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I’m currently in the process of gathering all the tools need to start my 40k journey. I was looking into Ultramarines but I’m not sure were to start. What with Primaris Marines it doesn’t seem like a good investment to by the older marine models if they will be replaced soon or is this wrong? What models should I focus on first. Also should I hold of for a few months more to see if 9th edition will be coming out sooner rather than later?

First welcome to the Hobby!

Secondly if you've a local club or GW store or good 3rd party store head down there, you should hopefully find some fellow gamers who can give you some help in the real world with some choices as well as things like hands on skills in building and painting. There's lots of tutorials online, but sometimes a bit of help in person really makes a huge difference.


As for your questions a few thoughts:
1) There's always rumours of a new edition on the internet. The current edition has only just completed getting all the armies with a Battletome (technically Sisters of Battle don't even have their retail release until next year) so its VERY unlikely that a 9th edition will be any time soon. So its very much worth investing in the materials now.

2) There's a condensed version of the rulebook out now which can be cheaper; or there are free rules on the GW website for the core game.
That said many get the BIG RULE BOOK - not just for its rules, but more so for the over half of its content being lore and background to the the game; the fantastic artwork; painting tips and such. It's well worth it even if it eventually ends up more on the shelf and is less practical to haul back and forth to games.

3) You'll want the Codex Space Marines and the Ultramarines Supplement - which will give you all the rules you'll need for the game. If you want you can easily start with the Space Marines one alone as its the backbone off which the Ultramarines are based and many of the core models will function quite similarly - though dedicated fans can give you more insight.

4) Right now Marines are in an odd spot as it seems that GW is keeping both "classic" and "primaris" at the same time.




Note for tools GW sells good quality tools but VERY overpriced for what you get. A pair of standard hobby clippers might be $5 or so from any regular store, but GW ones are four times that or more (I'm UK based so I dont' know the US prices off by heart). Same for a fair few other tools.
So don't feel bad getting them, just know that there are more affordable options which can mean the difference between tools alone or tools and a box of marines.

The first question you need to ask yourself is.

Are you planning on playing competitive or not?

Even if you are not competitive but the players you foresee yourself playing or you are going to go to tournaments you will want to build an army which you can at least win some games.

Marines are solid and generally pretty forgiving to a new player. Ultramarines are always going to be decent as they are the poster boys of 40k. They are not the top marines army at the moment but right now you can easily expect mid field placings (Unless you are amazing at playing). Good thing is that if a new edition rolls around Ultramrines are likely to still be decent.

Start with battalion. That's your core. Intercessors your can't go wrong with. Infiltrators are also very very solid.

I would not suggest buying any tactical marines. Not worth it. Grav Devastators and a drop pod maybe but troop tactical marines don't start there.

I'll second the "start with a battalion" Nex said. I'd suggest, assuming you don't have it already, picking up Dark Imperium, that will give you a real nice core (you'll also get some death guard you can keep for a second army, or even just give it away to a friend whom your hoping to draw into 40k)

that'll give you a good core to build around (you might wanna also pick up Know no fear. those two boxes together will give you a REAL good core)


assuming you get dark imperium and know no fear your force is going to look like this


2 Gravis Captains
2 Leuitenats
1 Primaris Ancient
3 5 man intercessor squads,
2 5 man hellblaster squads,
2 Inceptor squads.


this will be a 1255 point army right out the gate, and only cost you 240 USDs. from there you can build on that core by adding just about anything that tickles your fancy.

Remember to make friends at the local game store, and ask around "who wants the other half of this battle box?" It cuts your prices down drastically in the beginning.
Look also for swapshop meeting days locally. There is much to be said for them.

Welcome to the game!

SirGrotzalot wrote:
I was looking into Ultramarines but I’m not sure were to start. What with Primaris Marines it doesn’t seem like a good investment to by the older marine models if they will be replaced soon or is this wrong?

This is probably wrong.
It definitely won't happen here in 8th ed.
And it likely won't happen whenever 9th ed arrives or during its run.
Come 10th ed?.....

SirGrotzalot wrote:
What models should I focus on first.

SirGrotzalot wrote:
Also should I hold of for a few months more to see if 9th edition will be coming out sooner rather than later?

NO, you should not wait. Especially if your looking at/buying Primaris stuff.
1) Because no matter what comes along edition or marine wise, the Primaris stuff is virtually future proof.
2) This is December and there's holiday sales/deals to take advantage of & no better time to maybe get someone else to buy you some kits.
3) 9th ed is not coming in 2020. The reason your seeing all the fuss is that generally an edition of 40k lasts about 4-5 years & historically the Sisters of Battle army/codex/list arrives last (+ there's an awful amount of Errata & FAQ material building up). Those 3 things usually herald the closing days of an edition. 8th ed arrived in the summer of '17. So come summer of 2020 8th ed turns 3 years old. That's a bit early even for GW, though it has happened once before going from 6th ---> 7th (2012 & then 2014). But 6th to 7th was not a huge shift mechanically, more of an update. So if you look at 6th/7th as 2012-2017 block, that's the 5 year mark. And GW [i]had to do something then as the mess they'd made during that 5 year span was truly driving people away. Despite whatever complaints you're reading that's not really the case here 12/2019.
Generally though when the Sisters arrive you've had roughly a year left on the clock.... So, while I could be wrong, if I were going to place a bet, I'd say summer of '21 at the earliest for 9th ed. And I'll bet it'll look real similar to 8th.
So you're safe buying Marine/Primaris stuff now.

I'll second the advice about buying Dark Imperium and Know No Fear. That's a ton of bang for the buck. There's also Start Collecting Vanguard Space Marines, which comes with 3 solid units.

The first thing I would say is to reconsider your choice of army. Not because Space Marines are rubbish because they're simply not - but because you don't want to be a few hundred quid into it and realise you prefer another army.

I always recommend people start with a Chaos Daemon army. I will be ridiculed for this decision however it's a recommendation based upon the notion that you may dislike 40k after a while or go through a period of being sick of playing it.

Space Marines can play 40k, Daemons can play 40k, Age of Sigmar and 30k.

The other reason is painting. Some love it, most tolerate and lots hate it - seeing it as a necessity to the game rather than part of the hobby. Daemons are probably the second easiest army to paint well (in my opinion) - after Necrons.

Depending which god you choose, the Start Collecting boxes for them are all great and from a gameplay perspective they pretty much got a cut in points on everything. They're also part of the Imperial / Good vs Chaos story which means they always get included in all systems in big story line changes etc.

Finally if you decide to hate it, it's not for you or that you want to move on to something else - Daemons sell easier and better imo

I appreciate this will not be a popular opinion, but it's mine none the less.

I'm assuming he's looking into ultramariens specificly because he likes them

Start with the Know No Fear set. Only when you've assembled it, painted it, and you're still hungry for more of the same, consider the Dark Imperium one, IMO.

If not, you have the option to get the start collecting Vanguard Marines to add a fresh type of style to your army.

And you don't end up with as much Death Guard you may or may not want, which is also hard to offload since that is the case for 75% of people who buy the start sets.

I have been looking over all the army’s. My favorites would have to be Ultramarines and Orks. I thought it might be easier to start with Ultramarines first since the model count is not as high. My main interest would be more from a painting and modeling perspective but I’d like to be able to play some friendly narrative games more for fun rather than tournaments. Thank you for all the advice.

SirGrotzalot wrote:
I have been looking over all the army’s. My favorites would have to be Ultramarines and Orks. I thought it might be easier to start with Ultramarines first since the model count is not as high. My main interest would be more from a painting and modeling perspective but I’d like to be able to play some friendly narrative games more for fun rather than tournaments. Thank you for all the advice.

sounds good, if thats the case then yeah I'd reccomend snagging the boxes I reccomended , marines, (especially primaris marines) have a pretty low model count, are easy to paint, and look great.

SirGrotzalot wrote:
I have been looking over all the army’s. My favorites would have to be Ultramarines and Orks. I thought it might be easier to start with Ultramarines first since the model count is not as high. My main interest would be more from a painting and modeling perspective but I’d like to be able to play some friendly narrative games more for fun rather than tournaments. Thank you for all the advice.

You're absolutely right in that Ultras are the easier starting point because they are a lower model count army. I think that marines are generally a good starter army because they are relatively easy to paint too. That said the modelling and painting potential with the Orks is way, way higher than most other factions so I'm told they're more fun from that perspective (I have no Marine factions so I wouldn't know).

I know that people here have suggested otherwise but I really wouldn't recommend starting with an entire boxed set. Have you painted or modelled anything before? It might not be to your tastes. I'd suggest snagging a box of Intercessors, either from a local store or eBay (they're pretty cost effective), a few paints, brushes, glue, hobby knife etc and see how you get on. You can always play kill team while you get a full army sorted.

There's nothing more demotivating in my opinion than having a massive pile of unpainted, still-boxed miniatures sitting there like a pile of shame. Don't fall into that trap. No matter how many kits anyone tells you to buy. Only buy what you can paint and build in a given time. The models will always (with very few exceptions) be available.

Finally - try not to worry too much about what models are competitive right now. The competitive options are changing relatively quickly at the moment and it'll take you time to become a 'good' player regardless. The hobby is always a labour of love, irrespective of how cutthroat competitive you want your force to be. Also - welcome to the hobby! I'm sure you'll come to love it.

english gentleman's not wrong in advising you to take it slow, my reccomendation for buying kits etc is a "once you're certain you wanna commit" Also if you do commit, check youtube's warhammer TV, they have some FANTASTIC videos on painting, including some ultramarine specific stuff, I really REALLY wish I had known about them when I started out

The 2 previous posters are correct don’t buy to many models at once, I have seen that burn out way to many people. I would recommend one of the starter boxes for marines, the new one with the Phobos marines is a decent start.

I tend to advise people who want to get started with 40k try Kill Team first, you need 1-2 boxes (depending on the army you've picked) and you can use that to figure out if you like the general tabletop-gaming format and whether building/painting is something you're going to enjoy without dumping a huge amount of time and energy into the experience.

Just some humble advice;

1) While checking out your local game store or GW can be a good idea; that store should earn your business - and you're not beholden to them for anything. Be cautious of people suggesting you buy GW hobby products as they're often terribly over-priced or re-branded common hobby tools/items. Your local game store and GW also may charge 15-20% more than online retailers, so unless you plan on investing a lot of time there; buy online. eBay is awash with solid retailers offering 15% off and free shipping on any GW products.

2) Regarding hobby tools, look the tools up yourself and skip branded items. Buy an X-Acto knife and not a "GW Hobby Knife", etc. You'll save 50-80%. If you need a quick idea of general model building tools; check this blog post:

http://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2016/06/getting-started-tools.html

3) With regard to Space Marines and "old" marines. Skip the old marines, particularly if you're just starting. Primaris units are indeed replacing the common old Space Marines. This is a lengthy process but you're more or less guaranteed to see 3-6 new releases for Primaris Marines every year. In 5-10 years the older marines will eventually be phased out, OR reduced in ability so much that they become a genuine liability. Right now, you can field older marine units, but that's more a benefit for older players who have armies of them. Skip them if you're new and just enjoy the new releases every couple of months.

 An Actual Englishman wrote:

SirGrotzalot wrote:
IYou're absolutely right in that Ultras are the easier starting point because they are a lower model count army. I think that marines are generally a good starter army because they are relatively easy to paint too. That said the modelling and painting potential with the Orks is way, way higher than most other factions so I'm told they're more fun from that perspective (I have no Marine factions so I wouldn't know).

I've done both, my time to shine.[/Cletus]

Seriously though, if you really like building things Orks are just hands down the best army in the game. Their lore states that no Mekboy ever builds two things exactly the same and that half the time and ork vehicle or weapon only works because they believe it'll work. If you're not scratch building half your vehicles and heavily modifying anything you do buy then you're doing it wrong, although some tournament organizers might give you a trouble about not using the official model. If I'd still had a bits box to work with instead of starting from scratch I'd probably be playing Orks instead of Marines, and it would be full of Mad Max homages.

If you're a sculptor then Chaos would be your bag instead.

There have been several comments about paying for the brand on GW's hobby tools, I want to point out that extends all of their tools and also their paints. I've bought models and rules from GW, but I haven't touched their modeling supplies in years. I'd also advise not jumping into the hobby side of things all at once either if you're new to modeling and painting. Some people might tell you to buy the higher end brushes and paint, but you don't need to be burning through $20 brushes while you're still learning the basics.

On the Primaris vs Classic marines issue, if there's a Primaris version of a unit it's probably better at it's job than the Classic version but also more specialized. I've found I have less and less use for my Classic Marine units and vehicles, my long-term plan is to eventually religate them to playing fire support for a Daemon army I'm slowly putting together as a side project.

I'm also glad to see how many people have positive things to say about 40k and are trying to give you good advice about how to get into the hobby, but having said that...the game does have issues. Sooner or later someone is going to complain about the game's interfaction balance, or it's intrafaction balance, or it's lack of depth, but none of the regular complaints on this forum hit 40k's one real weakness as a competitive game. That real weak spot is the lack of a built-in checkmate in the core rules. There are some scenarios designed around trying to add one, but the system isn't built with that in mind and it makes it VERY hard to bolt one on. Without it the game is inevitably about attrition, and once you start losing a battle of attrition you're almost certain to continue losing it.

That's not a criticism, it's an observation. I like the hobby aspecf of 40k. I like hanging out with other nerds and obsessing over the minutia of the system. I like trying to find the strongest combos available to my army. I don't like that 40k is won in the list designing stage rather than on the table most of the time, but it's the only game in town locally and what I like outweighs what I don't like. If it didn't I wouldn't be playing it.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
I tend to advise people who want to get started with 40k try Kill Team first, you need 1-2 boxes (depending on the army you've picked) and you can use that to figure out if you like the general tabletop-gaming format and whether building/painting is something you're going to enjoy without dumping a huge amount of time and energy into the experience.

This is worth repeating. Some armies can start Kill Team with as little as one box of infantry. This is a great way to start an army and play some games before you've got a whole army's worth of models. (Though, KT isn't super indicative of how the army plays in full 40k).

A weird thing about KT, though, is that Marines probably really do want some of the old-marines. Old marines bring special weapons that are strong in KT and stuff like the Vangaurd Vets with jet packs that Primaris don't have as much of.

40k, it costs your time, it costs your money, it costs your life (wife).
My best advice is to think twice before entering this hobby.

rbstr wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
I tend to advise people who want to get started with 40k try Kill Team first, you need 1-2 boxes (depending on the army you've picked) and you can use that to figure out if you like the general tabletop-gaming format and whether building/painting is something you're going to enjoy without dumping a huge amount of time and energy into the experience.

This is worth repeating. Some armies can start Kill Team with as little as one box of infantry. This is a great way to start an army and play some games before you've got a whole army's worth of models. (Though, KT isn't super indicative of how the army plays in full 40k).

It isn't indicative at all. Kill Team is a lot better in terms of gameplay because it's not 'One side does everything, then the other side does everything'.

SirGrotzalot wrote:
I’m currently in the process of gathering all the tools need to start my 40k journey. I was looking into Ultramarines but I’m not sure were to start. What with Primaris Marines it doesn’t seem like a good investment to by the older marine models if they will be replaced soon or is this wrong? What models should I focus on first. Also should I hold of for a few months more to see if 9th edition will be coming out sooner rather than later?

Welcome aboard! Advice is always a little dangerous, but my advice is for you to follow your gut and go with Ultramarines. Now is a great time to enter the hobby. This Edition is not about to be replaced. They have been making adjustments, and with Space Marine 2.0 out I think they are going to stick with adjustments and not a reset.

Picking up Know No Fear is a indeed a good place to start. Enough models for a game of Kitchenhammer but not a daunting pile of plastic. Paint that stuff and get some small games in. After that, add some more Intercessors and maybe a Repulsor or other big model as a reward.

Good luck!

T2B

if i were starting, and if i had friends to use books and so on, i would probably want the apocalypse space marine battalion detachment.
dark imperium seems like the thing to do but...
the biggest problem with dark imperium is the marine jump packers with the skid-boots.
too gi joe for my tastes.

Id second the suggestions of getting a box of troops and hobby tools.

Another option to consider is to just get your paints, and tools. And once you gone over some basic tutorials get an SM conquest magazine with SM sprues in it.

From memory you can get conquest mag sprues which contain like 1 riever, hellblaster and intercessor/ inceptor. Ideal for kill team purposes.

The upside to doing this is you get to build and paint 3 different models and its going to be much cheaper initially than getting a whole big box of primaris. But getting a big box set is cheaper bang for buck. Except 9/10 the stuff sits on your shelf for ages so if you were to buy the one unit at a time over many months whilst you get your stuff painted the saving isn't as consequential if you set a budget IMO...

Welcome to the hobby and good luck with whatever you choose to do. The P&M forum is great for asking for advice and tips so check it out

He's in the US conquest isn't avaliable there

Ah. My bad then.

Still recommend starting slow and going one box of dudes at a time!

From experience its easy to get discouraged when you are looking at a barrel of building and painting like 50 dudes!

 Argive wrote:
Ah. My bad then.

Still recommend starting slow and going one box of dudes at a time!

From experience its easy to get discouraged when you are looking at a barrel of building and painting like 50 dudes!

it can be, this of course raises the question of what he primarily wants to get into 40k for. If he just wants to play 40k, building plenty of marines is fine, I can assmble a battle company's worth of marines in a day but it'd take me awhile to paint em (I paint slow and hold high standards)

I suggest getting a platoon size at a time so you can build and swap bits so your guys don’t end up like clones. Get some basic tools like xacto knife with 45 and 60 degree blades, pin vise with various drill bits(for pinning and gun barrels), 3 different grain size of sand and slates, super glue(avoid plastic glue as they are less forgiving and melt plastics parts together), metal clippers, jewelry files, painting mask, cutting mat, get the relevant paints and brushes, comfortable station to work at.

You should take your time cleaning mold lines, otherwise no matter how good you’re at painting your stuff will look like gak.

SirGrotzalot wrote:
I’m currently in the process of gathering all the tools need to start my 40k journey. I was looking into Ultramarines but I’m not sure were to start. What with Primaris Marines it doesn’t seem like a good investment to by the older marine models if they will be replaced soon or is this wrong? What models should I focus on first. Also should I hold of for a few months more to see if 9th edition will be coming out sooner rather than later?

If you're starting marines, only invest in Primaris units and models. Buying the older, uglier ( in some cases) marine kits is just too uncertain right now.

 Togusa wrote:

SirGrotzalot wrote:
I’m currently in the process of gathering all the tools need to start my 40k journey. I was looking into Ultramarines but I’m not sure were to start. What with Primaris Marines it doesn’t seem like a good investment to by the older marine models if they will be replaced soon or is this wrong? What models should I focus on first. Also should I hold of for a few months more to see if 9th edition will be coming out sooner rather than later?

If you're starting marines, only invest in Primaris units and models. Buying the older, uglier ( in some cases) marine kits is just too uncertain right now.

ignore this guy, buy what you like. people where saying when primaris first came out "old marines will be gone next codex" the next codex came out and several old marine units saw some very nice buffs. GW happily will keep double dipping.