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Heya guys- I'm an old time 40k player coming back into the game after some time away;

I have access to some codexes and the BRB, but I'd really appreciate the input of people who have played the game for some time in 6ed;
What i'm really hoping for is some help picking an army based on play-style. I like pretty much every army except orks and maybe grey knights (GK because I like to write my own backstory);

Anyway, what I'm looking for is;

Close-in power. - Either in melee or in firepower, I'd prefer brutal up-close punch to boring sniper-fests.
Armour - The units shouldn't be super tough, but they should be able to take a punch. At least +4 armour maybe, 3+ tops.
Mobility - They need to move around pretty quick to use their shorter range properly, so they should be plenty mobile in order to get stuff done.
No special characters - Stand-alone army with absolute customizability is a MUST. I love to design my own fluff and background.

Things i've considered that fill this space:

Marine Bikers
Marine Scout-Spam> [Land Speeder Storms are kinda awesome]
Eldar Dire Avengers?
Blood Angel Jump packs

I don't know what else can really fit the bill, maybe tau battlesuits with lots of burst cannons?

As for why I'm asking for experienced opinions; I don't care about some kind of meta/flavour of the moment army list- balanced is best- I just don't want to find myself gimped. Losing is fun, but losing all the time would be sad.

Thanks in advance for any help or opinions. <3


Edit:
The following are armies that I straight-up reject:
Any army build that relies on any special character.
Sisters of battle. [Dislike of the metals.]
Grey Knights. [Not customizable enough.]

Dark Angels of either wing (deathwing or ravenwing) are pretty good for what your looking for, space marine bikers also fit the bill great.

GK shunt lists would also be great since they can make a 30" move t1 and flame the enemy to death with incinerators. A mordrak bomb (a special character for gk with his retinue of ghost knights he can take) is usually great for accompanying this list since he deep strikes with his retinue of terminators t1 with no scatter

BA DoA could be good except they are dreadfully bad in the new edition due to being overcosted and many other factors. Maybe when they eventually get updated they'll be good again but for now I would stay away from them.

Saim hann eldar could be really fun also with hordes of jetbikes all of which do great in close quarters.

 A GumyBear wrote:
Dark Angels of either wing (deathwing or ravenwing) are pretty good for what your looking for, space marine bikers also fit the bill great.

GK shunt lists would also be great since they can make a 30" move t1 and flame the enemy to death with incinerators. A mordrak bomb (a special character for gk with his retinue of ghost knights he can take) is usually great for accompanying this list since he deep strikes with his retinue of terminators t1 with no scatter

BA DoA could be good except they are dreadfully bad in the new edition due to being overcosted and many other factors. Maybe when they eventually get updated they'll be good again but for now I would stay away from them.

Saim hann eldar could be really fun also with hordes of jetbikes all of which do great in close quarters.

I'm not a big fan of special characters at all because it reduces the modelling part of the hobby by reducing the customizability of the hobby for me; I think that sort of excludes the Dark Angel Wings or GK lists.
It's a shame because I adore the Nephilim model.

How about Daemons; are they mobile?

Draigowing with Dreadknights. Boom

 MephistonLoD wrote:
Draigowing with Dreadknights. Boom

Uh- Draigowing is kinda
A] Not what I want because it's GKs.
B] Not what I want because it relies entirely on a SC.
C] Draigo is the cheesiest character in 40k and I want to forget he exists.
D] Baby Carriers.

Draigowing is such a bad suggestion it's practically an un-suggestion. sorry. >.>

SammyConnor wrote:

 A GumyBear wrote:
Dark Angels of either wing (deathwing or ravenwing) are pretty good for what your looking for, space marine bikers also fit the bill great.

GK shunt lists would also be great since they can make a 30" move t1 and flame the enemy to death with incinerators. A mordrak bomb (a special character for gk with his retinue of ghost knights he can take) is usually great for accompanying this list since he deep strikes with his retinue of terminators t1 with no scatter

BA DoA could be good except they are dreadfully bad in the new edition due to being overcosted and many other factors. Maybe when they eventually get updated they'll be good again but for now I would stay away from them.

Saim hann eldar could be really fun also with hordes of jetbikes all of which do great in close quarters.

I'm not a big fan of special characters at all because it reduces the modelling part of the hobby by reducing the customizability of the hobby for me; I think that sort of excludes the Dark Angel Wings or GK lists.
It's a shame because I adore the Nephilim model.

How about Daemons; are they mobile?

Oh yeah I forgot about one of my favorite builds, I find daemons a blast to play with and against, there are two builds that would be great for you, the flying circus where you just spam FMCs and the hound rush where you have 60 scouting beasts that are a pretty good in CC.

As for the special character and modeling you can really make Mordrak out of any old GK termie if you like and give him an awskme pose and everything. His ghost knights are also a great modeling experience, a buddy I know has skulls in place of the terminator helmets and has smoke all around their bases and they look quite ghastly.

SammyConnor wrote:
Anyway, what I'm looking for is;

Close-in power. - Either in melee or in firepower, I'd prefer brutal up-close punch to boring sniper-fests.
Armour - The units shouldn't be super tough, but they should be able to take a punch. At least +4 armour maybe, 3+ tops.
Mobility - They need to move around pretty quick to use their shorter range properly, so they should be plenty mobile in order to get stuff done.

I love Sisters, so I gotta mention them: more meltaguns and flamers per squad than anyone else in the game -- sometimes with Ignores Cover, Preferred Enemy, Rending, or Shred depending on your Acts of Faith -- and 3+ armor/6++ invulnerable, plus the option to take a Priest and reroll all failed saves or all failed to-wounds (pick one).

Mobility isn't super, but you have Seraphim as Jump Troops and Dominions all Scout now.

 SisterSydney wrote:

SammyConnor wrote:
Anyway, what I'm looking for is;

Close-in power. - Either in melee or in firepower, I'd prefer brutal up-close punch to boring sniper-fests.
Armour - The units shouldn't be super tough, but they should be able to take a punch. At least +4 armour maybe, 3+ tops.
Mobility - They need to move around pretty quick to use their shorter range properly, so they should be plenty mobile in order to get stuff done.

I love Sisters, so I gotta mention them: more meltaguns and flamers per squad than anyone else in the game -- sometimes with Ignores Cover, Preferred Enemy, Rending, or Shred depending on your Acts of Faith -- and 3+ armor/6++ invulnerable, plus the option to take a Priest and reroll all failed saves or all failed to-wounds (pick one).

Mobility isn't super, but you have Seraphim as Jump Troops and Dominions all Scout now.

If your gonna play sisters prepare for a heavy mech list if you want to play them to the best of their abilities, the immolator is a great transport and can be taken en masse with sisters

 SisterSydney wrote:

SammyConnor wrote:
Anyway, what I'm looking for is;

Close-in power. - Either in melee or in firepower, I'd prefer brutal up-close punch to boring sniper-fests.
Armour - The units shouldn't be super tough, but they should be able to take a punch. At least +4 armour maybe, 3+ tops.
Mobility - They need to move around pretty quick to use their shorter range properly, so they should be plenty mobile in order to get stuff done.

I love Sisters, so I gotta mention them: more meltaguns and flamers per squad than anyone else in the game -- sometimes with Ignores Cover, Preferred Enemy, Rending, or Shred depending on your Acts of Faith -- and 3+ armor/6++ invulnerable, plus the option to take a Priest and reroll all failed saves or all failed to-wounds (pick one).

Mobility isn't super, but you have Seraphim as Jump Troops and Dominions all Scout now.

I'd consider sisters, but

1] I have no device on which to purchase their digital 'codex'
2] I'm not too fond of the metals, due to how hard they are to work with and also their ancient styling. [Also Power-Bras.]
3] Prohibitively expensive even by GW standards.

I think they're pretty cool, but I have to strike them out, sadly- I'll update my OP to reflect it.

Lord, the Immolator. How could I forget? You can get almost one per squad as a dedicated transport (excluding Jump Troops and Reprentia) and they've got TL multi-melta or heavy flamer.

Still the crappy basic Rhino armor, and they can only carry 6.

Speed freak orks are also a fun option although a very rough list to win with

SisterSydney wrote:Lord, the Immolator. How could I forget? You can get almost one per squad as a dedicated transport (excluding Jump Troops and Reprentia) and they've got TL multi-melta or heavy flamer.

Still the crappy basic Rhino armor, and they can only carry 6.

SoBs also have my favourite vehicle; the Repressor from Forgeworld. It's immensely cool- Like a riot truck/APC hybrid. Unfortunately those metals are so offputting. :C

A GumyBear wrote:Speed freak orks are also a fun option although a very rough list to win with

Yeah Orks are... okay. I love the ability to kitbash and cusomise to my hearts content, but I'm not sure I can bring myself to play an army of what are basically green... idiots.


Sorry if anyone feels i'm being difficult, but I'm sort of selecting an army by elimination.
I appreciate ALL the responses so far. <3

Thats perfectly reasonable, what are your thoughts on the saim hann eldar and daemons?

 A GumyBear wrote:
Thats perfectly reasonable, what are your thoughts on the saim hann eldar and daemons?

I think that they're somewhat aesthetically distanced from ideal; they might also be a bit squishy. I'd like a 4+ save minimum where possible- I don't know if any daemons can have that.

Saim Hann Eldar are also okay, but I prefer a chunkier more space-marine look than eldar can pull off. They're possible [I like their vehicles quite a bit] but not topping my interests.
I'd be much more interested in Daemons if they have 4+ saves. [I also prefer fewer model-count armies - and would also MOST prefer mono-god setups].


Edit: I'm still considering Scout-Spam Marines. Loaded into land speeder storms they seem like they could work pretty well either in combat or in shooting with 'Sentinels of Terra' bolter drill up close.

Blood Angels fit what your looking for they are fast moving melee focused. I played Blood Angels for about a year into the current edition then I traded them up for Bugs. However I didn't have any problems running them in whats being called the "shooting edition." Just focus on building your core choices and take Sang. Priests FNP helps A LOT. Also if you take Death Company take bolters and put them in a Storm Raven with a libby and blood talon dread. Then point them at what unit you want to die first.

Blood Angels are a strike force not an army that is meant to sit back and hold objectives. So the key to winning is MOVE MOVE MOVE and jump from cover to cover. Blocking LOS of your enemy is your friend. Much like the Dark Eldar you need to be a step ahead of your opponent.

 DarkWind wrote:
Blood Angels fit what your looking for they are fast moving melee focused. I played Blood Angels for about a year into the current edition then I traded them up for Bugs. However I didn't have any problems running them in whats being called the "shooting edition." Just focus on building your core choices and take Sang. Priests FNP helps A LOT. Also if you take Death Company take bolters and put them in a Storm Raven with a libby and blood talon dread. Then point them at what unit you want to die first.

Blood Angels are a strike force not an army that is meant to sit back and hold objectives. So the key to winning is MOVE MOVE MOVE and jump from cover to cover. Blocking LOS of your enemy is your friend. Much like the Dark Eldar you need to be a step ahead of your opponent.

BA are certainly high mobility all around, and I like their flamer/melta/assault cannon sort of focus too. I'd be very interested if not for the fact that people seem to call them weak because of being overcosted and suchlike. I also quite like their look.

Salamanders with a BA allied attachment. You get tough, close range firepower from the Salamanders and the BA detachment gives you mobility and melee.

My recommendation would be a Reclusiarch with a squad of Death Company.

SammyConnor wrote:

 A GumyBear wrote:
Thats perfectly reasonable, what are your thoughts on the saim hann eldar and daemons?

I think that they're somewhat aesthetically distanced from ideal; they might also be a bit squishy. I'd like a 4+ save minimum where possible- I don't know if any daemons can have that.

Saim Hann Eldar are also okay, but I prefer a chunkier more space-marine look than eldar can pull off. They're possible [I like their vehicles quite a bit] but not topping my interests.
I'd be much more interested in Daemons if they have 4+ saves. [I also prefer fewer model-count armies - and would also MOST prefer mono-god setups].


Edit: I'm still considering Scout-Spam Marines. Loaded into land speeder storms they seem like they could work pretty well either in combat or in shooting with 'Sentinels of Terra' bolter drill up close.

The flying circus list has access to all 3+ armor and 5++ invulnerable alongside a 2++ rerollable on fateweaver (a goofy soecial character but is not necessary in a list although a huge boost)

+1 Blood Angels.

The only "you have to take a special character" army is if you want 2+ armor sanguinary guard spam, but you pointed out not caring for that.

The major focused options Blood Angels have are: Drop pod lists with assault squads and dreadnoughts, bunch of fast razorbacks with assault squads, bunch of jump pack assault squads with a few jump pack priests giving everyone FNP and a couple librarians giving everyone 5+ cover out in the open, and a more comical one...you can fit several land raiders with assault squads in one 2k list.

A recent one I tried out was a reclusiarch and 15 DC in a crusader, a priest and libby leading an assault squad in a redeemer, and two 5 mans in basic raiders. It was pretty silly when my opponent couldn't inflict damage at all for like 3 turns.

A mass of pistol+ccw scouts infiltrating could also be hilarious. Remember that you can charge after infiltrate if you go SECOND.

Another plus: No one can call you a cheese/WAAC player if you run a no ally BA list. And when you win, they become very sad

Narrowing down the list, I think I'm now divided between two more likely options and a less likely tertiary.

1] Blood Angels - Jump Packs Everywhere.
2] SM Scout Force - I absolutely love how scouts look plus they fit the bill.

3] Guard update comes soon; I like IG tanks, Transports particularly- what about flamer/melta loaded veterans or melee veterans supported by plenty of heavy flamers?

Not sure where all the hate on GKs is coming from, you don't have to use any of their characters and they are plenty customizable (Not sure exactly what you're looking for here, if you want to just cut apart and re-make every model then use Orks). A Grand Master or Inquisitor works perfectly fine and they have access to plenty of weapons that are amazing at medium to close range, not to mention the force weapons that they will all have.

Like A GumyBear said a GK Interceptor squad Shunt list would suit the mobile, close range firepower with a CC bite that you were looking for. They aren't expensive to start collecting due to low model count, have great minis, and (almost?) everything is available in plastic.

If you just hate them for your own personal reason, fine by me, but there are plenty of options in that army other than Draigowing and I think you're dismissing them for the wrong reasons - especially if you haven't studied that codex.

EDIT:

The Guard update might be worth waiting for, but it would be tough (and expensive) to start an effective IG army that can hold its own in Assault. You'd need some pretty big power blobs with PW to be any sort of effective.

 rabidguineapig wrote:
Not sure where all the hate on GKs is coming from, you don't have to use any of their characters and they are plenty customizable (Not sure exactly what you're looking for here, if you want to just cut apart and re-make every model then use Orks). A Grand Master or Inquisitor works perfectly fine and they have access to plenty of weapons that are amazing at medium to close range, not to mention the force weapons that they will all have.

Like A GumyBear said a GK Interceptor squad Shunt list would suit the mobile, close range firepower with a CC bite that you were looking for. They aren't expensive to start collecting due to low model count, have great minis, and (almost?) everything is available in plastic.

If you just hate them for your own personal reason, fine by me, but there are plenty of options in that army other than Draigowing and I think you're dismissing them for the wrong reasons - especially if you haven't studied that codex.

I write back-story for every army that I play, the same as I write background for my characters in role playing games. Grey Knights have super rigid background that puts me off; otherwise I'd be very interested. I've always loved many of the models and Psycannon bolts makes some units way more useful.

SammyConnor wrote:

 MephistonLoD wrote:
Draigowing with Dreadknights. Boom

Uh- Draigowing is kinda
A] Not what I want because it's GKs.
B] Not what I want because it relies entirely on a SC.
C] Draigo is the cheesiest character in 40k and I want to forget he exists.
D] Baby Carriers.

Draigowing is such a bad suggestion it's practically an un-suggestion. sorry. >.>

Sooooooooo you don't want to play Draigowing is what you're saying?

 MephistonLoD wrote:

SammyConnor wrote:

 MephistonLoD wrote:
Draigowing with Dreadknights. Boom

Uh- Draigowing is kinda
A] Not what I want because it's GKs.
B] Not what I want because it relies entirely on a SC.
C] Draigo is the cheesiest character in 40k and I want to forget he exists.
D] Baby Carriers.

Draigowing is such a bad suggestion it's practically an un-suggestion. sorry. >.>

Sooooooooo you don't want to play Draigowing is what you're saying?

Haha, something like that!

Sorry to be a pain, but you might want to throw Necrons back in there.

They're very tough (T4 and a 4+ or 3+ save all round), have excellent close-in firepower (they only have something like 2 guns with more than 24" range), and while there are plenty of special characters to play around with, there is absolutely no need to use any of them - the default Overlord and Destroyer Lord are both fully capable of standing on their own.

You can go with Warriors or Immortals, depending on if you want hordes of poor troops or small units of more elite troops (although the difference in actual skill is minor, poor is a very relative term), you can have your home-fluffed hero units (court lords are the most customisable 'sergeants' in the game and can be fielded as a single unit if you choose) and basically everything you can take is a viable choice (except flayed ones).

That said, of your list, I would suggest Blood Angels. Scouts are awesome (I'm kind of doing Scouts at the moment myself), but they suffer for their low WS/BS and heavy flamers murderise them (same reason I'd suggest staying away from Warriors if you go Necrons). That said, maybe heavy flamers aren't as common in your area.

SammyConnor wrote:

 rabidguineapig wrote:
Not sure where all the hate on GKs is coming from, you don't have to use any of their characters and they are plenty customizable (Not sure exactly what you're looking for here, if you want to just cut apart and re-make every model then use Orks). A Grand Master or Inquisitor works perfectly fine and they have access to plenty of weapons that are amazing at medium to close range, not to mention the force weapons that they will all have.

Like A GumyBear said a GK Interceptor squad Shunt list would suit the mobile, close range firepower with a CC bite that you were looking for. They aren't expensive to start collecting due to low model count, have great minis, and (almost?) everything is available in plastic.

If you just hate them for your own personal reason, fine by me, but there are plenty of options in that army other than Draigowing and I think you're dismissing them for the wrong reasons - especially if you haven't studied that codex.

I write back-story for every army that I play, the same as I write background for my characters in role playing games. Grey Knights have super rigid background that puts me off; otherwise I'd be very interested. I've always loved many of the models and Psycannon bolts makes some units way more useful.

Yeah I can see where that would be a problem, just felt compelled to defend them haha. Too bad there aren't Assassins in other armies, you could write some epic fluff about them.

Guard should definitely be right up your alley though, you can basically create whatever back story you want and they have plenty of models that can be customized to fit it.

Also why is Draigo the cheesiest character?!

Have you considered Tyranids? New codex so you're safe from an update for a while, lots of T6 5-6W 2-3+ monsters, a lot of short range fire power, melee punch, lots of fleet or options to take fleet. If you don't mind the aesthetic the Swarm box is a really good bargain right now.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Sorry to be a pain, but you might want to throw Necrons back in there.

They're very tough (T4 and a 4+ or 3+ save all round), have excellent close-in firepower (they only have something like 2 guns with more than 24" range), and while there are plenty of special characters to play around with, there is absolutely no need to use any of them - the default Overlord and Destroyer Lord are both fully capable of standing on their own.

You can go with Warriors or Immortals, depending on if you want hordes of poor troops or small units of more elite troops (although the difference in actual skill is minor, poor is a very relative term), you can have your home-fluffed hero units (court lords are the most customisable 'sergeants' in the game and can be fielded as a single unit if you choose) and basically everything you can take is a viable choice (except flayed ones).

That said, of your list, I would suggest Blood Angels. Scouts are awesome (I'm kind of doing Scouts at the moment myself), but they suffer for their low WS/BS and heavy flamers murderise them (same reason I'd suggest staying away from Warriors if you go Necrons). That said, maybe heavy flamers aren't as common in your area.

I actually have a half built ghost ark; I hate that damn model. It's the fiddliest freakin' thing I've ever had the misfortune of putting glue on and it makes me sad because it looks great and I keep hearing about how much people hate the necron croissants.

As for scouts, I was considering putting them in storms [that cerberus blind launcher is pretty crazy] and maybe making them Iron hands so they're 4+ and FnP, or Sentinels of Terra so they can do crazy driveby shenannigans.

Sidguard wrote:
Have you considered Tyranids? New codex so you're safe from an update for a while, lots of T6 5-6W 2-3+ monsters, a lot of short range fire power, melee punch, lots of fleet or options to take fleet. If you don't mind the aesthetic the Swarm box is a really good bargain right now.

I've steered very far away from Tyranids. I've heard no good news about them at all and even worse news for things like Warriors [which are their primary source of 4++ saves]. I can't say I'm very open to 'nids.

Eh! What's yo beef wit Draigo!?