Looking for a 2nd army besides nids

[Jarl]

so i thought about trying a new army, since i play nids since 2nd edition (with several breaks of playing warhammer)

the first army that came to my mind were necrons, because i like the look of them and i think they will be completly different compared to nids. are they un to play? powerful and wont get updated in next years?
my next thought was trying chaos demons, but i think they will be like nids in many ways (hordes + few big MCs) so what you guys think?

[jhussey]

I play Nids, though I've shelved them until the new codex. Dark Eldar, Chaos Space Marines and I just started a Necron Army. Of the 4 my DE and Necrons are my favorite. That's not to say I dont love my nids, because I do, just having more fun with the others right now.

Anyway to answer your question. Necrons are primary shooting with a couple of CC units. The Lychguard and Wraiths are fun CC units, and the Warriors and Immortals are stout shooters. The units get a lot of neat goodies, but some of the rules for their war-gear is weird. Like the Lychgaurd Dispersion Shield will deflect shots to the enemy and gives a 4+ invuln save, but you can only use it agains AP 1,2,3 weapons because you have to use the regular 3+ save that they have already first since it's the better save. Necrons also have low saves, but with numbers and Reanimation Protocols they have a decent survival rate. I do not know when a new Necron dex will be out, probably middle/late next year since they are one of the newest old codexes.

I think Daemons would be fun, but you're right they appear to play like 'nids. My buddy start a Daemons army to ally with his CSM and has since totally ditched his CSM for a pure Daemon army and he loves it, but if you're looking for something different Daemons probably aren't it.

If you are wanting a different army, I'd say Tau, Eldar, Necrons or DE. If you like tanks IG.

[swarmy]

If you want to stick with xenos factions I would recommend Tau strongly. They have pretty much an entire codex of usable models now (no pyrovore equivalents I can think of, even vespids got buffed) and the markerlight mechanics and the wargear available creates some nice synergy and keeps things interesting. When played right they have some insanely potent shooting.

Necrons always seemed pretty static and boring to me, even in terms of the models, but some people enjoy them. Shoot stuff at a capped range of 24", get shot, fall down, get up, get shot, fall down, get up, roll tesla weapons, electrocute enemies, electrocute self, rinse, repeat ...

[jhussey]

Yup Swarmy nailed Necrons on the head haha. He's right about Tau too. From the few games I've played against them, they seem to be a true cohesive army. Even units that may not be the best will buff other units to be even better. Seems like everything in their codex has a role other than blocking the dust on the shelf.

[Jarl]

thanks for your answers! tau are interesting, but i when i play i do that with a couple of friends and one of them already "picked" tau so i wanted to try something different. since marines always bored me, i think i will go with necrons, eldar or DE

PS: you HAVE TO take the best save available??

[jhussey]

You have to take the best save available according to the FAQ for the Dispersion Shield.

[brianb9999]

I say go with Eldar or DE. Both have cool models, play much differently then nids. Stay away from chaos demons unless you're willing to accept their randomness. Definitely not my cup of coffee. But to each his (or her) own!

[jhussey]

The New Eldar is awesome. Very tough and alot of range. would doesn't like bikes as troops!

[gigasnail]

honestly, unless you just can't stand power armor armies, pick up some marines. you can easily proxy them for CSM, C:SM, SW, BA, DA, BT. at least one of these armies is going to be decent no matter how borked the ruleset or individual codexes are.

[Kwodd]

I vote eldar, the battle focus rule looks like alot of fun.

[Hive Bahamut]

My two armies are Tyranids and Eldar, the reason I chose Eldar as my second is they are almost polar opposites in terms of weaponry, but almost exactly the same tactically. I like fast units that use psychic powers. Agility is always my stat of preference. Nids use quantity as quality and eldar use quality as quantity. Ironically enough too, they both have "Synapse" (Look at Avatar and tell me that isn't eldar Synapse..) and both share the elite unit setup generally having minimal mixed weapons serving one purpose. Also, armour of 2+ is rare and each army oddly enough outdoes the others main focus. Nids have better Lance with the Zoey's, Eldar have better MC, with Wraith units.

That being said, if you are looking for something different then I would second the Necron or Tau suggestions. Tau are THE polar opposites, because every unit will melt under CC with them, but they will remove your cover and shoot you to ribbons if they get the chance, with high quality shooting. No presence in the Warp, and little focus on troops.

Necrons are a bit more hybrid of a change. They still have CC but their shooting is where it is at. Mindshackle will bring the term "quit hitting yourself" to a new light, as everytime I see it around I know something is going to kill itself.. They also have the "auto-glance" on a roll of a 6, which makes their army generally decent at taking out AV regardless of value. This is different from Nids, and although our general unit can kill infantry in cc, it isn't auto on 6, Eldar took that counter in shooting. (Although that would be neat, as a pseudo poison or something.)

I still vote Elfdar though.

[killme304]

I enjoy my Necrons, but I'll be honest up front: your getting a marine stat line on most things. Where marines get options, you get unique rules, so its not a total loss. Then again, I prefer durable Necron lists over killy ones.

If you take tons of Warriors with ghost arks they aren't bad at all. We also have access to some really cheap flyers with borderline broken rules.

The monolith is a bad ass vs anything that doesn't have a 2+, and since that's a good chunk of my meta, I stopped playing it. Really good at cleaning house and its a huge utility object.

Also, reanimation protocols lead to some absolute BS at times. I'm talking taking a full army worth of fire, having one guy left, and most of the unit comes back to life. Nothing is more morale busting to a player than realizing they just wasted their turn on something they couldn't control.

[gman25639]

I also wanna start another army at some point and I am definitely thinking Tau.

[infornography]

As for who will get new codecies in the coming months. Tau, Eldar, Daemons, and Space Marines all got good codecies recently. They won't be updated for a few years.

Necrons were one of the last codecies of 5th ed, I kind of expect to see them get an update in about a year or two.

Tyranids, Orks, Sisters, Dark Eldar, Space Wolves, and IG are all due for new codecies in the coming year. Maybe Blood Angels too if rumors are to be believed.