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Hi folks, sorry for newbie mistakes or faux pas. I apologize if this thread has been done to death, I tried to search for others like it first without much luck.

I am hoping to get back into 40K and start collecting an army in the 1500-2000 points range - definitely more for fun than tournament-level, but I'd like at least a fighting chance in games. I haven't played since 4th Edition. I know the lore of the universe somewhat, but have lost touch with the mechanical pros and cons of the various factions.

Do you have some suggestions for which faction might play a bit like this?

1) Melee oriented in general,
2) Quality over quantity in general,
3) Basic units can footslog to hold objectives (either through stealth or fast movement, I never liked transports / drop pods much),
4) 2-4 faster moving specialty squads that could pose a credible melee threat to 90% of what's out there (something that gives that "oh no" feeling of heavy cavalry charging a gunline...like charging bears or monsters),
5) I'm kind of ambivalent about artillery, psychics, vehicles. I know some of those might be necessary tools in the toolbox to avoid getting kited out and shot to pieces or to soften up "uber" units.
6) I do like high RoF projectile dakka like autocannon, heavy bolters, shuriken cannon.
7) I do like "mecha" and "kaiju" like dreadnoughts and the Carnifex.
8) Chainswords seem very fun. I know they're rather basic, rules-wise.
9) One giant showpiece unit for "wow" factor and to contest enemy "uber" units would be cool.

My game touchstones are hopelessly outdated, but I have thought about:

Space Wolves: They already have Thunderwolf Cavalry and melee leaders, I don't know if they're worth the points. Do their basic troops get defensive or melee power to do the job?
Blood Angels: I hear they fight well in melee but need transports for their mobility.
White Scars: My hope would be that all of the army can be on bikes and that they have a good enough melee presence. To be frank I would rather model them as cavalry of some kind but mechanically they are tempting.

Khorne: When I played against World Eaters, the Berserkers had faster movement and good melee but you couldn't control their movement (they'd charge enemies nonstop). I was told the Khorne Cavalry are very inefficient (tough but low damage for points).
Slaanesh: A friend showed me the Seekers, which I would model as something else because they're darn ugly. They seem to have good damage and speed for fast attack but don't seem tough defensively.
Undivided: I hear undivided ("Soup"?) can be played but the troop options are basic space marines.
Don't know much about Nurgle or Tzeentch, seem slower than I'm hoping for.

I'm not sure if there are ways to make Eldar, IG, Orks fit this kind of mold.

I don't know much about Tau, Tyranids, AdMech, Knights at all.

Thanks for your thoughts!

Honestly Blood Angels might be what you're after.

Jump Packs might or might not be what you see as 'footslogging' but they certainly have the melee impact, especially on the charge.

Your unique chapter rules make your guys faster to get to melee and hit harder the turn they get there, and that stacks with the normal space marine bonuses on the first round of combat, and the Blood Angels' specific doctrine rules, and the unique rules of their elite units (death company)

Added to that, chainswords arent THAT basic - space marine chainswords specifically now get a point of AP, taking a 3+ save down to a 4+ or whatever, and combined with the Blood Angels' +1 to wound on the charge means that a bajillion chainsword attacks can provide a threat even to tanks and monsters.


To put in perspective, death company primaris can put out 6-7 attacks EACH and that's with +1 to wound and knocking any save down by two points (so 3+ to 5+)

Also your death company do have a response to footslogging in the form of the FORLORN FURY stratagem - basically you can give death company a 'scout' move at the start of the game, helping you heft them up the board faster.


Plus, whilst they don't shoot any better than A.N.Other marines (unlike, say, Imperial Fists), they are STILL marines, and get access to all the tanks and fire support units any marine force normally has - plus the Baal predator and primaris tanks pack a lot of gatling assault and onslaught cannons, and some unique dreadnought classes (again, including melee-specific dreadnought types).

Sounds like Iron Warriors with a focus on CC to me.

Custodes.

Haamiah wrote:


Do you have some suggestions for which faction might play a bit like this?

1) Melee oriented in general,
2) Quality over quantity in general,
3) Basic units can footslog to hold objectives (either through stealth or fast movement, I never liked transports / drop pods much),
4) 2-4 faster moving specialty squads that could pose a credible melee threat to 90% of what's out there (something that gives that "oh no" feeling of heavy cavalry charging a gunline...like charging bears or monsters),
5) I'm kind of ambivalent about artillery, psychics, vehicles. I know some of those might be necessary tools in the toolbox to avoid getting kited out and shot to pieces or to soften up "uber" units.
6) I do like high RoF projectile dakka like autocannon, heavy bolters, shuriken cannon.
7) I do like "mecha" and "kaiju" like dreadnoughts and the Carnifex.
8) Chainswords seem very fun. I know they're rather basic, rules-wise.
9) One giant showpiece unit for "wow" factor and to contest enemy "uber" units would be cool.
!

1. Check.
2. Definitly check.
3. Just don't take a land raider.
4. Custodes jetbikes are exactly this.
5. They have none of these things.
6. Most Custodes ranged weapons fire multiple shots.
7. Custodes get dreads.
8. Sadly not, but you can alwaysn convert them.
9. Forgeworld has many big fancy Custodes models including tanks and fliers.

Hi!

So I know your friend showed you the Seekers, and you didn't like them, but I wanted to give a shout to Slaanesh Daemons.

I would encourage you to look at Third Party (e.g. creature caster) for certain minis, and for Seekers of Slaanesh and Daemonettes see if you can snag some Juan Diaz sculpts. They are much better. Anyways, to go through your list:

Haamiah wrote:

1) Melee oriented in general,
2) Quality over quantity in general,
3) Basic units can footslog to hold objectives (either through stealth or fast movement, I never liked transports / drop pods much),
4) 2-4 faster moving specialty squads that could pose a credible melee threat to 90% of what's out there (something that gives that "oh no" feeling of heavy cavalry charging a gunline...like charging bears or monsters),
5) I'm kind of ambivalent about artillery, psychics, vehicles. I know some of those might be necessary tools in the toolbox to avoid getting kited out and shot to pieces or to soften up "uber" units.
6) I do like high RoF projectile dakka like autocannon, heavy bolters, shuriken cannon.
7) I do like "mecha" and "kaiju" like dreadnoughts and the Carnifex.
8) Chainswords seem very fun. I know they're rather basic, rules-wise.
9) One giant showpiece unit for "wow" factor and to contest enemy "uber" units would be cool.

1) Definitely the case. Not even any guns
2) Depends on the list (Daemonette spam is a thing) but HQ spam is fantastic as well (big monsters, floating mirrors of psychic doom, special characters, chariots)
3) Definitely. You want speed? Slaanesh is up there with the fastest armies in the game. Daemonettes are great at this.
4) The Keeper of Secrets is one of the scariest models in the game right now in melee. 10 attacks (with ways to buff even more!), Hitting on 2s, rerolling 1s to wound, 3 flat damage. Max unbuffed charge range 32" in a Slaanesh detachment; max buffed charge range 39" in Matched Play and further in Crusade.
5) Slaanesh's psychic powers in the Daemons book are solidly crap, so you end up smiting most of the time. Generally, they're not a psychic army.
6) you'll get none of this, I admit. Allied Chaos would be the only way
7) Keepers of Secrets and Daemon Princes definitely fit this bill, and you can use any models you want (I personally use tons of 3rd Party because I don't like GW Slaanesh Daemons, even though they are still damn good)
8) well, no chainswords. But you do get Rending Claws!
9) Zarakynel, the Keeper of Secrets Lord of War, is actually pretty terrifying in combat. She is a regular Keeper in many ways, but buffed to be even better in combat (e.g. every 4+ to-wound inflicts 3 mortal wounds).

In general, they are fast and killy with big monsters. No shooting, and their durability comes from their DPS (i.e. killing you before you kill then). But with 3rd party models you can make a really gorgeous army.

 Sim-Life wrote:
Custodes.

I was thinking the same thing. Chainweapons, quality over quantity, a good roster of close combat units (slightly better now as you can now take Sisters of Silence as part of the core army). Basically Custodes seem to tick every box you've got.

another voice suggesting custodes here. they are THE "Quality" army in terms of low count, high ability units, they generally footslog up the board (mainly due to not having effective transports, but hey ho), with the option of teleporting if you need deep strike ability. the are 100% a melee army, but they still have some shooting, and a few fast units (jetbikes, the FW jump troops, etc). Their FW dreads are basically among the best dreads in the game, and the Telemon heavy dread is a great "oh crap" centrepiece. depending on how you equip your units you can have some very high ROF units (the telemon in fire support loadout is like 22 shots at str 5-6, and hurricane bolter bikes are 12 bolter shots per bike at 12"). they dont have chainswords, but they do have sword armed infantry as a standard option (and the previews of their new codex make them swords look pretty tasty, though we still dont know if they are keeping their current 3+ invunerable save on their shields)

pretty much any custodes is a melee blender, and thier termies WILL shred anything that they get in combat with. 4 attacks each at WS 2+, with a 5th with a misericorda if you want, and these are high str, high AP attacks with good damage. Custodes will 100% walk up the board, push enemies off objectives and generally be a pain to kill, and we can expect them to get better when their codex drops next year.

I think Deathwatch works well IMO. It’s a lot more about the goobers with Chainswords and running up on objectives than any army I’ve used before. It isn’t Melee-only but can be very melee-centric; and outside of all the awesome Kill Teams they do Dreadnaughts, and all the marine shooting stuff mostly thanks to Two relics in the Tome of the Ectoclades and the Vhorkhan Auspicator.

2-4 faster moving elements can be Vanguard/biker mixed combat squads, high RoF weapons can be sprinkled in from Infernus Heavy Bolters to Frag Cannons and 3 terminators in a squad could land you 3x Plasma Cannons, Cyclone Missile Launchers, or Assault Cannons and still be punchy with their fists.

There isn’t really a big centrepiece floating around that can help win games, but you could tap Imperial Armour for just about anything, the Sicarian Battle tank and Fire Raptor are my favourites. It’s been the most unique collecting experience I’ve had in over 20 years of playing all types of warhammer, and who needs Chainswords when you can smack things with a Heavy Thunder Hammer (albeit, a Deathwatch Veteran w/ Chainsword+ Boltgun in a Kill Team Strike Force Army of Renown is probably the most versatile model you can find in the game for 20 points.)

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful input! I appreciate it greatly and will check out how the armies look and feel at my LGS now that I have a few leads to consider. Happy Gaming!