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Hi folks

So with the new edition (and a soon new airbrush) I'm going to start a new marine army. I've narrowed it down to blood angels, space wolves, and grey knights.

I like fast units, and I like the idea of building a 'simple but versatile elite' army. - Not to mention an army that'll be fun to paint with an airbrush.

Any thoughts on which of these three might more readily lend itself to this? - Or any 6th ed. thoughts I should consider when choosing?

Thanks!

h.

Any three would be fun to paint. I personally went with BA after much debate over which army I wanted start. Each army is different in its own right. I love the the look of the GK and the brutality of the SW + I love the feral viking idea of the them made them a top choice but when it came down to it I just loved the over all fluff of the BA plus I got the feral raw lust for CC that the other two have but with it I got speed to add to it. I love the idea of practically not missing on a DS while charging in with all the ferocity of SW but the diligence of GK. It's your choice cause all of them are fun! Remember any army is what you make of them.

I would go Blood Angels....although I am probably biased on this topic....partially because BA's have always been my first love and partially because I cant stand Grey Knight players. Blood Angels offer versatility, unique unit choices and a host of great HQ choices to incorporate in your army (possibly the best in the game being Mephiston). They have some nice bonuses, like assault sqds being troops choices and if you lose the Jumppacks they receive a -35 pt discount on transports. They have access to the Stormraven, Death Company, Librarian Dreads, Sanguinary Priests, Sanguinary Guard, and Baal Predators. Of course the grey knights and SW have their own unique units respectively, but I love the precision, speed, and assault prowess of the Blood Angels.

Grey Knights are the pick for condensed high-quality midfield firepower. Mass, and I really do mean mass, Strength 7 guns. Assault is mostly going to be to mop up units you've shot to pieces, but you will destroy shooting-based MEQ in melee, like Tacticals. The codex mainly lacks melta and cheap throwaway units.

Blood Angels are easily the most mobile, but will have the least midfield firepower. You'll reliably put short-range guns and melee torrent units where you like, and BA provides by far the most durable foot lists with FNP. 60 FNP marines can be really, really annoying to deal with. The main issue is that the codex tends to encourage specialization, since priest force-multipliers and the Fast paradigm tend to favor spam.

Space Wolves will give you a middle ground. You'll be able to shoot from midfield and counterassault very well. Wolves can bring a tool for every job cheaply, and can actually give you a rather balanced army with significant redundancy. The main issue is having to work around needing Wolf Guard to boost the Ld of most units and correctly balancing the tools you've brought.

From a painting perspective, Grey Knights offer you the chance to play with a LOT of OSL for the airbrush, since almost everyone's toting a glowy AP3 stick. Then again, to get the uniform army look you'd have to do it for all of them.

Brilliant help! - Thanks for all the thoughts folks!

I've gone for blood angels - they see to be the most rounded of the bits I want - fast, aggressive, noble - and they look cool too.

I bought the codex, 2 boxes of death company (painting them up as assault sqd) and a baal predator.

Next will be the same again (minus codex) and a librarian w/jump pack.

Will post pics when they start to get painted.

cheers!

h.

I own all three and I was in the same boat. Obviously, by my self-congratulating signature, I have a ton of Blood Angels, before adding in non-BA specific vehicles. Fortunately, one of my friends is getting back into the game and playing BA, so that lessens my desire to play BA.

That leaves me with Space Wolves and Grey Knights. While Grey Knights offer a really cool army, and one of my favorite models (Dread Knight), I lean toward the Space Wolves. I like the fluff, the Long Fang's semi-BS ability to split fire, and they offer a flexibility that I like. Both SW and GK offer some pretty cool models to paint. GK carry a stigma that might be a turn off.

I know the OP chose BA, but I wanted to offer some kind of insight from someone who was in a similar boat and went in a different direction.