Codex.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. They are stable and functional, but are in much the same position the current DE are in. A few of their upgrades no longer function in the current ruleset, and they have some god awful units that are essentially unusable in fifth edition (ravener/lictor/biovore/ripper). They are a very bi polar force, which while on the surface looks very customizable, only really allows for two or three effective builds (and one of them, the mixed horde with stealers only really functions because endless swarm is now the single best unit upgrade in the game).

I vote for whatever army you think is the most fun to play and model. Its not bout winning, its about fun.

Play Daemons. ;-)

Seriously though, both of those codices are old and showing their ages. IG has one coming sooner, but if you are new you might be best served by space marines. It can be very overwhelming to have to build and paint a full on horde army.

You can get a decent SM army just with Black Reach and a couple of other minor purchases. They build up and paint easily and are fairly forgiving. The two armies you chose are known for their high body counts and it can be a bit disheartening to have to remove fistfuls of models at a time.

BUY THE SPACE MARINEZ HURRR!!

actually....no

Out of the two I would actually pick nids, but seeing as you are choosing between 2 horde armies...orks may appeal to you as well.