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So i have decided to jump on the 40k wagon properly this time, i just did a few 500p games in 7th.
I have painted single units on and off over the past year, just grabbing the models i realy just want to paint from all over the model range.

But what army should i collect and where do i begin? choises are too many and the rules as i read them dont offer any idea cuz i have no consept if a unit is usefull or not. right now im limited to understanding the power score value of a unit, not why the unit does what it does.
I can tell you right now that i wont be entering competitions, this will be drop-ins at GW/local club, and that i will for some time stay at 1000p.

So i want an army that is easy to learn, aka dont over run with rules or complex synergys, and yes i value fluff and style over kill effectivness at the table!, so in that regards, no chaos! (i dont mind xenos)
(ps i can get a hold of a limited time imperial fist battleforce that was sold sometime ago by GW, but i have no way of telling if that is a good starter army or not...)

Rules and what armies and builds change all the time. It's really best to have a look through the fluff and pick an army based on what background/models you like most.

But last I checked Marines were a decent start as their units share a lot of stats and rules etc so they're easier to pick up than say, Tyranids.

Eh I'd say, especially for a first army, its got to be YOUR choice. You're not really looking to be competitive so visual and asthetic and lore choices are going to be higher (which is pretty normal for a first army for many). That really comes down to what you want, we can't really say what you should or shouldn't get within those boundaries as basically anything barring Chaos counts.


I would say try going to the GW webstore. Pick an army to start and open every model in a new tab for that army. Now go through each tab and close any you don't like. Have a look at what you are left with, it might give you some idea which armies you favour more than others. It also might show where you only like one or two models which would be better asa random project rather than building an army around.
It's also important if you happen to find you dislike a lot of core infantry/units for an army because those will be a pretty major part of building and playing an army.


I think you've got to whittle your own choice down into some specifics before you can really start to ask the right questions that others can help with. Right now all we can do is throw armies at random at you.

Horde or Elite?

Shooty or Choppy?

Infantry or tanks?

Simple to paint or more of a challenge?

Space Marines are the most popular Faction by a fair whack, is that going to bother you?

Well, it depends heavily on personal preferences, in particular
nature of the army and usage of the army (competition?).

If you like painting and have no budget limit then it would be probably good to pick an army with models you like to paint.

You should pick the army that you like best, based on look and lore.

Never pick one for how strong it is. The meta shifts, what is great will rise and fall.

Some good advice in this thread so far. Choose an army, build a list around models you actually want to buy and paint, then seek advice (either In this thread or another one) on whether the list you’ve built Is viable.

The more you tell us about what kind of army you’re looking for the more we can help

As stated already; the best starting place is whatever looks cool to you. I personally like to imagine the spectacle of the game and see in that the thing I'd be excited about. Here's some common starting concepts:

- Warriors wade through the enemy, shots and weapons bouncing almost harmlessly off them. In return, their attacks are crushingly effective and utterly devastating. (Consider: Space Marines, Custodes)

- It's not one man, but an army. Some fall, others keep pushing forward. Eventually the enemy can no longer hope to repulse them. (Consider: Astra Militarum, Sisters of Battle, Necrons, Space Marines)

- It's not one man, not even an army, but a horde. Who cares how many fall, for there are always more behind them. Even a titan would be brought down by so many stings. (Consider: Astra Militarum, Orks, Tyranids, Genestealer Cult)

- You may not be the strongest, but you're incredibly cunning. Your enemies walk into carefully laid traps, ambushes, and feints, but you'll win because you'll always adapt. (Consider: Genestealer Cult, Eldar (aka Aeldari, aka Asuryani/Drukhari/Harlequins), T'au)

- You don't need an army. You will fill the air with so many bullets that your enemy simply won't exist afterwards. (Consider: T'au, Eldar (more specifically Asuryani), Astra Militarum, Necrons)

Hope that helps!

 Yarium wrote:


- You don't need an army. You will fill the air with so many bullets that your enemy simply won't exist afterwards.

Codex: Artillery Detachment That Is Not On The Map when?

FIRST AND FOREMOST - Rule of Cool
What army has the badassest-meanest-coolest looking people/demons/vehicles? That is what you need to decided because you're going to be the one that sees them the most and the one that paints them. If you dont like the way they look you're screwing yourself from the start.

Stay away from HIGH model count armies like The Guard or Orkz, unless your REALLY super dedicated. Buy things in moderation 1-2 boxes build/paint them. Buy another 2 boxes repeat. Large armies you tend to go "Okey I need 40 ork boyz lets buy all of them." Then you realize that cleaning/cutting/assembling/basing/priming/painting that 40 takes a REALLY long time.

OK, so, rule of cool, i like that statment.

In that category for me falls the following:
- astra militarium (somthing about the weak human grunt surrounded by tanks)
- marines. ( i have a very weak spot for dreadnoughts (GW and FW) and iron hands, even painted up two dreads in IH colours ((one basic and one slight converted)) and 5 non primaris tacs whit GW resin IH upgrade kit last summer and i have one non opened resin upgrade kit left for another 5 man non primaris squad)
- imperial knights (cuz i collect adeptus titanicus)
- eldar (like thouse robots)
- tau (like thouse powersuits)
- necrons (army of terminators, what more can you ask of?)

Buy 35 Cadians, two Valkyries, five Leman Russ, two Hellhounds and three Basilisks. Re-enact Kursk in the 41st Millenium.

All the cool kids are doing it.

Rule of Cool is huge for selecting items, but I will add on one part -

How an army plays can dictate a level of fun. What I mean by this is that some armies play in a way that you will either love or hate. This is a big deal and is often not explained enough.

* Shooty or melee, Mass number of models or elite, vehicles or just mainly troops have all been stated and are excellent points, but the flow and play of an army can make or break it too....

Example: I have played Tau, space marines, Nids, Chaos, Eldar and imperial guard.............I found Marines and Guard played a way I enjoyed and I disliked Eldar due to how they played...........then I bought into Drukhari and they became my 2nd favorite army not because of how they looked, but how everything about them flowed.

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
OK, so, rule of cool, i like that statment.

In that category for me falls the following:
- astra militarium (somthing about the weak human grunt surrounded by tanks)
- marines. ( i have a very weak spot for dreadnoughts (GW and FW) and iron hands, even painted up two dreads in IH colours ((one basic and one slight converted)) and 5 non primaris tacs whit GW resin IH upgrade kit last summer and i have one non opened resin upgrade kit left for another 5 man non primaris squad)
- imperial knights (cuz i collect adeptus titanicus)
- eldar (like thouse robots)
- tau (like thouse powersuits)
- necrons (army of terminators, what more can you ask of?)

I'd advocate Guard or Eldar, they play well at low points levels and don't require quite the same memorization as some other factions do currently. Marines are very powerful, but have a ton of rules to remember that aren't reflected in the statline and lots of gimmicky abilities/stratagems that can be difficult to manage, Knights aren't going to be much fun in low points games (they're win big/lose big and fitting in stuff at those points levels can be awkward), Necrons and Tau in this edition are a bit wonky for my tastes in a variety of ways.

The thing is often as not you don't know how you'll enjoy a game until you play.

As a result first armies tend to be chosen on one of three key criteria

1) Gameplay power. Ergo is it the current meta power army.

2) Aesthetics/looks. How cool it looks.

3) Budget. For the very budget limited they might gravitate toward an army simply because its more affordable; or might shy away from others for that same reason. This is normally a modifier to the above two


In general "style" can come into aesthetics in terms of a visual style people want, but the actual gameplay engagement and how much fun people find that is nearly impossible to work out before you play. Even if you play other wargames it doesn't mean you will play 40K the same way.

Also note 40K has a lot of very big armies now; some can swing from pure close combat to pure ranged quite happily by purchasing different models and using different weapon options.

I really don't think Aeldari are a good suggestion for somebody who doesn't want to have to rely on complex synergies.

Invest your local equivalent of $20 into Table-Top Simulator and take some Factions for a spin before you spend one cent or local equivalent.

It's worth taking a look at some online battle reports with armies that you are interested in, to get a bit of a flavour.

I'd recommend looking at the Tabletop Tactics stuff on YouTube, as they are fun, not too cutthroat, and have a nice selction of armies.

 harlokin wrote:
It's worth taking a look at some online battle reports with armies that you are interested in, to get a bit of a flavour.

That's a really good idea. For me its more about looking at army lists and some lets plays- not so much for the gameplay, but more of an idea of what an army looks like. Getting an idea of how the army is composed when it works. Last thing you want is to love a unit and find that you can only ever use one; or in contrast find that the army requires loads of a unit you don't like. Or just way more than you want to build*



*Old World I was put off skaven for ages by the sheer number of slave (not even clan) rats that you needed who were a pure meat-shield.

 harlokin wrote:
It's worth taking a look at some online battle reports with armies that you are interested in, to get a bit of a flavour.

i have tryed to but the vids i have found either skips part of the actual gaming to get a match in at as low timewindow as possible, or dont explain anything, just assuming that thouse who watch knows the game.

Aka what got me into warmachine mk2 was some realy nice battlereports over at beast of war, that did everything step by step in real time as they allso explained why they did that and this.
i have not found any sutch vids for 40k.....

 FrozenDwarf wrote:

 harlokin wrote:
It's worth taking a look at some online battle reports with armies that you are interested in, to get a bit of a flavour.

i have tryed to but the vids i have found either skips part of the actual gaming to get a match in at as low timewindow as possible, or dont explain anything, just assuming that thouse who watch knows the game.

Have a look at the Tabletop Tactics ones. They actually take a lot of time to discuss the units, and composition, and alternatives.

https://youtu.be/tPMIw14gJPk

https://youtu.be/mxLZ2GqN4R0

https://youtu.be/r0GrQ2DIPyc

Here's a few tutorial vids for beginners.

Or are you after faction overviews?

In regards to Astra Militarum, the key units you’ll end up fielding in 8th are infantry squads, Scions, Leman Russ variants, and Artillery. The Scions are important because they can be deployed almost anywhere on the board, so are “needed” to grab distant objectives. The rest is there to have board control by taking up space (Infantry) and doing the heavy damage (Russ for direct fire, Artillery to shoot things out of line of sight).

As well, you’ll want a handful of “support characters” like Company Commanders, Comissars, and maybe some Primaris Psykers. Hellhounds are also ok, particularly Catachan versions.

Not everyone will agree with the following, but it’s my experience. Chimera don’t do what you want them to do, in 8th. They cost as much as 2-3 small scion squads, and cost more once you put a squad inside. You’re better off just buying Scions and dropping them in, having greater numbers on arrival and guaranteed delivery (your tank won’t get blown up on the way). Sentinels can fill out your last 50 points in a list, but they are just inefficient compared to Russ or artillery. Ogryns for a weird role for close combat, but you’re usually better off just blasting something with guns, then sacrificing an infantry squad before blasting the target again. The Valk and Vendetta are too expensive for what they do. Everything else is kind of odd, and aren’t usually big parts of a force, though everyone has their quirky things they like.

I like a * single * knight model, but I don’t like playing against “pure knight” lists... My personal preference.

Marines have the very significant benefit of being cheap and plentiful on the second hand market. I haven’t played Marines in their current Codex, so I’m not sure what’s what with them.

Aeldari “ghost armies” tend to focus on the robots, Seers (Psykers) and usually benefit from a couple of Wave Serpents to move the Wraithguard (Infantry-sized robots) around.

I think Necrons are fairly stable, all around. Depends on if you have a model focus you like. I’m really fond of the Canoptik models, myself. I would build a list around them if I were to start a force.

Tau seem fun, though I’ve heard that the Battlesuits are not that great this edition.

Ok, so i settled for Necrons and i did it for two reasons:

1: i read that many say: if you do not enjoy the models, you wont enjoy the painting. And i can honestly say that there is very few models in that line that i do not enjoy the look of.
2: they appear to not demand too complex painting, seems to be just metal with some colour variations. Thus i am going for Thokt with more black in it(the easy way) then metal since i am not used to "mass amounts of identical models" painting.

Since i have no idea how they play or as some of you have said; i may actualy not like the way they are played, thus i am going for 1 box of warriors and immortals and the start collecting box, so i get 2 units of immortals+warriors, some leaders and the barge.

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
Ok, so i settled for Necrons and i did it for two reasons:

1: i read that many say: if you do not enjoy the models, you wont enjoy the painting. And i can honestly say that there is very few models in that line that i do not enjoy the look of.
2: they appear to not demand too complex painting, seems to be just metal with some colour variations. Thus i am going for Thokt with more black in it(the easy way) then metal since i am not used to "mass amounts of identical models" painting.

Since i have no idea how they play or as some of you have said; i may actualy not like the way they are played, thus i am going for 1 box of warriors and immortals and the start collecting box, so i get 2 units of immortals+warriors, some leaders and the barge.

Good luck!

Currently, Necrons aren't in the best spot competitively speaking, and as a new player, the issues may be exacerbated. So, when you're able to return to gaming shops and get some fun times in, be sure to explain that you're a new player, so they shouldn't be bringing their hardest lists.

Also, have a link to the Necrons Tactics Thread. You can get a lot of good advice there!

 JNAProductions wrote:

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
Ok, so i settled for Necrons and i did it for two reasons:

1: i read that many say: if you do not enjoy the models, you wont enjoy the painting. And i can honestly say that there is very few models in that line that i do not enjoy the look of.
2: they appear to not demand too complex painting, seems to be just metal with some colour variations. Thus i am going for Thokt with more black in it(the easy way) then metal since i am not used to "mass amounts of identical models" painting.

Since i have no idea how they play or as some of you have said; i may actualy not like the way they are played, thus i am going for 1 box of warriors and immortals and the start collecting box, so i get 2 units of immortals+warriors, some leaders and the barge.

Good luck!

Currently, Necrons aren't in the best spot competitively speaking, and as a new player, the issues may be exacerbated. So, when you're able to return to gaming shops and get some fun times in, be sure to explain that you're a new player, so they shouldn't be bringing their hardest lists.

Also, have a link to the Necrons Tactics Thread. You can get a lot of good advice there!

They are actually the worse army out there, not merely "not in the best spot competitively speaking".

...worse than Harlequins or pure Daemons?

The Newman wrote:
...worse than Harlequins or pure Daemons?

Not as far as I can remember from winrates before the lockdown. Necrons v space marines is a pretty solid matchup compared to necrons v some other factions' competitive builds.

KurtAngle2 wrote:

 JNAProductions wrote:

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
Ok, so i settled for Necrons and i did it for two reasons:

1: i read that many say: if you do not enjoy the models, you wont enjoy the painting. And i can honestly say that there is very few models in that line that i do not enjoy the look of.
2: they appear to not demand too complex painting, seems to be just metal with some colour variations. Thus i am going for Thokt with more black in it(the easy way) then metal since i am not used to "mass amounts of identical models" painting.

Since i have no idea how they play or as some of you have said; i may actualy not like the way they are played, thus i am going for 1 box of warriors and immortals and the start collecting box, so i get 2 units of immortals+warriors, some leaders and the barge.

Good luck!

Currently, Necrons aren't in the best spot competitively speaking, and as a new player, the issues may be exacerbated. So, when you're able to return to gaming shops and get some fun times in, be sure to explain that you're a new player, so they shouldn't be bringing their hardest lists.

Also, have a link to the Necrons Tactics Thread. You can get a lot of good advice there!

They are actually the worse army out there, not merely "not in the best spot competitively speaking".

In friendly games necrons can do just fine, I don't believe that op wants to jump into the tournament scene right away. Just talk to your friends or whomever you are going to play your first games with. Nobody will bring a super tough list against your new necron army and if they do, don't play with them.

The best advice I can personally give is to recognize that this hobby is made up of many aspects, so pick an army whose models you like and you can have fun with painting and building. If you enjoy those aspects about your new army as well it won't bother you as much if you lose a couple of games at first. Also every army has a learning curve, some more than others, but learning all the tricks and quirks of your guys also takes a bit of time, but can also be very fun.

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
Ok, so i settled for Necrons and i did it for two reasons:

1: i read that many say: if you do not enjoy the models, you wont enjoy the painting. And i can honestly say that there is very few models in that line that i do not enjoy the look of.
2: they appear to not demand too complex painting, seems to be just metal with some colour variations. Thus i am going for Thokt with more black in it(the easy way) then metal since i am not used to "mass amounts of identical models" painting.

Since i have no idea how they play or as some of you have said; i may actualy not like the way they are played, thus i am going for 1 box of warriors and immortals and the start collecting box, so i get 2 units of immortals+warriors, some leaders and the barge.

Great choice! Unless your goal is to beat tournaments, don't worry about the opinions of people here. Either a faction is utterly dominating the meta, or it's trash. The truth of Necrons is that there IS a space for them in the competitive environment, but that there is only a single build-style that you see from Necrons at tournaments, as opposed to some other factions that can field a variety of build-styles that you will see at tournaments.

Here's where starting Necrons is awesome:

#1 - In small points games, you'll find the Necrons to be REALLY resilient! The Necron claim to fame, Resurrection Protocols, is strong when your opponent is weak, and weak when your opponent is strong. At the level of tournaments, games are large enough that your opponent can generally eliminate multiple squads per turn for at least 2 turns, and can still eliminate a full squad a turn for at least another 2 turns after that. By then you're in the end game, and having units simply not totally dying off is less an issue. However, in small games, it's like your reach that end-game point where they can't easily kill off a whole squad much earlier, meaning you get much more mileage out of that ability. Since your starting games are likely to be smaller, you'll see this in action right away!

#2 - Necrons have a great ability to get out of trouble. There's a lot of rules in the game that crafty players use to mess up their opponents, but when you can teleport away, and have a lot of solid units that have the Fly keyword to easily get away, you will find that you'll be less hurt by making errors in the game. Necrons also have a great set of buffs available to them so you can push your units to do better either to press an advantage, or to mitigate a disadvantage.

Some IMPORTANT notes:

- There's a number of really bad units that Necrons have. Bad because they are very prone to being totally messed up by the rules of the game in a way that Necrons normally aren't messed up by, or because they just don't pull their weight nearly as much as they look like they should. However, often this is simply because there's one or two minor things about the unit that massively hold it back, and not because the unit is just "bad". Because of this, it's totally possible that a unit can go from totally useless to bonkers good REALLY quickly when GW updates a unit's rules, and same in reverse. So if you like how something looks, buy it, but also be cognizant that what I'm saying right now may be totally wrong in 6 months from now.

- Monoliths are a big trap. These models are so crazy cool, but they just don't really work. Their firepower is way less than impressive (some folks will remember when their guns shot at every unit in range, which was glorious), their special doorway of death power is crazily easily avoidable, and their high toughness just doesn't provide them with nearly the same survivability as some common Necron special abilities (Inv saves or Quantum Shielding) that Necron vehicles normally get, but which are generally so much better at actually helping you survive. Their Transport ability is a crazy liability as well due to effectively destroying transported units if all your transports die, unlike every other faction in the game, though emergency teleport helps at least a little with that.

- The Necron Obelisk suffers the same problems as the Monoliths, but costs a ton more points. Such a shame too, considering how cool these models are.

- Transcendent C'tan are good at what they do, but they have almost no support and the rest of your army rarely wants you to do the things that the C'tan want to do. As such, despite their power, these guys just don't click.


Hope this helps! Good luck!