Starting 40k, help choosing an army.

[Herschel]

I'm jumping head first into 40k, hoping the new edition will even the gap between noob and vet while I learn how to play. I've played a handful of games with my flatmate's Templar and Deamon armies, and i'm ready to work on my own force. I just don't know which codex to choose

I'm well versed in the fluff of the universe, to much I'm afraid as i think each group is pretty dang cool in itself. I was leaning towards a Space Marine force (I really the Crimson Fists), but I wanted to know what the bols community had to say about a good beginners army.

Thanks in advance,

Hersch

[Charistoph]

Fists are a good starter and a good finisher army. They have a rich culture and use the never out of style Codex: Space Marines. They have good Allies and an impressive Special Character. If you still can, the Black Reach set has a good set of starter models and templates (all the documentation is out of date, tthough. Or wait for the next starter set, which should have some Dark Angel models, which can still be used for your Fists.

[Cpt Codpiece]

If you are drawn to the crimson fists already, then i think you have made your choice.

the good thing is now you can have allies to test out other armies and how they work.... as long as you aint a tyranid.

so if it means buying a few squads and getting sorted with the CF and then trying out some eldar then cool :)

marines being rather points heavy, mean you dont get a lot of guys for the points (compared to orks and hoard nids) but the guys you get are in theory the best of the best. so you have to buy less for an initial army, if you can get a black reach marine set on ebay for about the same as a box of marines and a transport, so there is a captain, 5 termies, the normal marines and a dread (though some offers may not have the dread that i have seen).

[Herschel]

Sweet stuff. I'm playing a Crimson Fist tactical Marine in our local Deathwatch group, plus I''m a massive fan of Rynn's World by Steve Parker and the two short stories by Dembski Bowden. I was just worried about choosing an army with to high of a learning curve.

I have a few questions, that if you gents have time to answer i'd be super grateful.

Is Pedro Kantor a decent Hq? Or is the vanilla Captain a better choice?

I don't really care for Terminators, (they look like heavily armed mole men) but every internet list has a huge unit of Assault Terminators. Can i get around having to use them? Or are they just to good to pass up?

And, I really dig drop pods. I get all school girl giddy when they use them in the books. Is a Drop Pod assault list viable? Or is Razorback/Rhino spam the be all end all strategy of the 41st millennium?

Thanks, for the quick replies.

Hersch.

[Black Hydra]

Razorspam is over with as is any kind of vehicle spam (save for Necron Scythespam but that's not the point) because of the hullpoints system. Drop pods are solid but I think their rules have changed since people are saying you can drop 1 and reserve everything else in order to prevent an auto loss. Gonna have to look that one up.

Pedro Kantor is pretty good as well. While Stubborn is kind of silly in a Space Marine given the "And they shall know no fear" rule, he makes Sternguard Vets scoring (not troops) and gives +1 attack to any friendly within 12". The irony is that this would benefit Assault Terminators tremendously which you don't like. If you really don't like how they look like, buy some Grey Knights termie head bitz and use them instead. BAM! Your termies look 50% better already.

A vanilla captain is really good considering that he is actually better than the chapter master. Load him on a bike and watch the skub fly. Plus he can get a command squad...wait for it...ON BIKES! Overall a good starting HQ but you already have your heart set on the Crimson Fists so go for it.

I don't play regular SM (Chaos yeah!) but from the looks of it assault is the way to go with a Crimson Fists army. Kantor really boosts termies and sternguard vets are awesome. Attach a Librarian (don't say you won't because they're nerds, they're nerds who will kill you with their minds!) to the sternguard and jump around using the libby's deepstriking ability to shoot the opponent back to the warp.

[scrap square]

Dont start 40k

[gcsmith]

Vehicle spam is not dead, just different. It is easier to glance vehicles to death, but with a large amount of weapons harder to penetrate.

[fuzzbuket]

from my expericane netlists are not perfect. and frankly making your own list is quite fun! so go with what you want, and frankly a fun army is more fun to play than a netlist of "4x+3a+2hq" which is quite monotonus!

If you want a nice CF list how about

kantor+ command squad in a drop pod.

some vetreans(say 1 5 man and a 10 man squad) (kantor makes them able to hold objectives) in drop pods
a tactical squad (or 3 :P) in drop pods
some scouts
some devastators
and a dreadnout in a drop pod.

as a marine player (blood angels and GK) I LOVE drop pods, tremendously fun and mean that you dont spend all your time walking across the board!

-fuzz

@scrap square. "my fave [list/veichal/unit] got [nerfed/overpowered/ruined] and [games workshop/privateer press/ forge world] is [too expensive/too competitive/too unfun/has terrible models] so im moving to [privateer press/infinity/flames of war]

and now you have a template for your complaints.

[magickbk]

Follow these three guidelines:

1. Never pay attention to internet lists.

2. Always pick an army that you are drawn to for reasons other than the rules.

3. Never pay attention to internet lists.

Net lists have a tendency to be boring to use and boring to play against. They are also heavily influenced by the "meta-game". This varies in different regions, but the basic principle operates this way: 1. Popular player in the area Joe starts bringing 2 Land Raiders to every game. 2. Most opponents tool up to fight Land Raiders, to the devastation of lesser vehicles. 3. Every other player starts bringing 2 Land Raiders, because they are the only survivable tank.

My suggestion is to pick a concept for your army, and find a way to make it viable. I've wanted to build another Crimson Fists army for years (I sold mine about 12-13 years ago). My idea was the Fists soon after the Rynn's World campaign, so my army was mostly veterans and Terminators, a Dreadnought or two, and a lot of scouts to represent the new recruits. I would never have more than 1 tactical squad to represent the devastation of the Chapter, and their limited numbers.

The most important rule is to pick something you really like, and enjoy making it what you can imagine. Also, don't worry about winning games at first. Since you are new to the rules, think of your first battles as trials, and set small goals for yourself to really learn what your force is capable of and tweak from there.

Have fun!

[Herschel]

After a quick shopping spree at the GW webstore, I've picked up the following.

Pedro
Drop Podx3
Tactical Marine Box x3
Scouts
Stormtalon
Crimson fist tank upgrade pack
and two Crimson fist tactical marine bitz packs.

I figure that's a a decent start, not really an overwhelming amount of guys. Plus a few of the local lads gave me some unopened "hand me downs" they didn't want- A box of Vanguard vets and Black Templar Upgrade bits.

I'm a giddy 22 year old.

Hersh.

[Charistoph]

Nice list. But one thing I will tell you, never put one of anything down that doesn't have an equivalent threat meter.

What does that mean? The Storm Talon will be almost useless in singles as it will targeted and killed in quick succession, and should be run in pairs, at a minimum, or bring a bigger threat (Assault Terminators, Land Raiders, etc).

[Wolfshade]

Follow these three guidelines:

1. Never pay attention to internet lists.

2. Always pick an army that you are drawn to for reasons other than the rules.

3. Never pay attention to internet lists.

...

Have fun!

Some of the best advice I have seen.
I once saw a nice Crimson Fist army that had its veterans armed modelled with ork bits on their bases it was quite thematic and nice

[Herschel]

Some of the best advice I have seen.
I once saw a nice Crimson Fist army that had its veterans armed modelled with ork bits on their bases it was quite thematic and nice

Thats a really cool concept. I'm still not sure how i want to do the bases, but dead orks makes perfect sense. I know that as far as an army "theme" I'm wanting to model them after the The Declates Crusade (my favorite bit of fluff). I've just got to learn how to paint now, which has me a bit nervous to be honest.

Hersch