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.

Hi how is everyone? as you can tell I'm completely new to WH40K. I have collected many Hobbit and LOTR models but would like to start an army which I can do battle with.

My two favourites would have to be Eldar and Tyranids

Could someone help with telling me where to start and offer opinions of each army, thanks heaps !

Play Eldar and buy wave serpent transports for your troops.

Thanks have you ever played/painted Eldar ?

No but I have lost to Eldar and their basic transport so many times I lost count.

Wrath Knights are cool too.

I play against both races regularly and I can tell you now, Eldar are the much tougher race to beat and this is the opinion of most of my hobby store. I also think Eldar are better just because (if you're into reading and fluff) they have much more to offer in terms of stories and really getting to know the race. Tyranids are just simplistic and are next to impossible to go into detail about in novels, so that sucks if you're into the novels.
Another downside to Tyranids is if you ever plan on playing in a doubles event, you can only play with Tyranids, as they are enemies with everyone, whereas Eldar have a much broader alliance pool to pick from.

Though in saying all that, Tyranids seem like a much more fun army to play, as Eldar are very technical. And they're very cool being that the Tyranids are currently the greatest threat to the Imperium.

I know these aren't too practical for tips, but this is the kind of stuff I consider when buying armies. hope it helps.

I'll second daBIGboss on that one, the game is a lot more enjoyable if you are into your army's backstory.

If you have ever wanted to line up your models on one side of the board and just run across the board screaming, play tyranids. There is a bit more strategy to it then that, but the common theme is get there as quickly as possible and murdering everything in range. If you plant to/play in competitive/tournament scene, you will be running a variation of the same list if you want to win, ignoring 90% of the codex. In friendly/casual games you can run whatever catches your fancy.

If you want to play tag and they are it, play eldar. Eldar units are specialists, and are really really good at that special something, and pretty meh at everything else. They have a number of interesting competitive variations of lists, most involve their obnoxious transports (Wave Serpents). Expect a bunch of rules to get confused. Even in friendly games without running super competitive lists, they are a tough nut to crack. I've won once playing against them, and played against them 20 times or so and those where friendly, wave serpent-less lists.

HI , i am also new to WH40K

Hi Dude!

Hope you will enjoy the hobby.

The guys have pretty much said what each army is good at.
In saying that, I would just buy the models you like the look/theme of.

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

Hi, welcome to 40k!

Pick the army that most speaks to you.

Eldar are certainly OP right now, especially with Wave Serpent spam, but there are lots of other, fun ways to field them, so that both players enjoy the game.

For instance, in my last game as Eldar, I took a number of melee options, and charged across the table and into CC with Orkz. Probably not a solid tourny strategy, but outside of that, it can be effective, and my opponent really enjoyed the game.

Eldar have a lot of different ways to build an army. Swordwind, Windrider Warhost, Spirit Host, etc. In a casual game, just dont take too many of any unit, and you should be fine.

Don't know as much about Nids.

Hey! Welcome to Dakka Dakka!

General Duff described them well. You could go several ways with Nid's, you could have a screaming horde of miniatures that cover the table with a few heavies to kill tanks. I personally like the look of the overwhelming odds.

Nids are great, they were my first army (currently waiting for their new dex, hope its better than the last two) Eldar are freakin crazy right now with all those Wave Serpents, but you dont have to do that (and i seriously recommend that you dont otherwise your friends may beat you with the rulebook) Otherwise pick what you think would be fun, i personally found a genestealer horde to be a lot of fun.

 Bryzee1993 wrote:
Hi how is everyone? as you can tell I'm completely new to WH40K. I have collected many Hobbit and LOTR models but would like to start an army which I can do battle with.

My two favourites would have to be Eldar and Tyranids

Could someone help with telling me where to start and offer opinions of each army, thanks heaps !

Welcome to 40k and Dakka!!!

When I was starting I had narrowed it down as well. I finally decided by going down to the local shop I planned on playing at and looked at what army was least played. I did this because playing your own army 5 out of 10 times can get annoying. I am looking at starting a Eldar army because I already play a more CC themed game and wanted to be more "shooty"

Elder are techno space elves. They have a wide range of ranged weapons from Wraith cannons that are one of the more powerful strength weapons to weapons with special rules like distort that can shred armor.

The newer tyrannid army is going towards MC so there is a lot of large models that are able to shoot with some damaging effects but also crush figures in CC.

there are to many differences to really get into in a basic thread. I recommend finding a good game shop that has friendly people. if you go to one the owner or workers probably have a shop codex of those army's. tell them your story and they will almost certainly let you look it over while you sit around and watch a game or 2. If they don't allow that i would recommend finding a different shop if one is available. Most shops want more players as that means more money.

I hope you are able to make a decision you are happy with, and if you regret it most seasoned players have multiple armys. There are ways to play multiple army at the same time, but that is for later, once you have your knees wet.

Thanks everyone for your replies great to see this is a friendly community.

I've went ahead a picked up a dark vengeance kit from a local store I'm going to learn a bit more about rule/painting etc.

I'm definitely leaning towards Elder.

I found these to be quite helpful for my painting. Also available in physical book format from GW.

Dark Vengeance
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/how-to-paint-citadel-miniatures/id556017181?mt=11

Eldar
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/how-to-paint-citadel-miniatures/id653425125?mt=11

Tyranids- the 2nd one also comes with some background to Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan and Behemoth, the first is just a paint guide for the big 3 Hive Fleets
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/how-to-paint-citadel-miniatures/id787071804?mt=11
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/invasion-swarms-tyranids-painting/id940502133?mt=11

Hello! Welcome to Dakka Dakka!