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hi guys i was thinking of entering some 40k doubles tournaments with a friend and i was wondering what are the top armies out there at the moment?
im just getting back into 40k and im thinking about taking eldar would this be a good choice my friend plays guard and is trying to get me to start them
so if anyone knows what the top competitive armies are at the moment please let me know

The top armies in single competition or the best armies for doubles play?

IMO, the top armies right now are:

IG
Wolves
Orks
Daemons

Others will have their opinions, but for my money those are the big dogs right now.

For doubles play, I have faced Ork/Daemon teams twice, and my god is that a nasty combination. With hordes of Orks coming right behind a wave of Daemons that deep strike in your face turn 1, you have a brutal combo.

I also think IG and Daemons would make for a very powerful combo as they compliment each others weaknesses.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As for Eldar, they are a tier 2 army right now, just not what they were. They need points reductions and more options for their troops and to see a lot of units shifted in the FOC, but they can still win if you are a good player. They are unforgiving though if you plan to play competitively.

Don't let me discourage you though, if you like them. They are a sweet army and fun to paint and play, just not uber competitive right now. I play my Footdar competitively and they do very well, but any mistakes and you are hurting quick.

Depending on what the rules look like, if chaos daemons can summon to chaos marine icons, that's not exactly a bad pairing.

My wife, who rarely plays 40k at all, and I ran this mix at one tournament, with Emperor's Children and Slaanesh daemons. But it can also work with other chaos gods. An Epidemius/Death Guard pairing could be cool, as the plague marines could start the tally much sooner than normal.

Daemons are the best for doubles. The deepstriking and bloodthirsters make them invaluable. Just make sure your partner knows how to play them, or else you'll most likely lose.

IG are good with most everthing too, being spammy with good options is always a helpful bonus

A buddy of mine ran in a couple tourneys with the setup of 1500 per half, 3000 total. First time, we ran Ork kan wall (me) and Tau. Lootas + markerlights = awesome. Second time, we ran burna-heavy mech Orks (me) and Dark Eldar lance/ravager spam. We had our fun. Basically, I think if you run two complementary armies, such as all-out shooty to support all-out assault, you'll probably do fine. Nids + IG intrigues me...

Reecius I think my partner and I played you at Adepticon in the TT with that Daemon/Ork combo. We had used that pairing at a primer before, and you're absolutely right, it is a sick combo. With a bloodthirster, 2 squads of bloodcrushers and the rest in plague daemons hitting first turn, a wave of aprox. 90 boyz running up behind, it can be really tough to deal with that. You can't ignore the bloodcrushers in your face, but how can you ignore that many ork bodies charging down at you?

Arander wrote:Reecius I think my partner and I played you at Adepticon in the TT with that Daemon/Ork combo. We had used that pairing at a primer before, and you're absolutely right, it is a sick combo. With a bloodthirster, 2 squads of bloodcrushers and the rest in plague daemons hitting first turn, a wave of aprox. 90 boyz running up behind, it can be really tough to deal with that. You can't ignore the bloodcrushers in your face, but how can you ignore that many ork bodies charging down at you?

Sounds gross. Daemons and Dark Eldar also seem like a disgustingly good combo. Destroy the daemons in your face or the lances that will blow your vehicles off the earth?

@Arander
Yeah man, that was us! Me and Whitedragon with IG/IG.

As soon as I saw your lists I knew we were screwed as I have played that combo before and got obliterated by it with IG, a really similar situation to ours in Adepticon. My plan was just to run away from you guys and take pot shots, playing for the tie.

Good thing we went with Whitedragon's plan to actually engage you guys as that was a lot more fun.

Before picking armies for a doubles tourney, you should always check with the TO about how the rules are going to be used. For example, some tournaments may use a similar set up to the Adepticon team event (i.e. limited force org per person and can only use rules from same codex unless you have a similar item, like Chaos and Daemons and Chaos Icons), while others might favor individual force organizations or allow you to use another codex's special rules if they're on your team.

If it's an Adepticon team tourney style, single codex teams have the advantage of using each other's rules together, or if they have similar gear (Chaos Icons, see above). If you're allowed to use other codex's special rules (like from wargear, etc), then a multi codex team can find some nasty combos.

I did once have a dream about a gunline Ork / IG army using KFF's and IG tanks with Camo Netting. Or if IG could give Ork units orders, "Bring it Down!" Lootas would just be terrible!

I played Ork/Daemons vs Nid/SW few weeks ago, Ended at draw due to time constraints had we done turn 5 the Ork/Daemon force would of likely just slaughtered the rest of their army.

Yes, if the TO is not VERY careful about the rules, you can end up with issues like the one a friend and I had at a doubles tournament. I played Orks, my partner played IG.

The TO said that unit's special abilities could affect their allies. We asked several times and kept getting the same reply: Allies abilities can affect each other and a non dedicated transport is just that, non dedicated. This led to the following...

A Nobz Squad with an attached Imperial Priest deploying out of one Valkyrie and a Burna Boyz squad with a Warboss AND a priest attacked in another Valk.

When Orks charge out of a transport like that and then get to reroll attacks, it is just ASKING for abuse.

We called it Waaaggghhh for the Emperor.

I've always thought a Tau/Nid combo would work well as they would so perfectly cover each others weaknesses.

I think a heavy Bassilk and Valk list with a green tide would be aawesome. A buddy and me are thinking of bring it out this fall.

chaos + Chaos Deamons is pretty strong

Use the chaos icons to DS in your deamons... and then lash things towards the Blood crushers...

I had a TO that wouldn't allow any doubles that involved Tyranids an another army.

It makes sense,really. Tyranids don't EVER align with anything,not even other hive fleets.

Droofus and I do very well with a Vulkan SM and Horde Orks combo.