<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?"]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/69.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
In short, I'm a newcomer to the game, perhaps slightly older than average, and my focus is on small-scale, friendly games with a close circle of local gamers rather than highly competitive tournaments. A few hours with a handful of dice & a beer in good company is what I'm after.

So...to my army choice. I'm limited somewhat by free time & ready cash so whichever army I pick has to be effective for a relatively low (financial) cost and not take decades to paint to a presentable level.

Initially I looked at CSM but how suitable they are for a new player- even in a social game amongst friends- seems questionable. It also sounds as if I'd have to buy a lot of units to be competitive at even a basic level.

Loyalist marines seem a more natural choice. From what I gather a codex chapter (e.g., Ultramarines) can be competitive in smaller numbers, balanced, and with no quirks to catch a newcomer off guard. I'm guessing they're also easier to paint than CSM (less spikes, rust, fleshy mutations etc).

'Other' SM chapters with a dedicated codex (Space Wolves etc) are an unknown quantity to me.

IG seem to require LOTS of miniatures and time to paint, as well as being a less balanced army to play.

Again, Eldar are an unknown quantity to me.

Those are the armies that interest me. I like the thought of an army moving at mid/slow speed, able to shoot but more suited to closing in and assaulting. I also prefer armoured infantry to fliers or vehicles, but understand their importance on the tabletop.

What are your thoughts?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9024789.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9024789.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
If you've decided to give up on Chaos and go Imperial there are a lot of army books to choose from; the Space Marine books all have the same basic array of units and differ in which ones they specialize in. The basic 'Space Marine' Codex favours ranged infantry, mechanized, and bike armies, Blood Angels favour aggressive assault-marine-oriented melee lists, Dark Angels do tricky combined-arms lists and can do bike/Terminator-focused lists quite well, Space Wolves are always melee-focused but tend to err more on the side of lower-tech infantry/scout/outflank approaches by comparison to the Blood Angels' faster Deep Strike/mechanized delivery.

Of the odd non-mainline Space Marine Codexes the Deathwatch are the elite jack-of-all-trades specialists who tend to end up as mid-ranged glass cannons that kill whatever you point them at but don't hold up under fire for very long, Grey Knights are an expensive melee army that isn't particularly flexible and can't deal with certain units.

Guard tend to be relatively immobile and long-ranged; Eldar are very fast, very fragile, and hit like a ton of bricks if you play them more casually and an exercise in telling your opponent to put stuff back in his case if you play them more competitively.

Considering your description of your playstyle I'd suggest looking in more detail at Space Wolves and Nurgle CSM; many Space Marine/Chaos Marine armies are heavily reliant on transports for mobility/durability, if you'd prefer armoured infantry to a mechanized or bike cavalry force those two are probably the first places to look.

(Looking beyond the armies you've mentioned Necrons (slow, incredibly durable, close range/melee emphasis) may also be worth a look; they're the easiest thing in the world to paint and very forgiving on the table)]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9024854.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9024854.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
The few games of 40k I've played, I've used Dark Angels (I got the Dark Vengeance box myself) and I've found them to be fun. The Terminators can be pretty devestating. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9024927.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9024927.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie? http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9025132.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9025132.page GMT Re:A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
1. Space Marines
2. Space Marines
3. Space Marines


From a hobby and gaming perspective they make
The most sense to me as a starter army.

I don't play them now, but it's what I recommend to new players.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026666.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026666.page GMT Re:A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
 CT GAMER wrote:
Here's the list:

1. Space Marines
2. Space Marines
3. Space Marines


From a hobby and gaming perspective they make
The most sense to me as a starter army.

I don't play them now, but it's what I recommend to new players.


In more detail:

1. Space Marines (Codex: Space Marines)
2. Space Marines (Codex: Space Wolves)
3. Space Marines (Codex: Dark Angels)]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026690.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026690.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie? http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026698.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026698.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie? ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026713.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026713.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie? IMO. The best thing for a newbie though is their resilience which makes beginner's mistakes much less punishing.

If you are planning to just play casually, pick any army that you like really. Some are of course (much) harder than others but if you collect, build, paint, play and learn small enough chunks of the army at a time you can learn anything. Still, I wouldn't recommend Dark Eldar, Harlequins or Skitarii & Cult Mech to an absolute beginner.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026758.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026758.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
 Ratius wrote:
He didnt mention BAs Martel. Relax


No, even vanilla. I'm gonna go with Necrons. It's harder to mess up a necron army than a space marine army. Even vanilla marines have hordes of terrible choices. ]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026763.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026763.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie? BA are probably middle of the road as far as recommending a starter army goes. They don't have piles and piles of wonky rules, they don't require you to spend four hundred dollars before you can actually play, they don't have entire unit types they can't counter, and say what you like about external balance their internal balance is decent.

For my own amusement if nothing else here's all Codexes in approximate ranking of easiest to start to hardest to start:

First Bracket: Full marks on everything. Easy to paint, low model count, flexible. Few or no fiddly details or flimsiness. At least mid-tier in full games.

1. Space Marines
2. Space Wolves
3. Dark Angels

Second Bracket: Starting to get lower marks on a few categories. More difficult or less reliable in the game, mono-build, or harder from a practical painting/transporting perspective.

4. Necrons
5. Craftworld Eldar
6. Tau
7. Blood Angels

Third Bracket: Effective or reliable mini-Codexes. Limited unit selection and limited flexibility but somewhat functional on their own. Starting to get harder to play and paint.

8. Skitarii/Cult Mechanicus
9. Deathwatch
10. Genestealer Cult

Fourth Bracket: Unreliable, inflexible, or low-tier full Codexes. Playable, but more complicated, worse at low model count armies, or harder to make function in more competitive metas.

11. Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum
12. Chaos Space Marines
13. Khorne Daemonkin
14. Tyranids

Fifth Bracket: Wildly outside what would be considered 'normal', underequipped, extremely difficult to play or just bad on the table. Somewhat high model counts.

15. Daemons of Chaos
16. Orks
17. Harlequins

Sixth Bracket: Unplayable in a vacuum. Giant blind spots in the army's makeup, easily countered by even the most casual lists.

18. Dark Eldar
19. Grey Knights
20. Militarum Tempestus

Seventh Bracket: Special off-the-end-of-the-scale bracket. These armies may be actually rather good, but they're also completely and totally unsuitable for new players due to large model count, lack of official models, and/or being stuck with massive amounts of expensive metal/resin/Forge World models.

21. Inquisition
22. Eldar Corsairs
23. Sisters of Battle
24. Space Marine Legions (any of them)
25. Taghmata Omnissiah
26. Elysian Drop Troops
27. Solar Auxilia
28. Death Korps of Krieg
29/30. Imperialis Militia/Renegades and Heretics

Eighth Bracket: Disqualified for not being suitable standalone/primary Codexes for anyone, let alone a new player.

Imperial Knights
Questoris Knight Crusade
Renegade Knights
Officio Assassinorium

(Note: This is a ranking on suitability for new players, not on absolute power. There is some correlation but some powerful armies (e.g. Daemons) get knocked down the ladder for being hard or expensive to build/play, and some weaker armies (e.g. BA) get pushed higher for being easier to build/play. If you disagree with this then woo. This is a thought experiment, not a statement of absolute and undeniable fact.)]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026794.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9026794.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
SM
Tau
Necron
Eldar

Those are your easy modes and easy to play armies, everything else will take more time/skill/money to play]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9027075.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9027075.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
Marines are probably a good way to go and have plenty of options to expend when you decide to expand and/or find your play style.
Necrons are easy to paint for the most part and can be fairly straight forward. Also not marines, which becomes relevant in gaming groups that have mostly marines already.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9027177.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9027177.page GMT A shortlist of 40k armies suitable for a newbie?
 AnomanderRake wrote:
Fourth Bracket: Unreliable, inflexible, or low-tier full Codexes. Playable, but more complicated, worse at low model count armies, or harder to make function in more competitive metas.

13. Khorne Daemonkin

]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9027194.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/708556/9027194.page GMT