Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Yes.. it's yet another one of THOSE threads. My apologies in advance.

I'd like to do Space Marines, but I'm afraid they're a little too vanilla.
I'd like to do Space Wolves, but a lot of the models look so dated.
I'd like to do Sisters of Battle, but those danged head molds are a bit offputting.
I'd like to do T'au, but all I've heard is that they're too one sided.
I've also considered Deathwatch, Orks and a couple of others...

I really enjoy painting, so I'd like to find a faction that's fun to paint (NOT Death Guard for me), but also something that is fun (and easy for a beginner) to play. For instance, T'au.. I've heard they are shooty glass cannons with no melee, but they look so cool and I grew up on Gundam, so there's that.

My question for you, and the larger reason why this thread was started, is why did YOU pick your main faction?

Thank you for taking the time to read this redundant thread. Any advice or constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

My reason is pretty simple. My first exposure to 40k was Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, and my first time playing I was enamored by the Necrons. Fast-forward 15 years later with the availability of Indomitus halves in March of 2021, and I'm a Necron player

I've started 4 factions, so i'll list the reasons:

back in the late 90's i'd played eldar in 3rd edition, becuase i liked the space elves stylings, but stopped playing in the mid 2000s.

Admech: my 1st purchases upon my return to game. Ive been a long time lore fan, and i always liked the admech and the techo-religious aspect of 40k, but they were always a background aspect, just a few models here and thier but never a faction. Then, my cousin got me a box of skitraii for Christmas back in 2019 and i started form thier.

Custodes: basically, these were another area of the background lore that got built into a full faction. I kinda digged the "even more elite than marines" angle as well.


Thousand suns: after two imperial armies, i fancied something chaotic, and my regular opponent suggested we spilt the Hexfire box between us, him getting the grey knights. I was rather intrested in the psyker angle anyway and wanted to paint them in heresy era red armour (which i did)

Deathwatch: honestly, i kinda started these on a whim, mainly because i wanted marines but didnt fancy any of the main chapters or "vanilla" marines, but deathwatch fitted the bill. That, and the room for the little "personal" touches to each guy help keep the rahter basic colour scheme fun to paint.

I started with Space Hulk, so the genestealer cult really appealed; it filled in the gaps that Space Hulk left in the lore; it expanded a mini-game into something bigger.

The generational cycle of the Cult and the hybridization of the species were really interesting from a background perspective- like most armies could have access to anything in their list whenever they needed it... But the Stealers have to wait generations until their hybrids are sufficiently evolved to blend. And they have to steal every piece of equipment they use.

James Cameron's Aliens was a factor in my appreciation too.

Then GW tanked the faction for five editions... And Sisters happened.

Different motivations here. I really liked seeing female stereotypes put to the clensing flame of the Emperor. In the edition were I found my way to sisters, they were still viscerally connected with the Inquisition, which was also incredibly intriguing. I'm an old school roleplayer, so the 54 mm Inquisitor game really got under my skin, and playing sisters allowed me to bring that storytelling/ roleplay feel to 40k.

And the Penitent Legion... The PE's, Arcoflagellants and Repentia, contrasting with the serene holiness of the regular sisters, all gathered to do the bidding of an Inquisitor?

What's not to love?

I started with Dark Angels. I just liked their asthetic. But I've since switched over to Orks because everybody plays Space Marines and I wanted to play an army that was different. I also started playing Orks before they had most of the kits they have now. There were no battlewagon models back in the day and their other vehicle kits were all terrible. So mainly, I started playing Orks because I like to scratchbuild and kitbash.

The Battle Report in WD 182 featuring a Boxnaught, Terminators and Assault Marines. Made me leave Battletech for 40K.

For me it came down to "Who are these guys?"

Of all the factions in the 40k universe, so filled with psychic horrors, Giant supermen, ravening monsters, the lowly guardsman caught my eye. Just a dude like anyone else. No magic, nothing special, barely a weapon, but a heart if courage. People just caught up in a galactic struggle putting themselves on this line between life and death for all mankind. More heroic in my mind than anything else.

Love painting the tanks, look great and fun to roll 10 leman russ around. Or 300 guardsmen throwing themselves at the objectives. Drop in scions to take something out like special forces. They even have Rambo. I love the flexibility and diversity of the options with the army. No matter what the meta is doing, there's usually something you can put together out of the guard codex to put up a good fight, and putting up a good fight is what its all about.

Despite owning ALOT of armies, I don't really consider that I have a "main army/faction".

My 1st army was SW. and I return to them every edition.
I began playing at the tail end of RT with SW right as they were launching.
Why SW? Because they were the most broken thing available & I had a smackdown to deliver.
And then I just branched out from there adding small allied contingents of Imperial stuff throughout 2e & building up those into stand alone forces.
when the 2e Guard arrived I began a never ending build of about 3k pts worth of every regiment that has figures
And then I began building stuff late 2e-5th not allied with Imperial forces. Chaos, Tyranids, Tau, etc.

Pretty much other than my start with SW? I simply build what I think looks cool, rules be damned.

Right now? The forces that I have in active rotation (the others are in storage) are:
*SW - they were the easiest to dig out of storage when I returned to playing 40k in fall of '18.
*100% SM Dreadnoughts - also easily accessible & 8e made this a valid army. And while I was away fighting 15mm WWII Forge World went nuts!
*Dark Angels - also easily accessible.
*SoB - Because I loaned some stuff to a friend last year. Since they're out I might as well pay some games with them....
*Necrons - The force I've played the most here in 9th. Because 2020 was a great year for my Necrons. Indom & a whole wave of shiny new stuff launched right as I was moving house. I literally had my Necron case sitting in the way in the new kitchen when Indom landed. A short time later we started a Crusade. Well, seeing as I'd just assembled & painted up several hundred dollars worth of new Necron stuff....
*Drukhari - an all Talos/Cronos list with 1 archon & 1 Venom. Because I think Talos/Cronos look cool, the rules allow it, & I can. They're my current Crusade force.

 handamputation wrote:

I'd like to do Sisters of Battle, but those danged head molds are a bit offputting.
I'd like to do T'au, but all I've heard is that they're too one sided.

I really enjoy painting, so I'd like to find a faction that's fun to paint (NOT Death Guard for me), but also something that is fun (and easy for a beginner) to play. For instance, T'au.. I've heard they are shooty glass cannons with no melee, but they look so cool and I grew up on Gundam, so there's that.

If you like painting then I think Sisters of Battle are your best bet as the newest faction on the block. If you don't like their heads there are alternates available for both 3rd party manufacturers and 3d printers that look good. If in addition to painting you also enjoy conversions I've seen some fun conversions where folks take Tau battlesuits and make them appear more like Gundam-esque. I've also seen an Ork Titan resemble Gurren Lagann and an RB-79 Ball gunpla kit turned into an Ork Deff Dread. Possibilities are endless without enough bits and creativity.

Was WHFB player berore 40k. Generally played Ogre Kingdom from release in 2006 because I liked the look of rusted metal scraps as armor amd weapons.

When I moved to 40k in ~2008ish I already knew I would like the Orks for the same reason I liked Ogres in WHFB.

Projects/Armies Ive done in the past but sold for one reason or another:
4th/5th edition Blood Axes (orks)
6th/7th edition Dark Eldar
8th edition T'au

Current armies:
Highly converted Freebooter pirates, wanted to improve my skill with greenstuff/plasticard amd water effects and I love orks still.

Sister of Battle army because the fanatical zealot theme has always been something I enjoyed in fantasy/sci-fi setting.

And I have a Yme-Loc eldar force because orange and grey are my favorite colors

Necrons - knowing nothing about gameplay, I liked the way they looked. Started collecting them in 5th edition, didn't get around playing regularly until 8th when I got a regular gaming group together. Still my main army, I have about 5000 points. Even though they're not in a great place now I'm glad there are more melee options than in the past.

Eldar - When I started playing a lot in 8th I wanted a beardy army that I could quick paint and get on the table, so I went with a Wraith/walker/WS army. I had a lot of fun playing it in 8th, but never really felt that connected to the army. Looking forward to trying it again in 9th when the new codex comes out.

Slaanesh/Chaos soup - I always liked the Slaanesh aesthetic and just decided to go for it. Had a big Chaos box set lying around from a time when my wife thought she was gonna get into 40k, I bought a bunch of demons to go with the Chaos tanks and it ended up being my favorite army to play in 8th. Crazy looking Slaanesh demons rushing the enemy while big Chaos tanks shoot stuff from behind. Again, haven't played yet in 9th, waiting for the codexes. I like the diversity of models. I can paint more organic looking demons or more metallic looking armor, which makes painting more fun.

I would first and foremost pick something that you have some sort of emotional attachment to, some models you like the way they look or even the lore. You end up putting so much time and effort into this hobby I think there needs to be some sort of connection other than "this army is good".

Another thing I would say is take into consideration the troops choices. For Necrons I have 20 Warriors and am currently painting up 20 more, plus 10 Immortals (which is actually nothing compared to a lot of Necron players). Unless you're gonna quick paint your troops, do you really want to paint 50 or more troops? Some armies have lower model count troop choices for your three units of troops. For my next army I'm certainly gonna take that into account.

 handamputation wrote:
Yes.. it's yet another one of THOSE threads. My apologies in advance.

I'd like to do Space Marines, but I'm afraid they're a little too vanilla.
I'd like to do Space Wolves, but a lot of the models look so dated.
I'd like to do Sisters of Battle, but those danged head molds are a bit offputting.
I'd like to do T'au, but all I've heard is that they're too one sided.
I've also considered Deathwatch, Orks and a couple of others...

I really enjoy painting, so I'd like to find a faction that's fun to paint (NOT Death Guard for me), but also something that is fun (and easy for a beginner) to play. For instance, T'au.. I've heard they are shooty glass cannons with no melee, but they look so cool and I grew up on Gundam, so there's that.

My question for you, and the larger reason why this thread was started, is why did YOU pick your main faction?

Thank you for taking the time to read this redundant thread. Any advice or constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

I picked space marines, not sure what you mean by them being vanilla?

as for space wolves, they have access to the entire space marine mini range as well as their old stuff, it's simplicity itself to wolf up a primaris marine.

Started playing 40k ages ago, and picked Salamanders. Codex armageddon just came out, and they looked cool in that book.

However, my main army is Eldar (has been since the 4th ed codex in 2006). I mostly wanted an army that was fun to paint at the time. I stuck with them because I love everything about them: the lore, the models, the way they play.

Ultimately, the two main factors should be: what will you find fun to paint (and convert, should you want to go down that road), and what you will enjoy playing the game with.

 handamputation wrote:
Yes.. it's yet another one of THOSE threads. My apologies in advance.

I'd like to do Space Marines, but I'm afraid they're a little too vanilla.
I'd like to do Space Wolves, but a lot of the models look so dated.
I'd like to do Sisters of Battle, but those danged head molds are a bit offputting.
I'd like to do T'au, but all I've heard is that they're too one sided.
I've also considered Deathwatch, Orks and a couple of others...

I really enjoy painting, so I'd like to find a faction that's fun to paint (NOT Death Guard for me), but also something that is fun (and easy for a beginner) to play. For instance, T'au.. I've heard they are shooty glass cannons with no melee, but they look so cool and I grew up on Gundam, so there's that.

My question for you, and the larger reason why this thread was started, is why did YOU pick your main faction?

Thank you for taking the time to read this redundant thread. Any advice or constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

All bad choices. How much time do you intend to spend painting those? Pick the Imperial Knights instead and you will be battle ready in one or two months.

Fun to play and fun to paint? Knights are the worst choice then .

Fun to paint? I say Aspect Eldar - you get to paint varied schemes within a single army. With the promise of new plastic models it may not even require dabbing into resin soon enough. Or Harlequins in their classic loud scheme, not this modern dull nonsense.

Now as to my faction choices - my main is Eldar, since I first saw 2nd ed codex cover art and then I fell in love with the lore and models. I’ve branched only decades later into Mechanicum, because of „Canticle for Leibowitz” novel. My wife chose bugs because of her fascination with ants and then branched naturally into GSC. Bottom line - choose what „speaks” to you model and lore wise. Rules and playstyles change constantly, even within a single faction different builds will be validated or invalidated every few months. With the focus on the hobby side there is always something to do within your faction of choice. With the focus on gameplay you are pretty much bound to fall into faction carousell, chasing the meta, fast painting models you don’t like etc…

If you like any flavor of marines then I'd suggest doing that. They have by far the most support and there are plenty of types.

I don't want to derail, but I can tell you that my disappointment over the lack of (or half-assed) support for my xenos armies caused me to take a few long breaks over the years. This wouldn't be as much of an issue if you play xenos as a second army.


Edit: you like space wolves but think the models are too old, how would you feel about learning/doing some greenstuff work? I ask because you could easily take regular/new marine models and sculpt some cloaks on them. Trust me, I'm (really) bad at sculpting, but even I can manage fur cloaks by following a simple youtube tutorial

My first army was Dark Angels from the Angels of death codex. I was hooked for a long time but my main faction turned out to be Orks and that went from 3rd edition till I guess 8th. It was some kind of addiction for a very long time. Some time during 5th it became a love hate relationship and has remained so. The Dark Angels were an army I would build and sell and do again for several editions but their final iteration is First Legion for AoD (30K). I have no plans to sell my First Legion! There's an off chance it will become my main army for 40K once it's collected enough of the 40 cross over options.

I missed my mark, sorry.

I origonally picked Dark Angels because of the old black and white artwork. Space Marines as a sort of monk were neat at the time because I knew so little about them and following that I found it fascination, the notion of having a civil war inside of a civil war. I really liked the layers and layers that seemed to me to be the Dark Angels and it only got more interesting from there. insert what we now know about the First Legion and some of the weird bits of plot from the Dark Angels novels.

Orks on the other hand were very mad max after what they presented as during 2nd. Mostly I enjoyed them on the table top and their brute power specifically from masses for infantry.
I was hooked after a few games. My friend had been playing them and until seeing him play them I had no real notion of 3rdedtion Orks. Large troop units, battle wagons and stompy Dreadnaughts!
Gets the blood pumping just thinking about it!

Back when I had restraint and didn't just buy start collectings for every faction I was vaguely interested in, I based my choices on model aesthetics and background. I say pick the models you like the best, because playstyles come and go but models last as long as you want them to.

Orks.

Green monsters that charge blindly forward.

i started this journey with Epic (Space Marine box with Dark Angels on front). I didn't really know much about various chapters at that point so nothing jumped out. I also picked up eldar as I love their miniature line and aesthetic.
when I jumped to 40K, the one army that jumped out more than any other was Dark Angels. I loved the artwork, loved the separate feel of Ravenwing and Deathwing, and I've been hooked ever since. I also had to get Eldar too, again because of the aesthetic. Since then, I've collected many different armies, sold some, kept some, rebought some, lol. But if I was forced to reduce my armies to just 2, it would be Dark Angels and Eldar.

Eldar would be an interesting choice to start now as they are soon getting a new book and a bunch of new miniatures.

My friend was into 40k. He played Khorne.

I wanted to get into it. We were young, silly, and decided to make Christmas Marines! Red and Green! Khorne and Nurgle!

So I picked up Typhus and some CSM to make as Plague Marines. And... Well, I liked it. The rest is history.

My first army was orks. Me and my friend bought a 2nd edition box set (SM vs Orks, we both liked both armies so didn't care which one we got) we flipped for it and I got orks (including the 2D paper ork killacan), we each got a whipping stick, and the some of the cardboard terrain.
possibly the best way to get into it and start painting, as you get a few models and get to have fun with friends as you go.
Just FYI don't step on the orks, they were lethal back then, gretchins were the worst as it was just one solid spike into the foot.

I don't think that it matters too much what army you start with to be honest. You will find fun ways to paint and assemble them, and repaint them later again.
Over the years I added more to my ork army - had to change the whole paint scheme as my top heavy metal warboss fell over after I painted him and left him to dry, he knocked over some glue into a bowl and his face ended up in a cube solid clear glue ... naturally I changed them to ice orks with a warbosses head encased in a block of ice (glue).
I also picked up a few dark eldar (that's what they were called back then).

Eventually I traded them with him for a necron army he had, as his pile of shame (and a few tryanids tossed in too). I still have those models now + plus some of the newer ones, I really liked the old necron models andIhate to say it, got bored of orks as the rules gradually changed (i miss old rules like looted vehicles, orks used to be random and nobody ever knew what was going to happen when they were around).
I also have tau and these two are the main armies that I have.
But I also have legion of the damned, they are SM but are legacy units now, but I still love them.

If I were starting from new I would possibly go for a kill team set (as its a few models that you can customise to be unique and comes with two sides so that you can start playing with anyone or no one).
The Shadow Throne box set is also very cool, as the two armies are very different to paint and both are fun in very different ways.
Plus you also get the Henry Cavill model (Custodes Blade Champion, everyone says the face looks like him, but it could be more wishful thinking because he collects and paints Custodes).

If I were to start again tomorrow with my history in mind, then I would possible buy that nostalgic "Made to Order: Old Enemies" box set its not the best or competitive at all but it reminds me of the good old days ... plus it comes with whipping sticks (the red rulers, used for measuring distance and punishing cheating and lucky dice rolling).

If you are looking for one army (and not two) then I would suggest trying to get either a combat patrol / start collecting or battleforces sets of the army you want (assuming that there is one available).
Another option is to get half of a starter box or box set with two armies.
If you don't know anyone else who is going into it you could always look for a half starter box set on ebay (as its cheaper and offers a variety of models).

 handamputation wrote:
Yes.. it's yet another one of THOSE threads. My apologies in advance.

I'd like to do Space Marines, but I'm afraid they're a little too vanilla.
I'd like to do Space Wolves, but a lot of the models look so dated.
I'd like to do Sisters of Battle, but those danged head molds are a bit offputting.
I'd like to do T'au, but all I've heard is that they're too one sided.
I've also considered Deathwatch, Orks and a couple of others...

I really enjoy painting, so I'd like to find a faction that's fun to paint (NOT Death Guard for me), but also something that is fun (and easy for a beginner) to play. For instance, T'au.. I've heard they are shooty glass cannons with no melee, but they look so cool and I grew up on Gundam, so there's that.

My question for you, and the larger reason why this thread was started, is why did YOU pick your main faction?

Thank you for taking the time to read this redundant thread. Any advice or constructive criticism would be much appreciated.

I give the same answer I always give when someone asks that question: pick the faction where you like the models and backstory best, then look at the playstyle and think about whether you enjoy that particular one.

Painting is a skill you need to practice anyway whatever army you buy and army powerlevels change with every edition and armybook.

The most important thing imo is that you enjoy painting and playing with your models. Whether or not your faction is strong at the moment only really matters in tournament play. Everything else can be tweaked in friendly games, like not picking the strongest list possible when playing with a friend whose faction is currently not among the top tier.

Hope that helps.

I got roped into 40k by a friend who I played WHFB with back in the early 2000s. My first love were Tau who had just gotten their first release with a fresh aesthetic. I loved the rectangular pulse rifles and the contrast between their high tech units and feral kroot, who to this day have a special place in my hobby heart. I started my first conversion projects and ended up homebrewing my own kroot codex inspired by the kroot merc list from a WD – not sure if it's still archived on Warseer somewhere. Was quite the hackjob, though ^^

Then followed a short stint into Chaos and Khorne specifically.
I already had a metal bloodthirster and the old furry metal bloodletters from WHFB, so it only made sense to buy some complementary Berserkers and Chaos Marines. There was a dedicated conversion kit available in one of the WDs back then, where you could order a chaos dread and a juggernaut head to build a World Eaters dread. That was the coolest thing to me.

Lastly, a couple of months later, we got the new Necron Codex and redesign for 3rd edition, which completely blew me away. Those translucent green gauss weapons just looked awesome and the whole idea of these mindless robots with intangible goals and motivations was just something that excited me back then. I remember my step father looking over my shoulder while I was reading the codex. One page had an illustration of a bisected warrior torso crawling along the ground and he commented "this is a straight-up terminator rip-off".

Long story short, I mostly stuck to these three factions out of nostalgia, but nowadays I have an entirely different approach to the hobby in general, so I might buy the odd character like Helbrecht or the new Ghazkull just because I enjoy their design. My advice would be to stick to what you enjoy from an aestetic standpoint. Despite what the discussions about balance and competitve viability might suggest, 40k is mostly about the miniatures, so you should make sure you get the right ones for yourself.

Use Sisters and just don't use any unhelmeted heads. Problem solved.

 Sim-Life wrote:
Use Sisters and just don't use any unhelmeted heads. Problem solved.

Bought some Sisters today and some heads from Etsy. Done and done. Time to build and paint!

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade is where I got my first look at the T'au and their aesthetic/style (firebases of Oh God The Horror combined with surprising mobility for invisible death-by-dakka-dealers and a Commander that literally pushed back even a frothing-at-the-mouth Ork Warboss through sheer firepower), and I was introduced to WH40k via a game of Eldar vs Space Marines, and I decided to pick up a T'au army. I started with 4th edition, and had a nice mixed force of suits, fire warriors, pathfinders, and tanks.

That, of course, was just a gateway into Kroot. Kroot are love, kroot are life. I wish I had more, and some day I'll be less lazy and snag some AoS models to make into a legendary Great Knarloc, probably when around when I start working on my Krootartes again.

...My head canon goes in weird places, and T'au manipulating Kroot eugenics is one of those places. Lord help us all when I finish converting a Primarkroot or two.

Reading between the lines, it sounds like you want to collect Tau. Don't let the rules as they are stop you; these things come in cycles, and you likely don't know what playstyle you prefer yet. I bet in the new codex they get some alien allies as well, for more painting fun. Seriously, just go for something you love the lore, minis and feel of. Everything else is secondary.

 PaddyMick wrote:
Reading between the lines, it sounds like you want to collect Tau. Don't let the rules as they are stop you; these things come in cycles, and you likely don't know what playstyle you prefer yet. I bet in the new codex they get some alien allies as well, for more painting fun. Seriously, just go for something you love the lore, minis and feel of. Everything else is secondary.

You're probably right! I am going to wait on the new T'au codex and see, but that new railgun sure does look intense!

I picked up some Sisters today and will head down that rabbit hole for now. Had some store credit at my LGS and figured why not! Also had a box of 'practice' Sisters in my closet. To me, they will satisfy the Space Marine painting I enjoy but also give me something new (and way less spiky than Death Guard!) The religious imagery was a big plus and after getting some better heads off Etsy I was pretty much sold.

Here we go!



BTW.. Really enjoyed reading all of these responses - Feel free to keep 'em coming, super interesting!