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.

My little brother (9) wants to get in to the game, yet I don't know what army he should start to collect (I wont teach him the rules until he's a bit more mature, but I'll tell him which models to collect). So, I'm asking you, the Dakka Dakka community to help me. i dont want him playing orks, Blood Angels, Chaos space marines, vanilla marines, or IG because with my neighborhood group those armies are already being used and i want more variety.
what do you think would be good easy-to-paint and play army for my brother?

Thanks!

I think it is important not to restrict him from an army just because someone else already has it. If it is the army he likes best, he should go for it.

Necrons are probably the easiest army to paint.

Basic marines. SM are a Rey forgiving force. The 3+ save will help him a lot.

Well.....you eliminated just about all the options that are pretty easy to paint and build haha

Well...usually I would recommend a Marine army (for simplicity to learn later, easy to paint and easy to build) but that's out of the question.....well....the next two I would say for painting is Tau (usually pretty simple colors and flat armor sections) or Tyranids (usually low color count and large areas).

I would say Eldar, but they can get complicated to paint depending on what model it is. Oh, and Necrons. They are REALLY easy to paint, but usually kinda....boring....

But overall, I wouldn't restrict his armies. Let HIM pick which one he likes. Let him look at GW's website and look at all the models from all the armies. Like HIM pick which one he likes the look of the most. Then let him play them. That's how I choose my first army (which was IG, because I just liked the idea of normal human infantry against demons, advanced aliens, endless swarms, and superhuman Marines and still winning), and I love them. So let him get some say, don't restrict based on what YOU want

Orks, easy to paint fun to play and it doesn't matter if someone else has Orks because Orks are always fighting each other.

I'd agree with the others in that personal enjoyment of an army overrides potential oversaturation. Feel free to mention how this or that army would be more "unique", but it should be left to your brother to decide whether this is actually of any relevance to his decision.

Perhaps also consider using a variant of the starter armies. Valhallans, for example, are IG and are easy to paint, yet you won't actually see them played all that often because everybody and his mum is playing Cadians.

Just he may pick the same army does not mean it'll play the same. Just for orks there are the infantry flood, kan walls, kult of speed, shooty lists, and probably dozens more that I dont know of. All from one army and very different.

You're not going to let your little brother play those armies.

Because you don't want him to.

What?

 Lynata wrote:
I'd agree with the others in that personal enjoyment of an army overrides potential oversaturation. Feel free to mention how this or that army would be more "unique", but it should be left to your brother to decide whether this is actually of any relevance to his decision.

Perhaps also consider using a variant of the starter armies. Valhallans, for example, are IG and are easy to paint, yet you won't actually see them played all that often because everybody and his mum is playing Cadians.

TBH no one plays Valhallans because they are all metal and cost a small fortune.

I think you are trying to have too much control over what your brother does. Help him and guide him, but do not restrict him like that.

He might not even stick with it to play with your gaming group anyhow.

Space marines will also give him more choice later on, on what play style he prefers. So a good starter choice I think.

+ he can easily convert them into any space marine varient, giving him flexability if he doesnt like SM

Afraid ill have to agree with the majority here chap. Let your lil bro make his choice depending on which minis he likes best. I wouldn't place restrictions on him, it might put him off if you say "You can have X, but under no circumstance can you have X, X or X". And tbh some of the best games I've had have been between two of the same races.
As a few have said already, just because he might want Orks or IG, that doesn't mean that his force composition will be the same as anyone else's. Hell, I can throw at least 5 different Vanilla Marine builds out there, without breaking a sweat.

All this into account, I would almost certainly prod him towards SM. They are easy to paint, and very forgiving on the table. Not only that, but you don't need very many to get a sizeable force. They are the GW poster boys for a reason!

My proposal is Deathwing. It is easy to paint, easy to play and DA will soon have a shiny new codex.

Personally I think either Necrons, Space Marines, or Tau are the easiest to paint since they're pretty much all one or two colors.

Though originally broadcast for 5th Ed these are still relevant. Might I recommend:

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1457

And

http://theindependentcharacters.com/blog/?p=1460

hey dude. blood angels are red and thats just awesome. let him play what he wants.

AlmightyWalrus wrote:TBH no one plays Valhallans because they are all metal and cost a small fortune.

So no one plays them - fits the bill.

Yes, monetary concerns are a factor as well - depending on how much OP and his brother wish to spend. That being said, Valhallans are basically Space Soviets, which means you can also get "counts as" WW2 miniatures for way less than GW minis. I'd still recommend some conversion work of course (which may be a fun project in itself), and OP should check how non-GW minis would actually be accepted in his local community. I've heard that many gaming stores would ban them from games being played there?

A less "risky" option would of course be some Space Marine Chapter that is not represented in his area. Perhaps making up a custom one, or picking one of the lesser known Chapters to play. Celestial Lions ftw!

I find Necrons a better starter force than Marines, mainly because of durability. SM, though heralded as the forgiving and easy choice, is so targeted in the meta game that many of the advantages go away. It's extremely frustrating for a new (and young) player to get ready to roll saves and be told not to bother, because of AP.

Orks are more difficult to build but are also a good choice once the list is constructed. Volume of fire and loads of models, as well as a less serious attitude.

Nids or Eldar maybe.

For marines try Space Wolves or Black Templars.

Tau are cool looking for the younger crowd (less pointy and gribbly with big mech suits and laserguns) and have massive ally potential if he wants more different models. They're also a fairly simple playstyle (point, shoot) and look good with simple color schemes.

I wouldn't restrict the kid though, orks are always fun for younger players.

ok, ill lets him play what he wants. do you know any yellow space marine chapters? i just dont want him to play blood angels, cuz well, i play blood angels.

SuperBD7745 wrote:
ok, ill lets him play what he wants. do you know any yellow space marine chapters? i just dont want him to play blood angels, cuz well, i play blood angels.

vanilla marines painted yellow....... otherwise known as imperial fists

SuperBD7745 wrote:
ok, ill lets him play what he wants. do you know any yellow space marine chapters? i just dont want him to play blood angels, cuz well, i play blood angels.

Imperial Fists. Great story and possibilities that come with them too.

You could make up a space marine chapter, and have the main colour yellow.

Why don't you let him choose which army he wants to play himself by taking him along to one of your gaming events or local GW store so he can see which models he likes etc.

Show him some of the models from each race (the poster boy HQ, a basic grunt, and a tank or something), and give him a quick low down on each one as per the fluff; then make him decide which one he likes most from there.

The key - with no experience - is to let him pick an army that inspires him to paint. The other would be to have him play a couple of 500 pt games to find the style of play he likes. Between the two you should be able to identify an army he likes...

Couple of questions:

Is he detail oriented? If not he should stay away from psyker races. Psykers tend to be cast the spell at the right time on the right target at the right time. If they don't they die... So stay away from eldar and tyranids.

Does he like blood and guts assaults? If he does steer him to the CC races.

Does he like being the few the proud? If he likes the idea of quality and being heavily outnumbered but awesome troops... Tell him about Deathwing, Loganwing or GK terminator/paladin forces. Or perhaps berzerkers....

Guys, he commented back saying he would let his brother choose. And he implied his brother picked SM's and wanted to make them yellow because he asked about them. I don't know though, gonna have to ask him.

DAaddict wrote:
The key - with no experience - is to let him pick an army that inspires him to paint. The other would be to have him play a couple of 500 pt games to find the style of play he likes. Between the two you should be able to identify an army he likes...

Couple of questions:

Is he detail oriented? If not he should stay away from psyker races. Psykers tend to be cast the spell at the right time on the right target at the right time. If they don't they die... So stay away from eldar and tyranids.

Does he like blood and guts assaults? If he does steer him to the CC races.

Does he like being the few the proud? If he likes the idea of quality and being heavily outnumbered but awesome troops... Tell him about Deathwing, Loganwing or GK terminator/paladin forces. Or perhaps berzerkers....

QFT

 ph34r wrote:
I think it is important not to restrict him from an army just because someone else already has it. If it is the army he likes best, he should go for it.

This 1000 times over. Let him pick the army he actually wants to play. Because Ill be honest, a 9 y/o isnt really going to be a challenge as far as playing goes, so really his force wont be a shining example of that army anyways. At that age, just playing with an army that is his is all they care about. My son is turning 8 in a couple weeks and thats pretty much how he is with his Chaos. Doesnt give 2 gaks what direction his force is going, he just wants them to go. With your brother, youll be giving him choices more then he will make decisions, and rarely will a smart choice pop out of that as well