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See title. I’m interested in starting 30k, but not sure what faction.

Edit: Leaning Word Bearers.

Space Marines are easier/cheaper than Mechanicum, Custodes, or Auxilia/Militia simply because more of their stuff is plastic. Beyond that we might need to know more about what you like to play to make a determination.

I’m a big melee fan.

If you were to pick a preference between melee Tacticals, Breachers (weapon/shield), Assault Marines, Terminators, or Bikes which would you go for?

Breachers, most likely. Followed by bikes, followed by the assaults.

Normal general available-to-everyone Breachers don't have a melee loadout; Imperial Fists, Iron Hands, and Ultramarines have unique Breachers that do (though the Ultramarine's aren't available as Troops), and Space Wolves have melee infantry Troops that can have combat shields. Iron Hands and Imperial Fists are also the best way to run Breachers generally; Iron Hands have pseudo-T5 against shooting and Imperial Fists are actually T5 in Stone Gauntlet, so they're tougher than putting a bunch of infantry on the table is normally.

Standard bikes don't have a generic Rite that makes them Troops (Jetbikes do), though White Scars and Dark Angels have unique Rites that do. Emperor's Children and World Eaters can probably also get a lot of mileage out of melee Bikes as supplemental units.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
As to Assault Marines the obvious suspects (Night Lords, Raven Guard, and Blood Angels) as well as a less obvious one (Sons of Horus) all have strong jump-pack based lists; World Eaters, and Emperor's Children also both have some tricks and advantages to doing Descent of Angels (the Assault squad-based Rite).

Tell me more about the Hands and Fists.

Imperial Fists are strong all-round; their Legion Tactics give them +1BS with bolt weapons, they get real storm shields (Salamanders and Thousand Sons can get 3++ Terminators but they need to be Cataphractii), and they have good unique melee units. No strange gimmicks, but also no real holes, they just have some really nice bonuses to a lot of things.

Iron Hands are focused on being sturdy. Their Legion Tactics cause shooting against them to be resolved at -1S, so their infantry can just walk through a lot of most peoples' anti-infantry firepower; their characters can take Cyber-Familiars for a 3++ (usually the provenance of Techmarines that can only get to a 4++ or Mechanicum characters), their vehicles regenerate health, and their unique units have FNP 5+ under their own power (Ferrus makes both a bit better if he's in play). They're not fast (their Legion rules restrict the amount of bikes/jump pack units you can take and they need to pass a Ld test to run) but they can eat a lot of firepower and keep coming.