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In short: I love the look of the Drukhari and, specifically, the Covens. Creepy weird flesh horror monster stuff? Sign me up.

But I hate the Finecast and assembling delicate figures all with little, brittle pointy bits.

So what are my options if I didn't want to go Space Marines (I'm admittedly a hipster contrarian)?

Votann? Some variety of Chaos? T'au gundams?

AdMech robots and battle servitors look awesome, but the rest look as fiddly as the Drukhari, so they are out.

I'm open to suggestions here!

Votann is probably your best bet as they are all plastic and mostly boxy.

Some other possibilities include:

Custodes - do have some pointy bits but durable though their best models are forgeworld resin.

Imperial Guard - tons of boxy tanks and new sculpts, some finecast but they can be avoided.

Knights - in general lack small thin pieces though Chaos has a little.

Deathguard - does have lots of pointy bits but rather solid built.

Orks - most models are solid, some of the bigger stuff have decorations you may not like and their range has some finecast still in it.

Tyranids. Most of the little bugs are a few big parts.

One-part metal IG.

Sure they may cost more than your car, but that wasn't the question was it?

Honestly, Orkz

Chunky contact points

Good amount of variation

mix and match older kits

who cares if there is a gap on a gun? ORKZ

Will_Power wrote:
In short: I love the look of the Drukhari and, specifically, the Covens. Creepy weird flesh horror monster stuff? Sign me up.

But I hate the Finecast and assembling delicate figures all with little, brittle pointy bits.

So what are my options if I didn't want to go Space Marines (I'm admittedly a hipster contrarian)?

Votann? Some variety of Chaos? T'au gundams?

AdMech robots and battle servitors look awesome, but the rest look as fiddly as the Drukhari, so they are out.

I'm open to suggestions here!

Normal Aeldari are less fiddly, especially when you go for the wraith structures.

 Leopold Helveine wrote:

Will_Power wrote:
In short: I love the look of the Drukhari and, specifically, the Covens. Creepy weird flesh horror monster stuff? Sign me up.

But I hate the Finecast and assembling delicate figures all with little, brittle pointy bits.

So what are my options if I didn't want to go Space Marines (I'm admittedly a hipster contrarian)?

Votann? Some variety of Chaos? T'au gundams?

AdMech robots and battle servitors look awesome, but the rest look as fiddly as the Drukhari, so they are out.

I'm open to suggestions here!

Normal Aeldari are less fiddly, especially when you go for the wraith structures.

Even the wraith stuff had fiddly bits. Tyranids are a lot easier then craftworlds.

 Nevelon wrote:

 Leopold Helveine wrote:

Will_Power wrote:
In short: I love the look of the Drukhari and, specifically, the Covens. Creepy weird flesh horror monster stuff? Sign me up.

But I hate the Finecast and assembling delicate figures all with little, brittle pointy bits.

So what are my options if I didn't want to go Space Marines (I'm admittedly a hipster contrarian)?

Votann? Some variety of Chaos? T'au gundams?

AdMech robots and battle servitors look awesome, but the rest look as fiddly as the Drukhari, so they are out.

I'm open to suggestions here!

Normal Aeldari are less fiddly, especially when you go for the wraith structures.

Even the wraith stuff had fiddly bits. Tyranids are a lot easier then craftworlds.

If I had to make a list from fiddly to fiddlyfree it probably would look like this:

100% fiddly:
Adeptus Mechanicus (expect to break pieces without even touching them)
Drukhari (expect to break pieces)
All Militarum(Cadian included)
Necrons (ribs.. ribs.. riiiibs)
Deathguard (too much accesoiries and holes in them imho)
Chaos space marines, and WE (10.000 decorative pieces just to say they are not space marines)

somewhat fiddly:
Thousand sons (Those helmets.. mostly.. well.. and the staffs)
Aeldari (aspect and Ynnari)
Tyranids (Eldar bioform, as in psykers and other tentaclous spawn)
Tau (not really, anyway.. most of it is minecraft blocks as far as I know)
Genestealer cults (claws, arms, arms with claws, claws with arms, claws with claws, arms with arms with claws)
Marines (only fiddly part are their guns though)

Fiddly is a myth:
ORKS (breaking pieces can only be done by using a sledgehammer instead of glue)
Tyranids (Ork bioform and everything that doesn't fly (trust me, don't attempt fiddling with gargoyles, also don't buy 20 gargoyles in one store visit like I did, also don't think gargoyles are cool before you've painted 40 wings)
Votann (most units consist of putting 100 armor plates together until it looks something like a squat who can survive in space but probably wont.. its like painting a rock.)
Aeldari (Wraithhost) (they are big, especially the Wraithknight.. obviously)

Just wanted to throw my hat into the "Custodes are stupid easy to assemble" ring. Most of their kits only have between 5-8 pieces. The hard part is painting them. So MANY little tiny gems and icons. But they are 2 times larger than normal models, so it's easier to see. But still I'd rather paint an entire 2k guard regiment than take another crack at Trajaan V.

And yes, I am TERRIBLE at minute brush control.

Probably the least fiddly to build army would be a tank based Astra Militarum force.
The Leman Russ is a simple kit to assemble & has multiple variations, each with thier own data sheet.

I have WAY too many armies, and started coming up with easy painting schemes for all my armies that didn't have preexisting models.

Ork models are durable, and for paint it was Golbin green skin, off-white color for teeth, Black for boots and gun, a tannish brown for their clothes (looks like a shammy), do a couple details, and then dunk it all in a pot of Army Painter Quick shade.

The new Berzerkers kit is very straight-forward.

Fiddly to build and fiddly to paint are two separate things to consider. I think Tyranids are a “moderate” to build, but “Easy” to paint.

Necrons might be another that have a big disconnect between the two. I don’t personally play them, but from all reports they are not the most fun to build, but take paint well.

Space Marines are probably easy/easy, but we knew that already. One of their appeals.


Interesting follow up to the OP’s question: Combining both assembly and painting, which is the easiest army to get from sprue to table-top painted battle-ready?

Probably Tyranids as long as its not the Eldar-Bioform (so anything without wings or tentacles) as Orks still have many of their big guns in front of them..
Tyranids are a lot like skinks (seraphon) to that regard, without the blowpipes.

I do still stand with that wraith constructs are probably equal unless you think spirit stones are difficult (I don't).
Even the Gun wielding wraith constructs do not block their bodies..
https://www.warhammer.com/en-CA/shop/Eldar-Wraithguard-2017
Rotate it.

Orks are easy to assemble and paint (especially their faces, being so big) but some units can be confusing because of weird moldinglines.. (some of their warmachines), Neither the Wraith constructs or non Eldar-Bioform Tyranids have that problem.

Something to say about painting Tyranids is that their tiny eh.. guils? can be annoying, and the more appendixes the more you'll get to paint of that.

 Nevelon wrote:
Fiddly to build and fiddly to paint are two separate things to consider. I think Tyranids are a “moderate” to build, but “Easy” to paint.

Necrons might be another that have a big disconnect between the two. I don’t personally play them, but from all reports they are not the most fun to build, but take paint well.

Space Marines are probably easy/easy, but we knew that already. One of their appeals.


Interesting follow up to the OP’s question: Combining both assembly and painting, which is the easiest army to get from sprue to table-top painted battle-ready?

Meh, I'd mark SM harder to paint than Nids - especially post Contrast Paint. Significantly enough so that I'd say SM are moderate not easy.

Wraithstones also have their own dedicated paints/system.

Breton wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
Fiddly to build and fiddly to paint are two separate things to consider. I think Tyranids are a “moderate” to build, but “Easy” to paint.

Necrons might be another that have a big disconnect between the two. I don’t personally play them, but from all reports they are not the most fun to build, but take paint well.

Space Marines are probably easy/easy, but we knew that already. One of their appeals.


Interesting follow up to the OP’s question: Combining both assembly and painting, which is the easiest army to get from sprue to table-top painted battle-ready?

Meh, I'd mark SM harder to paint than Nids - especially post Contrast Paint. Significantly enough so that I'd say SM are moderate not easy.

Wraithstones also have their own dedicated paints/system.

No arguments on the nids. Contrast nids basically paint themselves.

Where to draw the line between easy/moderate/hard probably requires a look at the whole game. Marines can be harder if you want. But if you give everyone a helmet, and leave the extra grenades and purity seals on a sprue, they are pretty simple.

 Nevelon wrote:


No arguments on the nids. Contrast nids basically paint themselves.

Where to draw the line between easy/moderate/hard probably requires a look at the whole game. Marines can be harder if you want. But if you give everyone a helmet, and leave the extra grenades and purity seals on a sprue, they are pretty simple.

You've got most of what I was referring to but its more than the "optional" grenade and seal bits. You've got rivets, holsters, backpack vents, belt pouches, and "flash" like keys, bolter shells, cloak pins, and other yadda yadda. It may and usually does not add more colors, but you end up with more/smaller diffusions of color than toes and claws that are packed together. When I think of "fiddly" painting I'm thinking of having to turn the model round and round to get all the bits in that color.

No wonder model building wasn't a joy for me, my armies are:
Dark Eldar (you will bleed for every model glued together)
Imperial Guard (I always screw up the Leman Russ tracks somehow.)
6xDark Angels Landspeeders (that kit could've been done by forgeworld it's so misshapen)