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Hey guys,

When I was about 12 I went to my friends house, and his brother collected an old Orks army

Later on my mate bought a little flyer in it, with pictures of the different armies,

I remember finding the T'au and thinking that they were the coolest thing ever, just the colour scheme, the futuristic/futuristic look to them,

Aesthetics aside, when you started the hobby, why did you pick your first army?

Was it aesthetics?
You felt like they were home?
Accidental purchase?

mate had Space Hulk (1st edition, when it was new) we wandered to GW in Derby, I got some Gretchin, ok useless in space hulk (we made some rules for them to make them comically terrible) mostly because I liked the look of them

wish I still had them really

every army I've got is based on how the models look, the fluff I can take or leave, or just replace (e.g. I tend to use 1st edition ork fluff over the newer stuff)

Yeah for sure, I started purely from the look of the armies for sure,

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't completely drawn in by the lore once I started reading it

Started off playing StarQuest.
When going into 40k (start of 2nd edition), mate took over the Space Marines from that box, so I went with the Chaos side and founded a Black Legion.
Later I branched out into Tyranids as well, again based on those box contents.
The only part of it I didn't expand on were the Orks, didn't like them, still don't like them.

leopard wrote:
mate had Space Hulk (1st edition, when it was new) we wandered to GW in Derby, I got some Gretchin, ok useless in space hulk (we made some rules for them to make them comically terrible) mostly because I liked the look of them

wish I still had them really

every army I've got is based on how the models look, the fluff I can take or leave, or just replace (e.g. I tend to use 1st edition ork fluff over the newer stuff)

Gretchin are good for a laff mate. I've been playing a bit of the Space Hulk on Steam lately.

Fell in love with the large Tyranids models and wanted to make a monster focused army. Didn’t care they sucked in 7th and now I’m really enjoying 8th because they are competitive now.

Always loved 40k....not the Red Era though so 5 yeasr ago i thought why not and got a ork starter lot on ebay and here i am playing 7th ed.

My wargaming play style is generally aggressive short range or multi-role units that support each other but add little synergy beyond that. And I am not afraid to charge into a melee either even if it is 50/50 chance to win. If the game allows for lots of smgs or shotguns that tends to be my unit of choice. Beyond that, I am kinda middle of the road.

So I figured that Chaos Space Marines fit that style the best as they are a fighty army that can also be quite shooty. To do both, you have to be pretty close to the enemy. After that, it was pretty easy as I really like the colors of the Black Legion as well as their more generalist approach. It also didn't hurt that they are considered one of the more Terminator (favorite 40k unit) heavy chaos legions either.

Because of this



Because seriously who wouldn't want a freaking walking castle coated in guns to go to war with! Tanks, troops, rank and file, vast behemoths striding the battlefield.
Granted back then I mostly built and didn't paint and honestly didn't get many games (I wound up getting into warhammer in a gap when most into it at school were years ahead of me).


Of course when GW killed off the game I had to do the only sensible thing and turn traitor and embrace the Xeno!

General aesthetics of the Eldar. Combining Shogun/Samurai styling with Greek hoplite horsehair and the most "different" vehicles at the time.

This was circa 1995.

Deathwing, because i loved terminators....to bad they are hot garbage.

I got in to Chaos because I was told i'd like either CSM, Tyranids or Dark Eldar. The local store didn't have DE, and only a couple boxes of Tyranids...But had a discounted box of Dark Vengence. So that sealed the deal for me.

I have to say Dawn of War was a big sell for me too

I got into the Hobby with 10ish i guess. Bought some codices, an ultramarines squad, some eldar and the lost interest due to Lack of Players. 3 years (im 27 now) ago a GW opened in my town and i got super hyped.

By nowim at roughly 12k Points of Black Legion /daemons. Ive always had a thing for the Spikey Bad guys, and the Imperium of man struck me on the wrong foot with it's "righteousnes" and "god empra". Loved abaddon and his fluff, so thats where my heart (and money) lies.

Also: horus was weak and there are noch gods

My first army was Blood Angels. They were on the art work for the 2nd edition starter box, which almost certainly made me choose them. Incidentally the current force I'm painting is Crimson Fists, because of the 2nd edition rulebook.

I wanted to play Eldar because of their approach to warfare and aesthetics, but got briefly talked out of it due to them being a "horde" army at the time, thus a higher barrier to entry, price wise.

Instead, I went to grey knights. Played them for a little bit since I could fill their rosters to higher points with less models... and then actually went about buying my eldar during 6th when the allies matrix came out and I could play both armies in bigger games.

My friend got me into it, and he had Khorne Marines. We were young, silly, and wanted to do Christmas Chaos, so I got into Nurgle Marines.

He got more serious over time with his ideas, but I still have some silly ones. But yeah, that's how it started.

Hormagaunts! Why would i need any other reason?

I actually started the hobby through the CCGs of the mid 90s. I went to a local store to play and there was a whole wall section/gaming area devoted to warhammer and 40k.

One day I had time between events and decided to look at the models and minis. I remember seeing a dwarf with a giant stove top hat decorated with lightning bolts and stuff. I was sold. Chaos Dwarfs!!

Long story short I got into Warhammer Fantasy but a couple of factors switched me to 40k. I couldn't find a lot of opponents. Was told Gdub was not going to continue supporting Chaos Dwarfs so, since I had a huge amount of greenskins in the army, I started playing Orcs and eventually just switched to 40k Orks because of a continued lack of opponents.

So In a round about way my first 40k army was Orks.

The Horus Heresy novels sold me on the Traitor Legions. I love a good tragedy.

Spoletta wrote:
Hormagaunts! Why would i need any other reason?

I hope you mean the original ones


I remember getting 3 of those in metal - gosh they were tricky to assemble and never ever ever ever stood up without falling over.

When I decided to start playing 40k, I was asking a local player some questions about it. He talked me out of playing Space Wolves and I chose Eldar instead. I wish I had started with SW.

My first army was Blood Angels. I picked them because those were the transfers included in the RTB01 box I picked up.

Greetings, in 1992, Me and a Group of three Friends were on a hill discussing Warhammer 40'000 and decided that We would all pick a Space Marine Chapter as our Army. We also decided that once a chapter had been picked that each individual would be the only person collecting for the specific chapter.

I made two picks. I decided Dark Angels & Chaos Alpha Legion. One buddy picked Ultramarines, one selected Blood Angels and the last went with Space Wolves & Chaos Iron Warriors.

During Second Edition I did not have a lot of money so Christmas & Birthday's were the main times I'd get Dark Angels and Alpha Legion models. I still have all the models I collected from back then. They stayed unpainted for a very long time. I guess around between 1996 through 1998 I started painting models.

Dark Angels was the first army I collected for.

I was introduced to 40k when I went to secondary school when I was 11. This was 3rd edition era. I made a couple of new friends, one of whom got a huge amount of pocket money by 11 year old standards and spent nearly all of it on models for his Ultramarines. The other one was getting into it and went with Dark Angels.

So I figured I should do something that wasn't space marines. Another guy in our class gave me a copy of White Dwarf that was featuring the 3rd ed Eldar codex release, with a particular focus on Biel-Tan. I loved the aesthetics of the Eldar so I picked up some guardians and a starter paint set. I tried a few custom colour schemes that the young me thought were cool/badass (mainly combinations of black, gold and red) before deciding that they didn't look as good as the Biel-Tan in that magazine and repainting them in Biel-Tan colours.

I never got many models at that age, and I was an adult before I got properly into the hobby. I've wanted to do a Biel-Tan army properly all that time, but I've only just got around to actually doing it.

Because I liked the models, the paint scheme and the fluff.

Split the 2nd edition starter set with my younger brother - he had the Orks, I had the Space Marines.

As I imagine was the case with many people who started with that box, they were painted as Blood Angels.

First army ever was Orks! An uncle of mine was showing me his and his father's ork conversions and I fell in love instantly. Never been the same since...

My first army was Black Templars, I picked it because I was enamored with the fluff, and saw the coolest BT army at my local store.

Dawn of War got me into the setting. I didn't actually start playing the tabletop until a few years ago, though. Started with a SM battleforce (painted as Blood Ravens) and a Necron battleforce. Sold the Blood Ravens off last year.