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That's cool, they don't have to be for you.

I don't think this was going to be in any doubt when the poll went up. There's a reason the Space Marines are the poster-boys of 40k. Intriguing to see Craftworld Eldar come in second but how much of that is due to their shiny new Codex?

Space Marines, hands down!

 Melissia wrote:

 amanita wrote:
I voted space marines only because to me they are the mortar that holds the genre together.

I think you mean Imperial Guard there.

Space Marines, outside of the Horus Heresy, are basically a minor, relatively insignificant footnote in Imperial military might.

Not at all. I'm speaking of the WH40K IP, not the game's fluff. Space marines are the central icon of the game, not the Imperial Guard. This has nothing to do with the size of the forces represented in the background.

To you it is. To me, Space Marines could disappear and very little would change in the IP.

 Melissia wrote:
To you it is. To me, Space Marines could disappear and very little would change in the IP.

Your beloved SoB would get slaughtered less.
Your main rulebook's front page and half of it's art would be blank.

I've always figured Space Marines, Imperial Guard and then maybe Chaos were the most popular factions.

My preference:

Necrons > Imperium > Tyranids > Tau > Orks/Chaos > Eldar > Dark Eldar

Necrons because they're the most sophisticated, technologically advanced and implacable, the Imperium because they're human (for the most part) and I'm something of a humanist, the Tyranids because I admire their purity and the Tau are alright in my book because I consider them to be the most noble and selfless of all the factions. It's hard not to like Orks and there are a lot of things trippy and neat things about Chaos Marines/Daemons. I've never been a big fan of the Eldar, one because of their defiance of the Necrons and two because of how fragile they are, that's not to say that they're not good at what they do, but their approach to warfare, while effective for their needs, does not spark my interest. Dark Eldar are just nasty, in their fluff and on the table. of all the races to come into contact with, I'd take any other race over the Dark Eldar.

I'd say "Human" is probably the most popular race, since nearly half of all available armies are human in origin.

 Melissia wrote:

 Void__Dragon wrote:
That's blatantly false, though.

A single hive world produces more military power every than it would take to destroy the entirety of the Astartes, even assuming a 1000:1 guard:astartes kill ratio.

Yes, Space Marines are a pretty minor footnote. So are Sisters for that matter, but meh.

Not this nonsense again..... Yes we do know you hate SM and just about everything else other people enjoy. Good for you. Other people happen to like them witch is good for them too, now lets not have this again shall we?

On topic :

I as the shameless lover of both power amour and a endless swarm of evil space bugs ended up voting for Tyraninds. Because what is more amusing that flooding your enemy with Terumgaunts and then having a Trygon pop up

Voted for orks, obviously . But I was a little misled by the thread title at first - Until I noticed that the poll called for your FAVORITE race, I thought we were voting for what we believed was the most popular race.

If that had been the case, I'd have voted for Space Marines. Most popular faction hands down.

Space marines in general would have the most votes

my own choice though is chaos space marines

 Trondheim wrote:
Not this nonsense again..... Yes we do know you hate SM and just about everything else other people enjoy. Good for you. Other people happen to like them witch is good for them too, now lets not have this again shall we?

I think that's a little unfair. I don't think Melissia hates the Space Marines, just their inflated importance within the background as a whole, which I find timesome as well, frankly, but then there's little that draws me towards the Astartes in the first place.

I, of course, and in case there is any doubt about my obvious choice from my avatar & signature, voted for the Imperial Guard.

 Trondheim wrote:
Yes we do know you hate SM

That's because you convince yourself that anyone who isn't as big a fan of Space Marines as you are is a hater.

I don't hate Space Marines. In fact, I've expressed admiration for certain chapters numerous times. But I do not think them vital or necessary to the functioning of the 40k setting, nor do I think of them as unbeatable gods of war.

Everyone needs to calm down.

Oh man! The orks have come quite a long way since I looked at the polls. When I voted, Orks were 3rd from last! Now we're third from first! It's good to know that I'm not all by my lonesome.

It seems that nobody likes Daemons.

Daemons aren't a race. They're incapable of reproduction. Technically, neither are the Necrons, they're... a product line, like a toaster or a car.

 Psienesis wrote:
Daemons aren't a race. They're incapable of reproduction. Technically, neither are the Necrons, they're... a product line, like a toaster or a car.

Nice One

Way to prove that you can make a good argument for a stupid point

Definitely Orks. One of the wackiest factions with great well-rounded fluff that has enough depth to provide both the classic roughhousing shenanigans and comedy that Ork society is known for as well as demonstrating the brutality and fearless bloodthirsty nature of the greenskin in its entirety.

Plus their aesthetic is very ramshackle and varied so that no warband looks the exact same unlike the mass produced STC-based armies of the Imperium or streamlined looks of more "ordered" races like the Eldar, Tau or Necrons.

Picked Daemon because if you roll well on the warp storm constantly you win no matter what . Its also funny to see people attempt to go into cc with my bloodcrushers and not know they're just feeding them to the shredder. Also got the biggest deadliest HQ's. Aint nothing going to beat a Bloodthirster in cc short of a Primarch from the new legion.

What Melissa says is true about SM though - if the imperium wasn't so hidebound in tradition, the expensive and ultimately futile investment in the Astartes program would be replaced with something more reasonable.

The Astartes play a minor role in Imperial operations, one which perhaps could be performed by a less expensive and certainly more politically controllable element.

The Guard, then the Tau, then a tie between the SoB and the SM.

Afterwards... eh, but I know the 2 last ones

I like the Sisters of Battle. They're more human than space marines, but more fanatical at the same time. If GW put any effort into them, they could be very fascinating.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Wait, can I vote Mechanicus? (just kidding.)

@Mel - You are forgeting the mindset of average 40k fan....

Which is?

Voted Chaos (edit: Marines) because that's the one I like best, but I like most of the factions. Necrons probably the least, although they have some cool elements none-the-less.