Dear Community, What army should I play in 2018?

Hey everyone, BC here.

Man it's been a long time since I did a blog post. I should do this more (ed. note: we all should); if anything it keeps me accountable to the hobby.

So as 2018 draws near, I want to be a better player (don't we all?). With my schedule and family and work commitments, my calendar is pretty tight for going to tourneys so I need to make the best bang for my buck. I will do that by playing one army this year and doing my best to get good with it. Too often I will play an army for a few games then get shiny model syndrome and switch armies.

This is where you come in faithful reader(s), I need your help picking my army for 2018. The list will change throughout the course of the year but I want to keep the faction the same throughout the year. So without further fanfare here are the choices in no particular order:

Death Guard
Pros: I played the Death Guard at The Renegade Open in November and guided them to a mid-table record of 4-2. I enjoyed playing everyone's favorite angel of death, Mortarion. The models are beautiful and there is a new Nurgle wave coming with the demon codex.

Cons: Unless you sprinkle in some CSM for Warp Time, Mortarion suffers from being a slowish gigantic target. Currently, Imperial Guard are a huge counter to Chaos lists with things like the relic of lost Cadia and a Shadowsword.

Tyranids
Pros: It feels like they are finally good. I have the most experience in 40k with Tyranids and I own the models to support just about any kind of list.

Cons: Are they really as good as we think they are? Am I stuck with the same cagey playstyle where I instead focus on "bad touching gunlines" versus the tired old "Trap Door Spider" playstyle?

Eldar
Pros: The Eldar codex really breathes some life in to some units that haven't seen life on the table in a while.

Cons: Will my inexperience playing Eldar competitively be too much of a hurdle to overcome? I have a Seer Council Eldar army painted in Ulthwe colors, I don't want to repaint all my Eldar so that means for better or worse, I'll be playing Ulthwe.

Blood Angels
Pros: My first love way back in second edition was the Blood Angels. The new book feels like they captured the fury of the Angels of Death.

Cons: It seems that it can be difficult to make drop focused armies work over the course of a 5-6 game tourney, they seem to fizzle out fast. At this point I am unwilling to purchase allied factions to support the most hardcore list (not adding IG unless I borrow them from someone for example)

Dark Horse- Tau
Pros- I own a decent start to a Tau army and if their codex were to be announced for early in 2018, I'd give them a hard look.

Cons- not looking to build an index army at this point, especially because I am not a veteran Tau player.

Now that we have our contenders, let's talk about my commitment: I plan on going to four RTTs this year and my usual one GT (Renegade Open). I don't have delusions of grandeur but I do want to achieve a few goals:

1. I don't want to be painting my army the night before an event, my god I am sick of that. I want to be able to enjoy the time socializing with other players, enjoying frosty beverages and such.
2. I want to place in the top 25% on painting score at the Renegade Open.
3. I don't expect to make top tables but I want to be a tough out if I run in to a top player in the early rounds by happenstance. I can only do that by truly knowing my army.

There you have it. 2018's goals are on the horizon, please comment and let me know your thoughts!

I will be posting updates to painting, battle reports, tactics learning and so forth throughout the year and leading up to the Renegade Open GT in November.