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I haven't played since 5th edition. I sold all my stuff to buy into other hobbies for a bit, but some friends are either buying into new armies or just starting so I figured I'd buy into something and play with them. Last time I played I owned Tau and I grew bored of them because I hated essentially scooping to an opponent's successful assault phase. This is what I'm looking for in an army:

1. Non-Imperium. Not really a fan of space men fluff and the like.
2. I prefer haymaker single models to legions of smaller units. So essentially, no swarm armies like Tyranids, Orks, IG, etc. When I played Tau, I always loved fielding as many Riptides as possible. I love tying up a lot of points into powerful models and having just a handful of guys to deal with the opponent's entire army.
3. Overall cost not too bad. I don't have a budget cut-off, but I don't really want to end up investing a lot of money this time around.

So I was in a similar boat to you not too long ago, and before you buy in, ask yourself a couple of questions, such as how long before you're actually ready to play your first game because you have to paint and build everything, and how long will it take your friends to do the same, more so what's the chance they'll drop out before they get to that point? Just some food for thought before you invest a ton into this game again.

You don't have to play a horde with nids, there is a spore unit that takes up a troop slot. You could also play an unbound army.

 Tinkrr wrote:
So I was in a similar boat to you not too long ago, and before you buy in, ask yourself a couple of questions, such as how long before you're actually ready to play your first game because you have to paint and build everything, and how long will it take your friends to do the same, more so what's the chance they'll drop out before they get to that point? Just some food for thought before you invest a ton into this game again.

A lot of friends are just buying into new armies and already own other stuff, so it's not likely they're going to put it down. The friends who are getting into it have already bought and begun building and painting their models, so I don't think anyone is going to get cold feet. Also I love Hammer, I just grew to dislike my last army and sold out because none of my close friends were playing at that time so I wasn't motivated to buy into something else so quickly. I'm very excited about playing again, I've just been out of it for a bit and want some more educated opinions on what to buy into to meet my needs.

 Heroque wrote:
I don't really want to end up investing a lot of money this time around.

If you playaed before you know as well as I do this is not the hobby if you don't want to spend money.
As far as what army I only been playing about year and had to try a few before i really knew and settled on two. Its like picking out your underwear somethings you just have to do on your own. good luck

Necrons, Tau and Eldar are all solid non-Imperial choices that don't require hordes of models on the table (note that this does not make them cheap armies...). Avoid laying the cheese on too thickly and your friends will even still speak to you.

 Heroque wrote:

 Tinkrr wrote:
So I was in a similar boat to you not too long ago, and before you buy in, ask yourself a couple of questions, such as how long before you're actually ready to play your first game because you have to paint and build everything, and how long will it take your friends to do the same, more so what's the chance they'll drop out before they get to that point? Just some food for thought before you invest a ton into this game again.

A lot of friends are just buying into new armies and already own other stuff, so it's not likely they're going to put it down. The friends who are getting into it have already bought and begun building and painting their models, so I don't think anyone is going to get cold feet. Also I love Hammer, I just grew to dislike my last army and sold out because none of my close friends were playing at that time so I wasn't motivated to buy into something else so quickly. I'm very excited about playing again, I've just been out of it for a bit and want some more educated opinions on what to buy into to meet my needs.

Again, speaking from experience I just came back to the game, mostly because I had a super cheap source of models NIB and a friend getting back into it. My friend and I went to someone and bought about 800$ worth of models at a 60% discount, so close to 1,500$ retail, not counting the paints and tools we got for much less, and right now I'm slowly working on my models while this other friend has basically forgot it was a hobby we wanted to get into, despite working on the models well before me and being the one to suggest it. This isn't the first time something like this happened, or something like myself wanting to get back in but not doing it, while others bought models, and so many other versions of this.

In short, I'll ask you this again, assuming you are handed (not buying, but simply given bunch of boxes) how long will it take you to build and paint all of that to play games with it? How long will it take your friends, and how much do you care?

 Tinkrr wrote:

 Heroque wrote:

 Tinkrr wrote:
So I was in a similar boat to you not too long ago, and before you buy in, ask yourself a couple of questions, such as how long before you're actually ready to play your first game because you have to paint and build everything, and how long will it take your friends to do the same, more so what's the chance they'll drop out before they get to that point? Just some food for thought before you invest a ton into this game again.

A lot of friends are just buying into new armies and already own other stuff, so it's not likely they're going to put it down. The friends who are getting into it have already bought and begun building and painting their models, so I don't think anyone is going to get cold feet. Also I love Hammer, I just grew to dislike my last army and sold out because none of my close friends were playing at that time so I wasn't motivated to buy into something else so quickly. I'm very excited about playing again, I've just been out of it for a bit and want some more educated opinions on what to buy into to meet my needs.

Again, speaking from experience I just came back to the game, mostly because I had a super cheap source of models NIB and a friend getting back into it. My friend and I went to someone and bought about 800$ worth of models at a 60% discount, so close to 1,500$ retail, not counting the paints and tools we got for much less, and right now I'm slowly working on my models while this other friend has basically forgot it was a hobby we wanted to get into, despite working on the models well before me and being the one to suggest it. This isn't the first time something like this happened, or something like myself wanting to get back in but not doing it, while others bought models, and so many other versions of this.

In short, I'll ask you this again, assuming you are handed (not buying, but simply given bunch of boxes) how long will it take you to build and paint all of that to play games with it? How long will it take your friends, and how much do you care?

Lay off of him. This is OT, and, quite frankly, rude. He asked what faction he should play, he didn't ask for somebody to pester him about how reliable his friends are.

Let's see here....

Eldar/Tau/Necrons, as previously stated, fit your criteria.

I know you said no Imperium, but Skitarii are fantastic for the rest of your criteria.

Harlequins don't require gobs of models, and can have expensive (points-wise) units (so, less units = less cash spent). If it wasn't for their terrible excuse for a codex, I'd recommend Chaos Marines, as well, but they're so terrible it would take a master strategist to overcome any of the heavy hitters, like Eldar or Necrons.

 Heroque wrote:

2. I prefer haymaker single models to legions of smaller units. So essentially, no swarm armies like Tyranids, Orks, IG, etc. When I played Tau, I always loved fielding as many Riptides as possible. I love tying up a lot of points into powerful models and having just a handful of guys to deal with the opponent's entire army.

That's a mistake to dismiss orks and tyranids. They both can pull low-model count armies quite well. Even without super-heavies and GMC. Orks have meganobs and bikes, tyranids have MC.
And i'm sure, you can do a low model count IG list - it'll be mech list, obviously.

I think it's more about the fluff that you like the most. Pick a faction and we'll give advice on low model count lists.

And orks meet the critetia of "cost not too bad". Heck, you can spend absolutely nothing and create something out of crap and sticks, paint it up and it's gona be orky. Even better than oficial models on the tabletop. And you can occasonally find cheap stuff for orks here and there.

 Heroque wrote:
I haven't played since 5th edition. I sold all my stuff to buy into other hobbies for a bit, but some friends are either buying into new armies or just starting so I figured I'd buy into something and play with them. Last time I played I owned Tau and I grew bored of them because I hated essentially scooping to an opponent's successful assault phase. This is what I'm looking for in an army:

1. Non-Imperium. Not really a fan of space men fluff and the like.
2. I prefer haymaker single models to legions of smaller units. So essentially, no swarm armies like Tyranids, Orks, IG, etc. When I played Tau, I always loved fielding as many Riptides as possible. I love tying up a lot of points into powerful models and having just a handful of guys to deal with the opponent's entire army.
3. Overall cost not too bad. I don't have a budget cut-off, but I don't really want to end up investing a lot of money this time around.

How did you use Riptides if they weren't released until 6E 2012?

Any who. Me personally, I'm Tau all the way. If you disliked the assaults from opposing enemies, you may want to take another look at Tau now, as they have evolved greatly in 6E and 7E. Changes worth noting...

(1) Supporting Fire. This is a new special rule for Tau that makes assaulting all hell for enemy forces. Tau get to shoot back right before an assault. Though its BS1, they have abilities that can improve this, as well as wargear that makes it even more complicated, and gives many options for making Tau difficult to assault.

(2) Crisis battlesuits can now officially equip 2 of the same weapon. Not TL of a single weapon, but 2 of the same. So double the shots of the same weapon if taking 2 of it. Volume fire in this way has proven quite devastating, more so than TL weapons.

(3) Burst cannons now have 4 shots, not 3. So, if you take 2, you get 8 shots, not 6!

(4) Fusion Blasters have +6" range, so you don't have to sweat as much when trying to deal some serious tank killing damage.

(5) Remember those 2 weapons that were limited to 1 per army? Well, they're not limited anymore. You can take as many as you want of either of them for your crisis suits. Oh, and that ion accelerator thing? It got a LOT better! It's pretty much a 3 shot ion weapon, so take 2, get 6 shots, and enjoy!

(6) Crisis suits are now up to 9 per unit, no longer 3. In Farsight Enclaves, this gets ridiculous as they are troops, with no modification to the 9 limit!

(7) Crisis suits are not limited in how to use their hard points for weapons and support systems. You can have 3 weapons, 1 weapon with anopther TL weapon, 3 support systems, any mix you want, or none at all (Rambo Crisis Suits!).

(8) Shadowsun got a makeover, is now much more wanted for armies and no longer limited to Cities of Death scenarios. Has some cool special abilities, and is great to add to ANY other battlesuit unit.

(9) Commanders now have an upgrade where they can be flying monstrous creatures (sorta).

(10) Tau now have terrain pieces, strongholds, sold by GW that have some unique cool abilities such as: barriers that repel attacks back upon the attacker; multiple pieces that connect together into a larger structure; and the whole thing can move 6" per round, with every model standing on it counting as not moving and gaining the advantages of such. Among others.