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Hi guys,

I have devilled with 40k previously but never really got into it properly. I think part of it was that I didn’t really do a good job identifying up front which army would best suit my playstyle. Initially I went with Elder because people said they were powerful and TBH it was against my better judgment but I just didn't like the models or playstyle.

If I am being honest I do like to win however not at the expense of playing an army I do not like and/or does not fit my playstyle. Talking about playstyle in these types of games I lean towards elite armies with a relatively low model count that can also field a big monster/tank/mech or two. Coming from AOS/Fantasy I really like the close combat and magic phases, obviously shooting is incredibly important in 40K so that cannot be overlooked. However, on balance I would like to play an army that gets into close combat quickly, stays in combat and slices and dices its way through units with ease....without being one dimensional.

In terms of models, I have spent hours looking through the ones I want to paint and I really want at least one, preferably two units of terminators and a Godlike character. My favourite terminator models for reference are (Iron Fists, Deathshroud, Deathwing, Thousand Sons and Emperors Children). The other unit I would love to include is an Imperial Knight or Traitor Knight. The rest can be whatever with a preference for Dreadnaughts, Land Raiders or Demon Princes.

My dilemma is that I own very little 40k content and there is so much information it is hard to know where to start. Now with 8th edition coming out it seems like a good time to give the game another crack! I guess the thousand-dollar question is where do I start, which armies are likely to fit my playstyle and which codex’s should I look to pick up initially.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Sounds like any of Blood Angels, Dark Angels or Chaos would fit your style, and so would vanilla Space Marines.

Close combat, magic, termies, and big monsters. Sounds like either Blood angels, space wolves, or chaos marines of some sort

The new boxset seems your best bet. Choose the side you like and trade the other for stuff you want. Comes with full hard cover rulebook. Great deal.

Thousand Sons might be a great fit for you; Scarab Occult Terminators do most of the work for the faction and you can pick up Magnus as your big Lord of War centerpiece.

If not KSons specifically I think you should definitely give priority to Chaos Marines, the faction is what you want almost to a T.

Loyalist or Chaos marines will get you what you want. Find an aesthetic you like and go for it.

Arachnofiend wrote:
Thousand Sons might be a great fit for you; Scarab Occult Terminators do most of the work for the faction and you can pick up Magnus as your big Lord of War centerpiece.

If not KSons specifically I think you should definitely give priority to Chaos Marines, the faction is what you want almost to a T.

Purely looking at the models the Deathguard 'Deathshroud" terminators are probably my favourite followed by Imperial Fists, then Thousand Sons. I guess I will be picking up the CSM codex first...

grey knights are the elite unit roster. even more elite than their space marine counterparts. they were competitive in 6th i think. but i dont know how theyll feel in a green tide, nid tide, and possibly silver tide setting.

BillyN831 wrote:
grey knights are the elite unit roster. even more elite than their space marine counterparts. they were competitive in 6th i think. but i dont know how theyll feel in a green tide, nid tide, and possibly silver tide setting.

Weirdly enough the power-armoured units took a huge hit (weaker special weapons, fewer attacks, same/higher prices as everything gets cheaper around them...), but a Terminator-based army would probably be all right. At 100PL/2,000pts you're looking at a Vanguard detachment to get enough Elites choices, about 20-25 assorted Terminators, two or three support characters (banners/Apothecaries/Techmarines), two or three Dreadnaughts/Dreadknights to bring some ranged hitting power, and a Grand Master to fill out the HQ slot; bring Falchions and Incinerators, and you may be able to take green/bug/silver tides. Emphasis on "maybe", after seeing what Flash Gitz do now (27pts/model and a unit of five will handily wipe a five-man normal Terminator squad (46-48pts/model before upgrades) with room to spare on average rolls, and that's before the stupid-ass "I rolled a 6, I get another Shooting phase with these guys!" rule) I fear for the future of Terminators.