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Hey there.
So I was wondering, what made you want to choose the army that you have? I see alot of posts on Army List about Grey Knights and Eldar and I think this is simply because they are the 2 greatest armies going in today, the unbeatable Scatbike Eldar list is a popular post and I have seen many insane Grey Knight lists on the page and it got me thinking, Do some people choose their army simply to win or be the guy with the cheese list?
I mean I debated choosing either of the 2 armies because I think the Eldar models are beautiful, and the same goes for Grey Knights but it never crossed my mind to choose an army simply on the basis of winning, I choose Chaos for god sakes.

The reason I choose Chaos Space Marines with Khorne Daemonkin is because I love, absolutely adore the models, Each model no matter what, is amazing to look at; Defilers, Helbrutes, Obliterators Daemon Prince, Ahriman etc, etc. The fluff is amazing, seeing how they completely f****d up the entire universe during the Horus Heresy and making the lives of the greatest soldiers in the Universe, Space Marines a misery. 4 Chaos Gods each as outlandish and as insane as the rest and each with a great back story, then you have the back stories of each of the HQ's: Abaddon being the craziest and most feared Chaos Lord in existence, favored by all 4 Gods and the favored of Horus, Who was close to killing The Emperor, The Violent Crazed Fury of Khornes 2nd favorite champion Kharn and his story with Angron, The Red Corsairs Tyrant of Badab Huron Blackheart, The Master of the Rubric and one of the greatest downfall of the history Chaos. Ahriman of the Thousand Sons, The Captain of the Terminus Est and favored of Nurgle, Typhus...Uhhh Lucius is in there too and he can like, turn himself back into himself when someone kills him...yeah. But even the stories about the Cultists being traitors of the Imperium seeking the acceptance of the Gods, Traitors of the Empire turned into Super Soliders with the gifts of Chaos Gods, Chaos Space Marines. MMMMMM! I could go on forever but I think ive taken enough time so lets here why you choose your army.

Orks: super obvious standout as the best army in the canon-I challenge anyone to read Gorkamorka and not be a fan of the greenskins. Also, allowed me to flex the converting muscles creating many an enjoyable evening looting vindicator a, Carnifexes and what have you.

Harlequins: I entered the game in 5th and really, really wanted a full harlequin army. I've owned the full metal set since entering the hobby and just wished for a plastic kit or two...and now that I've got them I'm converting and working hard to make every model a unique piece with as much talent as I can scrape up. They're fun to play, and have compelling fluff...but, aesthetics are the reason I chose Harleaquins. Aesthetics and uniqueness.

Imperial Guard: When I was first getting into 40k I had narrowed my army choices down to Imperial Guard, Tau and Space Marines. I saw the Leman Russ battle tank and their articles at the time about building/collecting/painting the things. I was hooked to the army.

Space Marines: I bought Battle of Macragge for whatever reason and decided to expand on the Marine army. The rest is history.

Eldar: The models are pretty cool and they are a fast, mobile army. I thought they'd be a nice break from the gunlines I always ran.

There's a very organic flow to how I started armies.

Tyranids were my first choice back in 3rd and are still my primary after my long time away from the game. I even still buy 3rd Edition models most of the time. Not a big fan of how I'm forced to play if I want to win, and I struggle against decent lists, but I am still working at it without dropping into the Flyrant Spam mentality.

Ultramarines released a unit called the Tyrannic War Veterans in one of the White Dwarf issues I had gotten, so Ultramarines were sealed as my next choice. Battle of Macragge starter set helped cement the army as my #2. Other models like the Forge World Ultramarines Dreadnought are very anti-Tyranid as well and I like the 'feud' between my armies.

Eldar came next as my first army when I returned. I liked their Wraith units back in 3rd, and the Wraithlord put a fear in my Carnifex, but I never did end up getting the Wraith army I had been interested in and likely never will. The Scatbikes now and the Wave Serpents in the previous codex just didn't thrill me. I wanted something more cohesive and with the new codex, my Sniper army isn't playable so I've set them aside. I'll pick them back up for Corsairs most likely, but right now they sit on a shelf.

Dark Eldar was the obvious choice with Eldar. Reavers and Raiders and Talos were all very good looking models that fit my play style well. But they got put away with Eldar since I never had more than 750pts of them.

Blood Angels got their own campaign against Tyranids, so I added them to the list. They're not good right now and spend a lot of time on the shelf, but I like the idea of Fast tanks and Jump Packs are a new way to run an army. May as well.

Chaos Space Marines sorta fell into my lap. My friend had started them and I had picked up some Obliterators for a present for some holiday or other. Nice and cheap but well painted. Too well painted. I kept them and picked up Dark Vengeance and now have a full Red Corsair list.

Red Corsairs led to Astral Claws. Bikes, Speeders, militia troops, Forge World everywhere! I've been in the game long enough that it was time to move to a Forge World army anyway. Expand into another facet of the game.

Militia Troops are leading ever so slowly to Imperial Guard. I'll have enough models from the Tyrant's Legion army list to have about 60% of an Imperial Guard list, so may as well finish that out.

Friend began Space Wolves and I had been itching for a new army for 'funsies', and Stormclaw was still available here. So, I started Orks to ease his buy-in for a new army and so I had something I could just relax and fun with.

I started playing Eldar 10~15 years ago almost entirely for the aesthetic (I love the swoopyness!), but there were other reasons too. No interest in the boxy imperium tanks, no interest in another horde army seeing as I had just finished my Greenskin fantasy army, so that rules out orks and tyranids... Tau didn't exist at the time, and I already had Dark Elves for Fantasy so Dark Eldar was toooooo close

CSM: Looks wicked sick. played for many years and lost.

Titans: Wanted to only move a few models compared to buckets of plague zombie cultists.

My fourteen year old friends were mostly picking up Tactical Squad starters and I wanted to be the bad guys. Looked around and Khorne, Tzeentch and Nurgle were always seen as the big guys.

Slaanesh Marines played guitars and were crazy for sensation. Their paint scheme was wild and random.

Done.

I chose Eldar primarily because their more organic, clean, and curved-lines aesthetic appealed to me. They also have excellent lore that reminds me of my childhood reading Greek Myths. The fact that they are so well internally balanced that I can make almost any unit work on the tabletop is only icing on the cake. I've tried long and hard to play eldar in a balanced way, and so far I feel that I'm succeeding.

Dark Eldar have great looking models and lore as well, probably better than the Eldar Craftworlds in my opinion. Their 7th edition codex might not hold up to their goody-goody kin, but they have plenty of units that can literally bring the pain and offer decent flexibility in army construction. Harlequins might come after, initially as allies for Dark Eldar.

I'm waiting on Chaos to get updated (read: good) again before I pick them up as an MEQ army. the model line needs some work too. Again, I love their whole aesthetic and the lore is key to the 40k universe. It's just a shame that you need Forge World and Daemon Allies to play with them these days.

Tau also appeal to me, but that's just the anime fan in me. The new codex and models have me excited, but I've never quite meshed with their lore. Tau always come off as insignificant or overly positive in tone to me, and I'm no fan of the "Greater Good". Still, they're grimdark enough to be in 40k, just in a non-standard way.

I fell in love with Eldar when I first saw them. Something about the variety and smooth lines. I then found how they played and liked that too.

Dark Eldar came as allies, as I loved the fluff of both factions, and the idea of them fighting alongside one another.

Chaos Space Marines because a friend decided to split a Dark Vengeance with me. The rest of the army sort of came in bits and pieces from there.

I chose Dark Angels because I like their fluff very match, collecting them is like collecting three armies at once, also they have some of the sexiest models of Imperium model range.

I have 3 Imperial Knights because I love the model, it is alot of fun to paint. I don;t play them that often, but they are definetly decorating my shelf)

At first Skitarii for me were just army that was different from my power armour armies. But now I love them for their models, they are a blast to assemble and paint)

New models of assassins are just too good not to buy.

Ultramarines in my signature are actually my wife's. She picked them because of "by the rules" wibe and cool characters models, or so she says)

Played deamonhunters for fluff aesthetics and sheer number of troop choices. Gk now are pretty much monobulid.
Inquisition giving me a reason to make conversion for them.
DKoK cause german styled, trench siege idea just fits me.
Space marines of two chapters to finish off allies choices for narrative playing just as some more of competitive options if I wish

Orks: I loved the messy, ramshackle design of pretty much everything, and I felt and still feel that they're the most likable faction.

Imperial Guard: because they're the ordinary people of the galaxy, facing up to otherworldly horrors. I like small and ordinary things. I am boring? Yes, but I'm fine with that.

Chronological order to my armies

3rd/4th - just started to get into the hobby and joined with my brother. I was about 12ish at the time and started with Necrons as I was on the robot hype at the time. Started to collect Tyranids when the models came out as I freakin' love aliens. After my brother went to uni I didn't have anyone to play with and wasn't a good painter so I stopped all together.

6th edition rolls around and my best mate re-introduces me back into the hobby. Since I've still got a collection of Tyranids, I decided to get the Codex and an army assembled for them. As time went on I decided to go back to Necrons as well, as I found my old Warriors.

Move to uni and wanted a fresh start/new army for my new location and given the current easy-mode wins I had been relying on, I wanted to improve my tactics and strategies. I decided to collect DE, primarly because I had grown bored of the slow nature of both my Tyranids (this was before Tyranids officially became Codex: Flyrants) and Necrons (didn't have a lot of vehicles, aside Necron Nightscythes which my friend didn't want to play against).

As time went on and I collected my DE, at some point my friend met another gaming buddy who frequently used FW and cheese-filled lists and I had to splash the cash on Tyranids just to keep up with him. Eventually, it got to the point where I decided I didn't want to be known as 'TFG' so I started to collect Orks. They were perhaps the army I loved playing with most because of how random they were and that every unit has a use in the army, even if the Codex isn't as good as Craftworlds and co. They grew to be my first painted collection, even if the paint job isn't great (having never painted before, of course my work was going to be sub-standard). Eventually, Necrons 2015 came around and after having a few test games with my friend, they were too overpowered for my liking and I started to sell some of my models, with my intent to have them all gone by December 2016.

I eventually decided to pick up a SM chapter because everyone was starting one, so I started to collect Mantis Warriors and eventually Blood Angels as neither were deemed overpowered. I don't spend as much time on these guys as I'm primarily a Xenos player but hopefully with my new job prospects, I'll be able to spend more time on them.

I started with Space Marines because they were the easiest army to start with when I got into the game in early 3.5th edition. Now I have Black Templar because I liked their unique codex and their fluff. I have Imperial Fists for the same reasons, a custom chapter being played as Crimson Fists, and thinking of getting a small Blood Angel army just because my favorite color is red, and because I love Death Company.

Grey Knights because I love the Inquisition and wanted a small force. Also, force halberds...

Eldar because they were the first army I wanted to play but never had them. I don't run power lists, only fluff lists as Biel-Tan and all the aspect warriors.

Dark Eldar because I wanted a new army and they finally got new models and I liked the way they looked.

Tyranids because I wanted a bug army. Just the thought of an endless tide of bugs attacking IG made me get them. Plus the Carnifex is still one of my favorite models.

Tau because of big stompy robots and hover tanks.

Imperial Guard because I love the thought of normal unaugmented humans fighting for survival. Plus tanks... all the tanks..

Small army of Orks because I like converting vehicles and I got a bunch or boyz for free from my brother.

I only have a handful of models for Night Lords but I love their fluff. Of all the Chaos chapters they are my favorite.

CSM was my first love due to the whole fallen angel thing, they gave up their humanity to save humanity and became true monsters. Sadly most of their Black Library appearances has them catching heroic bolter rounds fired by thinblooded pretenders.

Imperial Guard are the human faction, average Joe and Jane face the horrors of one hell of a hostile galaxy armed with the most basic of equipment and some seriously unsubtle heavies.

If I ever decided to add another army for this game it'd probably be Tyranids. Zerg/Arachnids appeal to me. Nids just dial it up to 11.

Tau because guns, mechs, auxiliaries, aliens, and just everything is so unique and interesting. The army can expand in any way shape or form in the future since we're always adapting and incorporating new strategies, methodologies, technologies, and peoples. Or so I would like so see.

I hated how all the major factions rush into melee like a bunch of idiots and start swinging their swords around.







I'm just starting a little side of DE. I wanted to do the opposite of the good guys. So bad guys, but my Necrons were ruined with turning them into squabbling feudal lords with a bad biophiliac lust. Not to mention the whole helping people thing and I can't get over the ridiculous image of them as Egyptian/Terminator/Merchants. The only other race to fit the bill of truly bad was the DE and their style was always up there. It helps they got some amazing guns. Tyranids are cool but not bad guys more like an animal species or pestilence. Even before I had to drop my long term plans for Necrons I was planning on DE as a third choice.

I got a battleforce unopened. I'm waiting for a good time to start them but my Tau army isn't done so you know.

If I was to ever choose another faction? I kind of hate all the rest of them to be honest. If by some miracle the kroot rumors pan out I'll look into them.

After getting my Eldar/Ork/Guard ass kicked repeatedly during 2nd (seriously I won a single game). I decided to try a new army for 3rd edition. I had never played Space Marines before so I figured I'd give them a go. A month later the White Dwarf with the Baal Predator comes out and I'm hooked. I've owned and sold a number of armies since then, but the Blood Angels are my favorite. I have no doubt the raw power of the 3rd ed. codex influenced my preference. Now regardless of how far I wander or the power level of the codex, I always return home to Baal.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gamgee wrote:

I hated how all the major factions rush into melee like a bunch of idiots and start swinging their swords around.

Given it is normally the last thing a Tau warrior sees I can understand.

 Crimson Devil wrote:
After getting my Eldar/Ork/Guard ass kicked repeatedly during 2nd (seriously I won a single game). I decided to try a new army for 3rd edition. I had never played Space Marines before so I figured I'd give them a go. A month later the White Dwarf with the Baal Predator comes out and I'm hooked. I've owned and sold a number of armies since then, but the Blood Angels are my favorite. I have no doubt the raw power of the 3rd ed. codex influenced my preference. Now regardless of how far I wander or the power level of the codex, I always return home to Baal.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Gamgee wrote:

I hated how all the major factions rush into melee like a bunch of idiots and start swinging their swords around.

Given it is normally the last thing a Tau warrior sees I can understand.

Nah even before I was into 40k I played lots of video games and RTS games. The factions that relied more on melee always pissed me off. I liked Dawn of War 1 it wasn't until Dark Crusade its second expansion that I fell in love with 40k because I got to see the Tau/Necrons for the first time.

 KillMaimBurn96 wrote:
The reason I choose Chaos Space Marines with Khorne Daemonkin is because I love, absolutely adore the models

That's why the vast majority of people picked their factions. There are very few people out there who pick a faction for no other reason than they're "god tier" on the tabletop and they want to curb stomp people. People on the internet however would have you believe that it's the opposite, that the vast majority of people playing 40k now only care about winning and ruining their opponent's fun, and that they are some kind of special snowflake in a sea of dog gak, the one in a million that actually appreciates the hobby side and aesthetics.

I was interested in a few different factions when starting, but ultimately went with Tau because I liked their models the most, and I liked the more "modern" military feel of them. After the 6th edition update dropped though, I was forced to stop playing 40k altogether because it was decided then that I only played Tau because they were "overpowered" and I was clearly a WAAC douche who hated fun. For some reason people didn't mind so much when they were handing me my own ass during 4th and 5th edition, but when I got a much-needed power boost I was suddenly the devil himself and became everything wrong with both 40k and the world in general. I haven't played 40k in 2 years and I doubt the new Tau codex will change that, either, as already people are crying about the proliferation of D weapons without seeing a single new rule and have sworn that they'll never play another game against them.

I have thousands of points worth of DE all sitting in boxes that I've collected over the years, because the 2010 update was probably the best thing that ever happened ever and the models all looked amazing (it was also the last time GW did an exciting big reveal at Games Day if I'm not mistaken, before they started doing this "one week notice" bullgak), almost enough Harlequin stuff to field a full Masque, and a small handful of Eldar (mostly bikes, because the main thing holding me back were the ancient jetbike sculpts). I'll never have enough time to get it assembled or painted, and I wouldn't be "allowed" to play with it anyway because of the stigma attached to Eldar now.

I used to think like you until I was using a nerfed army and wasn't able to use the things I liked. When they can't beat Vespid, Firewarrior, and Heavy Rail Rifle spam you know they're not going to win anything.

So I just went to vaporizing every last person with no remorse. Screw them they should get better. Also the funny thing is we're a friendly group here. I fight people who want a game of 40k all the time who use paper, boxes, coins and spare star wars minis as our armies and we literally have every codex open to us with the internet and our technology.

I have no problems letting them run any army list or combo or unit of their chosen factions. I still haven't lost and all I play is Tau Empire. I stopped using FSE it was too easy to win.

Destroy them all Sid. No one even tries to take my advice. I play an "op" army.

Crimson Fists because one of the first products I bought was the Space Marine Battleforce that came with a Tactical Squad, Combat Squad, Assault Squad, Scout Squad, and a Rhino. Built onto it from there. Now I have 3600+ pts of them. Love blue, but didn't want to start Ultramarines, so Crimson Fists were perfect. Their fluff sent me over the edge, since I love the underdog.

Blood Angels because I always liked them and their fluff since long before I got into 40K. Deathstorm pushed me over the edge due to a Furioso and some Death Company being in the box.

If I could travel back in time, I would probably actually have started Space Wolves instead of either of these armies, with a color scheme similar to Bjorn (the grey-blue color). I have a small force of Space Wolves, but I already have two big armies that I am working on, so they will probably never get any bigger.

But if I could go back and start a non-Space Marine force, I would probably have done Tau or Eldar. I love the aesthetics of the Tau and would have done a Crisis Suit based army. Eldar look like fun to play, and had I started a few months ago not a year ago, I may have started them instead of Blood Angels.

I first got into orks because our school club had the Assault on Black Reach set and everyone else fought to play as the superior Ultramarines army. (seriously, there were more points of SM than orks and SM are better at playing on the planet bowling ball on which which noob starter games take place.)

Always liked Chaos - going back 20+ years. I still have the original hardback Slaves To Darkness and The Lost And The Damned. When looking to get back into playing, splitting the DV box with a mate and getting the CSMs from that was a no-brainer. Shame they're crap. Fingers crossed for the new codex...

Started collecting Dark Eldar too, because, well, just look at them. Coolest models out there, as far as I'm concerned. And I like playing baddies.

I love Space Marines, but didn't want to just play the one flavour of them so went with different marine variations and tried to make them as different as possible.

- Grey Knights: My Psyker focused army
- Blood Angels: My combat focused army
- Dark Angels: My biker focused army - Ravenwing
- Iron Hands: My mechanised focused army
- Night Lords: My evil marine army focusing on Raptors, Warp Talons and as much fast moving scary stuff as possible. Chose them over Ravenguard as I love the Forgeworld Night Lords stuff and wanted an evil marine variant.

Imperial Guard: I wanted to be heretical, and at least somewhat capable on the field. With the possibility of flip-flopping my loyalties. Also tanks. LRBT > Everything.

Black Templars: I wanna stab face, and wreck gak. While shouting like a madman. They're a badass chapter, giving the Codex the middle finger, and quadpwning stuff in melee.

6mm Imperial Guard: This is where ima keep my spare Russes.

My first army was Blood Angels. They were the transfer sheer that that came with my RTB01 box.

The little army shards of IG and Orks were for opposing forces in the RPG style RT.

My Ultramarines were started because I wanted a break from painting red, an we wanted a new faction. They took off from there.

Eldar was due to the aesthetics of the falcon grav tank. I’ve got a soft spot for hover tanks, and it hits that spot hard.

Salamanders: I bought a load of SM off a taxi driver because they were cheap. I tried to make them Imperial Fists before discovering how hard yellow is to paint. So then I tried White Scars. ( ) Finally I switched to Salamanders, and was delighted to find how easy green is to paint.

Dark Eldar: I got good enough with my Sallies that I hadnt lost a game in a long time. I wanted to start a glass hammer army as a contrast (and a challenge). I loved this army so much it became my primary force.

Eldar: Psychic allies for my DE. I was inspired to start doing allied-eldar Freakshow lists after realizing the Freakish Spectacle bubble stacks.

Harlequins: Always loved the harlies. When the army got revamped, I bought a codex as soon as I could so I could field them with my other Eldar.

Inquisition: I wanted to throw S10 AP1 pie plates for 80 pts each and yell 'Care Bear stare!' while doing it. Really, that's it.

When I list started I was handed 3 free units and one character. I normally played with people on teams etc.

1 Commander, I think it came with the 2nd ed batch of stuff not sure
1 Units of rogue trader Space marines
2 Units of 2nd edition Space Marines (the ones standing at attention)


When 3rd ed space marine codex was released I bought a number of things and quickly painted so I could play solo games and not just be a sidekick, but I quickly releasized how easy button marines were and wanted a challenge.

So I started then with what was considered one of the hardest codices to play, Eldar. I loved Psychic abilities and could get plenty even in 3rd ed terms. I've loved the lore/fluff since then and Eldar are my go to.

It bothers me that no one will play them unless I put steep restrictions on myself. So, to get interest In playing them I do highlander, no LOW (unless they bring a knight) no scatspam (which i don't own anyway, although I could do 1 unit of 4 shuriken cannons) etc.

I remember when I was getting into the hobby I wanted a low count easy to paint army. The guy at the store recommended space marines. But Necrons had just come out. Once he described how quick and easy it would be to paint them I was all but sold. Until a guy came in with dark green space marines. Being colot blind as i am, dark green is my favorite color as it is the one i can see the best.. This guy told me the background of them, I was hooked. Then he told me about how I could make an army of terminators, an easy and quick way to get a decent army going.

The guy at the store looked at me like I was crazy for picking DA over Necrons, but I know I made the right choice. Also I still plan on one day starting Necrons, once I dig myself out of this backlog of DA.

Tyranids: Huge love for Giger's Aliens, enough reason for me.
Thousand Sons: Only human equivalent army that has a backstory good enough to justify myself to play with them.