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I was just poking around most of the codexes for 40k and was wondering which army is realy competative? Like which army kinda takes the reins for competitive tournaments? Im not overly talking about an army where you throw them on the board willy nilly and they do the work for you but more of the if you have tactical awareness you can really utilize the army. This is obviously strictly game wise and not the lore. Any opinions are appreciated.

Eldar and Tau are probably the most competitive.

If BAO showed anything the best army right now is drop pod marines

Yeah those were my first two thoughts but didn't the Tau get nerfed with 7th edition?

Really depends on what you are looking at. Eldar, Tau, and SM all spring to mind, but all of this is pretty situational.

Some of the silly taudar combos went but yeah eldar and codex space marines are very strong at the most you will mainly here wave serpent spam and grav gun or drop pod spam (notice the spam!)
I imagine you are new to 40k? Really power level can fluctuate a lot as the next hawt thing is released or the next new book comes out
I've been playing since rogue trader, and honestly, I would recommend pick the army who's models and background you like, 40k is a huge investment in both time effort and money, if you are just starting off, you will probably loose, a lot you could easily get disheartened if you just pick an army that you think is gonna win rather than one you really really like
Have a read over the 40k wiki at the army backgrounds see what you like

acidlemon wrote:
I was just poking around most of the codexes for 40k and was wondering which army is realy competative? Like which army kinda takes the reins for competitive tournaments? Im not overly talking about an army where you throw them on the board willy nilly and they do the work for you but more of the if you have tactical awareness you can really utilize the army. This is obviously strictly game wise and not the lore. Any opinions are appreciated.

It depends who you ask.

You ask me? Tau and Eldar

There is a pretty comp. tyranid list that can be really well executed and be devestating.

acidlemon wrote:
I was just poking around most of the codexes for 40k and was wondering which army is realy competative? Like which army kinda takes the reins for competitive tournaments? Im not overly talking about an army where you throw them on the board willy nilly and they do the work for you but more of the if you have tactical awareness you can really utilize the army. This is obviously strictly game wise and not the lore. Any opinions are appreciated.

acid, you're asking an age old question - let me phrase your question in a few different ways to try answering it.

Q: What army do you see the most at competitive tournaments?
A: The answer changes almost every time a new codex is released. Flavor of the Month or FOTM is a common term. Right now, Eldar is the most "broken overpowered codex" and you'll find lots of people jumping onto the Eldar bandwagon to get some. In a few months, it will be something aside from Eldar. Last year it was Chaos. The year before, Grey Knights. The year before, Space Wolves. At any given point in time, if you survey the competitive 40k scene, you'll find that 30-50% of everyone is playing the same army, with mostly the same list, and that army is whatever the FOTM is.

Q: What army wins the most at competitive tournaments?
A: That's a combination of skilled players using TAC lists.

Q: What army can win if you are a tactica gen-CREEEEEEEED! Erm, if you're tactically competent?
A: All of them. There are quite a few players around who enjoy taking what are considered the "weakest" codices, bringing those "weak" armies to tournaments, and smash-facing the FOTM players, and grinding their armies into dust.

I need to reinforce what Kaliban101 is saying: Pick an army that you LIKE. Read the fluff. As your gameplay improves, you'll succeed with that army, regardless of which it is. If you pick an army that isn't momentarily the FOTM with potential "I-win" button combinations, have patience, everyone gets their turn.

If you want an army that is competitive right now, pick Eldar, and get 10 wave serpents...but this is cyclical. In a few months, a new codex will pop out that has units in it that instant-kill wave serpents and cause the embarked units instant death, their souls go to Slaanesh, and they are instantly resummoned as daemons for your psykers. Then a few months after that, a new codex will pop out that gives a marine army Exterminatus on the roll to go first on a 6+, destroying all terrain and units on the table. If you went with what's FOTM right now, you'll be disappointed later.

Pick something you like. It's either good, you can make it good, or it will get good.

 Dashofpepper wrote:
...but this is cyclical. In a few months, a new codex will pop out that has units in it that instant-kill wave serpents and cause the embarked units instant death, their souls go to Slaanesh, and they are instantly resummoned as daemons for your psykers. Then a few months after that, a new codex will pop out that gives a marine army Exterminatus on the roll to go first on a 6+, destroying all terrain and units on the table. If you went with what's FOTM right now, you'll be disappointed later.

These sound like very accurate predictions

Dashofpepper hit it pretty accurately, the "best" army changes, and the meta game varies by area. Right now the NOVA Open is underway and the top lists will be dissected for the next couple months, as it hosts many of the best US players and some of Europe's premier 40k guys as well. The BAO, Feast of Blades, Adepticon and the US/Euro team tourneys also produce fuel to the "best army" argument.

Torrent of Fire is pretty plugged in to the tournament scene and they rank armies/players across the US by major tournament results in a statistics heavy manner if you really want to get into the numbers.

7th Edition just came out, Grey Knights have a new book, Daemons have a new summoning shenanigan list, Eldar and Tau changed a lot, the psychic phase is drastically different, Space Marines got better (arguably), while biker armies and Space Wolves got less powerful. The meta changes frequently, in the beginning of 6th Ed Necron air was very powerful, then Tau countered it with a ton of anti-air. The Tau gunline was strong for a while, then Eldar and their jet bike/psyker lists did great things, as did Wave Serpent Spam. Then screamerstar and its rerollable 2++ (invuln) wrecked shop; then we saw the deathstars at the end of 6th Ed, be it Tau with Riptides, SM with Centurions and Psykers, Screamerstar, Jetstar, and even the Necron Spiderstar.

I'm sure I missed a few power builds from 6th Ed in there, but the meta changes a lot, as does the current "best army". And this was over a two year period, during which most players would assemble and paint a single army, not multiple.

Pick what you like; unless you are in it to win a major tournament (which would be impressive, like going pro in a sport straight from JV), having the best/most powerful army isn't as important as having fun with what you play.

If you are playing local, even competitive gamers will (or should) run friendly games with balanced lists. I have had the opportunity to play against and around some first tier players, and they were always very, very friendly about our games, even in local tournaments. If its a pick up game at home or the local store, if you are new any player that isn't a complete jerk will take it easy to keep it fun for all involved. Our hobby relies on participation and getting new players; crushing a new player is a lose-lose situation.

Bottom line; pick what army interests you the most. You can always start a second, or third, of tenth.

If you like space marines, you can virtually play Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, Black Templar etc.. by repainting your army. You dont really need all the heraldry or specific details such as wolf pelts, winged grim reapers, blood drops, tempar cross. If youare good at free style/hand painting you could paint that detail into the pauldrons.

You maybe able to play chaos space marines but why would you if you are a win at all cost player.

Do tourneys allow scratch built imperial knights? IF they did, i would scratch build 3 imp knights for for an adamantine lance formation as my army. No need to have all those little pieces.

 Dashofpepper wrote:

acidlemon wrote:
I was just poking around most of the codexes for 40k and was wondering which army is realy competative? Like which army kinda takes the reins for competitive tournaments? Im not overly talking about an army where you throw them on the board willy nilly and they do the work for you but more of the if you have tactical awareness you can really utilize the army. This is obviously strictly game wise and not the lore. Any opinions are appreciated.

acid, you're asking an age old question - let me phrase your question in a few different ways to try answering it.

Q: What army do you see the most at competitive tournaments?
A: The answer changes almost every time a new codex is released. Flavor of the Month or FOTM is a common term. Right now, Eldar is the most "broken overpowered codex" and you'll find lots of people jumping onto the Eldar bandwagon to get some. In a few months, it will be something aside from Eldar. Last year it was Chaos. The year before, Grey Knights. The year before, Space Wolves. At any given point in time, if you survey the competitive 40k scene, you'll find that 30-50% of everyone is playing the same army, with mostly the same list, and that army is whatever the FOTM is.

Q: What army wins the most at competitive tournaments?
A: That's a combination of skilled players using TAC lists.

Q: What army can win if you are a tactica gen-CREEEEEEEED! Erm, if you're tactically competent?
A: All of them. There are quite a few players around who enjoy taking what are considered the "weakest" codices, bringing those "weak" armies to tournaments, and smash-facing the FOTM players, and grinding their armies into dust.

I need to reinforce what Kaliban101 is saying: Pick an army that you LIKE. Read the fluff. As your gameplay improves, you'll succeed with that army, regardless of which it is. If you pick an army that isn't momentarily the FOTM with potential "I-win" button combinations, have patience, everyone gets their turn.

If you want an army that is competitive right now, pick Eldar, and get 10 wave serpents...but this is cyclical. In a few months, a new codex will pop out that has units in it that instant-kill wave serpents and cause the embarked units instant death, their souls go to Slaanesh, and they are instantly resummoned as daemons for your psykers. Then a few months after that, a new codex will pop out that gives a marine army Exterminatus on the roll to go first on a 6+, destroying all terrain and units on the table. If you went with what's FOTM right now, you'll be disappointed later.

Pick something you like. It's either good, you can make it good, or it will get good.

The most complete and succint summary of 40k I have read.

Yeah I'll throw another vote to Tau and Eldar.

I feel like Tau are not top dogs anymore. They seem to have all but vanished from my LGS when 7th came out. That could be because the cheese they had is gone, and no one who played them locally actually liked them though.

Eldar are pretty rough though, daemons can be rough if played well, as they have some huge margin for error, and most of the competitive lists highly rely on psykers. So you are at the will of your dice much more than other armies.