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With 9th Edition upon us it is a great time to join. I would aim for a 500 point Patrol, and with a new Edition folks should be happy to play smaller point games.

I recommend buying the Codex for your chosen army before you get too far into buying models. Yes there will be new Codex soon, but we don't know when (perhaps second hand purchase). Read through it, absorb the lore and units before picking your sub-faction and units. Painting can be a daunting obstacle, but there are plenty of helpful Youtube videos out there. Here is a quick example:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n5ipcRsxMo . Paint one model in your chosen scheme and make sure you are happy with it. Going for a 500 point Patrol will keep your grey pile of unpainted models at a manageable level.

I can't offer any specific advice on units for your what seems to be your chosen force, since I only play against Aeldari and never use them myself (tricksy Xenos...I do play Drukhari from time to time). They do have a variety of units and playstyles.

Once you've selected your army commit and stick with it - get it painted and on the table. Play it a bunch of times before tweaking it.

Have fun!

T2B

p.s. It's not too late to switch to Dark Angels...

I'm going to go against the general grain and recommend not starting with Kill Team.

Kill Team's advantage is that it's inexpensive, but if the expense of getting into full 40k was going to be an issue, then in general this might not be the hobby for you. It's also not usually that expensive to start an army [most can be started for under $250]. It's also disingenuous to try to gateway someone in with a game that's different explicitly on the premise of it being inexpensive and then expect them to quickly then put down the $250 to start full 40k afterwords, especially when a non-crap kill team won't usually form a legal regular 40k unit.
Kill Team's disadvantage is that it has an unit pool for the most part entirely centered around troops-type units with a few elites sprinkled in. It doesn't really have room for larger centerpiece models, and most people I know aren't drawn to a faction because of it's troops choices. Personally, I think it's better to start immediately with an instance of the unit that drew you to the faction and not start with some troops and go "wait for it".

Not that Kill Team isn't fun, I just wouldn't recommend it as a "gateway drug" style entry point to the hobby.

 Mistresspaige wrote:
Thanks guys I’ve been doing my research and I think I’m leaning most with the Eldar atm. I’m big into speed, dexterity and skill style combat over brute force, tanky and hard hitting.

If you've settled on Eldar then the next thing would be to consider what style of combat most takes your fancy.

You can of course build whatever you want, but if you are researching the lore and styles of the Eldar, then you have the following to consider:

1. Do you like to focus heavily on being the best psykers around, and the most numerous? Do you like a force of morose doomed space elves who have accepted it as their duty beyond all other Eldar to wage a constant war against their greatest enemy (Slaanesh) so that all else might survive. Do you like being the one that's always doing things because you'll save the universe?

Then Ulthwe is your Craftworld.

2. Do you like being fast. Really fast. Really really really fast! Do you want to blast into combat looking for glory and total domination? Do you like Jetbikes? Do you like red? Perhaps, too much red?

Then Saim-Hann is your Craftworld.

3. Do you like specialist forces of the most elite units, a heavy emphasis on aspect warriors, military might, and being extra arrogant/haughty about just how good you are and how all the other Craftworlds aren't doing enough to destroy the lesser vermin species that infest their galaxy?

Then Biel-Tan is your Craftworld.

4. Do you like the idea of being the last of a dwindling people? A society so deprived of the living that they have pressed so many of their dead back into service? Do you hate spiders and other creepy crawlies so much that you just want revenge for what they did to your people? Do you like big robots driven by the psychic echoes of the once-living? Do you like a lot of yellow?

Then Iyanden is your Craftworld.

5. Would you prefer to be sneaky and underhanded about things? Does sitting in the shadows and leaving your enemy wondering where you even are something that appeals to you? Do you have a big thing for cloaks and sniper rifles?

Then Alaitoc is your Craftworld.


A point about painting. All of the above Craftworlds have their own colour scheme (black & bone, red & more red, green & white, lots of yellow & a little blue, lots of blue & a little yellow) but don't think that limits you on what you can do. In the end the Craftworlds are just frameworks for your army. You can come up with your own, or if you fancy one of the above paint them however you want. Or you can choose any army just because of its colour (I picked Ultramarines as I like blue - literally no other reason! ).

But when you're deciding everything and how you want to start, keep the above 5 Craftworlds in mind.

I think its a good time to pause and talk about subfactions within armies.

1) Almost every army now has "subfactions" in their codex. These are generally forces that gain a few lines of additional bonuses ontop of the general army properties. These generally focus on specific niches, such as those outlined above.
The only army that differs on this a bit is Space Marines who get whole codex for their sub-armies and unique models and sculpts. EVERY other army just has the same models, the same sculpts.

2) Each sub-army technically has an official colour scheme in their codex. Some are very well established, some subtly shift around a bit.

3) Importantly - basically no one knows official colour schemes for sub-armies outside of the heavily marketed space marines (even then its at a very basic level such as "blood angels are red"). Even within armies they collect most people can't tell one from another; in addition to the fact that sometimes the different official schemes are very hard to tell apart.

4) In general no one enforces that you have to play the army to the colour scheme. This is because of:
a) Point 3 above.

b) The fact that you only get a few lines of different flavoured rules. No one expects you to make 10 different Eldar collections themed around specific subfactions so that you can play with different themes.

c) It creates a duel standard because any "official" scheme would be "locked" whilst any custom scheme (which could just be changing one colour from an official) would be free to choose as it wouldn't be "locked" to a subfaction.



There have been a few tournaments here and there that have enforced colourschemes, broadly speaking this rule mostly applies to space marines; but in general terms most places don't enforce it at all. It's just not practical nor sensible to tie people to 4 lines of bonus text rules based on hours spent painting.



So by all means if you love a subfaction colour scheme use it, but don't feel bound to it.

 Overread wrote:
I think its a good time to pause and talk about subfactions within armies.

1) Almost every army now has "subfactions" in their codex. These are generally forces that gain a few lines of additional bonuses ontop of the general army properties. These generally focus on specific niches, such as those outlined above.
The only army that differs on this a bit is Space Marines who get whole codex for their sub-armies and unique models and sculpts. EVERY other army just has the same models, the same sculpts.

2) Each sub-army technically has an official colour scheme in their codex. Some are very well established, some subtly shift around a bit.

3) Importantly - basically no one knows official colour schemes for sub-armies outside of the heavily marketed space marines (even then its at a very basic level such as "blood angels are red"). Even within armies they collect most people can't tell one from another; in addition to the fact that sometimes the different official schemes are very hard to tell apart.

4) In general no one enforces that you have to play the army to the colour scheme. This is because of:
a) Point 3 above.

b) The fact that you only get a few lines of different flavoured rules. No one expects you to make 10 different Eldar collections themed around specific subfactions so that you can play with different themes.

c) It creates a duel standard because any "official" scheme would be "locked" whilst any custom scheme (which could just be changing one colour from an official) would be free to choose as it wouldn't be "locked" to a subfaction.



There have been a few tournaments here and there that have enforced colourschemes, broadly speaking this rule mostly applies to space marines; but in general terms most places don't enforce it at all. It's just not practical nor sensible to tie people to 4 lines of bonus text rules based on hours spent painting.



So by all means if you love a subfaction colour scheme use it, but don't feel bound to it.

Time to weigh in with a few points:

1) Painting a custom scheme is always good, you can claim them to be basically the same as any "official" subfaction, or take one of the subfaction special rules sets as you choose before games.

2) sometimes you can paint an "Official" scheme that still functions as another paint-scheme army. As was pointed out Blood Angels are Red Marines(with some other specifics), but there are other parts to this. I will explain some options with My Army: I play "Sons of Medusae" Space Marines, they are an "Iron Hands Successor Chapter" but the fluff behind them is basically a single ideological belief shift. So Basically I sometimes play mine as Bright Green Iron Hands instead of worrying about changing any of the rules around. I take Iron Father Fieros(Iron Hands Character) in some games, and I will use Iron Hands Relics if I so choose. This is all because I have enjoyed the fluff and Played Sons of Medusa since 5th edition.

3) Going Back to the Idea of Blood Angels as "Red Marines", there are many other Red Marines chapters out there; Some have varied trim/accent colors and such but you still have flexibility with who your guys are.

4) One of my good Friends plays Ulthwe Eldar(official Craftworld), But also plays Harlequins(point of the army is paint as you want, claim as you want, really), Dark Eldar(Don't remember if he has a favored Kabal/Cult), and finally all of them as Ynarri. As such his Craftworld are all Bone and magenta with Black, except for Aspect shrine which are generally standard Generic.

My approach has always been to choose your sub-faction based on one that isn't extensively written about, so that you can determine what their whole deal is.

My craftworld eldar were started as allies to my existing Harlequin army, so I found a craftworld called "Lugganath" whose primary motivation was trying to find a webway portal large enough to fit their whole craftworld through so that they could secede from the universe. They frequently allied with Harlequins and eldar pirates and mercenaries and for that reason are considered pretty disreputable by the other eldar.

So instead of painting up their aspect warriors 100% in their traditional color schemes, I decided that any aspect warrior who had fought in an important battle alongside a harlequin would augment their normal armor colors with diamond patterns, mask emblems, and Harlequin runes. And for the guardian squads, since they're pirate-y I used spare parts from harlequin and dark eldar kits to give them swords, grappling hooks, and more menacing helmets.

Since there aren't official kits or a lot of published fiction about the subgroup I chose, I get to determine how they should look and act.

Mistresspaige wrote:Thanks guys I’ve been doing my research and I think I’m leaning most with the Eldar atm. I’m big into speed, dexterity and skill style combat over brute force, tanky and hard hitting. Plus as Nevieon said they’re super magical (psychic I mean haha). I also kind of love that they arnt the generic good guys and are stuck up and haughty. Gives them more depth and gives me more fun fluff wise designing their backstories.

Now the question is where to start model and paint wise. My favourite colour palette is magenta (well most shades of pink in all Honesty) black, white, silver and gold. I also love deep violets too.

If you like Eldar/Dark Eldar, I'd grab a box (or Start Collecting, as suggested) and practice painting, I'd hold a bit with bigger purchases though. Simply because GW site heavily suggests Dark Eldar or Ynnari will get big release soon, which will be the best looking models in the whole Eldar range. Ynnari, by the way, is army combining Eldar/Dark Eldar units, with the caveat you need to field one of the Ynnari leaders. If you like how they look, you could mix and match both factions as you like. Ynnari rules are rather weak at the moment, but if they will get a codex, it's bound to change quickly.

As for the color scheme, I'd either pick a scheme similar to what you want from official GW schemes (any schemes, from any army, you'll want colors that match well together, a general idea, not 1:1 copy) or look at color wheel for websites and see what it suggests with your picks. Matching, well fitting colors can make army look better, while clashing ones might discourage you at first. Though, if there is army that would employ clashing colors, it's probably Eldar of some sort.

Jidmah wrote:You must have missed the part where your entire planets gets blown up because someone found a symbol of tzeench in an ancient ruin. Or the part where kids get taken way by huge black ships with no explanation.

Eh, if said symbol/kid can open a literal portal to hell and kill everyone on the planet, you'd be hard pressed to think of different response. Especially seeing sad kid often gets a ticket to rich, important life on these ships - not as important as say Navigators or Librarians, but still pretty high on the ladder.

And Karol kinda has a point, seeing there are certain states that forcibly take away kids from parents to lock them in cages, awaiting uncertain fate possibly never seeing their family again, densely packed in detainment centers with zero anti-Covid protections and protocols, all to score a few political points, without the above excuse Imperium has - but it's getting off topic so it's all I'll say on that point.