The agony of choice

This is a short summary of 5 points one should think about when thinking about starting a new army.

I think everybody out there in the hobby world knows one the following situations:
One is currently working on an army and suddently feels like starting a new one, even though the old one is not finished yet. Or he is finishing his army and is planing to start a new one after this. I think we all agree that the second situation is the more clever one but unfortunetely the first one is often the case.
But anyway both of these situations lead to the same phanomenon:
'The agony of choice'

Apart from the lucky ones that do have already chosen an army one has to pick an army to start and has to consinder different factors, lets take a look at some:

1. personal taste. I put this at the first point because in my opionion this is the most important or the only REAL reason. One should of course just start an army one likes, because you will not perseve the process of building up an army if you do not like it. Conversions, color schemes, painting and even the army composition just work if you like that army
   
2. price. Yes, one might say this is not a point to look at when thinking about a new army but I think one should think about it, since some armies are more expensive then others. Whether it is because the army has a lot of metal models in it or the army one likes to play contains a lot of models. For example take space orks. If one wants to play a mass army one has to buy a lot of boyz (approx. 60 - 80 at 1500pts) and since there are only 10 models in a box for 20 Euros (12 Pound Sterling) it will cost you at least 120 - 160 Euros (72 - 96 Pounds) just for Ork Boyz! And now you need some Lootas which cost 19.50 Euros (13.50 Pounds) per box containing 5 modells, meaning that if you want to use e.g. 25 Lootas it costs you additional 97.5 Euros (67.5 Pounds), and so on. Or take a look at the Necrons, they are also a very expensive army even though you will not need so many models! So if you are a student or not willing to pay much money for that hobby you will have to think about this point too. But honestly this is a very expensive hobby so one has to face the truth :)
   My p.o.v.: As said, this is an expensive hobby and if you like an army money should not play the primary role, you don't need to buy everything at once!
   
3. model range and number of models. This point can also be explained by the same two examples from point #2: Playing an army whith a lot of models or one with not so much models! Again take the Orks, if your planing to play a mass army you have to keep in mind that all these models have to be assembled and painted! So if you are a slow painter or even don't like to paint (shame on you!) this should be in the back of your head! If you do not like to paint tanks or vehicles, a Imperial Guard army could be a real pain in the ass for you. If you want to have an army that contains only a few models the Necrons are an alternative because there are very limited in their choices. Or to give an example from WHFB, if you do not like to paint a lot of core choices you should consider an ogre army instead of a night goblin army.. But on the other hand, I know a lot of people (including me) that started an army just because they liked one single model! So this is a very ambivalent topic.
   My p.o.v.: This point is very crucial. I think if one does not like to paint, this hobby is not the right for him but it is very disappointing to have 200 models painted for just 150 of 1500 points when you want to finish the army to play it. This point is more about staying motivated and as we all know this is a big topic itself. But if you like the models of a specific army this is definitely a reason to start it.
   
   
4. the way I want to play it. Starting a new army is also depending whether the army can be played/used as one wants to use them. If you have a certain theme for that army in mind but the rules just do not allow you to play it that way, it is really sad. this is closely related to
   
5. is the army 'playable'. This is a point one has to think about when one thinks of playing the army instead of just collecting it or just painting it. And especially if one wants to play it on tournaments. I don't like these tournaments armies but since playing is an essential part of the hobby this point can be crucial. Some armies use a very old codex or rule book, e.g. dark eldar, necrons, tau, inquisition, tomb kings, Bretonians,... and some of them can not be played (at least not in any good sense) with the recent version of the game. Whether it is because their units are to point heavy, some special rules do not make any sense anymore or they are just not competitive any more. So one has to think maybe about wainting for a new codex / rule book - these poor dark eldar guys - or just start and hope for an early salvation. By the way here is a connection to point #3 model range, some armies just dont have all the models out there you may want to use in your army so you have to do them yourselves.
   My p.o.v.: I think if you really like to start a specific army you should not bother about this point to much but yes it is very sad that some armies can not be played very well, especially if they are very established in the history of the game or in the community, see Dark Eldar and Bretonians.
    

So ok these are 5 points that just came to my mind, of course there are many more and you are free to comment them to us. I think these 5 cover the main criteria. At this point I may want to apply these rather theoretical and generic thoughts to my personal situation:

I thought of starting a new side-project, and some months ago I thought of starting necrons and in the last weeks I was thinking of doing a Ork army instead. I love painting, converting and playing but I do not play tournaments and I love fluff! But I am also a very slow painter and I don't like mass armies, that's why I think I am not going to start the ork army, so lets apply the 5 points to orks: [1.] I like them yes, of course not as much as my Space Marines but this army is very funny! [2.] as I already said they are very pricey especially because I would like to field an army which would have to contain a lot of models [3.] models are great and they  have a lot of plastic out there very nice but as said I would have to field a mass army and I think it will take me to much time and I could loose the fun to paint very fast knowing this! [4.] see 3. and [5.] yes,.. I mentioned I do not want to participate at tournaments but I read a lot of people saying that orks have many little problems that make playing them very hard and not much competitive...

I could do the same for Necrons now, but I think this post is already long enought, so here briefly: Necrons have very nice models and are limited in their choices which is no problem for me. Their rules definitely need to be updated but they can be fielded anyway!

This is why I would at the moment prefer to start necrons, if yes if I would start a new army :) But as we all know, starting a new army often takes a lot of time just thinking about it, and so I will continue doing this while painting my Space Marines!

So, if you have any comments on this rather generic post on this very complex topic, feel free to leave them here!