Fantasy player thinking of marines

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**blak43**

Hey, so I'm a mostly fantasy player, for about a year now, and people keep telling me that I should get into 40K as well because there so similar and yadda yadda yadda.

So anyway, I ordered a copy of the small rulebook off the internets and now I'm thinking armys, I've been looking into most of them a little but not much beyond a little bit of the strategy and which models I like more, mostly the models.

I've looked at a bunch of the army's and ruled them out for one reason or another, and currently at the top of my list would be space marines or one of the specific chapters.

So this is my question to the people of Dakka, what would you suggest as a way to get into space marines? To just go for the basic marines? One of the special chapters like blood ravens or dark angels? I really like the black templars, but I've been instructed that they are almost a strictly CC army and I'd like to have a bit more flexibility then that I think, what say you?

**MechaEmperor7000**

The Vanilla marine dex is more well-rounded, while BT and BA are more close-combat oriented. Space Wolves is another story entirely, as to me they seem to do alot of things just flat better than normal Marines.

In anycase, whichever army you choose will dictate what you wish to buy. BT and BA will both need you to procure some CC Marines (normally Assault Squads, but for BA you can get DC or Sang Guard, while BT can turn normal tact squads into assault squads with the addition of the Black Templar Upgrade Sprue). Going for basic marines, you cant go wrong with Tactical Squads.

Get the Assault on Black Reach set if you want marines. I know you already have the book, but the set comes with a decent selection of marine core choices, especially a really cheap tactical squad, terminator squad, and a Melta-Dread. The captain is nothing special, but is good fodder for conversions.

**Ogiwan**

40k is "similar" to Fantasy in that they are both made by Games Workshop, they both use similar stat lines, and they both use d6s. Other than that, they're different. The biggest difference, IMO, is that 40k lacks any serious tactics, unlike Fantasy.

That said, who do you play in Fantasy, and what sort of army are you looking for in 40k?

**hemingway**

pros:

- Marines are everywhere and you will have no trouble finding them used on the cheap

- They're a good solid army, with several OP codices.

- Simple to paint

cons:

- They're completely ubiquitous and dull (YMMV) and a very strong case has been made on hundreds of intertube threads that they are pretty cheezy.

- You can coast through a lot of games against a player of the same, or often greater skill and still win based on statline alone.

- Depending on your play style, there might be a more suitable army for you.

ALSO: if you do decide to go for the AOBR box set to get cracking on marines, I'll take your rulebook off your hands. Shoot me a PM.

**blak43**

The reason I'm not going for the AOBR box is just because the models are all like two piece add gun to marine, where I like the custom modelling options from the other sets.

in fantasy I have a beastmen army, a skaven army and will be going for an Orcs and goblins army when the new book comes out, so I want something... Not a horde army. I liked the look of the marines, tau, dark eldar, regular eldar, and somewhat less so the tyranids and demons.

I kind of what a melee oriented army, so that kind of took tau out of the picture and made reg eldar a little less interesting, tyranids are out because I have enough hordes, I would go Dark eldar in a minute if they had a proper starter box, and still consider them a bit, but at the moment the idea of painting marines really has my interest.

And I know 40K and fantasy are not the same but if you know one learning the other is easier.

**MechaEmperor7000**

40k is actually very similar to fantasy, but more of a "dumbed down" version of the rules. The To Hit and To Wound charts remain the same, but the "magic" phase is largely now just a Leadership test on whichever phase is the relevant one. Movement and armor saves got simplified too. Basically everyone's a skirmisher and you either get an armor save or not. It's not as different as back in 6th edition.

In anycase, if you do prefer to convert, and would like a melee army, I would suggest the Blood Angels Battleforce. The models themselves are much less chapter-specific (really, only the DC are specific to this chapter, and you can easily file off the blood drops) and gives you quite a bit of assault marines, plus the DC sprue comes with a wealth of extra bitz, perfect for converting. If you can, dont purchase the SM commander. The set is overpriced for what you get (another box of DCs can give you just as much extra bitz and still give you 5 elite marines).

If you like Close-quarter goodness, go with the BA or BTs. BTs have quite a number of fun rules, and their HQ, the Emperor's Champion, basically gives the Chaplain's buff to every single melee-capable unit (minus the Neophytes) in the army. However their organisation is not as varied as the BA, who have access to Devastator Squads and multiple Dreadnought variations, as well as newer vehicles like the Redeemer and Stormraven (which are, imo, better assault transports than even the Crusader Land Raider).

**Alkasyn**

The regular Space Marines are neat because they are exactly tht, regular. You can easily get the hang of the game with them. I started Warh with a regular SM army and later drifted to do different things.

That said, they are a little bland compared to other available Marines. Blakc Templars are crusading knights good in CC, Dark Angels are Knights with a terrible secret, Space Wolves are CC beasts with good shooting (arguably the best available Marine codex)and vikings in space and Blood Angels are Ancient Greek CC beasts while retaining the best shooting from the regular codex and having the Stormraven Gunship.

If fluff is not important for you then you can choose between them on the basis who is the strongest, which would probably mean Space Wolves or the Blood Angels. If you like flexibility and many different Special Characters, Vanilla Space Marines is the way to go. You can choose one of the specials, make him your HQ and he gives army wide USR to your guys, effectively changing how you fight.

**Son_Of _Deddog**

If I were stating right now, I'd choose Vanilla Marines. Balanced, with great flexibility. The only thing is, they're not that challenging to play; whether that's bad depends on you.

**blak43**

Hmmm, with what everybody's been saying I think I'll go with the black templars, I really like their fluff as the largest chapter and being on an eternal crusade with no planet to claim as home, as well as their striking white and black color scheme and simple cross symbol.

The only things that had sort of made me waver from the idea was a comment about their shooting not being as normal marines, and a bit the varience in symbology conventions (things like company markings which the black templars largely don't use. Though I suppose could be used anyway if you claimed it as a quirk of one of the crusades.)

Though I also think that I'll go for a blood angels battleforce to start, along with the emperor's champion, and something as and HQ choice. What would be a good choice for that by the way? Would a techmarine be a workable choice? I really love the model.

**MechaEmperor7000**

The Emperor's Champion is a manditory HQ choice at anything beyond 750 points, and is a very solid and (relatively) cheap choice. With the Blacksword and Oaths, he can effectively be a reclusiarch with a Relic Blade, while still being able to use a pistol in combat. You dont need much more beyond him.

If you are going with Black Templars, I will have to suggest you getting the vanilla marine battle force as well as a BT upgrade Sprue. What separates the BTs from normal marines is their ability to take Neophytes (Scouts, basically) along with their normal marine squads. This adds a hellishly large amount of abalative wounds for you to use to get your Rightous Zeal move, and leviates both the need for Transports and worry for loosing precious marines. This means that you will use all of the contents of the SM Battle Force, whereas normal marine players might just wanna unload the scouts on someone else (you should keep your eyes out for them, as the Battle Force only comes with 5 scouts, and you'll likely want more). Just remember though, that any Heavy weapons are wasted on them, as they'll likely always be moving, whether you want them to or not.

**blak43**

I know that the Emporer's Champion is a great choice, only I read that he doesn't count as an HQ choice and you need a minimum of 1.

**MechaEmperor7000**

He doesnt use up a slot, but does count as your one compulsory HQ. It's in the FAQs.