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Which faction (in general, not one niche list) has the most portable 2,000 point army? Things to consider: size of the case you'll be using, and the probability that models will survive intact and undamaged/ chipped paint.

I'm thinking the answer might be custodes, as even 30 infantry could do it for them. Any other contenders?

I'd think custodes, yeah. They probably have the smallest footprint while fitting most of their models easily into foam. Knights would obviously have fewer models, but the ones you do have will be a bit harder to fit into a non-specialized carrying case safely.

The other major contender are the Space Marines; generally less models then most armies with few sharp edges/spikes to grab things and their vehicles tend to be boxy. The LoV are also like this though they tend to have more models in their units.

Agreed, the answer is most likely Custodes. Along with Grey Knights.

Votann models aren't too spindly, so they should be a solid choice too.

Imperial Knights, if magnetized so that they can be taken apart, should be fairly portable too. Bulky, but not too breakable.

Counter-intuitively, perhaps horde tyranids. There is little variation between models (such as special weapons or other upgrades), so you don't have to carefully organize them by category. Just toss all 80-100 of your gaunts in the same bag or box and let them rattle. Even if a few hormagaunts lose a claw, it won't be too obvious.

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Marine infantry has classically packed well. Rugged build, not a lot of spindly bits, points dense. The question is what else you need to make a list work? With firstborn, I could fit 60 MEQ, 15 TEQ, and 4 rhinos in one KRU worth of foam. Pure footslogging was rough, but rhinos packed well. Not sure about the new primaris transports/tanks.

I'm working on a 2k Custodes army that has 12 models in it (1 is the tank)

Knights suffer from the same trouble as IG ACs, small numbers, bulky toys.

Grey Knights can be smallish, but those Dreadknights are necessary and bulky too.

 Nevelon wrote:
Marine infantry has classically packed well. Rugged build, not a lot of spindly bits, points dense. The question is what else you need to make a list work? With firstborn, I could fit 60 MEQ, 15 TEQ, and 4 rhinos in one KRU worth of foam. Pure footslogging was rough, but rhinos packed well. Not sure about the new primaris transports/tanks.

Remember those 2nd edition plastic marines that were just 3 pieces each (backpack, gun, everything else). Those things were SO compact with there bolters pulled close to their chests. They barely hung off a 25mm base. With an army of those you could pack a 2000 point force into a case the size of a loaf of bread.

 cuda1179 wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
Marine infantry has classically packed well. Rugged build, not a lot of spindly bits, points dense. The question is what else you need to make a list work? With firstborn, I could fit 60 MEQ, 15 TEQ, and 4 rhinos in one KRU worth of foam. Pure footslogging was rough, but rhinos packed well. Not sure about the new primaris transports/tanks.

Remember those 2nd edition plastic marines that were just 3 pieces each (backpack, gun, everything else). Those things were SO compact with there bolters pulled close to their chests. They barely hung off a 25mm base. With an army of those you could pack a 2000 point force into a case the size of a loaf of bread.

Remember? I was still fielding them not that long ago. Wait, what year is it? OK, maybe it was a while ago. I had a couple squads of the “I <3 my bolter” marines as part of my battle company, filling out the tac squads for years. Periodically I break them out, just to knock the dust off, even if they were the last choice when grabbing a squad. They’ve since been replaced.

They do pack up crazy tight. When buying foam, as part of my assortment of trays I got one 1/4 deep, 5x5 tray. Not much will fit in it, but old sculpts. With those I could hypothetically fit 200 marines in a KRU. Or more practically, 100 and 8 rhinos. For reference most modern marines pack well into 1/3 deep, 4x5 trays, so 120 to a unit case.

For those not familiar with KR cases, a KRU is the standard box size from KR Multicase, their bags will generally hold 1-3 depending on size. Stack of 4 in the middle of this pic

Old pic, but should get the point across. I have occasionally gotten full armies into 1 KRU, but I really need to have that in mind when building them.

Firstborn marine army in Epic Scale

 tauist wrote:
Firstborn marine army in Epic Scale

There was a thread a while back about “pocket 40k” where someone was translating 40k into epic scale, but keeping the 40k ruleset. So you could literally fit an army into your pocket and play on a battlefield the size of a piece of paper.

With LI out there and modern epic-scale stuff, would not be hard to do, at least for supported armies.

I'd vote against the Custodes, simply because those bikes on stands with long fragile lances don't look transport friendly. And lots of other models have huge banners and long pointy sticks.

Space Marines and Votann are probably the most robust, transport friendly armies. Even their bikes and transports are basically bricks. One thick foam layer for your vehicles, two thin layers for your troops.

A Terminator heavy army like Dark Angels or Grey Knights are a good bet.

 Nevelon wrote:
There was a thread a while back about “pocket 40k” where someone was translating 40k into epic scale, but keeping the 40k ruleset. So you could literally fit an army into your pocket and play on a battlefield the size of a piece of paper.

That sounds so cool. I've always been a bit jealous of MTG players who literally carry their whole deck in a coat pocket and can accept a pickup game anywhere, any time.

(I suppose I could simply pick up MTG or some other CCG, but the learning curve is daunting.)

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 Nevelon wrote:
Marine infantry has classically packed well. Rugged build, not a lot of spindly bits, points dense. The question is what else you need to make a list work? With firstborn, I could fit 60 MEQ, 15 TEQ, and 4 rhinos in one KRU worth of foam. Pure footslogging was rough, but rhinos packed well. Not sure about the new primaris transports/tanks.

I magnetized my Impulsors, and all the bits fit inside the "truck bed" of the Impulsor.

My old Death Guard minis are/were pretty convenient. They had the highest points value per Marine of all the marine armies (23points per nasic plague marine model IIRC) they were Chaos but had very few Spikes, they had expensive chars, you needed few rhinos... All in all in terms of transporting minis the move to 32mm by GW was a terrible decision.