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So I was wondering why did you pick the armies you play?
was it fluff, or power, or general tactics?

I for one picked the Tau (don't hit for it I love you imperials) because i am a huge softy, i think that in the 41st millenium melee is just plain stupid, and because the army is rather second tier i have to use special strategies to compensate, and i like devious plans and changing them on the spot.

I picked eldar as my first,and my favourite army,because i love the fluff play style and models.
I picked grey knights again because of the fluff and I wanted a meqarmy and because they are badass.
Recently I started nurgle marines because of fluff,a completely different paint scheme and I wanted to go evil.
All in all i find fluff to be the most important thing in an army.

I picked SW as they seem to be some of the only nice guys in the 40k universe.

I would have to say fluff and aesthetics. I love Tau asthetically and fluff wise, nothing like a neophyte race up and coming into a wider galaxy that they have yet to comprehend the vastness of.

Eldar because aesthetically they remind me of space egyptian greekelvs and look gorgeous. Fluff wise they are flexible and have the potential to be philanthropic and generous, or cold, cynical, and murderous.

Chaos Space marines because Nurgle truly loves his followers (albeit in a wierd way) and my space wolves found their true allfather (yes my nurgle CSM are spacewolf models mixed with CSM models, HUZZAH FOR CUSTOMIZATION)

Dark Eldar because the Laughing God has plans for them, their models were plain gorgeous and their codex was so versatile (I swore off venom/ dark light spam before the interwebs even figured out what it was)

And last but not least Grey Knights. Because I love death stars and small elite armies and I could not overcome the desire to run a Draigo wing (thats really all I have, 25 terminators and two dread knights XD, oh and a repurposed dreadnaught)

I chose necrons because they reminded me of Terminator.

Orks because they looked like fun, and they looked like a strong army. I got tired of losing all the time with my crons, who were woe-fuly out of date at the time.

First 2 armies were daemons and gk because I like models, fluff and it was fun pitting the 2 against each other using the rules in the dh book.

Then I bought csm iron warriors and eldar. Eldar cause they were different and very mobile. Iron warriors cause they were my favorite group and I wanted to exapnd my chaos forces.

BA because they are vampires in space! I like the fluff and like hitting tanks with swords

I picked Imperial Guard because this:

There were several factors that led to me picking orks. (in no particular order)

1)They aren't space marines. I don't want to play an army that could effectively make me just another face in the power armor crowd.
2) They seem to have many viable army builds (tide, wall, rush, bikes)
3) They have great fluff and high fun aspect in noncompetitive settings and even fun shooting based lists are possible.
4) They are currently half of the black reach starter kit which can be used to help ease the pain of an initial army investment.
5) A very large percentage of the codex units have models available which was a nice plus to me since I'm not great at converting.
6) They are a xenos codex that has been a core to the 40K universe for a very long time and will probably never be neglected by GW

That's all I can think of off the top of my head but I'm sure I could come up with more. WAAAAAGH!

I picked Black Templars because they have an easy colour scheme.




...except they're insanely hard/time consuming to pull off decently, as I later found out.

The only things I ever let dictate my army choices are the fluff and appearance. That being said, I like my IG because of the idea of normal guys having to face down impossible odds and knowing they're not going to to survive even if they succeed in their mission.
I also have a new nid army that I've been wanting to start for sometime to have something to play against my IG when showing the game to others. Also, I love the whole "we fight for no other reason than to eat you" fluff and the models look boss and are easy to paint.
The only other army I have is a small collection of Space Marines who I keep largely because I can pick up one of five different codexes and field them as that chapter. Also, I figure it kinda makes sense to have some kind of saviour type army to come to the rescue of my IG.
Makes for good scenario games as well. (1500 pts of IG have to hold of 2500 pts nids until 1000 pts SM arrive to stem the tied)

Some were bandwagon, some fluff or aesthetics but lately been choosing armies that bear some resemblance to my personal life. The BT are some colour scheme and symbol as my work with St John, similar to my Brets the crusades and the Knights Hospitalliers from which St John Ambulance came from. As for the Ogres well I like to eat, Space Wolves kind of fit in that category I suppose.

Eldar. So many options for fanwank and fluff, aswell as beautiful models and diverse playstyle.

I picked the Tau because they look cool and since I love the ocean and all marine life their vehicle names turned me to the greater good.

I picked CSM because I liked how their models looked and how there was a wide range of models in the army. Since I mostly paint, they seemed like the best choice.

I picked Necrons when i first started because undead machines controled by the star gods was awesome.
i picked CSM because I love the Thousand Sons and Tzeentch and Airhman is a boss.
I picked Chaos daemons because you get an army of daemons and there the most random army to plan in my opinion.
I picked Dark Eldar because the army has the coolest models in the game i think they are

orks.... fun to play.... very cool models....(shock gun) and just throwing huge numbers at your opponent.

Orks. Because I've always felt sympathetic towards the "orc" stereotype. Let me explain.

In every setting, orcs are depicted as despicable, foul smelling, cruel, bloodthirsty, dumb (yet treacherous and cunning when it comes to evil deeds), cowardly, brutish, weak of will, monstruously ugly, dishonorable creatures devoid of any redeeming quality. They're all the negative stereotypes one can think of rolled into one. The Enemy with a capital E: Those who have no right to exist, as its very existence is an affront to all that's good in the world.

And for some reason, I've always felt sympathetic towards the despised, underestimated and dehumanized. I simply love it when the lowly beasts incapable of rational thought beat the cr*p out of the morally righteous, purebreed aryan "warriors of the light" in their shiny armor and white robes.

To my surprise, the Orks of 40k matched the stereotype... with a twist. First, the dehumanizing tolkienian trope was obviously played for laughs. Second, the orks had some dignity to them. In the crazyworld universe of Wh40k, they were the only ones to retain some sense of reason and sanity: There was a particular story in 2nd ed. Codex Imperialis (the first 40k manual I got to read), set during the First War for Armageddon, in which a Goff Nob, while "mourning" the loss of his friends and drinking buddies, leads a most likely suicidal charge against the Blood Angels not for some god or obscure political cause. But for the sake of it. And for fun.

Other options I considered were Eldar and Squats, but the former were "taken" (a friend had already chosen them) and the latter had been... well, squatted. That left me with the IoM and Chaos (Tyranids were never an option, I've only just began to like their miniature range. Necrons and DE didn't exist at the time). So, between prudish genocidal fascists and unhinged satan worshippers, I found the green space punks to be a most refreshing choice.

While fluff is important for me, I'd say ultimately it's the model range for me.

I originally picked Space Marines. Marines are cool, if you can see through the 'hate' that you may feel for them now because you're sick of playing against them every game . Their fluff is bad ass, they are a fun concept and they are the 'good guys'.

But I always liked the orks models in the AoBR box and kept them around... I eventually started painting and assembling them and played a few low point games. Orks for me were the triffecta - great fluff, awesome models and fun playstyle. Fell in love and never looked back.

But yeah, there's few armies I don't dream of owning one day... but ultimately, the ranking is made mainly in order of what looks like the most fun to paint (I'd love a daemon army for that reason, even tho they're pretty bad...).

I went with Tyranids because it was my army in 2nd edition, but due to not being able to afford them post 2nd edition (mostly due to model counts exploding and me being a student).

When I decided to get back into 40k a couple of years ago, the first thing I did was check out the Tyranid model range. I mean, the last I'd seen were the terrible 3rd edition Tyranids. I was totally blown away by the quality of the sculpts Tyranids had received. The Carnifex, Gargoyles and Raveners in particular were stunning.

For me, picking an army is all about enjoying the models. I can make any army book work for me. What I can't do is force myself to enjoy painting models I don't like. After being totally blown away by the new Tyranid range, they were the obvious choice. My Salamanders got sidelined.

I got into Imperial Guard because the thought of average men fighting and defeating in no particular order:
1. Genetically engineered demonically possessed supersoldiers who watched the emperor fall to his golden throne 10,000 years ago
2. A race of Intergalactic spacefaring insectoids that more than likely have wiped out entire galaxies and make the zerg from starcraft look like a minor roach infestation.
3. A warrior race that literally only cares about fighting for the hell of it, and where even their basic soldiers are the size of a space marine and are capable of destroying entire systems just because they want to.
4. Alien societies that were busy destroying the universe and creating a new chaos god by accident when Humanity was still learning how to rub 2 sticks together to make fire.

And they do this with what amounts to a glorified flashlight and a t-shirt. Look up a guy named Ollanius Pius as well if you want to see how awesome the average guardsman could be....
Well that and about 1,000 to 1 numbers and literally so many tanks and heavy artillery that nothing can escape. That tends to help

Up next, I'll probably start a chaos Grey Knights army (using GK codex of course ), or start an Orks army. The former because we have 3 Grey Knights players and I feel like messing with them, the latter because we have no ork players and they look like they'd be awesome to make models for.

Also, I've heard rumors about there might be a Chaos ARMY, not just chaos marines, which I would love to do. Tons of renegade guardsmen and chaos marines could be a lot of fun I think.

I go for the underdog these days.

I played SM like everyone does, then I saw the light that is Xenos....

Actually I now hate SM and playing against SM armies. They bore the shyte out of me.... I dont know how people can play Marine vs Marine all day its like watching paint dry.

Now gimme a good Nids vs Ork hack and slash fest or a Tau vs Necron slaughter etc.... Those are epic matches.... DE vs Orks is good too!

I started with the Imperial Gaurd for the simple reason of "Tanks area Awesome" and no one has better tanks then the Guard. plus its cool to have a normal man kill something far stronger and more powerful then himself.

i've brought down Space Marines (chaos and normal), crushed Tyranid swarms and obliderated anything else. With nothing more then a Lasgun, a T-shirt and a Leman Russ at my side!

i respect the other factions but the Guard are for me. (considering other factions like SM but unlikly)

IG for each and every one of them has immense courage in the face of adversity. Star Trek sums it up perfectly with "FIRE EVERYTHING!!!!!!"

BT because I never really liked the Codex Astartes. It just seemed like a Ultramarine propoganda book. Like the Uplifting Primer but in no way, shape, or form amusing. Hence the chapter that went "Codex? Pah! give it to the wolves so they can burn it..."

Or, to sum up what people have said in list form.

1.) you like the models
2.) you like the fluff
3.) you like the options presented in the codex

These are the big three. Of course there will be outliers like "they're not a certain army" or "I didn't want to take so long packing and unpacking my models", but those sort of idiosyncratic answers won't crop up until you've played a while.

I did tau because I LOVE big guns and big splosions. My brothers were into 40k first and I asked who made big booms, word for word. And I love their vehicle names and crisis suit looks

I picked csm because i like the fluff aswell as the models and the variation.

I started with Tau because of the fluff, playstyle, and models. I enjoyed the fact that they were the least grimdark faction in the setting, an ambitious and optimistic young people with an eye on victory. I enjoyed their unparalleled combat mobility, and I liked the down-earth, businesslike sci-fi feel of their models. Here was a faction that didn't put skulls on their armor - they put armor on their armor, thank you very much.

When I became disillusioned with the Tau, their lack of options, and their deeply out-dated codex, I fell in love with the Blood Angels. Speed is a kind of mobility, and absurdly over-the-top models with far too many golden bits and gew-gaws are also fun to paint, possibly more fun than regimented and professional-looking technology. The Blood Angels also have neat fluff. I like the idea of space marines who really want to be heroic, but must struggle with their inner demons, even as they do battle with outer demons.

Not that I'm getting rid of my Tau, mind you. Let's just say I'm hoping for some cool new rules and awesome resculpts. When our new codex comes out. If ever.

Csm because of Khorne.
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!

BT- because they're easy to paint, have the type of Imperium fluff I like and don't mess around with pskers (I HATE PSKERS!).

Orks-because they're a really fun army to play with and they're pretty wacky too.

IG- They seemed to be the perfect army for a cityfight theme, what with the Hounds and Basilisks, and they can be customised to become pretty badass.