So I have decided to take the plunge and investigate 7th edition. I'm starting basically totally from scratch as the last time I played was in 3rd edition, so I remember the core rules and nothing that's changed since then. I'm looking to stay casual, basically I plan to eschew tournaments and avoid playing the competitive crowd at my
FLGS entirely but try to suggest that we have a more laid back league or campaign. I figure if
40k lends itself to casual style games, then I'll focus on that aspect and try to "forge the narrative".
I have the 7th edition book as a digital download and have started to read through some of it. Rummaging through a forgotten section of the closet I found the following for a Space Marine and Tau Empire army, all unassembled except where noted:
Marines
- Captain/Chapter Master (assembled on foot with a storm shield and lightning claw because it looks cool)
- At least 10, possibly 20 Tactical Marines with missile launcher and choice of special weapons (10 are in bits/partially assembled to not sure what's all there, 10 are on sprue)
- Razorback or Rhino
- 5x Assault Marines
- Possibly enough bits to make a Command Squad but not sure
Tau
- 1x assembled Crisis suit with 2x Fusion Blasters (possible "Commander")
- 20x Fire Warriors
- Devilfish
- 2x Crisis Suits
- 3x Stealth Suits
- 3x Piranha
- Hammerhead
- Assorted drone bits
Now I have always loved the backstory of
40k, but I never liked how silly it is to have Marines fight against other Imperial forces (especially other Marines). On the other hand though Tau make less sense fighting other Tau (barring Farsight). Visuals-wise I like them all, the classic look of Marines and the sleek/futuristic military look of Tau.
I'm not totally sold on allies as they seem a crutch and largely used in unfluffy ways but I might be cool with a fluffy use such as
MT+
SM representing a strike force (something about the new Stormtroo--Militarum Tempestus guys looks really neat, although I don't like the berets) but I'd likely avoid allies outside of for fluff reasons and if I included allies I would have to make up a suitable backstory to explain it. Unbound goes similar as I'm not sure how receptive people are going to be to it, and it would have to be for fluff reasons with a suitable backstory. I would likely not abuse psychic powers if I even bothered to take a psyker at all (I might just so I can try the Psychic Phase).
Given those parameters I'm not sure if I should throw my lot in for the Greater Good or the Emperor. On one hand,
SM are the baseline, they're the best supported out of everything, most everything is in plastic, etc. and I can create my own Chapter to allow me to pick tactics that I want, and I could dabble in other Imperial armies that I've never really done in the past (the aforementioned Militarum Tempestus for example), and from what I've read the changes to the allied chart gives Imperial forces a hefty advantage since they're all BBs with each other. On the other, their playstyle seems boring if you don't go all bikers (which I don't think I'd do, at least not initially; I'd likely go for a balanced, fluffy force) and there's likely still the stigma of
MEQ. On the downside I don't have much so I'm probably looking at a higher cost.
Tau look neat and I have a bit more in the collection (although no idea if for example Stealth suits and Pirahna are any good), but seem like they are much more difficult to use (and if you mess up you're basically screwed), and are more prone to abuse (I'm not sure I could resist the lure of a Riptide or two, and cheese aside that's a hefty bit of cash to dump on a single model, albeit an awesome looking one). Also it seems like they might have their own stigma due to being slightly
OP at the moment. I also dislike Farsight (traitor!) and would likely not field Farsight Enclaves if I could avoid it.
Allying the two of them is out of the question as that
IMO flies in the face of the lore.
Or, I could go with something else entirely. I always liked having a balanced kind of army that could respond well to different opponents (in part because I never wanted to have a huge collection to save on costs and in part because I didn't want to delve into netlists); I used to enjoy
CC but Assault is still bad, and visual wise my only restriction is that I like the army to look cohesive; I never liked too much variety in how a unit looks or the army begins to look clownish instead of a regimented force. I was never a fan of armies that required a fine level of finesse to use, mostly because I'm slightly more blunt and to the point
What do you think?
