A Newbie's Guide to Army Choice.

[YorkNecromancer]

Right, simple enough challenge.

You only get to talk about one army. It must be an army you play, and you must state how long you have played them for.

You then have to give a brief description of the army's playstyle, as well as three strengths and three weaknesses of the army in your opinion. Finally, nominate the unit you think is best and state why, followed by a difficulty level for the army:


Beginner; has played in store and maybe with friends.
Played a bit, knows the recieved internet wisdom.
Experienced; could go to a tournament and do respectably.
Expert; knows all the tricks and how to respond to other armies in detail.


You can choose any army to talk about, from Iyanden, to Heresy-Era Space Marine Legion, to Tyranid, to Sister of Battle.

So, mine would be

Blood Angels
Played since: 2010 (I think :)).
Playstyle: tends towards very fast assault, with a few specialist assault heavy hitters that enable a stronger assault element than is possible in other Marine builds.
Strengths: Assault squads as Troops enables last minute objective claiming; Furioso Dreadnoughts are tough enough to be survivable and can be very effective against almost all infantry - Blood Talons are explosively devastating anti-infantry weapon; Sanguinary Priests give the possiblity of army-wide Feels No Pain.
Weaknesses: Sanguinary Priests vulnerable to character killers, making them relatively easy victory points; assault is often the poor cousin to shooting in 6th edition, and while Blood Angels can build an effective shooting army, they do so less effectively than other MEQs; Death Company is a very expensive risk - can be brilliant, but if they're countered, you've given away a lot of points for little gain.
Best Unit: Assault Squads with jump packs. Huge utility unit that enables very fast seizure of ground and offers solid defence against assault.
Difficulty Level: 1 to 2, depending on how whether the army build is rounded (1) or pure assault (2).

So, what are your opinions on armies?

[DrLove42]

Eldar
Played Since - 2008

Playstyle - Fast Tanks, Fast elite infantry with a lot of punch

Strengths - The ability to run and shoot or shoot and run. Very elite units. Very High Speed Jetbikes

Weaknesses - Fragile as Sin. Expensive units.

Best Unit - Personal Choice? Wraithlord. Love the model and a 3W T8 MC is awesome. Internets choice? Wave Serpent. Fast , durable(ish) transport with great weapon options

Difficulty Level - 2.5-3.5 :P

[Psychosplodge]

Codex space marines (Blood Wolves)

Played since - 1995

Playstyle - Infantry, devastator or assault heavy with supporting tactical squads.

Strengths- can do a bit of everything.

Weaknesses - can either not do enough of everything or have to neglect one aspect to concentrate on another. Usually outnumbered.

Best unit - ten man dev squad with plasma cannons, take two that'll ruin anyone's day.

[Tyrendian]

Necrons

Played since - good question, something around 2004 I think...

Playstyle - medium range shooting with some nasty counter assault elements (at least that's how I play them...)

Strengths - can annoy your opponent to no end by just getting back up all the time, basic guns are brilliant: Gauss is dangerous even to Land Raiders while Tesla murders infantry like nobody's business, possibilities for many nasty combos

Weaknesses - almost nothing above I2 (although Wraiths can mitigate that somewhat), relative lack of long range heavy anti-tank, ever-present temptation to play the hated Flying Circus :cool:

Best Unit - for me it's the humble Necron Warrior to be honest - not overly expensive, can go for small squads in a Nightscythe to large blocks with multiple deadly characters teleporting all over the field at will, can threaten most any target because of their Gauss weapons, and they just won't stay dead!

Difficulty level - somewhere around 2, with lots of fun tricks to play

[Mr.Pickelz]

Orks

Played since 2005 or 2006 (i don't remember)

Playstyle- Assault and/or Shooting, depending on list, however you will want to go all out in one direction. Gunline orks can do fairly well, as can the Green Tide, the Biker/fast attack army suffers a little due to points cost, but can still toss a curve ball to the Meta.

Strengths -
1. Numbers - Ork Hordes are one of the most numerous armies in the game, and with special rules like "Mob Rule!", those units will stay around through the thickest mess.

2. Weight of Attacks - Whether shooting or assaulting, an Ork squad will be tossing some high numbers of dice. With the basic Ork Boy having 2 attacks on his profile, and gaining an extra one from choppa/slugga, even a damaged squad of orks
can still chop through a marine squad reliably.

3.Shenanigans - Ork special rules like the Weirdboy's Psyker table or the Shokk Attack Gun's mishap table means that you or your opponent can't fully predict whats going to happen, from getting a "Zzapp!" result on a Weirdboy, to "Zoink!" from
a Big Mek, or even the "Kareen" result from a Trukk's Ramshackle table. These little things can change a game, and i've seen more than one game where an opponent lines his assault squads up, to murder whats in the Trukk, only to have the
truck Ramshackle 14" away and leave his assault units out in the open.

4. Fluff -Orks are the Comedic relief in the 40k universe, and that includes their destructive tendencies. (see Rynn's World disaster) From Wazdakka jumping his Bike through a Titan's Void shields, just to crash into the cockpit and slaughter the
crew, to Tuska's removal of a certain body part on a Khorne Blood Prince. The Orkish way of doing things will always leave a smile on your face, or your opponent's.

Weaknesses -
1. Lack of AP/AT ranged weapons - The only AP2 guns in the entire Ork Codex (not counting FW) is the SAG (Shokk Attack Gun), the Zzap Big Gun, and the Weirdboy's "Zzap!" Psyker Power, Both of the guns which must roll 2D6 for their strength
value. Averages would set that at str 7, but you could roll duo-1's when you really need that Land Raider dead. Orks don't have melta weapons, Weirdboy's Zzap is, but is random and never guaranteed. Every other Codex (except maybe nids)
have reliable ranged AT weapons. Rocketz, and Kannons "Shell" (aka Krak missiles) are the cheapest AP 3 shooting the book has, and while Boomguns and Killkannons are AP3, the BS 2 will hamper the accuracy of the template. This forces you, as the Ork player, to rely on mass armor-save rolls or mass amounts of firepower to kill anything of value.

2. Reliance on "Furious Charge" - The stock Ork Boy is Str 3, the same as a Guardsmen (yuk!), and Initiative 2, which means that Orks really only want to assault one thing at a time. This can be a big issue with a saturated target zone as units 1,2
and 3 are all good targets, but you (the Ork player) can only successfully engage one at a time. Power-Klaws (aka power fists) need the Furious Charge as a way of AT attacks, a Nob on the charge will have Str 9, which is one of the more
guaranteed ways to get a tank out of the game.

3. Cover Reliance - Orks must have cover saves, the standard ork has a 6+ armor save, and that thing is only good against lasguns... The Ork 'Eavy Armor is only a 4+ (worse than marines) and Mega-Armor is a 2+ (good, but has Slow and
Purposeful attached) If the Orkish horde is to survive, they need cover, ruins or at least a forest. This leads to most, if not all, Ork lists having a Big Mek with KFF (Kustom Force Field) which gives all units (friend and foe) and 5+ cover save. Bikerz
come with a built in 4+ cover save (which is awesome), but end up paying for it in points. (25 points per standard Biker) This fact comes into play more so with 6th ed.'s focus on cover denial. Heavy Flamers (str 5 ap4) are the Paper to the Ork's
Rock.

Best Unit - Loota - This one unit is arguably the best unit in the entire book, with Nobz being a close 2nd. D3 Autocannon shots per model, in a unit that can be 5-15 in strength means that even with a BS of 2, the quantity negates this. Because of this and the range (48 inches) this unit is always high on the target priority for your opponents. Usually taken with a Big Mek with SAG or KFF, and placed in Ruins/vantage points, this unit is a must for just about any Ork army.

Difficulty level- 1, As the Orks can do either shooting or Assault style lists, doing a blended mix will give ya the best results.

Edit: Thanks to Houghten for the reminder on AP3 shooting weapons.

[jifel]

Tyranids:

Played since: ~2009

Strengths:

1. Psychic Dominance: We can bring many psykers to the board, all who benefit greatly from the Disciplines we have access to. Biomancy is golden for us.

2. Durability: Thanks to psychic powers, and our base statlines, Tyranid armies are often extremely durable to shooting. 6 wound MCs are discouraging to shoot at, before the ease of cover and FnP. Also, we can regenerate most damage done to our horde units by simply providing more. Factor into this the fact that we reproduce scoring units, and objective games can be very hard for our opponents.

3. Rapid-Strike: Tyranid lists have many options for reserve units and fast units that get in your opponent face very quickly, and can potentially overwhelm them. Use Ymgarls, Zoanthropes, Flyrants and the Doom to overwhelm your opponent, plus Devilgants and outflanking Tervigons.

Weaknesses:

1. Mono-build: Tyranids have a very poor internal balance, so many competitive lists look similar. A well-experienced opponent could predict your tactics. (Stopping it however, is a different matter...)

2. Match-up Prone: Tyranids do well overall, but suffer greatly against Dark Eldar and Space Wolves. Fortunately, both are rare at the moment, but a few key rules can be ridiculously bad for us.

3. Dice-dependent: All armies are, but Tyranids especially are very vulnerable to bad dice. Roll poorly on Psychic powers, fail a key test, fail a grounding check, or doubling out too early on a Tervigon can all be bad news.

Best unit: The Tervigon: This 6 wound MC can be made scoring, and can make additional scoring units, in addition to being a psychic, army-buffing monster.

Difficulty level: 3-3.5: Tyranid armies rely on experience and synergy. Also, a single mistake can ruin the game, and so I wouldn't recommend Tyranids as a "6-month pick up" army. If you want to be good with Tyranids, you need to commit a lot of time and games into figuring out their playstyle, which is radically different from the standard MEQ army.

[DarkLink]

Grey Knights. Played since they were Daemonhunters, and terrible.

Strengths: better special weapons, wargear, and special rules than everyone else. They have potent shooting and assault. The codex also has a wide range of options and excellent internal balance, so if you imagine an armylist, you can build it. They can spam force multipliers, to the extent that a fully buffed unit of Paladins is hands down the most powerful assault unit in the game, as well as being extremely durable with extremely potent shooting (though you pay for what you get).

Weaknesses: Expensive. Grey Knights are limited to low model count armies with a limited number of units. You can only fit so many of their nasty tricks into one list, and your expensive units can only be one place at once so one wrong move can leave an opening for your opponent to exploit. They have limited options for long ranged and high AP shooting, though they can spam mid ranged shooting very well. They don't gain much extra durability for the extra cost, so Grey Knights are generally fragile due to their limited model count, though Draigo and 10 Paladins are one of the toughest units in the game. They also struggle against Dark Eldar, Tau, and Heldrakes if you don't take certain units (Paladins, Psyrifle Dreadnoughts) that limit your options.

Grey Knights are fairly easy to learn, but difficult to master. They are one of the few armies that require you to make really careful choices army building because you can only afford to take a few units. While no army is so reliably able to concentrate force on one specific spot, if you choose to fight over the wrong objective or deploy on the wrong flank, you can find your opponent winning by snagging multiple far-off objectives while your army is busy clearing off only one.

[Houghten]

Not to mention, Rocketz (aka Krak missiles) are the only AP 3 shooting the book has as well.

I feel compelled to point out that Kannonz, Kilkannonz and Boomgunz iz all AP3.