Why did you pick the army you play as?

[ksoh75]

I'm an army whore....I've bought it, played it and sold it.

I LOVE Tau....period.....but am currenlty playing Grey Knights for the 3rd time. I'm not playing for tournies....just fun.

Right now all my time is dedicated to Dropzone Commander by Hawk Wargames.

[lobster-overlord]

I started with Nids. My first actual kit was an Eldar Falcon for use with Star Wars miniatures back in the 90s. I started looking into 40k at that time and liked the idea of bugs for both Star Wars minis and to get into 40k. I picked up some metal crons cause the models were cool, and my friends started playing the box set armies (Marines and Dark Eldar). I traded for some 40k stuff and got a bunch of Blood Tigers (Angels with stripes). I eventually liked the idea of the Blood Angels fluff as I read more, and converted them back to Angels.

I used to check the GW site every day back in the late 90s when there was Troll Boss Bob's Bargain Basement (anyone remember that?). I picked up damaged boxed items and tons of other good deals back then, including genestealers and warriors at $5 a box, Old One eyes for $10 each and then they did some special army deals and I got into IG. I've since gotten rid of the Catachan from those deals, but I've gotten stuck in as a tread head, so I have a huge IG Vostroyan army.

[Kawauso]

Let's see...in order of acquisition:

Necrons: Just getting into 40k, some friends and I were playing DoW (Dark Crusade, specifically). Everyone was trying to master different armies, so I wound up with the Necrons. I came to appreciate them, and made the only natural transition when we started the tabletop game.
Initially I was sold on the silent legions of skeletons - but what really made me start to love the army was how much the Monolith came to be feared amongst my friends (both in DoW and on the table). Ah, good times.

Space Wolves: I wanted to start a second army, and damnit the Imperial stuff looked cool. I didn't want an army that any of my friends had, either...and then I found out that there were space marines who are awesome space vikings! And also werewolves sometimes. Space marines are cool. Vikings are cool. I'm a furry, so werewolves are pretty much always a selling point for me...it was a no-brainer.

Space Marines: Well, I had to buy the 5th Ed. SM codex to play with the old SW codex which was more of an add-on than anything else, so I wound up looking at the book a lot...and there was lots of nifty stuff in there. And I sort of wound up with a bunch of marine stuff thanks to my Space Wolf army, so eventually it branched off and I had both. I decided to take advantage of this to make each army play as differently as possible and create my own SM chapter for the vanilla codex. Fun stuff.

Tau: I'd always liked the look of Tau...the only reason they weren't my first army was because a close friend chose to start with them. Eventually I picked up a handful of models and started a small army which is currently waiting for a new codex before I really flesh it out.

Thousand Sons: I wanted a really "evil" army, and I really liked the idea of having some traitors to fight my friend's Grey Knights. I also wanted a way to bring psykers to the table as in the play group I had they were nonexistent, and it would also be cool as something for another friend's Sisters to fight against...but a lot of the Chaos aesthetic doesn't appeal to me. The Thousand Sons are something of an exception - no mutations! Plus they're super-awesome ghost sorcerer Egyptian space marines. Between the limitations of the old Chaos book and models, however, these guys never got very far. 4 boxes of Thousand Sons and 1 Chaos Sorcerer is all I've got...but in anticipation of a new book some point down the line (and born of a desire for a super kick-*** looking Thousand Sons force) I've been gathering loooads of bitz over the years. I'm sitting on a stockpile of parts from Kromlech, Chapter House, Irina Erst, Scibor, Forge World, etc....and I'm salivating over the thought of a new book fast approaching.

Imperial Guard & Tyranids: I don't really remember -why- I started these armies...they were at the same time though. It was probably just as I got more and more familiar with 40k overall I started to appreciate each of the armies more and more for what they were. Well, I know 'nids were there because I wanted a really alien army to contrast with everything else I had. I made a vow not to use any 'nid guns, though. I dislike those things aesthetically...and I've stuck with that gun ban thus far. Yay for slashy swarms of bugs! Incidentally both my IG and 'nids wound up horde armies - I really appreciate the notion of the IG fielding tons of boots with some tanks to do the heavy lifting. Turns out I looove playing horde armies. These two are horde forces that are polar opposites of one another but they're both loads of fun to play.

Blood Angels: I was eying BA for a while because I love jump infantry - and assault marines in particular. I just couldn't justify it with that terrible old PDF they had, though. Then they got a new book...and it wasn't long before I caved. They've wound up as my most 'elite' army as it's pure jumpers with some Land Speeders and Stormravens if need be. I've been outnumbered by Grey Knights (sans Inquisition) while using them before...which can be a really tough match-up.

Dark Eldar: Are you kidding? Did you -see- the models they got with their long-awaited book?! Between those and the shot at another xenos army (I feel I need to have a good mix among my forces) it wasn't even really a choice. Sadly I don't even have a legal force as of yet (loads of Scourges though), as other armies have required my time and money. But one day I'll expand on them.

[Cap'nSmurfs]

Because Space Marines are both BLUE and HEROIC.

Also the Sicarius mini.

[MaltonNecromancer]

1st and 2nd ed.: Imperial Guard, because Heavy Weapon Teams could have five lascannons and were cheap as chips. I've always hated melee armies and swords, so IG were a natural fit. Space Marines because Space Marines are concentrated awesome and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Genestealer Cult because I had a load of spare Genestealers, and in 2nd ed, they were lethal.

5th ed.: Blood Angels because Sanguinary Guard are beautiful. Deathwatch because they can proxy as any marine army with total validity, plus I use the models for roleplay, so it's win-win. Tyranids because I love the old 1st edition Advanced Space Crusade models, plus Trygons and Carnifex look brilliant. Ork Dred Mob because Deff Dreads, Killa Kans and Grot Tanks just look cool as hell, and I hate the Ork Boy models (utterly hate them). Preheresy World Eaters because they were a conversion challenge. Dark Eldar because the new models are great, the army is interesting, and I've always been a fan of "Hellraiser" (which is basically all the Haemonculi are). Necrons because I like the idea of running a Matrix-style AI army (hence nothing but Wraiths and Tomb Spyders. Grey Knights because they look pretty and afford lots of bits for conversions. Also Interceptors are cool.

I'm essentially all about the models; couldn't really care less if they don't play well or if the fluff is bad (because I don't read the fluff any more, and haven't for many years.)

[da_WaaaghMaster]

Thousand Sons: ...the Chaos aesthetic doesn't appeal to me. The Thousand Sons are something of an exception - no mutations! Plus they're super-awesome ghost sorcerer Egyptian space marines.

Dark Eldar: Are you kidding? Did you -see- the models they got with their long-awaited book?!

Interesting. These are the exact reasons I collected both of these armies. The Dark Eldar fluff drew me in too. As opposed to the old DE fluff (or complete lack thereof) and horrible models. After swearing I'd never collect an Eldar army too

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

I chose Enslavers because I'm a massive lovecraft nerd and a sucker for tentacled floating extra-dimensional monsters, and also because I felt 40k was severely lacking in the non-huimanoid alien department.

[BadTeef]

The cover of Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader features a last stand of Crimson Fist Space Marines fighting off a raging horde of greenskins. In the background you see the hulking shape of an ork dreadnought. That image defined 40K for me, and still does. But for some reason I was more excited abut the orks than the valiant Astartes. I bought that first box set of Space Ork Raiders and it was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. They had these evil monsterous faces with fangs and beady evil eyes, but always grinning. I imagined they would be laughing during battle. They were enjoying themselves, but not out of malice or cruelty. The orks were simply creatures in their element. There's something refreshing about that kind of dog's honesty, a lack of pretense.

You got your fancy armour and your whiz-bang vehicles and your twinky mumbo-jumbo aspect-warrior skimmer-tank master-crafted fancy-pants boogity-schmoogity. We got trukks, we got shootaz, sluggaz and choppaz.. and gutz. I also enjoy conversions and scratch builds. I like adding personality to my models. All my Trukks, my Battle Wagon, Killa Kanz, my Deff Dredd, Squiggoths, my Fighta-Bomma... all built from scratch or hobbled together from cannibalized toys. They look awesome and cost me nothing.

Ork players are always behind the eight ball. When making an ork army, you take three of everything because you know two will get killed. Orks are crappy shots. Ork stuff breaks and screws up and randomly freaks out. But an ork player never lets that get them down. It's part of the underdog mentality. It's a point of pride when your ragtag horde of brutes outplays a superior force. It's like, yeah, my guys suck, and I still beat you!

In my experience, it's the ork players that have the most fun, and it seems like my opponents also have fun. I mean, who doesn't enjoy mowing down wave after wave of greenskinned savages?

[Uncle Nutsy]

Tau:

C'mon, really. Look at them. You got suits that are straight out of Armored Core. They can sport guns on their shoulders. They can shoot two different guns at the same time. And they can swing some FUUUUUUUUSION! (it's what's for dinner). They can do macross missile massacre. They can make you "Eat yo' Peas" (Plasma!). Homing missiles? yup. Can't hide behind cover because they'll follow you around those corners and WHAP!

and then they got tanks. not just tanks. but cool tanks (power incarnate). and not just cool tanks but cool HOVER tanks! They have the rule of cool cornered. And then those tanks can take a railgun.

seriously.

a railgun.

nothing cooler than that on the battlefield, and nothing says 'time to meet your maker'' like when the business end of a railgun stares you in the face.



Dark Eldar.

The sculpts. The options. The dakka. The crazy toys. It all combines together to work as the army you want to play, instead of having to choose only a few units and options to prevent being tabled. The option to either be in your face, hanging back to shoot, or to do both works wonders. I don't care that they're made of paper. Their guns can just wreck face and they can get in a ridiculous amount of attacks.

Oh and they have awesome fighter jets.

[DarkLink]

Because Grey Knights are badass, and are the best looking Marines in the game, both old and new. And with the DH codex, I only had like twenty models in a 2000pt game.