@The Red Devil Great one, can we get the 40K tag added to this subforum? I am putting forth a lot of personal opinions. I'd be interested in yours even if they disagree with mine....unless you like Tau. A while back, I went searching for a new group of players for a tabletop RPG (and I found one! But that's another story), but I found out something by accident. My local area has an almost negligibly small Warhammer 8th/Age of Sigmar fanbase, but it has a surprisingly large 40K fanbase. Right now me and @eron12 play about 6 games of WHF a year (if I'm lucky). It has been over 10 years since I played someone who was not Eron12. If I had a 40K army, I could play a lot more games with a much wider array of people. But there is a problem. @Imrahil described a situation that applies to me very well. Do I need MORE unfinished models? I have three armies, Lizardmen, Undead Hordes, and Empire. If I could find my models a good home, maybe I should sell my Empire. Lizardmen are my primary army, my fiction army, and my first love of miniatures. I collect undead primarily for the modeling side of the hobby. I like to do conversions. I took Empire because I have artillery envy, and I couldn't afford Chaos Dwarves at the time and an Empire starter box just happened to be on sale. Let me cover my thoughts on hypothetical Warhammer 40K army thoughts. These are the things I like (some of these are contradictory) 1-I like being unique. I don't want the army everyone has. 2-I find getting behind army fluff important. 3-I like varied play style options. 4-I can be weirdly picky about general aesthetics. 5-The easier it is to buy, assemble, and paint an army, the happier I am. +1-I think I'd rather be in the Imperium of Man than outside it. Every faction I've looked violates at least one of the 5 things. I am most likely to let #5 slide. Absolutely Not! Spoiler: The T'au The T’au suck, this is objective fact. 100+ memes say so. In all seriousness. I don't hate their fluff but I don't like it. I don't like their aesthetics. I don't like their one-dimensional play strategy. I think there would be an easy fix to both but GW won't do it. I cannot find the original meme with Principle Skinner and Superintendant Chalmers, but the joke is that the T'au are made up of a great many races (including billions of humans)...the only faction in all of 40K to do so and we only ever see Tau and Kroots. Spoiler: Adeptus Mechanicus That said, I like the army fluff a lot. Spoiler: Chaos Knights and Imperial Knights I like the idea of playing a viable army with a very small number of units but I think their fluff is kind of stupid and the models look really stupid in my eyes. Probably Not Spoiler: Eldar/Dark Eldar I like the macro fluff but I don't like the micro fluff. Meaning I think their overall backstory is really cool, but the stories of them after their cataclysm are lacking in creativity. I think the Dark Eldar have cooler fluff but the Craftworld Eldar have better looking models. I like the idea of playing psychic heavy army. I'm on the fence about fast and mobile glass cannons. Spoiler: Tyranids The models look pretty good, but their overall aesthetics is relatively close to Lizardmen and Undead. Their fluff is a quite one-dimensional in my opinion. The play style is varied, but it leans towards horde and that is a downside. Spoiler: Gene Stealer Cults They look kind of cool, but they seem to have a limited model line and limited play options. If you could play a hybrid Gene Stealer Cult/Tyranid army they might be more tempting. Maybe? Spoiler: Space Marines I would want a themed army around one of the major chapters or maybe the Crested Serpents (so I can get more mileage out of my tiny but hopefully growing collection of jungle terrain). My favorite Space Marine factions happen to have relatively limited model lines. This means I would have to do my own conversions. I enjoy conversions but I am REEEEEAAAAAALLLY SLOOOOOWWW at them. Ignoring the recent controversy with the Custodes. I like the idea of playing with a small model count army but I think they are kind of boring. And it bugs me that they are nigh invincible in their fluff but they don't live up to the hype on the table top. My favorite loyalists are the White Scars and Salamanders. In fluff Salamanders are supposed to be the largest space marines but their model line doesn't seem to support this and it bugs me more than it should bug a reasonable person. I like the fluff and the like. The Ravenguard an honorable mention too. The White Scars have any practically zero official model options. On the Chaos side, I lean towards the 1000 Sons. It really bothers me that the Primarch of the 1000 sons has tusks for nipples. That seems weird and stupid and that alone knocks them down a notch. I like the fluff and aesthetic of the Night Lords but I fear I'd get tired of it fairly quickly. Spoiler: Space Orks They have a varied play style and given that I play Lizardmen and Undead, it'd be fun to play a more chaotic and unpredictable army. And they have fun fluff and conversion ideas. Playing Orks takes A LOT of models. That's a lot of time and painting that many largely monochromatic could be tedious. I have a lot of cool ideas for Ork conversions but conversions take even longer when applied to a horde army. Spoiler: Leagues of Voltan I think the fluff is kind of cool and has potential, but GW might still drop the ball. I kind of like the aesthetics but I'm on the fence. It would certainly be a unique army given that it's so new. Also, I think I'd be able to get a viable army with a relatively small model count with these guys. My personal front runners They are all sort of horde armies. Spoiler: Necrons Of all the xenomorphs, they are my favorite faction. I like their "get off my lawn you kids!" policy, and I like their epic backstory. I like the general aesthetic but I think I would get tired of their monochromatic paint style but I think a multi colored Necron army would look a bit weird. I'm on the fence whether I'd like their playstyle. Spoiler: Imperial Guard By far, my favorite 40K Fluff is centered on the Imperial Guard. Like many people, I like scrappy underdgos. I really like the idea of normal people standing their ground against insane space threats. Fluffwise, they seem to play on the tabletop similar to how they play in the book. The downside is that there is a lot of models to assemble, paint, and transport. I like the idea of painting and modeling my force on a single planetary force, but unless I want to make a Cadian force, this would take a lot of work. I especially like the idea of a Krieg, Catachan, or Planet Scalenex force, but any of those choices would be a lot of time and money. It'd be even more work, but I think kitbashed heretic Imperial Guard armies look pretty bad ass. Spoiler: Sisters of Battle In my limited understanding of 40K armies. This would split the difference between the play style and general aesthetics of Necrons and Imperial Guard. Perhaps I am not correct. I like the lore. They have a similar scrappy underdog motiff that the Imperial Guard has. They have better equipment and logistics but they still rely on their courage and faith over raw power. I am making an educated guess I would like their quasi-horde, mobile, glass cannon-ish play style. I think this would be relatively easy to personalize. I just use a different color scheme (if I can pick something). There are six major chapters and dozens if not hundreds of minor chapters. If I don't pick the Order of the Martyred Lady (the ones with the platinum white hair), my sisters would probably look different from most. I got to say, the Sisters of Battle's model sculpts do not match the Sisters of Battle art and the platinum white hair I think makes the mediocre facial sculpts look better. Being the shallow male I am, I guess I'd rather have attractive nuns with guns than weird looking nuns with guns even if it serves no purpose. Also, the cherub things that follow them around weird me out. I really like stories (and animations) where different Imperial factions work together but I haven't found table top-legal ways to do this. I think it would be fun to play an army of Imperial Guard with a small number of Salamanders or Sisters of Battle backing them up since that what Salamanders and Sisters are often doing in the lore.
I see that you've given this a lot of thought and you're approaching it the right way (imo) by not chasing the meta. It's very hard to give advice since picking an army is mostly personal preference but I'll throw my 2 cents here about a few armies. Necrons Very fast to paint to tabletop lvl and get some games in. You could look into creative basing/OSL to spice things up if you're worried about them being monochrome. Sisters I collected Sisters and grew bored of them because of the miracle die mechanic. I wanted more random shit in my games. Imperial guard From your description I got the vibe that you would really love them but are mostly afraid of the amount of work they would require. Orks I just noticed that you typed the words fun and cool + already have conversion ideas. Weathered and worn metal and all the battle damage is fun to paint so I don't think they would end up too monochrome. I think you need to decide the scope and time frame of your project. Do you want to get an army on the tabletop fast or take it slow and enjoy the journey?
For all the difficulties with collecting them. I think my heart is with the Imperial Guard. I'll wait till we see what happens with the current battle for 40K's soul. It will give me some time to get my house in order. I got to do some spring cleaning to organize my house and by extension, my hobby space. Assuming I am convinced that Warhammer 40K is not a zombie franchise, I will assemble a modest unpainted Imperial Guard army that is tabletop ready. I will work on beautiful personalized army, one model at a time. If I opt not to start 40K, I can go back to working on my Lizardmen and Lustria-themed undead.
That would have been my last choice among the three you had highlighted (so that should only act to solidify your choice further ).
Good to have some 40K discussion once more. Of the three you're most certain on, I'd obviously vote for the Necrons, for the following reasons: Yes if you choose to paint them a single Dynastic colour scheme they can be monotonous to paint, but because they're all metal they are also particularly quick and easy to paint, meaning you can quickly get an army painted up and onto the table. Alternatively if you want to make your army less monotone you can choose to give your different units regimental colours to represent different batches of Warriors, Immortals e.t.c, which can add some variety to your army without going overboard. They're more elite than Guard and probably Sisters too (certainly they are in the proper 40K Editions I play) so you'd need less of them to make up an army Since 5th Edition where they were able to turn the tables on the C'Tan and now they are no longer the latter's mindless thralls, their leaders have a wide array of different and intriguing personalities, allowing for big fiction potential. You're a big fan of lore writing and you've already seen some of the fluff I've written about my own Laurekh Dynasty - if you go with a custom Dynasty of your own then you can have equal fun coming up with the backstory, character, quirks and rivalries behind your own metal robotic dramatis personae. If you can get your hands on them, read the novels The Infinite and the Divine and the Twice-Dead King duology, they are incredibly inspiring for coming up with Necron character personalities. Indeed, even though my first love was Tyranids (and they're still joint favourite with my Necrons overall), I'd definitely say Necrons have become my favourite army to collect specifically. I've had a load of fun in kitbashing and writing lore for numerous minor characters from spare parts to form the Royal Court of my Phaeron, Mithihotep the Indomitable, in recent times (something that isn't really possible to do with Tyranids and, certainly for me, not as enjoyable with some of my other armies) and adding lore reasons to procure some of the newer models (with fan-made 6th Edition rules written for them of course). Also, a word on Genestealer Cults - it is true that the basic range is smaller than that of a lot of other armies (principally because they only became an army again in 2016 and GW have only given them two major army releases in the past 8 years), but a significant part of their lore is that Genestealer Cultists find it easy to infiltrate the Imperial Guard garrisons of a prey world as Brood Brothers and can thus make use of pretty much any Imperial Guard stuff, whether in the main army or as allies. This opens up the ability to collect any Imperial Guard models too (and not just GW's, other companies like Wargames Atlantic make some much more interesting Guard proxy kits that are a mile away from Cadians), and stick a load of Tyranid-themed emblems and icons all over them. Hell, if new 40K allows for multiple armies as allies you could have a combined force of Genesetealer Cults, Guard (as Cult Brood Brothers) and Tyranids in one army. The religious cult theme of the army also provides a lot of fluff potential. I already have 5 40K armies but if I had to collect one more it would definitely be a custom Genestealer Cult force.
I know you have advocated against them already but the Tyranids are my personal favourite 40k army because they are the only faction that aren't a humanoid holding a gun and are truly unique in that regard. Always go with the rule of cool, I think the Tyranids holding guns look goofy as hell which is why I play an all melee list, claws and talons looks so thematic, screw the "meta". I try to give my opponent the Starship trooper experience, even if I lose it is fun for me. As far as lore goes, I like the Tyranid lore. I like how they infiltrate the populace of planets, embedding themselves in society, forming cults that worship the four armed emperor to undermine the planets defences and hail the arrival of the beings that will deliver them!.... only to get eaten by the very beings they have been brainwashed to worship. Even a single Genestealer or Gaunt can spell doom for an entire planet, like a virus, I love it. There is also Genstealer cults and then by extension, imperial guard as well. However, Lore wise, I don't like the idea of collecting an army whose sole purpose is to be consumed by the coming swarm. Meanwhile the "lore" of the imperium as far as I can tell is just politics, plays out like a glorified episode of eastenders imo. Second choice is Nuns with guns if you want imperial with more "spice".
My favourite 40k army should come as no surprise, it's the Necrons. They were the first army I ever owned. Unlike @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl , I very much prefer their old lore over their current lore... but hey, what can you do? Aesthetically, I feel that they are aces. A bunch of ancient super-powered terminator robots from time forgotten. As a plus, they might be one of the easiest armies to paint. Even I managed to paint an entire army's worth of models (the only army I've ever owned where I placed them fully painted on the battlefield). Terrain options are also interesting because they are so alien and foreign. I think their models and terrain can be tied nicely together with the use of their ominous lighting. While this is usually depicted as green, you can theme it to any colour that fits your tastes. Because the rest of the army components are largely fixed (i.e. they are metal), the chosen lighting colour really pops. At higher end painting (well beyond my skill unfortunatey), they are prime candidates for some OSL work, something which I am highly amused with. That said, the army I would recommend for you would be the Sisters of Battle. I think they would provide you with a very interesting and unique sandbox for you to flex your writing and lore muscles. I feel as though you'd be able to capitalize on the faction's religious overtones to create some compelling stories. While I don't follow 40k very closely, I think they are also more rare than the Imperial Guard and definitely more scarce than the Necrons (which many people seem to own and post about). The Sisters feel like a smaller side faction that have a much more distinct look and feel. On a personal note, I'd like to see you paint some Sisters of Battle. I'm not sure why exactly, but I think it would be much more interesting than something generic like the Imperial Guard. That's my thoughts on it. No matter what you decide, I hope this was of some help.
I think the new Necrons lore is pretty badass. The old lore was okay, but it actually meshes together fairly well in my opinion. The lore is a large part of the appeal for me. Going from slaves to the C'tan to rebel slaves from the C'tan. I like the idea that they have weapons that can defeat gods but they are so used to fighting gods that they forgot how to fight normal people. I once heard it explained that that the Necrons are like if you armor that could survive a nuclear blast but be defeated by a monkey throwing a rock at you. How does the Necron play style actually work on the tabletop? Do you just ram your regenerating minions at the enemy or is there some hidden depths? Fluffwise, the core conflict of WH40K seems to be Chaos versus the Imperium, especially Chaos Marines versus Space Marines, but there is the fluff issue that the Chaos Marines have very limited options to recruit new members and the Space Marines have the Sisters of Battle, Inquisition, and Imperial Guard backing them up. Now the Chaos Marines are officially a scrappy underdog. There is speculation that the Tyranids will become the new Big Bad and that Necrons might be the savior of the universe because Necrons have little to no biomass for Tyranids to steal and they can burn a Tyranid so thoroughly that the Tyranids cannot recycle it. The biggest appeal to me is that the Tyranids have lots of color options. I would feel extra self-conscious playing with unpainted Tyranids than playing with unpainted anything else. I'm curious if they have a different play style or do they fight like most of the other faction, just with a more monstrous look? I bought the 10th edition rulebook (which is really small and convenient) and I bought the 9th edition rulebook (which was sitting in a clearance bin for 70% off, so why not?) The new rulebook (which I bought a copy of, the only 40K thing I own). It doesn't have any rules for allied armies in it but a quick search online shows that you can mix armies: These faction categories are: IMPERIUM- Possessed by Space Marines (including sub factions), Grey Knights, Astra Militarum, Inquisition, Adepta Sororitas, Adeptus Mechanicus, Adeptus Custodes, Sisters of Silence, and Imperial Knights. CHAOS- Possessed by Chaos Space Marines, Death Guard, Thousand Sons, World Eaters, Daemons, and Chaos Knights AELDARI- Possessed by Craftworlds, Drukhari, Harlequins, Ynnari, and Corsairs. TYRANIDS- Possessed by Tyranids, Genestealer Cults, and Astra Militarum if they take the Brood Brothers sub-faction (in which case they lose their IMPERIUM keyword). Necrons, Ork, T’au and Votann can’t take any allies at all in matched play Hypothetically, if I mixed Sisters of Battle and Imperial Guard, I could do it freely and mix and match units from both but I wouldn't be able to use the "Voice of Command" abilities of the Guard or the "Prayer" abilities of the Sisters. I haven't looked at the rules for other factions but presumably Space Marines have something similar that would be given up if I mixed them in. I am not sure anyone places mixed armies. I have not found any battle reports on for faction armies in 10th edition. That doesn't mean they don't exist, I only looked for 10 minutes, but the internet has hundreds of regular battle reports of different qualities. I would consider Tyranids if I could mix Genestealers, Tyranids, and traitor Imperial Guard units in one grand army. I already like the idea of Imperial Guard, Sisters, and Salamanders in a combined force. Since the T'au supposedly accept anyone and everyone into their ranks, it would make since that T'au could incorporate all sorts of units into an allied force. That might be broken. Imagine mixing T'au with melee heavy units...that sounds like it brutally murder the meta. Or maybe allied armies are unofficial. But I guess I'd have to collect one army before I had a composite army.
I will caveat the following by saying that I am a new 40k player and only have a handful of games under my belt but this is what I have found: With regard to playstyle - most other armies look at a models datasheet and start drooling over the strength, the armour piercing, the number of wounds etc... while a tasty datasheet is fun, I've won games purely by tactical placement and sheer volume of bodies without doing any real damage. It's all about scoring those points faster than your opponent and leaning on strategems used at the right time to swing the game. A good example was against a Khorne beserker army, I was playing Endless swarm and by the end of the game my opponent was actively AVOIDING killing me because he didn't want a full strength unit to come back onto the board. (for 2 command points a previously destroyed unit can go into tactical reserves and come back on the board next turn, for a brood of 20 hormagaunts, this is strong). With regard to Necrons being the saviours cos they aren't "biomass", in my head canon at least, Tyranids would regard minerals and precious metals as valuable and necessary to help further evolve their anatomy, perhaps infusing the carapaces of their warriors for example with metals to make them stronger and more armoured. In this regard while the Necrons would not be a favourable meal, still beneficial to a hive fleet to feast upon. But this is all my own theory to justify why the Nids might bother fighting Necrons at all.
Your theory is sound. I have a counter theory for why Tyranids would bother fighting Necrons at all. The Necrons themselves have little to no usable biomass but the planets they inhabit do have usable biomass. The Necrons don't particularly care about plants and animals, but it still is on their planet and thus belongs to them, so they aren't going to let outsiders steal it.
Different strokes for different folks. The old Necrons were ominous under the leadership of their unknowable gods. They posed a far more significant threat to the 40k universe. "Their number is legion, their name is death". They could not be reasoned with. They did not think in the same manner as the other races do. Their concerns were otherworldly. They were unique (as a faction, not among themselves). The new Necrons are more comedic. They have literally become meme fodder (Trazyn collecting things, Steve, etc.). Some people will like the infighting between the various dynasties, but overall they don't pose such an existential threat. You guys are talking about Nids versus Necrons... well the Nids would get stomped by the old school Necrons. The new ones are just human-like in a metal skin.
That was a nice sci-fi take on undead. There is nothing wrong with this lore, I just like the new lore better. There is meme fodder on most of the factions. Arguably the factions without the memes are the ones you want to avoid because they don't have enough depth to make fun of them.
This is also true! biomass isn't just fauna but flora as well. It's the age old argument - Ultimately if the lore was to be believed, either the Necrons or Tyrnaids would take over the universe by sheer numbers alone but who?
I guess that's something we'll never know... only something we can speculate on. Against the new (Matt Ward) lore Necrons, I'd place my bets on the Tyranids winning. The Necrons too divided against the unified force that are the Tyranids. Although things like the Celestial Orrey do make me second guess my assumption. Against the old (pre Matt Ward) Necrons, I've got the Necrons by a good margin. The old Necrons are a terrifying force that are led by literal star gods. The Tyranids like biomass, well so do the C'tan. I'm not sure how the Tyranids deal with them. The only chance I'd give the Tyranids would be if the C'tan turned their forces against each other (which is not out of the question).
I have also thought that if the Tyranids need to "feed", it wouldn't be in their best interests to destroy all life in the universe, there would be nothing left to eat! So would they form an equilibrium with their environment? Does the hive mind not care and have another unknown motive?
That's a scary thought that the Tyranids are holding back. In any event, very few 40K factions "form an equilibrium with their environment", that sort of behavior isn't very grimdark.
That's an interesting point. In the old Necron lore, the reason why the C'tan went into stasis was to allow life in the galaxy to replenish itself. The war with the Old Ones had left the galaxy on the brink of extinction. So the C'tan, along with their Necron underlings, lay dormant for millions of years. When they finally awoke, they found that the galaxy was teeming with life, ready to be consumed.