Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I've never played 40K before, and neither is the other person about to take the leap with me. I intend to play Deathwatch, because what I know of their fluff is cool, I like the figures, and that flyer particularly looks cool and seems like it would be a fun kit to build. The person I will be playing with likes Genestealer Cults, because he enjoys the Genestealers in Space Hulk and likes hordes. I think this is playing into both of our desires. I want an army with a strong "my guys" sort of feel to them. He wants a horde of disposables to bring my "heroes" down a notch. Plus the general idea of Space Marines versus Genestealers just keys into what we find cool about 40K.

Are Deathwatch and Genestealer Cult newbie friendly? Do you think these two armies are inherently unbalanced against each other? My friend will not go for another army, but I'd be willing to switch to generic Space Marines or Blood Angels if Deathwatch will have an unfair advantage. We just want to play casual games and have fun with neat models.

We have access to Space Hulk 4e and Deathwatch: Overkill. I'm hoping that means we already have access to a decent small Genestealer Cult army using legitimate models. On the Marine side, I'm guessing I might have to pick up a couple more kits. Is this more or less a fair assumption?

We just got Deathwatch: Overkill, so we're going to play that for a bit, then go in on our order for the codexes and rulebook. Or, instead of the big rulebook, do you think it might be better to pick up Kill Team? I do want the full rulebook though, because I enjoy fluff and I enjoy artbooks.

I think if it's just between the two of you, you can play out a few games to figure out a baseline and then tone things down/scale things up from there in terms of balance. You may also want to look into playing some Kill teams too.

First off, welcome to dakka!

Kill team is where Deathwatch shine, like its a lot of fun to play them in Kill Team.

Genestealer cults need a bit of finesse to play correctly, but its not too much, deathwatch are a very 'elite' army so due to lack of bodies on the table they might take a bit of learning too.

But if you guys are both just playing to have fun then it is no issue, if something is too strong you can always agree to just not use said thing.

Have fun! And welcome to the wonderful world of Warhammer 40k!
~Mikey

Thanks for the welcome!

I have no problem tweaking things or applying handicaps. The reason I ask is because the person I'll be playing with does tend to get frustrated at the beginning if things aren't roughly balanced or in his favor. He's OK once he's out of that phase of learning the game, but if things require too much tweaking right at the beginning, he gets discouraged. I can't say I blame him too much. I imagine I'm the same way.

We're fine with difficulty curves, but there's a point where the steepness gets too much. Learning is fine as long as it's a slope and not a exponential curve.

I need some more paints, though. I'm lacking some basic colors. Maybe I'll prioritize getting a paint set above getting the books.

You should be fine from a balance standpoint; just don't spam frag cannons/shotguns and I don't expect you'll have many issues (this recommendation is based on theory rather than practice; I've seen a lot of Deathwatch on the table but next to no Genestealer Cult).

The newer small books (Deathwatch, MT, Skitarii/Cult Mechanicus, Genestealer Cult...) will have an easier learning curve than trying a bigger/more complex book to begin with; you don't need to worry about internal balance when you've only got one Troops choice, they usually have a short list of global special rules rather than remembering which models have which special rules, there aren't many weapons to learn, et cetera. They're usually harder to expand to full-scale games with (they tend to require allies, or play weirdly) but that won't come up until you get into the 1,250-1,500+ zone.