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Hello everybody. I want to get into 40k, but I can't decide on a faction. So far, I have mainly thought about Ad Mech, Genestealers, Knights, Custodes, and Chaos Demons. Here are some things I would look for in a faction:
-Speed-I usually want my factions to be more speedy than tanky, but usually not to the point of hit-and-run like the Drukari
-I don't know if this exists, but I would want a "strategic army". In other words, one that the full focus is not always "Slap the enemy so hard so fast they frickin die in Round 1".
-I feel like stealth would be cool. Any stuff of that nature in an army

If you know of any factions that fit any of those criteria, please reply below. Additionally, I would like to know the playstyles of the factions I listed above.. Thanks

Chaos Daemons are definitely more in the "slap them so hard they die" camp than the other two options. But a big part of 40k is slapping people until they die. Ad Mech can use flyers and scouting horses to block movement. Genestealer Cults are the sneakiest army in 40k. All three armies can go quick. If you decide to go Chaos Daemons you would be going Slaanesh which can be raunchy, that may or may not be your cup of tea.

 vict0988 wrote:
Chaos Daemons are definitely more in the "slap them so hard they die" camp than the other two options. But a big part of 40k is slapping people until they die. Ad Mech can use flyers and scouting horses to block movement. Genestealer Cults are the sneakiest army in 40k. All three armies can go quick. If you decide to go Chaos Daemons you would be going Slaanesh which can be raunchy, that may or may not be your cup of tea.

Thanks. Also, I had forgotten a few factions I was considering, I edited and updated the list.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 vict0988 wrote:
Chaos Daemons are definitely more in the "slap them so hard they die" camp than the other two options. But a big part of 40k is slapping people until they die. Ad Mech can use flyers and scouting horses to block movement. Genestealer Cults are the sneakiest army in 40k. All three armies can go quick. If you decide to go Chaos Daemons you would be going Slaanesh which can be raunchy, that may or may not be your cup of tea.

Also, I don't mind if they are raunchy either way. I do like the scheme though. What does Slaanesh focus on playstyle wise?


P.S. I never heard of the word raunchy. I had to look it up. I guess thats a good thing tho...

Genestealer cults are a faction of insurgents. Good for if you like the idea of sneaky fanatics leaping out of ambush to hit vital targets, aided by converted civilian vehicles, (and the option of 'borrowing' some military vehicles from Astra Militarum if you're so inclined). They're all about sabotage and hitting the enemy from all angles (they even get bonuses for hitting a target from opposite sides).

While they're very good at getting the first blow in and doing some damage, the whole faction is butter soft and they die very quickly once the enemy can fight them back. They do require a fair bit of knowledge and practice with all of their special rules and stratagems in order to play well, as they can't rely on good statlines to the extent of many other factions. So I consider them not a very good newbie faction.
They are a horde infantry army, so expect to require a lot of models. They're also fairly pricy to collect, due to the poor $ to point ratio of a lot of their kits.

Awesomest_Dude wrote:
What does Slaanesh focus on playstyle wise?

Mobile melee glasscannons with psychic support and some abilities that prevent falling back or reduce enemy lethality.

P.S. I never heard of the word raunchy. I had to look it up. I guess thats a good thing tho...

I tried looking it up and found a Danish metal band

Genestealer Cults might be right up your ally. They are a strong book, but not for pick-up-and-play. You really need to get the reps in, and know how they work and know your match-ups. They have a lot of tricks and can hit hard, but mistakes will be punished hard. You can also play in all phases of the game.

You'll throw people off guard with GSC, as they are not like other armies.


Knights can also be very tactical, but for different reasons. You have a small pool of valuable units, so you really need to plan ahead. They are tough, reasonably fast, and hit hard, but you can't just Yolo them at a good opponent. They play well in shooting and melee, so are a flexible force. (Both chaos and Imperial variety's)

I think those two are the best fits for what you want. Just how many models do you want to build/paint?

You may want to also look into Raven Guard Spacemarines or a Dark Angles Ravenwing thingy.

 jaredb wrote:
Genestealer Cults might be right up your ally. They are a strong book, but not for pick-up-and-play. You really need to get the reps in, and know how they work and know your match-ups. They have a lot of tricks and can hit hard, but mistakes will be punished hard. You can also play in all phases of the game.

You'll throw people off guard with GSC, as they are not like other armies.


Knights can also be very tactical, but for different reasons. You have a small pool of valuable units, so you really need to plan ahead. They are tough, reasonably fast, and hit hard, but you can't just Yolo them at a good opponent. They play well in shooting and melee, so are a flexible force. (Both chaos and Imperial variety's)

I think those two are the best fits for what you want. Just how many models do you want to build/paint?

I'm thinking either Genestealers or Ravenguard. What is the difference?

To clarify, I mean which one is more stealthy?

Well Genestealer Cult is more about jumping out of nowhere and ambushing.

Raven Guard are more of a hiding in plain sight army.

Functionally the same.

You seem to be at the point now where you need to decide which faction has the models you like the look of.

If you want stealthy, then knights are definitely NOT for you, though they do tend to do well in your other 2 focii. If you were to focus on Armigers\War Dogs, you can stand on objectives and still contribute to the game.

Or at least that's what I did.

 NoiseMarine with Tinnitus wrote:
Well Genestealer Cult is more about jumping out of nowhere and ambushing.

Raven Guard are more of a hiding in plain sight army.

Functionally the same.

You seem to be at the point now where you need to decide which faction has the models you like the look of.

How does Ravenguard hide in plain sight? Also do Genestealers ambush the whole game or just during deployment?

Buy the models you love.

You want cractwoeld eldar with ranger as troops.

Sounds like GSC is the army you want, CWE also very much that.

stroller wrote:
Buy the models you love.

I agree. If you are picking an army to "win" I feel like you are going about this the wrong way.

My advice is to either pick the models that you think are the coolest, or read up on the lore and pick the army you think is the coolest thematically.

Also think about who you will be playing and what army they will be playing and also what kind of terrain you will be using.

Alternatively, play the army you can buy used from a friend for really cheap.

Based on the three criteria you listed I would think that a good faction for you would be Aeldari.

If you want to focus more on the speed part I would suggest Saim-Hann.

If you want to focus more on stealth I suggest Alaitoc.

Awesomest_Dude wrote:

 NoiseMarine with Tinnitus wrote:
Well Genestealer Cult is more about jumping out of nowhere and ambushing.

Raven Guard are more of a hiding in plain sight army.

Functionally the same.

You seem to be at the point now where you need to decide which faction has the models you like the look of.

How does Ravenguard hide in plain sight? Also do Genestealers ambush the whole game or just during deployment?

If I remember correctly they cause your opponent to get negative to hit modifiers over a certain range and they get bonuses from cover which are better than most.

I don't play them personally so someone else here could give you a much better explanation of their mechanics.

Choose the Imperial Guard if you want tons of cheap basic infantry and a wide variety of vehicles, you will love the basilisk, i guarantee you will love

It really doesn't matter the faction. As long as you tailor the unit composition (unit Organization chart) to match your criteria. Just throwing out an example, If you choose SM, then the White Scars, or Raven Guard should fit the bill. Pick speedy units (leaning heavy on assault troop elements, bikes and/or speeders), for stealth, use more scouts, infiltrators, etc. You can do same for any faction. Eldar excel at that.

stroller wrote:
Buy the models you love.

this, you'll spend more time painting than playing, and by the time you have an army together will be time for 10th