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Hello there, quick introduction, I played Warhammer fantasy when I was about 15 years old and had a dwarf and Ork army. But due to school and later the cost of my own house made me "pause" for 10 years before picking it up again this new year. Except age of Skubmar happened and I chose that its time for a scenery change. Long story short, I have a few IG troops and no second army yet, I would like it if the guard players here could share some wisdom and other faction players try to persuade me into picking up a second faction (which my little brother will pick up to play).

Current army:
Start Collecting Astra Militarum
IG command squad
Squad of those strange powersuit wearing guys, Tempestus something
Gotrek and his 4 other friends from a limited time offer back in 2006 I think

Second army requirements: No space elves please, screw chaos.

Budget: 600 Dollars, yep, school helped!

What do you like the most? What does your brother like the most?

How old is your brother? What do you think his play style will be like? (I'm partly wondering if he should get an army that's "easy" to play or if one that takes a lot of careful thought would be suitable.)

You might consider choosing something that it makes a lot of sense for the Astra Militarum to be fighting for fluff reasons. Since Chaos and Eldar are out, do you like the idea of playing Orks, Tau, Tyranids or Necrons? (You can justify basically any fight, so don't worry about limiting yourself if you prefer Space Marines, SoB, Adeptus Mechanicus, etc.)

One advantage to going with another Imperium of Man army is that if you wanted to play a big game with people other than your brother you could more easily combine both armies as they would be allies.

You might consider something that makes a good matchup against each other, in terms of power level* and gameplay style. Of course, power level might change with future releases so who knows. Gameplay style (shooty vs assaulty, elite vs horde, durable vs fast, etc.) will likely stay mostly the same.

Personally, my favorite is Orks and my second favorite is Astra Militarum. That might be a good matchup, as Orks are more assault focused while Astra Militarum is more shooting focused. Orks have lots of cheap, fast lightly armed and armored vehicles while Astra Militarum has vehicles that are relatively expensive, slow and heavily armed and armored. Both are usually horde armies, so you would need to like modeling and painting (converting stuff is one of my favorite things about orks).

Do you want to play competitively at cutthroat tournaments? If that's the case, both Astra Militarum and Orks are regarded and not being very good at the moment. That might make them a good match against each other for fun games with you brother. If you want to stomp on people at a tournament you might want to make your second army something that's considered more competitive, like Tau. You could possibly have some extra units that you swap in and out to make it a more balanced matchup for playing at home. Of course new rules releases coudl change this at any given time, so really you should go with what you like.

Heya, thanks for the answer, well my brother took a decidion already and came home today with Start Collecting Tau and a box of pathfinders. So Tau it is, and I made a List of stuff I could buy
Catachan defence force
2x Cadian troops
1x Command Squad
This amounts to about 200 euros, 300 to 350 left

And what could he take for Tau to be "competitive" against me as he seems afraid of the amount of infantry I pack (and will soon pack)

Edit: He is 16 and ready to learn, although not the smartest, more of a "heroic" guy. But he will learn.

Consider getting some transports and more Leman Russes, maybe some Wyverns too.

The amount of infantry you have is not a scary thing, so not something your brother will need to worry about. Guardsmen are chumps and fall over to a slight breeze, the only time you have to worry is if we're getting into the 100+ realm. Not saying they're bad, just that you need to remember that guardsmen are fewer points than everything else for a reason. Fire warriors with pulse rifles will do pretty well against them as they force the guardsmen to advance to shoot back, potentially moving out of cover (guardsmen die in the open), and if a squad is hunkered in some pathfinders can remove their cover. At most have him add some flamers.

The thing he'd genuinely need to worry about is russes, as you need some specialized equipment to take out AV14. Broadsides with heavy rail rifles sound like they're meant to hunt tanks, but it takes 12 shots to take a single hull point hitting front armor. Broadsides are almost always better built as "missilesides", with HYMP and SMS, although they aren't meant for heavy tanks either (these will eat through guardsmen but are a bit overkill outside of blobs or well kitted vet squads, really good at taking down medium tanks and, are just all around good against anything that isn't AV 14) . I don't use tau, but I'm pretty sure the best options tau have are suits with fusion or riptide with ion and fusion.

As for what you could add to your army, it depends on how competitive you want to be and if you're going to be playing against many people other than your brother. Some chimeras are a decent choice, so cadian armored fist boxes (a chimera and 10 guardsmen at a decent discount) are good. Wyverns absolutely eat through lighter infantry (it's very possible for them to wipe a pathfinder squad in a turn of shooting), and can even do modest work against MEQ since they're only 65 points (kill a squad of anything in a game and you've made your points back). If artillery is your thing manticores are nice, but if you aren't up against many tanks they're not quite as impressive (I like their ability to really hammer an imperial knight from three tables over, but don't know if you'll be playing against people with knights).

(edit was to change the broadside math, forgot they're only BS3)

Krazy Ivan wrote:
Heya, thanks for the answer, well my brother took a decidion already and came home today with Start Collecting Tau and a box of pathfinders. So Tau it is, and I made a List of stuff I could buy
Catachan defence force
2x Cadian troops
1x Command Squad
This amounts to about 200 euros, 300 to 350 left

Why mix catachan and cadians? Don't you think your army will look bit incohesive?

Wyverns. You want at least one, if not two, of those beauties. They murder great and are cheap.

Pask in punisher russ with some wingmen is btw great. Obviously punisher kills infantry sweet but with Pask it's also best tank buster in whole codex(FW excluded) on anything but AV15 or flyers. Range is bit of issue though depending on how much terrain you have(if there's so much 30"+ clear lines are rarity obviously less so) but killing wise awesome.

-It's okay to mix regiment types if you were to use one of them as Conscripts or to distinguish different veteran squads from each other. If you're thinking of getting enough for a blob generally don't go above 40 unless they're purely a defensive tar pit.
-Especially against Tau you want (no, you have to) get a Wyvern, Basilisk, Manticore, a Tech Priest and Chimera for a CCS so you can run the Artillery formation. Tau can out shoot you in direct fire contests but if you have good barrage they're just more Xenos gibs.
-A Vendetta will do you proud even if you only use its transport capacity to deny your opponent a WL kill.
-Get yourself an Aegis Defense Line - with your barrage you should be able to remove most of their Markerlight sources first turn and a Quad Gun still hits at regular BS against skimmers.
-Really try to build toward one day having 100+ Guardsmen, once you get vehicles there will be Deep Striking Meltas Plasma Guns into their rear armour and often you will need all those bodies to keep them away from the artillery.

-

Back again after my visit from GW, it was a list I made me and during that time the Cadian defence force was not avaiable.

What I ordered with the help of a employee

Cadian Defence Force (Awwwh yiss!)
Cadian Armoured First
Another box of guardsmen
A Wyvern
Regimental advisors
Primaris Psyker
Thats all I actually remember since it was this shops Birthday and I was off work and one thing lead to another, all I know is that I used my hobby money (400 of 500 euros) and the rest on drinks on my way home. So I might be surprised as to what I get! Maybe Ratlings, I remember asking him about them.

Welcome to the Guard. Rack your lasgun to the right of the door and pull up a piece of floor to sit on. It's a grand adventure, and no Guard army is ever 'finished'. There are more ways to build a Guard force than your Commissar can shake his baton at!

From your list of purchases, looks like you are currently building an Infantry force with some light armor support. Not a bad way to go. Might I recommend some Heavy Weapons to go into those squads? And let us not forget the melta and plasma love that the Emperor has bestowed upon us, and provide those items to our units as well.
Eventually, you'll want to add some heavy armor, and provide your ground-pounders with some Leman Russ in support. IMO, the best all around kit is currently the Demolisher. Magnetize the weapons so you can switch between Demolisher, Punisher and Executioner.

Keep us posted, and welcome aboard. Now get out there and fight, you maggot!