Im presently collecting high elves and my HE army is fairly well rounded and I like the ability to be able to deal with anything my opponent throws at me, so i was wondering wht 40k army would best suite me since the next army i will be collecting is a 40k army.

Can you give us a few hints?

What have you already looked at in 40k, what have you considered trying?

The armies Im more interested in are the Orks, Dark eldar and Imperial Guard.

I'll list those 3 armies in order of how easy they are to play:

1. Imperial Guard- just take lots of infantry (and a few tanks for good measure), sit back and shoot. Simple, easy, and endlessly fun.

2. Orks- their tactics are simple as well -- run forwards and bash the enemy's head in! Preferably, you should have plenty of Grot screens or a Medboy with a force field generator to make sure you don't lose too many Boyz.

3. Dark Eldar- Dark Eldar are probably one of the most challenging armies in 40k (I speak from experience as a DE player myself). They are frail and uncompromising -- you need to use them correctly, or youll just die in droves. The upside is that they are the fastest army in the 40k galaxy and are far more skilled than their Craftworld cousins (each DE has WS 4 and BS4, not to mention a nasty array of ranged and close combat weaponry).

I would advise going for a different army before you go for DE, as while you might adjust to DE over time, they take a lot of getting used to. Instead, I'd probably go for IG first -- their infantry is about as frail as that of IG, and you at least have the benefit of very good firepower.

I, in the main, agree with Lord Nonsense!

If you like the reliability and variety of High Elves, I suggest you steer away from Orks. I have played plenty of Orks, and although they are a lot of fun, they are a little shallow in their options.

The Imperial Guard are a good army because you will get a good idea of many of the rules without having to be a master of them all. The shooting phase is where most of their work is at.

Avoid the Dark Eldar as your first army as they are unforgiving to use. Their fragile vehicles and troops just dont give you a second chance. Again I have them and they either win big or lose big - and thats when you know what you are doing... I suggest you keep them for your second army if you want to be competitive, unless you just cant resist the fluff. Of course, fluff and model coolness should influence you as well!

Variety wise and tactics options, I believe the Dark Eldar will give you the greatest range of options. You want hand-to-hand mastery, they have it. You want sheer firepower, they have it. You want to be nasty, evil, and just kill things, they can do it. You want tactically challenging? Then they have that too.

So what army do I have the most success with? Other than my Dark Angel Space Marines (of course) - is Orks.

I suggest Imp Guard. Though their main focus is shooting, their command squads can be used for a nasty counterattack. I had one kill my Khorne Lord, which is by no means a small feat.
They also have the option of being integrated into a Grey Knights force as inducted troops. This opens up the options of having the close combat power of Grey Knight marines.

DE are laughable in the hands of someone new to the game, but Orks and IG can usually hold their own. You'll still probably lose the first couple of games, but you won't be laughed out of the game club.

just remember three things when deciding which army:

do you like the look of the models? do you like the tactics which they tend to normally follow, and do you also like the fluff of them (their background and how they came to be etc)

so if all those 3 are suited then go for it, btw batlle forces are probally the best idea for a new army as you tend to get extras which you can use in other things ^_^

good luck, ooh yeah do not collect marines, well your choice but please dont collect them :lol:

out of those 3 armies go for dark eldar, they may be difficult to play with to begin with but after some experiance there are almost unbeatable, not including that they are the fastest army in 40k...