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I am an original owner of Rogue Trader back in 85, built and painted multiple armies over a 15 year period. Then I found Warmachine and haven't played 40k since.........now I am back.

I am looking for advice on jumping back in with an army. Some key notes:

No Horde armies, (Orks, IG broke me)
I love small elite armies like Grey Knights and maybe Deathwatch?
We are playing in a large group where battles will be 2v2 or 3v3, (so having a small elite army won't hurt as much)
Melee and Range are equally fun for me

Mars cult looks awesome......is it Horde or middle?

Both Grey Knights and Deathwatch will still send you broke if you collect them as Grey Knights and Deathwatch kits.
Collecting Deathwatch through the Death Masque box, selling the Eldar and buying older(and cheaper) Space Marine kits should get you a nifty force, codex and 7th ed rules for under $400.

Since we will be in small point 2v2 and 3v3 armies, would expanding on the Black Spear Strike Force work?

I have been collecting Deathwatch and it is a weird force.

It is like an entire army of Sternguard from the Marine Codex.
It is by taking the formations in the "Black Spear" it gets very strange.
With a bit of modelling work you could get "normal" DW to have their bolter with special ammo and a combat shotgun with it's special ammo which makes for some nasty short range options.
Adding a bike to a squad gives the "split fire" option so ANY model in the squad can fire at a different unit (thinking frag cannon here).
Some drive-by shootings in a Rhino could be an option with that cannon.
The odd Terminator with the underslung melta-gun on his power fist is about the only change from normal terminators.
The Darkstar unfortunately is a bit of a letdown for troop transport, kit it out as a gunship with it's unlimited bombing and it seems to shine there.
Their librarians are cheap and can give you some good options for the psychic phase.
I still think it is a bit of a trap to spend any points into melee due to you are already paying for units with special ammo so a two handed hammer Str 10 is tempting but...
Bikes as a unit are not part of the Black Spear but look awfully tempting with special ammo able to shoot the full range while moving.

I would say there is little DW offers you cannot find more options with a SM list BUT they are interesting if you like a challenge.

Grey Knights are of a similar family but can really shine for psychic dice and equally happy shooting or melee.
Being able to make mostly full use of the initiative as terminators give them some impact when assaulting.
The Dreadknight has been an interesting thorn for many to tackle in the past.
Purifiers are interesting for hurting hordes with their "cleansing flame".

Good luck deciding.

What do people think of Cult Mechanicus?

Is that playable at low points like it's Battleforce?

The Deathwatch are pretty much perfect for small team games; most armies are very good at grabbing ground and sitting on it, the Deathwatch are terrible at that but incredibly good at getting to things in the back of the enemy army and making them go away, which most armies struggle with. The Black Spear Strike Force bundle is a decent starting point, but the Blackstar is weird in small games. If you can still find the Christmas box (Watchblade Task Force) that'd be better for almost the same price since it's actually a box sold at a discount over the components instead of just a web bundle and you get more bodes instead of a big flying thing. If you get any of the Deathwatch kits that aren't the basic Veteran squad you get an upgrade frame with a bunch of spare shoulder pads on that, if you grab excess Marines (cheaply secondhand, random extra ones lying around, etc) you've got extra bodies for limited effort.

Also quick warning: GW doesn't list the Space Marine Drop Pod on the Deathwatch section of their website, for some reason, but not only can the Deathwatch use it they're really good with it. You'll want at least a few.

The Grey Knights are pretty much what the Deathwatch would be if they were melee, they tend to suffer for it since the Deathwatch can show up and cripple an army quickly and easily, while the Grey Knights have to sit around getting shot a bit more. The Codex's internal balance is unimpressive and you'll almost always want to try and build around Purifiers (with Crowe in the HQ slot) or basic Terminators (with a Librarian in the HQ slot) rather than basic Strike Squads. Getting started a Terminator kit, a 10-man PAGK kit, a Dreadknight, a Rhino, and either another Terminator kit or one of the resin HQs is going to give you your minimum detachment and showcase some of the stronger units in the book.

Also quick warning: there are exactly two sets of GK infantry frames sold in three boxes. GW lists seven different boxes on their webstore, but there is one 5-man Terminator box (listed separately as Terminators and Paladins), one 5-man power-armoured box (listed separately as Purifiers, Purgators, Interceptors, and the 5-man Strike squad), and a box where you get two sets of the power-armoured sprues at a slight discount (listed as the 10-man Strike squad).

I'd wait on looking into the AdMech in more detail; they were done haphazardly and they're weird, mono-build, and infinitely less cool than their 30k equivalents. The next main-sequence Imperial Armour book is going to be fixing up the 40k Mechanicum, from the rumours I've seen.

As a deathwatch player, I can say that they are very difficult to play, they can't take too much shooting so they need to show up turn 1-2 and completely break the enemy to level the playing field. They are also really difficult to collect if you want them to be WYSIWYG.

They are incredibly rewarding, and super cool if you customize them and put personality into each marine, ut hard to win with and require tons of practice, the way I personally prefer to play the game

Cult Mechanicus.
Would you include Skitarii as well?

They have a serious shortage of transports so any objectives needing mobility would be an issue.
I would say it IS a flexible and durable force but again lacking in mobility in most cases.
They do look awesome however and when they get in a "mid-range" (12"-24") they are pretty brutal.

I would suggest an Imperial Knight to join them with a couple walker tanks and it could look interesting.

 Da-Rock wrote:
I am an original owner of Rogue Trader back in 85, built and painted multiple armies over a 15 year period. Then I found Warmachine and haven't played 40k since.........now I am back.

I am looking for advice on jumping back in with an army. Some key notes:

No Horde armies, (Orks, IG broke me)
I love small elite armies like Grey Knights and maybe Deathwatch?
We are playing in a large group where battles will be 2v2 or 3v3, (so having a small elite army won't hurt as much)
Melee and Range are equally fun for me

Mars cult looks awesome......is it Horde or middle?

I have the answer for you! A Death Company Army, from Angel's Blade. A 2k army is under 30 models & FAST!

Imperial Knights. There's a small elite force for you

another smallish eltie force might be 1 thousand sons.

There's the Harlequins, too. They're a small, elite force and play very differently to any other army in the game, plus you're allowed to be a hipster about playing an obscure army that nobody else does! It's all good.

Giantwalkingchair wrote:
Imperial Knights. There's a small elite force for you

You beat me to it! Elite, yes. Small in number, yes. Small in size? Uh....

I see an Eldar bundle, "Wraith Host", is that any fun?