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Hey all,

I used to love painting the Warhammer and LOTR miniatures when I was a kid and recently thought it might be fun to pick it back up. I have a space in my house that I'd like to use as a hobby area, I've always loved the idea of painting and maybe playing with the figures. However I'm pretty much a total noob at this, the only real experience I have with Warhammer in the past 15 years is playing the Dawn of War computer games. I looked it up and it seems there is an active hobby store in my area that hosts a lot of events, I was planning on taking a trip there this weekend to pick up some pieces and get started. I am really more into the hobby side of things - painting and assembling the miniatures, but would love to actually play the game sometime as I love board and strategy games.

I just had a few extremely basic questions if anyone has some spare time:

- I'm on the fence about whether to do Warhammer fantasy or 40K, I honestly love both universes. Can anyone very briefly describe the major differences between the 2 settings in terms of the actual game? It also seems 40K is much more popular... is it even worth investing in the fantasy models? As I said I mostly just want to paint but I would like to try playing at some point.

- Whats the best way to start? Just pick an army, grab a basic box, and go at it? I don't really like the starter sets. AKA if I want to build Space Marines should I just grab a box of basic marines and start painting?

- Do you guys all use the Citadel paints? Is the hobby store the place to get them or should I order offline? Is there anything like a starter pack with a bunch of basic colors? I'm worried about spending a ton of money upfront on paint I won't use, but I don't want to hamstring myself by only having a few colors.

- Any tips for setting up a basic hobby table? I.e. paints, brushes, xacto knife, any little items that might make my life easier? Do you guys use magnifying glasses? Paint thinner? Or can anyone point me towards a good "getting started" guide for painting?

Thanks!

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

Omaha wrote:
Hey all,

I used to love painting the Warhammer and LOTR miniatures when I was a kid and recently thought it might be fun to pick it back up. I have a space in my house that I'd like to use as a hobby area, I've always loved the idea of painting and maybe playing with the figures. However I'm pretty much a total noob at this, the only real experience I have with Warhammer in the past 15 years is playing the Dawn of War computer games. I looked it up and it seems there is an active hobby store in my area that hosts a lot of events, I was planning on taking a trip there this weekend to pick up some pieces and get started. I am really more into the hobby side of things - painting and assembling the miniatures, but would love to actually play the game sometime as I love board and strategy games.

I just had a few extremely basic questions if anyone has some spare time:

- I'm on the fence about whether to do Warhammer fantasy or 40K, I honestly love both universes. Can anyone very briefly describe the major differences between the 2 settings in terms of the actual game? It also seems 40K is much more popular... is it even worth investing in the fantasy models? As I said I mostly just want to paint but I would like to try playing at some point.

- Whats the best way to start? Just pick an army, grab a basic box, and go at it? I don't really like the starter sets. AKA if I want to build Space Marines should I just grab a box of basic marines and start painting?

- Do you guys all use the Citadel paints? Is the hobby store the place to get them or should I order offline? Is there anything like a starter pack with a bunch of basic colors? I'm worried about spending a ton of money upfront on paint I won't use, but I don't want to hamstring myself by only having a few colors.

- Any tips for setting up a basic hobby table? I.e. paints, brushes, xacto knife, any little items that might make my life easier? Do you guys use magnifying glasses? Paint thinner? Or can anyone point me towards a good "getting started" guide for painting?

Thanks!

Welcome to Dakka,

The boxed set Dark Vengeance has some excellent looking models for Dark Angels and Chaos Space Marines if you're interested in 40K.
Comes with all this-


Likewise with Warhammer Fantasy- the Island of Blood boxed set comes with some pretty nice models too featuring all these Skaven and High Elves!-


There is a rumour going around that Warhammer Fantasy may be getting an overhaul to 8th Ed soon though so you may or may not wish to hold off on buying this.

If none of the above interests you then do you have any ideas on which race (for Fantasy or 40K) strikes your fancy?

GW does have some nice tools, but they are quite stupendously expensive. There's some pretty nice cheaper alternatives out there which would be worth investigating.

I use Citadel paints mostly. You can probably get some Citadel stuff on the cheap at eBay. There's also Vallejo, P3 and Army Painter paint ranges out there which are a nice alternative.

Hobby set up- Unless your vision is appalling or you have pretty OTT attention to detail, you probably don't need a magnifier. As always, GW do sell a pretty decent range of brushes- again you can look into other cheaper alternatives if they're outside your price bracket.
Brushes/files/pallette/water pot (don't buy one-use an empty jar/old cup-with no sentimental value preferably lol/glass)

well on water pot I use a old mug with broken handle, not everything has to be purchased like way too expensive gw one! Be mad to pay for plastic water pot!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And welcome to dakka.

I use as mix of army painter and gw paints, army painter brush's are ok , not perfect but do for starting out.

Army painter black if still same is great touch up as bit thicker and identical shade pretty much to gw black. There tones are worth weight in gold though, the army painter tone serris.

Welcome to Dakka.

As for picking out what to start with, I would meet with your local group and get a few games in with borrowed stuff. Then you will have a good idea what faction/setting you want to start with. Then sit down with the players of those armies and discuss what your options are for a good starting force and go from there. Use the wisdom of your fellow players.

I myself use very few Citadel paints. I prefer Reaper Pro Paints and Valejo paints. I also have a few from Hobby Lobby that I picked up as the particular color/shade I wanted isnt available from the previous mentioned lines.


Good Luck!

hi and welcome to dakka!

Welcome to Dakka! Pick an army you like the looks of because you will have more fun playing it if you like it.

Hello! Welcome to Dakka Dakka!