by Amanda Farough

Created on: February 22, 2009

Welcome to the world of Warhammer 40,000 (40K), General; you've got some serious choices to make. The biggest choice is which army is going to suit your purposes as a new General. Listed are the various army choices that are available to you as of 5th Edition of Warhammer 40K. As you can see, there are twelve (12) armies to choose from and all have their strengths and weaknesses.

Keep in mind the lore, or "fluff", of the army that you're choosing. It's often a great way to learn your army's place in the universe and how you can use them to the advantage of your future opponents. That, and well, GW tells a great story. For more on their lore, check out the Black Library through Games Workshop.

And now, onto the army list.

1) Space Marines: this is the most commonly played army in the history of the game. You may ask, "Why is that?" The first (and best) reason is that they have, by far, the simplest rules out of all of the other available armies. Their codex (individual rule book) is organized concisely, the rules are well explained, and they have a wide range of choices for army composition. Space Marines, or Astartes, are the cloned genus of their respective Primarchs. These Primarchs are the sons of the Emperor. The Emperor is the lord and leader of all of mankind. The Space Marines chapters (factions) are highly detailed in their paint schemes and there's always the chance to further customize and create your own chapter outside the realms of the determined Primarch armies.

BEST FEATURES: easy to get started, great codex, clear rules
WORST FEATURES: everyone and their uncle's dog has a Space Marines army

2) Chaos Space Marines: these are the Warp tainted brethren of the Space Marines. Their fall from grace occurred during the time of the Horus Heresy, where Horus - the Emperor's most beloved son and Primarch - was convinced of his father's attempt to gain status of Godhood. He turned brothers against brothers in the bloodiest battle of Astartes history. The rules for Chaos Space Marines are a bit more complicated but are far more colourful than their enlightened brothers. There are four marks to choose from: Slaneesh (the God of Pleasure), Nurgle (the God of Pestilence), Tzeench (the God of Change), and Khorne (the God of Blood).

BEST FEATURES: beautiful models, interesting rules, each different God provides different powers to its soldiers
WORST FEATURES: complex army composition

3) Eldar: every game set in some sort of fantasy realm needs something resembling elves,

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