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Hi everybody,

I want to get into 40k for several reasons:

1) I have enough disposable income to start out
2) I love building and painting models (I've been doing so since I was about 5)
3) I used to paint nids and some dark angels and did pretty well as a kid, but never really got into the game

I done some preliminary research, and taking aesthetic, variety, and flexibility into account, I'm leaning toward something in the area of CSM/chaos deamons. I'm open to anything, but as an adult I'd like to minimize the cheese (so probably not eldar or grey knight-types).

Also, I haven't bought the 7th ed books or any codices yet, and I don't imagine that many people buy every codex to research all options before getting into 40k, so I'm coming here first.

Thanks in advance for any input!

I usually suggest that people go to a local store and read all the codexes. But I think they're sealed now.

Chaos huh? That's a lot of rule books to play a lower mid tier army. Good thing you have the disposable income lol.

I'd suggest Marines. Marines are best for new players.

First off, welcome to Dakka, and happy New Year!

I must ask, what are you looking to get out of the game? This will affect which army you should choose. Of the two you mentioned, Daemons are fairly competitive and have plenty of options, and CSM got a new lease on life with the release of the Traitor Legions supplement, although they are still not super competitive.

If you are looking for a good, all-around army, Space Marines or even Dark Angels (probably the closest Marine faction to regular Marines, gameplay-wise) would be solid choices. They can be pretty competitive, but definitely don't have to be, and there's tons of options for both gameplay and modelling.

To see how different armies play, you should check out some battle reports and tactics articles related to various armies. This can help you choose who you want to play before you commit to buying models. Also, with rumors of a new edition this coming summer, it might not be the best time to buy a rulebook, as it may be invalid in 6 months or so.

Hope that helps!

Just space marines, or possibly chaos marines?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
First off, welcome to Dakka, and happy New Year!

I must ask, what are you looking to get out of the game? This will affect which army you should choose. Of the two you mentioned, Daemons are fairly competitive and have plenty of options, and CSM got a new lease on life with the release of the Traitor Legions supplement, although they are still not super competitive.
!

I want to be able to field a decently competitive army with lots of potential for conversion during modelling.

Many armies would fit those criteria, but I know that some are glass cannons, and others are just I-win buttons. I'm open to starting with just space marines, but I would want to use my own theme/set of conversions for the models, I wouldn't play an established chapter.

I guess that most of the fun for me would come out of making the models themselves.

Certain armies are on "I-win-buttons" if certain units are taken.

The construction of armies is a little more confusing than it once was. So that's my main reason for avoiding Chaos. It's an army with many books to make it work in a competitive environment.

If you just wanted to collect some cool looking models to paint and model Chaos would be just fine.

Space Marines are the ultimate starting army as you can take just about any "type" of army you want. They have more model kits than all the other factions combined (might not be true but probably is).

I suggest collecting about 1000 points of Space Marines just to get used to the game. Play a few opponents with armies that you are interested in and see for yourself what it's like to play them.

Take a look at a few codexes where possible and see if anything really grabs your interest beyond just the look of models.

After a few months of gaming (and saving for the "real" army) you can make the plunge with some confidence in your final choice of faction.

Don't let us talk you out of Chaos if that's what you really want to do. I just don't want to see a new player give up because of complicated rules and lack of model support lol.

Massively disagree with the idea of collecting a starter army before the one you actually want. It'll just be a waste of time, effort and money. Sure, some armies can be more complicated than others, but the game itself is sufficiently complicated that it really doesn't make that much difference.

Crispy78 wrote:
Massively disagree with the idea of collecting a starter army before the one you actually want. It'll just be a waste of time, effort and money. Sure, some armies can be more complicated than others, but the game itself is sufficiently complicated that it really doesn't make that much difference.

Everyone eventually has marines. And by owning a second force games can be played at home without someone having to cart their army along.

I suggest you do 3 things:

1. Scour the books and see which models you like the most, as well as models in FLGSs.
2. Play many test games with lent models or proxies until you get the basics of each army you selected last step.
3. Read the lore of the armies you selected in the previous step until you get which ones you liked the most.
4. Finally, of the last chosen ones, pick the least represented in your group.

This will save you quite the money. Even if you have disposable income, noone should throw it away in bad investments.

Thousands Sons or Alpha Legion are both my favorite flavors of Chaos. So I'm biased and mentioning them.

Wait for eighth it'll probably arrive this year around July it'd be a shame to buy in just to replace hundreds in rule books so soon, and it may no longer be a game you want to play.

Real deal advice:

For modelling and converting I'm always going to run with Ork or Chaos. Since Chaos was your natural inclination I'd run there. So much to do with the four Gods: Slaanesh sexy/clean, Nurgle ugly/gore, Tzeentch magical/egypt/avian, and Khorrne brutal/bloody.

Competitive will always fall to Daemons as powerful, but really CSM and CD in a list would get you best of both worlds. Lot's of conversion opportunity and competitive.

Don't buy books Codices or BRB until June whrn 8th is expected to drop if you're going CSM or Daemons. CSM will be a launch codex (last update was 6th edition and GW has been open about neglecting CSM so we should see it at launch).

titusgetthecross wrote:
Just space marines, or possibly chaos marines?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 ZergSmasher wrote:
First off, welcome to Dakka, and happy New Year!

I must ask, what are you looking to get out of the game? This will affect which army you should choose. Of the two you mentioned, Daemons are fairly competitive and have plenty of options, and CSM got a new lease on life with the release of the Traitor Legions supplement, although they are still not super competitive.
!

I want to be able to field a decently competitive army with lots of potential for conversion during modelling.

Many armies would fit those criteria, but I know that some are glass cannons, and others are just I-win buttons. I'm open to starting with just space marines, but I would want to use my own theme/set of conversions for the models, I wouldn't play an established chapter.

I guess that most of the fun for me would come out of making the models themselves.

You said chaos in your opening post. Competitive with decent modeling options? Get yourself a LoC, customize it into Fateweaver (or just buy Fateweaver), get a few boxes of screamers and burning chariots (one screamer box per chariot box can build 5 screamers, a disc herald, get an exalted flamer and 3 blue horrors), and daemon princes and the big gribblies will all give you a ton of options for conversions. Heck, I just converted a Keeper of Secrets last night!! It's in the painting and modeling thread.