Which army should a brand new player choose?

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**Pythagoras**

Singleton wrote:
I'd agree orks are the most forgiving, but I'm not a fan of their models, their fluff, or their crunch so I'm going to stay away from them. Like I said, I'll most likely be playing Necrons or Tau.

Heavily leaning towards Tau though. I really like their battlesuits and the combat armor of their infantry.

I'll agree the Tau line of models are pretty nice and fairly sleek. Pretty elite in the fact they often have small model counts, and are all around a solid army. I don't think you'll find too many issues playing them. Their stigma isn't justified. They, like Eldar (and sadly, now Crons) are a sad synonym for 'that guy' types of players. But the two Tau guys in my group are actually really solid dudes, and don't play cheese (Then again, no one in my group does. So, I'm very blessed in that regard).

I'm not planning on cheeseing my way to victory. I actually wanted to try something different from what most Tau players do. Instead of focusing on the bigger battlesuits, I was planning on running a bunch of Fire Warriors and Stealth Suits as the core of my army, as opposed to the popular broadside and crisis teams in combination with a Riptide. I'll also have to bring a sizeable force of pathfinders since they're what makes Tau good at shooting.

All in all though, I think I'll be able to deal with the stigma attached to Tau players, as their models are just gorgeous and I think they're playstyle suits me well. Tau it is!

I'm planning on buying a box of Pathfinders first to get my painting and assembly down pat, and then order the Battleforce for Tau as it seems like a great deal, saving me 37.50 dollars compared to if I were to just buy everything seperately. I'm not sure how many points that comes out to in all, but adding in an HQ choice and another squad of Fire Warriors and Pathfinders should be a pretty sizeable force while not being unreasonably expensive.

I don't mind losing so long as I have a good time and have fun assembling and painting models I enjoy. Plus, by playing something different and not bringing the cheese, I can try and avoide the stigma attached to Tau and be good guy greg or whatever.

Tau are fine and will work well for a new player. Playing the soldier angle will also work well against most armies however the foot soldier of Tau lack some heavy weapons. They can handle troops, but you will need some, at least, of the heavier long range weapons. It doesn't have to be a Riptide. I personally don't care for them, although I do like Broadsides or Hammerheads. Of course, this is coming from someone who/s army uses a Farsight Enclave Crisis suit list. Either way, enjoy!

**Roknar**

Pathfinders get some half decent firepower.

**Singleton**

I'll be alright with fielding a few suits and a hammerhead or two. I just feel Infantry should be the bulk of any fighting force, while Combat (crisis/broadside) Suits should be supporting the infantry and Stealth Suits are the heavily armored (in comparison to Fire Warriors) shock troopers with extra mobility.

**Dalymiddleboro**

Models are expensive man.

Grab the citadel primer. It has awesome coverage and doesn't glob detail. It's also STRIPABLE, krylon... Not so much

**eosgreen**

Singleton wrote:
Nevelon wrote:
Once you prime, it doesn’t really matter what material you are painting. Cleanup is a little more difficult, but not a whole lot. I use the same tools (hobby knife, needle files) on plastic, metal, and resin. I use Krazy glue from the super market, you don’t need to use the glue GW sells (which is overpriced and has a bad reputation) Plastic is easier to assemble, and much easier to kitbash/modify.

When picking an army, make sure you choose one you like the aesthetics, fluff, and game play of. You are going to invest a lot of time and money into them, so make sure it’s something you like.

Of your selections, with your criteria, I think skitarri might be the closest pick. Although some DE builds might qualify. While I think SoB can do footslogging, they really benefit from meching up, and it sounds like that is something you want to avoid.

I love the aesthetics of the Dark Eldar, Nuns with Guns, and Skitarii, but all for different reasons. Since Eldar are considered the 'artist' faction for highly talented painters to express their fanciness, I'd assume Dark Eldar are pretty similar in scope so I'd most likely suck at painting them.

The SoB aesthetic is awesome honestly, but they're very pricey and they don't do as well in an infantry focused setup.

Skitarii are great aesthetically, but again, they're so detailed that they look intimidating to paint well. Plus, I can only imagine Skitarii are a nightmare to assemble.

since when was eldar for fancy painters? I can KILLLLLLLL some insane looking blending on space marine armor and some great style with armor damage or NMM armor. go look at some golden daemon winners and see how many marines make it to the top (a lot of orcs do too btw) the ability to freehand open areas or do intense highly saturated blends/light and of course glowing eyes and lighting effects makes space marines a GREAT choice for painting to a super standard. I've actually only ever seen ONE dark eldar unit at GD and it was a diorama of scourges that was frankly incredible. eldar are not the pretty army though they can be, as can any army except maybe orcs since most people who play orcs are NOT taking 5 hours to paint one model.

dark eldar field infantry but often with transports. That being said you don't HAVE to do anything. You can play dark eldar with no tanks, but it won't do as well. you can field IG without tanks and again, it won't do as well

dark eldar are EASY to paint. they have extreme edges and pointy areas that allow new/weak painters to just edge highlight and above all they are "evil" and lend themselves to dark color schemes

frankly the idea of fielding units that are all the same height, infantry sounds rather boring.... but its a game where YOU pick what you want so find the army that looks cool to you, and then use whatever you want. people here will give you advice while imposing his/her (lol her) values on you unintentionally. Often with "how well it will do on the table" so just do what attracts you the most

**Ether**

I'd vote Skitarii or Dark Eldar.

MT is cool and all, but really does not feel like a full codex, and the Skitarii rangers do everything that storm troopers do better cheaper.

Skitarii are imperials so as you "mature" as a gamer, you can fold in lots of other stuff as allies. The downside is they really feel like they NEED allies to be a cohesive complete army, be it with transports from inquisition/guard/marines or heavy support from the cult mechanicus.

Dark Eldar are just cool; evil speedster space pirate elves? What's not to like? They are fast and flexible with some of everything all over the place. If you're willing to get away from netlisting, I think they would be super enjoyable. As for painting them, unlike their clown and craftworld kin, these dudes like black. Black is pretty easy to get to grips with as a painter because you only have to worry about highlight tone, rather than both tone and hue. Other than that, add in color as you see fit and as suits your skill level.

**Singleton**

Ether wrote:
I'd vote Skitarii or Dark Eldar.

MT is cool and all, but really does not feel like a full codex, and the Skitarii rangers do everything that storm troopers do better cheaper.

Skitarii are imperials so as you "mature" as a gamer, you can fold in lots of other stuff as allies. The downside is they really feel like they NEED allies to be a cohesive complete army, be it with transports from inquisition/guard/marines or heavy support from the cult mechanicus.

Dark Eldar are just cool; evil speedster space pirate elves? What's not to like? They are fast and flexible with some of everything all over the place. If you're willing to get away from netlisting, I think they would be super enjoyable. As for painting them, unlike their clown and craftworld kin, these dudes like black. Black is pretty easy to get to grips with as a painter because you only have to worry about highlight tone, rather than both tone and hue. Other than that, add in color as you see fit and as suits your skill level.

Thanks for the reply, but I've decided to go with the Tau and not run cheese like Riptides. I've always loved the Tau the most out of any race with their emphasis on shooty, great fluff, and awesome sleek high tech aesthetic. Only thing keeping me from picking them up was that a lot of people play them. (4th most played in fact) I've decided to say feth it and go Tau anyways. After all, I can still be a special snowflake by fielding an unorthodox Tau force with, say, a focus on Infantry and Stealth suits with Support from Hammerheads and Broadsides w/railguns instead of the crisis and Riptide spam so commonly fielded by Tau.

**Pythagoras**

Roknar wrote:
Pathfinders get some half decent firepower.

Indeed they do. However, their defense is generally weak with that massive 5+ armor. People tend to infiltrate them and they die to early. Ion and Rail rifles are only as good as the length of time you can deploy and/or keep them on the table.

**DorianGray**

Dark Eldar are the least played

**j31c3n**

DorianGray wrote:
Dark Eldar are the least played

Before their big huge update in 5th(?), I played a grand total of one Dark Eldar player in all the preceding editions. But I think Sororitas are probably less played than DE, because at least DE have plastics. But it's probably a very narrow margin.

**hellsing**

Orks are relatively forgiving when it comes to learning them. There's nothing wrong with running your Boyz uupto the front lines, nor is there anything wrong with putting them in trukks or battlewagons. Give them sluggas and drown the enemy in attacks, or give them Shootas and drown them dakka. Plus cheap Grots act as meat shields and objective holders.
And Mek Guns, Stormboyz, Burna Boyz, Killa Kans, and Dakkajets give your army a HUGE variety and lots of options to work with.

**CrashGordon94**

hellsing wrote:
Orks are relatively forgiving when it comes to learning them. There's nothing wrong with running your Boyz uupto the front lines, nor is there anything wrong with putting them in trukks or battlewagons. Give them sluggas and drown the enemy in attacks, or give them Shootas and drown them dakka. Plus cheap Grots act as meat shields and objective holders.
And Mek Guns, Stormboyz, Burna Boyz, Killa Kans, and Dakkajets give your army a HUGE variety and lots of options to work with.

True, but OP said he doesn't like them.

**The Deathless Host**

I recently got back into the game and started admech. Decently powerful, awesome models CONVERTER'S HEAVEN. I made my kataphrons out of WFB (Oh sorry AssOS) Ogres! I dunno just my too cents but very few people play this army apparently. Just pick an army you like the look of and pick up a box of their troops, build and paint them, then decide if you enjoyed it.

**Singleton**

The Deathless Host wrote:
I recently got back into the game and started admech. Decently powerful, awesome models CONVERTER'S HEAVEN. I made my kataphrons out of WFB (Oh sorry AssOS) Ogres! I dunno just my too cents but very few people play this army apparently. Just pick an army you like the look of and pick up a box of their troops, build and paint them, then decide if you enjoyed it.

I've decided to go with Tau in the end, as they are my favorite faction in 40K, but the only thing keeping me from playing them was that they are so popular. I've decided I can still be a special snowflake by just running an unusual Tau list, even if it's not the most competitive.

Since I'm new, Skitarii just seem very hard to paint and assemble, and since I'm not savvy on how to do good conversions, that point is moot.

But still, thanks for the reply!

**The Deathless Host**

Singleton wrote:
The Deathless Host wrote:
I recently got back into the game and started admech. Decently powerful, awesome models CONVERTER'S HEAVEN. I made my kataphrons out of WFB (Oh sorry AssOS) Ogres! I dunno just my too cents but very few people play this army apparently. Just pick an army you like the look of and pick up a box of their troops, build and paint them, then decide if you enjoyed it.

I've decided to go with Tau in the end, as they are my favorite faction in 40K, but the only thing keeping me from playing them was that they are so popular. I've decided I can still be a special snowflake by just running an unusual Tau list, even if it's not the most competitive.

Since I'm new, Skitarii just seem very hard to paint and assemble, and since I'm not savvy on how to do good conversions, that point is moot.

But still, thanks for the reply!

Yeah sorry maybe I should have read the thread fully before posting XD have fun with your little blue shooty men, I'll carry on spreading the radiation love!

**thegreatchimp**

Singleton wrote:

I've decided to go with Tau in the end, as they are my favorite faction in 40K, but the only thing keeping me from playing them was that they are so popular. I've decided I can still be a special snowflake by just running an unusual Tau list, even if it's not the most competitive.

Have you seen the rules for Kroot mercenary armies? http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Chapter_Approved/Kroot_Mercenaries This is a fan made update of a "chapter approved" army list published in an old GW mag. Not strictly a Tau list, but certainly unusual and cool to boot. My second army is going to be Kroot Mercs, possibly with a few tau allies.

Here's an excellently converted Kroot mercenary force: http://www.gowarhead.com/search/label/Kroot

Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here's a more polished attempt at a modern Kroo merc codex http://www.focusedfirepower.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Kroot-Mercenaries.pdf

**DorianGray**

Dude all the players complaining about Tau are space marine players complaining about how great Tau is against THEM. Tau die hard to Tyranids or Orks or SM players don't care they are only upset at what applies to THEM.

So screw them and aim to wipe the floor with them. Who cares only Space Marines tards?

**zerosignal**

Crimson Devil wrote:
Play Space marines. As you can see not playing them leads to bitterness, mood swings, and anal leakage.

I think I just snorted tea out my nose.

Tau seem like the right way for you OP, the models are quite good and they have a new codex coming soon (rumoured later this year), but if you get staples like firewarriors, pathfinders, etc. you're unlikely to make a wrong choice.

I personally play fairly competitive lists/games with my housemate, so I am not shy of running trip-tide, but I balance that up somewhat by running FW's in devilfish and I have no broadsides (which seem to be the real hotness).

Ignore the whining about Necrons are broken/ Eldar are broken/ Space Marines are broken/ Tau are broken. Just find players on a similar level to you and have fun. If the balance looks off, agree to not take the stronger units, or play a scenario that changes the dynamic of the game. 40K is all about house rules and forging the narrative.

**Singleton**

zerosignal wrote:
Crimson Devil wrote:
Play Space marines. As you can see not playing them leads to bitterness, mood swings, and anal leakage.

I think I just snorted tea out my nose.

Tau seem like the right way for you OP, the models are quite good and they have a new codex coming soon (rumoured later this year), but if you get staples like firewarriors, pathfinders, etc. you're unlikely to make a wrong choice.

I personally play fairly competitive lists/games with my housemate, so I am not shy of running trip-tide, but I balance that up somewhat by running FW's in devilfish and I have no broadsides (which seem to be the real hotness).

Ignore the whining about Necrons are broken/ Eldar are broken/ Space Marines are broken/ Tau are broken. Just find players on a similar level to you and have fun. If the balance looks off, agree to not take the stronger units, or play a scenario that changes the dynamic of the game. 40K is all about house rules and forging the narrative.

Thanks for the advice and I hope to enjoy my Tau!

**pinecone77**

Singleton wrote:
I know this question has been asked many times by many people across time, but I'm genuinely stuck as to which army I should choose.

I want to be a special snowflake, so I don't want to play armies that are very popular like Necrons, Space Marines or any of their flavors, Imperial Guard, Tyranids, or Orks. I also don't want to play as Eldar, but I'm not sure if a lot of people play Eldar, so they're a possibility and I'm open to suggestions regarding them. I'm also open to playing Tau, but I am a bit hesitant as they don't really field a lot of line infantry, mostly mech suits.

So far the armies I'm looking at right now are:

- Militarum Tempestus

- Sisters of Battle

-Dark Eldar

- Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii

-Possibly Eldar

-Possibly Tau

I want to a play an army that is at least decently tanky/durable with good shooting capability and decent melee ability. Gunline armies basically that can melee if need. I also want my chosen army to focus mainly on infantry models without too many vehicles or walkers/mechs to speak of.

From what I've researched, Skitarii are decently durable and have great shooting and situational close combat ability with the doctrines.

Militarum Tempestus and Dark Eldar both live by the same code of strike hard and fast, but die fast as well, but I just love both of the armies' aesthetics, and I hear they;re both very rarely played due to being 'hard mode.'

Sisters of battle have above average durability and are great in short range firefights with decent melee as well. My only concern is that since this is my first endeavor into the world of wargaming, I'm a little hesitant to take on metal models, as I'm not fully aware if there are any tools/paints/brushes I need specifically for metal minis. If anyone is knowledgeable on the differences in constructing and painting plastic minis as opposed to metal ones, I'd love to hear what you have to say.

All in all, I just want to play an underused army that I can grow with. I'm not adverse to losing a lot of games for a while, while I learn the game. Any general tips for a newbie just getting into the game are also greatly appreciated.

Well underused is based on your local meta ,so check that.

Out of what you've listed skitari look like they would be fun. I gotta say, where are you? Orks, and Nids are too common? That sounds like a different meta from any I have seen.

Picking something not common is a good bassis though, as it will add to your meta.

**CrashGordon94**

He said he's gonna pick Tau now.

**morganfreeman**

I wouldn't be too hasty on going Tau.. They're supposed to be getting an update before the end of the year aren't they?

**zgort**

You described gunline. Gunline = tau. They stink in melee though.

If you want jack of all trades, master of none, that's Space Marines or Chaos.