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Hi

I am new at both this forum and warhammer 40k, but aim to get into this hobby soon. I´ve played miniature games when I was younger, so I am not totaly new to the concept.

Well to get to the actual question, and the reason for this post.
My idea is to set up a table at my companys "play room" for the employees and their familys to be able to play and bring their armies. We will also set up a painting area and so on. My thought is that I want to have two factions/armies which is always available at the table so that if people who don't have armies or have never played before can get into the action. My question is what two factions to choose, which are comparable in strength and so on. I also don't want the two factions to look to much alike. I really like the look of Tau so maybe some faction which fits well agains them. I don't know if there is anything like a more beginner friendly faction but if there is maybe this is something to consider also when choosing factions.

Also, how large armies would you recommend to start with, point wise?

After the decision on armies is final I could use some help to put together some solid unit compositions for each faction.

I would be thankful for your inputs!

This is the most ambitious post I've seen in a while. I gotta ask what kind of company you're in to have the option of a gaming table available to you. Of course if you want to stay neutral feel free not to answer.

As to the question the easiest way to answer it is probably to look at those that already do this. Games workshop stores always have a beginners gaming table available. I'd suggest googling your closest store, paying them a visit and seeing what they do.

If you don't have a store close by then the Dark Imperium starter box is probably your best bet. It's ment to be evenly balanced for two players. Currently that box includes the chaos nurgle faction and the Imperium Ultramarines faction, complete with a tiny rulebook and stats for the units included. Nurgle has some deamons, some Space marines and a small flyer. Ultramarines has some Space marines and some veterans. For ease of understanding, comprehensible rules and the most out of the least ammount of money this is probably what's best for your purpose.

If you want to do something else other then the starter box, say for example Tyranids and Tau, then I'd suggest printing the rules so they're available on the side and keeping the points limit to a maximum of 500. You don't need flashy things for people starting out since just the basic rules and lore are going to be something very new. Maybe Max 5 units (characters included) per side is good, though less is acceptible. Don't overwhelm people with stuff but keeping it easy and comprehensive for their first experience is the way to go. If they get the lust to explore the settings and armies they'll run into the advanced stuff anyway. I'd suggest 2 Troops 1 HQ per side for starters. With Tau that'd be a fire warrior squad, a kroot squad and a battlesuit HQ. For Tyranids it'd be a group of termagaunts, a group of gene stealer and a carniflex. Giving whatever army you pick for this a shooty unit, a close combat unit and a hero is a good rule of thumb. That way most phases of the game are represented. You could add a psyker to so they get to do something in every phase of the game (movment, psychic, shooting, fighting, morale).

Lastly three things that's very important. First is that you want the rules to be easily accessible and simple to grasp. As mentioned above I suggest printing them. Second is that you don't want theese two beginners armies to represent too much time, money and effort on your part. With standing out in the office and having many players trying them they're probably going to lose colour and models are prone to break or dissapear. I'd say do what you can with the least ammount of effort and foccus your time and money on your own armies. The same can be said for the table. That's the third thing. The table itself is just as important as the models! A good gaming table can easily add more to the experience then the models themselves.

Hope this helps and good luck!

Edit: Welcome to Dakkadakka

 Nerak wrote:


For Tyranids it'd be a group of termagaunts, a group of gene stealer and a carniflex.

You're missing an HQ choice here. I would recommend a Hive Tyrant instead of the Carnifex. Just want to mention it.

 nordsturmking wrote:

 Nerak wrote:


For Tyranids it'd be a group of termagaunts, a group of gene stealer and a carniflex.

You're missing an HQ choice here. I would recommend a Hive Tyrant instead of the Carnifex. Just want to mention it.

Ah, the Carniflex isn't an HQ choice? My bad. I think it used to be.

You can build the carnifex to be Old One Eye, who can be taken as a HQ.

I suggest simply getting one of the start collecting boxes. All of them build into playable armies (not matched play, but fine for open play) and all of them are roughly on the same powerlevel as the Dark Imperium box.

If you only have one gaming table, I suggest setting up small side tables and getting something like Gorechosen (which is cheap and fast to play) so that when the 40k table is busy, they can sit down and play an alternative game. These games are also 'gateway' games that people will find less daunting when you are trying to introduce them to the hobby.

I agree with getting start collecting boxes. Starting with small armies formed by start collecting boxes has several advantages:

cheap

quick and easy games

less worrying about army composition - just play with what's in the box

starting with two small forces means it is easy and cheap to add more factions to your collection later

each can be easily stored in its own separate case

if people want to start their own forces and say 'where can I buy these models?', you can direct them to the exact start collecting box

games can be played on a smaller table (eg you can play two 500pt games on a standard 4ft by 6ft table if you divide it in half)

Thanks everyone for taking the time to help me out, appriciate it.

Nerak: I run a interior design company based in Sweden, being the ceo have some perks as I can decide what to fill the game room with It started out simple with some crayons and paper for our kids when they visited, then it evolved with air hockey, foosball and tabletop games like scythe, blood rage etc. You could say the room is not only for kids anymore

I´ve had a look at the Dark Imperium box, and I understad that it would probbably be an easy, cheap way to start out, but I find the figures a bit meh. Your suggestion with Tau and Tyranids feels better. If I buy lets say the "Start Collecting" tau and tyranid boxes would these be quite equal in strength in a match?

Good idea with the printed rules for easy and quick reference, I´ll definitely do so, thanks.


Jidmah: thank for you input on the Start collecting boxes. A question, do any rule books come with the start collecting boxes? I couldn't find any info about it. If not is it the Index Xeno 2 book which I should get for Tau and Tyranids? And there I´ll find all rules to start a game right? sorry for asking dumb questions, but I am really new to this


corpuschain: A second small table is a good idea, we have room for that. I´ll have to look up Gorechosen (I have no idea what it is). Thanks for input on starting boxes also!



Well it feels like the Starting boxes might be the way to go for us Thanks for the help again

oh Another thing, Citadel paint, would you recommend these? I find the app and suggestions on colours on the games workshop site to be helpful, but I don't know anything about the paint quality itself.

I like citadel paints but also use a lot of vallejo. There are several other companies that make good quality paint and if you decide to switch there's a paint chart posted somewhere on dakka that tells you what color to get to match the citadel brand. I use it all the time to get the right color vallejo since being colorblind can make that difficult. It usually comes right up if you google it.

You could probably get away with just using the index but Tyranids just had a codex released and tau will have one eventually. Also, you'd still need the big rule book.

If you ever need a corporate attorney let me know. Sounds like a great place to work. I'd kill for them to do that here!

Thanks for the input on the paint, I´ll start with the citadel brand then I think and see how it goes.

thanks for clarifying the rule book situation also, I´ll pick up the index, codex and the big book then!

Regarding the need of Corporate attorney, I might hold you to it if we expand into the US market some day

If you do go with start collecting sets instead of Dark Imperium, it will be helpful to print out a list for each army. There is a piece of software called Battlescribe, which can be used to build and print lists. It will include full unit profiles, weapons and special rules. You would not, strictly speaking, need the Index or Codex books if you had such a printout on hand. It's not always 100% correct, but it would be much more simple for people playing the loaner armies than having to leaf through a full codex.

It's been a little while but if you still want info then I can supply some tonight. I'm visiting a friend with the index Xeno for Tau and 'nids. If you want I'll check how the Tau and Tyranids starter boxes compare balance (/points) wise. It's going to be slightly innacurrate because I don't have the Tau codex available but should provide a decent framework. I'll post it tomorrow morning unless you don't have need of it anymore.