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I'm looking at getting into 40k, and trying to decide on a decent army. I don't want to play space marines or any other "beginners" armies, as I do have SOME miniature playing experience. I love ranged, and would pick tau if it wasn't for my brother playing them. any suggestions on a army? I heard IG is decent for ranged. what are their strengths and weaknesses? are they mostly a defensive army? thanks for any help!

IG armies generally play a game of attrition. They can take a beating and just keep throwing guys into the mix until victory is achieved. They have access to numerous tanks that excel at fighting infantry and/or vehicles.
Although inaccurate the sheer amount of shots they put onto the table is quite disgusting to face.

I have also heard that eldar are also good at shooting, though it requires some skill to use them effectively.

And not trying to convert you or anything but Nids also have builds where firepower can win games. Generally not as powerful as other armies though.

Necrons also field good guns too, although be wary when facing 2+sv. They struggle a little with it.

Anyway, just thought I would point out some od the armies that have access to decent shooting phases.

GL

Use necrons!!!!

moobear wrote:I'm looking at getting into 40k, and trying to decide on a decent army. I don't want to play space marines or any other "beginners" armies, as I do have SOME miniature playing experience.

The way you worded that makes me think that you just don't want people to look at you in a "bad light" when you bring out a Space Marines army. See, I don't think that's a good mentality to have. You should choose your army based on what YOU PERSONALLY want, not based on how people classify the armies. Sure, marines are more forgiving than say, dark eldar, but just because they last a little longer doesn't mean the IQ of a pet is all you need to play it. Also, the Space Marines codex is probably the most customizable out of all the codices. You can't tell me specialized armies like an all-bike-and-speeder Ravenwing are for beginners. Besides, you do realize how many people tune their lists to deal with MEq right? Trust me, when people see a Space Marine army on the other side of the board, they don't think "oh, noob in the house". They think "oh, a it's a Space Marine list". You see what I'm saying?

That said, if you want firepower, IG is probably where it's at, but wait for their codex to come out when they hopefully fix that Kill Points rule for them. Otherwise they get absolutely hammered in Annihilation missions. Tau is pretty good too, but as an Eldar player who played in 3rd Edition when they came out, I'm not a huge fan of them. Speaking of Eldar, they've got some real firepower too, but most of it is shorter ranged compared to the IG and Tau guns. Not that it matters, since Eldar units move so well, but there is a bit of a learning curve. Space Marines can also be made to bring the pain from afar, just like they can be made to bring the pain from in close (and probably do both at once). Please don't ignore them just because of the misconception that they are "for beginners". A Nob Biker list is for beginners<---OH NO I WENT THERE WHAT YOU GONNA DO WHAT YOU GONNA DO

I agree with pwnies - you really need to choose something you like the FEEL of rather than what other people think is cool.

Having said that, I don't like to collect 'normal' armies like standard SM either, so I can understand why you'd want something a bit different.

Sticking with SM for the moment, there's no reason you couldn't do a 'variant' SM list, like Dark Angels. They're not the most competitive in 5ed, but they're the only SM variant that can be geared towards a shooty army. As others have pointed out, SM can be a very strong shooty army.

IG are a great shooty army, though is you want something a bit 'different' then the release of the rulebook in a few months may scupper that - everyone's going to be starting a Guard army this year. If you have the spare cash, i guess you could go for one of the metal variants, like Vostroyans or Valhallans. Or if you have the spare time, and have miniatures experience, you could convert your army (see my Imperial Guard army link in my sig) to get something a bit 'different'. Bear in mind, though, that you need a LOT of models to play IG, which may be beyond the scope of someone new to 40k. Presumably you would want to get up and running quickly so you can play some games?

It's possible to build a shooty CSM army, if you specialise in Slaanesh or Tzeentch. Eldar and WitchHunters can both be shooting armies, but are mainly short to mid ranged. WitchHunters can be quite forgiving to a beginner, but at the moment all their models are metal, so they can be expensive too...

On the other hand, if you usually play against your brother, do you really want another long ranged army? You'll just end up playing a lot of games where you both hang back and fire at each other from your table edge...maybe you should exploit his choice of Tau and go for an assault army - it would probably make your games more interesting...

PURE GREY KNIGHTS man there basic unit has S6 two atks not to mention they have a whole page of special rules and storm bolters but they come with a price tag of 25 points a modle. so play a pure grey knight army there cool......