Thinking about getting into 40k and need some opinions

[Damunky]

Ive been looking at models and the new rules for the game and while I would love to build a Tau army and I have some already, I am thinking of getting into Space Marines or Chaos Marines. If i did marines I was thinking White Scars, Space wolves or Salamanders. If I did Chaos i would probably do Emperor's Children, Alpha legion, or Thousand Suns.

 

Do people have any suggestions on what I should do?

Also I plan to 3dprint most of the army

 

[Ish]

Well, when it comes to WH40k it's hard to argue against Space Marines. They are the most supported faction in the game, by several orders of magnitude, when it comes to models, model types, special rules, and narrative focus. (And there are tons of third-party compatible bitz manufacturers for them) They also look really cool, they're fun (and fairly easy) to paint, and they're a lot fun to play too. However, it must also be said that because they are the the supported faction... Well, sometimes they can come across as feeling a bit too focused on, y'know?

Chaos Space Marines come in behind the Imperial Space Marines in terms of support. They're pretty much always the main baddies in any major story event, they've got a very diverse range of models (and there is a ton of third-party stuff too). They also look cool, are fun to paint, and offer oodles of opportunities for conversion and kitbashing. On the downside, they seem to really lag behind the Imperial Space Marines in terms of actual rules support and often feel like Daddy Geebubs' least loved child.

As for a specific chapter or legion, I actually suggest not choosing one of the official, canonical groups. Instead, go someplace like Pop Goes the Monkey and pick a theme or an insignia set that you like the look of. Then use that as the central design choice for your own homemade chapter.  This has two big advantages. First, it lets you try any (or all) of the Chapter Tactics rules and doctrines until you find the one(s) that best match your play-style and you find the most fun. It would suck to spend time and money to amass a large army of the shooting-focused Dark Angels only to find out you’d prefer to play the mêlée-orientated Blood Angels.

Second, but most important, creating your own chapter is just plain fun. You get to come up with the names, the colors, and all the other lore details... and it will be uniquely yours.

[Sgt. Rock]

I would posit an addendum to Ish's comment on custom chapters: once you've decided what play style you like, unless you really are against the idea, make them a successor for the big names. You'll still get to customize your abilities, but you'll get a whole slew of stuff that you otherwise wouldn't have access to - chapter doctrine, relics, warlord traits, two or three pages of stratagems, etc. 

[Ish]

Basically, the only thing you miss out on are the Named Special Characters... and, honestly, that’s not that big of a loss most of the time. 

So, let’s say you take a shine to the cool winged horse-themed bitz from PGTM* and you decide you like the gottagofast style of the White Scars. So your new “Knights of Pegasus” chapter would be able to use the White Scars’ chapter tactic, relics, psyker discipline, et cetera. But they wouldn’t be able to use Kor’sarro Khan.

* I may or may not have just re-re-re-watched A Bridge Too Far.

[blackvigil]

Most custom chapters I've seen use a core chapter's rules wholesale. Convert up your own version of the Khan, and just use the rules. Who cares if your scars are a little different. As long as you're armed correctly, all it well.
 

As to the general question, I think you should choose the models you think are coolest. Rules change, toys are forever.

[Inquisitor66]

If you think you might want to do chaos I would wait on the codex so you dont plan on stuff you end up not liking, but it will be a while.  You could start by playing non-primaris marines of the factions you mentioned,  andbthen ifbyou decide to embrace chaos just convert them with spikey bits later.

 

I do also recommend doing your own custom color scheme, much easier to trade out faction abilities to match the game play you end like liking the best.

[Ish]

Thousand Sons and Death Guard probably aren’t getting anything added to their lines anytime soon (barring a possible Lieutenant-type single model and maybe a terrain kit). So if your chaotic leanings are towards Tzeentch or Grandfather Nurgle, you’re probably okay.

Slaanesh’s Emperor’s Children and their Noise Marines currently only exist in the form of a one-man, limited edition box and an ancient Upgrade Pack that’s been around since Third Edition; Likewise, Khorne’s World Eaters got a new Khârn model a few years ago, but the core Khorne Berserker models are twenty years old... a darn shame since they are absolutely brutal in their current rules.

OTOH, I’ve seen a lot of very cool conversions of Khorne Berserks made from a mashup of generic Chaos Space Marines and AoS Khorne Blood Warriors...

[Lyraeus]

On 11/10/2020 at 5:00 PM, Damunky said:

Ive been looking at models and the new rules for the game and while I would love to build a Tau army and I have some already, I am thinking of getting into Space Marines or Chaos Marines. If i did marines I was thinking White Scars, Space wolves or Salamanders. If I did Chaos i would probably do Emperor's Children, Alpha legion, or Thousand Suns.

 

Do people have any suggestions on what I should do?

Also I plan to 3dprint most of the army

 

If you have good models to 3d print then use them. I mean I am 3d printing an Ork Army (even if I already have an Ork Army) 

Here is 1600 points of Grot Tanks I did for someone

[Damunky]

1 hour ago, Lyraeus said:

If you have good models to 3d print then use them. I mean I am 3d printing an Ork Army (even if I already have an Ork Army) 

Here is 1600 points of Grot Tanks I did for someone

Those are great! Where did you get those stls? 

[Lyraeus]

3 hours ago, Damunky said:

Those are great! Where did you get those stls? 

Gearguts Mekshop

 

https://geargutsmekshop.com/