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In a nutshell- Spehzz Marinez!!1!
But IG could be good, they have tanks and infantry, so noobs can have a go at painting both aspects.

Space Marines, of course!
No, really, they're really easy to pick up.

Guard's a pain to be your first army, very unforgiving if you screw up. I started 40k as them, my first games were awful. Then I got more chimeras

I would actually have to say Necrons. They might not be as easy to play as vanilla marines, but as far as modelling and painting go, they are a breeze.

I prolly should say i brought up IG cuz i bileive in starting whith the army you like rather than the easyest one that said i ditched them as a first choise in favor of Tau to avoid modelling & painting so many models straight up... Still feel i should'a went with the guys i like most and so should anyone else, letting others tell you what to do may get you stuck with an army that dosent suit you'r personal prefference of playstile.

I volted for CSM. Thier rules are more straightforward than SM's. CSM players don't have the added flexibility of combat tactics, combat squads and ATSKNF which add to the rules. I feel SM are more tactically challenging to play at a high level than CSM also. Most enemy lists are geared with marines in mind to begin with.

Tim the Biovore wrote:I would actually have to say Necrons. They might not be as easy to play as vanilla marines, but as far as modelling and painting go, they are a breeze.

Phase-out and terrible CC ability is why i decided against choosing Necrons to answer the poll.

out of total and utter bias i have to say tyranids

Seriously however with the massive amount of generic gaunts available there a good army to develop painting skills on. Same could be said for other horde armies (orks, IG).

I started with Tyranids simply because:

I like the way they look...
A new codex was coming up just when I decided to get into 40K...
An army for sale was easy to find locally...

Would I recommend it to others as a starter army? Not necessarily, but I don't rule it out. If I had simply wanted to learn the game and had no preference about the models or "flavor" of the army, I'd probably have chosen Space Marines. I'm certain you'll get a better feel for the rules overall with SM though.

But if a particular army interests you and you don't mind learning how to play them (and don't mind losing as you learn), go with that one.

I have played against one dark eldar player and that army seems like a pain not only to paint but also to play with. However if you are interested in putting in some time for hobbying and painting, a dark eldar army I think would be fun. Tactically on the battlefield though seems horrible that's why I voted the Dark eldar as being the worst army for a beginner. The best I think would be any type of space marines or chaos space marines, because they are versatile and not very numerous like IG or Tyranids.

ceorron wrote:Necron, and I see they are getting a good proportion of the votes. Simply because they are the easiest to paint. You don't need too many to have an army that works. Only a few easy-ish to understand special rules (with exception of the monilith).

This...

I couldnt have said it any better myself...these are the EXACT reasons I started as necrons...and why i feel they are the best beginner army out there!

Marines of any varient (BA, SW, BT, DA, SM). Forgiving, easy to paint, they all have good models, and are tough all around. And you can write as much fluff as you want, cuse hey, SUCCESSOR CHAPTERS FTW!

I started with dark eldar, but I won hardly any battles for years!

I chose Orks. The worse you build or paint them, the better they look. It is very difficult to create a bad list and strategies are very strait forward. Plus, they are very effective against most any one. And, with the Assault on Black Reach set so readily available, Orks are cheap to get started.

I voted Space Marines. They're no more forgiving per say, but they show every aspect that 40k has to offer. You can play a shooty SM army, or a more up close and personal army, or even hybrid.

EDIT: Also, new players won't be overwhelmed with the vast amount of models they have to paint. That's still killing me after years of this game.

One that you like the best in the GW Starter Packs

multiple choice poll needed

Any of the armies in the list that have been updated the last Year or so works fine.

The perfect example of a starter army is, as much as i hate to say it: Vanilla marines.

All you need are the codex and some models, then after the player has gotten a grasp on the basics and settled into a favored playstyle he/she can paint the models into a variant chapter like space wolves or blood angels without spending too much.
Tactically flexible, no inherent flaws, and guaranteed to always be updated regularly.


The other dark meat is the orks, that is, if you want to roleplay a chav, or just aren't into the whole "grimdark" of the 40k universe.
Line is updated with disproportionate regularity.




Slightly older codices that work with a few caveats:

Tau is doable in points over 1500, as long as the player is aware of that he'll be fine. loads of gear and options are useless.

Eldar is definitely workable, with it's very modular synergy it's easy to learn, but initially hard to win with.

chaos.. now hear me out, it's great and all, but it's aging very badly, starting out with a barebones codex when every new codex get insane amount of toys and special rules for a better price than your barebone units probably feels like getting a broken nose on the first day of boxing practice..


bad examples:

Necrons, no.
easilly painted, maybe, actually being fun to play, nope, gives a very shallow impression of the game.
player retention is very low after they understand that they are gimped to hell and back for taking the "newb-friendly" army.

Dark eldar..
being shoved into the "must use one of two list variants to function" mentality from the get go isn't a positive experience.

witch/daemonhunters , anyone completely new to the game should be steered clear from both for his own sake, later if he *really* loves 40k and the thought of 200 lbs of minis equalling the cost of a car doesn't bother the player, then that player can make an informed decision.


A few thoughts anyway.

Space Marines are the way to go. Lots of options, good leadership and ATSKNF, fantastic models, and great rules. When I got my 3rd Edition box set I was hooked on the Marines. Nothing against the Dark Eldar, but they were too annoying to glue together (compared to the marines that is).

Caboose wrote:Ya know, for the amount of complaining that everyone does about GW's support for SM's, there seems to be a general consensus that it works well for beginners. So, of course they are going to focus on support for them, if its universally considered to be a good starter army, they can rope in more new people if its constantly the most up to date and balanced force that is easiest to use. Just saying.

Required ease of use =/= Required over-updating.

Voted SM, they may be a little bit more diverse than csm but they are a whole lot easier to paint , they are focused on alot by gw and kept simple to make it possibly for anyone to grasp and play

It really depends on what the player prefers. But if I had to pick one it would be generic SM; easy to use, collect and paint.

orks; you just rush forward with your army and charge, you need a lot less strategy to play them, therefore they are really nice for beginners, especially if you have never played any wargaming games before.

And guard just stay there and shoot. Which dosen't change the fact that both need you to assemble and paint looots of models.

yea but guard wants to stay out of cc, so you have to think about running away from the enemy when they get too close, while orks onlyshoot if they have shoota's or when they are loota's

Uhm a commissar in a 20 man squad means i dont run from anything that dosen't outnumber me, tarpiting strong CC units is no big deal, hell i've beaten 3 termies in CC in just 3 turns, that was 3 turns where he tried to kill a unit without having the attacks to do it fast and eventually was draged down, and yes the rest of the termie squad was shot down before that.

well in the end it will be just what you prefer that makes it better for you: raging "things" that slaughter everything in their path just for the fun of it, or organised humans with numerous strong tanks. (and even a aircraft from the size of an apocalypse model )

It's got to be vanilla marines. They are forgiving and there is no mass of rules to learn and you can paint them any colour you want

Who in their right mind would say Eldar!?!?!
And Nids? Most new players I know cant pin...

a lot of players will just say the army they find the easiest, but this is most of the time an army you play a lot, for example: if you play da for 5 years or so you can think they are easy, but they are not easy for new players

Marines, either CSM or SPESS MUHREENS HURR!!

Yeah, pretty much SM or CSM.
they have a solid range and both codex's can teach a new player almost all aspects of the game.