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Built my nids upto a decent level for the friendly games I play but looking to add another faction to start as a 2nd list.

Torn between
Imperial fists
Blood Angels
Dark Eldar (haemonc heavy)
Skitaari

Not set on a certain play style mostly going based on which armies can adapt from friendly to competitive if needs be

I say go for the Dark Eldar something not so often played is always nice.

New SM codex is out so they have a bit more competitive in them lately.
Imperial Fists have some nice rules for them so it should work out.
The yellow power armor is quite striking.

In Descending Order (where 1. is my most recommended):

(1) Imperial Fists
(2) Dark Eldar
(3) Blood Angels
(4) Skitaari

The biggest reason for putting Skitaari last is because I dislike a lot of the Adeptus Mechanicus related factions as far as tabletop is concerned.

Dark Eldar are, as I hear, pretty damn difficult to use.
Not a fan of Spehs Merheens myself.
Skitarii can deal with anything, and is a great starting point for the rest of the Mechanicus stuff (which I do adore).

I have seen DE struggle a fair bit on the tabletop.
Even more so against any vehicle type enemies since their poison would not work.

Skitarii I think look awesome and have great capabilities they just seem like an incomplete army without allies.

 Talizvar wrote:
I have seen DE struggle a fair bit on the tabletop.
Even more so against any vehicle type enemies since their poison would not work.

Skitarii I think look awesome and have great capabilities they just seem like an incomplete army without allies.

Depends. DE Lances, their Melta version, and their Haywire girls can wreck vehicles hard.

I was leaning towards DE/Skit mostly as their starter boxes seem really good value. I like the look of both but DE seem to cover combat AND shooting a little better...so difficult to choose!

 jreilly89 wrote:
Depends. DE Lances, their Melta version, and their Haywire girls can wreck vehicles hard.

Understood, but it becomes a hard choice of choosing their version of the "plasma cannon" or the lances?
Plus also a Raider screaming at you with a bunch of melee butcher elites tends to get target priority and they have to get close both with grenades or their melta.
Loading-up on Venoms tend to be the favored method I have seen.
Plus since they have no psychic powers many ways of sneaking up are limited other than the party favorite "webway portal" just make sure whoever is carrying it does not die.

Being allied with Eldar I think would be terribly nasty and could be viewed as "going easy" on someone rather than taking all Eldar.

Dark Eldar are extremely unforgiving but very fun. You can team them with Eldar/Harlequins if needed for competitive balance.

Skitarii are awesome and probably my next project, but they're just a bit light as a faction right now.

Dark Eldar are a bit of a glass cannon: hide, get there fast, UNLOAD all at once on the enemy, hide in melee or just plain hide after that.

Skitarii remind me of Nurgle: get too close and get the plague... er, "irradiated". The options for their tank is quite nice, especially the anti-aircraft. The lack of troop transport is irritating for these guys. I feel if they rounded out this army they could be like an Imperial answer to the Tau.

Each of these armies benefit greatly from allies.
I would pick these more for their "character" rather than how well they would fare in battle.

BUT it really depends on the OP's playing style.

 Talizvar wrote:
Dark Eldar are a bit of a glass cannon: hide, get there fast, UNLOAD all at once on the enemy, hide in melee or just plain hide after that.

Skitarii remind me of Nurgle: get too close and get the plague... er, "irradiated". The options for their tank is quite nice, especially the anti-aircraft. The lack of troop transport is irritating for these guys. I feel if they rounded out this army they could be like an Imperial answer to the Tau.

Each of these armies benefit greatly from allies.
I would pick these more for their "character" rather than how well they would fare in battle.

BUT it really depends on the OP's playing style.

100%. I always advocate picking what appeals to your sense of aesthetics, your fluff preference, and your play-style. Add in a dose of how competitive you are/intend to be with regards to tourney play and the like.

I do love that DE and Skitarii both get access to some of the best allies choices available. That certainly helps and can be fun fluff-wise as well. I've got a whole little sub-sector my various armies fight over with various alliances and such. Great fun to write out when I'm at work.

Dark Eldar. One of the most beautiful range of miniatures (especially the Talos)

As for the competitiveness, you can always go with something out of left field. Like that 5-talos formation, especially if they're all armed with heatlances.

I also like DE because of the incredible conversion potential. And worse comes to worse, just ally in Eldar with a Wraithknight.

Dark Eldar. Then Skitarii and Robots. I like both themes.

Not much of a mehreen fan myself but they are a good army. Out of all the Marines I happen to favour the Imperial Fists. I enjoy their fluff and I also love their bold yellow look. Id also consider making angry marines since they have that bold yellow too.

Contrary to popular beliefs there are some VERY strong dark eldar builds. They won the invitational in Gibraltar only 6 weeks ago.

You need to look closely at the Corps Claw and spamming venoms with blasters and dual splinter canon.

There is a channel youtube called "Tabletop Tactics" with a guy called Lawrence Baker who won the Gibraltar tourney with dark eldar against eldar with 6 scat bikes squads and hornets and wraith knight.

I would definitely urge you to spend a good hour checking this dark eldar build out: no one is used to it and it's top tier. In a way you're in a great position to chose


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This is the tourney "no retreat 2"

http://snbattlereports.com/2016/05/03/no-retreat-2-international-tournament/

This is the list (the actual games are watchable behind a pay wall but you can see him practising with it here prior to going

https://youtu.be/q2lweXZbXQw

EldarArmy wrote:
Contrary to popular beliefs there are some VERY strong dark eldar builds. They won the invitational in Gibraltar only 6 weeks ago.

You need to look closely at the Corps Claw and spamming venoms with blasters and dual splinter canon.

There is a channel youtube called "Tabletop Tactics" with a guy called Lawrence Baker who won the Gibraltar tourney with dark eldar against eldar with 6 scat bikes squads and hornets and wraith knight.

I would definitely urge you to spend a good hour checking this dark eldar build out: no one is used to it and it's top tier. In a way you're in a great position to chose


Automatically Appended Next Post:
This is the tourney "no retreat 2"

http://snbattlereports.com/2016/05/03/no-retreat-2-international-tournament/

This is the list (the actual games are watchable behind a pay wall but you can see him practising with it here prior to going

https://youtu.be/q2lweXZbXQw

That is a really neat list. But also a really expensive one.

 ProwlerPC wrote:
Not much of a mehreen fan myself but they are a good army. Out of all the Marines I happen to favour the Imperial Fists. I enjoy their fluff and I also love their bold yellow look. Id also consider making angry marines since they have that bold yellow too.

Angry Marines are fantastic. My second-favourite army to play against after Orks with great Loota kitbashes.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

That is a really neat list. But also a really expensive one.

I'm pretty sure if you bought 3 start collecting sets and swapped the corpse thief claw for the 3 raiders with triple dark lances all you'd need to buy is some venoms.

Not saying it's cheap relative to some things outside the hobby but it Is cheap relative to 40k! I doubt you'd get 1850 pts of 40k much cheaper unless you're on eBay.

Don't listen to the internets. If you dont know what srmy to build - don't build one. Save the money. Buy a corvette or a yacht or a mansion on an island someplace instead. And then when you know what you want, and are prepared to paint and build - then you shall be ready for the new army. But don't spend your cash on something some random people online tell you to. (Except corvettes, yachts, or islands - wich btw my company can sell you for awsome deals! ) be your own boss.

warren0110 wrote:
Built my nids upto a decent level for the friendly games I play but looking to add another faction to start as a 2nd list.

Torn between
Imperial fists
Blood Angels
Dark Eldar (haemonc heavy)
Skitaari

Not set on a certain play style mostly going based on which armies can adapt from friendly to competitive if needs be

All are fine choices and all can be written up to be both friendly and competitive. The primary consideration I'd say is which one seems like the most appealing to paint ? Do any stand out above others on painting or modeling ?

Space marines are extremely diverse and can make a myriad of lists that will generally do alright no matter to what level they were written.

Dark Eldar can be extremely fun, zipping around the board with all kinds of shinnannigans, however I have also seen them get crippled in turn 1 by massed fire from marine weaponry due to their low armour values on the boats. The haemonc covens I hear are really strong and also would ( In my opinion) be fun to paint

Skitarii are something new and different to anything else, however I personally find their range pretty small. Powerful though on the table.

If you were to start a marine army next like Imperial Fists, you would then have 2 armies that would be very thematic in fighting one another.

So if you were to train a new player you could use both your armies to handle it.

Besides that its always good to have a non Xenos army for those times you want to join that side of a campaign narrative to hang out with the Imperium of Man.

of the the two marine armies you mentioned both have pros and cons, blood angels have the issues inheriant in their codex, but Imperial fists are yellow and Yellow's a bit of a pain to paint.

therefore.. comprimise idea, do Blood Ravens

I suggest a system:

1. Look. You must like the visual of the models, as you'll be modelling, painting and using thema lot.
2. Mechanics. You must like the gameplay of said army. Test it as much as possible until you get its 'idea', so to speak. If you find it too weak and/or too boring, best not deal with it.
3. Lore. 40k has a very captivating lore. Playing an army just because it's the strongest there is (something that changes every now and then) is a very dangerous idea. Look up for an army that sings to your heart before even buying 1 model.
4. Meta. If those armies you told us checks all 3 previous points, thyen I'd suggest playing one that your meta lacks. It's good to have some diversity in armies, as they bring different challenges .

With IF I love the yellow BUT as mentioned getting clean yellows is real pain so I'd do my own colour scheme (or develop the patience to try and do layer upon layer etc)

Getting quite excited by DE but can't shake off the feeling skitarii would be hella fun to play

DE... they are the weakest listed, but they are very fun to play. plus you would likely be one of the very few if nto only one who plays them in your group. This would mean you can fill a niche in a narrative campaign