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So I thought about getting into WH40k .
I wonder what miniatures should I get first. I thought about the Dark Vengeance, but I was more into starting to collect Eldar or Space Wolves.
I don't have anyone to play with and don't exactly know how to (I have watched multiple Battle reports and the game seems interesting, also I enjoy the lore of the 40k universe) So the Dark Vengeance might be good at trying to get my friends to try the game?
I'm a student so there isn't that much money flowing so I would not like to spend loads of money into something my friends might not be interested of at all, unless of course I can find some wh40k group nearby. Even then I would at least like to start from small and not invest 200€ first.

So an affordable, usable (large enough for some kind of games) force that would hopefully be cost efficient, Something that would help me get to understand the mechanics and still be usable later on (Even though I really like painting them, I dislike the idea of just leaving them on the shelf because they are bad units that are not worth it at all to use or be a part of some army that is not logical to be deployed with the army that I might switch into after learning the basics)

I am happy to hear also suggestions on which faction to collect.

The starter sets really are a lot of bang for your buck, and they come with the main rulebook which you will need. You can also rework the models with a bit of effort, so if you don't want them to be Dark Angels, you can use them as something else after cutting off markings, etc. The chaos models that come in that set are a good start, as cultists are good cannon fodder, but don't expect them to win. All in all, pick which army aesthetically pleases you the best, then read up about how the army performs. I play chaos, and I very rarely win, but I still love working on the models. So you have to figure out your happy place between playing and modeling.

The Eldar and Space Wolves Start Collecting kits are both good value for powerful models, though the SW one has more models in it. The Eldar one contains only 5, but 4 of those you will likely run in every army and the formation included makes the other one great also. If you wanna have more models for the money I'd say get SW. Welcome!

Reworking models sounds difficult, especially when you would need to carve off parts of the model and some of the models are extremely detailed (also those robes won't come off) and I think that the dark vengeance starter kit models are made of fewer parts and are thus more difficult to change their chapter.
I saw that once was some kind of packet called Stormclaw or something? Are these completely unavailable now?

I guess the Space Wolves starter kit or Dark Vengeance is the way to go?
Though with the Space Wolves starter kit I won't be starting any games unless someone wants to buy some models too.

MartianCow wrote:
Reworking models sounds difficult, especially when you would need to carve off parts of the model and some of the models are extremely detailed (also those robes won't come off) and I think that the dark vengeance starter kit models are made of fewer parts and are thus more difficult to change their chapter.
I saw that once was some kind of packet called Stormclaw or something? Are these completely unavailable now?

I guess the Space Wolves starter kit or Dark Vengeance is the way to go?
Though with the Space Wolves starter kit I won't be starting any games unless someone wants to buy some models too.

I started into this hobby with dark vengeance, and other than the cultists and rulebook, I was not very pleased once I got deeper into the hobby. I would actually lean towards start collecting boxes.
If you are more model centric, then yes pick the coolest looking Army that is asthetically pleasing to you. If you wanna play, and modeling is the gateway to games, then pick an army that performs well. There are other factors in play then, do you like to stand back, or charge forward, do you want both?
How is your painting skill? do you want to start out with easy to paint or dive right in? These questions will help drive you in the right direction.

Always, always, always pick the army you like the most, don't pick it because it's op/cheap just pick it because you like the models, it will help you enjoy the hobby much more.
you could pick up two start collecting sets as I beleive they are worth roughly the same amount of points each and pit them against each other, if you looked on ebay or a discount seller's website you should be able to pick up two for roughly the same price as dark vegeance, all you would need then are the rules, but if you have a smartphone you should be able to get the digital gamers editions of the codecies which are half price but only don't have any of the background in just the rules.
As for Stormclaw, you might be able to find a copy on ebay or some other site if you are very lucky, the models from Stormclaw can be bought separately if you want those ones in particular, however they will be more expensive that way.
I can recommend the space wolves from personal experiance, they are a fun army to play and the models are fantastic, the start collecting set is a great way to start them off as well.

About the eldar I was thinking of maybe creating my own craftworld, fluff and paint style.
Is it fine to make custom one and play in official tournaments? (Are there any craftworld specific rules that would force me to use some other craftworlds rules for my own?)

The eldar battleforce looks juicy.
Im not yet sure will I go for the SW or the Eldar.

Thanks for all the help!!!

MartianCow wrote:

About the eldar I was thinking of maybe creating my own craftworld, fluff and paint style.
Is it fine to make custom one and play in official tournaments? (Are there any craftworld specific rules that would force me to use some other craftworlds rules for my own?)

The eldar battleforce looks juicy.
Im not yet sure will I go for the SW or the Eldar.

Thanks for all the help!!!

Of course it's fine, hell, you SHOULD create your own craftworld! Makes the hobby that much more fun. With SW you could even paint them pink, as long as they're GW official Space Wolf models they're fine in official tournaments. Some people paint their SW metallic, grey etc because they don't like the blue gray colour.

I'd say steer away from Dark Vengeance. Although it's useful for getting the mini rulebook, the templates, dice etc, the Chaos force in particular is really not very good.

You could buy a Start Collecting box for an army you actually want, and find a mini rulebook from DV on ebay, for probably a similar price. Of course, if you're looking to have a second army for a friend without models to use you're then going to get a bit more expensive...

Another suggestion, you can sometimes find GW stuff cheaper from independent games stores - although I don't know how well that applies in Finland. In the UK for example, the Start Collecting boxes are £50 from GW, but you can find them available from stores like Dark Sphere for £37.50...

Yeah from GW webstore stuff costs 65€ and from some other stores in Finland 58€ guess I could keep searching. Are those stores uk only? Maybe if some uk store would sell them online and give free shipping for larger orders.

Thank you for all the info. This has been very helpful this far.

How about combining both Eldar and Harlequins into a single force?
I am currently looking for inexpensive retailer that would have relatively cheap posting in EU (dark sphere seems to have quite large posting fees when ordering to Finland)

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

You can always make a chapter of your doing. I painted the shoulder pads of the DA marines from this set red and named the chpater Crimson Eagles. Now I use them as Crimson Fists successors.