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After leaving the Warhammer world for quite awhile, I recently got back into WHFB, and now want to start up a 40K army. Before I stopped playing, I was a follower of the C'tan and the Necrons. Now I'm starting with a blank slate and would like suggestions on what I should look into. I've kind of narrowed it down to Eldar, CSM and 'Nids, but that may all change if I see something shiny, with big guns. The thing I didn't like about the Necrons, besides the lack of models and support, was the fact they were kind of bland, very little personality (which, granted, is what they're all about). With the current edition of the rules, what armies are competitive at the tournament level?

btw, if this is in the wrong forum, I apologize.

Right, whats your playstyle and what kind of army are you looking for (horde, elite, shooty, cc?).
You mention not liking 'cron due to a lack of personallity; are you looking for a fluffy army, a characterfull one or a customisable one?

I like your new choices.

Eldar: You would probably enjoy something fast+ good assault units
Nids: They have some big guns too on carnifex / warriors but not too shinny!

I dont know what your necron army list was like , but the 2 armies listed above have so much variety to choose from!

you cant go wrong with Chaos... so many option... so much to do... so little time...

If you want to be competitive, Orks and Chaos seem to be good choices, with Eldar being maybe a more difficult but still doable slog. All three of these give you a lot of flexibility in terms of exact force composition, and there are tons of beautiful models from each army floating around on internet galleries. I like Eldar, with Orks being my second choice just because, well, they's Orks. And Orks iz gud. Dakka.

The original 'Cron list was built around CC; Wraiths, Flayed Ones, the occasional Pariah. I'm interested in a faster, shooty-ish army. Thumbing through the Eldar Codex and seeing the Harlequins and the Warp Spiders models got me interested, but I know very little about them. The 'Nids are interesting because there's alot of customization available. I'd prefer to play an army where I'm not confined to one HQ and one Troop choice.

Go Chaos.

I have Chaos and Nids.

Chaos can be fun, but theyve really taken a lot of the fun from the old codex away. Theyre still ok and in my opinion have the best looking models.

Tyranids...are a little boring to play. All you do is run at the enemy. I think theyre a great second army when you want to play an impressive looking army, but not so much if you want a tactical one. I really enjoy painting them, which was my incentive to get them in the first place.

Eldar would definitely be my 3rd choice...sort of. I like Elves, I like magic, and I like fast tactical play. Honestly, judging from purely play style, Eldar would be the best army in my opinion. However, they look. so. bad. Dont get me wrong, Im not one that has to have blood and gore or big manly men in giant suits, but come on. Why must they all be prancing around, or have such ridiculous shaped armour and helmets? If Im going to spend my time painting something, they have to look good. Ive thought of alternatives to use as Eldar from Fantasy, but I really dont want to play as a count as army.

mmmmmmm Dark Angels or Imperial Guard

I'd go with Chaos honestly. Lots of different play variations. Shooty, assaulty or a blend of the two. They also look really cool.

Well chaos has better models and nids are a close second in that dept. Eldar are fast and good tactics. Got to agree with the ugly models though. Nids or chaos cause no one wants to look at ugly models.

I've got it pretty much narrowed down to Eldar and Chaos....now its a matter of finding out whats more cost effective, as my hobby funds are a bit limited these days. I know battleforces are a pretty good way to go if you're just starting out, so which one is a better deal for what you're getting?

Chaos would be the way to go then. They're pretty pricey point wise so you don't need nearly as many models as a horde army like Nids.

Chaos is probably your best bet all around, but I can't let these people diss Eldar models without at least making the attempt to show their beauty:

Heavily converted Eldar Autarch on Jetbike from Eldar Addict


Winter themed Eldar from a project log at Warseer:



Harlequin pattern Falcon from CMON

Youre not helping yourself ^^

Night Lords wrote:Youre not helping yourself ^^

he's right, the Falcon, though bitchin', looks a bit like a designer purse.

Thanks for the insight guys, I think I'm going to the dark side....

You mean an Eldar Falcon isn't a designer handbag?

SJ

I feel sad for anyone who doesn't think those models are gorgeous. it's ok, though. Not everyone can have taste

CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!

liquiddark wrote:I feel sad for anyone who doesn't think those models are gorgeous. it's ok, though. Not everyone can have taste

QFT

Look at Harliquins, Rangers, and Scorpians and tell me those are ugly models......I do agree about the Guardians helmets being silly looking, but still not as silly as Noise Marines.....

Or 1k Sons

DJ Illuminati wrote:

liquiddark wrote:I feel sad for anyone who doesn't think those models are gorgeous. it's ok, though. Not everyone can have taste

QFT

Look at Harliquins

Are you kidding me?? Those are the worst ones!

That Quin Falcon looks like its made from a quilt.

Go Guard! Lots of big guns everywhere for ya to shoot. And they arent the most inaccurate things either. Plus theyre a fairly competitive army as of now.

Downside: Buying lots of infantry (unless you do veterans) and lots of vehicles (unless you run horde infantry).

Play Eldar or Nids - they're more different from the Necrons, and more interesting than more MEQs.

Have fun!

Those Eldar are pretty, shame i gotta eat their souls

Nid's or Eldar seem cool, Eldar would he hard for me to play, Chaos has a lame codex that won't let me make noise havocs

Nid's scare me, 3 outflanking genestealer's make's Shadow a sad boy.

Eldar are ok, i play with them frequently and Dark Eldar are just BA

I play both Eldar and Nids so here is my quick comparison on the two.

Eldar - A fast and agile army. Fluff wise there is definitely plenty of it along with the various craftworlds and aspect warriors. In tournament settings it is usually the Jetbike Farseer and warlocks that do the best. Mech lists work good as well, but still rarely as good as the Jetbikes Seers. Eldar also gives you quite a challenge as a painter. With all the different aspects you will have several different colors in your army. Eldar play style is probably best summed up as 'hit and run' or 'divide and conquer.'

Nids - Pretty much the standard 'aliens' of 40k. As far as fluff it's fairly basic, to feed. They really don't have to have a reason to attack anyone (except perhaps Necrons which per the fluff they avoid as much as possible). In tournaments it is usually the nidzilla lists that are towards the top. Six fexes and Two tyrants are difficult to stop. As far as painting, the entire army will pretty much have one consistent color without much diversity. Nid play style is pretty much just run to the enemy and kill kill kill.