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As the title says, I'm looking to really get into the 40k hobby. I've borrowed  a few of the Codexes (Necrons, SM, CSM, Tau and Tyranids), and what I'm asking here is: Whic army is the best for someone starting out?

For me the key points are that it should 1) be reasonable on the money side, 2) relatively easy to paint and 3) low model count.

Where I'm from a lot of the people play at around 1000 - 1200 points, and while I've been reading around a lot, most of the army lists and whatnot I've seen have been tailored for 1500+ points...

Avoid dark eldar (they are too frustrating for new players) or orks (always a high model count), then go with what you like the look of best.

Necrons, guard, and Tau spend their game shooting.
Space marines and Eldar are a mix of shooting and assaulting.
Chaos and tyranids are a mix but lean towards assault.

These are general guidelines, you can make an army lean to any extreme with unusual builds.

None of it will be reasonable on the money side, but it is quite fun.

I suggest starting with Space Marines or Chaos Space Marines.

First, it's easier to trade or purchase bits and kits for these armies. it's also easier to buy and trade SM/CSM secondhand.

Second, you can keep the model count low in the beginning (mix vehicles and infantry) and expand later on (go more troop heavy or towards a drop pod army).

Painting SM/CSM is pretty easy as well. The models have lots of broad surfaces that paint easily, with the potential for iconography or daemonic influence if you ever want to flex your painting skills. I'd wager GW has more pictures of SM's than any other army.

If you go with SM/CSM, you'll also have the option of expanding into other forces such as adding Witch/Daemon hunters or Kroot Mercenary Army. And both CSM and SM armies will allow you the option of going shooty or assaulty.

I would suggest Space Marines as you can build a nice force with only a few models. Painting will depend on your patience. I try to do about an hour each night, dosen't always work.

My first force was Imperial Guard, which requires a bunch of models to build a force.

Go to a gaming store and talk to some of the 40K players, you may get some good advice.

Have fun.

Warrior 50

I will third Marines, Necrons are easier to paint & play (not by much) but don't have as much capability for expansion later on. Also, marines are the cheapest thing to buy on eBay because there are more of them than anything else.

Few suggestions of units to get and avoid when starting out (not to say these are the best or poor units later on, but you are limited in a 1000-1200pt force and certain items are 'must haves')

Must Have:
Land Speeder Tornados
Master (in or out of termie armor)
2-4 6 man Las/Plas squads (4 bolter marines, 1 plasma gun, 1 lascannon)

Good:
Whirlwind
HB devastator squad (4 heavy bolters, 4 bolters as ablative wounds)
Terminator squad (2x Assault Cannon, 1x Sarge, 2-3x regular termies)
Scout Squad
Command squad (this can make your master + command squad a CC monster, put them in a rhino or drop pod to get them where they need to go)

Don't get:
LandRaider
Veterans (can be good but hard to fit in)
Techmarine (awesome unit but needs a bit of play to perfect its use)
Dreadnought (Awesome unit, but you need 2 to make them worth while and you are better off waiting until later)
Bikes of any sort
Assault marines (another decent unit, but no for small games and not for beginners)

I am sure that some other people will add to this list or flame me for some suggestions, at the end of the day you have to figure out your style of play for yourself.

Happypants, I agree somewhat.

I went the bike and Dreadnought route after I built the rest of my Space Marine core force. I have two dreadnoughts and use them when my First Company is not in use (Termies).

Once thing you need to think about is the size of your tactical squads. I went the 10 man route and then have some figures to use if I split the squad or want to give it a Vet Sgt.

A Chapter Master is a must, I now have two, one in Termie armour and one regular. I did not realize it until later how good the Librarian is as well. Have added this figure in the last year.

One other thing is Fast Attack Assult troops (Jet pack guys). Give some thought to how to equip the squad as they have many options available to them and the ability to use a Librarian or Chaplin with the squad only makes them better.

Good luck.

Warrior 50

I agree with everything you say warrior, but we are also tryinig to save this guy some money

I'd say go marines.normal ones to save more and not to get too frustrated.

Two troops boxes and you got your 2 troop choices.or even a third one if you go min.Get a blister and a rhino and you're set for basics.Paint wise,go assembly line and it'll go fast too.

Necrons are simple too,both for paint and army composition.

To save more,you can always ask friends for simple bitz (most people have marines i think) or go scratchbuilding parts that you need.(A lascannon can be made from a little extra sprue and the ink tube of a pen for example)

-If you know enough people with different armies you can try them out before buying.

-After you find one, have a friend help you set up an army starting with 500pts.  Buy AND paint them.  This will do two things: One-If you find out you hate building/painting the models you will not end up with 6078pts of stuff (that would look cool if it was not all grey) and no desire to paint it all, Two-Making yourself paint them will keep you from falling into a buy-frenzied state, again ending up with a Big Grey Army.

-Once you have the compulsory untis and a good handle on the game you can start developing a playstyle from there...then...Welcome To Warhammer40000

-Just a tip, 500pts can get old fast so get three other friends and to 2v2 or do 1500v1000+500 with only two others required.

-Other Dakkites can likely provide you with many helpful online resources...this is a wonderful place to start though.

thats all i got to say 'bout that...Good gaming to you

Oi! Lots of replies..

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Now, to the point:

I've decided on going with Space Marines, specifically the Ultramarines; I very much like the look of them and especially the Ultramarines Special Characters (Calgar and Tigurius), as well as the Honour Guard.Thus a couple of questions:

1) Is Marneus Calgar worth his points?

2) Is the Ultramarine Honour Guard a feasible choice for a Command Squad?

3) Would Chapter Master /w. Min. Honour Guard for HQ and three Maxed Tac Squads /w. PFists and Honour Guard member all coming in Pods work?

On that last one my gut is telling me no, but I'm hanging onto a sliver of hope...

1) Calgar is not worth the page he's printed on, much less the points.

2) The Honour Guard is overpriced and under-effective.

3) I'd say you need some real firepower in that army, to deal with things you can't hit easily with the 'fists. Maybe special weapons in the squads, or a Dreadnought, or a speeder or two.

Also note, that unless you are playing games over 1500pts you need opponents approval to play special characters.

Of course, if you like the models and you end up being in to painting/modelling just buy whatever you want and use that model to proxy "Master with Power Weapon & Storm Bolter" and "command squad" Until you are going out and playing tourneys most friendly gamers don't mind, especially if you end up spending 10 hours painting a model and making it look totally amazing.

Oh ya, another suggestion, spend some time at GW getting painting lessons, they will help you with speed and quality of your painting. A good place to buy if you want new stuff is thewarstore.com, used (which I suggest) is eBay. You can strip the paint with simple green or just clean the painted models if they don't have too much paint on them already, prime them and re-paint.

My first chapter came from the commander plastic box. Gave me some options and was easy to put together. for the command squad I bought the box for the command squad.


So you can start out with just the two kits to build a nice command squad.

As far as ultra marines colors go, find a blue you are happy with and brings out the detail on the figures.

Good luck.

Warrior 50

Can I beg you NOT to play ultramarines?

Take a look at some of the other color schemes... please... there are just so many ultramarines out there.

Posted By lord_sutekh 08/17/2006 12:04 PM
1) Calgar is not worth the page he's printed on, much less the points.

2) The Honour Guard is overpriced and under-effective.

3) I'd say you need some real firepower in that army, to deal with things you can't hit easily with the 'fists. Maybe special weapons in the squads, or a Dreadnought, or a speeder or two.

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Pretty much what I thought... Too bad! Perhaps I'll try and make some Honour Guard like conversions to use as" power="" fist="" veteran="" sergeants="">


Posted By happypants 08/17/2006 12:39 PM
Can I beg you NOT to play ultramarines?

Take a look at some of the other color schemes... please... there are just so many ultramarines out there.

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Weeell... I sort of like the subtle "Roman" theme pervading the Ultramarines, however, since I won't be using the Special Characters nor the Honour Guard, the colour scheme doesn't matter all that much.

I'm from Norway btw, so while it might ordinarily be sensible to go for used 'figs, it'll be tricky with eBay...

No eBay in Norway?