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Ok, I might be a little late to join the band wagon here but what exactly are you looking for in your army? from what I've read you're looking for
1. They look nice
2. They're fun to paint
3. They're fun to play

#1 is your opinion and something you're going to have to decide for yourself which one you like the look of best. Go ahead and browse the pictures here on Dakka, some of the stuff people have is out of this world (ba dum tish). for #2 go to a GW store and tell them it's your first time and you'd like to try painting, they usually let you try out a single model and you can see if you like it or not. #3 it's always fun to play 40k, but especially if you win. So in the end, make the decision yourself.

Kyroboru wrote:what race should I start out with for 40k, keeping in mind the cost, difficulty and friends I have already playing?

Firstly, 40k isn't actually that expensive, relatively. On the one hand, it's a durable good, which means that your purchases retain a huge amount of value over time, which controls cost. Compare, for example, to drinking or smoking. On the other hand, there are plenty of ways to get minis for cheaper than full retail price, especially if you're willing to get partially pre-assembled stuff from eBay.

Secondly, 40k isn't even that expensive, absolutely. It is possible to make a Dark Angels army for less than $30, and it's possible to make a legal Grey Knights army with just three models. Some armies can get really expensive, yes, but not all of them are, and that's before you consider the above thing about ebay and durable goods.

As for army difficulty, I wouldn't worry about it. Given that you're just starting out, all armies are going to feel hard. If you're going to put in the effort to learn 40k, you're likely to put in whatever extra effort may or may not be required to get good with an army that you actually want, rather than one you like less, but is a little easier in the short term. Plus, 40k is a living game, constantly changing. By the time you buy and paint an army and play enough to really notice the differences, your army's base power level might be rather different (for better or worse) than where it was when you started.

As for armies relative to the group, it doesn't really matter that much. If I had to make suggestions, it would be for another "bad guy" faction, or orks, because every group should have an ork player, and conveniently what you were already looking at meets both those criteria. In the end, though, you should get the army you like for the long term, rather than just what people around you happen to be playing most of right now.

Both tyranid and orks also have the benefit of having been in a starter box before. You can probably find Battle for Maccrage hormagaunts or Assault on Black Reach boyz and coptaz on eBay. And the ork battle box is probably the best one in the game right now, and actually offers you a discount. Also, in either case, you will be buying a new codex, and will be getting in at the beginning of a rules cycle, so any books you buy will likely be good for a long time to come.

Kyroboru wrote:Is it worth even picking up or should I just paint the models for fun?

That is ultimately up to you, of course. My best advice is to try playing a few games with your friends' minis (or your own once you've painted some up), and see if you like it. In any case, painting the minis doesn't require you to play every possible game you can.

40k is pretty similar to a role-playing game for a lot of reasons, but the one I'd highlight here is that the game focuses a lot more on player freedom than strict balance which means, like a role-playing game, its fun factor is highly dependent on what you're looking for from the game, and the kinds of people that are in your group.

Of course, we can't really advise you on either of those. I can only say that I've liked playing the game a lot, and so have other people, so it's definitely possible to have fun with 40k. If you're going to be painting up the models anyways, why not at least give it a try?

Christ guys, there is no point telling OP that warmahordes/malifaux/etc is better than 40k when OP clearly expresses an interest in 40k. TBH, it should matter almost nil about which army is better than the other when starting out. The golden rule I've learned about playing 40k is

" Even if my army/race is crap/underpowered/ROFLstomped 90% of the time, if I loved it from the start of my 40k journey, I'll still love it at the end of it "

Don't play an army that you never loved from the start because you took some advice on the internet that said " Army X is crap, go play this.." Sure, it may seem like a good long-term idea to have a viable army should you need to WAAC but that is why we all have other bits of marines/eldar/tau lying around in our house.

Sidetracking a bit, as far as game systems go, not many, if not none can actually touch 40k in terms of its charisma, charm and the fact that you have a hueg galaxy of grimdark as your sandbox.

Kyroboru wrote:
Would it be worthwhile looking into the races back stories?

www.lexicanum.com

knock yourself out

Dude, where in NZ?

Anywhere near Kapiti?

If so we have a club that will cut your costs big time.

Most areas in NZ have a club that will point you in the right direction without having to sift though a pile of pessimists selling up their quad-drakes and triptide armies after this meta shift caught them by surprise (somehow).

Cityguard in Auckland is pretty awesome.

 Swastakowey wrote:
Dudette, where in NZ?

Anywhere near Kapiti?

If so we have a club that will cut your costs big time.

Kyroboru wrote:
Hi there

. It's my boyfriend who's roped me in and I just am not sure if I'd actually enjoy the game as much as assembling the models, as I know so little.

@Ailaros Your answer really stood out to me. Thank you!
Thank you to everyone who has replied so far.

I'm liking the sound of the Grey Knights.
I still do really like the nids though. I have a friend who primarily plays them as wells as orks and marines and they said they'd be willing to help me out.

I'm in Christchurch. Nearest GW store is in Auckland..

Consider yourself lucky to not have to play in a GW store. You will have little modeling freedom etc if you did. But im pretty sure there will be some clubs in your area. Chances are they wont be stores but groups of people that pool together resources to play regularly.

Dont know how far but here is one I found

http://www.chchwargaming.org.nz/

Good luck.

What do you mean, playing in a store?

I might have to look a little further than that, but thanks for finding the link.
Not sure how keen a working mens club would be to have a teenage girl there. XD

Some stores have gaming spaces for customers to use. So its like a club where all the effort is put in from the store.

If you bring your friends along you will find it easier to merge with everyone else. I have never had a club that doesnt want new members. Im only 20, but members in my club range from 8-50 and we all get along gender/age regardless. Even if there are people that annoy me greatly haha.

I advise giving it a try. In my opinion playing as part of a club is the pinnacle of wargaming.

Oh, its not that the fact it's a majority mens club that's deterring me. It's just I looked on the site. You actually have to be part of the working mens club to go in the model club

I have a bad habit of not reading things through... if you haven't noticed.

Well yea I guess thats an issue.




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http://www.battlezone.co.nz/NZ-clubs.htm

That may be more helpful.

Honestly, from someone who just recently made the poor decision to play this game, strongly reconsider. This game is run by one of the worst gaming companies in the world. You will spend thousand of dollars if you ever want to feel competitive, you're your going to run into a lot of douche bags if you ever get onto the tournament scene, and unless you're willing to spend a lot of time and money updating your army, you may be disappointed.

If you are getting into this game because you like modeling or because you enjoy fluff, then it might be a good choice. However, over the past 2 years, this game has undergone a lot of different changes. This includes a 6th edition being dropped that was all about shooting. Of course, the only way to counter shooting, if you can't shoot yourself, is to assault. Unfortunately, in the 6th, assault was broken. Further frustrating that, deep strike, outflank, and other means to get into assault were further nerfed when GW decided to make a little extra money by creating the Inquisition (5 dollars a servo skull). This is not to mention the fact that there are armies running around that can obtain a 2++ reroll on wounds, which means that if you are able to wound one of these (rule bending jerks), you will have less than 4% chance of them actually taking the wound.

In order to make a little more money, GW release a 7th edition. With this edition, balance, which was dying with almost every release prior to the 7th, completely went out the window. Look up the lists with 38 power dice, look at the spam people are planning on bringing to games, look at the fact that virtually every army save one can summon daemons, and you will see what I mean. Of course, in order to buy the 7th, you will have to buy 3 books, 2 of which you don't need.

Why I am ranting in this disorganized way? Well, let me tell you. About a year ago, I decided to play 40k. I picked an army that looked awesome and appeared to be fun to play: CSM. After spending approximately 1000 dollars on models (REALLY BAD IDEA WITHOUT RESEARCHING), I came to discover that CSM was one of the worst armies for competitiveness. It isn't the worst, I might add, but it certainly has some point effective issues. With every codex that comes out, and every rule book, CSM gets worse and worse. I sorely regret ever getting into this game, as I am faced with either buying a new army or playing with one that is at a disadvantage before I even table.

If you are looking to play a fun game, with balance, I suggest just about anything except 40k. If you want to model, paint, and talking about the emperor with a bunch of neckbeards, then 40k is for you.

I am going to bed now. Hopefully I will have saved one newb from a year of spending money and being disappointed.

 Nuln_Oil wrote:
Honestly, from someone who just recently made the poor decision to play this game, strongly reconsider.

Yawn, read the thread, if that's within your abilities.

You now it's actually great that you want to collect Tyranids - quite fitting!

Termagants, Harridan, Crones, Harpies... all slang terms for women.

Like I tell everyone, play what made you go wow!

Gamewise Dark Eldar are tough to learn, but rewarding. Space Wolves play fairly similar to space marines and dark angels. So if you do play them you can share models with them if you're just playing with your small group.

Tyranids cost the most to play right now, since more models mean more cost. However, if you buy second hand and online the price difference will be nice.

My advice, borrow one of your friends space marine models and play them like space wolves, if you like it, great. If not, choose one of the other two!

If you don't like playing, and simply just like modeling and painting, some people turn around and sell some models for profit on ebay!

Well whatever you choose to do, or play. Welcome to the madness

Kyroboru wrote:
Hi there

I have a group of friends who are just starting out with the table top game (although they all know more about the game than me; they have played dawn of war and know a lot of the games backstory etc.)

I've been helping them paint and assemble their models and their board and I'm not so sure about the game itself yet, but I'd really like to get into the model painting.
The races they play are space marines, chaos space marines and necrons and we have another friend who might be joining us with dark angels(?)

The reason I'm turned away by the idea really is the cost of it. The models and codex, etc. We share our resources like glue and paints, and we buy a majority of our models second hand and strip them, but still. It's my boyfriend who's roped me in and I just am not sure if I'd actually enjoy the game as much as assembling the models, as I know so little.

Race wise anyway, I really love the tyranids. They are very cool. They're the thing I saw in the model shop and went 'wow!' at. I also quite like the space wolves, and the dark eldar.
The orks look like their play style is very fun too though.

I was just going to get some second hand tyranids to strip and paint for fun but it seems like you need a lot of them, and it seems like they have a hard learning curve. (I picked up dota 2 quickly enough so even though they are nothing alike lol I presume with my friends help I could learn)
I don't really want space marines.

TLR what race should I start out with for 40k, keeping in mind the cost, difficulty and friends I have already playing?
Is it worth even picking up or should I just paint the models for fun?

Thanks <3

To be honest orks are very fun to play with and you can have alot of fun doing the conversion work you can go to town and let your imagination run wild.

Orks are about to have a new codex released and they are one of the most interesting races to model using conversions. Honestly I would play some practice games using borrowed/proxied miniatures and figure out what you like as far as models and gameplay. Then build a small army and play some fun games with your friends. And find a new forum to read. This one is full of pessimists and negativity about the game. Just look at some of the answers you got. It is no place for beginners. Find a more friendy place. You can always lurk on here to laugh at the negativity and nerdrage like I do.


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If you like Grey Knights, I have been playing them and have been having a lot of fun with them in 7th. You can run a small elite army of Draigo and Paladins which probably wouldnt cost much (relatively) This is what I have been doing lately. My 1000 point army has 9 models (Draigo, 7 paladins, and a dreadknight). My 2000 point army has 18 models.

Wow, Aileros, amazing writeup! I'm glad that one stood out.

I do think yoj over-minimize the costs, but do a good job of pointing out the real minimizing/mitigating factors related to costs.

This forum has lots of players with lots of different outlooks on the game. No real way to tell from this thread which one you are.

If you've been concerned about army stack rank, you might want to hold off a bit. These forums are full of people who are bitter about the lack of balance (some real, some perceived), and some armies never quite make it to the top of the stack.

On the other hand, if an army basically makes you say 'feth yes!'' On looks/lore alone, then you've found the right hobby! Pick the army you like.

I'm glad I started with Marines first, before picking up a more odd army, so I could see the game from the 'baseline' viewpoint (and GK would have a similar effect). To that end, if you're debating between GK and DE, I'd tip the scales to GK. Orks would be a decent starting faction (new codex in a week or so). Tyranids would work, but would be a bit wonky at first. Dark Eldar are very unique, in a way that makes it a not great starting army, but if they really speak to you, go for it!

I learned a lot about the races from Dawn of War I. The pre-expansion campaign was a fun and amazing intro to the universe. Also, there are plenty of wiki's and forums to happily lose hours to, as the universe is complex, and in places extremely compelling. Just remember, everthing is supposed to be second hand - misinformation is everywhere, which can even add to the setting's alure!

I'd suggest looking into the universe, and figuring out what really speaks to you. Then, if someone near by plays that army, watch them play a game (this saved me from picking up Tau - with the new Dex, I didn't like how they played, although I may still pick some up as I love their look). Then, codex + battle box + basic/generic HQ + Rulebook (or dark Vengeance, once the rulebook is updated, if you play any Imperial faction - if you can convert even one unit, its an amazing bargain).

At this point, you'll be able to make informed decisions about what speaks to you. Just build up slowly as units speak to you. Avoid picking up a second faction, even as allies, until you're familiar with your first one.

Alternately, just pick up DV, and try that out to see if you like the game, then convert to whatever army you really want.

Most players tend to start with some Marine variant, then build out from there.

All this presupposes you'll be playing casual (I much prefer it myself).

Hopefully, welcome to the hobby, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Hey, welcome to DakkaDakka. I've only been playing for almost a year, and my main army is Necrons. But I did pick up Tyranids as a second "fun" army at the dart of this year, and I have to say, they are so satisfying to paint. They used to be fun to play, but they're getting harder and harder to actually be GOOD. So, they probably aren't the right army to start learning the game with, being as you have to know and utilize a lot more rules, imo. That, and the models can get expensive, depending on what you buy. What I would do if I were you is (if you actually wanna play) is use your boyfriend's army and learn the basics, play a couple small games and such. And as you're doing that, buy a tyranid model here or there, and paint it. And that way, even if you don't like the game, you still have some of the coolest models in the game (in my opinion) to paint and look at.

If your worried about cost don't start playing 40k!! I'm serious it's just a money pit. If you just want to paint I could see it being a reasonably inexpensive hobby. But once you start playing it's a bottomless pit of finding the right models to play with and getting better one and more so that you can win more.

That said it's fun and that's why I play it, me and my buddy do it really cheap, we don't get caught up in the whole get a new codex/rulebook every 2 years thing and have an unspoken rule of not running tanks or anything too expensive so that it doesn't become a big race.
Basically I'd say calculate whether it would or would not be something you want to invest your hard earned money into.

Showtimebrad wrote: But once you start playing it's a bottomless pit of finding the right models to play with and getting better one and more so that you can win more.

That's only true if...

1.) you consider 40k to be a serious strategy game.
2.) you want to win with the least amount of effort.
3.) winning is the only thing that's important.

If at least one of those isn't applicable to you, then that cycle completely breaks down.

 loki old fart wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
Dudette, where in NZ?

Anywhere near Kapiti?

If so we have a club that will cut your costs big time.

Kyroboru wrote:
Hi there

. It's my boyfriend who's roped me in and I just am not sure if I'd actually enjoy the game as much as assembling the models, as I know so little.

Oh pish tosh. It's 2014 people, we can't have gay 40k players? The game is very inclusive, if a bit repressed

Bharring wrote:I do think you over-minimize the costs, but do a good job of pointing out the real minimizing/mitigating factors related to costs.

It always annoys me when people scramble over each other to call 40k expensive. Expensive compared to what? Price divorced from value is completely meaningless.

Are there other wargames that have a lower up-front cost? Of course, but if you're comparing a game like malifaux where you can play from 5 minis to 8 minis to 40k where you can play from 3 minis to 500, then it's not even a remotely fair comparison if you're comparing apocalypse 40k to, say, infinity where you just get a whole lot less stuff for your lower price tag. Likewise, compare it to other high-value things. Compare it to anything, in fact, just don't say "it has a price" and then pretend that that's an argument for anything.

Or we should at least reveal some of the subjectivity of the statement, even if that opens us up to fallacy somewhat. A 15 year old begging their parents for money to buy minis and comparing the price to doing chores, studying, or buying chewing gum is going to have a different point of reference than a 30 year old with a mortgage and a humidor.

Kyroboru wrote:I still do really like the nids though. I have a friend who primarily plays them as wells as orks and marines and they said they'd be willing to help me out.

Well, you keep coming back to that... maybe it's a sign?

I mean, ask yourself which you would be more disappointed by, being forced to play nids, or being forced to play anything but nids.

The only faction I've never felt unsure about recommending? Orks. Win or lose, they're just fun.

Once again, thanks for all your replies so far.
I think before I decide on a race I'm going to look into the history of the world a bit, and maybe pick up dawn of war.
At this stage though, I think I have narrowed it down to the orks or the grey knights. I managed to pick up some really cheap tyranids yesterday (14 dollars for 13 of them) so I'm gonna have fun painting those :3
From what everyone's said though they don't sound like the best race to start with. So I think I'll do as someone above said and just paint them for now.
Which dawn of war games are best to look into? Most people I know have soul storm or retribution.
I don't even know where to start with the lore though..

Once my group has started playing though, I think I will see if I can okay a few games with their figures and get a feel for it.
Also, to above, I do have a job with some disposable income. At my age I'm just saving for a car and uni since I can't actually drive yet.

Dawn of War II has the best story in a 40k RTS ever.

And big plus point is the enemy is Tyranids!

BUY IT AND PLAY IT!!!!!!

You should play Daemons.

If you don\t play Daemons, take a psykers in which ever army you plan on playing and buy Daemons anyways as you'll need the models once you start summoning Daemons to aid your main faction.

If you've been enjoying painting, perhaps pick up a few models you'd love to paint and then see what it feels like to field them? If you'd pick them up to paint them, no reason not to try them out!

(Ailerous - I was saying that I thought you were marginally overselling how cheap it was, but agreed with your point overall. Sorry, I don't communicate well)


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That being said, there are plenty of people who enjoy the modelling/painting side, but don't enjoy the game itself. My SO loves my Hawks and Harlequins (her paint jobs are amazing!), but has never had any interest in playing. Its more common than you think.

First and foremost, play what army stands out to you the MOST! Having said that, drawing from personal experience... I've played 6 armies in the 3 years I've been in 40k, selling one off after painting it because I grow tired of it. The one army I've loved more than any other and don't think I'll ever get rid of is Dark Eldar.