New Army

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**grilledcheese**

Hey guys, first post here. Little background on me, im a 20 year old college student from New Jersey.

When I was younger, I played IG in my neighborhood. They were fun, but so easy to kill and very dependent on tanks. My group of friends who played had, respectively, Space Marines, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Tau, Orcs, and Eldar.

So anyway, my brother and I purchased the Battle for Black Reach box set. It contains Space Marines and Orcs. Neither one really tickles my fancy, Marines are too...OP. Technically they aren't, but you know how they have that image? And they are so popular. Orcs are just...meh. Not my thing. So I was wondering if you guys have any advice for someone looking to get back into the game. Very slowly, but I will start with a Codex, HQ+2 Troops, and work my way up. Also, is the small paperback rulebook from Black Reach good enough? I hate to spend the big money on a new rulebook.

Please share stories of how you started, and what you reccomend for me.

**MechaEmperor7000**

The Hardback rulebook only has extra hobby stuff. All of the rules you'll ever need to play a non-expansion 40k game are in the paperback rulebook and the codexes.

Which army you pic is always up to you, however the Space Marines are a good starter force because they are forgiving to your faults. If you dont like them (i'm assuming by extension the Chaos counterparts and variant chapter codexes), then the next best one would probably be Imperial Guard or Tyranids. Both of those can be forgiving too, since Nids and Guard both rely on weak hordes of troops swarming people while their tougher units (Monstrous creaturs and Tanks respectively) does the moping up. Resist the current hype of Dark Eldar, as they're really difficult to play (they are just as flimsy as Guard, but costs almost twice as much in terms of points).

The one army you should not choose right now is Grey Knights. They're up for the next update, and will likely have most of the expensive models in the range replaced by cheaper plastic ones, so it's best to hold off on them now if you like them. Necrons too, to a lesser extent, as the rumors seems to point that they're after the Knights, although Necrons can be a good force right now due to how cheap their models are. Necrons hold up like SMs and, as long as you dont get into combat, you should be fine.

Also, welcome to the forums!

**grilledcheese**

Thanks for the advice!

The Eldar intrigue me because I like the idea of small, quick units that are solid in close combat. Also, the Tau seem interesting. Is their firepower strong enough to make up for their weak melee?

If I had to pick one side I was leaning towards though, it would probably be the Eldar.

**MechaEmperor7000**

I've had moderate success with Tau. However Marine squads with Flamers will tear them up, especially drop pod Terminators with Heavy Flamers (those ignore Tau Armor).

Only a few Eldar units are actually suited for Close Combat. While the Eldar and Dark Eldar look like they're an army for combat (possessing fleet and higher initiative) only a few are actually good in it. The Space Elfs all have a purpose built in for each unit, and requires good use of them and a good tactical eye to make the most of those units. It's an uphill battle to master them, but if you can, it's very rewarding.

**Ailaros**

Just as a quick note, you could always run AoBR marines as Chaos Space Marines.

If you want the opposite of IG - few units which are individually powerful and tough to kill - Chaos just might be for you.

**Brother SRM**

Eldar are really cool, not enough people play them. They've got a mostly plastic model range too, which is nice. You can pick up a Farseer, two boxes of Dire Avengers and a codex for a little over $100 and have a solid core to your army.

**micahaphone**

The floppy rulebook has everything you need, the big one just has more fluff, pictures, and possibly an example battle?

Tell us what things you are looking for in an army, then we can help you. Do you want to assault? shoot? Both? High model count? Low? Fast moving? Slowly advancing juggernaut? What? How do you want to play?

**MekanobSamael**

You know, with the current codex, IG are one of the best armies out there. Once you get used to the way platoons and tank squadrons are organized now, you can start winning games in a hurry. The only drawback is that they're very model-intensive and therefore very, very expensive, but if you want to try and ease your way back into the game, IG are in a great place right now.

**MechaEmperor7000**

If you cut out the infantry units, it's not too bad. A single Battle Force will give you largely what you need for your HQ and 2 troops, and you can just load up on tanks after that.

**grilledcheese**

As a cash strapped college kid, IG might be a bit too expensive for me now. Eldar are intriguing because I like the mix of shooters and close combat. Chaos and Necros are not my thing, just personal preference.

How are Tyranids? I know they play differently, but I have read some battle reports with them and they seem cool.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Tyranids are basically the foil for guard (avoiding polar opposite as they still use masses of infantry). Nids is all about charging in. Some of their units do not have a ranged weapon of any sort, many dont come with one as standard (meaning you have to pay extra for them to shoot) and the ones that do come with one tend to either lack high AP, or just suck in general due to their average BS. To compesate, however, most of their units have phenominal stats for close combat compared to their cost (Hormagaunts, for example, cost only 6 points a piece, but rolls 3D6 and pick the highest for their Run Roll, rerolls all To Hit rolls of 1 in close combat, and have Initiative 5) They also possess just as much Monstrous Creatures as the Guard have tanks (give or take a few), as well as several MC-like units (namely, Hive Guards, Warriors, Ravenors, and the likes). Nids are not hard to use, but is just as hard on your wallet (basicall,y you shell out 5 bucks less for a MC than a Leman Russ tank). There's not much customization though, as the choices in the codex are really one-sided (some units are just flat out better than the others when you compare the points).

**grilledcheese**

Hmmm, interesting stuff. Thanks for all of the help Mecha, I guess it is time to go read the Codex's for a few army's and make my choice!