Need Advice on first army

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**Shshan3**

Hello! I really want to start playing 40k, and can't decide on an army...I've tried heading into the nearby games workshop store, but unfortunatly they were extremely unhelpful. They barely acknowledged my existence even after I said I wanted to start playing and wanted to buy everything today. If I were them, I'd hear the Ka-ching! but moving on..

Could I get some advice on what each army's play styles are like? And perhaps some other good advice to starting out? Thanks!

**Dashofpepper**

Howdy!

While I'm not going to outline the play styles of each army for you (because with few exceptions, every codex can have multiple different kinds of builds), I will tell you this much.

1. Get a codex from a new army: Space Wolves, IG, Blood Angels, Dark Eldar.

2. Do some searching / asking specifically about those four armies. Older armies will have issues that a new player will struggle with. And as time goes by and you go from "Cool, I get to roll dice" into "How can I start winning games" you're going to end up wanting a new, competitive codex.

3. Once you decide on one of those codexes (and I urge you to pick one of them, and probably not DE), read through the codex, and see how other people are building armies. Go to vassal40k.info and build some lists and playtest them. Don't start buying models until you know what you're going to want in your list. This hobby is too expensive to spend a couple thousand dollars and realize that you don't have the models you want to build the army you want.

**Brother SRM**

Space Marines are probably your best bet for starting a new army. Their models are cool, up to date, and you don't need many of them. You can also get them fairly cheap through eBay or through the starter set, Assault on Black Reach. They're a fairly elite army, with less troops than most, but said troops are tough, good shots, and well armed and armored. Orks also come in the starter. They're a horde army; for the cost of one Marine you can almost get 3 Ork boyz. They're tough, terrible shots, but really nasty in close combat.

Eldar and Dark Eldar are finesse armies, full of "glass cannon" units that die to a stiff breeze but dish out the pain. Daemons can be similar but I don't know them too well. Chaos Marines, Space Wolves, Blood Angels and Black Templars are pretty similar to Space Marines, with some variation in each. Imperial Guard have hordes of troops supported by heavy armor and play the most like a "traditional" army from any other wargame. Tyranids have hordes of little bugs supported by bigger and meaner bugs.

Tau, Eldar, and Witchhunters are all fairly old and due for updates. I wouldn't start any of them right now unless you really like the look of their models.

EDIT: And, of course, choose an army and a color scheme you like! If you get models you hate, you won't want to paint them very much, and it'll kill your enthusiasm pretty quickly.

**Shshan3**

Hmm, I like the Space Wolves. Should I just start with buying the Codex, Battleforce and perhaps an HQ?

**Ballasar**

You could probably get away with just the battleforce for the Wolves. You get alot of extra pieces in the battleforce box, so you can build a custom HQ guy. So yeah Codex and battle force is a solid start to Space Wolves.

**Dashofpepper**

Alright, if you have it narrowed down to Space Wolves....do this:

1. Buy the codex.

2. Read it.

3. Make notes about the units that you like the sound of. Then visit Dakka and ask questions about them, how they work together, if a competitive army can be built out of them....I wouldn't start off with buying the battleforce box, because at this point, you don't know what kind of Space Wolf army you want to build. It comes with a drop pod, blood claws, scouts and grey hunters. Competitive Space Wolf lists don't really use blood claws, drop pods *severely* depend on the kind of army you are going to use, as do scouts. Grey Hunters are standard. Do you really want to shell out $90 when you might only use one part of a battleforce box? Do some reading (both of the codex and on Dakka and elsewhere) first.

If you want to skip straight into "What should I get to make an effective list?" then you should probably start acquiring the following:

15x Missile Launcher Longfangs + sergeants for each
2 runepriests
10-20 Grey Hunters
3-5 razorbacks

By the time you've got that sorted out, you'll have a pretty decent idea of where to go from there - there are *plenty* of threads and posts out there that can fill you in how building a decent Space Wolf list.

**Brother SRM**

Don't get the 15 missile launcher long fangs unless you honestly want them. They're the spammy unit du jour and most Wolf army lists posted here probably have them. Then again, Dash is a very competitive player and I'm very casual, so take that for what you will. He has a point in buying and reading the codex before doing anything else though. Getting basic troops like Grey Hunters can't hurt; getting a box of them and the codex is a decent start. I like wolf scouts, but I'm not much of a drop pod guy so the battleforce isn't really my cup of tea.

**Dashofpepper**

Not to mention Bloodclaws. =p

If a battleforce box has units in it that you're not likely to ever use....probably not a good buy. DE battleforce had reaver jetbikes - automatic bad purchase. =p

**Portaljacker**

Since my other thread relates to it why are the reaver jetbikes bad?

**Brother SRM**

Well, if you don't want them, then it's just a waste of money. GW really liked putting bikes in battleforces for the longest time. It's odd because most people who use bikes tend to make a very bike-centric force, and battleforces usually only have like three among all the more standard stuff.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Well if the battle force really would contain everything you'd want, why would you ever buy it outside of a battle force then?

**ph34r**

GW likes to make battleforces contain a variety of units, in movement type, weapon loadout, tactical usage, etc. This often coincides with GW wanting to put "alternative" or "competitively sub par" units in battleforces. After all, if battleforces contained the 100% competitive makeup of units, people would just buy battleforces.

**MechaEmperor7000**

Well they are suppose to be a starting point for any new army. a good selection of troops for the player to test out is helpful.

**Portaljacker**

Wolves are cool, and I seemed to be able to make an ok list from the battleforce + 2 transports.

On a side note no one seems to be responding on my thread and I can't bump it for 12 hours it seems. [/shameless plug]

**Mannahnin**

Dashofpepper wrote:Not to mention Bloodclaws. =p

Pssst. Bloodclaws are the same models as Grey Hunters. The SW battleforce is a good one, overall.

Dashofpepper wrote:If a battleforce box has units in it that you're not likely to ever use....probably not a good buy. DE battleforce had reaver jetbikes - automatic bad purchase. =p

I could swear that a month or so ago you were using Reavers. What changed?

**MechaEmperor7000**

Reavers got better with the update.

**Dashofpepper**

Mannahnin wrote:
Dashofpepper wrote:Not to mention Bloodclaws. =p

Pssst. Bloodclaws are the same models as Grey Hunters. The SW battleforce is a good one, overall.

Dashofpepper wrote:If a battleforce box has units in it that you're not likely to ever use....probably not a good buy. DE battleforce had reaver jetbikes - automatic bad purchase. =p

I could swear that a month or so ago you were using Reavers. What changed?

You must be thinking of someone else. I've used them in a total of one test game in the new codex, to my displeasure, and have 9 of them - configured as units of three with two blasters each....and even then (in the old codex), they were hardly worth it.

**Skinnereal**

Battleforces seems a good deal, if you add up the price of the bits you want, and compare to the BF price.
Sell off the bits you don't want.

Of the Eldar BF, I want the tank and walker, and the DA squad. Adding up prices, the tank and walker come to £5 below the BF price, to the DA's cost that. The Guardians are free, so can be sold off or kept, it doesn't matter.

**Laughing God**

Dashofpepper wrote:
Mannahnin wrote:
Dashofpepper wrote:Not to mention Bloodclaws. =p

Pssst. Bloodclaws are the same models as Grey Hunters. The SW battleforce is a good one, overall.

Dashofpepper wrote:If a battleforce box has units in it that you're not likely to ever use....probably not a good buy. DE battleforce had reaver jetbikes - automatic bad purchase. =p

I could swear that a month or so ago you were using Reavers. What changed?

You must be thinking of someone else. I've used them in a total of one test game in the new codex, to my displeasure, and have 9 of them - configured as units of three with two blasters each....and even then (in the old codex), they were hardly worth it.

Call me crazy or whatever... but what if hes not a competive player? I know he already said SW but what if he like the look and fluff of orks, nids, or even SoB? What if he is just from a small gaming club. You sir are a god of tournament play and I believed its made you a little bias to the other side of the hobby... the old "garage/basement, pretzels, and ale" side of the game. Got alot of respect for ya Dash but dont limit the guy.

Like everyone else has said (if SW is really what you want to play) then Id start out with the battle force and a couple transports and build what YOU like from there. Welcome to the hobby btw man

. You'll learn fast that GW employees are like that.

**Mr Hyena**

I'd advise you to take a full look at all the armies available; there are many and alot of the 'less popular' armies tend to make up for it with amazing fluff. Like Daemonhunters and Witchhunters.

The upcoming Grey Knights codex will be a very good purchase for a first army.

**Shadowmarine**

If you are going to go the marine way, you can pick up AoBR with just marines that's 20 tacs with bolter(grey hunters) 2 captains and 2 dreads. For like 70$ with the rules templates and really all you need less the codex.

**MechaEmperor7000**

For SWs I would advise against the AoBR set, mainly because you cant field Tactical Squads: you'd have to break down that squad into 9 Grey Hunters and make the lone ML guy into a Longfang. The Captain, likewise, is too well groomed to be a Wolf Lord, plus his equipment is not exactly optimal. The Terminators and Dreads are good choices though.

Get the codex first, write up a 1000 point list, and post it here. When you get enough feedback, check out exactly what you need to buy, and then go from there.

**Dashofpepper**

@Laughing God: Good Point.

@OP: There are two paths to 40k.

Path #1: My army is fluffy, I probably painted it well, it doesn't have a chance in hell of winning a game against a competitive person using a competitive list, but I don't go to tournaments anyway, so I don't mind losing - I console myself with how awesome my fluffiness is.

Path #2: My army is fluffy, I painted it well, but I chose from a codex that has the ability to be competitive, so as I improve, I will win more and more games. I may go to tournaments, and if I do, I'd like a shot at winning.

Which of those closer describes you?