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Hi all : )

I've taken an interest in starting 40k, after only playing Fantasy/9th age so far. However, even after lurking on different forums, watching youtube-vids, skimming through the GW site and different codices etc. I simply cannot for the life of me decide on an army. Would anyone here be kind enough to write/link to a short overview of the different army playstyles? Those I could find were several years old, hence not updated with the new releases.

I'm open for most suggestions, only armies I've excluded are Tyranids (due to a friend playing them) and vanilla Space Marines.

Right now, the following seems the most interesting based on what I can tell:
- Necrons: decent fluff, lovely models, varied playstyle with both good shooting and fast machines? I had actually almost decided on them, but the loss of psychics made me a bit sceptical.
- Blood Angels or Dark Angels: Enjoy the fluff and imagery. Love some of the models as well, but not too fond on the whole "chubby" look of space marines in general
- Skitarii: Amazing models, and seems to have a lot of interesting weapons to choose between. However, no psychics, and...well, they are rather loony fluffwise, aren't they? Not sure if I can support guys who willingly cut off their own legs and agree to have their free will overruled now and then
- Harlequins: Again, great models and interesting fluff. Very limited selection though, and would prefer not to HAVE to ally with another army to make a decent list.

I plan to play mostly casual, but don't enjoy losing every time either...but my three, equally weighted criterias are a fun playstyle, cool models and interesting fluff. And I know this has been asked hundreds of times before, but I would be truly grateful if someone can help me a bit : )

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm picking based on which lore is most appealing, + which models & playstyle suits me.

For now, it's a tossup between Ultramarines, Space Wolves, and Blood Angels.

I would strongly recommend starting with a "get started" box. based on the research i've done, it will limit the options and ways you can make a critical mistake while assembling your army. For instance, taking a bolter on the wrong unit instead of a hammer, or what have you.

Welcome to 40k Merrilin, we hope you have a good time.

Of the armies that you have shortlisted, I would suggest that you go with your first choice: Necrons. They are currently all around good without being too powerful except with a few specialised playstyles. They have no real major weaknesses and their models are very survivable (Some lists make them too survivable, resulting in an unfun game depending on who you are playing against. Know your meta). Necrons also have a decurion formation that give a structure to army building that actually results in a varied, decent list. The lack of psychic powers is not too much of a disadvantage as they are not as important as they are in fantasy.

Dark Angels can be good to total trash depending on your army composition (avoid the Deathwing) and I have not had much experience with Skitarii, but I gather they are decent but not great. Harlequins require a very careful and skilled playstyle that might be hard for a new player because a single mistake in any phase can result in your opponent killing large chunks of your expensive, fragile army. I won't touch Blood Angels and invoke the name of Martel732 to warn you away.

Something that you did not mention but I think is important in army selection is to make sure you like the model range. An army is a large investment of time and money, and if you find yourself bored painting silver bodies and wishing for some faces and cloth to paint after the first twenty warriors, then that won't be a fun time. I know a sort of regret choosing a mechanised army before I discovered that I hated painting tanks and trucks.

Have fun.

In general, 40k has a lot of negative people, like the aforementioned Martel732, ignore them. They ruin the fun.

Blood Angels are fast and assault-y, they like fire, and have some mean assault units (Sanguinary guard, Death Company), and some awesome dreadnoughts.

They also can do a lot of shenanigans with assaulting out of deepstrike and that can really hurt a lot of unprepared armies.

Pick the army that you want to go with, if you absolutely love Orks, but you hear someone say they suck, ignore them. If you are playing for fun with friends, then the strength of the overall army doesn't matter, and there are always competitive armies to run.

The object of the game is to win, but that's not the point.

~Mikey

Harlequins are fun, but are very niche army if played solo, so sooner or later you wil probably want to incorporate some Craftworld Eldar (or Corsairs if you want some added flavour).

Necrons are the most complete/standalone army from your list, while Skitari have the vast potential of imperial allies (you will have the possibility of smooth transition to any other imperial faction by building up secondary forces).

Dark Angels.

Many aspire to be worthy of the First Legion.

Few rise to the occasion.

For those proud few is reserved the privilege of shouting "First Legion, fool! What!"

If there is one constant I've found with war games it's that if you don't like how the models look now you're not going to like them once you've bought them. So if you're not in love with the way marines look slapping a different color on them and using a slightly different set of rules isn't going to change that.

Have you checked out 1d4chan for army breakdowns? They're colorful, but most of their info is spot on if you can get past the... attempts at humor.

The way I picked both of my armies was start with a HQ. I fell in love with the Typhus model for Nurgle and the Asterion Moloc model from forgeworld for Space Marines, and then built my army around them. Loving the leader of your army is where I start, then try and build a cool fluffy army based on that.