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Can someone tell me what these armies do, or are known for. Completely new to the game and am looking to start an army!

Whent to a hobby shop and saw a bunch of armies played, (Tae, space wolves, blood angels(?), eldar, chaos.)

I really thoought the models are cool and would like to get started but have no idea how?!

Can someone please give me advice/ explain some of the armies.

ps: don't know if this is in the wrong spot.. sorry! im a newb!

Tau shoot things. a lot. they are poor at hand to hand combat (CC) but make up for it with a variety of rules that make it hard for you to reach them/assault them.

Eldar are getting a new rules book (codex) in the next few days but unless there are some truly dramatic changes, the army is full of specialist infantry that do one thing to the exclusion of almost all else (destroy tanks, kill targets with good armour at range, kill targets with good armour in combat, etc) and fast skimmers, jet bikes and planes that allow them to be where they want, when they want.

i'll leave it to other to explain the differences between the various Power Armour codexes

Thank you very much i've never played a wargame, and don't want to do what everyone else does.. my friend says stay away from the marines and grey knights their cheap/ cheezy

But thank you again for the help on those 2 !

Most marines play similarly, but different enough to enjoy the flavor of each.

Dark Eldar are similar to how Tau were described in that they are tricky to play, can't really assault, are extremely shooty and like to hide. They are great in boats (very fast) but get shot out of them pretty easily.

I'll leave the rest up to others, but a GREAT way to start is by watching games and talking to other players. It's a little boring sometimes, but you can see some great things happen that you may have never considered when looking at an army.

Also, your friend has a point on one hand, but Space Marines are used frequently for a reason. Lots of big tanks, heavy armor, big guns and explosions. My army's Dark Eldar (if you couldn't tell), but my boy plays Dark Angels (a Space Marines chapter...the green guys). They're fun, but there's something to be said for real guns and not shooting pieces of poison glass from a model made out of glass bones and drugs (as much fun as my Dark Eldar are to play).

Wow those sound awesome!

Yeah i've seen some games and kind of demo'd a game, with space marines (blue ones) I liked them but I kind of don't know how to really start an army either because i cant decide !

I like a couple of different armies..

any suggestions ?

ps: thank you !

I'm one for the Chaos side really. Leaning more towards Chaos Daemons than the usual Chaos Space Marines.

They're a pretty good starting point. Chaos Space Marines are fairly easy to use for new players, and they come with their own tricks that you can use when you want to look into the rules more.

They have units that are good at shooting (Noise Marines, Thousand Sons), good at close combat (Daemon Prince and Chaos Lords on Daemonic Steeds), Freakishly fast things (Chaos Spawn and the ever-present Heldrake), Swarms (Zombies), Resiliency (Plague Marines and Chaos Spawn). Etc.

On the daemonic side of things, the Daemons work well as their own standalone army or as allies to the evil Space Marines. You aren't limited when picking what colors you want to paint them as. (No requirements for Legion colors/chapters/all that other stuff.) But they are fairly random at various times. The army is very fast and relies a lot on mauling things in close combat usually by turn two at least.

They are fragile though, and you can sometimes think of them as what a Dark Eldar army would be with less shooting. They can shoot of course, though it requires more on psychic powers than guns. It's also always fun to have giant monsters flying and running about that can get into your opponents face extremely quickly.

Another big thing. You can use Chaos Daemons in Warhammer Fantasy instead of just 40k if you want to get into that hobby as well. Same models, different rulesets, just make sure you magnetize the square and circle bases to your models if you intend on playing both 40k and Fantasy.

My advice, get a starter set and try to learn the rules as much as possible with small games. Ask the store staff for help as well.

My other advice that may or may not be a good idea? Join the dark side..... and by dark I mean Chaos.

Imperial Guard are like the humans army 40k. They're basically more men with guns but less powerful but they are best known for their tank army. So if you like tanks, the Guard is your army.

I agree with Razak to an extent. The IG codex is ancient, and a very cool army, but not one I would wet your feet with.

As far as the different marines go, I would check out their books in the store and read their fluff. That's mostly what separates them (well, Dark Angels have the newest book, so they're the cut above).

A good way to start may be buying Dark Vengeance. It has the rulebook, dice, templates, etc. that every player should have (you don't need the big, $75 rulebook, trust me). On top of that, you get a small sampling of everything Dark Angels specifically use (aside from tanks and a dreadnought). Plus some Chaos proxies, and the models all snap together, so modeling will not be a problem for the smaller point games you can put together. Then you can either turn around and sell them to a Dark Angels player (after selling the Chaos on Ebay, aside from a few models you may want should you go to the dark side). That will give you a few models on either side, and the ones they do give you would actually work well for any army as proxies or Battle brothers once you decide on a chapter. Also, playing that small company of Dark Angels against the various armies may give you an opportunity to ask questions on a focused basis (asking people mid-game is distracting to both players and interrupts their game. For all you know, that's the one game they get a week/month, so after you start to get that "cold shoulder" from people who are concentrating you may be less inclined to ask questions...).

So basically, it gives you 240 points of termies, ~185 of TACs, 65-100 points of Librarian (you need a HQ unit in EVERY game you'll play) and about 80 points of bikes (throw away the Company Master, or hang on to him for later on). It may not win very many matches, but you'll get to see how other armies beat marines, see the high and low points of playing marines, get to try a few cool tricks (bikes come with locator beacons, so you get to 'port those terminators in position wherever you put your bikes. I believe every unit comes with plasma of some sort, so you'll get to try out the Gets Hot rule...a lot, so on and so forth).

Either way, it gets you that pocket rulebook (worth $30 easily on just about every Ebay auction I've seen close) and some basic dice and necessary templates. Plus, you can get started on painting and see if you like that aspect of this holy trinity of a hobby.

A lot of people can get, stick with and love Marines. If you're not one of those people, you can sell your starting army to someone who is. I personally love Dark Angels, but my son picked them before I could play them (as now the focus has shifted to Tau and Eldar at the FLGS).

Good luck, and remember, the best way to learn is to play. The cheapest way to play is Dark Vengeance. $100 is a Battleforce for any army easy (sometimes not even that. IIRC, most B-Boxes are $115-125), but doesn't come with the rulebook you WILL need until the new one drops and I don't know more than a handful of Battleboxes you could pick up and play at any point level that you would want every model from afterward... Also, I don't think you need the Codex: Dark Angels for the DV set, so you could avoid another $50 purchase right there by avoiding the codex costs (I think it comes with a summary sheet of sorts with your unit stats on it).

thank you guys for all the info!

Yeah im looking to START into the game and don't want to get in to deep $ just want to get into it to see what I like and don't know much about the armies.

Thanks again guys any more advice or things on armies would be awesome!

You mentioned you have friends that play a good 1st point would be to ask to use there army's to test if they are something you like. also what is most important to you cost? looks? or how they play? If you want to keep it cheep (note this hobby is expensive but so are most hobby's) most would say marines but you indicated you don't like to "follow the crowd" then maybe demons could be a good start lots of big flying monsters kicking across the board.

laxrat15 wrote:
Wow those sound awesome!

Yeah i've seen some games and kind of demo'd a game, with space marines (blue ones) I liked them but I kind of don't know how to really start an army either because i cant decide !

I like a couple of different armies..

any suggestions ?

ps: thank you !

buy used models, you will save so much money starting out.

If you want to build a quick and cheap army, I'd go with orks, easy to find always fun to play.

If you want to run the army you think is the coolest, check out a website called, Lexicanuum, its got all the info about the armies.

If you need help with anything, just send me a PM man.

I'd say spend a lot of time on the boards here - there is a staggering amount of knowledge and experience on here. Don't be afraid to ask questions (though be forewarned, some can be a bit snippy.) Despite that, you'll usually get a decent answer in amongst the torrent of 'marinez sux, play infinity, play warmahordes, the world is ending' type responses.

And remember, there's no rules saying you have to only buy one army's models. I tend to collect a couple of armies, but also buy anything that tickles my fancy, just for the pleasure of painting.

And ebay is your friend, both for picking up used models cheaply, and getting rid of stuff you don't want.

Me, I have some marines for making things explode, and some eldar for when I want to challenge myself.

Absolutely agree on the Ebay subject, I just got done throwing in a couple of bids on some great deals. You can find some really good stuff hidden amongst the bits and old pieces of things.

Keep your eyes open, good deals are all over the place. Sometimes I've even found a few good deals on craigslist.