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Hi i havent played warhammer 40k in over 2 years now, and i want to play a fairly competitive army.
Just wondered whats a good army to play that :

1) Doesnt need 10 transports to be competitive ( cant really afford to blow all my money on this)
2)Recent codex (dont want to start an army thats due a new codex etc)

Any advise on choosing an army will help me alot as im quite keen to get back into this hobby. thanks

So you want Tau, Necrons or Eldar.

Necrons need two transports but the Battleforce box is a good deal to get you started. Most of the best armies just have two Barge things to transport the Warrior squads and the rest of the army is either Destroyers or Wraiths. But I don't remember if Necrons have actually won any tournaments with their Decurion. There's some significant drawbacks in the current Meta.

Tau don't need any transports currently, but the new codex will be out in the second half of October so who knows what will happen there. Biggest question is if the Farsight Enclaves will still be usable. If they aren't, like Iyanden isn't anymore, then that will shake the tree a lot.

Eldar can all be on Jetbikes so no Transports NEEDED, but Fire Dragons in transports is a very good choice. There's enough good units in Eldar that you can just build without Falcons or Serpents.

Tyranids don't need transports either but 1) it's an old codex and 2) not that competitive without huge amounts of skill or even more luck.

There are some Space Marine builds that skip transports. 10 transports isn't the only way to go. You can still use a CAD with some Forge World units thrown in and be very competitive. But, if you're worried about the price of Rhinos, I don't think you'll be okay with the 75lbs for a single tank... Personally, I like Raptors for 'alternative competitive' builds. Can do some hurt before the game on big ticket items like Wraithknights and Imperial Knights.

Thanks for the feedback thats helped narrow it down alot.

I dont mind getting some transports for certain specialized units like firedragons, i just remember having like 7 razor backs for my space wolves years ago and dont want to go down that sort of route again.

Tyranids do look cool but just dont want to be stuck with aload of usless models that are not in the new codex if it does come out.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:


Necrons need two transports but the Battleforce box is a good deal to get you started.

It isn't a good deal, really. You're only saving a couple of coins from buying each thing separately. The only advantage it offers is the parts for both the Annihilation Barge OR Ghost Ark.

ebay whatever army you choose

I'd go marines. While I own Necron and Tau (and both are good), I'd say marines currently have a strong codex, are easy to find ready to go on the cheap, and you can do some grey/silver/red color scheme and run them as BA, SM, SW, or DA and no one will say boo.

Myc wrote:


It isn't a good deal, really. You're only saving a couple of coins from buying each thing separately. The only advantage it offers is the parts for both the Annihilation Barge OR Ghost Ark.

And where are you buying it from? Because I found the set for $90USD with almost no searching. And GW prices the Barge/Ark at $50 and one squad of Warriors at $36. So for 'free' you get another squad of Warriors, Immortals and Scarabs. If that's not a good deal, I don't know what is.

OP: they don't remove models from a codex. If there is a GW model, it's a very safe bet it will be in the codex. I know they cut Wulfen that had models, but I can't remember anything else that was actively removed and had an official model. It's more about how the models interact. Like right now you can have five Hive Tyrants, but next codex might restrict it to one per Detachment. Unlikely, but it could happen.

So im leaning towards necrons or eldar, thanks for the help.

Just gunna take a look at what models i prefer now.

 SharkoutofWata wrote:

Myc wrote:


It isn't a good deal, really. You're only saving a couple of coins from buying each thing separately. The only advantage it offers is the parts for both the Annihilation Barge OR Ghost Ark.

And where are you buying it from? Because I found the set for $90USD with almost no searching. And GW prices the Barge/Ark at $50 and one squad of Warriors at $36. So for 'free' you get another squad of Warriors, Immortals and Scarabs. If that's not a good deal, I don't know what is.

OP: they don't remove models from a codex. If there is a GW model, it's a very safe bet it will be in the codex. I know they cut Wulfen that had models, but I can't remember anything else that was actively removed and had an official model. It's more about how the models interact. Like right now you can have five Hive Tyrants, but next codex might restrict it to one per Detachment. Unlikely, but it could happen.

I'm talking GW direct prices.

So Necron Battle force: £70

Includes: Ghost Ark/Doomsday Ark
Necron Warriors
Immortals

Individually: Necron Warriors: £22
Ghost Ark or Doomsday Ark: £31
Immortals: £20:50

Total: £73.50

You're only saving £3.50, which will get you an extra pot of paint, and that's all.

And that's depending on if you even want Immortals in your army. You could, for the same price, get (73.50)

Necron Warriors (22)
an Ark of either choice (31)
Triarch Praetorians

or

Necron Warriors
An Ark
Lych Guard

Or for just slightly more (at 75.50)

Necron Warriors
an Ark
Flayed ones.

Or just keep mixing and matching.

You could go with Warriors, Doom Scythe Immortals/Triarchs/Lychguard for less than the asking price of the battle pack.

Which is why you don't buy from GW. eBay is your friend~

 SharkoutofWata wrote:
Which is why you don't buy from GW. eBay is your friend~

I don't mind buying direct from GW. I'm just under no illusion that I'm saving money.