Most unrepresented army?

[Doghouse]

Quick reminder that its never cool to wish other peoples armies away...

Especially when you can bring the holy cleansing flaming wrath of the Emperor to them and teach them the error of their tainted ways on the tabletop instead!

 

He on holy Terra gave us blessed Exterminus for a reason!

[Fajita Fan]

Inquisition was shafted.

True that. I would have loved to finish an Inq army but they no longer have a list.

 

Also I started GSC because they’re so underrepresented! And I was getting the easy to build sprues on eBay cheap...

[chapter master 454]

Clearly marines, never get any support and no-one plays them ;)

 

But in seriousness, really it does become quite difficult as it requires us to classify who counts and who doesn't. I mean inquisition? Do they count? Not sure you can count their rather minimal unit selection viable for being considered. Forge World Factions I feel shouldn't be considered as they have a niche place within a niche market.

 

So if we go main-line, very likely to be Genestealer Cult due to their rather odd design choices not to mention confusing appearance. Are they melee? Are they shooting? what are they which can confuse and put people off and their models aren't exactly the prettiest thing this side of Bile's Laboratories. They have cute gimmicks but sadly I feel don't encapsulate the fantasy they are suppose to bring which is a rebellion from within, underdog gear winning via cunning. They don't benefit their guardsmen units, the concept of having the weapons being their special ability and their standard stuff just doesn't have the mustard let alone a knife to cut with (well they do but its gran-ma's silverware knife, not a catachan butter knife!).

Not to say they don't have teeth and can hit hard but really have to brute force it and not really bring the subtle art of war that their lore implies. I do feel they don't work as a faction within 40k as a whole, only working on a skirmish and combat patrol level but never anything big.

They just don't fit into the narrative of "big battles" as that isn't their thing.

 

However for things like Crusade they are certainly fun. They can have so much narrative built into that it would make playing them in such an environment much more pleasing.

 

However if we want to get some fist-cuffs flying, we ask which MARINE faction is least represented. I mean, Black Templars are feeling a little left out in the cold but the Space Wolves ain't happy about sharing bunks with the Ultramarines! Then we have Blood Angels and Dark Angels asking who had their special units done the dirtiest with the core ensemble of Salamanders, White Scars, Imperial Fists, Raven Guard and Iron Hands all just happy to be included.

[Fajita Fan]

There were tons of Templars players in 3rd and 4th ed but not so much anymore, mixed saves rule in 5th edition made that very hard to play.

[ThatOneMarshal]

If you're playing the Cult as Guard without toys, then you're missing out on a lot.

 

My understanding of Guard is that they're mostly about tanks and cheap bodies. The Cult can do that, but don't do it well. It's much more interesting to lean into acolytes, aberrants, bikers and all the tactical shenanigans that the Cult opens up.

 

(And Kraken genestealers if you feel like applying a tin-opener to someone's castle in turn one, but then we're into allies.)

 

I wonder if people aren't trying the Cult because they see them as a more limited version of either the Guard or the Hivemind.

I think a bigger reason is that the army is one of the most expensive to play ( lots of expensive infantry and vehicles that you need to spam the hell out of because they are so cheap in points. To get the most out of your army you need to be playing with cult ambush and just about half a million different stratagems so they end up being a difficult army to play.

 

Essentially imagine paying space marine prices for a guardsman amount of models that you then need to play as well as dark eldar.

[Indefragable]

These days I feel its hard to find Tyranid players. 'Tis a shame since they are such a great part of the setting. Sadly, I think it has to do with odd rules support over the past few years (other than the 2 days they were on top when their 8th ed Codex was relatively early in the release cycle), truly alien stats and profiles compared to the feel of other factions, and the fact that the way I think a lot of us would like them to play (BUGS BUGS BUGS) is both super expensive hobby wise and just not really that effective compared to many other tournament builds.

 

Before 9th came out I would have said that you couldn't find a Necron player with a metal detector....at least in my local area. In 7th ed there were quite a few 'Crons in my club but they dissipated like butter under a gauss flayer when 8th arrived. I actually dabbled in Necrons myself just to breathe some life into the scene....but they just did not handle anywhere near the way I wanted them too (hmmm....similar to Tyranids....). Obviously that is likely to change with 9th. 

 

Within the Power Armor Privilege category, I'd say it's Word Bearers and Salamanders (though my local scene actually has 2x Sal). My local scene has never seen a bonified actually-painted-yellow Imperial Fists army, but I don't count that because I know plenty of other places see plenty of those. 

[Rogue]

Not something I have to imagine. Well, in fairness, I do, because imagining dropping £25 a time on acolytes is as close as I usually get to it - almost all of mine are Ebay purchases, or were obtained via split boxes or starter sets. So I have far fewer than I'd like.

 

And yes, they are lovely models, but £25 for 40 points of infantry is just insane - I'd love to run 60 of them, but that's £300 for just 480 points. Imagine is right, sadly.

 

On the other hand, I think the Cults give an illusion of complexity, because we have a lot of options and (as you say) stratagems, but a lot of the stats are linked to particular units or tactics, so in any given game a lot of them aren't really in play at any point.

[Fajita Fan]

Cost is a huge factor with GSC and I don’t blame anyone for passing on such a quirky army. I still have another Ridgerunner to assemble, some bikes, another Chimera, lots of genestealers, and even more infantry. I got a bunch of these Deathwatch box sprues off eBay for cheap, chopped their autorifles down to shotguns, gave them 3D printed rocksaws, and had a Russ laying around.  I have a ton of bodies and I’ve never seen a cult this big at any of my stores. 
 

 

Also have Orks fallen out of favor?

Edited August 13, 2020 by Fajita Fan

[ThatOneMarshal]

Orks haven’t really been all that great for a couple of editions now (since like 5th) however for a bit of 8th since they’ve got their codex they definitely got a boost.

 

I think they’re still popular considering that a lot of newer players are exposed to them through the media and stuff (I.e memes and the video games) and partially by just how unique they are compared to everyone else’s Orks.

[Sugarlessllama]

In my area? Anything not SM.