Returning to the hobby - state of the galaxy?

Hey everyone, long time player that quit a few years back (last games I played was just before 6th edition). Warhammer and tabletop gaming/hobby is one of my favorite things ever, and I'm happy to say I'm able to come back to the hobby with a clean slate.

However, I'm so lost when I look at the GW website. Where did all these "armies" come from?! :p

I'm aware this may be an extremely burdensome question, but I'm just curious where everything stands at the moment. I'll just fire out some general questions and feel free to chime in on any (all?) of them so I can get my bearings back here in the grim darkness of the far future. Be advised I haven't read the 7th edition book. Can't get my hands on one at the moment and it's not something I want to throw money at just to "read up" on changes.

What is the general consensus currently about 7th edition? (Opinion of course, but some examples would be great for either case).
State of the armies? Who is currently suffering? Who is currently strong?
Whats the story with so many separate armies now? (Some appear to be allies/tie-ins?)
What's the current state of your local game store? Are people more/less active in 40k? Playing other games?

I appreciate any links to information, videos, or general input just to get a heading. Thank you and see you at the table.

A lot of the new armies that most likely seem unfamiliar to you are pretty much just tie-in armies. You can run them on their own, but they will be pretty bad for it. They've been pretty bad at splitting up -everything- into their own little subfactions.

For example, the new Grey Knights book is basically the old book with the Inquisition and Assassins stripped out. Both the Inquisition and the Assassins are now their own little faction you have to "micro"transaction for 15 dollar, which is ludicrous for how little content you actually get for that price.

I was in the same boat, I quit when 3rd came out (looking back it was really a childish tantrum about my characters being nerfed) and then played one game of 6th before 7th came out.

It really depends on what you want to do, casual, competitive, narrative et al.

I just dug out and restored my old army - Word Bearer CSM - which are currently down the bottom codex wise.

And started collecting other stuff - Daemons to compliment the CSM - still a fairly good codex

Imperial guard to act as Renegades (rules in IA13) - the "Astra Militarum" codex is ok, I like the fluffyness of it.

and as my painting skill have improved since I was a young teenager I have finally started collecting Eldar - currently a top tier codex.

Another thing to consider is budget, 30k has take off recently in a big way and the Betrayal at Calth box sets offer a relatively cheap way of getting into it but the resin stuff from FW does start costing. 30k is a fun rule set (40k Rules but with very specific army lists) but it is considerably more expensive than than regular 40k, I am trying to be fairly good and only get stuff which an be used in both 40k and 30k.

You're going to get a different answer from everyone here about the state of the galaxy. For some its terrible, for others its never been better. I think personally its pretty dang awesome if what you want to get out of your games of 40k is a fun time between two friends rolling dice and laughing at your own misfortune and celebrating your friends' brilliant tactical calculus.

The microfactions are a great thing IMO. They've added a certain "spice" to the game that was lacking previously I think. Even the allies thing has been toned down (although not nearly enough to not be abused still) but it still "makes sense" mostly.

As for the "strengths" and "suffering" armies.
-Any army that has a "decurion" style formation of formations structure is currently strong. The game is headed in this direction and we'll likely see new books come out where you cannot put together your army unit-by-unit but instead will have to combine different formations. These armies include Necrons, Dark Angels, Space Marines, Eldar, Tau, Mechanicum, Khorne Daemonkin, and probably another I cannot remember.

The other armies aren't necessarily *bad* ... (my favorite army to PLAY right now is Grey Knights) its just that the formation of formations usually give huge bonuses in the form of USR's that give them a pretty big bonus (like free vehicles for SM).

It's possible to have fun no matter what army you play IMO. Except Eldar. If you play Eldar, people will hate you and throw you out of the LGS.

Its possible to play Eldar without being an idiot who takes tons of Scatter Laser Jetbikes and Wraith Knights, those are the good guys.

"Strong" as a concept really depends on who you play and how willing they are to take advantage of the army lists and make armies that are broken, if you have a group of decent human beings, any army works well.

Here are my thoughts:

For your first question, I think a lot of my answer lies in the expanded abilities of allies since you last played. I would go as far as to say that most of the armies in my area rarely play just a single army any more. There are a number of combinations of army allies that cherry pick some very powerful units from other armies to make some very brutal combinations. The next biggest change, IMHO, comes from the formation/detachment way of building your army. You can build your list much like the old days with a HQ and two Troop choices in a "Combined Arms Detachment" or CAD, however, the newer army lists have special formations and detachments that grant your army some very potent bonuses. Some formations/detachments grant free vehicles, free upgrades, allow you to take as many special choices as you'd like, grant re-rolls, etc. In fact, most of these formations are far more powerful than playing "unbound" (which is just bringing whatever you want.) GW has also released a handful of campaign books that give players more formations, wargear, and scenarios to play out as-well-as move the story forward in several instances.

Also, the Black Library has produced a series of novels based on the Horus Heresy. They've put some of their top writing talent on these books which has fueled a huge surge in Space Marine armies. Every tournament or gaming event I've gone to in the past 2 or 3 years has fans talking about the latest novel, has an army inspired by book events, and simply raised a lot of buzz about the setting. Games Workshop and Forgeworld have greatly expanded into the "30k" line and offers "Pre-heresy" and "Heresy" models and rules. The Horus Heresy board game also gives gamers a chance to pick up a lot of models and easily get started with a Marine army.

For your second question, that's a bit tougher. I think most people would agree that Eldar, Tau, Space Marines, and Necrons are very competitive at the moment. Dark Eldar, Nid's, Orks and Chaos Space Marines are farther from the top, but they all have some very nice units to choose from and can field some good lists with proper tactics and list construction. Some armies like Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and Imperial Knights are popular as allies. Every once in a while, someone will win a major tournament with a creative list that catches player off guard, like Dark Angels.

There are a lot of armies out right now, which is largely a popular move by GW. Fan favorite armies like Adeptus Mechanicus (which is in two half codexes,) Harlequins, and (perhaps) an upcoming Genestealer Cult were all given codexes after years of fans begging. Out of nowhere, GW also surprised everyone with a Khorne Daemonkin codex which combines Khorne Space Marines and Khorne Daemons into a single faction and gave them some nasty, nasty rules. Some folks complain that older armies are taking a backseat to these newer codexes and would like to see their favorite armies updated first, but you'll never please everyone.

At my FLGS, 40k is going stronger than ever and is easily the most played mini game and is only second to Magic the Gathering. We run monthly tournaments and one or two leagues a year and keep the format simple to encourage new players. Personally, I'm enjoying 40k much more than I have in the past and 7th may be my favorite edition so far.

Imperial Knights are probably the single hardest army out there.

If you don't care for friendship, get three, and laugh maniacally as they flatten all around them. You can then go home and cry into your Cheetos because nobody likes you. Not even your Mam. :p

And on a non-silly note, it might be worth spending some time in your local game shop, be it GW or FLGS. You can then not only get to know your local crowd, but see what sort of armies they're fielding - something might tickle your fancy.

As for the smaller forces, Adeptus Mechanicus are pretty damned cool rules and models wise (well, I think so anyway), and the 'Start Collecting' set is pretty neat for its cost (though do factor in you'll currently need both Codecies to get the right rules), and can be expanded upon relatively cheaply. Kastellan Battle Automata for instance have a seemingly high price tag, but when you look at their points cost, and indeed how damned good they are in the game, it's actually pretty reasonable. Spesh if you're jammy like I often am, and can find that boxed set they put out around Chrimbo - 2 Kastellan, Datasmith and 6 Kataphron Battle Servitors.