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Ok, so I am really having trouble I am coming back to the game and I really cannot decide on army. There are so many wonderful choices as far as models go and so many options with varying play styles. How do you go about choosing the army you want to play?

I was looking at the Imperium armies because of the ability to ally and maybe I could build a little bit of each but I feel pulled to play a Xenos army. I really like themed lists as I do not play in tournaments or any competitive setting at all. Just casual games. Any advice on themed armies that can perform decently well? Preferably low model count armies (Other than GK) already know a few GK players.

Thanks in advance for any advice given hopefully you all can help me figure this out!

Well if you want an Elite army consider a space marine chapter. Wolves and Blood Angels both have really good books, and the Vanilla Marines book is always a good choice. Also consider that you can get Dark Angels from the new starter set, and that they will likely have a new book coming out as well. I suppose you just cannot really go wrong with a marine codex.

That said, don't rule out Xeno books. Tau and Necrons can ally with a ton of different factions, and all of the Xeno armies have really unique feels to them. If you feel like too many people play Marines, you don't have to play them. Most of the Xeno armies are really unique and fun, and since they don't give you the space marine statline to use as a crutch they'll make you into a better player faster.

Ultimately, check out the playstyles of the different armies and the model lines. Odds are you'll find the one that fits your personality and it will be love at first sight

Go with a Dark Eldar Wych cult or haemonculus coven. That would be my suggestion.

blood angels. they are red. what more could you want in an army?

BA (I am a BA fan... being BA )

If ya run with the Red boys there are two ways to do it ez/pz.
1) Armor and armor... while not the beast it was in 5th still viable
or my preference
2) ML Devs+Tact+Assault+(w/e else you want)+PRIEST
FNP and cheap effective units everywhere... people will dislike it.

Go to 1d4chan and read all the army descriptions. That should do it.

As a Tau:
Fluff wise, but also kick ass gameplay:
Farsight with his 21 Battlesuit army and take two 6 man no upgrades FW squad.

Or an extreme loyalist Tau army with Ethereals and all that stuff (which is very good but EXTREMELY hard to play with)

For fluff on Imperial Guard (if you choose to go Imperium):
Elysian Drop Troops (Forge World IA book 8 Raid on Kastorel-Novem) is pretty good, but they models are expensive (you could always use count as Cadians w/ a few Elysians sprinkled throughout)

-Arcani

you have access to 2 different predators if you play BA. 3 styles of dreadnaughts, and MeFEASTon...

Join the rout laddie and carve a saga into your opponents hearts, watch them cringe in fear as you let out a howl of glee as you cut some threads.

The mighty warriors of Fenris are the only true choice if you wish to serve the Allfather.

FOR RUSS!!!

Space marines, of any flavour, are an elite low model count army. Special rules, and armies aside, it really comes down to your chosen aesthetics. Black Templars are reminiscent of the Crusades (funnily enough) and the army choices reflect that crusader feel. Blood angels are a fast hard hitting assault oriented army (space vampires!) and space wolves have a very norse, viking feel to them (space vikings!!) The dark angels don't have so much obvious character, but they have some neat specialist formations such as the raven wing (the ultimate in low model count armies) and deathwing.

Ultimately though, C:SM has more variety in terms of what you can do since you can use the book to create your own custom chapter, and if rules don't sway you towards any of the other marine codices, you can just create your own

I would say play Chaos Space Marines and Daemons so you can ally them because they are a force to be reckoned with seeing as they are battle brothers.

If you want low model count but don’t mind tanks you could go mech guard with a bunch of vets for troops. Set up will be really fast and you can get games going in a sec.

hobojebus wrote:
Join the rout laddie and carve a saga into your opponents hearts, watch them cringe in fear as you let out a howl of glee as you cut some threads.

The mighty warriors of Fenris are the only true choice if you wish to serve the Allfather.

FOR RUSS!!!

AM I the onoly one who read this in a broad Scottish accent?

if you want low model count, use Necrons. An Airforce combi'd with Wraithwing is unbeleivably powerful, and has amazing kill counts around the world. And at times it only has 30 Figs on the board. (12 Flyers and 18 3++)

I'd say start with the fluff and work from there.

Browse through the black library site to see what sounds interesting. Get a few books and see if the fluff seems like what you like.

You can get to low model count with almost anything. It just depends on how you plan on playing them.

Of course, low model count wouldn't necessarily be recommended for IG or Orks. Even if you do it, that's pretty out of character for them.

The question is 'how do you choose'...
Me, I chose orks because I love to kitbash, and it's a bloody humorous army to play. Of course you want low model count so I -won't- advise orkyness. I believe this makes me more of a neutral adviser... At least I'll try.

I'll point out some pros and cons of what I know, to help you choose, keeping in mind you mentioned you like to play casual, would rather low model counts, xenos and 'themed lists'? I'm not sure what you mean by the latter, I'll assume you mean 'lots of tank' 'lots of foot', 'lots of mobility/bikes' depending on mood.

-Orks, tyranids and IG would be right out due to model count, you can do themed armies easy with orks and IG, less so with Nids.

-Eldar: Pros: fun to paint, lowish model count. units are specialized so you can 'theme' it easily enough. Also you can pretend to hold a moral high ground, or just swish your hair and look good. Con: army requires finesse to play well, so there's a learning curve. Not sure about their ally choices.
-Dark Eldar, I don't know them much alas. I -think- they're more assaulty and mobile than normal Eldar, I think. Also, evil.
-Space marines come in all flavors. I daresay you could invent your own chapter, paint them a rarely-used color, and play with the various codexes till you find your favorite. Blood angels are assaulty and high mobility (fast tanks, lots of bikes) Space Wolves are assaulty and have lots of cool heroes. Other chapters I know less. Pros: Easy to theme, there's a chapter to fit all tastes Cons: It seems everyone plays them, and it's not very fluffy to have a marine vs marine battle outside the Horus Heresy. One argument to play xeno.
-Chaos Marines: The codex just came out, and it's marvelously flexible, you can theme your army tanky one day, assaulty the next, horde the third day, no problem! Lots of fun, and you can still take IG, daemon orks or other odd allies - So you can't take Marine allies? Why would you anyway? CM have more wildly-varied marines than THEY do! Pros: Most flexible elite army I can think of, what ally choices they have are wildly varied. And if you have fun being evil, well they're evil! Cons: Models are a touch trickier to paint than most.
-Necrons: durable, elite army. fairly flexible. They make mean footslogging or flyer-heavy lists. Not so hot on assault but they can correct that last flaw by taking orks as allies, or even grey knights. (sure to get your foe to quirk an eyebrow) Pros: lowish model count, easy to theme. If you like being evil, these are the 'undead pharaohs' kind of evil fun. Cons: some vehicles are a real pain to paint.
-Tau: Fun fluff. A bit more model-heavy than necrons. If you like clean troops and high-tech mecha, this is your army. Without bikes, jetbikes or much tank variety it's hard to theme it. Pros: You can feel good about fighting for the Greater Good and pretending to hold moral high ground. Cons: Rather limited in theme. I hear there's no plastic broadside model right now, what???

By themed I meant for instance an all Khorne CSM list featuring nothing but khorne units.

Or a Salamanders space marine list utilizing things that the salamanders would truly use.

I use those two as examples because I have seen people do things like that... Just unsure if something like the Salamanders themed army would be effective again I am by no means against the Imperium just against GKs simply because there are already players and since I will only be casual gaming with a small gaming group I do not want to have Draigo fighting Draigo on a weekly basis.

If you want a low model count and wish to play imperium your only choice is Marines. There are 30,000 different chapters, so just pick which one you like the best. Go Termie/Dread Heavy. Make your model count even lower.

What is your standard of painting like? Do you have the patience for fine details or massed troops? There is some very good advice here but it comes down to....will painting an all red marine army drive you to rage....will you be stamping on you eldar after painting the 40th gem on your wraithguard unit? I personally choose armies I think I can paint to a good standard, will enjoy doing so and choose the army I like the look of, not the latest internetkillywinevery game list. So it comes down to, which army do YOU like the look of?

...... CSM solo god themed armies are my choices, love the fluff, painting and conversion. I've loved these back from the old Realms of Chaos books I uesd to have.

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
Go to 1d4chan and read all the army descriptions. That should do it.

Then he'd just end up with Ultramarines.

 angel of ecstasy wrote:

 d3m01iti0n wrote:
Go to 1d4chan and read all the army descriptions. That should do it.

Then he'd just end up with Ultramarines.

That is definitely not the sense I'd get from 1d4chan...

Gotcha Unknown.

With that flavor of 'themed list', you can pull it off with any codex. I'm tempted to recommend CSM or Necron so far, for decent variety while still sticking to a theme, lowish model count, and the added bonus of not being an odd imperium vs imperium battle every week.
Eldar, Tau or various SM would be the secondary decent choices I'd recommend for you. I can't advice on daemon or Dark Eldar that I don't know at all.

Try and think up some other things you would like or not like about armies, and we can give better advice. Like if you have a sculpting or scratchbuilding skill you'd like to flex.

I am by no means a sculptor but I take pride in my painting ability and I would like my army to have a unique "feel" as in no two soldiers looking the same (which I think I can achieve with my hobby skills). I do have the ability to learn to use green stuff to effectively enhance models.

Painting the same thing over and over seems a bit bland however I suppose if it is indeed a low model count army I could manage.

Here are a few lists I have been looking at throughout the day that I think might be interested in maybe you all will have some insight as to the competitiveness of said lists.

Again I am not a WAAC gamer and am looking to play more for fun that anything however things are always more fun when you are winning. I am a rather dedicated tactician as well so playing armies with high learning curves is actually rather appealing to me.

- Death Company Blood Angels
- Wraithguard Eldar
- Crisis Suit Tau
- Khorne only Chaos
- Techmarine inspired Space Marine List
- Ork biker warband (I understand Nob Bikers are rather effective?)

I have read lots and lots of fluff and I really enjoy the Space Marine fluff... I think part of that is due to the fact that I am a former United States Marine myself so I have this odd sense of feeling something in common with them (weird I know). Orks are hilarious and I love the psychic ability of the Eldar.

As far as models go I enjoy most of the armies I have looked at in their entirety.

Again thanks to everyone here who has responded and to those of you who will respond in the future I really appreciate the help and advice.

Chaos Khorne, Nothing like some blood for the blood god.

You enjoy Space Marines, thinking of a techmarine inspired army.....welcome to the ranks of the Iron Hands! I have a 2000 pt army and nearly every figure (apart from the Iron father model from a few years back) is converted. I also love the fluff, so I am using a counts SW list So I can use Bjorn as Banarus (dreadnought clan leader), I also have techmarine models used as wolf guard to lead my units, no wolves mind!

Ironically enough Tyranids are fairly low model count with about 50 models at 1750 if you follow the more competitive builds. Alternatively you could wait for the new DA dex to hit and see if Raven or Deathwing appeal to you.

but tyranids are all pointy, youll thank me for soying this one day.

I just posted this in another similar thread...

 cvtuttle wrote:
Though originally broadcast for 5th Ed these are still relevant. Might I recommend:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1457

And

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1460

UnknownUser wrote:
Ok, so I am really having trouble I am coming back to the game and I really cannot decide on army. There are so many wonderful choices as far as models go and so many options with varying play styles. How do you go about choosing the army you want to play?

I was looking at the Imperium armies because of the ability to ally and maybe I could build a little bit of each but I feel pulled to play a Xenos army. I really like themed lists as I do not play in tournaments or any competitive setting at all. Just casual games. Any advice on themed armies that can perform decently well? Preferably low model count armies (Other than GK) already know a few GK players.

Thanks in advance for any advice given hopefully you all can help me figure this out!

Low model count XENOS armies... hmm...

Eldar can be pretty low model count, and are certainly the definition of small, Elite squads. All of the Eldar Craftworlds have very different styles and units as well, which might help you with picking a theme. They can also ally with a fair few different things.

Tyranids can be done as elite by taking lots of big Monstrous Creatures, but you rarely see them without a supporting swarm of little guys bug swarm - it could be done, though. No allies, though.

Chaos Marines aren't Xenos, but they're not Imperial either, and can be fielded as a small, elite force just as much as regular marines can...

Well, having a second look at your tastes and these first choices you gave us, here's my two cents on each of your potential picks so far.

-DC Blood Angels: One flaw of that 'style' is that Death Company units cannot score. Aka you won't be able to win games by holding the objectives (stragegic victories). Well, not without more regular blood angels troops. Overall a good choice that fits your tastes. Do remember that they are a 'fast' army`: Quick vehicles, lost of bikers and jetpacks.
-Wraithguard Eldar: I think you could have fun with it. I don't foresee any problems if you play those, though of course you'll want to vary the kinds of units you'll take, and just have a 'core' of wraiths. Pro: nonimperial means battles will 'make sense' against your GK foes. Cons: You won't have the marine feeling.
-Crisis Suit Tau: One annoyance with it is GW doesn't offer a plastic broadside model at the moment. So it takes some conversion skills to make them. Also, you'll still need firewarriors or kroot as additional troops. I think they're a so-so pick for you, from what I understand of your tastes. Buuut a new codex is coming soon, and likely new models as well.
-Khorne only Chaos: Greenstuff is godly to make minor alterations to a chaos army, tentacles, claws, pustules, insectoid features... That and the variety inherent to the new CM codex leads me to think this is one of the better choices you could make: fluffy battles against GKs, conversions will flex your greenstuff muscle, you still get some of that marine feel. And a fun, recent codex to boot.
-Techmarine inspired SM list: Another good choice, someone mentioned the iron hands, I gives his idea two thumbs up. Only con will be 'Why are Grey Knights fighting other space marines again?'. Otherwise fully fits your tastes!
-Ork biker warband: Yes, nob bikers (and the lesser warbikers) are powerful, but I don't see them win games on their own, they need backup from other types of units, like trukk boys, meganobz or heavy support vehicles. So you'll still need to have a goodly number of figurines/trukks. Ergo I don't fully recommend them for you. They're an army for the conversion artist with a keen sense of humor. (you can lose games and still have more laughs than your opponent)

Hopefully these snippets help you decide!