What army do you think looks the best?

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**Desubot**

Where is the everything button.

ALL of the armies look good when they are painted well.

Edit: Also Forgeworld would be my vote.

All there stuff looks AWESOME!

**Talizvar**

Gah, esthetic opinion...

Elegant: Eldar
Classic Mean Looking: Grey Knights
Variety / Brutality: Orks
Futuristic / Gundam: Tau
Iconic Military: IG / AM
Fetish: DE
Goth: Necron
The Power Suit Standard (Starship troopers'ish): Space Marines

I would vote Eldar as being the "prettiest" and agree that Forgeworld produces the less "heroic" scaling so they look more real rather than fat.

**EVIL INC**

They can ALL look good. I think it comes down to two different things as to how good an army looks.
1. Personal preference. Some just like different imagery and 'lines".
2. Skill of the painter/converter. You can have 2 identical armies with one looking like crap and the 2nd looking amazing due to effort and skill of the person who put it together.

I'd say take a long hard look at all the different armies and see which attracts YOU. Then consider how you can model/convert/paint it o look it's best and be distinctively YOURS and make you feel good when you see it in action.

**SGTPozy**

niv-mizzet wrote:
SGTPozy wrote:
Tau are the coolest looking army and they are very balanced against other codices, so you'll be in for a fair fight.

9/10 would rage again.

I do like some of their models though. Farsight looks amazing at least. Most
of the suits just look clunky and Macross-ish.

Why would 9/10 people rage? Are people still stuck in the 6th ed mindset of Tau being a good ally army?

**Desubot**

SGTPozy wrote:
niv-mizzet wrote:
SGTPozy wrote:
Tau are the coolest looking army and they are very balanced against other codices, so you'll be in for a fair fight.

9/10 would rage again.

I do like some of their models though. Farsight looks amazing at least. Most
of the suits just look clunky and Macross-ish.

Why would 9/10 people rage? Are people still stuck in the 6th ed mindset of Tau being a good ally army?

I dont think thats what he was saying.

Im pretty sure he is the kinda guy that likes hazzards and forgeworld suits over box crisis suits.

i kinda agree.

**durecellrabbit**

I really like Tyranids. The bio alien swarm is one of my favourite sci fi alien archetypes and Tyranids do it so well.

I'll give runner ups to Orks, always a fan of greenskins and Tau, cool mecha and vehicles.

**Ratius**

Eldar for me, always loved their aesthetics, something like the Crimson Hunter craft is really beautiful.

**Quickjager**

Desubot wrote:
SGTPozy wrote:
niv-mizzet wrote:
SGTPozy wrote:
Tau are the coolest looking army and they are very balanced against other codices, so you'll be in for a fair fight.

9/10 would rage again.

I do like some of their models though. Farsight looks amazing at least. Most
of the suits just look clunky and Macross-ish.

Why would 9/10 people rage? Are people still stuck in the 6th ed mindset of Tau being a good ally army?

I dont think thats what he was saying.

Im pretty sure he is the kinda guy that likes hazzards and forgeworld suits over box crisis suits.

i kinda agree.

I know! Have you seen some of those FW suits? they are ballin'!

**The Wise Dane**

Sidstyler wrote:
The Wise Dane wrote:
Sure, and I know some stuff is for others, but what I don't get is that the models are rather base when compared to, e.g. Tacticals or Terminators. In my opinion the models are nought but the base of a model - No extra culture like jewelry, ceremonial swords or unique armour, and on the other hand, the models aren't too hi-tech for a very hi-tech faction... It's just boxes to me.

... Am I the only one with this look on the models, or at least the Fire Warrior and Crisis Suit models?

Sometimes less is more. I'm assembling a BA tactical squad right now and I have to say, all this jewelry, ceremonial and unique stuff is just too god-damned much sometimes. Most Space Marine models I've seen are so over-the-top in decoration it actually achieves the opposite of the desired effect, in my opinion. The models just look too busy to me, and look like a nightmare to paint to boot. In fact I'll probably never actually paint this squad because of the idea of having to paint every little bit of rope, every tiny little blood drop, etc. Ain't nobody got time for dat.

Fun fact; when I was clipping pairs of legs off the sprue, I noticed this one pair had an attachment point right on top of a little dangly blood drop on the side of the right leg, which oddly enough wasn't molded directly to the leg like on some of the others. In between loudly asking myself why the FETH would anyone put an attachment point right there, I tried to carefully clip it off and go about cleaning the blemish the best I could. Eventually I just moved on fearing I would break the thing clean off, then when I went to glue it to a base I accidentally brushed up against that bit and did nearly break it off completely. At that point I just said screw it and clipped it off myself, since I was inevitably going to have to do it at some point anyway. It's cases like that in particular that make me think "Why bother?" All these extra, fiddly details are awful impractical considering that the models are meant to be used for gaming, and ultimately pointless when you have to get rid of them because of the inevitability of losing that detail during the rigors of play.

And as far as hi-tech goes, maybe all you see are boxes, but when I look at Space Marines all I see are cylinders and giant bowls on their shoulders. Not to mention Space Marines literally drive around in boxes; the rhino is pretty much just a box shape with tracks stuck on, and it's a look that carries over to many of their other vehicles, too...even the ones supposedly capable of flight. If we were to judge tech level based on the appearance of the models alone I'd say Tau and Space Marines are about equal, neither one seems to have anything that the other doesn't have. Of course that's just based on appearance, personal teleporters alone are far beyond what the Tau are currently capable of producing but that's not something you can see so it doesn't really count.

Another thing you fail to realize is that the two kits you're criticizing so heavily, the fire warriors and crisis suits, are really fething old. It's been a good 13-14 years I think since they were first released and they haven't changed. I'm pretty sure if you compared a squad of tactical Marines from that period to what you can buy now you'd probably notice a difference in the amount and quality of the detail present, too. But with these two kits in particular, I personally rather like fire warriors and they're one of the reasons I went with Tau in the first place. The main reason was the design of their grav tanks, the hammerhead in particular is still my favorite sci-fi tank design. But anyway, the fire warriors and crisis suits I feel both suffer more from age than anything else. The fire warrior kit, like many others still lingering from over a decade (or more) ago, is really damn bare compared to "modern" GW kits where there is almost literally no empty space left on a sprue. Looking at the pathfinder kit that just came out last year, I'd say if GW were to redo it today you'd see a lot more stuff to adorn the models with; ceremonial knives, lots of pouches, ammo, grenades, bionics, etc. It may not be much, because obviously the Tau don't really emphasize individuality that much, so you won't be seeing many Tau running around with tattoos or weird hairstyles or stuff scrawled all over their armor, but there's a couple bits in that kit to give your models more character, and if GW wanted to they could easily do that with the fire warriors (or you could mix the pathfinder bits in here and there).

The crisis suits definitely haven't aged well, though. Not only do they still lack poseability and options like they always have, but they just don't look so great anymore compared to some of the newer models, like the FW variants, the XV9 suits (which are based on one of Roberto Cirillo's awesome concepts for a new XV8 kit which clearly weren't used, Google them if you're curious and you can see some of the ideas he had for a new design), and personally I think Farsight's suit looks really cool, despite being an awful Finecast model. I've definitely seen better-looking mecha, I'll admit that, but I still think they have some charm to them even with all of their flaws. I was really hoping we'd see a new crisis suit kit drop with the codex last year...I can't tell you how disappointed I am that we got the riptide instead. Flies in the face of established fluff and looks like trash to boot.

And lastly, as mentioned, I think paint has a lot to do with it. The bright yellow T'au Sept scheme doesn't really do it for everyone, and that's the one you most often see because that's how the studio Tau army is painted. I don't mind it because it just looks like a desert scheme to me, though albeit not a very "realistic" one, but I can understand why others don't. Yellow doesn't seem to be everyone's favorite color in the first place, and it only really looks good in certain cases. Tau models definitely seem to have more of an impact when painted in darker colors like blue or green, or just going grey with them and doing an urban camouflage theme. Even brown works well.

Personally though I don't think it really needs explaining, I just like how they look. The riptide and sun shark models being exceptions to that, just not at all impressed with either kit. In any case, don't question my love for Tau and I won't question yours for Space Marines, which as I said earlier, is a love I find very hard to understand. And I like to think I'm pretty careful with my models, too.

And guess who I voted for, lol...though to be perfectly honest I probably should have voted for Dark Eldar instead, because thinking back now I honestly don't know if I could find a stinker in the entire product range. I like pretty much all of the Dark Eldar models. Even wyches, I'm not particularly fond of wyches but the kit isn't so awful that I just hate it or anything. Obviously I can't say that for Tau anymore.

I see your point, don't worry - I Might have come off as critizing the entire range of Tau models, which wasn't the point at all :( My problem is mostly that I cannot stand those old kits, especially not when they are so crucial to the range in general (I know I have two kits of Crisis Suits lying about). I didn't know they were that old, but i could have guessed so, because, frankly, they just don't do it anymore... Too monopose, too boxy...

And that's not something I'm saying for the entire range, either - The Pathfinders are a great set, as are the Riptide (In my opinion) and the Broadside, it's just that the two most important units doesn't follow that. I do like the Tau look, especially on artwork, but sometimes I just don't like the models that go with that artwork. In fact, I actually like the desert scheme because it looks ever so slightly subdued, which I kinda like for a Tau force. Mine are in that colour, but as they were my first models, they are kinda fethed up, so I got to redo them at some point...

I just like the way you can make Tacticals or Orks look individualized. When you mention that with the BA Tacs, I'm kinda envious, because that's what I'd like for my models - Maybe not Tau, as that doesn't fit the feel of the army with that much stuff, but it certainly fits BA.

The best thing I gathered from your post was the age of the Crisis and Fire Warrior kits, though... I stopped playing Tau because of that, and if they come around with some new, great looking models for any of those two, I'll be starting again for sure!

**TheCustomLime**

I never cared for them as a faction but I will admit that the Dark Eldar have some gorgeous models.

**Drasius**

Every army can look pretty rad when painted nicely. I'd say I've got a whole bunch of favourite models that are awesome, but virtually none of them are from the same faction.

**Ailaros**

Individually or in small groups, eldar, ork, and dark eldar can look very good painted right.

But the best army? If I see 2,000 points on the table, it's not going to be a special snowflake army where everyone looks different. It's going to be much more uniform than that.

For best army I'd say guard (either all-foot or all-mech), or a CSM power armor horde, or a green tide or bike list for orks.

A drop pod SM army is also pretty special as well, especially when dropping in a bunch of tac squads. Especially in action. Going from nothing on the table to "here's all my dudes in your face" always looks pretty spectacular.

**Happyjew**

Trondheim wrote:
Adepta Sororitas alongside Tyranids gets my vote

Adepta Sororitas riding Tyranids. Specifically Pyrovores.

**Vaktathi**

When it comes to best looking army, that's highly subjective and variable.

Not only is there player preference, but lots of different model lines. IG for example have over half a dozen different visually distinctive model lines. I'm not a fan of Catachans at all, but the Death Korps visually hit all the right "cool factor" spots for me.

**Niiru**

Ok well I voted orks, as they have a lot of nice individual options and the conversion choices make for a lot of great looking models (potentially, anyway).

Happyjew wrote:
Trondheim wrote:
Adepta Sororitas alongside Tyranids gets my vote

Adepta Sororitas riding Tyranids. Specifically Pyrovores.

However, now that I have seen this. This. So much this. Why isn't this a real this.

This.

**luky7dayz**

I love the look of large armies. Like 6 squads of 30 ork boyz or nids. However, I find tau to be pleasing to the eye. The battleusits really look cool to me.

**Zande4**

I kinda like everything but the look of Kroot is really good imo. They have a Predator thing going on and I really like it. Tyranids are my main and have been my favorite aestheticly, playwise and in the lore since I started though. Only race in 40k that doesn't have a single current model I don't like.

**scottmmmm**

Dark Eldar. The 5th edition release wiped the floor with the other factions and despite a limited release this time round they haven't been topped yet.

**kingbobbito**

I just had to go dark angels. I don't know what it is about the robes, but I just love them. Take the clean, smooth look of standard marine armor, then throw a robe over it, that's painted to look rough, worn, faded, it provides a good level of contrast. And don't even get me started on Deathwing Knights.

In terms of the model itself, painting aside, all coolness factor goes to the dreadnought. There's just something about them, a bit of majestic, a bit of manly, a bit of pure orgasmic excellence emanating from them. Yeah, I like dreadnoughts. Give it a good deathwing paint job and I'm in love.

To be fair, I am a bit biased. I'm often referred to as the perfect imperial player, as I'm quite the space racist. Filthy xenos. Like I really don't like orks or nids. If that wasn't the case I'd probably say eldar, because of wraithguard.

**TranSpyre**

MkIV Power Armor Marines. It just looks so fantastic.

**Toofast**

Eldar. I have always loved their models. I know they haven't been updated in awhile but I still don't think they need it outside of a few units.