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Hey guys! I've fallen out of love with 40k for the last year maybe I'd have to say. I don't know if it's due to lockdown here in the UK, but I've tried to start multiple projects up to no avail. I've got a rather large imperial guard army, and I don't know if I'm getting fed up of the "Gunline" playstyle. But I'm looking for a more "Mixed Arms" force. I always try orks, but then the idea of trying to paint the sheer amount of orks in detail really does put me off, as I'm not the fastest of painters. But I've added them as an option regardless!

Which army do you think offers a good amount of variety? With an interactive playstyle?

Contrast paints are a bit of a life saver to whip out lots of guys at low resolution.

Definitely dump the gunline. You can do mixed arms with IG, but you may want to consider dipping into Custodians or Sisters to do so until their new book. Caveat emptor - soup seems to be less popular with new books.

If you want the most interactive you should probably aim for something that isn't marines - they're the most straightforward and least interactive in my opinion. Consider sitting on your hands to see what codexes are next in the pipe.

 Daedalus81 wrote:
Contrast paints are a bit of a life saver to whip out lots of guys at low resolution.

Definitely dump the gunline. You can do mixed arms with IG, but you may want to consider dipping into Custodians or Sisters to do so until their new book. Caveat emptor - soup seems to be less popular with new books.

If you want the most interactive you should probably aim for something that isn't marines - they're the most straightforward and least interactive in my opinion. Consider sitting on your hands to see what codexes are next in the pipe.

So do you think I could vary up my imperial guard? I feel that I consistently just swap out my tanks for a similar that fills the same role? For example, a basilisk for a manticore ect. I've also got a fair bit of unpainted and unbuilt tempestus? Could that be a good mix up?

Of the 3 choices you listed? SW.
You can do all sorts of shooty, all sorts of melee, vehicle heavy, vehicle light - none, various mixes.... And you have acess to the huge variety of general SM stuff. Plus acess to all the FW stuff if you desire.

In addition, if your not too fussed about losing a few special rules, you can soup those SW with your existing guard. Or anything else Imperial.

Which ary do you like the most ?

Do that one. If its orks.. make it orks. Contrast paints should help with ork numbers. I think most factions (apart from tau) can make a fairly varied list. Some will be better then others but that will change as armies get updated codexes and updated rules.

You can stick with guard and experiment with adding different IOM detachments I think that could work. 9th is all about grabbign objectived so mobile units that are good in CC as well as objective secured trait really shines.

if its just a case of feeling motivationaly blue, might be worth just writting down a small target on your fridge. I.e. "Base layer 10 boys"
Eventualy you'll feel the painting mojo and get on with it. Certainly helps if you have a dedicated painting area that does not need to be put away.

Good luck.

 Andy140491 wrote:

 Daedalus81 wrote:
Contrast paints are a bit of a life saver to whip out lots of guys at low resolution.

Definitely dump the gunline. You can do mixed arms with IG, but you may want to consider dipping into Custodians or Sisters to do so until their new book. Caveat emptor - soup seems to be less popular with new books.

If you want the most interactive you should probably aim for something that isn't marines - they're the most straightforward and least interactive in my opinion. Consider sitting on your hands to see what codexes are next in the pipe.

So do you think I could vary up my imperial guard? I feel that I consistently just swap out my tanks for a similar that fills the same role? For example, a basilisk for a manticore ect. I've also got a fair bit of unpainted and unbuilt tempestus? Could that be a good mix up?

You could. Scions and Bullgryns are both decent. It won't be cutting edge until you get a new book still though.

Sentinels no longer get a shooting penalty. They can otherwise drop heavy flamers into melee as well. If you were inclined to spend the points you could grab 3 lascannons ( or 3 ML ) and 3 HKMs. They're easy enough to hide. Then walk them out and all of that will hit on a 2+ for 1CP. On top of that those 3 T6 W6 3+ models can get a half damage ability for 1 CP. Toss in Jury Rigger Repairs and you have a pretty durable unit.

Maybe 2 Primaris Psykers, 3 Armored Sentinels with ML & HKMs, 3 Scouts with HF, 5 Bullgryns, 3x10 IS maybe w/ PGs, 3 Chimeras w/ HF, Payload Manticore, 2 LRBTs plus Jakals - 2 Primes, 3x10 Scions, 1 Valk.

An ordered unit of Scions with the +1S strat will kill 4 Primaris and cause them to fail leadership meaning an almost guaranteed removal of a 5 man unit. Necrons would lose about 7 ( after reanimate ) counting as 14 and then take attrition so there is plenty of mobility, plenty of durability, easy removal of most units from objectives, and potentially good performance on WWSWF.

If you can squeeze 3 wyrdvanes in to cast -2LD with a +2 it would synergize with the Jakals pretty well.

Ok, my two imperial credits, I picked wolves on the listing as I play them and like them. They aren't an auto win but their play style leads towards closing to grips close range mobile shooting and assault as their road to glory.

If you like their style it keeps them in the imperium and works well with your current large army.

That said, you can always mix up your guard list and run more mechanized with some assault heavy elements from bullgryns. Those make some fun lists, aren't gun lines and tricky to use well. Leverage your large guard force to focus on more exciting tactics and resist the urge to fall into gunline stance.

Chaos Marines. You want Space Marine level variety without playing the same as everyone else? CSM are due to have it all including:

2 wound models
Super-powerful Terminators

They also have:
Much more buffed Daemon engines
A wide variety of shooting and assault options
GW's second-most loved child recently

I am biased, but I play space wolves, and they are really cool!

My second pick would be craftworlds, as they are a faction which is fun to play on the table, and multiple army building archetypes.

Well, CW is harder to pull off at the competitive level, while Orks is generally a horde army and so there are lots of models to paint.
I'd go with SW as they have a unique fluff and benefit from the great SM releases made recently.

I would say go for the one you like the models from the most. If you like them all equally, then go for the Space Marine faction as that will get the most model and rule support.

I just was listening to one of the 40k podcasts out there last night, and they talked about this kind of situation. The suggestion on the podcast by the Warmistress was to try out the faction you're thinking of in Kill Team. Kill Team offers a great sample of what playing the faction is like, even if just as a "snapshot" of it, without having to invest very much at all.

So try the Orks out in Kill Team. If you like having lots of bodies that die easily, and which try to win through weight of dice, and if you find building and painting the models manageable for Kill Team, then you'll probably like them in regular 40k games too! But if you try it, and it feels laborious to do the hobby aspects, or you hate just how infuriatingly unreliable they are, or you hate losing most of your army every game, then maybe they're not for you.

Same thing with the other factions.

Good luck!

Considering all the wagons and trucks that can be made from old marine vehicles after all the fanboys bought repulsive incursors and so on... good potential to build a sweet mech infantry perhaps blood axes...

I voted Orks, but I'll echo those who say "It's your decision."

Go with what you will enjoy building, playing, and painting with. If you don't want to run a horde? Well, you can still do Orks, just run mech Orks, but if you're only after green tide Orks and still don't enjoy hordes? Then ignore my vote-you do you.

Regardless, welcome back! Hope you have an awesome time!