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My friends and I are currently trying induct another person into the game and when we were asked which race was the easiest to play it sparked a debate. So the question now comes to you. Which race is the easiest to play? My vote was Necrons due to their limited model choices and nonexistant upgrade list it would seem they are the easiest army to play.

Necrons is the worst choise as the codex is very weak. I would say vanilla marines, and get the AOBR sett.

.....space marines....whoops I fethed up... oh well.. 3+ armor, it's all good

'Crons are easy to build a list for, but not so easy to play.

The 'nilla Marines are a lot more oops-proof.

I though space wolves and imperial guard would be all the rage in this thread...

And no... necrons would be the hardest to play (unless you don't plan on winning of course)

SM about the easiest and are what most people start with, once you get the rules with them, every other race becomes easier since you have a better grasp on how they work compared to SM. My vote is SM, with a alternative of maybe orkz.

Squats. Very few rules to remember.

Not Nids or Eldar, I'd argue they're much harder to grasp than Necrons. Necrons are difficult to win with, but they are very simple to understand.

Andilus Greatsword wrote:Not Nids or Eldar, I'd argue they're much harder to grasp than Necrons. Necrons are difficult to win with, but they are very simple to understand.

Yea, quite a few special rules and vastly more complex play-styles on these guys.




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Nightbringer's Chosen wrote:Squats. Very few rules to remember.

Oh! very true... very true indeed ^_^

Just about any marines army is easy to start with.

I've been told, "Nids are for Kids", I don't know if this is trash talking. I just started and I decided on Orks not because it would be easy or whatever but because they seem like the most fun.

To be honest, the armies seem to be the easiest part of the game to understand, what gets complicated is the sometimes vague and contradicting rules in the BRB.

Marines are *not* the easiest to start with. There's a lot to deal with. More unit choices than most other codexes ('cept maybe IG, but I don't own that book). All kinds of styles of play too. Drop Pod lists, Rhino spam, LR, etc and this goes for the rest of the SM books too. Having a Rapid Fire wep as the army's main gun means a lot of "Do I shoot or pistol and assault?" Ooh, there's some Banshees, so stay back? Yup.
Fire Dragons? Assault!
Bugs? Shoot!
Orks? Shoot!
Other SM? Err, well what's he got?

Rhinos or Razors?
LRC, LRR?
Drop Pods?
Dreads? Ven? Ironclad?
Libby? Sure, that's easy as the other HQ choices (chap & Cap't) aren't as good. Powers?

There's a lot going on, and therefore not the easiest to start with.

The easiest army to play is Orks. Hands down.

The army is as very straight forward as the command, "Sick 'em!" Banshees? Shoot and Assault! Scorpions Shoot and Assault! Wyches? Marines? Other orks, bugs, tau? Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault!!!!!

Okay, one does not "Shoot and Assault" dreadnoughts, but orks have very little variation in their approach. One might consider tau the same, given all you do is shoot things, but it's a complicated army to set up and then apply the various guns at the right targets. Ork use is pretty much non-descriminatory.

And right now, it's easy for the OP's buddy to get an ork army, as a lot of players don't bother with the orky half of the AoBR box, and loads of bits should be available, either at FLGSs or online, ebay.

Orks are by far the easiest. Easiest to get into cheaply, easiest to play. I stopped playing Orks because I found it was too easy to play/win, and I play SW and IG!

Vanilla Marines get my vote as the best starter army though for one simple reason. Everyone knows how they work and so it is easier to learn how to play them.

I wrote a few articles about starter armies, for Capture and Control. They are a bit old but still have relevant info.

Capture and Control: Space Wolves: The Perfect Starter Army?

Capture and Control: New Player 101

I don't really understand why a person would want, "the easiest" army to play, as if your choice is based on how simple the army is... you WILL regret making that decision.

I have never regretted picking up my tyranids. I started the game with tyranids, and there is a lot of rules to remember with them. But they are cool, and have some interesting abilities.

So here is the question you should be asking: What does your friend think looks interesting? Zombie robots? If so, it shouldn't matter how hard it is to win with them... because they are cool looking and when someone is just starting you should be going easy on them anyway.

Chaos? Then daemons or CSM. very easy with chaos to fit your personality as well using the gods as gateways.

imperials? Regular army men in a normal almost current age like feel would be IG, and Space marines for super soldiers, whose chapters can be customized similar to chaos.

Like the idea of toying with your opponent to inflict as much pain as possible? Dark eldar are your army.

Civil? Eldar greater good? Tau.

There are 14 armies in the game. Choose based on what looks cool... not what is the easiest to get the hold of...

My friend's reasoning was that if he got the simplest army to start, it'd be easier to build them up play some games to get an understanding of the game and practice painting. Then once he felt he had a good grasp of how things worked he could choose to stay with that army or strip it and trade/sell it. I started with crons and glad I did. I looked at the codex for several armies and was overwhelmed by the options, their costs and what they did. The lack of options for crons made it 10 times more simple to get into the game and not stress out on what to equip the army with. I still stress today about what to equip guys with and if I want to keep it that way in future games just because I don't want to ruin the paint job.


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I feel any marine faction can be difficult to play depending on how long you've played and how good your tactics are. I played vanilla marines and thought certain things would work and they are actually considered poor, also as already mentioned the different viable builds that go with them can be confusing to new players.

wisdomseyes1 wrote:I don't really understand why a person would want, "the easiest" army to play, as if your choice is based on how simple the army is

For the same reason you don't start on the black diamond run on a mountain when learning to ski. For the same reason coaches train a team in the pre-season before actual competition starts. If you start at a competitve level, you're going to get your ass handed to you ... a lot. I don't see 40k as a 'sink or swim' kind of thing.

wisdomseyes1 wrote:... you WILL regret making that decision.

How? If you don't like the army you picked sell it and move on. Yeah, it'll be a loss on the $, but GW models aren't investiments.

wisdomseyes1 wrote: Choose based on what looks cool... not what is the easiest to get the hold of...

I bought Swooping Hawks last year, because they looked cool and were cheap ($2 per in the bits bin). Given what every eldar player knows, that they're the worst unit in the 'dex, had I known, they might've stayed in the bin. I'd say that invalidates your advice.

Do I regret it? Naw. There will be a new codex ... in 7 years or so. *And* they're going to be scourges for my DE army.

Well, necrons and tau are the worst armies in the game... would you say to a person who wants to play these armies that they shouldn't even try, or that it would be an uphill battle?

If orks was the army choice that I had... i would stop playing 40k. They just aren't me. Their fluff is funny... but at the same time uneventful. Orks are boring in my opinion, and I have no fun playing them.

Tyranids and daemons are both fun for me to play, so even if I loose sometimes, it doesn't matter, because each game is still fun.

If you just want to win... just by as many razorbacks and longfangs as you can get your hands on... or chimeras and veterans with matacors and valkuries. That is how you win... but it isn't how you play.

How you play is the fun aspect. You can win every game and be happy with yourself. But, if you always play games at a competitive level... the game becomes very boring... especially for a starting player.

I get in the top 3 in my local tournies (which local tournies mean nothing to people in most cases) with my daemons army... considered to be very low in terms of usability.

They are fun, more difficult to use because of their special rules... but so what? You adapt and make them your own...

SM are the easiest to learn to play because they are so forgiving. Also once you learn the SM rules, units, and tactics you have about 50% of the game mastered because so many armies and models use the same rules. Start with a xeno race and you have to learn them and everything else all at once.

I'd have to say SM are forgiving against other SM. Against guard, eldar, Grey Knights or DE, your 3+ means gak as soon as you make that mistake. I'll throw my vote down for guard as the most forgiving army. Lost 10 guys? No problem, have 50 more. Shoulda shot that heavy weapon at something else? No problem, here's another 5 to take pot shots with.

SM of any flavour. The spikey ones are the easiest I would say, but that's because of the old but still good 'dex.

Any Space Marine codex would be the most forgiving, +3 armor and a boat load of babysitting rule (drop pods, ATSKNF, stuff like that) and generally good options

Guard I'd say are the easiest to win with. They have a slightly higher (lower?) learning curve, but have a greater power to ease of use ratio.

Plain vanillarines

I personally, think orks are the easiest. You need very little skill to throw them at your enemy like rotten Veg at a guy in the stocks, and very little skill to covert things. like a chimera into a Looted wagon fer example.

I like da orks. No matter what you play there is something to counter it.

fer example, you play marines- Boomguns.
you play eldar- Loadza boyz
you play... crons?- Dakka Dakka!

Space marines are traditionally the easiest army to filed for two reasons: firstly, they own people on the field and due to their armies consisting of a few uberhumans they are very cheap (£). I noticed some people in this thread pointed out that SM armies can have quite complex tactics behind them, and indeed very specialised lists can be made, but they can also be used very simply (i.e. the classic tactic of stand there shooting people behind your armour).

they used to be crap in the old codex, but no that they cost 5pts/model the IG rule. a litle more difficult tacticaly than the space marines, but if you field hordes of infantry with liberally aplied heavy weapons then you cant go wrong. unfortunatly it is a litle expensive to play guard due to the necessaty of thousands of men.

the great thing about both these armies is that there is a fathomless depth of backgound and extra rules, so even though they are both "easy" you can still become suitably imersed in you chosen army.

I would argue that the "easiest" army to play would be the same as the one with the least amount of viable strategical and tactical options. It is easier, or at least less complicated, to put together an army if the codex has only 4-5 good units, just as it is easier to make the right tactical decisions if they are your only (sensible) options. Obviously necrons come to mind here, so you could say I agree with your assessment, however necrons kinda suck.

If you mean to ask which "race" is the easiest to play competitively, I guess most would say some form of space marines, probably SW. Drive razorbacks onto objectives -> shoot missiles -> win game (is the theory).

Truth is all armies operate within the same set of rules. How well you know and understand the rules is going to matter ways more than which army you play. Learn the rules well enough and you can compete with any army (book), but no army is going to give you an easier time until you do.

My vote goes to Chaos SM

5xLash + 9xOblits still very strong combo

morover CSM are very forgiving as they pack almost everyhing that SM have to offer ...

Brothererekose wrote:Marines are *not* the easiest to start with. There's a lot to deal with. More unit choices than most other codexes ('cept maybe IG, but I don't own that book). All kinds of styles of play too. Drop Pod lists, Rhino spam, LR, etc and this goes for the rest of the SM books too. Having a Rapid Fire wep as the army's main gun means a lot of "Do I shoot or pistol and assault?" Ooh, there's some Banshees, so stay back? Yup.
Fire Dragons? Assault!
Bugs? Shoot!
Orks? Shoot!
Other SM? Err, well what's he got?

Rhinos or Razors?
LRC, LRR?
Drop Pods?
Dreads? Ven? Ironclad?
Libby? Sure, that's easy as the other HQ choices (chap & Cap't) aren't as good. Powers?

There's a lot going on, and therefore not the easiest to start with.

The easiest army to play is Orks. Hands down.

The army is as very straight forward as the command, "Sick 'em!" Banshees? Shoot and Assault! Scorpions Shoot and Assault! Wyches? Marines? Other orks, bugs, tau? Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault!!!!!

Okay, one does not "Shoot and Assault" dreadnoughts, but orks have very little variation in their approach. One might consider tau the same, given all you do is shoot things, but it's a complicated army to set up and then apply the various guns at the right targets. Ork use is pretty much non-descriminatory.

And right now, it's easy for the OP's buddy to get an ork army, as a lot of players don't bother with the orky half of the AoBR box, and loads of bits should be available, either at FLGSs or online, ebay.

This is filled with so much win and correctness it covers my answer very neatly.

Even a bad Ork list is generally able to cause some ruckus, and the basic tenants of good Ork play can be summed up very easily. Like many armies they'll still take a while to maste - but the basic gist of use PKs and Bosspoles, brings lots of boyz, waaaagh are fairly universal and simple.

Why not let him try a few of your armies first to see which army is desirable to him fluff and tactics wise? Maybe lend him a few codices to thumb through.

Thor665 wrote:

Brothererekose wrote:Marines are *not* the easiest to start with. There's a lot to deal with. More unit choices than most other codexes ('cept maybe IG, but I don't own that book). All kinds of styles of play too. Drop Pod lists, Rhino spam, LR, etc and this goes for the rest of the SM books too. Having a Rapid Fire wep as the army's main gun means a lot of "Do I shoot or pistol and assault?" Ooh, there's some Banshees, so stay back? Yup.
Fire Dragons? Assault!
Bugs? Shoot!
Orks? Shoot!
Other SM? Err, well what's he got?

Rhinos or Razors?
LRC, LRR?
Drop Pods?
Dreads? Ven? Ironclad?
Libby? Sure, that's easy as the other HQ choices (chap & Cap't) aren't as good. Powers?

There's a lot going on, and therefore not the easiest to start with.

The easiest army to play is Orks. Hands down.

The army is as very straight forward as the command, "Sick 'em!" Banshees? Shoot and Assault! Scorpions Shoot and Assault! Wyches? Marines? Other orks, bugs, tau? Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault, Shoot and Assault!!!!!

Okay, one does not "Shoot and Assault" dreadnoughts, but orks have very little variation in their approach. One might consider tau the same, given all you do is shoot things, but it's a complicated army to set up and then apply the various guns at the right targets. Ork use is pretty much non-descriminatory.

And right now, it's easy for the OP's buddy to get an ork army, as a lot of players don't bother with the orky half of the AoBR box, and loads of bits should be available, either at FLGSs or online, ebay.

This is filled with so much win and correctness it covers my answer very neatly.

Even a bad Ork list is generally able to cause some ruckus, and the basic tenants of good Ork play can be summed up very easily. Like many armies they'll still take a while to maste - but the basic gist of use PKs and Bosspoles, brings lots of boyz, waaaagh are fairly universal and simple.

Yep... I can tell you first hand the learning curve with Orks is way more forgiving that the learning curve with space marines. Sure, they get a 3+ save (compared to everyone elses 4+ cover save), but the limited models and higher cost of units make it far less forgiving. The number of choices in list building means it takes far more experience to build a good list. Orks don't really have that problem. Even as an experienced player it took me a while to start winning more than 50% with space marines... meanwhile, ever since I picked up Orks in 5th edition it is hard to lose. Even when I make mistakes, the army strength covers for player weakness. The number of play mistakes you can make as an Ork are far less than what you can make as a SM. If you want something easy to play, definately go Orks.

-Myst

If you're prone to depression, don't start with Orks. 6+ armour saves, the inability to shoot anything, and HUGE kill piles may well drive you over the edge.

If I'd started the game playing as Space Marines, I'm not sure I'd still be playing. They're very forgiving, sure, but I find them quite dull to run. They're certainly a good army for the younger player, though, who may not have a strong grasp of tactical warfare or patience for learning some of the more complicated abilities of other races. And I don't mean for that to sound condescending to SM players; I play them as well.