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i am a newer Warhammer 40k player and i have a DE army and a DA army and i'm starting a Tyranid army, but i was wanting to know what is the best army to have for a beginner, and the points value you should start with for ANY army

Vanilla marines are probably the most forgiving army to start with. Both on the paint bench, and the tabletop.

500 points is a good place to start for learning, but you start to get the feel of an army at 1,000.

so start with SM and go from there?
i kind of wanted to start a IG army

Sounds like you want a bit of everything.

There isnt really a step by step hierarchy or anything just play what you like.

But 500 to 1000 is generally a good place to start.

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
so start with SM and go from there?
i kind of wanted to start a IG army

Then go guard.

It might be less forgiving, and have a higher model count to paint (with faces) but at the end of the day you should collect and play the army you like. You are going to spend far too much time and money on them to invest in something you are “meh” on. Learning curves vary by player and army. But even the “hard” armies to play can be learned. You might just loose a few more games before you get the hang of it.

Marines might be the easy start point, but are by no means the only one.

Guard is a reasonable starter army. More expensive than some, but workable. You can play at any points level, but you'll find most players will be playing 1000pts and up. There is a game mode/type that is played at the sub 500pts level, which might be worth checking out.

I used to say the standard answer was Space Marines - then someone made a good argument for Chaos Space Marines being a better starting army.

- They have 3+ saves
- They have Terminator Armor
- They have armored vehicles including dreads (Helbrutes)
- They have Monstrous Creatures available to them (Demon Princes)

It's interesting to note that while Space Marines definitely get more toys to play with than almost every other army. CSM give you exposure to a variety of rules that SM do not have - but are prevalent in other armies across the spectrum.

Just some food for thought there.

 cvtuttle wrote:
I used to say the standard answer was Space Marines - then someone made a good argument for Chaos Space Marines being a better starting army.

- They have 3+ saves
- They have Terminator Armor
- They have armored vehicles including dreads (Helbrutes)
- They have Monstrous Creatures available to them (Demon Princes)

It's interesting to note that while Space Marines definitely get more toys to play with than almost every other army. CSM give you exposure to a variety of rules that SM do not have - but are prevalent in other armies across the spectrum.

Just some food for thought there.

Yeah, I would actually agree. It's been my experience that CSMs are a little easier for people to learn the game with at the 500 - 1000 point range. You can do monstrous creatures, you can do obliterators, you can do bikes, you can cult troops. etc. I have seen people struggle more with SMs at that level, mostly b/c there's a tendency to take tacticals and devastators and that's it.

 cvtuttle wrote:
I used to say the standard answer was Space Marines - then someone made a good argument for Chaos Space Marines being a better starting army.

- They have 3+ saves
- They have Terminator Armor
- They have armored vehicles including dreads (Helbrutes)
- They have Monstrous Creatures available to them (Demon Princes)

It's interesting to note that while Space Marines definitely get more toys to play with than almost every other army. CSM give you exposure to a variety of rules that SM do not have - but are prevalent in other armies across the spectrum.

Just some food for thought there.

LOL desu i'm guessing your FOR the emperor? may his light never go out then my Dark eldar shall not have mortals to feast upon

Space Marines or Chaos Space Marines. That's what 40k is mostly about.

If you don't like marines in general, Necrons are good for beginners...that's how I started. Easy to paint and, not too, too many options to confuse the hell out of you.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:

i kind of wanted to start a IG army

I didn't see this before posting. If you want to go IG, then go IG.

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
i am a newer Warhammer 40k player and i have a DE army and a DA army and i'm starting a Tyranid army, but i was wanting to know what is the best army to have for a beginner, and the points value you should start with for ANY army

First this, just in case it helps:

http://40kunorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2014/06/7th-edition-warhammer-40000-basics.html

Also:

I play Dark Eldar and there si a fair amount of recent material on therre about Dark Eldar.

Dark angels arent nearly as familiar to me but fo Dark Eldar theres a few things you cant go wrong with. A pair of the Skysplinter boxed sets with Raider and kabalite Warriors is one. An Archon and likely a haemonculus for another. Start there.

Once you have a couple raiders and their troops, plus the two HQ's, the picture should start clarifying rapidly. My personal favorite Elite is 4-5 Grotesques. Brutal killers. My favorite anti-tank is Scourges. I'm guessing Talos are likely the heavy Support of choice unless you want to go armored. But Dark Eldar Armor is not something to write home about so you may well wish to consider Talos. Still the VoidRaven Bomber is a nasty killing machine if you can pre-emptively kill the enemy anit-air.

Honestly pick armies that interest you the most.

The learning curve for each army can be tough even for experienced players, so it's better to go with an army you like and that would work with your play style.

konrax i dont entirely know my playing style yet, a guy who was supposed to be teaching me how to play, used it as an oppurtunity to test out his own armies while obliterating my own, then AFTER the fact or battle he would tell me i should have done this or that.... not raging about it.. but how am i supposed to learn if you take advantage of the fact i'm a newbie

Well, if he was pointing purely tactical things, like target priority or claiming certain objectives, then what he did wasn't bad or wrong. If it was rules issues that he only clarified after the game, that's not really on.

You should probably get in the habit now of waiting post game to go over decisions and how they played out. Puts everything into perpsective and you can go over how a choice early game can impact outcomes late game.

you mean like waiting after the game and talking to the person i played and seeing how my decisions affected the entire game?

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
konrax i dont entirely know my playing style yet, a guy who was supposed to be teaching me how to play, used it as an oppurtunity to test out his own armies while obliterating my own, then AFTER the fact or battle he would tell me i should have done this or that.... not raging about it.. but how am i supposed to learn if you take advantage of the fact i'm a newbie

If he actually did it in a way that his intention was to completely obliterate you then that´s a douche move. If it kind of just "happened" due to the difference in skill/army composition then he did nothing wrong.

Just be patient and learn the game a little at a time. Don´t get yourself overwhelmed; You´ll have good grasp of everything once you get some games under your belt. Just enjoy the learning and other parts of the hobby.

Welcome to the Far Far Future recruit.

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
you mean like waiting after the game and talking to the person i played and seeing how my decisions affected the entire game?

Sure. I see nothing wrong with it. Unless he's withholding rules clarifications and issues, he's not bound in any way to hold your hand through the game. Some people work differently. If you'd like him to help you out in a different way, I'd explain that to him.

XD thanks runic, i enjoyed just PLAYING the game, mostly because i can kind of visualize the battle as its taking place and everything kind of comes to life and i love it lol, i wish GW would lower their prices for their models.... theres NO way that any of those models are worth $80.... nuff GW hating. i've been recently trying to find somebody to teach me more of the game in 7th so i can teach some of my friends who want to start playing.

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
i enjoyed just PLAYING the game, mostly because i can kind of visualize the battle as its taking place and everything kind of comes to life and i love it lol

One of the most fun things when playing. Especially the really silly stuff that happens.

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
you mean like waiting after the game and talking to the person i played and seeing how my decisions affected the entire game?

or do a Battle report like this:

http://www.40kunorthodoxy.blogspot.com/2014/11/necrons-vs-tau-empire-battle-report.html

 RunicFIN wrote:

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
i enjoyed just PLAYING the game, mostly because i can kind of visualize the battle as its taking place and everything kind of comes to life and i love it lol

One of the most fun things when playing. Especially the really silly stuff that happens.

yeah but alot of people get into it to slam an army into the ground with their boot heels, or tentacles or whatever... they dont entirely enjoy actually playing.
^----^my opinon

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:

 RunicFIN wrote:

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
i enjoyed just PLAYING the game, mostly because i can kind of visualize the battle as its taking place and everything kind of comes to life and i love it lol

One of the most fun things when playing. Especially the really silly stuff that happens.

yeah but alot of people get into it to slam an army into the ground with their boot heels, or tentacles or whatever... they dont entirely enjoy actually playing.
^----^my opinon

I dunno people do enjoy the game but i notice they and i my self get very salty after a heated argument. no one gets mad when double 1s are rolled for a charge distance of 4 or things like that but rules arguments like necron deathray shenanigans can ruin the mood quickly. (that and those BS nurgle princes)

Edit: soo to the op what exactly are you looking for in an army?

do you want them to go face forward and punch face or camp like girly men?

I had a great time starting with Orks as my first army and then I read a couple articles about how forgiving they are as a starter army.

They have a great feel to them, with wild shooting and dead 'ard melee attacks. And everyone loves to play Orks. Seriously, you will never pull out an Ork army and have your opponent give you the eye for being lame, or cheesy or cliche. Ork games involve lots of bloodshed on both sides and usually are pretty fun for all involved.

So if you really enjoy playing the game, I think Orks will be rewarding.
Although I really want a DE army and I think they would be a lot of fun to play as well.

i fairly enjoy DE they're great against fleshy armies

yup. My Coven army scares armor.

mostly cuz the splinter weapons right?

 asdrubeal vect124 wrote:
mostly cuz the splinter weapons right?

Mass Ass Blasters

You should stick to DE. They are still good. unless you REALLY want to switch armies.

Yeah I say stick to one army for awhile and really get the feel of them. Starting too many armies can sometimes cause a bit of a burnout as you have ideas on how to expand each army, but then struggle with witch army you really want to work on.

i think i'll stick with a DE army, until i start to win consistintly then maybe I'll add another army