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I want to start a new army, but I have no idea where to go. I currently play Eldar so want to move away from that play style of shoot from 36"+ away and never actually fight it out toe to toe, I enjoy playing it but if I'm going to start another army it should be as different as possible. I want to do a very small model count army with affordable (well as affordable as GW gets) models, so to me that lends towards playing a SM army of some sort, but that doesn't really narrow it down much. Basically brings me down to the following options;

-Codex SM
-Chaos Space Marines
-Dark Angels
-Grey Knights
-Space Wolves
-Blood Angels
-And even Adepta Sororitas (maybe not technically SM but whatever)

Can someone please help me pick one of these things and give me some tips on where I can start with it? I'm strongly considering Grey Knights and Space Wolves, just because they are sooooo different from the Eldar army, their primary strengths being survivability and brutal cc, compared to Eldar maneuverability and brutal ranged weaponry. Anyways, someone help, and give me an idea of where to start with whichever you think I should start with.

I have a bias towards SM so I'd say that GK or BA would be a good choice. BA is all about the assault and GK are 'elite' units so small numbers of high point model units. Also a benefit is that there are so many people that play SM that there's usually a deal online or on ebay.

- Just my 2 cents.

Well, affordable rules out the best army for this (Sororitas) - they tend to be higher model count than Marine armies, and are more expensive individually.

That said, when it comes to getting up-close-and-personal, there really is nothing better for the job until you get into melee range.

Grey Knights prefer to stay at about 13"-24" away from the enemy because of their plethora of shooting in that range category. That said, they're just as capable of mixing it up in hand-to-hand.

Space Wolves and Blood Angels are the go-to choice for hand to hand on that list, although Chaos can mix it up there as well. Chaos tend towards slightly higher model counts, however, being a point cheaper than standard Astartes with BP+CCW.

If you want a real close combat Marine army, though, I'd go for Mantis Warriors (Nasty when charging from cover) or Carcharodons (the benefits of Codex Marines and Chaos Marines mixed in together!).

Maybe a biker army, like White Scars (Codex:SM)? DA does them, too.
It's cheaper than lots of foot troops, should be fairly easy to pad out, and has the mix of shooting and cc.

Chaos Marines are a good choice. You can design and customize your army to the current meta far better than the Snowflake Marines (BA, SW, GK...) and they are not as boring as vanilla Marines (C:SM, DA).

Sisters of Battle are nice, but I heard the latest codex wasn't met with much enthusiasm and the still metal-only models are a downer too. Unless you wait for new models (and judging by GW's enthusiasm for sisters, this may take a while) I'd rather start CSM.

You could just go space marines and slowly buy other codeces until you can field all the different variations. Or black templar. They're close combat but are essentially regular marines with a few variations.

I say grey knights. They seem opposite of eldar. Up close and personal

Always start Orks.

Always.

Orks are the most fun army in the whole game. Loads of shooty, or loads of Krumpy. Pick and choose either a mix or one or the other. And scratchbuilds are the easiest with orks. Just glue on loads of card and you gotz yer armur plating

Make an imperial knights Amy, just saying it could be fun.