Army choice problems, I can't decide

[minigun762]

So I'm having a really hard time trying to figure out what the focus is going to be with my current army. :)

It seems like every day I change between Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors.

Both armies are geared up roughly the same, with a Daemon Prince, Terminators and Defilers as support and multiple Rhino squads, usually split between assault and fire support.

 

I like the mentality and fluff behind the Iron Warriors better, they seem to make more sense to me. The color scheme isn't horrible, if alittle bit dull sometimes. They are also the more competitive of the choices I feel like, because they end up being cheaper. The biggest drawback to them is that it still seems like everyone and their mother plays Iron Warriors.

 

While I'm not a fan of the pre-heresy Emperor's Children, I am drawn to what they are now, horribly evil sadists. The kind of badguy who makes you happy you were killed by the Berserker instead.

I find their pink/black/gold color scheme rather striking, it definately gets attention. They also seem to be more of a novelty army, where players are few and far between.

The major downside is that I don't feel that they are straight up as competitive as the Iron Warriors, mostly because of Noise Marines vs CSMs.

 

So I'm looking to the group, for food for thought about which one I should focus on. Toss out whatever ideas you have, from whatever perspective, who knows what might help.

 

Thanks everyone! :)

[incinerator950]

Well, breaking waves, they're nothing but Color Schemes now, so go with the one that suits you. However, you want to figure out if you want to use Noise Marines or CSMs.

 

 

Honestly, I would say flip a coin if it comes down to it. I don't have the operator experience to direct you, and it is your army, alot of people have different experiences with different settings and different lists, especially people who would consider their armies "subpar" and end up on the winning side.

[Drudge Dreadnought]

It would depend on how much counts as you plan to use. They could be exactly the same list wise really.

[Rain]

I say stick with the legion that more appeals to you, in this case, Iron Warriors. I also almost switched out of IW back during 4th edition due to the huge proliferation of IWs due to the 3.5 codex, actually also wanted to do either Emperor's Children or Death Guard. But then I thought about it and decided that a.) I shouldn't let other people's choice of army determine my choice, my choice should be based on what I alone like and b.) I have been playing IW's since the first 3rd ed chaos codex and the IA rules so if anyone should stay it should be me.

 

In any case, I don't even think there's that many IWs around right now, most of the powergamers who played the army for 9 oblits 4 pie plates have moved on to dual lash pm/zerk Black Legion so a relatively fluffy IW army is actually quite a novelty in of itself in my experience.

[davethebear]

You could just do Iron Warriors and have some units painted with some Slaaneshi colours without being actual EC's. Just my 2 cents.

[the jeske]

EC are a hard to play list[tier 2 at most] , their game play is a bit different then normal chaos. what for me is a plus thing. on the other hand IW are a run of the mill chaos force even without counts as zerkers and pms they are almost as solid as it gets +fluffy.

So in the end its tier 1 , but boring vs tier 2 and a bit less boring.

[incinerator950]

I should've posted IBjeske, because I love foreshadowing :/

[minigun762]

Some really good thoughts everyone, trust me I appreciate it. I wanted to respond to a few things in particular.

 

Incinerator950: Yep, as far as the table top goes it really comes down to CSMs vs Noise Marines. The rest of the army will play almost identical with a few minor alterations

 

Rain: That sounds like what I should do really, not be influenced by other people and their armies. As you mentioned, its now Black Legion or random renegade group that is the competitive choice anyway.

 

Jeske: I agree about the competitive difference in the two. It might not be huge in day to day play, but in a tournament I feel like I'd start to notice it. On the other hand though, playing a boring army is, well boring.

 

Davethebear: I'd prefer to have the units do more then just be painted differently, but you've given me an idea.

 

Here is my current plan and I wanted to run it by you guys.

Make Iron Warriors my primary army, and attach a small mercenary force of Noise Marines painted in EC colors.

 

I believe I can justify this (to myself and others) because its been mentioned that entire warbands of EC are rare and the new codex states that Noise Marines often fight with other Chaos units to get their kicks.

And the latest stories regarding Honsou have shown that atleast he has little worry about absorbing other units into his own forces to bolster their numbers.

 

On the table top, I'm thinking of replacing one of my Flamer/Melta/Power Fist CSM squads with a Doom Siren/Power Weapon/Sonic Blaster? Noise Marine squad.

I'd also replace one of dual Plasma squads with a Sonic Blaster/Blastmaster? Noise Marine squad as well.

This means that I'll have about 500 points of Noise Marines in my 2000 point Iron Warrior army, so its the right proportion for me.

 

How's that sound?

[incinerator950]

Cool story bro

 

Just do Iron Warriors with a squad or 2 of Noise Marines with IW colors but some pink for Slaanesh. Balance it out.

 

You forgot a rule of thumb, cult marines excluding Rubric Marines are not all in the Legions. Yes, they have high numbers, but those cults spread because The ones who initiate the cults wondered to other Legions and Renegades. Plague Marines can be created by Nurgle aligned Sorcerers, Khornate Berserkers created by Neurosurgeons who could be from the World Eaters or a student of them, or a Bored Techmarine who went insane for Khorne. Noise Marines are Not manually altered, they had to be so chock high packed with stims to overlord their senses and giving themselves to Slaanesh.

 

Obliterators are created from Contact from the Obliterator Virus, while it's not confirmed, alot of people use it (Iron Warriors infected a Tyranid Hive Ship with the Obliterator Virus supposingly). They're mercs, but Iron Warriors have a high proportion of them for the old fact that the first Obliterators came from the IW.

 

Offtopic

 

Really, I understand alot of older players originally played the Legions, but you can still make a new army of renegades regardless...except Rubric Marines, I havn't found out how to do that yet besides Rogue Sorcerer/s Abbadon.

 

Another flaw people who try to do Legion Cult armies is if people try to use the special characters and then say it's okay to use their Legion name. Khârn is rogue, he leads lone Berserkers crazy enough to follow him. Typhus leads a rogue Plague fleet, he cut lose from the Death Guard after the Death Guard hit the eye. Ahriman is an outcast. That leaves Lucius and Abbadon, because no one unconfirmed Lucius ditching his Legion (splintering into warbands however). Yes, a warband from the legions might change their name, but still.

 

Edit: Do you mind I ask what HQ is leading your army, a Warsmith (lord/sorc) or a Warsmith who was elevated to Demon Prince?

[minigun762]

Edit: Do you mind I ask what HQ is leading your army, a Warsmith (lord/sorc) or a Warsmith who was elevated to Demon Prince?

 

At the moment its a former Sorcerer who was recently gifted with Daemonhood. His job before was to lead the ritual bindings of daemons into engines and maintain them. His "promotion" has increased his ability to do this significantly, and as such he's taking a more aggressive role in the Legion, leading strikes off world. There is rumor that he is eyeing the Space Wolves' Fang fortress as a potential target. :D

[Prot]

While I'm not a fan of the pre-heresy Emperor's Children, I am drawn to what they are now, horribly evil sadists. The kind of badguy who makes you happy you were killed by the Berserker instead.

 

I feel this way about them as well. That sums them up neatly without throwing in 'porn magazines and bongs'. They ARE a cool army.

 

 

I find their pink/black/gold color scheme rather striking, it definately gets attention. They also seem to be more of a novelty army, where players are few and far between.

The major downside is that I don't feel that they are straight up as competitive as the Iron Warriors, mostly because of Noise Marines vs CSMs.

 

I guess 'shooty' noise marines I agree fully; however, I really like my slaanesh marked squad, and am surprised how often in game play that I fight marines, (or even eldar) and the +1 initiative is amazingly useful. Add that to the fact I think the power weapon wielding Warp Scream power on a sargent is actually really cool.

 

I like the uniqueness of the army and I don't know if you have to go 'pure' of any mark to make it 'fluffy'. There was Tortoise's thread about his Noise Marines and he had two tiers of them. One tier that was old school, hard core Emperor's Children and another tier that was comprised of newer inductees.

 

The Iron Warriors... I have played them since... since I used to actually have to explain to people who they were. Oddly enough I thought once the massive Oblit lists became illegal, that most would drop the army, but there are still a fair number out there.

 

What I do not like about IW is that they feel very... Vanilla to me right now. Too much so. I think you are fully justified, with some of the -oldest- fluff that exists to go with Slaanesh marks in an IW army though. Still I find them flavourless right now, and I have approx 7,000 points worth of Iron Warriors sitting in a box to prove it.

 

Iron Warriors have a very cool background, but I find there are very fews ways to replicate that in game right now...

 

Thanks everyone! happy.gif

[incinerator950]

Not to derail the topic but Chaos Space Marines is blatantly vanilla, even worse than Codex Space Marines.

 

Okay op, thats good. I like the Demon Prince aspect to it.