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I am curious why you have chosen the primary army that you play? What about you was drawn to that army?

Me? I main grey knights. Ive always loved playing the paladin archetype characters in other games, starting with Cecil from finial fantasy II (US), everquest, d&d, etc. Ive always enjoyed being the good guy, the anti undead/demon killer types. So when I was starting the hobby, gk just screamed out to me. They even have paladins as a unit.

I've tried so many other armies, but what kept me with them is their diverse play, able to do a little bit of everything. Cast spells, fight, move, become more durable, etc makes them such a fun army.

What is yours?

Nurgle. I started with them, long time ago, as CSM Death Guard.

Since then, I just like the playstyle-stupid durable units that can still mess stuff up in CC, with shooting being more minor in the playing.

Up until codex 2.0 I would've said my Salamanders. With the powerstonking and generally not having fun steamrolling people(altho I spent the first half of 8th being the steamroll-ee) I am not an donkey-cave. So my Metallica, Deldar & Bloody Rose were the course du jour. With 9th I've decided to bulk out my Flawless Host and shelve my Salamanders until either A) SM get nerfed(more like Eradicators, I waited for years to have a unit that fit the whole Melta & Flame theme in Primaris and was pissed when they were redonkulous) or B) everyone else got power to match.

Unfortunately I don't see either happening in the short term.

So to answer your question right now, Flawless Host.

Sisters of Battle.

The reasons are many.

First and foremost: the Witch Hunter dex, whick was the first dex I played, had a built in dichotomy between these pure, saintly women who were so holy they could literally perform miracles, and also the criminals and traitors so heinous they've been reprogrammed via arcoflagellation or internment in penitent engines.

At the time, they were the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Hereticus, and Inquisitorial Warbands were Blanchitsu before the term was officially coined be White Dwarf.

There was no army with that kind of diversity.

Beyond that: I've always liked underdogs, and that's the kind of army SoB are- I don't mean fluff wise. I mean they are the little army that could. Any sane person would have given up on them years ago, after GW sidelined them again, and again and again. But WE kept the Emperor's faith and lit a fire so bright that GW brought our living saints back.

Beyond that: many of the women I've known in my life have had to fight twice as hard for half as much as men, so when a woman takes to the field of battle to immolate the enemies of humanity, you know she's a stone cold killer. You can fight her, but in many cases, she's been fighting for everything for her entire life. And you can run, but it won't do you any good.

Alicia Dominica took Goge Vandire's head without mercy or hesitation. She was a righteous flame in the darkness, and her daughters have kept that flame in their hearts for five millennia.

The Emperor Protects...

Space wolves. Have had them since 2nd ed (still have the lead models from the early nineties). Vikings and wolves, what's not to love?

Eldar have edged into becoming my main force, partly because I didn't like the direction they took modern space wolves. The flanderisation of wolfy mcwolferson and thunderwolves kind of made me lose my interest a little.

I also felt uncomfortable with the amount of stuff marines in general were getting while other armies floundered.

So I started playing with eldar more. the eldar aesthetic is the best in 40k imo

CSM: I didn't know much about 40k when I started, other than what I got from playing Dawn of War. When I actually started getting into the lore and the Horus Heresy novels I immediately knew the traitor legions/primarchs were more interesting and had much more depth than their loyalist counterparts. The models were eh, but had lots of details and conversion/kit bash opportunities. The Eldar and Tau didn't interest me. Guard? Who wants to play regular army men in future when you can play super soldiers? Orks and Nids, didn't want to play hordes(Though I do enjoy the Nid model range).

Orks: because when I stated 40k in 3rd it was a garbage game of “best dice wins” and Orks win anytime they fight.

Now they’re just my fave...and happen to be the best army so I lucked out

these days it's space wolves, although I've also got a custom chapter I'm working on too, but for some reason space wolves appeal to me BECAUSE of how over the top they are

Tau.

I've always liked ranged armies, and when they first came out they really seemed like the only "good guy" faction in a universe of gray and black. Only later did GW start doubling down on their negative aspects.

Also, marines. Because they were one of the first plastic sets and have been in every starter set, so they're cheap and easy to find/buy.

Imperial Guard.

Rewind to 2006, and apparently I was the only person ever to look at the Daemon Hunters codex and think it was super cool to have Inquisitor inducting Guardsmen and/or Space Marines into his retinue. Never got too far into building the army back then, but when I came back to 40k in...2015? 2016? I went with Imperial Guard because Inquisition had been fragmented into tiny parts and the more interesting stuff was in the Guard codex (ie: the regular army and stormtroopers, while Grey Knights got split into their own codex without any of that). I finally have an inquisitor lined up for painting, once I get a couple of new brushes since I learned the hard way that I did NOT in fact have a backup size 1 brush...

That said I sometimes get bored of building guardsmen, so I take breaks and build small bits for other factions too or 3rd party guard models for the occasional change of pace.

Tyranids.

More specifically - Codex: Hormagaunts

I have always loved my zerglings.

My Black Legion army. It was my first 40k army and the one considered the most before starting. I like the black and gold color scheme, the more generalist combat approach that tends to feature Terminators and leans a little more melee than shooting. Unfortunately, I haven't played them as much as I would have liked.

I want the 9th edition codex to happen at least a little before I can get back to gaming again. I never really have got the chance to field my Black Legion much. In the beginning of 8th, I still had a motley warband that actually had to have a fair number of Fallen Dark Angels just to get to 2000points. I didn't really play that much until the new sculpts came out, but then I didn't bother getting the new codex or any of the supplements. So it became really confusing what was going on in terms of rules when I had models painted to the point I felt they could be on the table.

I mostly played Kill Team through much of 8th. Before the Elites book, CSM were just sad. Even after the Elites book, without Khorne Berserkers CSM were just kinda sad. So post-Elites I ran a couple of axe and plasma pistols CSM as Khorne Berserkers. Which was fun, but I have a rule that all non-character CSM models with plasma weapons MUST overcharge. That included my 'Khorne Berserkers". Even then, my Black Legion was only kinda okay. Kill Team really did force bringing more Cultists than I like. So I usually veered toward factions that had more options in team composition. It's how I have Genestealer Cult army now.

With the lockdowns, I finally have a very nice collection of okay painted Black Legion ready to go. So I just need to get a codex, so I can the rules all in one place for at least a hot minute and public gaming opened up again. Then it is just a matter of balancing playing 40k, AoS and possibly Kill Team depending on what happens with that. Then leaning on playing my Black Legion over my Genestealer Cult. GSC is usually an opponent favorite since I think I am the only one that has enough of a collection to run 2000pts. It's shame and terrible with them and not entirely sure I ever get better than bad at playing GSC. I am very much some kind of space marine-type player. I like the spiky ones more though.

Cant really go with one army as I am split between my love for Orks and Tau.

Orks are what got me into 40k due to DoW2: Retribution's Ork campaign. Frankly I love their lore of being this unending horde of idiot savants that are this mix of being comical in their design/behavior but in the setting everyone views them as being 100% a legitimate threat and by no means a joke. The junkyard tech design is really appealing and I really like Ork Nobz (due in large part to DoW2). My Blitzawaaagh! list from 7th (5 battlewagons, 3 dakkajets, boss, boyz, gitz, manz, and bustas) is probably my favorite list to run as it was for me the perfect combination of being thematic, unique, and actually a somewhat viable list.

Tau was my #2 for a while but its grown into a coequal place along with the Orks. I really like the potential that exists in the Tau fluff and I prefer to view them as being this oppressive 1984 regime except that of course the Tau are highly susceptible to Ethereal influence so its far easier for them to establish the appearance of a Utopian collective society while still being this somewhat fascist empire. I also really like their look, especially their infantry which look to be inspired by Feudal Japanese's Ashigaru. Their vehicles have a cool design while their mech suits are certainly awesome but I tend to prefer Crisis Suits (even prefer my Broadsides to be converted XV8s) over the more mecha looking Riptide/Ghostkeel or the horribly impractical looking Taunar or Stomrsurge.

I also really enjoy how they play/fight in regards to how units operate in support of each other and are focused on the effectiveness of the group over individual infantry or unit ability. In particular their supporting fire and utilizing markerlights to augment other friendly units is a very cool and iconic aspect of the army which makes good synergy feel rewarding. I also enjoyed using a Hammer and Anvil style strategy with them by using my Infantry and long range fire support units to form the main battle line and then having units like Crisis Suits dropping in (often doing very risky close range drops) to hit the enemy's vulnerable areas and catch the enemy in a difficult situation between the two forces.

Imperial Guard

Why ? I love the real army feel and I love having so many men on the board I can loose a hundred and still be like " Well, still got a good amount left, forward to glory! "

I don't have a "primary" army. I simply have multiple armies & always have several ready to go at any one time.

At the moment the force I'm using in most of our games is Necrons.
The other forces in the current rotation are my SW, SoB, & All Dreadnought SM force.

So why are my Necrons getting most of the table time atm?
1) Because with 9e they have a bunch of great new kits that I've been building.
2) That building has coincided with my playing in two different Crusade campaigns. Rather than use something else, I've simply used what's on my work table. And most of the games of 9th I've played have been Crusade games....

So what drew me to play Necrons in the 1st place many many years ago in the closing days of 2e?
Honestly the novelty and challenge of playing such a limited force that had such a unique weakness (the old Phase Out rule where if you were ever reduced to 25% of your force the rest just phased out & you auto-lost).
Until their 1st codex arrived in 3e I was the only player in my area (that I know of) playing this force.

Then the 3e Codex came along & options expanded, my destroyers got a dramatically improved re-sculpt, and several more players started forces.
6th ed(?) saw more cool models/units added - including one of my favorites, the Doom/Night-scythe. But this was right as 40k was dropping off in my circles & area. So even though I bought several Scythes, a pair of barges, a box of Tomb Blades, & a Ghost Ark I never built them. Figured eventually 40k would cycle back around in my group and I put them in storage....
Fall of 2018 - 40k does eventually cycle back around. I play my SW & Dreads for the next year & a half. SW because I always lead into an edition with my original army, the Dreads because 8e finally allowed a 100% Dread force, they were easy to get to in storage & I was adding FW stuff to them.
Summer of 2020 comes & drops a whole mess of cool new Necrons right as I'm moving house. At this point my existing Necrons are easily accessible as I'd just moved the contents of the storage room. Couple that with the shops plan to run a Crusade once the SM & Necron Codices arrive....
And so I finally got around to building that Necron inventory I'd been sitting on all these years. And then all the shiny new stuff.

Orks!!

When I started the hobby in 3rd they got a massive new line of models and at that time they looked absolutely amazing comparing to other army, to me there was no competition.

Also the possibility to convert, kitbash and scratch build pretty much everything was, and still is, invaluable.

I also like their style of playing as they can be built in multiple ways: they can be fast, overwhelm the opponent with lots of bodies, rely on melee heavy hitters and/or shooty oriented units, bring tons of armored stuff, etc...

I'm not a fan of armies who look identical from player to player as they have no room for customization, let alone those ones in which models look identical between each other (AM, necrons, tyranids...). I mean, I love most of those armies, I'd love to play them but I'd never assemble, paint and collect them.

Drukhari .They also have a cool 'folkloric elves crossed with space pirates' vibe with their raiding and kidnapping.

The models.....incredible looking planes, iconic transports, and their troops are lovely sculpts that are a great balance between detail and customisability. If you get bored of painting sleek deadliness, then you have great variation in the form of the various Court of the Archon models, Coven monstrosities, or wacky beasts.

In terms of play style, 'glass cannon' is great, as it means that you'll have an exciting couple of turns where either you or your enemy will get wiped out, leaving plenty of time to go to the pub.....back when such things were possible

When all the other self-important factions have destroyed each other, the Drukhari will still be there, cockroach-like, clinging onto the debris and playing last man standing.

R&H.

t'was a journey, my first love were orks, more preciscly ork dakka, and mek-boy stuff, kanz, koptaz, flyers, trucks, bit of boyz here and there and whilest it is still fun to play them on occaision as an old boy at this stage it's a bit meh and GW often enough forgot to throw ork players a bone...

So i switched, Chaos marines always intrigued me, their more baroque terror from beyond with daemons , themes of corruption and rebellion just stuck a chord... and then well 4th and 6th dexes aswell as 7th showed up and i nearly stopped playing... It was a bad time for 40k as a hobby, i dabbled in WHFB but gw also destroyed that universe pretty thoroughly... even before Aos.

I also switched from beeing less about competition always on and more torwards an balanced approach with the themes of the universe represented.

Until a mate of mine made me aware of Renegades and the upcoming, IA13.
Basically it made click, so to speak, and i realised i wanted the themes of chaos but the customizability and capability of still beeing an ork mek. aka conversion work acess to 3rd parties,etc. something i still do.

Born was the idea for a Traitor guard regiment, which i then finally created and is nearly finished at this stage, with the corresponding Chaos Marines warbands.
Sadly somewhere in between GW decided though to destroy the one decent thing to come out of 6th/7th nonsense they fabricated and now the list is a shadow of itself in legends, because of course....

Anyways, beeing a cockroach i decided to just hike myself a gsc dex and have a functional army again, not the same as the old school R&H list, but the care which the GSC dex got seemingly handled and written with compared to the CSM dex and the FW index... well, let's just say i am a tad salty torwards how GW handles it's factions.

Tau.

Love the futuristic-clean aesthetics, Mechas, drones, missiles and railguns, as well as the modern take on tactics.
Also, I approve the subtle and elegant grimdarkness of them

I play GK with a lot of termintor class models. I like how they look, I don't like how power armoured GK look like. In fact, I think I like termintor armour looking models in general. Because I also am rather fond of gravis armoured primaris and aggresor looking stuff.

Sisters of Battle.

I'd originally started a daemonhunter force as I liked the look of the GK terminators, but it was barely half a faction. Seraphim were added first to give them fast attack, then a canoness to support them, then more sisters units to gather more faith points... and after a while it was a sisters army that occasionally allied in a single GK terminator unit.

At the time they had fallen out of favour with GW but were still in full production, so could be bought off ebay for next to nothing and thrown in paint thinner. And as a faction they brought a little strategic play and resource management to the usual carparking lists.

Eldar

Mainly due to the advent of the 5th edition Tyranids codex nerfing all of my units into the ground or giving them price hikes to sell the new stuff. Teenage me couldn't afford that big of a change so went for an army that at the time was low model count and elite.

I also chose them to get better at painting because you can't get away with the same level of sloppiness you can with Tyranids.

Orks. I'm in it for the konversions and the flexibility - you can have fun with almost any list with orks. Winning's another matter, but I'd rather play a game with a close loss than a steamrollered win!

Flesh Tearers.
My first serious army was Tau, but when the 6th edition codex dropped I felt Tau weren't the mobile close ranged army I like anymore, plus they were broken and people hated playing them.

So I reevaluated and decided some of the things I absolutely loved were Terminators, Dreadnoughts, and Jump Packs. Which fit Blood Angels perfectly, along with the amazing Space Hulk sculpts.
A friend already played Blood Angels, and I was a bit too hipster to play the "normal" faction, so I went with Flesh Tearers as I liked the red/black scheme and the general extra-furious lore.

Although I have to say the reason I'm still playing them is because I don't like the game enough to buy another faction now, otherwise I'd start Imperial Guard.

Dark Eldar.

Liked the concept since their release in 3rd, but I played Eldar/Tyranids back then. When they got that relatively big release around a decade ago I thought they were some of the best models GW had ever done, so started to buy in. At some point they became my main army.

Unfortunately the long drought and perhaps most notably disinterest in the few new releases that we have seen has kind of killed my interest in the faction. We'll see what the new codex brings, but really my issue is more of a hobby deficit than a rules one.

Tyranids, because Kroot don't get the attention they deserve to be a fully fledged army... yet.

Death Guard, and it's a (reasonably) long and winding story.

When I was just out of school my mates and I, including my best mate, would go to a movie in the big cinemas in Sydney CBD, and either after or before would head to the internet cafe underneath. The game we played most was DoW 1. I thought that the contrast of the gritty models and landscapes and the bright colours of the weapons and explosions made it one of the most beautiful games I ever saw. And I still think that - beauty doesn't require realism. I got so into it that I bought the game and played the single player. I was sufficiently intrigued by the story, the setting, and the atmosphere, that I thought the thought that no wallet wants to hear: why don't I get into 40k.

I was fairly ecumenical among the races in the original games, and therefore, in my mind, to the setting as a whole. But I had a clear idea in my mind: I didn't want to stay back and shoot; I wanted to get into my enemy's face, and blast away anyone cowardly enough to run. Guard would have been perfect for the second half, my friend informed me, but he was a guard player, and that's exactly how he loved it: comissars everywhere, blasting down the weak-willed left, right, and centre. I preferred adding a new flavour to our budding game group - although all of those friends had played 40k, none for some time, and never together. The culling of runners not having another in-game equivalent, I leant more heavily into the CC business, and the suggestion was resounding: Khorne was where it was at.

So I bought two boxes of Berzerkers, a beautiful metal DP, and a predator, and smashed up a 1000pt list. Had a blast with them, and had many, many, many a good weekend over the next three odd years playing with my mates! Over this time, of course, my model collection expanded, first to get Khorne up to 2000pts, but then the models Khorne couldn't take (which was basically everything else), but always, and everything Chaos. Eventually I owned at least a modest force of each of the 4 big gods, and was happy as a clam.

As it happens, however, the interest in 40k as the regular event slowly diminished, and was replaced by other things. I sold my army, and was mainly done for 40k. I hung out with that game group for what I was about to type as being a long time, but I suppose within a year my best mate died. He was the glue who held us together, and that group drifted apart. After another few years, the majority of that group got back together and we smashed up board and card games on the reg, and 40k Conquest was our main go to - and to this day I will continue to say that it really is the best card game every made. Damn you GW for killing it! I played all the factions, there, even developing a particular affection for those filthy, filthy, filthy loyalist Marines. You'll be pleased to know my disdain for Eldar remained as strong as ever. But my favourite remained Chaos (although the Khorne warlord sucked balls).

Flash forward a few years again, and my work took me to the UK. My wife and I are not big home bodies, but we are big Sydney bodies. We never had much interest in moving overseas, but career necessitated, and it was quite a jolt. My wife struggled for ages to get a job in the (relatively) small town we ended up, Durham, although she did meet a cool friend at work. This person's boyfriend was big into 40k, and I decided that it might help the budding friendship if I got back into 40k. After all, basically the only shop in Durham that isn't Greggs is the Warhammer store. Anyway, got a force of end-of-7th ed Death Guard. Why Death Guard, and why not Khorne Daemonkin? I did the maths, and a Nurgle force was like 30% cheaper. Oh, and it didn't hurt that they had easily the best rules for any Chaos force. Actually, they had all the best rules for Chaos.

Long story short, I ended up with 16,000+pts of Chaos of all stripes, easily able to field multiple variations of 2000+pts armies of every Chaos god. 7th ed Death Guard was basically squatted in the roll over to 8th, so I went with the flow and turned them into a (distinctly-green-coloured) CSM force. The next natural step was Khorne; I need my Khorne boys! And then a terrifically cheap Thousand Sons force was sold over Facebook, so how could I say no? And then Death Guard models finally looked good when people finally abandoned the GW scheme, which does no justice to the models whatsoever. And then finally Slaanesh daemons. And Chaos Knights. And Forge World. Oh, and then there was the 5000pts of Hive Mind collective (space bugs are so cool), but they got sold off for the sake of more Chaos! The reason for this explosion of purchasing? Moving overseas was damn hard, and 40k was a big thing to help me make friends, stay connected with people, and to ease my way through. It really made life tolerable, not only to keep me focused in my down time, but hanging out with new mates weekly soon enough after. That original couple have ended up still being our best friends.

The big difference this time was that this time I committed to get into painting. My original game group was never into painting, and most of us were just smashing grey into grey. I had never so much as picked up a spray can, let alone a brush for my original connection. My new mate, however, was a multi-award winning painter at tournaments, so with his guidance I thought I'd give it a go. It is now my favourite part of the hobby - actually, outside of TTS, the only bit. Not that in Australia gaming is out of the question; in fact, perhaps more than anywhere in the world now, it's the place that we're most able to do this (sensible - looking at you, the rest of the anglo world!) - and except New Zealand, of course. It's just that I haven't gone out and found a 40k group.

Given the expenses of all of these international moves, I thought it sensible to sell the overwhelming majority of my force. It was painted up pretty well, so I ended up getting over the odds for my models. I wanted to keep my toe in the 40k game, but it was actually more expensive to hang onto models. Selling them and re-buying would actually be better value - though not quite as good as selling and not re-buying. And painting is now a pleasure, and I know I can do a better job after so much experience than I did originally. But what to get?

No way I was getting lousy loyalist marines, and their models look plain as anything to me, so that's 90% of GW models out. My big attraction was to new models, the contrast with the old now being so pronounced. And none were so outdated as Khorne Berzerkers. It had to be a new army from GW. Desite my antithesis to the false emperor, SoB were highly attractive. Not only was their range brand spanking new, and gorgeous, it would be a nice homage to my friend that died. While he was originally into Guard, as I noted, his interest quickly developed into SoB. With those old metal miniatures, carrying around an army was like a workout! He loved the idea of zealous, indoctrinated nuns, and their tortured criminals in arco-falgellants and Penitent Engines particularly. Just loved it. I thought that it would be a nice homage to him to get an army. The main issue? That damn rhino chassis looks so janky. Just ... so janky.

Eldar was out, of course; I have some taste. But so many other armies are janky. I might have gone back to Nids, despite the age of their models, but I am still committed to the idea that they are the hardest army to paint. Yes, any idiot can slap on some washes ... but you can really do that for any army. In order to make Nids sing (like Leviathan scheme sing, if not more) you need far better painting skills than I had. Necrons had a look in, but at this stage no rework was on the horizon, and destroyers were showing their age. Mechanicus was brand spanking new, and the new models appealed to my love of Westerns. I can't remember what it was, but something about the aesthetic put it off at the time (not any more; now I'm totally into them!).

So in the end there was only one choice: Death Guard. I would only buy new models, which is fine, because they make up 95% of the codex - hence perhaps why I remain Dakka's strongest advocate of removing warscroll overlap from the DG codex, rather than wanting to shove in more. And they're Chaos, and so a fine testament to my long and rich history with 40k. And the models really are so damned fun to paint! It's just so rewarding having so many details to test one's skills. There's barely a mm without a fly, maggot, tentacle, boil, or drip of snot. And the possibility of slime and gore everywhere? *chef's kiss* Ironically, I still bought 2 rhinos. They are my only regret in life, and I tell them so on a daily basis. This week, however, I've overlooked those miserable failures, as there's now a new Fart Chinmney overshadowing them that I can't wait to paint (provided I avoid GW's awful colour scheme)! And then there's Mortie to play on TTS!

tl:dr: Death Guard, fun to paint! SoB would be next choice, for same reason.

Night Lords. First off, loved the paint scheme. Midnight blue and lightning just says something to an old metalhead (ever seen the cover to Ride the Lightning?). Add some blood and you're there. Great models too, especially once the Legions got all their fw stuff in IA13. Good conversion opportunities too (spikes, chains, flayed skins, various "trophies").

But what really got me was their lore. A Legion that both rebelled against the Imperium and refuses to worship the Chaos Gods or bend the knee to Abaddon? Yeah, dig it. Buncha nihilistic punks.

Love the horror theme too. Think of every cool horror monster, that's Night Lords. From vampires hunting in the night, to Michael Myers just melting out of the shadows.

Love their tactics and fighting style as well. Fast jump infantry dropping from the sky, along with terminators teleporting in, and Dreadclaws dropping in foot infantry and dreadnoughts, all to get straight to your throat. But smart enough to use cover when they need it, instead of running across the battlefield screaming BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!/FOR THE EMPEROR!, like less pragmatic Legions/chapters (remember when only Night Lords could take the Stealth Adept veteran trait?).

And when it's all over, they'll skin their enemies and nail their bodies to the wall, just so everyone else knows what happens when you mess with the Eighth Legion.

Ave Dominus Nox.

Tyranids.

I remember that I used to be drawn to the Imperial Guard back in my twenties when I was only reading about the hobby and couldn't really afford it.

When the time came to pick up my first 40k faction, Starcraft 2 was out, Heart of the Swarm was due in few months and I was thinking how I always struggled with Zerg in the first game, how hard it was to identify with an army that didn't care about losses, only about trades.

I ended up choosing between AM and Nids, because...well, both factions were in many ways similar, though the Nids were more in-your-face-eating-your-face.

In the end, Nids won over the AM because their kits were simply more striking and they had more playstyles available.

And over the time (and the time spending painting those silly little gribblies) I've really grown close to them.

I started with Blood Angels in the 2e starter, but only because the Marine models were cooler (and cheaper) than the Orks. My two favourite factions from the fiction were the Orks and the Squats. I loved the idea of sci fi orks and dwarves in space, having been a huge fan of the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings.

But the aesthetic of the 2e models never really did it for me. I got a small force, basically a squad of Blood Axe Kommandos, some Deathskulls with Kustom Kombi Weapons and a Deathskulls Warboss. The rest of my force was Grots from the 2e starter.

Then I saw Gorkamorka, and got enough Gorkamorka boyz to make another squad, with a trukk, and a Gorkamorka Nob. I loved those models, they looked way more like what I thought Orks should look like. 3e came out, and in the lists that came with the rulebook Orks had a major gameplay change that I felt made them way cooler - higher Ws, lower Bs and lots of attacks made them really flavourful.

Then I saw the 3UP for 3e orks by Brian Nelson in WD. I was incredibly hyped. Finally, Ork models that looked how I wanted them to look! I was so excited for those boxes, and I got the codex and a couple of boxes of boys along with the awesome metal warboss for Christmas. I had so much fun putting them together and I found them a blast to paint. For the next three editions, Orks were my absolute favourite faction and I still love them to bits. They are my worst painted army by now, because they were collected partially when I was a teenager, and I have developed a lot as a painter, but I still consider myself an Ork player at heart!