First time posting here, so I'll try and keep it simple.

If you're looking for an army with a lot of customizable options and interesting bits, but don't want to go with the Games Workshop Poster Child Army of Space Marines, god bless your soul,
then I'd suggest the new Imperial Guard.

Even though their main weapons do posh for damage, and they get torn apart by everything, you can feel secure in the fact that you'll outnumber your opponent at least 2:1
and on top of that, all the special rules for the customized armies, such as Drop Troops, Mechanized, Close Order Drill, and the like make it capable for you to make a completely unique and capable army.

Failing that, I'd suggest Orks, Chaos Space Marines, or Daemonhunters.

And yes, that was short.

Does chaos still have the Dread Axe and that Khorne daemon weapon that doubles attacks but makes the wielder a permanent loner?

Wolvaroo:

rykin666:

XV22 (i think its 22) Broadside is default equipped with a Railgun which uses a small blast template (perfects against nids) with a strength of 10. and when the target is with in range it can use its smart missle system which launches 4 rockets, each with a strength of 6 and small blast template

Broadsides are XV88s, I think XV22s are either stealthsuits (new or older versions) or the commander crisis suit thingy...

yeah, XV22 is stealth, i knew it was a repeating digit

Space marines are a good all-rounder race, as are Chaos. Imperial Guard are really for those with a tank/ artillery fetish, since you'll need a lot or armour to be effective against most races. Haven't played the other races (I started with SM when i was 13, moved on to Chaos, might start a new army soon, unsure what yet) but I have played against them.
Personally i found the Tau lend themselves to cheap tactics, or they did before the new rules at least(hoverships used to be nigh-on impossible to destroy before that. Devilfish are not meant to fly around the battlefield killing everything.)Crisis suits are still a pain if you've not fielded any artillery, as they tend to be jumped in, fire, jump back behind cover. If you've got an assault team armed with jet packs that can get close enough to jump on them without being shot to death it helps too. I strongly recommend getting some artillery though, as Tau Firewarriors have an annoyingly long range.
Necrons can be daunting to face if you don't know what you're doing- many players panic and try to take out the big bads first, like the monolith. The best way to beat them though, is to kill as many of their Necron warriors as possible- at 60% losses they automatically lose.
Orks tend to get written off by a lot of players as crap, but in the right hands they can be very effective, plus there's so many of them they can swarm an opposing army. Mostly theyre a lot of fun to play, with some hilarious abilities.

space or chaos marines good at starting. theres also the hundreds of chapters to choose. If you dont have a store just go to the games workshop site. just google it. they have a lot more info

Not a big fan of the necrons. They've got a rule where if 3/4 of their number are dead, they retreat from the field.

Big fan of the idea behind the Eldar, but its extremely easy to get screwed over (Much hate to the Basilisks).

Imperial Guard armour is extremely awesome (Much love to the Basilisks XD). Its just I find the casualty numbers in combat disheartening.

Daemonhunters are superpowered individual units. Some of their rules are just unfair against Chaos and regular Space Marines. They just tend to get mauled by IG, Orks, and 'nids (but in all fairness, what doesn't get pwned by 'nids?)

Space Marines, Imperial Guard, Daemonhunters, Witch Hunters, and Chaos all have a "nuke", if you will. For the Marines, its Terminators that can deploy anywhere on the field instantly. Daemonhunters can use orbital strikes to hit anywhere on the field (Massive damage small area or vice versa), IG have the Basilisks (if you haven't noticed I love Basilisks), and Chaos can Deep Strike (teleport) and summon daemons on the field.

The nukes can pretty much ruin an Eldar strategy in 1 turn, wipe out a good 1/4 to 1/3 of Tau instantly, completely destroy 1/4 of the Necrons with no chance of recovery, or minorly inconvenience the 'nids.

Although if you REALLY want to piss your opponent off. Go Eldar, and trick out their hovertank (not the prism, the other one) to be able to:

turn 1.Move behind cover.
turn 2. Move out, shoot, MOVE BACK BEHIND THE MOTHER. FUCKING. COVER!

YAAAAAAAARGH!!!!

*FOAM FOAM FOAM FOAM*

So at this point I'm thinking

1.Eldar
2.Chaos
3.Necrons
4.Imperial Guard

Which of these is more commonly played?

Chaos is common but I find most people don't use them effectively. Plus you could almost consider them 6 different armies.

IG is also common but that's because the Basilisk and Leman Russ are badass.

Chaos and Imperial Guard are fairly common in my experience, Eldar and Necrons less so

Plasmar:
Imperial Guard - I'm interested here, but haven't heard anything about them other than what Plasmar said

I'll expand upon this.

The Guard has an exotic appeal as the most unexotic of the 40K universe. Weilding (mostly) normal humans and vehicles in combat against genetically engineered super-men and warp spawned daemons has a truly inspiring, underdog appeal. Featuring the widest selection of vehicles of any 40K race, this is the faction that wrote the book on 'meatgrinder' or attrition tactics. Their sturdy vehicles are the backbone of the Guard and are often essential for victory.

The average Guardsman is the inferior of nearly every other troop type in 40K. Their saving grace is their low cost, allowing you to field them in great numbers. Individually, a Guardsman weilds a lasgun to little effect, but the destruction wrought by a mass of them is something to see. The Imperial Guard employ fantastic leader units to bolster the resolve, power, and abilities of the Guardsman. The addition of varied wargear, from plasma weaponry to hellguns, further empowers them to battle the enemies of mankind. The inclusion of assassins in your force, from the sniper-toting Vindicare to the anti-Psyker Culexus, allows you to counter the overpowered units of other races.

This the army of the turtling approach with the Hammer-and-Anvil victory.

I recommend Imperial Guard if you like an army that is an army not a collection of freaks/pretty boys.

don't be a puss and pic Space Marines, they're good, but ther're also hellas generic and therefore kinda boring. I am a hardcore orcs fan, but unless you're a prodigy of strategy games I wouldn't play them because I've been playing my space marine firend for a long time and always get outnumbered and outguned, making my hellas good fighting useless. Just pick what you like, it'll work out somehow and if not play teams and focus on the one good trait.

From what you say you like I would recommend one of the following armys:

Chaos
These have been covered quite a bit already in this thread, with someone already mentioning khorne as the most close combat orientated.

Space wolfs
Yes there space marines but their different enough to not be completely generic and they are also more geared towards the melee side of combat. Think half were wolfs in spacemarine armour.

Dark elder
You mentioned the elder being a bit flamboyant in one of your posts so dark elder would be the opposite of that. The lore behind them is far from emo(they take pleasure in ending peoples lives.), so unless its an esthetic choice not liking a mostly black army then these may actually be good. Though they don't really have any heavily armoured tanks there close combat choices if played well are devastating. The lord choice is a whirlwind of death in close combat. The main problem with these though is they are probably one of the much harder armies to play well and not have your ass handed to you.

if you don't want the flashier Eldar, and enjoy the color red then Saim-Hann is a good choice. Their color scheme is red and white but they do use lots of vehicles (and for Eldar that means skimmers) which you don't seem to be a fan of.

Eldar don't HAVE to take skimmers, their Wraithlords are some of the most powerful walker type models in the game. They're wickedly tough and can dish out a LOT of hurt. The Eldar are actually quite versatile, they have many many units and have at least one type of unit suited to any battlefield role. Striking Scorpions and Howling Banshees are their best close combat units so don't think you have to be shooty with Eldar.

Likewise Chaos is fairly versatile as well and an absolute joy to model if you're into conversions. I'm surprised no one has mentioned Chaos Daemons. They're a new army composed of course, solely of Daemons of Chaos. They offer something nice if you want to be Chaos but don't have a taste for Space Marines.

I personally played Eldar and have played them for almost a decade now. I WOULD pick up a Dark Eldar army if their codex had been updated in the last ten years.

I'm actually probably leaning a little more away from Eldar after speaking with one of my friends.

While I'm drooling at the tanks of the IG..I just don't know if I can handle the mass-suicide that is their infantry.

Chaos..well where we usually play the ratio of players is 9 Chaos to every 1 other army. And for some reason I hate to pick the 'popular' choice. I kind of like to pick the 'less-favorite'

Necrons....just not sure. In Dawn of War they were so cheap, and I hear they're regarded the same way in tabletop.

Will look at Dark Eldar a bit more closely after the above posts.

Bleh...

You sound like an Imperial Guard player. I read the thread and kept thinking "Guard."
I have one word for you: Baneblade. That will satisfy all you tech and superweapon glee.

Of course, if you want to be called a powergamer and have all your 40k friends refuse to play against you, pick space marines, and the Legion of the Damned. There is no greater monstrosity in that game than 10,000+ points of the Legion looking at a small and lonely Eldar army.

(For those who don't know (and I only add this since I have no idea if the Legion were properly integrated into the rules after 2nd edition), Legion marines have at minimum +1 to everything. I have considered space marines to be somewhat broken for a long time, and the Legion were the icing on the cake...)

Only one person so far has mentioned Chapter Specific Space Marines. yeah, Ultramarines, or 'vanilla marines' are all well and good, but as Ralackk said, Space Wolves are a good chapter for close combat and being out numbered. fun to paint (i thought so), and alot of backstory/history if you like that kind of thing. great big Feral Barbarians in armour. with guns. and axes. and pet wolves. Charge, Hack, and Charge again.

Blood Angels, again, awesome close combat troops, but can be a mite unpredictable if you're unlucky. but if crazed, bloody carnage is your aim, not a bad way to go.

White Scars, are the lightning fast, hit-and-run Chapter of Space Marines, lots of Bikes, Speeders, and big guns to boot. blow them up good, and charge while they cower

Black Templars. not as good in combat, but have the slow-steady 'we're not gonna give up, we'll just hammer you till you die' backed up with a few, but still scary tanks. inexorably advancing into whatever gets thrown at them.

Personal preference, is Space Wolves, Norse-like barbarian warriors, with some amazing gear, cool rules (last i looked) not so simple that everyone and their dog plays, but enough to keep it fun, and lots of ways to pick, and win a fight.

If your going Space Marines or Imperial Guard go for the Vanilla group (Ultramarines/Cadian 8th) since it will be the easiest to find models/codex/books for them and they are the chapter/regiment.

I grin anytime someone mentions "big barbarians" or "vikings"

I'm from Iceland...and most of my lineage is Scandinavian or Russian...I'm all about the Viking.

Is it possible to use a Space marine squad comprising solely of Grey Knights, a Chaplain, Dreads and Terminators? And a couple of good 'ol Space marines, as well.

If not, I'm probably going to be looking at the IGs with a Baneblade, Leman-Russ.. Chimeras and Basilisks. Mmmm..armored support.

However - On a different note. This is the guy who gets a (figurative) hard-on whenever any Mech-Anime or game comes out.

I own all of Armored Core. Chrome Hounds. Gundam (even though they were all piss-poor excuses for games) Neon Genesis, Gundam Anime, etc etc...so I have a natural love of Dreadnoughts and Terminators.

And the lore behind the Grey Knights is really neat, as well.

If you want to do something a little off the beaten path, but still want "outnumbered melee" as your choice, I've got two suggestions I haven't seen you consider yet.

Firstly, Sisters of Battle. They're more close-range shooty than outright hack-n-slash, though you can get melee-specialists too and the Penitent Engines aren't to be sneered at. The big advantages from your point of view would be that they are often outnumbered, have tracked armour (though none of it is really heavy armour), and are pretty rare to find on the gaming tables so any Sisters army stands out. Plus you can make them as garish or as somber as you wish.

Secondly, if you can still field them these days, is the Deathwing of the Dark Angels chapter. You'll *always* be outnumbered, because everyone's in Terminator armour and thus your grunts cost between three and ten times as much as the other guys', and your army will be melee-oriented but can still take some of the best tanks in the game. (Land Raiders. Great stats, and beautiful models too.) I just don't recall if their codex is still considered playable under 5th edition rules.

-- Steve

The only thing I have against the sisters is my inherant 'Video-Game' sexism.

In no way am I a sexist in real life...but when it comes to gaming. I don't like playing girls. I just feel that in any game - Video, Board, or Tabletop - I represent myself by what I play. And as such, I don't like to represent myself as a woman.

Nothing against ladies that play games though, so don't get me wrong on that.

Be the Tyranids. They are the coolest of them all. OBEY MEEEEEEeeee!!

MightyMoose:

Is it possible to use a Space marine squad comprising solely of Grey Knights, a Chaplain, Dreads and Terminators? And a couple of good 'ol Space marines, as well.

If your an inquisitor army you can use IG or Marine (not both) units along with ordos (grey nights) units.

MightyMoose:
I don't like playing girls. I just feel that in any game - Video, Board, or Tabletop - I represent myself by what I play. And as such, I don't like to represent myself as a woman.

Nothing against ladies that play games though, so don't get me wrong on that.

Then Eldar is definitely out, as is Slaaneshi Chaos.

Looks to me that a Grey Knights army may be your best bet then; they're much like the Deathwing, though they do require non-Terminator models (2 squads, anyway) in order to satisfy a Standard Template.

-- Steve

Anton P. Nym:
If you want to do something a little off the beaten path, but still want "outnumbered melee" as your choice, I've got two suggestions I haven't seen you consider yet.

Firstly, Sisters of Battle. They're more close-range shooty than outright hack-n-slash, though you can get melee-specialists too and the Penitent Engines aren't to be sneered at. The big advantages from your point of view would be that they are often outnumbered, have tracked armour (though none of it is really heavy armour), and are pretty rare to find on the gaming tables so any Sisters army stands out. Plus you can make them as garish or as somber as you wish.

Secondly, if you can still field them these days, is the Deathwing of the Dark Angels chapter. You'll *always* be outnumbered, because everyone's in Terminator armour and thus your grunts cost between three and ten times as much as the other guys', and your army will be melee-oriented but can still take some of the best tanks in the game. (Land Raiders. Great stats, and beautiful models too.) I just don't recall if their codex is still considered playable under 5th edition rules.

-- Steve

They have a new codex out, the new edition of the rules allows you to field Deathwing alongside Dark Angel Marines, and the cost of them has been reduced.
I have fond memories of fielding 5 Deathwing Terminators against 20 Space Wolves, after my friend bet me I couldn't beat him. I crushed him- not a single casualty. Good times. ^^

shatnershaman:
If your going Space Marines or Imperial Guard go for the Vanilla group (Ultramarines/Cadian 8th) since it will be the easiest to find models/codex/books for them and they are the chapter/regiment.

Ultramarines? I thought Blood Angels were the standard SM army? *shrugs* Maybe it's changed since my day.

MightyMoose:
I grin anytime someone mentions "big barbarians" or "vikings"

I'm from Iceland...and most of my lineage is Scandinavian or Russian...I'm all about the Viking.

Space Wolves. Dead on. Look these guys up. They're basically Space Marine Vikings (save for the long boats).

But I'm all for the Dark Eldar! Mock your 'friend' after every kill! Because those that you do kill in the game are highly likely not to be dead. You see the DE make special weapons equipt to only hurt their enemy in such an amount of pain they are practially usless. Why? To take their bodies back to their planet to torture and drink their souls! Their guns don't shoot lasers or bullets... they shoot cystals! Imagine being stabbed by a piece of broken glass. Now imagine that piece shattering inside you! It's beautiful! BWAHAHAHAHA!

PurpleRain:

MightyMoose:
I grin anytime someone mentions "big barbarians" or "vikings"

I'm from Iceland...and most of my lineage is Scandinavian or Russian...I'm all about the Viking.

Space Wolves. Dead on. Look these guys up. They're basically Space Marine Vikings (save for the long boats).

But I'm all for the Dark Eldar! Mock your 'friend' after every kill! Because those that you do kill in the game are highly likely not to be dead. You see the DE make special weapons equipt to only hurt their enemy in such an amount of pain they are practially usless. Why? To take their bodies back to their planet to torture and drink their souls! Their guns don't shoot lasers or bullets... they shoot cystals! Imagine being stabbed by a piece of broken glass. Now imagine that piece shattering inside you! It's beautiful! BWAHAHAHAHA!

DE are tricky to play, so might not be very good for a beginner.

As for the Imperial Guard, I believe there were some rules for an armoured company in the last edition. Essentially, every unit was a tank or mounted in a chimera, and I've seen it used to great effect before. I can't track down a copy of the rules right now, but if anyone else knows where to find a copy, could you link it here?

If you're wanting an honest opinion, go with what interests you. You're more likely to enjoy your army if it interests you. But the Hive Fleets could always use more broods :P

P.S: Rykin666, The XV22 is Commander Shadowsun's suit. The XV88 is the Broadside. The newer stealth suits are the XV25s, and the older ones are the XV15s.

Meado:

PurpleRain:

MightyMoose:
I grin anytime someone mentions "big barbarians" or "vikings"

I'm from Iceland...and most of my lineage is Scandinavian or Russian...I'm all about the Viking.

Space Wolves. Dead on. Look these guys up. They're basically Space Marine Vikings (save for the long boats).

But I'm all for the Dark Eldar! Mock your 'friend' after every kill! Because those that you do kill in the game are highly likely not to be dead. You see the DE make special weapons equipt to only hurt their enemy in such an amount of pain they are practially usless. Why? To take their bodies back to their planet to torture and drink their souls! Their guns don't shoot lasers or bullets... they shoot cystals! Imagine being stabbed by a piece of broken glass. Now imagine that piece shattering inside you! It's beautiful! BWAHAHAHAHA!

DE are tricky to play, so might not be very good for a beginner.

As for the Imperial Guard, I believe there were some rules for an armoured company in the last edition. Essentially, every unit was a tank or mounted in a chimera, and I've seen it used to great effect before. I can't track down a copy of the rules right now, but if anyone else knows where to find a copy, could you link it here?

i think it was in an old white dwarf, but there might be a pdf on the official GW website, check there.

I'll try to track down the issue in question.

After several replies here. I think my first army is going to either be Space Wolves, Inquisitors, IG, or Daemon Hunters.

Thanks so much for all of the input.

But to just be plain - I'll probably go with whichever unit will let me have my beloved greys (i love that unit so damn much) terminators, a dread or two, and some space marines.

In the new(er) Space Marine codex you can actually field up to 6 dreadnoughts in a single army (Scion of Mars I think its called), but every one after the 3rd must be upgraded to a Venerable Dreadnought. They can also get Terminators cheaper if they choose to not include any bikes or speeders. And of course the Librarian is now awesomeness. I disagree that Space Marines are the simplest any more.

Does anyone know anything about Witch Hunters?