Upcoming Escalation League Help

[Nithrom]

My apologies if there is already a number of threads about this (I'm sure there are somewhere) or if this is the wrong place to post. I am in need of a new army to play and I'm in a rather unique position, you see I'm a former GW blackshirt who has collected every army available at sometime or another, I love the minis and background of each.

My issue is this- my local game shop is starting an escalation league next week and I have been invited to participate (this is a new shop so any experienced player is like a godsend for them). I MUST purchase a new army and I'm having troubles deciding which one to collect. I already have decided that I don't want Marines (I dislike building rhino bodies for some reason) and I don't want Tau (three people are playing them in this league already and I want to give the community a variety of opponents). The others are open but i've been out of the Hobby since just after 5th edition was released but I have no idea of what is still tactically viable (as far as variety goes, I'm a build lists around bits of the fluff).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[DarkLink]

Grey Knights:D. We don't use Rhinos.


Pretty much, you've got the following to pick from:
Orks
Nidz
DE
Eldar
Guard
Necrons
Sisters of Battle

Edit: Ah, Daemons. Yes. That was the army I forgot about.

I new I was short one.

[Shas'O D'Narb]

It sounds like you're in an interesting position to genuinely help your local gaming community. If you're interested in contributing something unique to their gaming environment, why not something like Chaos Daemons? You wouldn't be contributing to the sameness of more MEq armies, they can be very strikingly built and painted, and their interesting rules would add some variety, especially with new players involved.

Anyway, that's why Daemons would be my vote.

[Lerra]

Chaos Daemons are a lot of fun and one of the more rare armies right now. They're solid in 5th but challenging to play well. Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Sisters are good finesse armies that experienced players can get a lot out of. Dark Eldar are getting a new codex and new models fairly soon though (Sisters are likely getting new models in a year or so, too). All of those armies are competitive in 5th with a good army build, but they don't have a ton of flexibility because of the age of the codices.

An experienced guard player versus new players seems like a rather un-fun matchup, especially at lower point values where Guard does especially well and a lot of people don't have the tools to deal with guard. Necrons are terrible at escalation leagues because they really need to play at 1500+ points to compete due to the Phase Out special rule.

Orks are solid if you can handle painting so many models and/or buying the rather-expensive trukks. Nidz have a new codex and are one of the most underrated armies right now. Nidz do well at lower point values but aren't semi-broken like Guard can be.

[Lemt]

I'd probably pick either Tyranids or Eldar. Both are good in the hands of an experienced player, but not like Lerra mentioned they don't have the OP feel other armies like IG have.

[fade_74]

Guard are only overpowered if you build your list to be that way. I would build a weird guard list. Stormtroopers, Ogryns, Ratlings, a couple vet squads and NO MELTA. For anti tank try a couple Vanquishers and Sentinels with anti armor weapons. You could showcase the guard without it being leaf blower. You could do a theme....like a probing force....These guys have slogged through the desert/jungle/whatever for weeks to recon an area. As you add points...you could say that these are reinforcements they have found or were sent.

500 pts
Comp command squad with medpack vox and 2 sniper rifles
master of ord

2 vet squads w/ 3 sniper rifle vox

5 ratlings

2 scout sentinels w/ autocannon.


for 750 add
penal legion squad

LR Vanquisher w/ lascannon

for 1k add
5 storm troopers w/2 flamers
chimera w/ 2 heavy flamers

griffon mortar

[erwos]

Chaos Daemons are a lot of fun and one of the more rare armies right now. They're solid in 5th but challenging to play well.
I like this suggestion. Not a whole lot of daemons players out there, and it plays radically different than everything else. Plus, it's not an utterly dominating list if only because you can get REALLY screwed by the dice.

[Fizzics]

I'll cast my vote for either daemons or Eldar.

Good luck