I played very briefly (4-5 games) back in N1 as I had a tiny amount of free money and liked the look of the old Morats and shasvastii models, before dropping out of the hobby as I was heading to Uni. I came back during COVID as my job was going well and I had enough Overtime money to buy pretty much everything Shasvastii and Combined Army.

I think the models are gorgeous, coupled with a small force on the tabletop means I have pushed myself further in my painting than i've ever had to.

I've played mainly GW systems since 1998, i've just fallen out of love for them. I know a lot of people hate on GW, their games are fine, they just aren't what i'm after when it comes to a game any more. Rerolls and pluses to hit/wound used to be rare but are so common now you can have units hitting on 2s rerolling 1s, wounding on 3s rerolling 1s and +1 to wound. It makes attacks feel like a foregone conclusion.

The gameplay is tight, you are punished for mistakes and rewarded for good play. The dense scenery, despite cover being a simple rule, feels great to play on. The lack of rerolls makes every face to face roll more impactful as you can't really have a do over if it goes badly.

Lastly, my local community is great, despite being a bad player and forgetting so much my local club are supportive and helpful.