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The first army I thought of playing for 40k was the Orks. I saw an old codex for them in the used book section of my LGS and instantly fell in love with their haphazard look.

I never did get into the Orks. Instead, motivated by a Space Wolves novel and by the already available models in the Battle of Macragge boxed set, I turned to the Space Marines.

Well I've been playing the Marines for maybe a little over a year now and am thinking its time for a change. But I'm at a loss as to what army to try out next.

At first I was thinking maybe going to Chaos Space Marines but lately I've had Tau and Witchhunters in mind... actually the IG are starting to sound tempting (I blame the book 'Fifteen Hours' and the Baneblade I recently purchased)... or maybe I should revisit what was to be my first potential army, the Orks.

Is there anything I might want to keep in mind when changing to one of these armies from having played Space Marines? Are there certain differences I should be aware of as far as play style?

I started with tau and i love them, and im thinking spehse mariens will be my second army. Tau = awesome. Railhead = best tank in the game.

spartanghost wrote:I started with tau and i love them, and im thinking spehse mariens will be my second army. Tau = awesome. Railhead = best tank in the game.

That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Tau=anime fan mecha gak.
Railhead=not really that great when your opponent brings out nine Leman Russes and makes you cry.

I like tau's playstyle, with JSJ and markerlight mechanics but hate all the models and fluff and theme and everything about them except the playstyle.

I would avoid CSM if I where you, you allready have a MEQ army time to hit up some sexy 3's in your stat lines

Cheese Elemental wrote:

spartanghost wrote:I started with tau and i love them, and im thinking spehse mariens will be my second army. Tau = awesome. Railhead = best tank in the game.

That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Tau=anime fan mecha gak.
Railhead=not really that great when your opponent brings out nine Leman Russes and makes you cry.

You're kind of a lonely guy, aren't you?

Sidstyler wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:

spartanghost wrote:I started with tau and i love them, and im thinking spehse mariens will be my second army. Tau = awesome. Railhead = best tank in the game.

That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Tau=anime fan mecha gak.
Railhead=not really that great when your opponent brings out nine Leman Russes and makes you cry.

You're kind of a lonely guy, aren't you?

He's not wrong though.

Don't get the irrational hatred for "mecha".. I don't watch anime, but I don't see the need for the complete revulsion of it.

It's not like the Tau have gigantic chibi-heads and huge eyes -_-

Cheese Elemental wrote:Railhead=not really that great when your opponent brings out nine Leman Russes and makes you cry.

If we want to play this childish game the tau player whips out his 9 broadsides/deepstriking melta suits and pwnzors. The hammerhead is a very good tank whatever way you cut it.

OddJob. wrote:

Cheese Elemental wrote:Railhead=not really that great when your opponent brings out nine Leman Russes and makes you cry.

If we want to play this childish game the tau player whips out his 9 broadsides/deepstriking melta suits and pwnzors. The hammerhead is a very good tank whatever way you cut it.

I agree with OddJob. I raise the IG player, "4+ cover save for being 12 inches away makes IG cry." and "S10 and AP 1 makes tanks cry."

How large is your bank roll?

Small: Orks. You can scratch build almost everything, and what you can't scratch build (namely the orks) you can get them out of the AoBR box set for next to nothing.

Medium: Tau. Because the codex relied heavily on 4th ed rules, people seem to be jumping ship. That means you can snag a whole army for cheap! Ebay is the Key here.

Massive bank roll: IG. Lets face it they were expensive before the massive price hike.

Cheese Elemental wrote:

spartanghost wrote:I started with tau and i love them, and im thinking spehse mariens will be my second army. Tau = awesome. Railhead = best tank in the game.

That's the funniest thing I've ever heard.

Tau=anime fan mecha gak.
Railhead=not really that great when your opponent brings out nine Leman Russes and makes you cry.

well d'uh. you get 9 shots, i get 1. you're BOUND to roll a 6 sooner or later with those odds. I'd still take 3 railheads over 9 leman russes. Then deep strike my melta teams behind you and make you cry.

I can't wait until the next Tau codex comes out & I can take Hammerhead Squadrons.

But to the OP question I'd say that you should go for orks.

You can do a lot of different things with the army (Bikers, Battlewagons, horde on foot)

Tau arn't the most competive right now & IG can get pretty expensive.

Thanks for the input folks. What do you all think of Witchhunters?

Expensive. Very expensive. Though a great army. You can try to go to discount sites for lower overall prices.

They wouldn't be too different in the basic sense the you have 3+ save units, but Sisters have lower stats.

I'd go with Orks. A fun army, IMHO.

number9dream wrote:Don't get the irrational hatred for "mecha".. I don't watch anime, but I don't see the need for the complete revulsion of it.

I don't get it either, and it really needs to stop. As much as I dislike Space Marines at times I don't go around calling every Space Marine player I see a derogatory name for their choice of army.

I can't wait until the next Tau codex comes out & I can take Hammerhead Squadrons.

...why? Squadrons kinda suck, don't they?

I think just asking people what you should pick won't give you a long lasting solution. The one bit of thought I will offer is since you already have a SM army if you went WH you could start at using them as allies when you dont have many models, and then slowly flip over to a WH army with SM allies until you have the choice of basically 4 armies. Either full force, or either as the main with the other as its ally.

morgendonner wrote:I think just asking people what you should pick won't give you a long lasting solution. The one bit of thought I will offer is since you already have a SM army if you went WH you could start at using them as allies when you dont have many models, and then slowly flip over to a WH army with SM allies until you have the choice of basically 4 armies. Either full force, or either as the main with the other as its ally.

I was hoping for some information that might help me make a decision. I wasn't exactly asking for people to pick for me... ultimately it will still be me having to make the choice. I'm just looking for some things I might not have considered.

I thought about the allies thing and may do that to get a better feel for differences in mechanics that might exist between the armies.

If you want to use allies, witch hunters are good choice. You can mix them really well, and can use similar paint schemes. Also with similar tactics and tolerances the learning curve should not be as hard. Plus the two look really nice together when on a table.
I play tau and love them and they can be a good choice, lots of mobility with the army and you can go to town with the suits and have some really good armor. Of course you will have to accept that for the most part you can not melee of a wet paper bag, but shooting becomes a lot of fun with Tau guns.
That's my two cents at any rate.