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So I'm thinking* of getting back into 40k. I stopped when I went to university in 2001.

I should have most of a chaos army tucked away in my parent's garage, including my pride and joy bloodthirster.

I suspect I will need to strip and repaint most of them, and some of them were quite old when I stopped.

Do people still use models this old?

Is there a anything I can read to get me up to speed? I'm considering getting one of those £25/50 starter sets GW do. Are they worth it?

*who am I kidding? I've totally just gone on eBay and bought some chaos marines and terminators.

You can totally still use old models.

though some may have dated weapons that may no longer be an option (i think)
best place to start would be to get a rule book and an index or codex depending on what army you are playing.

you will need the rule book for the basic missions.

you could download the base rules iirc on gw website just to learn the mechanics.

As above, old models work fine.

I wouldn’t get the starter set unless you were planning to build both armies or were going to split with a friend ind. A Start Collecting box, index and the PDF rules (or Introduction to 40K magazine - has the 8 pages of rules, a snap-fit model and some background fluff) would be a good start.

But the PDF rules do not have missions which you may end up needing though it depends on your local group you plan on playing with.

You could also just ask your local group if some one wants to break down a dark imperium box. im sure a lot of new BA players would want the primarus.

Welcome back! Use the old models. Slowly buy new ones you like. It's all good.

*shrug* never felt the missions couldn’t be better made/agreed to by the players, and if you have any of the old rulebooks, work essentially the same.

If you need the missions, I’d pick up the Open War cards. Everything in it is good - objectives, twists, missions and basic strategms.

I just suggest steering clear of the full-blown rulebook. Its overrought for what 40K is currently

I have armies that are almost entirely models dating back to 3rd edition. Some 60 or so Mordians. Almost half my GK terminators are the old old ones with the gunblades, and then I have a couple squads worth of metal Strikes.

They're GW models. Use 'em as much as you want to. Anyone who would have a problem with it is not worth playing.

Yeah. The rules are a pamphlet. Everything else is fluff, or minor stuff available online somewhere or other and in the Codex books. Use the old models. If the weapons load-outs aren't strictly legal, most reasonable players won't mind you proxying. I dug out my old models sometime last year and had to repaint them, but it was fun times. Mostly just went over what was already there when possible. There are some I probably could/should strip but most were salvageable. Codex for your army, free pdf, and a quick Google for formations and you're pretty well set to start with.

Cheers guys, I've downloaded the Chaos Index pdf. I'll give it a browse. Looks like GW are pushing Nurgle at the minute, so I'll avoid the starter sets - I'll stick to Khorne and hope for a World Eaters codex in the future.

I suspect most of my marines have Boltguns and Boltpistols, and maybe an autocannon and flamer or two? I'm surprised I remember as much if this as I do.

I guess first step is to find my boxes!!

I think a World Eaters codex would be at least another edition away. They seem to be focusing on DG and TS this edition. I would love to see a WE codex though just don't see it happening anytime soon.

According to Atia's blog, WE and EC are both due for an update soon.

 EnTyme wrote:
According to Atia's blog, WE and EC are both due for an update soon.

Aren't they as reliable as Fateweaver's second head?

I think the old models are mostly fine, but you might run into issues with the bloodthirster. The new greater daemons are REALLY big.

Herbington wrote:
Do people still use models this old?

The Khorne Berzerkers sprues have been unchanged since 1998 for one. Any imperial guard player who uses neither cadians, forgeworld or third party infantry runs minis designed before 2000. Plus the poor SoBs.

Also, using old models has a certain charm. I loved it when I faced those old grey knights terminators with guardian spears on 25mm bases.

Herbington wrote:
Cheers guys, I've downloaded the Chaos Index pdf. I'll give it a browse. Looks like GW are pushing Nurgle at the minute, so I'll avoid the starter sets - I'll stick to Khorne and hope for a World Eaters codex in the future.

Khorne Berzerkers are absolutely awe-inspiring this edition, so that should make you happy. During my first game this edition I had a 8 unit kill both a vindicator and a razorback in a single combat phase.

Chaos Daemons did get some love pretty recently with their codex, too. (Slaanesh excluded)

Yeah, beserkers are nuts awesome. First game with my world bearers I took 3 squads of 20 on foot and ran straight at my tyrnaid opponent. I lost half of them to shooting. That was no where near enough to stop the awesome crushing of the bugs under their strength.

 inirlan wrote:

Herbington wrote:
Do people still use models this old?

The Khorne Berzerkers sprues have been unchanged since 1998 for one. Any imperial guard player who uses neither cadians, forgeworld or third party infantry runs minis designed before 2000. Plus the poor SoBs.

Also, using old models has a certain charm. I loved it when I faced those old grey knights terminators with guardian spears on 25mm bases.

Herbington wrote:
Cheers guys, I've downloaded the Chaos Index pdf. I'll give it a browse. Looks like GW are pushing Nurgle at the minute, so I'll avoid the starter sets - I'll stick to Khorne and hope for a World Eaters codex in the future.

Khorne Berzerkers are absolutely awe-inspiring this edition, so that should make you happy. During my first game this edition I had a 8 unit kill both a vindicator and a razorback in a single combat phase.

Chaos Daemons did get some love pretty recently with their codex, too. (Slaanesh excluded)

Sounds good.

Thanks for your advice everyone.

Done quite a bit of reading, now just need to get playing!

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
According to Atia's blog, WE and EC are both due for an update soon.

Aren't they as reliable as Fateweaver's second head?

82 true, 2 vague/partially true, 0 false.

Make of that what you will of reliability.

I'm in largely the same position as you, Herbington!

What has really worked for me is finding a small group of people doing the same thing, we've now got a solid playgroup of 4 who have varying levels of past experience but are all largely starting fresh armies with this edition and getting back used to the whole thing.

Big difference now is that Facebook (and the internet in general) makes it far easier to find like minded players and get good up to date #content for the game. The core rules are free but you'll absolutely want to pick up the rulebook at some point and then the relevant codex for your army.

All the paints and everything have totally changed from the first time you were in, so you might find it fun to either strip your minis and start again or just start up fresh with a new army. The WarhammerTV channel on youtube does amazing daily hobby tip videos, and while naturally GW stuff is on the pricey side it does genuinely fit together into a cool system.

 unitled wrote:
I'm in largely the same position as you, Herbington!

What has really worked for me is finding a small group of people doing the same thing, we've now got a solid playgroup of 4 who have varying levels of past experience but are all largely starting fresh armies with this edition and getting back used to the whole thing.

Big difference now is that Facebook (and the internet in general) makes it far easier to find like minded players and get good up to date #content for the game. The core rules are free but you'll absolutely want to pick up the rulebook at some point and then the relevant codex for your army.

All the paints and everything have totally changed from the first time you were in, so you might find it fun to either strip your minis and start again or just start up fresh with a new army. The WarhammerTV channel on youtube does amazing daily hobby tip videos, and while naturally GW stuff is on the pricey side it does genuinely fit together into a cool system.

I'd looked at the paints, and a few GW videos on them, they seem to have come a long way since I was last playing.

I've had a bit of a look around, I can't seem to see any active local groups, which is surprising, Leeds always had a decent scene. I'll have to pop into our GW (which seems to be called 'Warhammer' now).

tneva82 wrote:

 CREEEEEEEEED wrote:

 EnTyme wrote:
According to Atia's blog, WE and EC are both due for an update soon.

Aren't they as reliable as Fateweaver's second head?

82 true, 2 vague/partially true, 0 false.

Make of that what you will of reliability.

I must have them mixed up with someone else.

Yeah, with Sad Panda gone and Hastings seemingly out of the loop (his latest predictions have been less accurate, so I'm thinking his source has become less reliable), Atia is the most reliable source we have left.

As someone who hasn't played since around 2nd edition turned into 3rd, I can hopefully share my experience.

Most of my chaos minis were around 2nd edition (and I bought a few at 5th, but they never got into it properly again). They are all still valid.

I bought the £4 magazine to get a copy of the rules and see if I wanted to get back into it properly. After playing a short game with what models I had, I decided I liked 8th edition (mostly).

I then stripped my old models that looked stupid and actually painting some ones that I never finished or started in the first place. I find I have more discipline than my teenager self in completing models now. To strip the models I used Dettol. It stinks, but it works ok. I plan on trying IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol, not Indian Pale Ale) next as I've heard good things about that and from past experience it doesn't smell as bad. Dettol smells for weeks if you spill a bit anywhere.

I then asked for Dark Imperium set for Christmas past. If I hadn't had got that, I would've bought it my self. The number of models in it and the big rule book made it excellent value to me. You get some new marines and death guard. The latter is helpful for an army. It also demonstrated to me that although the prices of the models appear to have gone up (way above inflation in some cases) the newer models are way better quality and designed than the old ones I had. If you don't care for the primaris marines, you can sell them on the sprue on ebay for more than 50% the cost of the box (especially if you sell them separately).

I've decided that I'm going to buy a start collecting chaos space marines (I want another troop and the hellbrute anyway) and probably a chaos daemons (not sure, maybe slaanesh or khorne) start collecting. These are good for patrol detachments as they have a HQ and troops and something else and are better value than buying the parts separately.

With amazon and other online retailers, I've found it a lot better not even to bother touching Games workshop modelling supplies (paint brushes, pallets, boxes) but I am enjoying using their paint system., but I use other brands of primers that are better value.

Final note, I've found that buying from any other shop is cheaper than GW directly. Most offer a discount, and I've been able to get some up to 25% off in the uk. So if you're comparing a start collecting box at £40 delivered to £50 from GW and the GW one was already cheaper than buying them separately, that's not bad. GW do have some "online exclusive" units, which I will be purchasing, as generally ebay/2nd hand for those is more expensive.

Thanks for that.

I did actually end up getting the £25 starter set off eBay (for a lot less...). Just as a basic reintroduction for me, and an introduction for a friend. We played a quick game this lunchtime, we didn't finish it, but still had some fun.

You're right about the new plastic models. I'm very impressed by the detail.

I'd also picked up a few bits. Most of them need stripping in the same way some of my old models will need (not that I've been able to retrieve them yet).

I think my plan is to get the codex, the BRB, and pop along to a local games night I've found.

A small note, if you're stripping models you might want to rebase them too. SM went from 25 mm to 33 mm bases, 'thirster also has a much base. Besides that, everything should be legit, albeit SM armies lost some options they accumulated over the years (it was mostly ones from last four edition books so you should be good there too).