Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

WARNING - Long winded post ahead - and a few pictures
tl;dr at end

Okay so lets get the formalities out of the way, I've never played any miniature wargames, nor know anybody that does, 40k however, has always intrigued me. A friend of mine that liked to paint and model had some sets in his cupboard and let me mess about with them, it was a couple of boxes of Cadians, and a sentinel. So I'm a complete beginner and made a mess of my first few attempts but after powering through the first box I started to realise where I was going wrong, I have quite a few of these troops (picture soon) and will probably keep painting them or strip them back one day.

My personal pride of the bunch was the sentinel, now its by no means a masterpiece, but it is to me, I spent about a week on that baby and it still pales in comparison to some of the awesome stuff I have seen here, but hey, we gotta start somewhere right?

PICTURES so you know what I'm blabbing about







It's not the prettiest thing I know, and yes I dry brushed it, its still the best thing I have made and I'm damn happy with it

So that's me about a year ago, I paint some mini's, think I'm awesome and then some stuff happens in my life which makes me put all the non essentials aside for a while. I recently saw the same friend again and showed him what I had done with the units he had given me and expressed interest in continuing painting and maybe one day actually finding someone to teach me the rules of this game :p

Alright, enough of that, lets cut to the chase shall we?

to my absolute amazement, after coming home today I found he had left a package for me. Now let me tell you, this was no measly package, it was quite a large box (one that a computer case comes in no less) - there was a note pinned on saying 'cleared out attic and thought you might like these, I'll never use em, enjoy!'

now lets have a Look at what was inside shall we?



and



I swear I must now have practically every single paint GW has ever made, twice over!

not to mention a box full of bits and sprues from random IG stuff, some non warhammer stuff and a roll of greenstuff.

Now I'm not here to show off or gloat, but seriously, apart from be extremely thankful, where the heck do I begin with all of this stuff? It's clearly a lot of monies worth of kit and I don't wanna just jump in and mess it all up!
I am really an absolute beginner with all of this stuff, have no idea where to start, what to do or even how to paint properly. It looks like I pretty much have everything I will ever need so I was hoping the amazing guys of this forum could point me in the right direction with some ideas and tips?




tl;dr
Look at pictures^ what should an absolute beginner do with all that?

Edit: let me list for you what I have

Pretty much every paint + foundation + wash
Hobby Starter kit
Warhammer Warriors of Chaos regiment
2x Citadel Washes
Citadel Foundations

Catachan Heavy Weapons
2x Cadian Shock Troops
2x Cadian Command
Leman Russ Demolisher
Hellhound

2x Necron Warriors
4x Necron Destroyers

Ork Nobz
Ork Stormboyz
Ork Trukk

Space Marine Predator
Land Speeder Storm
2x Ironclad Dreadnaught
2x Space Wolves Pack
Wolf Gaurd Terminators
2x Grey Knight terminators (metal)
Scout Bike
Chaplain on Bike
Masters of the Chapter
Sisters of Battle Seraphim
Chaos Terminator Lord

Battlescape

Well, it's time for you start researching.

First, you should look into the lore for each army and choose the one that you like the best. You have a rather decent starting amount for Space Wolves, so that would be the best place to look first. Don't choose an army because of how competitive or powerful they may be.

Second, since you're in England, finding a place to play won't be much of an issue since there should be GW stores all over the place. Having a local place to play will be the most vital thing because it will motivate you to stay active in the hobby and you will be able to ask questions to other players of the same army that you might have chosen.

Go here to see where the nearest one is to you: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/storelocator/search.jsp

AresX8 wrote:
First, you should look into the lore for each army and choose the one that you like the best. You have a rather decent starting amount for Space Wolves, so that would be the best place to look first. Don't choose an army because of how competitive or powerful they may be.

Sorry, but I disagree with this. I don't think there is anything wrong with choosing an army based on how competitive or powerful it is. If you like to win, don't choose based on fluff, for the sake of baby Ghazghkull. I don't play because of fluff. Sure, my orks are awesome, but I disregard GW's fluff and write my own. That is how *I* choose to play.

You're asking for opinions, which will vary greatly. I only play one army, but my hubby plays 3. He started with one and then dropped it like a hot potato when he discovered it's not good with how he likes to play. He's a close-combat sort of fellow, so the shooting didn't work for his preferred play-style.

You may have an experience like that as well. You may try one and discover you hate it. If that happens, try another. It's why most people have more than one army. Cheers and welcome to 40k!

I started out the same way, sold that massive collection before joining the military and going over seas.

I stayed a fan while deployed and sent kits 'home' for several years.

After I got home I had nearly $8k in GW and Forge World kits and no place to live.

That's all changed now (luckily), but I feel your pain... but in this case pain is good!

I'd be surprised if anyone was drawn into such a hobby simply because they want to win, although I don't want to criticise anyone who was. I was drawn because the models looked cool. After that I was enthralled by the fluff, and only when I found a group of people to play with did I start using them to play with.

Some armies are easier to play than others, but in the hands of a committed and skilled player, any of them can be competitive. My advice would be to look at the models and read the fluff and then find one that appeals to you. If you settle on one then great, or you may like multiples, which is fine as well. If you settle on an army that you have models for then paint them up, but keep the rest for a while at least. It's a lot more fun if you have a group of people to play with, so go to your local hobby centre and talk to people. You don't have to play games with your models although it is quite fun, so watch a few or even join in as a beginner and see if you enjoy it.

One quick off-topic question?

How hard is to paint miniatures? And do you get some combo equipment to put on them when you buy them? ( for example you buy a marine squad and you have 2 plasma guns to use or 2 missile launchers ).

Brother Coa wrote:One quick off-topic question?

How hard is to paint miniatures? And do you get some combo equipment to put on them when you buy them? ( for example you buy a marine squad and you have 2 plasma guns to use or 2 missile launchers ).

Miniatures are as hard to paint as you want them to be. If you want to spray paint your guys blue and leave them at that, then that's easy enough. If you want to spend 5 hours per infantryman, that's up to you too. Almost every kit comes with options, like flamers, meltaguns, and what have you.

OP, I'm jealous. That is a heaping helping of stuff. It's all pretty daunting, as you yourself said, and I wouldn't know where to start with that much stuff! If I were you I'd focus on one army at a time, as you've got kits from half a dozen armies there. Alternately, look up what each kit is worth on games-workshop.com and trade it for stuff of equal value here on Dakka - that way, you can turn all those disparate Chaos Warriors, Grey Knights, and what have you into one hell of a Guard army!

Your painting as of a year ago is actually pretty good. Drybrushing is a legit painting technique, and you shouldn't sell yourself short for doing it.

Brother SRM wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:One quick off-topic question?

How hard is to paint miniatures? And do you get some combo equipment to put on them when you buy them? ( for example you buy a marine squad and you have 2 plasma guns to use or 2 missile launchers ).

Miniatures are as hard to paint as you want them to be. If you want to spray paint your guys blue and leave them at that, then that's easy enough. If you want to spend 5 hours per infantryman, that's up to you too. Almost every kit comes with options, like flamers, meltaguns, and what have you.

Thanks...

Brother SRM wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:One quick off-topic question?

How hard is to paint miniatures? And do you get some combo equipment to put on them when you buy them? ( for example you buy a marine squad and you have 2 plasma guns to use or 2 missile launchers ).

Miniatures are as hard to paint as you want them to be. If you want to spray paint your guys blue and leave them at that, then that's easy enough. If you want to spend 5 hours per infantryman, that's up to you too. Almost every kit comes with options, like flamers, meltaguns, and what have you.

OP, I'm jealous. That is a heaping helping of stuff. It's all pretty daunting, as you yourself said, and I wouldn't know where to start with that much stuff! If I were you I'd focus on one army at a time, as you've got kits from half a dozen armies there. Alternately, look up what each kit is worth on games-workshop.com and trade it for stuff of equal value here on Dakka - that way, you can turn all those disparate Chaos Warriors, Grey Knights, and what have you into one hell of a Guard army!

Your painting as of a year ago is actually pretty good. Drybrushing is a legit painting technique, and you shouldn't sell yourself short for doing it.

Thanks a lot for all of thus guys, I think I'm going to go ahead and take most of your advice, For now I'll probably stick with the Guard as it just seems my favourite army, I popped open a few other boxes (one Ork and One Necron) and let a friend have a go at them, its always nice to have someone to work with.

once again thanks for all the comments and kind words, lets see where I can take it from here eh?

Won't pretend I'm not a 'little' jealous here dude! But seriously, when I first started it was because a mate got me into it....

Yes it's an awful lot of stuff to look at, but id go with what some of the others have said. I see you picked IG? Good choice, they are the most easily 'bonded' to army in the 40k universe. Mostly because they are just like you and me!

Take your time, get you mate round to help put 'em together, have few beers and enjoy yourself!

One little tip. If you have not done so already, pop everything you have not opened in a large cupboard somewhere. 'Cos if you don't you may well get distracted from your current IG project and start something else. If that happens, you may never get anything worthwhile done.

So speaks the voice of experience.......