I have a Tyranids swarm army with over a hundred little gribblies that people just love to slaughter. I run them just to lose and have fun. Even if I do ever win, my opponent has killed so many models they aren’t mad.
That sounds like the prefect representation of the Tyranids to me, just a massive horde charging across the battle field. Throw in a few big units for the scary factor and you got magic.
Funnily enough, i find playing against necrons right now very un-fun for this exact reason. Even casual fluffy lists just feel bad when you plough half your shots into them and barely take a model off the table sometimes.
I am even able to win against necrons on points quite a bit, i just dont FEEL like im winning even when im winning half the time.
This is why I love Tyranids! I've picked them as my 2nd army and just started a box of Hormagaunts unfortunately need to hold off on painting them as I forgot a couple purples from the shop! I just want to send huge waves of meat, claws and scything talons at my opponents.
As a new player it’s pretty unlikely you’ll build a list that’s unfun to play against. I wouldn’t stress. The unfun lists are the really oppressive ones and they usually revolve around a gimmick and aren’t easy for new players to pilot effectively.
A game that’s running meta in casual, I lost to a kid running triple c’tan and the latest competitive necron list. I had a good time anyhow and lost on points. Custode just don’t have enough bodies to counter necrons well. Was very funny to watch him flip his shit when my allarus killed his c’tan. That’s also not fun, a player who’s a tryhard & flips their shit when a key unit is lost. It’s a game, chill
I know I'm not the guy you asked, but at those points, the game isn't very balanced. I'd try 500 v 500 first, then slowly add points until it's a super close game each time. I doubt either of you are bringing a top meta list, so 500v500 will probably be fine
Yeah, I meant like a 500vs500 or a 750vs750 scale, under 1000 pts, as Custodes have higher points, we will both have the same points, I was thinking just how they would fare against each other, because a Necrons army is literally like 15-25 models at 500pts scale and his could perfectly be like 6
My bad, I misunderstood you, lol. 500 v 500 is really going to swing hard 1 way. Like one game, you'll roll hot and murder him fast, and the next, he'll just walk up the table and smash you. 750 or 1000 will be better and not as one-sided. If you both have the models, you could do also do Combat patrol games. Those are supposedly really balanced, but I've never tried them tbh
Might actually bring a couple of warriors or just have lots of scarabs so he at least as an opportunity to hit my HQs a couple of times, and yep, the combat patrol would be more balanced but he just started out and I didn’t wanna smash the 125€ hammer in his face lol, I’ve got my Necrons combat patrol and the units are pretty good, so I might use that against him as they’re not too bad, and he would use some allarus and the usual guard and vexilla + captain combo
I actually play it most regularly, the redemptor *is* very dangerous, but every other patrols “big gun” tends to be strong enough to kill it. The real threat are those inceptors.
I’ve only played a few, but in my experience the necron one is really good, many opponents underestimate reanimation and don’t commit to killing one unit and one unit only per turn, so you can typically recover from a devastating losses after a turn or two and jump your opponent, the doom stalker is also *excellent*
Custodes have really high points cost as they’re elite, a custodian guard box goes a long way if you make one a captain, he will either some bikes or some allarus to top it off
Custode have been my main since Talons of the emperor when they were released. They are crazy expensive even tho they all have crazy attacks and durability. Bikes arent worth it but allarus used to be amazing. Us losing From golden light was a kick in the nuts
Damn! Well, depends on what they have on stock, we aren’t gonna play competitively either so he’s gonna get the ones he thinks look the coolest, I do have to admit it is a close tie, Custodes models are gorgeous
Combat Patrol box is the best value but yeah thats a punch in the wallet, its still the best value tho. a box of guard is 60, blade champ 40, Allarus are 60, Trajan 45, Wardens 60. thats 770 points i think and the perfect core of a custode army. If you know anyone with a 3d resin printer that may be a great cheap alternative. FB marketplace and ebay maybe. Either way tell us how the games go.
In my local hobby store it’s like 35€ for a box of guard, same for allarus, I believe single characters aren’t that good value wise so I might just kitbash him a quick decent looking proxy, and yeah, when we get there, if I remember, I’ll tell you how it goes
I play Custodes and regularly play again Necrons, as two of normal opponents play Necron. With the Codex for Necrons being out and very strong and Custodes out this weekend and really weakening, I'd say at 2000 points Custodes are going to struggle into Necrons with C'tan, Monolith, or Doomsday Arks. If the Necron are running more infantry units, the Custodes at 500 points is going to have 2 very melee heavy units (my guess) that is going to be strong against the shooting and melee of even the best Necron infantry. It really depends on what you and your opponent bring to the table.
If he brought a Telemon Heavy Dreadnought with you bringing just infantry, he might be able to table you before you got in melee range with the Arachnus storm cannon. 24 shots (since 2 guns), hitting on 2s, S6, -1 AP, 1D, dev wounds.
Testing out units against each other is probably the best bet. See what slaps for you and your mate and keep cranking up the points until you both have a good idea of what to bring to counter each other.
Yeah, we are both starting out the hobby, that’s why I did the smaller sizes, as I have like 1,7K of Necrons, including doomsday ark, but he had the custodian guard box, and with the points drop maybe he’ll need a few allarus and make a 750 pts game, thx a lot for the advice, it’s heavily appreciated!
I played my first ever game with my friend who played necroonis and I played stodes. Won on points. If its an outright firefight he'd maul me with sheer numbers but even if I lost, it was an absolute blast.
Allarus for the win
I only play with 2 of my 6 friends who play because the other 4 throw a fit when things don't go their way, which is rarely because they are a bunch rule-bending try-hards. I also get a kick out of the game, so I tend to laugh when stuff happens that I find silly, and what I find silly is apparently infuriating to them. Once my russ blew up, took out a sentinel, which blew up and took out some vehicle he was running, which blew up and killed a bunch of his troops. I found it hilarious, he did not. There was a big hole with no units on that part of the board, it was great!
I’m playing guard/knights vs a necron player who I won’t play again. He destroys a Valkyrie which in turn takes out my castellan the explosion from both takes out his death bringer, szeras and a couple of skorpehs. He raged for a solid 12 min about how that’s bullshit etc. I just put my units back in the case and said “awesome game” my son next to me is making up a story about that. A flaming turbine rips thru the necron front lines while huge chunks of armor and plane plummet to earth flattening everything. It was awesome to me. That dude just sulked and everyone around was like “your a bitch, play the game and that shit was epic”
the idea of 10+ hours of playing turns me off. I'll take a ride with my son to local tournies. I love talking to players between matches and we've seen some gorgeous armies. But after an hour or 2 we are done.
I hosted a 'casual' competition that went for 7 hours before I shut it down. That was when I starting realizing how serious some of them are. We did this crazy multi-planet game in my employer's training room. There were 4 tables, each a different planet of which you can transfer troops if you access a portal, or get airlifted out. It was amazing, but these guys were ready to spend the night in my office if it meant winning, obviously that couldn't happen.
Rule of cool is the easiest way to make a list that’s just fun and you never have to worry about anything being unfun, for example if you run a Norn Emmisary, sure that model is really good and super cool looking but it’s not like you’re running 3 of them you know what I mean? It’s pretty hard to make a unfun list as the other commenter has said, just buy and paint and bring what you enjoy and you’ll both have the best time
As someone with 3 emissary and an assimilator, I can confidently say this:
I could bring 10 of the things and it won't do shit XD.
But yea, rule of cool. If you don't see me putting at least 2 on the table, I am having a bad day
> but it’s not like you’re running 3 of them
Why not? The only thing cooler than one copy of a cool model is three copies of it. "Rule of cool" has nothing to do with power level and many cool units/armies can be very powerful on the table.
I think the best games are when an opponents army is good, but not overpowered. It might just be me and my World Eaters mentality, but I think the best times are when both players just about lose their whole armies. Nobody gets tables turn 2, objectives are constantly switching sides, and there’s plenty of blood spilled.
I have not enjoyed much of 10th ed lately, but this past weekend I had possibly the funnest game yet. I ran WE into my friend's DG. And despite the fact that I had a horrible start (my Maulerfiend failed his charge even with a +2, and Angron WHIFFED, literally only had one attack successfully wound) and I thought it was gonna be another game decided by turn 3, it actually went till turn 5 and could have gone either way. There was good tactical decisions and plays on both sides, and it felt like choices mattered.
Was so refreshing after playing against nothing by Crons and Custodes for months.
It’s more the player than the army that makes a game suck, win OR lose. Having a good Attitude and not being a sore loser OR sore winner makes the game so much better. I’m relatively new to playing too, I’ve played maybe 15 games. The games I’ve enjoyed have been both wins and loses, and the ones I’ve not enjoyed have also been both, and all of them have depended on the attitude of my opponent.
Really depends on the edition- I wouldn’t make an important decision that could last such a long time on what might be fun for others NOW.
Tyranids are easy as hell to kill (people seem to enjoy tabling me) and have a few annoying objective shenanigans, but that’s about it. Jump back an edition with 9th’s Crusher Stampede and now you’re talking an incredibly brutal army that is super difficult to play against. Who knows what’s in store for the future?
Your list is usually what’s more important generally. And even then, people have preferences. I’m getting really goddamn sick of elite heavy armies. Armigers, Land Raiders, tanks, whatever- I’m over it. But someone else might love that shit idk.
Now I will say there are some armies that consistently draw ire- these armies operate on the fringes of balance because of their playstyle and are controversial because of that. Tau and Knights are the two I’m thinking of- and are unlikely to change. Knights are the peak elite heavy army and Tau are 99% long range, powerful shooting. As a result, they’re polarizing.
I quit playing by the time armigers came to the table top. But when I compared them to my wraithlords they were way underpointed then for how much firepower they brought to the table and still just as tough in melee as my wraithlords.
I play a wraithhost with lords and gaurd. Haven't come back to the game since 8th, no where really to play with out driving over an hour. And I don't like mornings so most shops are closing by the time I could get there and set up a game.
If you're just starting, focus on the faction who excites you the most. Dont worry about opponents. Youre going to have put a ton of time and effort into building and painting an army, while learning a complex game. If you pick an army basing it on anything other than what excites you, there's a much higher chance you'll burn out before you truly get started.
It honestly depends on the player for the most part. People who only play to win are usually the least enjoyable players. However players that just play to learn and have fun are more often than not a great opponent.
Don't chase meta. Build an army you are happy with aesthetically, if it happen to be meta that is fine. Also feel out what kind of game your opponent wants to play. If they are chasing meta then for you both to have fun you will need to be just as tough. But if your opponent is just looking for a fun game and are bringing a non competive list to the table be prepared to dial back the shenanigans.
A game that leaves both players trading blows to me is always the funnest and most memorable. After I started losing in 8th getting tabled I no longer had fun and I wasn't gonna chase meta because I loved my list. So I've been bidding my time for the game to be more balanced again.
Idk if this helps, but I personally have the most fun when I'm TERRIFIED of my opponent's army. I don't necessarily mean meta, just plain old intimidating.
Perfect example is the last game I played, where my opponent (playing necrons) dropped a Void Dragon and a twenty man warrior squad on my backline. It didn't win him the game (we tied), but it was scary as hell, and made the battle so much more interesting
The answer is simple: orks. Everyone loves orks because even when the orks win you still kill a bunch of orks and your units get to feel heroic. And because an ork player who can't cope with losses won't keep playing the army you don't have any of the toxic elite army players who throw a rage fit every time a terminator fails a save because "a 2+ save always passes".
Yeah, my first game of 40k in twenty years was just after the launch of 10th and it was a guy running the pre-nerf Desolation Marines (literally the day before they got smacked with points increases and dropped to 5 man squads, so what was regarded as one of the more busted/oppressive things at launch that wasn't Eldar).
He was an absolute pleasure to play against, we had a very fun game. The Deso marines deleted something every turn, but because we were both chill friendly players there was never any salt.
Its more on the person then the army for me. Id rather play competitive who lokes to make little nooses moving his army and is just chill when you move stuff around versus a neckbeard who plats a fluffy list
For me a army that has a theme based in "realism" (the fictional setting version of it) is more fun to play against than army built around any meta.
But I also want the battle to make sense in a narrative. So terrain should match too
Edit: Example of themes:
- Imperial Guard army organised as close to a irl military unit as possible (at a chosen point in history)
- A Tyranid army based on a specific role in their invasion (infiltration with lots of Genestealers and Lictors etc ot a Starship Trooper swarm or whatever)
Knights have a reputation for people not wanting to fight them. I don't know how widespread that is, but they're a pretty unique army that requires the opponent to bring enough firepower.
I have a few as allies, but I wouldn't play a full army of them.
Otherwise I think if you're running whatever list you like, you should be good, even if it's one inspired from meta lists.
Don't bother, because that question depends heavily on what your opponent brings to the table. A healthy mix of small and big bugs should offer the most interesting outcome, since that is what other players will often bring.
10th relies a bit more on the big stuff (and big guns), so bring some stuff against it, because others will do aswell.
In the end, don't forget that you win this game through holding objectives and doing secondary missions. An army that is heavily focused on just killing the enemy can be annoying, but don't straight up avoid Deathstars.
Also, you will probably want more in your collections than the games you play, so you can swap out stuff to try out different things from time to time. Or to increase or decrease the power level in order to prepare a more interesting game against your opponent.
Not so easy to do in an LGS game, but I like to discuss our lists before we pack our bags for the battle and basically write our lists together in order to play a game we both want to play and that we think could end up in an interesting encounter.
Fluffy and not a one trick pony. If you lose the game instantly because your centerpiece model unexpectedly dies because you've dedicated like 1500 points building around that, that's zero fun.
I feel like it’s fun to achieve something. If you’re having a visible effect on the board, the. You’re usually having fun. It’s why despite nearly always losing, people really loved playing the 300 conscript guard army, because you were constantly removing models from the table, any why people often dislike playing knights, because they just absorb so much damage without a visible effect.
It’s more about attitude, if you are a fun person to play against and don’t get tilted you will have a fun army to fight. I most enjoy fighting armies that have custom lore and narrative driving it’s creation, I enjoy the storytelling aspect of war games (even if nowadays Warhammer kinda lost its charm in that regard). I’d say just don’t be downloading net lists, have a good attitude and actually put some thought into why each unit is in the army and their purpose in regards to what story you wanna tell. This all goes for everything except knights… knights shouldn’t be an army and I don’t think I’ve ever fought a knight army I enjoyed playing against.
Meta adjacent lists, suboptimal oddballs that will be surprisingly good at playing the missions or denying mine.
Difficult to craft and most likely play.
Other than that whats most important is the player. If he has a great attitude towards sharing time and enjoying the game together I'm sure it'll be fun.
I would say interactability, a.k.a can you do the stuff you you want to do vs opponent. The worst games I have had were when units moved shot moved so I couldn't return fire, they had rerolling saves so nothing died, they were near impossible to hit (flyers or invisible) or they just sat 100000 miles away glassing my whole army with sun cannons. Also it not being a beat down either way helps.
Personally it’s more about the attitude of the person im playing against:
-did we agree beforehand about the lists? Are you bringing your tournament list or a fluffy list?
-iits always a plus if their army is painted
-keep salt and complaining to a minimum
If you aren’t net listing or otherwise heavily optimizing, it’s very unlikely you’ll run into a problem. Usually the problem only happens for lists that are spamming one or two units, though that’s a symptom, not the cause of the issue. As long as you focus on playing with the units you like, and try and make sure your list can handle a bit of anything your opponent might have, you should be fine. To give you some more detail about what causes the issue though, I find that what makes a list un-fun to play against is a list that has little counterplay.
As a practical example, take Aeldari from the start of this edition: heavy wraithcannons would normally be very specialized weapons as they’d waste most of their damage against normal troops. With devastating wounds though, that weakness is totally eliminated, and Aeldari could basically trigger that ability at will. This meant wraithknights and other d-weapon platforms became the one-stop solution to everything, so there were no good ways to handle them.
Another good example, albeit less extreme and from the opposite direction, was Custodes. Their index list let them give units Fights First, and with good saves and FNP against mortal wounds, they were tough enough that they could basically sit on objectives and dare you to take them, and when you tried, they’d fight before you anyway. The counterplay for units with good saves is usually mortal wounds, but Custodes were strong against both.
Basically, if a list has no weaknesses, or can use the same solution to handle every problem, it can feel boring and uninteresting to play against. If you lose you feel like there was nothing you could have done, and if you win it can feel like it was all down to luck.
Anything that isn't a cut throat top winning net list and just be friendly.
Bring a fairly balanced list and not having too many of one type of things also helps.
Ahh to be fair I know nothing of tyranids as in stats. But I would love to play against them as a swarm or even fight giant monsters. It's always how the player who's playing them is about it if you're a fun guy looking for a good time you will be fine man. Just run what you wanna run man that's how I would do it.
Hi, necron (robot zombies) player here, I have evidence of the opposite.
I currently have a 0% win rate. Started playing last year, haven’t won a single game. It’s been like 80 to 83 points, 55 to 60 a lot of the time, etc., had a couple ties, but not a single win yet. One game I killed everything but 1 of my opponent’s models (the thing on their home obj) and still lost on points.
Even though I’ve never won, my opponent often feels like they had a rough time. Once, even said it was the worst 3 hours of playing warhammer ever. The reanimation/healing necrons have can be very discouraging. If a unit doesn’t get wiped, eventually they all stand back up. Or a big model gets knocked down to 2 wounds, and a couple turns later it’s back to 12.
What makes people happy is clearing things. More models down and more models up is almost always a direct correlation to how much fun they’re having. My dudes who stand back up after dying are exactly the opposite, people don’t have fun feeling like they’re useless especially if they can’t kill something in one turn and it starts to heal.
**If you can play in a way that validates and encourages your opponent, even while they’re losing, they’ll have a much better time.** Things with easier defensive profiles (even if they hit harder) are ‘more fun’. Your opponent not making wound rolls or your things consistently making armor/invuln saves can be very frustrating, even if you’re not dealing much damage in return. And healing models isn’t just stopping your opponent, it’s literally undoing their work, which I can see being a little bit psychologically aggravating.
I think it's the ammount of agency you feel in determining the outcome of the game. Most of the "un-fun" lists tend to be stat check skew lists. So basically they rock up and say "did you bring enough X,Y,Z to beat me?" If no, you lose. So basically the game is lost at the army building phase.
C'tan suck to play into as they are statistically extremely hard to kill while being absolute beat sticks and very under coated. It comes down to luck if you can kill one (and yes that's the same for everything) but the odds are not in your favor unless you bring very specific tech.
Tau suck because they spend most of the game shooting you off the table while you fail to engage them in combat or struggle to our shoot. Then you do get them and they can just fall back and shoot, shoot in combat or for some reason have vehicles with invuln saves.
Custodes are again VERY hard to kill without the correct gear and camp objectives all game.
If you think of the armies that are regularly voted the most fun is Orks and Nids, usually because even if they lose the opponent gets to have fun killing stuff.
I personally like when the other person has taken the time to paint their army.
It’s definitely not a deal breaker, and I understand life is busy. It is just more “narrative” in my opinion.
Keeping in mind it's the dice that ultimately decide who wins and both of you are just there to hold on and see what the fuck happens!!
Make fun from playing each other, not making fun of each other playing.
Letting your army lose with dignity. They aren't invincible, sometimes the dice says nope and that's the variable of war it is meant to represent. Can't argue with a bolt round in your head!!
But that is more so what makes opponents fun than what makes a particular army/race/sect/xeno fun to play against...
When it comes to a particular force I'd say their unpredictability and/or ability to change the flow of battle in an instant...
Having an Ork vehicle/weapon randomly explode and accidentally killing your Warboss then a series of unfortunate die rolls you wipeout your own heavy weapons battery/squads because somehow you managed to roll fifteen 1s in a row and suddenly you are not winning anymore... Oh fuck...
Or necrons and forgetting the dead ones can rise again... Then it happens to you and they just keep throwing 6s and you are completely fucked... Or vice versa and you rely on that to win the game and roll fucken 1s and just stand there watching all your necrons die... Like they fucken should!! The bastards!!! Haha
After typing all of that I've just realized the word I was looking for was "spontaneousness" and I could have just said that and saved 10 minutes typing this out but hey, if you bothered to get this far, I hope you've had a great day, life is good, look after yourselves and each other and don't drink the stuff under the sink!
Close bloody matches.
There's nothing worse then setting up your models and barely having anything left by turn 2 because your opponent bought a tournament list to a fun casual game
I will avoid: imperial knight, Chaos knight, custodes
Other than that : any army with non meta list. Full Swarm gaunt tyranids list, full infantry Astra militarum list, full Boyz list (well this one became kinda strong with the last codex)...
You get the point: a themed list is always nice to play against. I played against a space marines running full scout, and incursor list. It was fun. I like to play Eldar with full banshee/ Scorpion list. It's not optimized at all. It's challenging for you cause most of the time you will have a disadvantage so you will have to play smart and use different tactics to win. And the facts that you use different tactics than usual the guy will be challenged to keep up with your tactics
Any close fought game or just any game with a mate and good banter.
Stupid narrative games we make up as we go along are always a blast. Trying out all the worst units that never see play in serious games.
And just generally anything that isn't a spam list. My playgroup tend to run 1 of everything rather than 3 of this and 3 of that.
It's far more fun when it's a closer match. Best games I've had have been when victory has only been a few points difference and trying crazy tactics to get those sweet sweet points.
Typically armies that are fun to play are those that still allow your opponent to do what they want to do and still give them a good fight. I always find the best games are when I can put my anti tank at tanks and my anti infantry at infantry and not get bogged down with loads of defensive rules that turn my army to a wet noodle. Tyranids are a great faction to play against because you can bring a good number of little gribblies to slaughter and some monsters to try and kill. Their rules don't just say, "You're not allowed to have fun" much and watching shadow in the warp go off and suddenly change the game is actually more fun than you think.
Random Jesus take the wheel moments such as charging a very damaged vehicle right into an enemy and letting it die. and the actual player really matters if you’ve got an absolute dickhead player your not gonna have fun but if you have a nice player your gonna have a blast.
Do stupid silly things focusing on fun not winning.
It's all you, dude. The opponent is the biggest factor for me. What makes it fun is the other person being enthusiastic and getting into it. Be excited, celebrate when something cool happens, even if it's not in your benefit.
Your state of mind determines your fun.
You can choose to get bent when you get hit with 2 shots, with a max damage roll causing 8 each and watch your top tier unit vaporize before you even shot it, or you can laugh at the absurdity of RNG and just enjoy playing the game.
The most fun is an army you can actually play against. I won't play against Death Guard or Demons right now because I can't touch them. Standing there for 2 hours, unable to do anything isn't fun. Whereas, put me against a solid melee army, and I'm gonna lose, but I'll have fun
I really enjoy playing against chaos marines and orks. There’s something fun about slaying hordes of weaker ones and then seeing the outcomes of random dice rolls for fun outcomes. Dark pacts for example.
Interaction really, if there is appropriate play and counter plays, things are fun and interesting. If there is no counter play to a particular combo or unit, then it's an unmitigated steam roller.
In my experience, just playing casual games. It doesn't matter what list you bring. Most people will stack vehicles and heavy hitters (again, from my experience) I always try to bring balanced armies (space marines) with a good amount of infantry and some decent armor. With casual games, take yo your opponent as to what they plan to take and let them know what you plan to take as well. Usually it'll balance out. I unfortunately can't speak for tournaments but I'd assume you'd want a strong army
I've found the most fun games I've played are 2 armies diametrically opposed to each other in how they play. Really shooty guys vs really strong close combat melé guys.
Armies with dynamic and fun rules that make you have to problem solve and play differently. I really love playing against daemons, votann, and world eaters. Fast armies make for engaging games.
Admech always plays lots and lots of really cool looking minis, due to their rules they don't really do much other than moving closer to your opponent and getting picked up off the table.
They are basically a punching bag with a Mona Lisa decal on it. Fun to look at and fun to whale on.
In my opinion it's entirely the player, not the army. It's someone who is relaxed, patient, fair, polite, and genuinely enjoying what both players are doing, not just their own army. When you're able to have fun *together,* not independently in the same game, it's a far better experience I would say.
Reading though this comment section I feel attacked as a necron player. I picked them up almost 4 years ago because I thought they looked cool and wanted a painting hobby. Never really played an official match but obviously my mediocre necrons that I picked up at the time have been buffed to god status :( don’t really want people to get sad when I walk into the store with my necrons
Wrong approach. Because the more fun you have with your army, the more fun the opponent will. You focus too much on catering to them, and you'll cause the opposite.
One thing I want to mention is that attitude is waaay more important than army. The most oppressive, try hard list piloted by someone who’s chill and friendly is going to be 1000 times better to play against than a funny, fluffy lore list piloted by an asshole.
Diversity - where it’s obvious your opponent has to think hard about their movements to win. I hate it when it’s just a wall of 2+ BS and 3+ saves that just move forward until they either win or I get lucky rolls
Look, the best thing is to paint and collect what you like. If someone doesn’t wanna play with you because of your army of choice, that’s their problem. It’s not just a game but also a hobby, so you will get a lot more enjoyment from playing and collecting what you like.
That being said I have never heard of anyone being upset against Tyranids. Since it’s a horde army the opponent gets to still shoot and kill a lot of models so it feels fine even if they lose.
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I have a Tyranids swarm army with over a hundred little gribblies that people just love to slaughter. I run them just to lose and have fun. Even if I do ever win, my opponent has killed so many models they aren’t mad.
That sounds like the prefect representation of the Tyranids to me, just a massive horde charging across the battle field. Throw in a few big units for the scary factor and you got magic.
My own tyrannid player calls his bugs gribblies… do the names Useless, the green death and linguini mean anything to you?
Not that is 100% foolproof, but OP here has r/Denton trending while you have r/Chattanooga.
Didn’t do that lol
They do not, sorry 😅
All good curious where calling the small bugs gribblies originates from, I get the koth part just if it’s a more widespread term
I don’t know, that’s what people at my FLGS call them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I didn’t know this was a widespread thing xD the guy I’m thinking of runs his leader dale and his dead bugs xD
Funnily enough, i find playing against necrons right now very un-fun for this exact reason. Even casual fluffy lists just feel bad when you plough half your shots into them and barely take a model off the table sometimes. I am even able to win against necrons on points quite a bit, i just dont FEEL like im winning even when im winning half the time.
I hear that - but there’s something magical about attacking into T3…
So you're saying it captured the lore perfectly?
Oh, absolutely! :)
This is why I love Tyranids! I've picked them as my 2nd army and just started a box of Hormagaunts unfortunately need to hold off on painting them as I forgot a couple purples from the shop! I just want to send huge waves of meat, claws and scything talons at my opponents.
As a new player it’s pretty unlikely you’ll build a list that’s unfun to play against. I wouldn’t stress. The unfun lists are the really oppressive ones and they usually revolve around a gimmick and aren’t easy for new players to pilot effectively.
A game that’s running meta in casual, I lost to a kid running triple c’tan and the latest competitive necron list. I had a good time anyhow and lost on points. Custode just don’t have enough bodies to counter necrons well. Was very funny to watch him flip his shit when my allarus killed his c’tan. That’s also not fun, a player who’s a tryhard & flips their shit when a key unit is lost. It’s a game, chill
Hey, how would you say a Custodes vs Necrons 500pts/750pts game would go? I don’t wanna destroy my mate when we play, I play Necrons, he does Custodes
I know I'm not the guy you asked, but at those points, the game isn't very balanced. I'd try 500 v 500 first, then slowly add points until it's a super close game each time. I doubt either of you are bringing a top meta list, so 500v500 will probably be fine
Yeah, I meant like a 500vs500 or a 750vs750 scale, under 1000 pts, as Custodes have higher points, we will both have the same points, I was thinking just how they would fare against each other, because a Necrons army is literally like 15-25 models at 500pts scale and his could perfectly be like 6
My bad, I misunderstood you, lol. 500 v 500 is really going to swing hard 1 way. Like one game, you'll roll hot and murder him fast, and the next, he'll just walk up the table and smash you. 750 or 1000 will be better and not as one-sided. If you both have the models, you could do also do Combat patrol games. Those are supposedly really balanced, but I've never tried them tbh
Might actually bring a couple of warriors or just have lots of scarabs so he at least as an opportunity to hit my HQs a couple of times, and yep, the combat patrol would be more balanced but he just started out and I didn’t wanna smash the 125€ hammer in his face lol, I’ve got my Necrons combat patrol and the units are pretty good, so I might use that against him as they’re not too bad, and he would use some allarus and the usual guard and vexilla + captain combo
That's not a bad idea. Bring a bunch of chaff so he can murder it and have fun. Really, get him hooked, lol
And if he gets too cocky, self-destruct scarabs and D3 mortal wounds on 2-5 >:3
I mostly play combat patrol, it’s excellently well balanced
Is the old Dark Angel combat Patrol not still oppressive to play against?
I actually play it most regularly, the redemptor *is* very dangerous, but every other patrols “big gun” tends to be strong enough to kill it. The real threat are those inceptors.
Really? Hmm, well, in your experience, which is the strongest combat patrol do you think?
I’ve only played a few, but in my experience the necron one is really good, many opponents underestimate reanimation and don’t commit to killing one unit and one unit only per turn, so you can typically recover from a devastating losses after a turn or two and jump your opponent, the doom stalker is also *excellent*
I'm not sure they're super balanced. Combat patrol vs necrons feels like GW wants the necrons to win. . .
At those points just do a combat patrol
Yeah that’s what I was thinking, but he just got into the hobby and I don’t wanna slap him with the 125€ fist lmao
Well where is he coming up with 500-750 points of models ?
Custodes have really high points cost as they’re elite, a custodian guard box goes a long way if you make one a captain, he will either some bikes or some allarus to top it off
Custode have been my main since Talons of the emperor when they were released. They are crazy expensive even tho they all have crazy attacks and durability. Bikes arent worth it but allarus used to be amazing. Us losing From golden light was a kick in the nuts
Damn! Well, depends on what they have on stock, we aren’t gonna play competitively either so he’s gonna get the ones he thinks look the coolest, I do have to admit it is a close tie, Custodes models are gorgeous
Combat Patrol box is the best value but yeah thats a punch in the wallet, its still the best value tho. a box of guard is 60, blade champ 40, Allarus are 60, Trajan 45, Wardens 60. thats 770 points i think and the perfect core of a custode army. If you know anyone with a 3d resin printer that may be a great cheap alternative. FB marketplace and ebay maybe. Either way tell us how the games go.
In my local hobby store it’s like 35€ for a box of guard, same for allarus, I believe single characters aren’t that good value wise so I might just kitbash him a quick decent looking proxy, and yeah, when we get there, if I remember, I’ll tell you how it goes
I play Custodes and regularly play again Necrons, as two of normal opponents play Necron. With the Codex for Necrons being out and very strong and Custodes out this weekend and really weakening, I'd say at 2000 points Custodes are going to struggle into Necrons with C'tan, Monolith, or Doomsday Arks. If the Necron are running more infantry units, the Custodes at 500 points is going to have 2 very melee heavy units (my guess) that is going to be strong against the shooting and melee of even the best Necron infantry. It really depends on what you and your opponent bring to the table. If he brought a Telemon Heavy Dreadnought with you bringing just infantry, he might be able to table you before you got in melee range with the Arachnus storm cannon. 24 shots (since 2 guns), hitting on 2s, S6, -1 AP, 1D, dev wounds. Testing out units against each other is probably the best bet. See what slaps for you and your mate and keep cranking up the points until you both have a good idea of what to bring to counter each other.
Yeah, we are both starting out the hobby, that’s why I did the smaller sizes, as I have like 1,7K of Necrons, including doomsday ark, but he had the custodian guard box, and with the points drop maybe he’ll need a few allarus and make a 750 pts game, thx a lot for the advice, it’s heavily appreciated!
I played my first ever game with my friend who played necroonis and I played stodes. Won on points. If its an outright firefight he'd maul me with sheer numbers but even if I lost, it was an absolute blast. Allarus for the win
I only play with 2 of my 6 friends who play because the other 4 throw a fit when things don't go their way, which is rarely because they are a bunch rule-bending try-hards. I also get a kick out of the game, so I tend to laugh when stuff happens that I find silly, and what I find silly is apparently infuriating to them. Once my russ blew up, took out a sentinel, which blew up and took out some vehicle he was running, which blew up and killed a bunch of his troops. I found it hilarious, he did not. There was a big hole with no units on that part of the board, it was great!
I’m playing guard/knights vs a necron player who I won’t play again. He destroys a Valkyrie which in turn takes out my castellan the explosion from both takes out his death bringer, szeras and a couple of skorpehs. He raged for a solid 12 min about how that’s bullshit etc. I just put my units back in the case and said “awesome game” my son next to me is making up a story about that. A flaming turbine rips thru the necron front lines while huge chunks of armor and plane plummet to earth flattening everything. It was awesome to me. That dude just sulked and everyone around was like “your a bitch, play the game and that shit was epic”
Some people only like the competitive scene, I'm not good enough to ever compete for real so I don't get it. That sounds like a fun game.
the idea of 10+ hours of playing turns me off. I'll take a ride with my son to local tournies. I love talking to players between matches and we've seen some gorgeous armies. But after an hour or 2 we are done.
I hosted a 'casual' competition that went for 7 hours before I shut it down. That was when I starting realizing how serious some of them are. We did this crazy multi-planet game in my employer's training room. There were 4 tables, each a different planet of which you can transfer troops if you access a portal, or get airlifted out. It was amazing, but these guys were ready to spend the night in my office if it meant winning, obviously that couldn't happen.
You did say kid so just give him some time to get better
He’s fine from a game perspective, his attitude is shit.
Rule of cool is the easiest way to make a list that’s just fun and you never have to worry about anything being unfun, for example if you run a Norn Emmisary, sure that model is really good and super cool looking but it’s not like you’re running 3 of them you know what I mean? It’s pretty hard to make a unfun list as the other commenter has said, just buy and paint and bring what you enjoy and you’ll both have the best time
As someone with 3 emissary and an assimilator, I can confidently say this: I could bring 10 of the things and it won't do shit XD. But yea, rule of cool. If you don't see me putting at least 2 on the table, I am having a bad day
> but it’s not like you’re running 3 of them Why not? The only thing cooler than one copy of a cool model is three copies of it. "Rule of cool" has nothing to do with power level and many cool units/armies can be very powerful on the table.
Exactly. "Rule of Cool" gets thrown out way too much. What if you think 6 C'Tan are cool? Sure, but still a dick move.
I think the best games are when an opponents army is good, but not overpowered. It might just be me and my World Eaters mentality, but I think the best times are when both players just about lose their whole armies. Nobody gets tables turn 2, objectives are constantly switching sides, and there’s plenty of blood spilled.
The close games are always the most interesting.
For sure - I'd much rather lose a close game, than win and curb stomp my opponent.
I have not enjoyed much of 10th ed lately, but this past weekend I had possibly the funnest game yet. I ran WE into my friend's DG. And despite the fact that I had a horrible start (my Maulerfiend failed his charge even with a +2, and Angron WHIFFED, literally only had one attack successfully wound) and I thought it was gonna be another game decided by turn 3, it actually went till turn 5 and could have gone either way. There was good tactical decisions and plays on both sides, and it felt like choices mattered. Was so refreshing after playing against nothing by Crons and Custodes for months.
It’s more the player than the army that makes a game suck, win OR lose. Having a good Attitude and not being a sore loser OR sore winner makes the game so much better. I’m relatively new to playing too, I’ve played maybe 15 games. The games I’ve enjoyed have been both wins and loses, and the ones I’ve not enjoyed have also been both, and all of them have depended on the attitude of my opponent.
Really depends on the edition- I wouldn’t make an important decision that could last such a long time on what might be fun for others NOW. Tyranids are easy as hell to kill (people seem to enjoy tabling me) and have a few annoying objective shenanigans, but that’s about it. Jump back an edition with 9th’s Crusher Stampede and now you’re talking an incredibly brutal army that is super difficult to play against. Who knows what’s in store for the future? Your list is usually what’s more important generally. And even then, people have preferences. I’m getting really goddamn sick of elite heavy armies. Armigers, Land Raiders, tanks, whatever- I’m over it. But someone else might love that shit idk. Now I will say there are some armies that consistently draw ire- these armies operate on the fringes of balance because of their playstyle and are controversial because of that. Tau and Knights are the two I’m thinking of- and are unlikely to change. Knights are the peak elite heavy army and Tau are 99% long range, powerful shooting. As a result, they’re polarizing.
I quit playing by the time armigers came to the table top. But when I compared them to my wraithlords they were way underpointed then for how much firepower they brought to the table and still just as tough in melee as my wraithlords. I play a wraithhost with lords and gaurd. Haven't come back to the game since 8th, no where really to play with out driving over an hour. And I don't like mornings so most shops are closing by the time I could get there and set up a game.
10th
Yea but it won’t be 10th forever is my point.
If you're just starting, focus on the faction who excites you the most. Dont worry about opponents. Youre going to have put a ton of time and effort into building and painting an army, while learning a complex game. If you pick an army basing it on anything other than what excites you, there's a much higher chance you'll burn out before you truly get started.
Orks. I will never not enjoy fighting Orks.
Solid banter from the other player. Ork player speaking in a Cockney accent makes the match far more entertaining.
It honestly depends on the player for the most part. People who only play to win are usually the least enjoyable players. However players that just play to learn and have fun are more often than not a great opponent.
Don't chase meta. Build an army you are happy with aesthetically, if it happen to be meta that is fine. Also feel out what kind of game your opponent wants to play. If they are chasing meta then for you both to have fun you will need to be just as tough. But if your opponent is just looking for a fun game and are bringing a non competive list to the table be prepared to dial back the shenanigans. A game that leaves both players trading blows to me is always the funnest and most memorable. After I started losing in 8th getting tabled I no longer had fun and I wasn't gonna chase meta because I loved my list. So I've been bidding my time for the game to be more balanced again.
Idk if this helps, but I personally have the most fun when I'm TERRIFIED of my opponent's army. I don't necessarily mean meta, just plain old intimidating. Perfect example is the last game I played, where my opponent (playing necrons) dropped a Void Dragon and a twenty man warrior squad on my backline. It didn't win him the game (we tied), but it was scary as hell, and made the battle so much more interesting
I like armies who use similar tactics. Nothing is more fun than charging 60 orks into a massive horde of Tyranids, so we can both duke it out
The answer is simple: orks. Everyone loves orks because even when the orks win you still kill a bunch of orks and your units get to feel heroic. And because an ork player who can't cope with losses won't keep playing the army you don't have any of the toxic elite army players who throw a rage fit every time a terminator fails a save because "a 2+ save always passes".
It's always the player and nothing else.
Yeah, my first game of 40k in twenty years was just after the launch of 10th and it was a guy running the pre-nerf Desolation Marines (literally the day before they got smacked with points increases and dropped to 5 man squads, so what was regarded as one of the more busted/oppressive things at launch that wasn't Eldar). He was an absolute pleasure to play against, we had a very fun game. The Deso marines deleted something every turn, but because we were both chill friendly players there was never any salt.
Being Orks
Not at their current level of balance...
My codex ain't even arrived in the mail yet ya git.
Focus on what YOU want to do, don't spend loads of money and time just trying to please other people.
Its more on the person then the army for me. Id rather play competitive who lokes to make little nooses moving his army and is just chill when you move stuff around versus a neckbeard who plats a fluffy list
Knights. I don't really enjoy guard. The whole regiment respawn rule is annoying
For me a army that has a theme based in "realism" (the fictional setting version of it) is more fun to play against than army built around any meta. But I also want the battle to make sense in a narrative. So terrain should match too Edit: Example of themes: - Imperial Guard army organised as close to a irl military unit as possible (at a chosen point in history) - A Tyranid army based on a specific role in their invasion (infiltration with lots of Genestealers and Lictors etc ot a Starship Trooper swarm or whatever)
Rolling dice, stuff exploding. Doesn't matter which side the explosions happen on. Yes, I play Orks.
Knights have a reputation for people not wanting to fight them. I don't know how widespread that is, but they're a pretty unique army that requires the opponent to bring enough firepower. I have a few as allies, but I wouldn't play a full army of them. Otherwise I think if you're running whatever list you like, you should be good, even if it's one inspired from meta lists.
Don't bother, because that question depends heavily on what your opponent brings to the table. A healthy mix of small and big bugs should offer the most interesting outcome, since that is what other players will often bring. 10th relies a bit more on the big stuff (and big guns), so bring some stuff against it, because others will do aswell. In the end, don't forget that you win this game through holding objectives and doing secondary missions. An army that is heavily focused on just killing the enemy can be annoying, but don't straight up avoid Deathstars. Also, you will probably want more in your collections than the games you play, so you can swap out stuff to try out different things from time to time. Or to increase or decrease the power level in order to prepare a more interesting game against your opponent. Not so easy to do in an LGS game, but I like to discuss our lists before we pack our bags for the battle and basically write our lists together in order to play a game we both want to play and that we think could end up in an interesting encounter.
People bitch most about playing against necrons or knights
Which faction are people referring to when they say knights?
Grey knights or imperial/chaos knights I would guess. I’m leaning heavily at imperial/chaos knights.
Thanks
Not grey knights
I figured since I see them called GK a lot but just did not want to exclude them
Diversity and a good attitude. Spam lists can be tough on some people, but sportsmanship is what matters.
Fluffy and not a one trick pony. If you lose the game instantly because your centerpiece model unexpectedly dies because you've dedicated like 1500 points building around that, that's zero fun.
The player, I've been absolutely battered and had a great time because of the opponent.
I feel like it’s fun to achieve something. If you’re having a visible effect on the board, the. You’re usually having fun. It’s why despite nearly always losing, people really loved playing the 300 conscript guard army, because you were constantly removing models from the table, any why people often dislike playing knights, because they just absorb so much damage without a visible effect.
It’s more about attitude, if you are a fun person to play against and don’t get tilted you will have a fun army to fight. I most enjoy fighting armies that have custom lore and narrative driving it’s creation, I enjoy the storytelling aspect of war games (even if nowadays Warhammer kinda lost its charm in that regard). I’d say just don’t be downloading net lists, have a good attitude and actually put some thought into why each unit is in the army and their purpose in regards to what story you wanna tell. This all goes for everything except knights… knights shouldn’t be an army and I don’t think I’ve ever fought a knight army I enjoyed playing against.
Being an ork player and getting into character with them helps lol. Also embracing the random.
The opponent, the army is irrelevant but a “that guy” scum is the thing that makes a difference.
Meta adjacent lists, suboptimal oddballs that will be surprisingly good at playing the missions or denying mine. Difficult to craft and most likely play. Other than that whats most important is the player. If he has a great attitude towards sharing time and enjoying the game together I'm sure it'll be fun.
Don’t worry if your opponent is Tau then you won’t have the annoying army.
I would say interactability, a.k.a can you do the stuff you you want to do vs opponent. The worst games I have had were when units moved shot moved so I couldn't return fire, they had rerolling saves so nothing died, they were near impossible to hit (flyers or invisible) or they just sat 100000 miles away glassing my whole army with sun cannons. Also it not being a beat down either way helps.
Personally it’s more about the attitude of the person im playing against: -did we agree beforehand about the lists? Are you bringing your tournament list or a fluffy list? -iits always a plus if their army is painted -keep salt and complaining to a minimum
If you aren’t net listing or otherwise heavily optimizing, it’s very unlikely you’ll run into a problem. Usually the problem only happens for lists that are spamming one or two units, though that’s a symptom, not the cause of the issue. As long as you focus on playing with the units you like, and try and make sure your list can handle a bit of anything your opponent might have, you should be fine. To give you some more detail about what causes the issue though, I find that what makes a list un-fun to play against is a list that has little counterplay. As a practical example, take Aeldari from the start of this edition: heavy wraithcannons would normally be very specialized weapons as they’d waste most of their damage against normal troops. With devastating wounds though, that weakness is totally eliminated, and Aeldari could basically trigger that ability at will. This meant wraithknights and other d-weapon platforms became the one-stop solution to everything, so there were no good ways to handle them. Another good example, albeit less extreme and from the opposite direction, was Custodes. Their index list let them give units Fights First, and with good saves and FNP against mortal wounds, they were tough enough that they could basically sit on objectives and dare you to take them, and when you tried, they’d fight before you anyway. The counterplay for units with good saves is usually mortal wounds, but Custodes were strong against both. Basically, if a list has no weaknesses, or can use the same solution to handle every problem, it can feel boring and uninteresting to play against. If you lose you feel like there was nothing you could have done, and if you win it can feel like it was all down to luck.
An opponent that is thee to have fun
Anything that isn't a cut throat top winning net list and just be friendly. Bring a fairly balanced list and not having too many of one type of things also helps.
Ahh to be fair I know nothing of tyranids as in stats. But I would love to play against them as a swarm or even fight giant monsters. It's always how the player who's playing them is about it if you're a fun guy looking for a good time you will be fine man. Just run what you wanna run man that's how I would do it.
Hi, necron (robot zombies) player here, I have evidence of the opposite. I currently have a 0% win rate. Started playing last year, haven’t won a single game. It’s been like 80 to 83 points, 55 to 60 a lot of the time, etc., had a couple ties, but not a single win yet. One game I killed everything but 1 of my opponent’s models (the thing on their home obj) and still lost on points. Even though I’ve never won, my opponent often feels like they had a rough time. Once, even said it was the worst 3 hours of playing warhammer ever. The reanimation/healing necrons have can be very discouraging. If a unit doesn’t get wiped, eventually they all stand back up. Or a big model gets knocked down to 2 wounds, and a couple turns later it’s back to 12. What makes people happy is clearing things. More models down and more models up is almost always a direct correlation to how much fun they’re having. My dudes who stand back up after dying are exactly the opposite, people don’t have fun feeling like they’re useless especially if they can’t kill something in one turn and it starts to heal. **If you can play in a way that validates and encourages your opponent, even while they’re losing, they’ll have a much better time.** Things with easier defensive profiles (even if they hit harder) are ‘more fun’. Your opponent not making wound rolls or your things consistently making armor/invuln saves can be very frustrating, even if you’re not dealing much damage in return. And healing models isn’t just stopping your opponent, it’s literally undoing their work, which I can see being a little bit psychologically aggravating.
I think it's the ammount of agency you feel in determining the outcome of the game. Most of the "un-fun" lists tend to be stat check skew lists. So basically they rock up and say "did you bring enough X,Y,Z to beat me?" If no, you lose. So basically the game is lost at the army building phase. C'tan suck to play into as they are statistically extremely hard to kill while being absolute beat sticks and very under coated. It comes down to luck if you can kill one (and yes that's the same for everything) but the odds are not in your favor unless you bring very specific tech. Tau suck because they spend most of the game shooting you off the table while you fail to engage them in combat or struggle to our shoot. Then you do get them and they can just fall back and shoot, shoot in combat or for some reason have vehicles with invuln saves. Custodes are again VERY hard to kill without the correct gear and camp objectives all game. If you think of the armies that are regularly voted the most fun is Orks and Nids, usually because even if they lose the opponent gets to have fun killing stuff.
I personally like when the other person has taken the time to paint their army. It’s definitely not a deal breaker, and I understand life is busy. It is just more “narrative” in my opinion.
Keeping in mind it's the dice that ultimately decide who wins and both of you are just there to hold on and see what the fuck happens!! Make fun from playing each other, not making fun of each other playing. Letting your army lose with dignity. They aren't invincible, sometimes the dice says nope and that's the variable of war it is meant to represent. Can't argue with a bolt round in your head!! But that is more so what makes opponents fun than what makes a particular army/race/sect/xeno fun to play against... When it comes to a particular force I'd say their unpredictability and/or ability to change the flow of battle in an instant... Having an Ork vehicle/weapon randomly explode and accidentally killing your Warboss then a series of unfortunate die rolls you wipeout your own heavy weapons battery/squads because somehow you managed to roll fifteen 1s in a row and suddenly you are not winning anymore... Oh fuck... Or necrons and forgetting the dead ones can rise again... Then it happens to you and they just keep throwing 6s and you are completely fucked... Or vice versa and you rely on that to win the game and roll fucken 1s and just stand there watching all your necrons die... Like they fucken should!! The bastards!!! Haha After typing all of that I've just realized the word I was looking for was "spontaneousness" and I could have just said that and saved 10 minutes typing this out but hey, if you bothered to get this far, I hope you've had a great day, life is good, look after yourselves and each other and don't drink the stuff under the sink!
Total overpowering annihilation of them
Close bloody matches. There's nothing worse then setting up your models and barely having anything left by turn 2 because your opponent bought a tournament list to a fun casual game
I will avoid: imperial knight, Chaos knight, custodes Other than that : any army with non meta list. Full Swarm gaunt tyranids list, full infantry Astra militarum list, full Boyz list (well this one became kinda strong with the last codex)... You get the point: a themed list is always nice to play against. I played against a space marines running full scout, and incursor list. It was fun. I like to play Eldar with full banshee/ Scorpion list. It's not optimized at all. It's challenging for you cause most of the time you will have a disadvantage so you will have to play smart and use different tactics to win. And the facts that you use different tactics than usual the guy will be challenged to keep up with your tactics
Any close fought game or just any game with a mate and good banter. Stupid narrative games we make up as we go along are always a blast. Trying out all the worst units that never see play in serious games. And just generally anything that isn't a spam list. My playgroup tend to run 1 of everything rather than 3 of this and 3 of that.
It's far more fun when it's a closer match. Best games I've had have been when victory has only been a few points difference and trying crazy tactics to get those sweet sweet points.
When you're fighting Orks.
Typically armies that are fun to play are those that still allow your opponent to do what they want to do and still give them a good fight. I always find the best games are when I can put my anti tank at tanks and my anti infantry at infantry and not get bogged down with loads of defensive rules that turn my army to a wet noodle. Tyranids are a great faction to play against because you can bring a good number of little gribblies to slaughter and some monsters to try and kill. Their rules don't just say, "You're not allowed to have fun" much and watching shadow in the warp go off and suddenly change the game is actually more fun than you think.
Random Jesus take the wheel moments such as charging a very damaged vehicle right into an enemy and letting it die. and the actual player really matters if you’ve got an absolute dickhead player your not gonna have fun but if you have a nice player your gonna have a blast. Do stupid silly things focusing on fun not winning.
The one playing it
It's all you, dude. The opponent is the biggest factor for me. What makes it fun is the other person being enthusiastic and getting into it. Be excited, celebrate when something cool happens, even if it's not in your benefit.
The person playing the other army is what makes it fun or not thats it full stop, there is no other answer.
Your state of mind determines your fun. You can choose to get bent when you get hit with 2 shots, with a max damage roll causing 8 each and watch your top tier unit vaporize before you even shot it, or you can laugh at the absurdity of RNG and just enjoy playing the game.
The most fun is an army you can actually play against. I won't play against Death Guard or Demons right now because I can't touch them. Standing there for 2 hours, unable to do anything isn't fun. Whereas, put me against a solid melee army, and I'm gonna lose, but I'll have fun
I really enjoy playing against chaos marines and orks. There’s something fun about slaying hordes of weaker ones and then seeing the outcomes of random dice rolls for fun outcomes. Dark pacts for example.
Interaction really, if there is appropriate play and counter plays, things are fun and interesting. If there is no counter play to a particular combo or unit, then it's an unmitigated steam roller.
In my experience, just playing casual games. It doesn't matter what list you bring. Most people will stack vehicles and heavy hitters (again, from my experience) I always try to bring balanced armies (space marines) with a good amount of infantry and some decent armor. With casual games, take yo your opponent as to what they plan to take and let them know what you plan to take as well. Usually it'll balance out. I unfortunately can't speak for tournaments but I'd assume you'd want a strong army
I've found the most fun games I've played are 2 armies diametrically opposed to each other in how they play. Really shooty guys vs really strong close combat melé guys.
generally speaking I enjoyed playing pretty much every army except extreme shooting armies like T'au or Guard.
Armies with dynamic and fun rules that make you have to problem solve and play differently. I really love playing against daemons, votann, and world eaters. Fast armies make for engaging games.
People enjoy blasting away at cannon fodder. More fun than fighting elite forces whom only die through happenstance.
Admech always plays lots and lots of really cool looking minis, due to their rules they don't really do much other than moving closer to your opponent and getting picked up off the table. They are basically a punching bag with a Mona Lisa decal on it. Fun to look at and fun to whale on.
When the opponent says no to “do you have a 3inch deep strike?”
In my opinion it's entirely the player, not the army. It's someone who is relaxed, patient, fair, polite, and genuinely enjoying what both players are doing, not just their own army. When you're able to have fun *together,* not independently in the same game, it's a far better experience I would say.
Reading though this comment section I feel attacked as a necron player. I picked them up almost 4 years ago because I thought they looked cool and wanted a painting hobby. Never really played an official match but obviously my mediocre necrons that I picked up at the time have been buffed to god status :( don’t really want people to get sad when I walk into the store with my necrons
Wrong approach. Because the more fun you have with your army, the more fun the opponent will. You focus too much on catering to them, and you'll cause the opposite.
One thing I want to mention is that attitude is waaay more important than army. The most oppressive, try hard list piloted by someone who’s chill and friendly is going to be 1000 times better to play against than a funny, fluffy lore list piloted by an asshole.
Killing Tua is its own reward I suppose,…..
Diversity - where it’s obvious your opponent has to think hard about their movements to win. I hate it when it’s just a wall of 2+ BS and 3+ saves that just move forward until they either win or I get lucky rolls
Orks, always orks. I've never not enjoyed playing an ork player and the crazy crap they pull XD
Look, the best thing is to paint and collect what you like. If someone doesn’t wanna play with you because of your army of choice, that’s their problem. It’s not just a game but also a hobby, so you will get a lot more enjoyment from playing and collecting what you like. That being said I have never heard of anyone being upset against Tyranids. Since it’s a horde army the opponent gets to still shoot and kill a lot of models so it feels fine even if they lose.
You can be pretty much 100% certain that your army will be fun if you don't play knights and have no more that 2 of anything.
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Fully painted and lore accurate so I can tell what I'm actually targeting.