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I have yet to dedicate time to an army because... well... I cant decide. I love the fluff for the Skitarii and Necrons, but Tau and Eldar are really interesting as well. And thats without mentioning the ungodly amount of SM fluff for the assorted chapters. I figured I'd ask the best community I know and see what the veterans think about it.

Only rule is you have to explain WHY in GREAT DETAIL you like your SPECIFIC ARMY so much. This means treating every chapter of the SM's, each branch of the Inquisition, each dynasty of the Necrons, ect. as SEPARATE entities. Be as specific as possible.

Who knows, you might convert more than just me.

I play Grey knights. I later adopted an inquisition army and death watch detachment after the codex’s separated.

I originally chose the Grey knights because back in 5th ed, the Inquisition was a party of its codex. I read the Eisenhorn series and loved the idea of an inquisitor and thought the idea of his own personal army was interesting too. So I made one up, and I even painted the Grey knights in the black gold and red of the inquisition and made my inquisitor, Lord Severus Vaul, out of bits. I sometimes use Coteaz’s rules for him, and sometimes I use the build-an-inquisitor rules. Since then I have expanded this to a war band list in its own right, as well as a sizable deathwatch force.

The More I played Grey Knights proper, the more I liked them. The fluff of incorruptible psykers speaks to me because I like psyker powers and was a fan of magic in the little WFB I played. After 7th dropped and the new codex came out, the Nemesis strike force, and the streamlined the playstyle of the army to match the fluff of an elite commando style special forces. The new Deep striking rules, the unique psyker discipline all matched the fluff of basically holy paladins fighting against the overwhelming tide of daemons.

They got a bad rap because their 5th ed codex was written by Ward, and when it came out it was BROKEN, it has since been balanced and is now a mid-tier standalone army. But if mixed with elements from the codex SM or BA it works really well. However the fluff has returned to a less Mary Sue level and their play matches their fluff for the most part.

Now I really exclusively play fluffy games with my strike force led by my inquisitor. I lose more games than I win, mostly because my lists are fluffy and not competitive, and also because I refuse to field them with any non-inquisitorial forces as per the fluff ( Lord Vaul hates executing good men wastefully).

I chose Necrons because several years of Tabletop war games have taught me that I always take high causalities but deal even higher damage.

Their fluff of "nothing nothing nothing nothing you're atoms are erased" and crazy tech drew me in.

That and their mercurial nature. Maybe a Dynasty will announce you have 1 month to their their world or die. Or maybe all humans on the world will disappear so fast the food is still warm. Or they'll take everyones spleen. Or broadcast their slaughter to the entire sector. Nothing they seem to do makes sense because they dont communicate their wants and their timesclae is 100% alien to us.

Imperial Guard: The idea of vast armored companies smashing the gak out of genetically and technologically superior aliens through greater numbers and overwhelming firepower.

Space Marines: I don't know. I guess it's the idea of humanity reaching it's greatest potential but still sacrificing much to destroy the evils that threaten it. My favorite Space Marine stories are the ones where
they win despite taking heavy casualties and coming close to the brink of defeat.

Imperial Guard: The idea that out of all of the crazy gak in this galaxy, out of all of the horrific xenos, the genetically altered warriors, the laughter of Dark Gods, that there still exists an army of men who stand up against it all and fight on? Love it.

In order of most-to-least important:

Religious zealotry. Ecclesiarchal bling. Inclusion with the Inquisition as the go-to for dealing with renegade Marines. Fanaticism taken to such extremes that it became feats of super-heroics. Girls with big guns, flame-throwers, church-tanks and dressed power armor.

CONTAINS BACKGROUND SPOILER

I was originally a Warhammer fantasy player Chaos Dwarfs Rule! and added 40k because Chaos Dwarfs use orcs and Orks were in 40k, so I didn't really need to do much to have an army. 40k was much more popular where I played.

I had a subscription back then to White Dwarf and read the background of the World Eaters in it. Angron and his Eaters of Cities made me drop everything and play them. *SPOILER* I thought the Spartacus theme with Angron just wanting to die with his men, and the way the Emperor snatched him away on the eve of his final battle rather then helping him was very potent. That hate built in Angron until Horus gave him his revenge. Ive played World Eaters off and on since 3rd edition. (The high water mark of Chaos )

In general I've always liked orcs and my hats off to JRR Tolkien for creating them. They are a modern day success in literature and digital entertainment having migrated across soooo many setting and became a staple of fantasy.

I really love where GW has taken their version of 'orks'. The prolific barbarians of the future. Themselves being one characteristic of a very aggressive and invasive ecology spreading across the galaxy. A hybrid animal/fungal growth that blooms into a myriad of different subspecies that has orks at the top and everything they need provided for them so they can spend their time swaggering about and getting into fights. Food, slaves, economy all taken care of by the same spores that grew them.

Probably the most honest race in 40k. Doesn't help much for the other races that orks are made for galactic war right down to the genetic level but they are true to their nature and for the race as a whole there is no philosophical angst, no great question. They are highly content as a whole and having a great time. They happily go about Krumping, instinctively following the big green guy, and beating on those who are smaller.

As mentioned they have some unique genetics. For one there is their proliferation and the speed in which a small band can become an army with amazing speed when left unchecked. Then it's their seemingly unlimited amount of adolescent periods triggered by winning fights allowing orks to keep growing the more they win to no known limit. Final icing is the odd boy or oddboyz whom are born with information in their genetics that allow them to engineer technology or perform surgery with no prior training. Just simply an instinctive knowledge on how stuff fits together be it plasma or teleportation tech or neurological connection to a dreadnought.

They may be GW's beat stick but they do it with flair and attitude. They also have their repertoire of incredible victories and sit at the top as the most successful race in the 40k setting for their numbers and territory held in fluff.

Truth be told, fluff had little bearing on my army choice. Went with Tyranids because they were cool space bugs, then I got into Chaos Marines because Chaos basically lets you do anything and I love going crazy with conversions. I mean, I do rather like the Bio-Engineering Great Devourer, but their main selling point to me was they're the most alien army.

It's usually the models that make me pick an army, not the fluff.

If I don't like the models, I won't play the game, period.

Dark Angels because I have a Ravenwing/Deathwing force and love how much the fluff of the chapter's hunt for the Fallen has influenced their codex.

Dark Eldar: I love how the whole psychology to them is a sort of mix of psychopathy, pridefulness, and some element of knowing they're doomed. While at once they feel like the Eldar didn't survive the Fall and are doomed by Slaanesh despite how hard the Craftworlds try to convince themselves that's not the case, they also feel like they're better than just about everybody else.

Actually, I think they're a lot like smarter Orks. They know things won't end well but aren't holding on to any sort of hope that things will turn around - and instead of offering their service to the Emperor, a Chaos God, or some other deity, they just do what they think is fun.

Unless you look more to the Kabalite side of things with the Archons and Vect (which isn't really the appeal of DE for me), there's no grand scheme or design. A Dark Eldar warlord might throw himself into the path of a lascannon just for fun (the Haemonculus trait where you get D3 VPs for getting insta-death'd), seek out an enemy champion just to try her luck, or devote a grand war machine to conquering a planet just because there's a nice forest there they'd like to walk through. Every desire is just as absurd and just as valid as any other.

They may be cruel and seemingly arbitrary but everything about them is inherently fair - if you can manage to do something it's fair game, and not if not. There's no moral high ground to fight for. It's the antithesis of the Tau and the Greater Good.

I fell in love with the Eldar. A highly advanced race beset on by the Chaotic God of their own creation and the Ancient Enemy that they failed to destroy during the War in Heaven, desperately trying to survive in a universe just wants them dead using any means necessary. No matter what means or who they use to fight off the encroaching doom their ancestors have created, I generally understand and if I were in that position would probably support. I also see it as a redemption story, fighting the off what they evil their ancestors unleashed when they tore open the sky… kinda poetic.

So off I went creating my own Craftworld now led by High Autarch Celariel and the character just came to life… from charging into a Daemon Prince and Great Unclean One, having the Pheonix Gem save her from the prince giving her the chance to destroy both monstrosities with the Shard of Anaris (happened on the tabletop to my suprise). The horrific defeat from a Dark Eldar Archon that resulted in the destruction of the Mantle of the Laughing God, and the unsolicited creation of two giant angelic wings made the bones of her defeated Swooping Hawk bodyguard and attached to her back, a torture inflicted by the flesh spinners of Commorragh…

So to put it in short I guess, I really like the backstory and theme of the faction and on the tabletop they have the ability to tell amazing stories.

 Exalted Pariah wrote:
I chose Necrons because several years of Tabletop war games have taught me that I always take high causalities but deal even higher damage.

Their fluff of "nothing nothing nothing nothing you're atoms are erased" and crazy tech drew me in.

That and their mercurial nature. Maybe a Dynasty will announce you have 1 month to their their world or die. Or maybe all humans on the world will disappear so fast the food is still warm. Or they'll take everyones spleen. Or broadcast their slaughter to the entire sector. Nothing they seem to do makes sense because they dont communicate their wants and their timesclae is 100% alien to us.

Don't forget about the time-tested strategy of stealing your sun and using it against their other enemies.

Fell in love with Necrons thanks to Dawn of War. The fact that the tabletop implemented awesome Sniper-assassins and Supersonic starships just added the frosting to the cupcake.

But for real, the mystery behind them, the scary techno-magic they possess, and the infinite number of sleeping soldiers they have scattered across the galaxy.

 War Kitten wrote:
Imperial Guard: The idea that out of all of the crazy gak in this galaxy, out of all of the horrific xenos, the genetically altered warriors, the laughter of Dark Gods, that there still exists an army of men who stand up against it all and fight on? Love it.

I couldn't agree more.

 MarsNZ wrote:

 War Kitten wrote:
Imperial Guard: The idea that out of all of the crazy gak in this galaxy, out of all of the horrific xenos, the genetically altered warriors, the laughter of Dark Gods, that there still exists an army of men who stand up against it all and fight on? Love it.

I couldn't agree more.

This for me as well. I also love how over the top grim dark everything is for the Guard. They're about the only codex I've read that loses in it's fluff and the trait to boost the warlord's balistics skill that starts with "You could fire a lasgun before you could walk" or some such thing gets me every time. I also love the Guard picture on the two-page spread in the Chaos Demons book. That's the Guard in a nutshell for me. Some group of poor shmucks transported halfway across the galaxy to a planet they've never heard of and now they're in a trench fighting hand-to-hand and getting slaughtered to a man by an enemy they didn't know even existed.

Orks, I love the whole "They believe it so it is so" and, again, the complete carelessness of how they do things.

Nids: It was the art picture in the dex of the Death of Tyrann. That guy wrapped up in the tentacle.

Dark Eldar: Path of the Archon books had a hand in getting me headed down this path.

In D&D alignment terms, the Orks are the most lawful race. "Bigga is Betta" is universally believed by all Orks, and no Ork has ever doubted that for a second.

I was drawn to the idea of Ork Kultur, and the idea that their society can function with seemingly bizarre rules.

Plus all the great Ork Quotes: "Orks never lose", "a right and proppa way of doin' fings", "Red wuns go fasta", "you've never seen a purple Ork", and all the rest.

Crimson Fists perfectly show off Space Marines at its finest. Fighting against unthinkable odds, they manage to pull through against any challenge they came across. Not to mention how awesome it for a SM chapter to come back from seemingly nothing to kicking some xenos butt.

I liked the part with the BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! That's about it, really.

As I'm sure it did for many other folks, it all started with Dawn of War. Many hours were sunk into that game and all of its expansions, but none were as much fun as the campaign of Eliphas. The hooks of Chaos began their pull on my soul.

What came next was what I always do: rampant obsession in collecting every piece of information available that I can learn it all. Hours upon hours were spent invested on the Wikia, Lexicanum, and really any source I could find. If I wasn't there, I was buying yet another Horus Heresy book. I was tempted to look into other factions, and there are favorites among them all, but Chaos always called the loudest.

In a world of dogma, Chaos is freedom. It is contradiction made manifest, a blessed escape from reality's shackles. Everything is possible, because it's already happened. Thoughts and emotions have more impact on the universe than an physical actions could. It's beautiful, in its own way.

As fun as it is to be undivided, I always seemed to be enamored with the ideals of Tzeentch. It just fits with my need for information, and my hubris. Thus it was a shame I never cared much for the Thousand Sons. Don't get me wrong - their story is one of satisfying tragedy. It was just the aesthetic. Neo-Egypt just didn't do it for me.

Then, admist the lore I unearthed was a single line describing a warband with no other history to their name: "tricked by Tzeentch, they now hear the lies of all mankind." And with it, a single studio photo of a Terminator Sorcerer with sapphire armor and pauldrons/gauntlets/a helm of black with crimson highlights.

I was sold. And I've been collecting and painting ever since. Writing, too. Because Chaos offers freedom - not just within the fluff of the universe, but beyond it, in our realm. With just a simple description and paintjob from GW, I had all that I needed to create (in my mind) something all my own.

Plus, y'know, space-magicks and rampant mutations. That's fun too.

 EnTyme wrote:

 Exalted Pariah wrote:
I chose Necrons because several years of Tabletop war games have taught me that I always take high causalities but deal even higher damage.

Their fluff of "nothing nothing nothing nothing you're atoms are erased" and crazy tech drew me in.

That and their mercurial nature. Maybe a Dynasty will announce you have 1 month to their their world or die. Or maybe all humans on the world will disappear so fast the food is still warm. Or they'll take everyones spleen. Or broadcast their slaughter to the entire sector. Nothing they seem to do makes sense because they dont communicate their wants and their timesclae is 100% alien to us.

Don't forget about the time-tested strategy of stealing your sun and using it against their other enemies.

YES! Or during the Orphean War(love that story) that instantly wipes out half the crazy huge Imperial defense by baking half the planet with a solar flare. The Necrons only lose when heavily outnumbered and/or because they are practically still asleep. Fully awakened Necrons are as much of a galactic end game as the full Hive fleet.

Because I enjoy beer, meat and utterly despise snots like the Inqusition or the bat crazy church in 40k. That and Wolves and beards

Eldar fluff got me into playing them - a race of psychics, having a level of mastery over fate itself, their culture destroyed and reality itself ruptured because of their excessive indulgences. That, combined with the ideas behind their army design (each unit a specialist in a symphony of harmonious destruction) made me fall in love instantly.

 Exalted Pariah wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:

 Exalted Pariah wrote:
I chose Necrons because several years of Tabletop war games have taught me that I always take high causalities but deal even higher damage.

Their fluff of "nothing nothing nothing nothing you're atoms are erased" and crazy tech drew me in.

That and their mercurial nature. Maybe a Dynasty will announce you have 1 month to their their world or die. Or maybe all humans on the world will disappear so fast the food is still warm. Or they'll take everyones spleen. Or broadcast their slaughter to the entire sector. Nothing they seem to do makes sense because they dont communicate their wants and their timesclae is 100% alien to us.

Don't forget about the time-tested strategy of stealing your sun and using it against their other enemies.

YES! Or during the Orphean War(love that story) that instantly wipes out half the crazy huge Imperial defense by baking half the planet with a solar flare. The Necrons only lose when heavily outnumbered and/or because they are practically still asleep. Fully awakened Necrons are as much of a galactic end game as the full Hive fleet.

The only reason the Necrons haven't taken the galaxy back yet is that they haven't had their coffee.

Tau: Love the tank designs, plus the fire warriors look like the IGs more advanced brother. Why have a fight in the future if you can't use all the cool new toys?
Fists: Men of stone. Seriously, you couldn't break these guys if you had taken their grandmother hostage. To repeat a quote used by some random guy off of 1d4chan: "You have nothing to threaten me with". Also yellow never looked so badass.

Space wolves:

1.) THey care about normal humans during the war of Armageddon they structured the combat zones to hide the civilians from the truth of what they were fighting. They Help protect the survivors of the PDF and IG forces that survived the war. They used themselves as sheilds to help them escape the insane inquistor. And after being attacked promptly cut the head off of the Leader of the greynights and his retinue in retaliation, and Fought until the insane inquistor was slain.

2.) The stories of the wulfen saving gaurdsmen, when all hope seemed lost, these monstrous creatures moved lightning fast and slayed the enemies allowing the IG to fall back and escape.

3.) They do what they view is right and do not bow to the religous factions of the imperium

4.) werewolf space vikings

5.) They will die protecting humans then party with the ones that lived.

Mechanicus:

They Hold All the knowledge and the best equipment, In fact they make everything and without them the imperium would fall to ruin.

They are as numerous as the imperial guard and yet they have the equipment to rival astartes.

Their units range from the lowly robot slave to Walking gods of war.

Their commanders are cold and logical, while each being unique with advanced gear and modifications.

Robots are cool

and finally I don't feel as guilty losing skitarii in games as much as I feel bad about losing space marines

Tau fit my playstyle; shoot it off the board, shun melee. They also seem progressve and one of the only races concerned with making things better for everyone, not just themselves.

Tyranids I like because of Alien(s), pure and simple. Leviathan is probably my favorite horde, because of color, very little has to do with fluff; all these guys do is eat everyone else anyways.

Lastly, I like Necrons for the egyptian/terminator look.

For the most part, when it comes to fluff for the various septs, chapters and whatnot, I don't care. I much prefer to make my own organizations, rather than using someone elses.

It was more chance than design that I started with CSM, as I was looking to get into the hobby and one of the members of my group sold me his chaos army for cheap. While Chaos Marines were one of my top choices thanks to Dawn of War it wasn't until I got the codex (I started right after 5th edition's release) that I truly fell for the Dark Gods. It's still difficult to say exactly what it is that makes me like CSM as much as I do. Their tragic fall of each Legion, and later chapters, makes for an interesting read. Currently, my personal favorite is the Crimson Slaughter, but the tale of Magnus and the Thousand Sons is also one that I felt was rather compelling.
Contesting the position as my favorite is the Adeptus Mechanicus. I originally learned about them when I was looking at the major factions listed on Lexicanum and was drawn by their symbol. After clicking on it and reading through their page, I was immediately hooked on the idea of a Cyborg army with the biggest and fanciest guns in the Imperium. Unfortunately they didn't have any real representation on the tabletop at the time aside from Engineseers. Fast-forward to the drop of Codex: Skitarii, and I was hooked all over again. Radiation Troopers, relentless hunters, brain scrambling assassins, crab tanks, and more unique wargear than you can shake a stick at. Not to mention all the oppressive techno-religious dogma that is the AdMech's trademark. And then Codex: Cult Mechanicus (that these two codexes should have been one notwithstanding) brought even more goodies.