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First of all I'd like to apologize if I have posted this thread in the wrong section.

Hello everyone I am a returning player basically starting out new.
The last time I actually grabbed a paint brush and painted a model was in 2006? (I still remember the model- a Word Bearers CSM)
So I think it's better off saying I'm starting from scratch.

I have no models, no brushes, no paints etc.
But with all that aside, the main problem(?) I have at the moment is :

"Which army to start and where to start."

I'm a casual so I'm not looking for an army that is serious-level competition or anything.

The type of army I like is the one that give a 'small but elite' type.
(1K points or less is the ideal army size I'm looking at)

I'd prefer it if the army doesn't have a high model count and the HQ is the guy that goes in and kills everything (or at least tries).
(And something not to challenging to paint)
I'm also not a fan of painting a lot of vehicles.
- Sorry if I'm a bit picky :(

I was thinking among the lines of:

1. Tau
2. Space Marines
3. Militarum Tempestus
4. Chaos Space Marines
5. (OTHER) Suggestions welcomed!

IF I was to do Space Marines I wouldn't do an army that consisted or needed Terminators (personally not a big fan of the models)
For Chaos I was looking for an army based on Cultists and not daemons.
Tau and Militarum Tempestus would be just the regular I guess. (Haven't really looked into the rules/formations)

Oh and this is just a question on the top of my head, is it possible to do an Ork army with a low model count but not heavy on the Kanz / Walkers?
I really like the Ork Kommandos so maybe if that was possible I could look into a Kommando-based Ork army?

Any suggestions guys?
Or maybe even other recommendations?

Cheers, all help and advice appreciated!

This is certainly the right section.

If you want your HQ to go in and do things himself you're almost certainly looking at some flavour of Space Marines; if you'd prefer fewer vehicles I'd suggest looking at Space Wolves or Deathwatch initially, both can use Terminators but tend to revolve around the power-armoured guys. How do you feel about Bikes?

Orks aren't a good idea; they're in the bottom three of worst Codexes right now so trying to go off the beaten path into an odd build is likely to end badly.

MT are doable but they aren't going to do what you'd want of them; an MT army is functionally a Deathwatch army that's less effective, less reliable, harder to play, and more expensive.

If you'd prefer small model count and few vehicles Tau aren't a great idea; you could theoretically do a Crisis-team-focused Farsight list but you'd be painting a lot of drones and big battlesuits that way as opposed to the more traditional mechanized-infantry builds, where you'd be painting a lot of vehicles and infantry anyway.

If you're not worried about being competitive you could just go straight back into Chaos Marines; absent competitiveness and vehicles there's not much to choose between them. They've got a new supplement that's going to hit quite soon, so you could either grab some models now before the secondhand market decides Chaos is a cool thing to play now or wait and see what the book makes exciting to play.

Not sure there's much else to recommend on top of that; Eldar are heavily vehicle-reliant and their 'small model count' armies tend to be incredibly powerful and very expensive anyway (also their HQ choices don't do much of anything), Guard and Tyranids can't really do 'small' or 'elite', and nobody should ever try to learn the game playing Daemons unless they've got a law degree and a masochistic streak (I'm exaggerating, but not by much).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Addendum: I ranked all the armies in the order I'd recommend them to a new player at http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/708556.page near the bottom. It isn't a comprehensive description of what's going on with each army but it's hopefully at least somewhat helpful.

Tyranids can kind of do small and elite, but I think you'd have to have a very good understanding of the codex to create something that works. It might also be best to rely on formations rather than a CAD, especially at 1000 points. An army using only warriors (and similarly sized creatures like venomthropes) and monstrous creatures is doable, but it wouldn't be very powerful. It could be fine in a casual environment though. Best to post list ideas if tyranids interest you

Eldar can field all wraith-construct lists

All marine armies are options

Necrons can do small and elite

Generally footslogging to get into combat isn't recommended though

Tau could probably fit what you're looking for. A suit-heavy or mechanized force will have relatively few models at 1k points, but it will also have the mobility, firepower, and tools to handle a lot of situations.

You can't really go wrong with any flavor of (non-chaos) marine. If you really want to emphasize the small model count though, consider the new Death Watch book. There's a higher learning curve to it, and it's easy to make bad lists by buying too many expensive upgrades, but it certainly matches the description you've given. Grey Knights will lack flexibility but are also a small model count option.

Tempestus isn't especially low model count and is difficult to use. I wouldn't particularly recommend it unless you really like the look/fluff of it.

Chaos marines are struggling right now and often have a hard time representing their fluff effectively. The new Thousand Sons book comes out soon though, so that might not be a bad option; Rubric Marines are traditionally a relatively expensive (points wise) army meaning they could easily have a low model count.

I'd also mention harlequins. They're beautiful kits with awesome fluff and a very unique playstyle! ...They're also very possibly the hardest army to win with these days, so be careful there. I mostly mention them because you can have roughly a ~1000 point army of harlequins with ~20 models, and that's without trying to intentionally have a low model count.

I would look at the start collecting boxes and just grab the one that suits you. I sort of did the same thing a few months back. I actuallly think the hobby is a lot of fun when you start with a small force and you don't buy a ton of stuff that you then feel pressured to finish. You could always go Eldar for small and elite.

you can get cheep armies on this site too for trying them out, but I would recommend staying away from orks and chaos marines. They are currently awful.

Start with a HQ. You sound like I did when I started. Find a model you love that pounds face. Let me share my favourites.

Asterion Moloc:
https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-WW/Asterion-Moloc-and-Ivanus-Enkomi-of-the-Minotaurs

Typhus:
https://www.games-workshop.com/en-AU/Chaos-Space-Marines-Typhus?/e2x/roadrunner/locale/CountryLanguageFormHandler.changeLocation=submit&locale=en-au-gw&_requestid=12346300

Both these models wreck face, have cool fluff, and great armies you can build small elite armies around (though you just gotta have some plague zombies with Typhus).

Putting Asterion with Thunder Hammer terminators is awesome.
I rock my Typhus with chaos spawn.

Since you don't like the Terminator models, try these:
https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-DE/Tartaros-Pattern-Terminator-Armour

Good luck in deciding.

Go for the death-watch. They have a bunch of get-started bundles, which are great $ value. They come with lots of bits, so you can easily buy a tactical squad box, and kit-bash anything else you would need.

As for army tactics, they are your special elite "drop in and kill everything" sort of force. You have low model count, so if you DONT kill something, it will come back and bite you.

Still, very easy to start with, great value starter kits, and farily easy to play (although lots of room to learn "expert mode").

Thats my $0.02 anyway

Rather than add to "this army, that army" I'd also suggest finding a group of like minded individuals who agree with the style of 40k play you like. 40k is a social game so how much you enjoy will depend on who you play with, in my opinion. As a casual player myself, I have way more fun playing with guys who take it easy and interact with their opponents in contrast to the stone cold tournament players who move models like they're on a clock.

For marines id be tempted to buy the battle fo calth box set to be honest, although you do get terminators with that

Space Wolves can fit the bill quite nicely. Some of the best beatstick melee HQs of any of the Space Marine factions and their army can be fairly elite without a lot of vehicles (Thunderwolves, Wulfen). Get two Start Collecting boxes which in total gives you 2 HQ characters, 20 Power Armored Marines, and 6 Thunderwolves to work with. Get 2 drop pods or Rhinos, use parts from a HQ sprue to make one of the Thunderwolf Cav guys a Wolf Lord/Battle Leader on a Thunder Wolf, and you got yourself a nice little 1000 point Combined Arms Detachment to build from.

You can build a good low-model count ork army with bully boyz (a bunch of meganobz). Kommandoes have a place as min units with infiltrate, stealth and 2 ranged specials per squad of any number - read 2 per 5.

You won't avoid painting vehicles for your meganobz though. But if you want low model count, go for battlewagons or forgeworld gunwagons. Trukks work fine with a voidshield generator but that's the whole different story. You need LOTS of trukks.

Well, from the top of my head, a formation of meganobz in battlewagonz with some useful gear would be around 1k pts on it's own. A formation of kommandoes or cad with kommandoes can vary greatly.