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Okay, so I played 40k years ago, and I liked it a lot, and played mainly 500/1000 point games with my friends and a game or two at an actual GW. But that was back in the day, when I had no money. I played nids then, but now I want to do soemthing different. ( still have a few nids )
I KNOW people will say "pick the army that you like the best!" and I'm just like.... I really like the models and the playstyle of Dark Eldar and Space Marines. Personally, I'd lean more towards Dark Eldar at the moment, but there is SO MUCH mixed debate about them. I know they wear cardboard armor and stuff, but I'm worried that I will not be able to play them being a technically new player. So, I guess what I am asking is what to do? Please, give me your opinions. My performance as a General/Archon depemds on them.

Well you're in luck, both armies have the Megaforce.

Space marines:
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440160a&prodId=prod1410003a

Dark Eldar:

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440160a&prodId=prod1410004a

Don't NOT play the marines just because people say "OH SPACE MARINES! THEY ARE A DIME A DOZEN" ... I hate hearing that. If you enjoy them and their looks , get them.

For value, space marines and their megaforce is better. You can easily pick up other space marine codexes and convert models.

Personally, I've always favored Xenos over power armor, so myself, I choose necrons and tyranids first (and bought grey knights as a 3rd, because there are occasionally space marine only tournies).

I would say Dark Eldar just because I find them to be very unique and they look bloody awesome.

Yeah, the main reason I wanted to go SM is because me poor, and there is also AoBR.

I think you should go Tau just to annoy childish neckbeards. Its really fun
Heres a link to all you need to know about the Tau http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Tau

Between AoBR and the new SM Magaforce you can get a good sized army for great value.

In terms of how easy is it to get a working army for cheap the SM will be easier, but don't let that discourage you from playing Dark Eldar, they aren't too complicated, SMs are just really easy to learn, that's all.

You save $134.5 if you buy the DE Megaforce vs each of the included units separately and you save $133.75 with the SM Megaforce

DE are easy in the fact that you don't worry about objectives. Generally, you should always be trying to wipe your opponent. The DE are not the camping type.

That said, they are still more difficult then SM. How well you do can be directly affected by the abundance of terrain. My personal experience by the way.

Still, they have great fluff and models, so if you can stand losing your first few games, go for them!

Honestly, base the choice of your army more on fluff/style/look/painting than "cost" and "tabletop performance."

Unless you literally PLAY the game every time you have time off, you will probably be painting/modeling/reading about the army much more than you will actually be playing. (Honestly, as much as I'm in this hobby to game, I probably spend at least 7/10 hours in this hobby modeling/painting/reading, and only about 3/10 hours actually gaming.)

Additionally, if you decide on an army and trek on, unless you're an absolutely talentless human being, you *will* eventually learn the playstyle of the army and be able to do well. It doesn't matter which army you pick, you will need to go through this process. The question is, how long this process will be.

Finally, cost. Initial cost startup wise is probably for any army:
1,500 point army - USD $400-500
Pack 432 custom cut battlefoam - USD $150
Paints, brushes, assorted modeling things - USD $150
Dice, rulebooks, templates, assorted gaming things - $20-100
Potential others (Like greenstuff, bitz and pieces for conversions, whatever.) - $~200

Basically, you're looking at an initial startup cost of $1,000. If you plan well, this $1,000 could last you for many many years, and you won't need to purchase anything else... until a new edition is released, or perhaps a new codex (so about 5'ish years.) The above "price list," isn't all encompassing though. You can get things cheaper if you know where to look, and perhaps cheap out here and there.

As you can see, the "army" part of it is only a fraction of what you will need to spend. Saving $100 or so and picking an army based on being a cheapskate really isn't the way to go.

Based on your post OP, I'd suggest DE.

Agreeing with criteria posted above but would also say decide which army you are most excited about painting.
Because there will be a lot of that....

Very well put Kouzuki. I'll add just a few words;

Choosing the army based on its looks/style/fluff gives a greater incentive to paint them. I've played pretty much nothing but Guard for 40k for the past 15+ years. I'm sick to the absolute back teeth of Cadians & Catachans and will most likely never ever gather the energy to even undercoat any. So I've gone for Forgeworld DKoK because I love their background, the models are unbelievably gorgeous and, for the first time in years, I'm loving every moment of painting them. Painting used to be a bit of a chore for me but with models I love to paint it's an absolute delight.

The extra expense of this, to me, is a minor price to pay - if you're going to spend money on this hobby, spend it on something you really will enjoy assembling, painting & using. Otherwise you're just wasting your money. I've got boxes of unpainted & half-assembled models I've never done anything with - because I didn't want to in the end. If I added up all the money I'd spent on those models I never actually did anything with, I could probably buy myself 2000 points of Forgeworld Krieg & have quite a bit of change left over.

Kouzuki wrote:Honestly, base the choice of your army more on fluff/style/look/painting than "cost" and "tabletop performance."

Unless you literally PLAY the game every time you have time off, you will probably be painting/modeling/reading about the army much more than you will actually be playing. (Honestly, as much as I'm in this hobby to game, I probably spend at least 7/10 hours in this hobby modeling/painting/reading, and only about 3/10 hours actually gaming.)

Additionally, if you decide on an army and trek on, unless you're an absolutely talentless human being, you *will* eventually learn the playstyle of the army and be able to do well. It doesn't matter which army you pick, you will need to go through this process. The question is, how long this process will be.

Finally, cost. Initial cost startup wise is probably for any army:
1,500 point army - USD $400-500
Pack 432 custom cut battlefoam - USD $150
Paints, brushes, assorted modeling things - USD $150
Dice, rulebooks, templates, assorted gaming things - $20-100
Potential others (Like greenstuff, bitz and pieces for conversions, whatever.) - $~200

Basically, you're looking at an initial startup cost of $1,000. If you plan well, this $1,000 could last you for many many years, and you won't need to purchase anything else... until a new edition is released, or perhaps a new codex (so about 5'ish years.) The above "price list," isn't all encompassing though. You can get things cheaper if you know where to look, and perhaps cheap out here and there.

As you can see, the "army" part of it is only a fraction of what you will need to spend. Saving $100 or so and picking an army based on being a cheapskate really isn't the way to go.

Based on your post OP, I'd suggest DE.

You're right. I should just build DE over time. Toss Space Marines.

It's not going to matter how they play on the table, much. As you use an army, you naturally get used to a playstyle, that playstyle will overtime become either more rigid or more flexible. Aim for the latter, a flexible fighting style will win more games. Army choice won't matter for the most part, unless you pick thing that are overpowered like greyknights or underpowered like eldar.