Favorite/Best Army (not counting rules)

[Eldartank]

Hi, everyone. I'm hoping this could be a fun discussion. Basically, what would you consider your favorite army, judged strictly on only the models and the story or concept, without game/codex rules being a factor in your opinion?

My favorites are as follows:

Tyranids: Great looking models, and really cool storyline concept (sort of like space locusts on crack). Right now I could easily field at least 4000 points of Tyranids, and I'm working on more models, particularly the newer ones that just came out.

Grey Knights: Again, great looking models. I started liking them when the old Codex Daemonhunters came out. And I like the concept of dedicated hunters of daemons.

Chaos Daemons: For this one, it is mostly the models, my specific favorite being Khorne (Bloodletters are so cool looking), followed by Tzeentch (I really like the Pink Horrors).

Imperial Guard: I'm a bit of a tank fanatic, so I have almost exclusively Tanks in my collection. Nothing really playable unless I use the Armored Company rules that are in the White Dwarf from a couple years ago. And yes, of course I have a fully assembled and painted Baneblade, and I also have the Shadowsword/Stormlord model that I'm working on.

Space Marines: Yeah, I know, probably sort of "band-wagon-ish," I like the models and all that. I just had to mention Space Marines. I have a 2000+ point Crimson Fists army, btw....

I have lots of other models, some painted/assembled, some not. But the ones above are my favorites, with Tyranids topping the list of favorites.

[Vulcan7200]

First and foremost, Imperial Guard. I don't think there's anything in the lore that quite compares to normal men facing off against unspeakable horrors and living to tell the tale. They're easily one of, if not the bravest group in the galaxy. Plus, I can't NOT think of the Marines from Aliens when I imagine them.

Second would be Black Templar. They have the best look out of all of the different Marines. And their Codex I think is so well written compared to so many others. Not just what the background about them says, but how the Codex is actually written is what really made them stand out to me. Of course, their background is great as well. Zealots even amongst the normally zealous Space Marines.

[Aedes]

For me it is Blood Angels.
I started the army because I fell in love with the models, the Sanguine Guard are beautiful.
And I love that Death Company Dread!
I also love the background.
One of the noblest Space Marine Legion/ Chapter has to hide a dark secret and the noble warriors develop into drooling blood thirsty maniacs.
And in addition- Sanguinius is my favorite Primarch. A winged sword wielding Angel of Death, slaying demons and even putting a dent into Horus' armour.
I cant wait for the HH novel "Fear to Treat" and already have pre-ordered it.

[Kakapo42]

Tau for me, hands down. I love the models, I like the light in the darkness concept, and the faction as a whole just suits me (I like to think of myself as a nice guy and my circle of friends has become quite diverse).

I'm surprised this hasn't become a poll.

[igwarlord]

I don't fall in love with a army i fall in love with tiny paragraphs in the fluff that make me go "THATS AWESOME!" and i start my love fest from there. Currently my love fest is the Flesh Tearers from Blood Angels. The small chance of going out as heros rather than villians GO FOR IT! allso the snipet about armagedon in the Imperial guard codex about them fighting in the factory made me think how cool are guard. I loved this part so much i actually built a table just for this battle to be played.

[totgeboren]

I really like the Tau. I have read their fluff, especially for BFG more than one time, and at least the FW models for them look really cool. I don't think I would ever start an army of them though, but I would love to face them more often.
Other than that, I really like the idea of Chaos, though 'The Great Game' was kinda lame imo. The idea that mortals can be infused with power unimaginable by otherworldly and uncaring gods, they are like the teenage fantasy everyone has had about gaining superpowers. This is the faction that can grant its followers just that!
I also like the models, even if the horns and topknots are sometimes a bit too much. The general design however is pretty awesome, I'm not much for the smooth shapes of the loyalists. Rivets and hard edges for me!

[Fizzy]

Death korps of krieg: Stunning models and awesome bacground. I love the way of playing them and their rules.

Space wolves: Again awesome models, really fantastic story and their way of playing and acting out. I also love how they are like future vikings and that fits me perfectly coming from Sweden and all. The names are old Nordic names and so on.

[Shamana]

Eldar. Some beautiful models (I like the flowing aesthetic on their vehicles), elite but fragile army, overall good fluff. When the odds are stacked unsurmountably against you, you make the odds themselves your b...h. Can you un-doom yourself?

[omgitsduane]

Chaos space marines, because deep down, dont we all want to be the bad guy with spikes?

And imperial guard, because it reminds me so much of the russian ww2 style of combat and I started my guardsmen army wanting to outnumber tyranid and ork armies with my dead! FORWARD YOU DOGS!

[Spoik]

Eldar (and, now, Dark Eldar): beautifully realised fluff with a mythic quality, underpinned by a workable societal concept.

It was the Eldar fluff in the legendary WD 127 that got me hooked on 40K, all those years ago.

[Captain Collius]

Dark Angels-Fervent Dedicated Haunted. We are the Illuminati. I Love our secret society feel and all Terminator company

[ColShaw]

Imperial Guard, all the way. Defending humanity from the most terrible things the imagination can create, with only their flesh, blood, courage, and Lasguns.

Second place would probably be the Battle Sisters.

[Flikre213]

Necrons, love the idea that one of the biggest threats to the galaxy outside of tyranids, is also the best chance the galaxy has of defeating the tyranids.

Also love this bit:

"Surrender and die"
"Don't you mean surrender or die?"
"No"

[FashaTheDog]

The Death Korps of Krieg are one of my favorites; Dead Men Walking should be required reading for all 40K players as it is so grim and dark that most other 40K books look as dark as My Little Pony by comparison.

Dark Eldar are up there too with their background of inflicting suffering to avoid the damnation of their own creation, although they may try to consciously forget that part from time to time. Path of the Renegade was another great read.

Of course Iron Warriors cannot ever be forgotten. The Age of Darkness short story was pretty spectacular. Storm of Iron was great as well, especially for me as Graham McNeill recommended it to me personally when I met him at a signing; he even signed it, "Iron Within, Iron Without."

Tau for me, hands down. I love the models, I like the light in the darkness concept, and the faction as a whole just suits me (I like to think of myself as a nice guy and my circle of friends has become quite diverse).

You do realize that Tau are not so much a light in the darkness as a patch of bleak gloom visible in the pitch black darkness, right? Sterilizing entire populations and having a "conform or die" attitude along with "some equals are more equal than others" is not exactly a shining pillar of hope; drop Tau in many other settings, like say Star Trek, and they'd clearly be villains, no two ways about it.

[Lord Khabal]

1st - Grey Knights

2nd - tied between tyranids / dark eldar

[Konovalev]

Currently my favorites are Grey Knights and Chaos Daemons.

On the one hand you have the solemn few who stand against the infinite, the incomprehensible, and ultimately the indestructable.

On the other you have rage and war lust incarnate(I play mono khorne), an unstoppable and uncaring force which cannot be reasoned nor bargained with.

[Zothos]

My favourites are Night Lords, then Necrons, then Tau.

[Infern0]

My absolute favorite army is.......... ORKS!!!
Their minis, fluff, old codexes, comics about them, their character and so on... LOVE THEM!

Also I really like DA (fluff, grimdark feel to them),
tau (hi-tech battlesuits and technology + alias),
Imperial guard(same reasons as everyone else said).

[Bad monkey]

I've always been a chaos player, every time I try a different army I either get bored or try and find a way to make it spiky. And in the world of 40k the emperors children is my preferred flavour of chaos. Their background is complelling and appeals to the space pervert in me.

[Worldeaters]

love chaos, but im only interested in the big legions model wise, particularly khorne, they made the average chaos marine to spikey in my opinion. you could put half of them on squared bases and use them in fantasy, but the legions have lush imagery and fluff.
once a world eater always a world eater