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First army I built as an army.

As opposed to first minis I purchased/painted for the game because I liked them.

E.G. I bought SM first but Eldar were the first army I played and built AS an army for the game.

I would say grey knights are my first army. First models, no, Ive had some tau, space marines and nids before my knights. However they are my 'first army' I have built a sizable force, played lots of games with, created my own fluff for etc. That to me is what makes something your first army, it does not have to be your first models, but the first you have put significant time into and love playing.

I think the answer to this is the first army you field. That's because you've committed to that army, at least insofar as to build the dudes, ideally paint the dudes, learn the rules, and be willing to go for it with them. I owned a few Fantasy orcs, but I didn't consider myself an Orcs and Goblins player.

I first started of with IG then I got more IG and then I got me some FW DKoK grenadiers, that soon got company from four FW tanks and more greandiers when I had been in the hobby for some years and had disposebal income.

 chromedog wrote:
First army I built as an army.

As opposed to first minis I purchased/painted for the game because I liked them.

E.G. I bought SM first but Eldar were the first army I played and built AS an army for the game.

Agree, I had random models from the 2nd ed. starter/Space Hulk set painted and whatnot before we decided on an actual army to build from scratch.

Necroshea wrote:I'd say it's simply the first army you feel comfortable telling people you play.

I like this answer. I tend to think of 'first army' in a temporal sense, but if it was the 'army that's first in my mind', then Sisters jump right to the front of the queue, even though in temporal terms they're the last army I really got a playable force of (My chaos don't count because they're not a legal army on their own!)

The first army I owned, painted, and bought were WHFB Skaven I had gotten from the Isle of Blood boxed set. My mom took the High Elves.

I actually have not fielded an army yet (Unless you can count five minutes of attempting to figure out how to play with unpainted minis while a friend was over), so in turn, I have not won a game with any yet. Though I'm set on using the Tyranids, so they'll count for those.

My soon-to-be primary will be my beloved Tyranids, of course.

I would like to think of it as the first army you build and actually field in a game. Painting would be a bonus but is not required.

- The first minis you own. In this case, my first army would technically be space marines, as, long, long ago, I inherited some RT SM from someone. I still have them around in a box somewhere.

- The first minis you paint. Ultrasmurfs

- The first minis you buy. Space Marines

- The first army you actually field in a game. Ultrasmurfs

- The first army you win a game with. Orks ;D

- The army you consider your "primary army". Space Marines (Of my own making, not Ultrasmurfs :3)

I believe an alternate definition is in order. How about the first army you take ownership of. Meaning the first one you actually claim as being your "army".

I have had a large number of a variety of figurines given to me as a kid by my family. I painted some of them and even played games with some of them but I would never say my first army was tallarn IG or SoB. I say they are DA as they were the first army I took ownership of and claimed as mine as an army.

 Captain Roderick wrote:
I think you know in your heart which your First Army was

The first one that got you excited, that you had fantasies about crushing all opponents with, and that you spent time and cash on creating.

2nd ed Chaos Space Marines baby!

I'd definetely go with this defintion. Even though I bought the IG codex and some random IG models when I was a wee lad, I wouldn't consider them to be my first army. Not properly, anyway. Just haphazardly painted a few, never played a proper game and forgot about them. But when I picked up the SoB, I was looking at army builds, studying tactics and really putting time (and money, but that's a given with the Nuns ) into getting them battle-ready.

So yeah, I think there's a distinction to be made between buying a few random models and really getting invested in an army. All comes down to your personal opinion, though.

Hmm,

I'd go with the first army you actually choose to collect/model/field fully.

The rest don't really fit in my head when I think 'what was my first army?':

>The first thing I acquired was a Gorka Morka boy.
> The first "thing" I painted was a happy meal toy.
> The first "miniture" i painted was an orginal Necron from 2nd or 3rd? .
> I then painted some more orks & some SM of various terrible colours.

However I will say without a doubt that my first army was Ultramarines.
They were the first group of models I actively wanted to get more of, paint coherently, and field as an army - they were the first 'Army' I cared about.

What I judge as my first army are the models I first made an army with to play a game.

The first figures I owned were 3 Judge Dredd figures.Sure, Judges were awesome and all, but not an army.
The first "Army figures" I owned were RTB001 Space Marines.

The first army I made was with GW's Eldar figures (a mix of "eldar" and "space elf" blisters, to be honest). This is my first army.

I count my first army for a game as the first army I seriously try to build.

For Epic, that would be Tyranids. I got the Adeptus Mechanicus from Titan Legions because the Imperator was badass, but I never enjoyed playing them and never expanded them from what was in the box.

When I saw Hive War, I jumped on them and actually tried to collect them. I did field them and seriously buy into them, so I consider them my first Epic army.

For 40k, I got the Orks from the 2nd edition starter. Again, I didn't enjoy playing them, and barely bought anything else for them. I bought into Tyranids when they were released, and they remained my only coherent, mostly painted army throughout 2nd edition.

So yeah, I definitely consider the first army you actually like and buy into seriously as your first army. Anything before that just seems, to me, like tinkering with stuff until you actually get interested enough to start.

The army you got when you split that editions starter set with someone.

I usually go with the first army you could field. As in at least two troops, an HQ and your codex.

Unless you feel you made a big mistake, and changed early on, or never fielded them. Then it's fine to say "army y were the first models I had, but army x was my first actual ARMY".

IMHO "Army" should be defined as a collection of models that can be fielded as legally in games at a normal point value. These days that would be a HQ and two troops, and I'd say 500 points. I might further go and qualify that you picked it up planning on making it an army to field in a game. If you just happen to get a army you can field, but were picking stuff up on looks alone, I'm not sure that should count. Intent matters in my mind.

"First" is a little fuzzy. If someone gives you a small collection, or you play with half a starter box to learn the rules, I'm not sure if that should count as your first, or just something you used to demo the rules and learn the game. I'd give the title of "First" to the initial army you feel a connection too.

So for something to be your first army, you need to want to collect them, and plan on being able to field them in a game. Anything else is just a collection of miniatures you might not be vested in.

My opinion, obviously, YMMV.

The first army you have enough to play with, have painted and have played at least 1 game with.

Flying Toaster wrote:
I would like to think of it as the first army you build and actually field in a game. Painting would be a bonus but is not required.

I would go with this too. I had multitudes of skaven models in my collection for years, but never a skaven army. Same with eldar early on. I had the original harlequins boxed set with the 15 or so metal miniatures in it with 3 death jesters, but never a full eldar army until probably a good 20 years later. Genestealer/Chaos cult was the first army I fielded as an army, followed up shortly by my khornate chaos marines. I used to play chaos warband leagues all the time and that eventually turned into 40k chaos gaming. I had all the original plastic 40k sets: Space Dwarves, Space Orks, Space Marines and Imperial guard, but it wasn't until I appropriated the guard for use as cultists that I actually started a real army.

Skriker

Tyranids are the answer to all 6 of your examples so I guess it's a no brainer for me!

I believe it's the first army you build, paint, (get the codex for)and throw into fires of battle. Then you bring them back and wonder how you can do better with them next time.

When I first was getting into it, I already knew I wanted to be Imperial Guard thanks to DoW, and the RPGs. I mean the first time I played, (test games, I didn't really count them) was with the Dark Vengeance set. Sure, I assembled them, but I never got around to painting them. I just used them to learn the ropes, then traded them off for more guardsmen!

What if you got two armies at the same time?

I got Ultramarines and Tyranids at the same time as the first thing I got was Tyranid Attack.

 Ailaros wrote:


- The first minis you own.

Necrons

- The first minis you paint.

Necrons

- The first minis you buy.

Necrons

- The first army you actually field in a game.

Necrons

- The first army you win a game with.

Necrons

- The army you consider your "primary army".

Necrons

I'm good to go I suppose

The first figures and codex i got was for Eldar,a fer pathfinders and a serpent(or falcon) but they were all gifts and as soon as Tau first came out i fell in love and wanted to collect them.

Ended up taking a break for a while and lost my Tau Empire codex, and because it was an old codex i thought about nids and wolves and even got a few models, they i heard rumor about the new tau codex and started building my force. If i add up everything ive got, painted or unpainted ive got almost 1000(i could probably get there if i stretched it but it woldnt be competitive be any means).

So i'd say your first army should really be defined by whichever army you dive into and are willing to play with on more than a rare occasion. My Tau for sure!

I'd say the first force you're able to field and play games with.