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After watching a few games of 30k, I am thinking about seeing if some of my group want to try it out ( we all started the day 8th released and I understand 30k is modified 7th), so my question is, will modern non primaris work to test out the game and see if we like it, or are the models/base size different?

The Forgeworld HH model line is in exactly the same scale as the standard non-primaris GW line of products, I think you would be perfectly fine using them to try out the game.

Modern non-Primaris models work great for most of the general-purpose Heresy units; the biggest barriers are having enough duplicate guns to field Tactical Support or Heavy Support squads, and people with a big enough collection should do fine on that front. Similarly while Contemptor Dreadnaughts, Sicarans, Spartans, etc. are nice to have you can build perfectly workable lists using Rhinos, Predators, Vindicators, Phobos Land Raiders, and plain ordinary Castaferrum Dreadnaughts.

Some Legions will be easier to proxy than others due to availability of good counts-as unique units. Off the top of my head Thousand Sons, Space Wolves, and World Eaters have the best assortment of good proxies for their unique options (both units and weapons); Imperial Fists and Ultramarines work the most like a 40k Astartes force (IF have casual Deep Strike, TH/SS Terminators, and strong bolter-lines, Ultramarines have tricks that reward MSU forces over the usual big-squad 30k armies) but they have unique units you can't easily build out of 40k models.

Plastic Custodes don't translate perfectly into 30k; while the basic Guard and Wardens/Hetaeron are the same the Terminators and jetbikes are armed very differently and 30k Custodes lists rely on the tanks to a greater degree. That said if you have an 8e Custodes player they may have a few FW units lying about anyway, they're pretty good these days.

Solar Auxilia are easily proxied by any Guard player with enough models (an Auxilia Tercio can fit sixty troopers into one Troops choice), and they can get by fine with a motor pool of just Russes.

Mechanicum are hard to proxy with a 40k force; there's very little overlap between the 40k range and the 30k range (you can use the tech-priests and the Skitarii Vanguard, but that's about it), and the stuff in 30k is frequently a very different size from the stuff in 40k.

Ruinstorm Daemons and Militia are very flexible/customizable lists that don't have a lot of specific models for their units; you can potentially draw from a lot of 40k model ranges and construct approximations of their rules with those two lists. Proto-Battle Sisters particularly are easily built with Survivors of the Dark Age and Cyber-Augmented Militia (T3 troops in power armour with boltguns and a 6+ Invulnerable save).

And if the Xenos players don't like any of those options and have access to some 7e books 1d4chan has done some house rules for adapting them into the 30k environment (at https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Xenos_in_30k).

The thing you need to remember is that MK7 power armor was not a thing. As long as you avoid that you are AOK for the most part.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
Modern non-Primaris models work great for most of the general-purpose Heresy units; the biggest barriers are having enough duplicate guns to field Tactical Support or Heavy Support squads, and people with a big enough collection should do fine on that front. Similarly while Contemptor Dreadnaughts, Sicarans, Spartans, etc. are nice to have you can build perfectly workable lists using Rhinos, Predators, Vindicators, Phobos Land Raiders, and plain ordinary Castaferrum Dreadnaughts.

Some Legions will be easier to proxy than others due to availability of good counts-as unique units. Off the top of my head Thousand Sons, Space Wolves, and World Eaters have the best assortment of good proxies for their unique options (both units and weapons); Imperial Fists and Ultramarines work the most like a 40k Astartes force (IF have casual Deep Strike, TH/SS Terminators, and strong bolter-lines, Ultramarines have tricks that reward MSU forces over the usual big-squad 30k armies) but they have unique units you can't easily build out of 40k models.

Plastic Custodes don't translate perfectly into 30k; while the basic Guard and Wardens/Hetaeron are the same the Terminators and jetbikes are armed very differently and 30k Custodes lists rely on the tanks to a greater degree. That said if you have an 8e Custodes player they may have a few FW units lying about anyway, they're pretty good these days.

Solar Auxilia are easily proxied by any Guard player with enough models (an Auxilia Tercio can fit sixty troopers into one Troops choice), and they can get by fine with a motor pool of just Russes.

Mechanicum are hard to proxy with a 40k force; there's very little overlap between the 40k range and the 30k range (you can use the tech-priests and the Skitarii Vanguard, but that's about it), and the stuff in 30k is frequently a very different size from the stuff in 40k.

Ruinstorm Daemons and Militia are very flexible/customizable lists that don't have a lot of specific models for their units; you can potentially draw from a lot of 40k model ranges and construct approximations of their rules with those two lists. Proto-Battle Sisters particularly are easily built with Survivors of the Dark Age and Cyber-Augmented Militia (T3 troops in power armour with boltguns and a 6+ Invulnerable save).

And if the Xenos players don't like any of those options and have access to some 7e books 1d4chan has done some house rules for adapting them into the 30k environment (at https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Warhammer_40,000/Xenos_in_30k).

Just to add to the mechanicum part here.
This is quite feasible using 40k stuff.
Tech priests and dominus just slot right in.
Rangers make perfect thralls, just chop off the purity seals.
Destroyers make perfect myrmidon as even their war gear is spot on.
Kastelan robots make fine stand ins for castellax if you don’t mind the models.
Armigers have 30k rules for them already.
Basic knights just slot in fine.

It’s more than possible to build a fully plastic taghmata army.

Thanks for the answers. As much as it may irk some people we will probably be using lots of MK7 armor at first just cause we don't know how much we will play (hell right now only one other person had shown interest), and we will only be playing been ourselves for a bit. It seems the most annoying part of starting out is going to be the books as not all of them are in ebook format.

 UncleJetMints wrote:
Thanks for the answers. As much as it may irk some people we will probably be using lots of MK7 armor at first just cause we don't know how much we will play (hell right now only one other person had shown interest), and we will only be playing been ourselves for a bit. It seems the most annoying part of starting out is going to be the books as not all of them are in ebook format.

As long as the WYSIWYG works you'll be fine. If a melta is a melta, bolter is a bolter and everyone is on the same page its all good. One thing worth really looking into is the terrain rules, a lot more there than 8th. Some of it you'll really want to discuss beforehand. Ruins can be a bit of a mixed bag, especially when it comes to what units can be on ruins and how they interact with artillery. Those parts can be a bit lacking so its worth being on the same page pre-game.

LunaWolvesLoyalist wrote:
The thing you need to remember is that MK7 power armor was not a thing. As long as you avoid that you are AOK for the most part.

The 3 loyalists involved in siege of terra could feasibly use these especially on the pittances tiny battles the HH game battles are.

Jackal90 wrote:
...Just to add to the mechanicum part here.
This is quite feasible using 40k stuff.
Tech priests and dominus just slot right in.
Rangers make perfect thralls, just chop off the purity seals.
Destroyers make perfect myrmidon as even their war gear is spot on.
Kastelan robots make fine stand ins for castellax if you don’t mind the models.
Armigers have 30k rules for them already.
Basic knights just slot in fine.

It’s more than possible to build a fully plastic taghmata army.

I don't agree on Rangers/Thralls. If you're not using Secutarii they're the right size, but if you're using both it might be confusing that one Skitarii unit is representing BS4 medium riflemen and the other is representing a dirt-cheap Fearless tarpit. Kastelan are in between the size of the Domitar and the Castellax (all three on the same bases) so they could stand in for either (hopefully not both) if it's just size you're looking for, Kataphron are a lot bigger than Myrmidons but their wargear is close. Knights do slot in well, but Onagers, Ironstriders/Dragoons, and the hovercraft have no counterparts in either role, armament, or size.

My observation wasn't that it's impossible to do a plastic Taghmata army, just that it's much more difficult and more limited than the rest of the options on the list.

 UncleJetMints wrote:
Thanks for the answers. As much as it may irk some people we will probably be using lots of MK7 armor at first just cause we don't know how much we will play (hell right now only one other person had shown interest), and we will only be playing been ourselves for a bit. It seems the most annoying part of starting out is going to be the books as not all of them are in ebook format.

Among yourselves no big deal but if you go to any events your army won't be allowed.

LunaWolvesLoyalist wrote:

 UncleJetMints wrote:
Thanks for the answers. As much as it may irk some people we will probably be using lots of MK7 armor at first just cause we don't know how much we will play (hell right now only one other person had shown interest), and we will only be playing been ourselves for a bit. It seems the most annoying part of starting out is going to be the books as not all of them are in ebook format.

Among yourselves no big deal but if you go to any events your army won't be allowed.

Though do ask the event organizers; people may be more or less hardline about exact marks of armour used.

 AnomanderRake wrote:

LunaWolvesLoyalist wrote:

 UncleJetMints wrote:
Thanks for the answers. As much as it may irk some people we will probably be using lots of MK7 armor at first just cause we don't know how much we will play (hell right now only one other person had shown interest), and we will only be playing been ourselves for a bit. It seems the most annoying part of starting out is going to be the books as not all of them are in ebook format.

Among yourselves no big deal but if you go to any events your army won't be allowed.

Though do ask the event organizers; people may be more or less hardline about exact marks of armour used.

Thanks. We are far off from playing events , though I suspect if we like it we will all go get the right power armor, tacticals are just in abundance around here and will make an easier time for trying it out.