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Im looking to get into war hammer 40k, it seems really fun and interesting to me. i just dont know where to start can anyone help me?

The rumour is that the current rules are getting a revision, so you might want to wait on getting the game rules or anything like that for a little while.

I would recommend getting a squad of guys you think are cool and getting some paint and watching miniature painting videos on youtube. Check this out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr0dufkF0J0&list=PLB0292071C3B38CAC

If you are looking for a good online store to buy your stuff, I'd recommend Discount Games Store, Miniature Market and The War Store.

http://www.vendio.com/stores/Discount_Games_Store <-- I use these guys and haven't ever been disapointed.

Hi friend, and welcome to the hobby!

Before you get more into the hobby and want to see if the game is for you, I would suggest that you should try asking the flgs, they usually have armies that they use to introduce new players to the game.

As for getting the right army for you, I would suggest battleforces for the army, like these:

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Space-Marine-Strikeforce

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Cadian-Defence-Force

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Eldar-Battleforce

Before you invest in those though, try getting the smaller paint startsets, just ask for them in the store, they almost always have them and many stores also offer free miniatures that you can try out and paint!

If you really are investing in GW products, I would recommend sites like:
http://www.waylandgames.co.uk/?ccUser=
since they usually offer discount and if you're buying a lot, the discount really adds up!

I hope this helped and again, welcome to the hobby!

The painting for free at a local GW is a good idea if you have one available. I'd highly recommend against a big purchase like an army set or a battleforce until you find out if you actually like assembling and painting the miniatures though.

The original poster is also in the US and wayland will not ship GW product outside the EU. Wayland is alright for non-GW hobby stuff and paints though. I prefer Troll Trader though.

You can always try Vassal 40k as an intro to it all.

Vassal is a wargaming program that has modules you use given the game you wish to play. The software itself is just the medium to play the game, the rules and game mechanics are still "brought" to the program by the players.

I tend to loaf around that program, digitally loiter if you will. I am always happy to give a learning game to anyone. No, Im no GW employee. I just like sharing what i love when its comes to warhammer.

Hi and welcome!

I too am just getting started. If you just want to get your toes wet, check out ebay. You can often find pre-painted minis pretty cheap over there. They may not be the best paint job, or all the same for your army, but it will give you some minis to start with.

The other option, is to buy an army outright on ebay, but that can be really expensive. I would only do that if you have money to burn and really THINK you will like the game.

I also recommend waiting for the next rule book that is suppose to drop this month,
Thanks,
Duncan

I'd start with a few warnings first, so you know what you're getting into.

1) The game is expensive, quite a bit more so than similar games (dropzone commander, warpath, infinity, for instance).
2) Currently, the game is somewhat unbalanced. There are some armies with access to very powerful units/combinations, to the point that some lists can be beaten only by similarly "overpowered" lists. Depending on how you play and who you intend to play with this may or may not be a problem.
3) There is a new rulebook in the works apparently (old one has been pulled from the shelves at GW stores, but they're still selling the dark vengeance starter set), so you may want to hold off on purchasing rules for the time being.

with that out of the way, I'd start with you before talking about armies and models.
What aspect of 40k appeals to you the most?
Gaming? painting/collecting? the background/fluff?

If it's gaming, look around on the internet and see what faction appeals to you the most in terms of playstyle.
There are 3 phases to a turn. Movement, Shooting, Assault (melee combat). Some armies do one of these exceptionally well while being weak in the others, some armies do all of these equally well, but they are outmatched in any of these phases by a specialist army.
For example, Tau and Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum now) have a solid shooting phase, with Tau being somewhat more mobile and flexible than the Imperial Guard, but both will get slaughtered if an assaulty army makes it to their lines.
Read up on the factions, maybe watch some battle reports and then pick whatever style appeals to you the most.

If modeling and painting are your main reasons for getting into 40k, then look at pictures of the armies and models. Codices (army books) and rulebooks have a selection of studio photos of the armies and a painting section, but the biggest resource at your disposal is the internet. take a look at the gallery here on dakka and then pick the army whose looks you like best.

If you are intrigued by the background, there are numerous wikis that can give you a basic outline of the universe and different armies. Lexicanum is the first that comes to mind. Read up, and then decide what army to get.

Once you've picked your army, a good place to start would be a battleforce (they are usually sold at a little discount over buying the components separately) and then flesh it out with whatever's missing (a HQ choice, elites and possibly fast attack or heavy support, depending on the army/style you chose, or even more troops). At this point you'd also need an army book. At 500 points you can play small games.

If you choose Space Marines (Dark Angels) or Chaos space marines, the starter set is quite cheap for what you get (2 HQ, 1 troop, 1 Elite, 1 fast attack for Space Marines, 1 hq, 1 elite, 2 troops, 1 heavy support of chaos I think), even though the rules will likely be obsolete in less than a month.
This may change if they introduce a new starter set.

Ebay can be a good source for models on the cheap, but keep in mind that you are likely to miss out on all the bitz that come in new boxes (extra weapons, different heads etc) and that you may have to strip painted miniatures in order to repaint them the way you like.

Third party online retailers will often sell new products (as in not used) at up to 30% off, but they usually carry limited stock and the wait for out of stock items can be atrocious at times. You may not order from european vendors because GW has basically region-locked their product via their trade terms.

If you have the opportunity, try the game before investing any money in it (at GW stores/ FLGS/ friends who already play).

Welcome to 40k by the way.

Rvcs01 wrote:
I'd start with a few warnings first, so you know what you're getting into.

1) The game is expensive, quite a bit more so than similar games (dropzone commander, warpath, infinity, for instance).
2) Currently, the game is somewhat unbalanced. There are some armies with access to very powerful units/combinations, to the point that some lists can be beaten only by similarly "overpowered" lists. Depending on how you play and who you intend to play with this may or may not be a problem.
3) There is a new rulebook in the works apparently (old one has been pulled from the shelves at GW stores, but they're still selling the dark vengeance starter set), so you may want to hold off on purchasing rules for the time being.

with that out of the way, I'd start with you before talking about armies and models.
What aspect of 40k appeals to you the most?
Gaming? painting/collecting? the background/fluff?

If it's gaming, look around on the internet and see what faction appeals to you the most in terms of playstyle.
There are 3 phases to a turn. Movement, Shooting, Assault (melee combat). Some armies do one of these exceptionally well while being weak in the others, some armies do all of these equally well, but they are outmatched in any of these phases by a specialist army.
For example, Tau and Imperial Guard (Astra Militarum now) have a solid shooting phase, with Tau being somewhat more mobile and flexible than the Imperial Guard, but both will get slaughtered if an assaulty army makes it to their lines.
Read up on the factions, maybe watch some battle reports and then pick whatever style appeals to you the most.

If modeling and painting are your main reasons for getting into 40k, then look at pictures of the armies and models. Codices (army books) and rulebooks have a selection of studio photos of the armies and a painting section, but the biggest resource at your disposal is the internet. take a look at the gallery here on dakka and then pick the army whose looks you like best.

If you are intrigued by the background, there are numerous wikis that can give you a basic outline of the universe and different armies. Lexicanum is the first that comes to mind. Read up, and then decide what army to get.

Once you've picked your army, a good place to start would be a battleforce (they are usually sold at a little discount over buying the components separately) and then flesh it out with whatever's missing (a HQ choice, elites and possibly fast attack or heavy support, depending on the army/style you chose, or even more troops). At this point you'd also need an army book. At 500 points you can play small games.

If you choose Space Marines (Dark Angels) or Chaos space marines, the starter set is quite cheap for what you get (2 HQ, 1 troop, 1 Elite, 1 fast attack for Space Marines, 1 hq, 1 elite, 2 troops, 1 heavy support of chaos I think), even though the rules will likely be obsolete in less than a month.
This may change if they introduce a new starter set.

Ebay can be a good source for models on the cheap, but keep in mind that you are likely to miss out on all the bitz that come in new boxes (extra weapons, different heads etc) and that you may have to strip painted miniatures in order to repaint them the way you like.

Third party online retailers will often sell new products (as in not used) at up to 30% off, but they usually carry limited stock and the wait for out of stock items can be atrocious at times. You may not order from european vendors because GW has basically region-locked their product via their trade terms.

If you have the opportunity, try the game before investing any money in it (at GW stores/ FLGS/ friends who already play).

Welcome to 40k by the way.

What he said^. I would add because the game is expensive, GW doesn't care much about the quality of their product or customers ref game quality and gouging with absurd prices along with the poor balance that you really understand this before spending lots of time and money and then getting frustrated and bitter. If you are not dissuaded by the problems read these forums and others like them and hopefully find other players to learn from. I would also proxy models a lot until you are sure this is the game you wish to play and the army/units you want to use. If I knew then what I know about the game and GW now I never would have spent a nickel on this game. Forewarned is forearmed.

I thank you all for your help so far, and what do you think of dark vengeance, would that be a good place to start? I have a friend who also wants to play and get into it and dark vengeance comes with 2 armies so I don't see any reason not too get it.

Paramore fan club wrote:
I thank you all for your help so far, and what do you think of dark vengeance, would that be a good place to start? I have a friend who also wants to play and get into it and dark vengeance comes with 2 armies so I don't see any reason not too get it.

Its a great kit, only reason not to get it is becuase 7th edition is right around the corner, and then there will probabally be a new starter kit, with the new rules.

Paramore fan club wrote:
I thank you all for your help so far, and what do you think of dark vengeance, would that be a good place to start? I have a friend who also wants to play and get into it and dark vengeance comes with 2 armies so I don't see any reason not too get it.

If any of you wants to play Chaos or SM/DA, go for it. Even without the rules it's worth getting for the models alone (I think if you add up retail price for the individual SM units you either reach or pass the cost of DV. Downside is you get fixed poses and no bitz). Otherwise wait for the new set (or at least wait for reliable news on its content and then snag the last boxes of DV at FLGS around you if the new boxes don't appeal to you).
If neither of you wants SM/DA or chaos, you could get it, learn the basics and then sell the armies on ebay after a while when you get the new rules (with starter set maybe), or just keep the models in case you want to start a second army further down the line.

Paramore fan club wrote:
I thank you all for your help so far, and what do you think of dark vengeance, would that be a good place to start? I have a friend who also wants to play and get into it and dark vengeance comes with 2 armies so I don't see any reason not too get it.

Dark vengeance is a good starter, but it's not the only way to begin. DV is at its best when you sort of don't have anyone else to play with, and so it introduces two new players to the game.

I agree that the first thing you should do is to try and find a local game store. Very often they will have a 40k night. I'd show up and spend time talking to people. Look at minis, watch a few games as they're played. Ask lots of questions. Really try and get a feel for the game. Undoubtedly you'll find people more than willing to share about their army and things.

Soon we're going to be getting a new rulebook. When it drops, I'd pick up a copy. There are a ton of rules, but once you've seen a few games played, that little bit of familiarity will help a lot. Also, you don't need to read and memorize all the rules right away. In fact, you can sort of skip over them to begin with. I'd actually spend most of your time just reading the fluff part of the book. Look at pictures, read about the different armies. Find something that catches your interest.

Once you get close to deciding on your first army, I'd talk to some more people about it, in person and on internet. Just to kind of get a feel for what you're getting into. More about the fluff and play style, etc. When you've chosen an army, I'd get a few minis and start getting into the painting and modelling a bit. When you've got a squad or two done, I'd start asking people at the game store to get some demo games in. You could also be doing this all along as well, to get more of a feel for the game, and what you like.

The end of the beginning is when you have the rules, the codex for your army, and a legal army of two troops choices and an HQ up and painted. With a little work, depending on the army, to get up towards 500 points or so. Then you'll be able to play small, but full games.

Anyways, there is a lot that there is to get into. Just let us know if you have any other questions.