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Ok I just recently decided that I am going to play 40k. I have seen it played for years and I finally decided to give in. I am now at an impass, I cannot make up my mind between Tau, Eldar, Space Marines, and Chaos Marines. They all look cool and seem like they will be a blast to paint and play. For some one just starting is there a particular one I should pick for ease of use or is there one that is just plain horrible and should avoid? Please be consise about why a particular army is bad or ill suited for a beginning player. Thanks for any help you all can provide.

Howdy and welcome. Where do you play? A local game store. Have you had a chance to participate in anyone else's games? That might be a way to try out the flavor of each army before you commit. Also, when the 5th edition battle set comes out, it'll come with Space Marines, so you could wait until that comes out.

Well ha ha no where I am still trying to find any place some what close that has people that play. Even so I feel fairly confident when my friends see this game and give it a shot they will pick it up pretty quickly, mostof them are into collectible games so this may be just the thing and worst case scenario i have some very nice looking display models for my house.

Honestly I would go with whatever force really grabs your attention. That is how the Imperial Guard were for me. Being a WWII fanatic really impacted that choice.

Each of those armies can play quite differently. Read a little bit of their backstory and browse some more models before deciding. If you aren't into the hardcore tournament gaming scene then looks and story is the way to go IMO.

Hello!!

If this is your first army, make sure you pick a simple colour scheme whichever force you decide on!

My first 40k army was Saim-Hann eldar. The 50th time I opened the red paint I started to go into spasm - red (also yellow and white) are horrible colours for novice painters because they need loads of thin coats before they look nice.

It may also be worth waiting for the new Space Marine codex/models coming out before you make your choice (if you can hang on 'til then!) as they're bound to have loads of cool new stuff.







Or play guard FTW - they rule 5th ed!!!!!!!!

Ya I have been hearing alot of rumors about 5th ed. can't nail down much for specifics though. I have to admit I am a huge mech fan so right off the bat Tau have the most draw to me, however i have seen alot of Tau armies and they do not seem to do so well wince they are so weak in assult phases. Their ranged is incredible but what does that matter if you get deep struck withpower weapons. Thank you all for the great advice. I dunno if I can manage to hold off until 5th ed. but I may have to cause I still feel very undecided. =/

If you want to play Tau and like the look of the army, go for it!

The codex and models will not change but there will be an FAQ after the new rulebook comes out (just don't buy the 4th ed BGB!)

The main advice with tau is start small. They are more forgiving on new players than eldar, but only in small games - don't splash out on loads of tanks/suits. Get a box or 2 of firewarriors and a couple of crisis suits and play 400 points to start off with. Don't glue your weapons to the suits so you can try out different combos. Magnets work great but can be fiddly, blu-tac works just as well for friendly games!

Good luck and don't forget to post pics when you have some done

Welcome to Dakka

Lots of good advice above,
I agree you should hold off untill 5th edition is released on july 12th. Reading the fluff section will give you more direction on which army is for you.

In the mean time go to a bookstore or a library and look for 40k books. Reading some novels can also help you find the right army.

HFN

Tau as noted above are very weak in assault. They are seen as a difficult army for beginners to handle, gaining power as the player learns the right tactics. If you don't mind working through the early pain, Tau can be a rewarding army.

Ya I have been pooring over the codexes in search of the right army for me. I like the Tau ranged power, completely brutal but their complete lack of melee seems like in tournment games would be completely unforgiving. I really enjoy most of the forces backstories all are prety intricate and all have their driving force and purpose. But from what i have been hearing the most noob friendly and forgiving army is SM so I am probly going to look into that CSM seems very cool I love the look of the armors and tanks but they also seem to lack some of the abilities of normal Marines. I want to at least give my self the best fighting chance to be succesful and really enjoy them game and if i get my head completely knocked in for my first however many games thats not gonna be so much fun. I do not expect to win, I do however expect to make them hurt he he.

I don't think you can go wrong with Space Marines or Chaos Space Marines. Both forces are easy to tailor to different styles of fighting and are very flexible.

Ok what would you reccomend as a good place to start with a CSM army?

I started out with ultramarines ( Space marines) and I must say that they're great to get sucked into the game.
Their colour scheme is not to difficult and they are relatively easy to convert.
And on top of that: they)re very easy to play with, yet they get more challenging when your games become bigger.

The best place to start with chaos is their Codex.
See what god appeals to you the most ( or if you can't choose, undivided could do the trick) and start collecting from there.

I believe that Chaos space marines are a little bit more difficult to play with, so I would suggest you start out with space marines, if non of the other armies earned your preference.

Thanks for all the great advice all, I really appreciate it and also thanks for the warm welcome I decided to go with Chaos marines and I will wait until 5th ed. until i completely get in to this but I did run down to the hobby store and picked up a Box of 10 CSM's and one Rhino all 10% cheaper then listen online was a very nice surprise. However, i wasn't paying attention and I bought PVA glue instead of plastic glue so I have to make a run back there tomorrow to get Plastic glue -__- lol.

Also as asked above I will kind of be chronicleing my armies growth and painting and such as a picture area on Photo Bucket your all welcome to check it out =) can be found at http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm101/Zhetsuken/Chaos%20Army/

Ok a quick update for those who care 3-4 new pics are up of the after assebly, sorry there are not more posted. I took about 25 photos but my camera will not focus on the models it keeps trying to focus on the back ground and it's pissing me off. Also going to myspace may be a bit combersome for most especially since one needs an account if there is a better medium for me to host pictures on lemme know as long as it is a free service I will put the pics up there instead. I am also thinking of starting an Eldar army at the same time mainly for gaks and so my GF can play cause if i don;t have an army for her I will never hear the end of it. So any suggestions feel free to let me know what you all think thanks all.

you can try photobucket for pictures

Ok will give that a shot thanks man.

Cool thanks the Location is now http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm101/Zhetsuken/Chaos%20Army/ for those who care...

MementoMori wrote:I started out with ultramarines ( Space marines) and I must say that they're great to get sucked into the game.
Their colour scheme is not to difficult and they are relatively easy to convert.
And on top of that: they)re very easy to play with, yet they get more challenging when your games become bigger.

The best place to start with chaos is their Codex.
See what god appeals to you the most ( or if you can't choose, undivided could do the trick) and start collecting from there.

I believe that Chaos space marines are a little bit more difficult to play with, so I would suggest you start out with space marines, if non of the other armies earned your preference.

I also starred out with ultramarines omooust 10 years ago.
I tride outer army's and after 9 years never stiking to a army I turnd back to my furst army. cose when I loke back I had most fun whit that army ( and I won the most game's whit my eldar army )
but I play for fun juist don't realy care if I lose or win.
most peaple play a fuw army's over time to find out what day like best.
and on the on opesent of mementomori I get beter wen my marines army is bigger :s

One thing I noticed with the CSM is that they work very well with daemons , yes I know they aren´t as good as the "real" deal , but with terminators deep striking and then sending some daemons out to eat some ... On the other hand , we played Apocalypse and I didn´t have to bother with any points ...

Well I got 4 more pictures up of some final works they need slight touch ups to remove some minor brush mistakes but nothing horrible. Hope you all enjoy . Also any tips or comments are really appreciated

http://s294.photobucket.com/albums/mm101/Zhetsuken/Chaos%20Army/

Nice. You should start a new post in the painting projects forum

I agree with HuzzFivvNivv, being a 'noob' myself with no expirence myself, i chose my army from reading a novel. Now im stuck with IG's Catachan Jungle Fighters.

All really depends on what you want for your army:

stealthy and fast, Eldar
Long range, Tau, IG, and Dark Eldar
Short Range, Orks,
balanced, Necron, CSM, SM
thats rly the very basic list of deciding in my opinion
whoops.... a bit quite late for advice.... ah well, helps for the future i guess
BTW, welcome to DakkaDakka

Ok I did just that now my stuff will be unpdated in the painting section. Again thanks all for your support and information i really appreciate it.