Smaller armies are great. The main gripe I have is the jump from 1500-1750 to 2000. Larger bases sizes, smaller tables, shitty missions and terrain layouts. The game also breaks down at the 1k level. 40k is in a weird place but it's all about your attitude and your friend group that you play with. I had my first 10 games of 10th at 1500 points while learning the rules and we did a highlander style "take one of each unit" for our army construction. I did lose most of my games.