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Hello all! I've just begun the leap into Warhammer 40,000 Table top, when I say just begun, I mean just! I have just purchased my 7th edition rules, and haven't even selected a codex yet.
My wife will be playing as well, allthough she is a step ahead of me and is deadset on her army of choice. So my questions!

1. I know my army will be comprised of the Space Marines...just having a really hard time deciding which codex to use with them. So I'm looking for an army with a strong infantry base, I really like BA but they appear to be very CC based. I like the scheme of the Imperial Fists, but don't know much about them, I don't really want to go with BA or Ultra's just to stay more original and not show up to a game with the same army as everyone else in the crowd.

So I guess in short, which codex would fit a well balanced ranged infantry based army, tactical dread armour, etc.? What chapter tactics fit the fluff for such a thing? (more ideas are all the better)

2. My wife is LOCKED on having a 100% Chaos Daemons of Nurgle army. What would be the pros and cons of this? Is this a bad choice? Is it imperative to have them as just a compliment to Chaos Space Marines?

Sorry if these questions seem...redundant, or anything of an irritation . I just really want to start in the tabletop of WH40K. I've been reading the novels for awhile and have been interested in the tabletop, just lost in the vast universe of it all. So thank you all for your time and help in this matter!

The standard Codex: Space Marines is probably your best bet if you're just starting. Lot of variety, good fluff, and the balance is acceptable, for a GW product.

I'm no expert on Chaos Daemons, but Nurgle has always been one of the better chaos gods, in terms of tabletop ability.

What Blacksails said

Can't go wrong with vanilla Space Marines. You can build your army just about any way you want... I think it's by far the most flexible faction in the game -- not the most 'powerful' but there are usable models for almost every gameplay style. Which is also a bonus because you can successfully change from one style to another buying just a few models, rather than a whole new army.

Plus Space Marines VS Chaos Demons is a nice narrative

You might want to look carefully at Space Wolves though. I'm not overly familiar with them but they have certain bits that are attractive. Splitfire on the Long Fangs (Heavy Weapon infantry), a very tactical set of options on Terminators (Elite infantry) and other things vanilla just don't have. Browse some of the Space Wolf specific threads on here and see if you like them too.

Codex: Space Marines is a great codex, so you should have no issue with building the army you want and having it work well. As for Chapter Tactics, I can't really think of anything that benefits TDA specifically, but for an Infantry-centric force Imperial Fists, Black Templars and Ultramarines are all good best, the first and last offering good stuff for infantry units (IF is a small 'always on' buff to Bolters and Devastator units, Ultras give one-turn bonuses that are more powerful for a shorter time. BT opens up a new infantry unit that can be build shooty, CC, and bring more bodies than any other unit in the codex).

Codex Space Marines is the way to go for you. It's the most flexible, and it gives you an excuse to paint and call them whatever you want.

White Scars Chapter Tactics if you want to use Bikes as troops, OR you plan on using a lot of Rhinos.
Imperial Fists Chapter Tactics if you want rerolls on bolters, and heavy bolters

Space Wolves are Uber melee centric
Blood Angels are slanted towards melee
Ultramarines have crappy Chapter Tactics
Raven something something is based around Jump Packs, so again melee centric
Black Templars are for people who like challenges and mixing scouts with marines for some unholy reason.
Salamanders are people with melta fetishes
Dark Angels are for people who like plasma, picking up cheap monopose Terminators, tacticals, and bikes from Dark Vengeance box sets

Nurgle has some really fun units. Nurglings are extremely entertaining. Just be prepared for all the random rolling which will ensue from taking daemons...

I certainly advise playing a few games between you with some paper cutouts of models and units if you have no models and are figuring out what you might want to take.

For space marines I would go vanilla - they have a lot to choose from. And if you like the fists, go for it - I love yellow marines

If you feel like playing a different chapter you can just use different rules from the space marine codex.

Wow! I honestly did not expect so many replies in just one day. Thank you all for your support and not chewing me out for being a "newb".

I think I will go ahead and begin with the Imperial Fists, I hear good things about Lysander anyways.

Where should I begin for starting out? It's a fairly expensive hobby, so I think I will start small and work it up. Do I need anything huge? Or can I just begin with a simple tac squad of marines and her with a squad of plaugue bearers to learn the ropes?

Again, thank you all for the advice!

Tactical marines and plague bearers are a pretty safe route to start with, being basic troops for each faction. If all you have is a unit each, you can either proxy other units (ie "this box of tissues is a tank, those pennies are a unit of assault marines") or you could treat each member of the squad as a separate unit and play a kill team style game - each member of the unit moves, shoots and assaults independent of one another. Will let you learn the basic rules quickly and is actually damn fun with some terrain!

You will find that the marines may have an advantage as the have ranged weapons and the PB's don't so ensure you add plenty of terrain to block los.

If you have a local store or gaming club they will probably be happy to show you both the ropes and give suggestions.

If you can, I suggest the Vallejo range of paints for painting your guys. Bigger bottles and cheaper than gw paint as well as being in dropper bottles for better non-drying-outness and easier mixing of paints. Also I love white spray primer (very handy if you are going to be painting yellow fists!).

Haha, thanks SilverMK2, I was actually going to ask about paints next.

And, yes, I think we'll do that, use objects as unit markers just to start and learn. as for a hobby store, I don't believe Wyoming even has one that would offer games workshop anything....it's a very....rustic state . I'm actually being forced to use the tether method just to have online access haha.

So in other words, I'll be using DakkaDakka as a reference point for a many of things. Would dakka have a forum for what paints would be needed for painting your armies? I think I saw that there are tutorials available.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, What do you all think about the Soul Drinkers?

I don't know much about them other than they're all but dead, but I really like their color schemes.

Dakka has plenty of great painters who can suggest how to paint any force that you might be interested in. There are also loads of youtube videos on the subject too.

Post questiins in the paintina and modelling forum, and if you want to show your progress, make a painting log. Show off completed models in the showcase forum. Browse for tutorials in the tutorial forum.

 SilverMK2 wrote:
play a kill team style game - each member of the unit moves, shoots and assaults independent of one another. Will let you learn the basic rules quickly and is actually damn fun with some terrain!

Can't agree with this bit more. Kill Team is how I learned the game, and I still play a round of it every so often as it's quick, easy, and fun.

I am having a tough time finding a tutorial for the IF that isn't a youtube video. My internet is too slow for youtube :( isn't that terrible?

 Orkzwuzmade4rokkn wrote:

So in other words, I'll be using DakkaDakka as a reference point for a many of things. Would dakka have a forum for what paints would be needed for painting your armies? I think I saw that there are tutorials available.

The Games Workshop paints are of excellent quality. Vallejo also has a good line of paint.

Games Workshop spray primer is also good, although I use Army Painter primer because its cheaper and just as good. Primer is necessary to ensure the paints adhere properly to the model, its a "stickier" paint that gives a solid surface for the acrylic paint to hold on to.

As for colors, the rules don't care about what color your army is. So unless you want to go with Imperial fists Yellow and Black you don't have to use that color to use their rules in the Marine codex. Its purely aesthetic.

Fair warning, Yellow is an absolute to get looking even halfway decent. White is also problematic unless you prime with white, and that means any dark areas will need to be manually painted with black so you get proper shading. Thats why I prefer priming with black and just sticking to darker colors.

Some painting tips.

Priming: With priming, I like to assemble the model completely first. Then I take it outside, put on a rubber glove, and, holding the model's base, prime the model individually to get all in the nooks and crannies. Hold the can about 6-8 inches away and spray in short bursts. Some models may need a second coat of primer. If its a warm day, just the models outside in the sun. they'll be dry in about 10 minutes. Don't spray if its extremely humid or very cold as that will cause the spray paint to clump.

Once the models are dry, I'll paint the primary colors on the model first. So if my space marine has grey armor I will brush all the armor grey with a large detail brush. Then I dry brush any metal areas. Dry brushing is where you get paint on your brush and then scrape it across a piece of paper till most of the paint is off. Then you roughly go over the area you want to look like metal(the area should be black before you do this to give the proper effect) This does damage the brush so you should have a brush that's designated as your "dry brush", it frays the ends but that only makes it better at the job.

then, you'll pick out smaller details. Such as purity seals, eye lenses, medals, etc... with the appropriate color and using a fine detail brush. Then use the detail brush again to clean up any mistakes or areas where you went "over the line".

Now is the time for washes, once everything is dry. A hairdryer can be used to speed up drying, just be careful. A wash is basically a thinned down paint which creates realistic shadows and shading. There are many premade washes but you can make your own out of any paint by thinning it down. The two principle washes you'll want are a black wash and a brown wash. The good GW washes are Badab Black and Agrax Earthshade. There are red, green, blue, purple, etc... washes too. The principle is the same. Either wash will give you nice shading on a model and make the small details pop out even if they're the same color as the flat area around. It basically gives contrast. You can just give the entire model a wash in Agrax Earthshade or Badab Black after putting the primary colors on and it will look really nice.

Don't use blowdryers to speed up drying of washes as it will blow them around a bunch as they're mostly liquid. But good air flow around a model will speed the drying.

After washes, you can either stop or use highlights. Highlights are done after a wash is dry. There are several techniques.

You can lightly drybrush the original color of the surface over the most raised areas after its been washed to give a nice contour. Using a fine brush to pull a razor thin streak across an edge will also highlight it. Either with the original color and/or a lighter version of the same color. For example, I highlight red with lighter red and then the lighter red with just a very fine amount of bright orange.

Another technique is to do the same thing, but instead of drybrushing you use wet paint and two brushes. Its called two brush blending. You basically apply the first highlight color very thinned out, and then while its still wet apply the next highlight color(also thinned out) and blend the colors together in a gradient.

Mostly its all about practice. So just painting yourself will be the best way to learn.

Grey Templar, you are, the, man.

Haha, and as for the yellow, yeah I'm terrified, but I was told to prime in Brown, but again, I may do a succesor chapter of the IF. Really digging the idea of an Emperors Warbringers army, Olive Drab Green might not be too difficult, and camo vehicles. Only issue that I'm having with that idea, is not much interesting fluff on them..

Found a novel on them called, "Setting the stage" but I'm pretty booked on reading books. So I may attempt the yellow, and if it's an epic failure, I'll be moving on.

(Crimson Fists are a no for me, possible soul drinkers {even though they're cooked and were excommunicated anyways})

Black Templars aren't shooty enough for me either. And I am a man who enjoys my fluff, so I'd like a chapter that has background.

I was just thinking, if you want tactical marines to be absolutely shooty, Dark Angels is the way to go. Everyone within 6" of your command squad turns their bolter into salvo 2/4 if you run the sacred standard of devastation (the dakka banner). Aside from that however they don't seem to be what you're looking for sadly. Their main strong points are bikes and terminators, nothing really spectacular about the res of their army, and they can't access a lot of the goodies that standard marines get.

As for what to buy, what about eBay? If not and you want to buy brand new so you can personalize it yourself (I bought some stuff used and while it's cheaper, they are pre made and don't have my touch so I can understand buying brand new).

How about the Starter set? Get 2 armies. While they may have DA iconography it's a great value to start off at least. If not that way how about the Space Marine boxset? Not sure if you save any money or not so make sure you double check there.

@Kingbobbito and Davor

I was actually thinking about dark angels through the starter (dark veng) set as somewhere just to start, as it comes with about everything you need. I never planned on keeping the DA, but just as an introductory to the game. But my stubborn wife refuses to play anything that isn't a (Cute) nurgle daemon/beast. So it's to gunna be a bit by bit project.

But I also thought about doing a Soul Drinker army (pre-extinction of course) just to save myself from the yellow massacre. (I'm losing a great amount of hope in it lol)

and as for ebay shopping, you bet! full of great deals. Just won't be buying pre-painted. I don't know how people do that, wouldn't each lot be a different shade from different techniques? :

On white, I have found a double coat of nuln oil (on the basecoat, not after layering) to be dark enough that I don't have to do any black.

@kingleir

So prime white, basecoat purple, double coat oil?

She thinks nurgles are cute ? :O

I just started 40k again. Went with Eldar before I looked up any currecnt rules or strategies because I like the models and a whole lot different to Tyrranids I used to play... Old one Eye leading the charge of a million genestealers...whole army dying miserably before you get anywhere near that charge distance lol.

Was torn between Eldar/Necron/Tau as my army. The new wraithlord models won me over in the end...

 Orkzwuzmade4rokkn wrote:


1. I know my army will be comprised of the Space Marines...just having a really hard time deciding which codex to use with them. So I'm looking for an army with a strong infantry base, I really like BA but they appear to be very CC based. I like the scheme of the Imperial Fists, but don't know much about them, I don't really want to go with BA or Ultra's just to stay more original and not show up to a game with the same army as everyone else in the crowd.

So I guess in short, which codex would fit a well balanced ranged infantry based army, tactical dread armour, etc.? What chapter tactics fit the fluff for such a thing? (more ideas are all the better)

The main marine book, the one with the blue guys on the front, has rules for running many different chapters besides the blue guys inside it. Pretty much any chapter tactic that doesn't focus on melee would be useful.

 Orkzwuzmade4rokkn wrote:

2. My wife is LOCKED on having a 100% Chaos Daemons of Nurgle army. What would be the pros and cons of this? Is this a bad choice? Is it imperative to have them as just a compliment to Chaos Space Marines?

I run a force of just plaguebearers (80 of them) 9 nurgling swarms and a few daemon princes with a single great unclean one. It can handle anything thrown at it and is fun to play.

Space marines are fairly forgiving on mistakes, they weather bad placement and loss,s well.
Also no endless hoard moving ;-)

Lol, my wife is going the hoards route, about 60 PB of nurgle.

You can just get the "army painter" bright yellow primer, one light spray and you're done...highlight in a Sunburst yellow/white mix...maybe wash recesses with yellow or sepia shade
Trim it, base it... over with painting in one evening for 40 or so models...you can even pick up a bunch of unused "fist decals"

Basing in black presents a bunch of issues that aren't remedied easy by a novice model painter

That would work, but I'd question how it would look, seems like it might fade/wear fast, look sloppy, and wouldn't really assist me in my skill building for painting. I don't plan to stop with just IF. I just really want IF lol. It'll take time, but it'll be worth taking the time I think. I've never been a "cut corners" kind of a guy.

I have a ton of projects I'd want to do, and in saying that, I need to learn how to do it the correct way. But if my concers are non-issues, then I'd probably go for it.

have you got some units yet?

I like your wifes appoach

for where to start I'd reccomend dark vengence, converting the dark angels to imperial fists proably won't be too hard (and no one's going to object if you don't even convert em and just run em painted yellow as fists) and the chaos Marines stuff might be good for your wife, they're not DEAMONS, but she can run em as a small allied force of chaos marines just so she gets something.


if you're not intreasted in a "something for each of us" box, I'd reccomend starting with the space marine adeptus astartes strike force, or if you're intreasting in running a "first company formation" try strike force ultra,

@Argive

I have ordered a tactical squad to learn with, but for some reason, FedEx is going to take their sweet A$$ time in delivery. 12 days? Ridiculous.

@BrianDavion

I have thought about getting the dark vengeance set, but as stated, my wife will play nothing but Nurgle Daemons, and if she's not interested, she's not interested, and I'd really like her to be by my side in this, she is my best friend after all haha.

And as for the strike force and box sets, I'd like to wait to read through my Codex first, as there might be miniatures that would useless to me in the box set. by the time I'm even done painting my 10 figures and her 10 plague bearers, it'll be another couple paydays I'm sure. But the DV box set was very tempting, just because it came with everything you would need to begin. On Amazon I found a set for 85$. Buuuut, happy wife, happy life.

I Hear you ma man!!!
I'm still waiting for that first box of Eldar guardians (troops) I managed to score for a steal off ebay.. But taking their sweet time.. damn xmas postal service madness...

I realy wana get on with painting.
Seeing as I got tomorow afternoon and thursday off.. would be ideal to unwind and chilax with some painting modeling...
If nothing comes through I might get something at GW highstreet price from the shop in town.. (Madness I hear you scream)
But what could I get to practice painting on? Another box of guardians ? A farseer? Some High Elves ? *BOOOM* head explodes, brain on the walls..

I've never really liked the idea of buying "bundles" and big boxed sets. I like to take it one unit at a time. Get to know the models
Its cheaper in sets yeh but, it kind of feels like I'm rushing, and often get sloppy with painting if I have a lot in the que. I don't want that. I wanna take my time and get every model pimped to the best of my ability.

Are you in it to play it, or painting aspect appeals to you also?
Painting is a mother biach to start with but as you get better and better it becomes more and more rewarding me thinks.