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I've bought a couple of odds and sods from GW recently read up on some info but I'm still REALLY struggling to choose what army to progress with. My shortlist in descending order are as follows:

1. Chaos space marines
1. Imperial fist chapter based marines (yes both 1's, joint first place)
2. Eldar
3. Tyranid

Now I like the look of all the above armies. But I'm after some insight from people who actually use these forces.
Some pros and cons I've found so far.

Due to DV game being current release, lots of people seem to be running CSM.
I do already have some models from the DV game for CSM but I've also already bought an Eldar battle force before really getting my head around what team i want to play. No matter what happens if i don't use the Eldar to start I probably will keep it and get round to it eventually.
I'm currently basing a lot of my choices on painting, in the past I've been a predominant painter of the models and these are the ones I'd like to get in to.
I like Nids because they aren't humanoid like every other team on the set.

Now some things I think are important about me and my play style from other games.

I do NOT do the charge in think later tactic.
I prefer to hang back, think about things and take my time.
Not that these are really that relevant. In FPS games on consoles etc, i prefer to be a sniper rather than run an gun.
In RPG games online i prefer tank or healer tactics.

My first choice stupidly was to get the Eldar battle force purely through looks alone. But I hear they are more movement orientated which I don't think will fit me, especially as a first army choice whilst learning.
My second option which I haven't purchased for yet was CSM. I bought the DV game, played a few missions with a friend trying to get my head around the rules. Although I love the way I've painted the ones out the game and i get the impressions these could be a defensive team their popularity atm puts me off. I prefer to be as individual and unique as i can be in most things I do.
I think a IF army would tick a lot of the boxes i'm after i think i'd enjoy painting then, being marines i think they can be played defensively matching my game style but i need confirmation.
Nids are something like the Eldar i just like the look of. I get the impression "horde" armies work a lot like run an gun tactics. Again just after confirmation on this.

I know this is quite a long winded and very confusing post and i apologise. I just don't know what else to do to help me decide which army to take. I've spent so much already in such a short time (battle force and DV game in less that 2 weeks) i REALLY want to have a more definite idea of what i want before making my next purchase.

Thank you all for your advice.
Ziff

Based on all you said, sounds like you'd like the Imperial Fists play style. Patiently wait for your enemy to get close, then blow them to hell with massed volleys of bolter shots, and being marines, they are one of the easiest play styles to learn. Really a good all-around army.

Now, you mention liking the look of chaos, but their general strategy is to rush forward ASAP and get into either assault or point blank firefights. This seems like the kind of tactics you were trying to avoid though.

Hope my rambling helps some

I'm thinking Imperial Fists based on what you said you like. I think their claim to fame is bolter drill and sieges, so shooting from across the board sounds like it would fit them just fine. As an Eldar player, I can tell you that "shoot and scoot" is how I stay alive on the tabletop, so if that's not your thing you should probably consider another army.

Being a former IF player myself and based on what you said, I think they would fit your playstyle nicely so I voted for them. With the new codex out today, you will have specific chapter tactics to use to make your army feel even more like the Imperial Fists. They grant a good bonus to the new Centurions as well as providing decent shooting with bolter type weapons. This also gets you an up to date codex, that also allows you to experiment with many different types of armies/chapters if you find that Imperial Fists aren't what you wanted.

Notable Units: Lysander is a must have and is an absolute BEAST. Centurions to utilize the Chapter Tactic and anything that use a lot of bolter style weapons (again, to utilize the chapter tactic).

Eldar are a great codex at the moment. They can certainly be played as a very movement oriented army, but that's just one side of the coin. Iyanden type lists where you take a lot of Wraith-type units can be ran on foot to great effect. Their high toughness and awesome firepower can be used to hang back and take your time on TOP of added mobility through the use of battle focus (allows you to shoot and run or run and then shoot). I would pick these as a close second to the IF.

Notable units: Wraithguard, Wraithknights, Wraithlords

Unfortunately I don't have a lot of experience with the other 2 armies. Tyranids (at least from what I've heard) need an updated codex (which may be coming soon according to rumors). To me, they seem like they excel the most at close combat, which is severely nerfed in this edition of the ruleset.

CSM, from what I've seen, seem to require some very essential units to keep balance and remain competitive (Obliterators, Helldrakes to name a couple).

From what I have read the chaos figures in the DV set are all pretty much duff choices in a squad list. Whilst great figures to paint very few people favour any of the units.

What you have picked up for the Eldar are pretty widely used units, perhaps except the Vyper. They seem a versatile choice if you want.

Space marines seem like a good choice. Maybe you could pick some cheap figures from eBay or something to get you started.

Actually i see cultist blobs all the time

The Chosen not so much. You can use them to represent sergeants or just blinged out regular CSM though.

The Helbrute is not the awesomesauce OP kill-all that i would like it to be, but it's a nice model. If you don't want to use it as a CSM dreadnought you could always convert it to use as a Daemon Prince

As to the OP's question. IF seem to fit you best.

Yeah, throw on another vote for the IF.

I'm going to follow the crowd and go with Imperial Fists. They work well as a "sit back and shoot" army, which is what you seem to be after. Also, in fluff terms they used siege and defensive tactics more often than most chapters/legions.

I can't post without putting a plug for the Dark Gods in, so I will say that if you elected to go with CSM you could go with an Iron Warriors army for the same fluff reasons. CSM can make a reasonable defensive list, but if your friends are already backing Chaos then it might add some variety to the group if you go with something Emperor-friendly.

IF. And your Eldar can be allied in then.

I'm going to take a different tack and try to explain how to use each army to suit your playstyle as it sounds like you've started most of these armies. Remember that you can ally Space Marines and Eldar. Also if you don't paint your Space Marines any of the major paint schemes, you could play them as any Chapter as your style evolves.

Chaos
The thing most Chaos players are doing now is running a bunch of Heldrakes with cultists, so don't go off of the popularity of the army because that doesn't sound like what you want to do. If you want to play Chaos, you could take a Slaanesh Lord, Noise Marines and Obliterators. The Noise Marines are long-range shooting units which will easily outshoot IF Marines, and if you take a Chaos Lord with a Mark of Slaanesh then the Noise Marines become scoring and can take objectives. Obliterators are a Heavy Support unit which have the ability to shoot almost any weapon a unit of Chaos Marines can shoot, are good in melee and very resilient. These can slowly plod across the field and have the ability to reliably destroy almost anything. The downside of this army is that everything is very expensive points-wise, so you won't have a lot of models and you could get brought down by the weight of fire other armies can bring. The upside is that there are a lot of different models in this army if you later decide to change your playstyle.

(Imperial Fist) Space Marines
First off, I would recommend making up your own paint scheme so that you can declare which Founding Chapter your Chapter descends from and get different rules if you later decide to change your playstyle. There are a lot of units in this army which fits your playstyle, the entire list is designed to outlast your opponent and bring them down with shooting. In my opinion, Space Marines do better if they take some amount of vehicles. I'm not sure if this is the type of thing you like, but Drop Pods are also very good and let you deploy your forces anywhere on the game board. If you go the Space Marines route, you'll probably incorporate these eventually.

Eldar
You are right to believe that Eldar are good at being mobile, but I wouldn't say that they need the mobility in order to win. Eldar have a lot of long range fire power, but most of it comes from their vehicles and Heavy Support choices (you can a max of 3 Heavy Support, so you will run out fast). You will probably want to get Wave Serpent transports, which are strong and resilient long range tanks. Outside of these choices, a lot of Eldar options are medium range and are better at skirmishing by running up, shooting, then darting back or into cover. You will likely need some units like this, but they can be mounted in transports or you could bring a lot of snipers instead.

Tyranids
Tyranid shooting largely relies on the output from larger creatures, while the small guys are mostly cannon fodder. The long range firepower of this army is admittedly limited, but if you are willing to compromise then what you'll probably want are a horde of little guys with guns with some long range monsters in the back. Flying Hive Tyrants are also very strong and have a lot of shooting capability, but all monsters will want to get into melee eventually. Tyranids are also dependent on a lot of psychic powers, I'm not sure how you feel about that. Two things to bear in mind is that a new codex is due in November and Tyranids cannot have allies, so your other models won't do you any good.

The decision is up to you, your intuition and research was all correct but if you like the look of an army then you can make it work to your playstyle too. It's best to play an army you enjoy to collect than just an army that wins because you'll get burned out fast. Best of luck in your decision!

I said Imperial Fists, Instead of explaining myself I'll just be honest and said I voted on personal bias.

Imperial fists based on what you said but I think you could be fine with anything except for eldar. They're the only ones that are blatantly different from your play style. Nids can be used in a methodical manner as you describe as your preference, really that's how I play them...you just need to be willing to get lots....and lots....and lots of termagaunts killed while positioning your MC's and hq's. In my case I like to run two flying tyrants with tl devourerer cannons, then I max out tervigons as troop choices by grabbing some termagaunts squads...then I fill elites with hive guard and a doom of malan'tai. I top it all off with two trygon primes. It's my 2k points list and I have a lot of success with it. I really feel like it allows you to be methodical and still feel like tyranids.

Well as a Chaos player, I'd probably recommend you not going Chaos and taking yourself to the Imperium. I know sounds daft, but CSM is pretty frustraiting to play sometimes. Against Tau you're almost doomed from the start.

But more than that, you'd not be able to ally with any of the other stuff you've bought. Eldar, Fisters and Guard all ally quite nicely.

Nids not at all.

So more on an allies basis I'd recomend that. You'd have a nice little Eldar allies force to throw into the meatgrinder.

Don't get me wrong, still love my chaos army, but you can't ally with as much and tbh most of us think that the current CSM codex is a bit meh.

First off i'd like to say a big TY for all the responses. I've been a member of a lot of forums over the years and its such a refreshing change to actually have people who reply and don't just flame.

So after a lot of reading of posts on here and searching for some prices etc. I have indeed gone the way of the Imperial Fists

Managed to find a cracking second hand deal where the guy was selling all the painting equipment and tools along with the models. Was a VERY good deal.

My next problem is painting them. The guy I bought from was predominantly a painter. So the models are at various stages of assembly and painting. I really liked the IF yellow colour scheme but this custom (i can only guess its custom) scheme the seller was doing looks amazing, I'm not sure if i should strip them, or carry on his paint job and use them as a chapter successor to the IF's

I'll get some photos later if anyone wants to see. But the basis is bleached bone main colouring along with some hawk turquoise (i think he said) panels on knees etc.

Anyone got any opinions on this little doozy