Suggestions for a starter army.

[maloysius]

Hello, one of my first posts. I've looked around and this seems to be the right place. I've painted miniatures for about a year, i'm getting better at it and have painted them from multiple armies. I figure I would just paint and paint while I try to decide which army I would like to play, well a year later I think its time to finally make a decision.

I haven't narrowed down too much as who I want to play, for one reason the space marines have a lot of interesting factions to choose from, and I keep going back and forth which I want to play as. I do want to be a space marine player(Which can also include Dark Angels, Blood Angels, Grey Knights, Space Wolves.) That narrows it down a little bit.

I also want to respect the fluff, which I know a little about from reading various articles on the lexi. I think the style i would enjoy playing and furthermore painting would be troop spam. I like the idea of having tons of units on the board and moving them around in different ways. Even when I used to play RTS games on the computer, i'd always just spam tons and tons of units pretty much forgoing vehicles. Which hopefully narrows the choice as well.

I guess the last thing to consider would be learning curve, I am not sure if some of those armies are really hard to get the grasp of for the beginner, or even how much of a curve it would be, so i'll put that low on the priority list.

Again any suggestion is welcomed, and I thank you in advance for taking the time!

[Tyrendian]

Hey there and welcome to the Hobby (playing side at least...) and BOLS!
Learning curve should not be your biggest problem - Space Marines are generally regarded as not all that hard to pick up (there's always a lot of finesse to learn though!)
As to wanting to play lots of boots on the ground, that basically screams Space Wolves at me - Grey Hunters are still among the best Troops in the game in my opinion, and can do without a lot of vehicles. Maybe a squad or two in Rhinos, a Drop Pod with Wolf Guard Terminators, and the rest can be Infantry (oh and the ever awesome Thunderwolf Cav!).
Blood Angels can also work with a lot of Troops - Assault Squads in this case - but are generally more hampered by the shooty-friendly 6th Ed than the all-rounder Space Wolves. Still, very playable if you don't plan to win any tournaments in the immediate future, and fun for sure :) Oh and they have Fliers in their Codex, which Wolves don't, should you want them.
The other "factions" rely on their toys a bit more, so a pure "boots on the ground" approach might not work as well in their case - it's still very possible though!

[Ben_S]

Often when people are looking for a starter army, money is a significant constraint. In that case, I'd definitely suggest Dark Angels, because you can pick up your HQs, tacticals, terminators, and bikes from Dark Vengeance very cheaply.

Of course, if you've been buying and painting miniatures for a while just for fun then perhaps you're not so bothered about the price. In that case, I'd say give more thought to the look/fluff of the army. Space Wolves or Blood Angels (for example) are both pretty distinctive amongst marines and also both quite close-combat focused.

If you enjoy the painting side, you might even want to think about creating your own chapter, though that does take a bit more work. If you do this though then you can probably get away with using them as 'counts as' several other chapters (at least from Codex Space Marines, but probably also Blood Angels, Dark Angels, etc).

[Katharon]

Standard Codex: Space Marines is easiest.

[carny]

some considerations:
standard space marines codex is a wonderfull book. You are simply spoiled for choice there.
I would seriously reccommend them
You have excellent choices in all slots, most, if not all, of your army is plastic and with allies and chapter tactics means there is more or less an army that suits you.

Dark Angels are also an interesting choice - they have many of the same choices as the space marines, but they do not have all the nice options - specifically they lack acess to a good flier - also their role as the "stubborn" space marines feels bland next to the new fangled chapter tactics. They have some things going for them. as has been mentioned; they are currently the "starter set" faction. That means you can buy a box with Dark ANgels and Chaos marines for relatively little money. This will make starting out cheaper. In addition they have an (so far) unprecedented ability to swap force organisations. With Belial their terminators (elite superheavy infantry) can be troops. With Sammael, the bikers become troops. With Azrael you get both- That means that a Da army can be put together in quite interesting ways.

Rumors are currently suggesting that Blood Angels will get a new book soon -Also that Blood angels might be added to the starter set.
that means that if you wait a bit, blood angels might be viable, but it is stupid to by a codex (and potentially some expensive models) that might be rendered obsolete by the next codex-update. Same goes for the wolves, albeit to a lesser degree as their update is further in the future.

[maloysius]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. As far as the Dark Vengeance set goes, I actually have one. I bought one because I figured it be some good practice on the models because you really cant beat the value of it, and for the minirulebook which from what I read has everything the big one has minus fluff.

I think I am leaning towards the Blood Angels assault spam though, although the idea of buying a codex learning the tactics than having another one come out shortly after is annoying. Especially with the amped up release schedule.

I'll have to look into Belial with Deathwing more too, because that sounds pretty good. from what little I understand though I think they need a transport though.

Again thanks everyone, I really appreciate the help.

[Tyrendian]

I'll have to look into Belial with Deathwing more too, because that sounds pretty good. from what little I understand though I think they need a transport though.


Deathwing is probably the army that least needs Transports to get to grips with the enemy (except Nids who simply have not Transports, and Tau who don't want to :)) - you simply teleport more or less everyone into their desired positions in the first turn (Deathwing Assault rules!). Not that a Land Raider (Crusader probably) would hurt though - and that's less your typical bulk transport and more of a mobile fortress and centrepiece for your army, so it might be more aggreeable for you?

[maloysius]

Hows this for a 1k army

Libarian w/pa, force axe, wings of Sanguinius, shield of sanguinius 100 pts
10 man assault squad 2/ 2x melta, 1x Infernus pistol for SGT 225 pts
10 man assault squad 2/ 2x melta 1x Infernus pistol for SGT 225 pts
10 man assault squad 2/ 2x melta 1x Infernus pistol for SGT 225 pts
Sanguinary Priest w/jump pack 75 pts
Sanguinary Priest w/jump pack 75 pts
Sanguinary Priest w/jump pack 75 pts

1000 Points

[Wolfshade]

Your priests can have an area affect FnP so you might not need the three separate ones.
I would also suggest given the highly limited range of the infernus pistol that it is a bit redundant given the much further range of the melta guns.
So that might give you some more points to play with.

[Dave Mcturk]

orkz. warbosses and nobz on bikes with cybork armour and a mixture of power claws and combi-skorchas. with a painboy.

only about 24 biker models. two deathstars. t5 ;two wound; fnp ;built in 4+ cover ... high leadership or fearless ...

have fun

[Shavenau House]

i would take out the infernus pistols like wolfshade suggested and a priest or two and add a plasma pistol to one and upgrade the librarian pysker level with either smite or fear of the darkness for the second power. if you can two land speeders one with 2 heavy flamers and one with two heavy bolters. might just be me but i like the land speeders

[Mezillious]

Hi I am also a relatively new player who has been painting for a while. I started out painting Raven Guard because it was an easy paint scheme and I liked the fluff surrounding them. I also like to make my own characters and was modelling a counts-as Sgt Telion as well as a counts-as Marneus Calgar and making up some fluff to fit them into the Raven Guard story.

6th ed changed all that because I can no longer field a Raven Guard army using Raven Guard chapter tactics and include a counts-as Telion model without sacrificing my RG tactics.

So I have been painting up the bulk of my force as Relictors because again its a fairly simple paint scheme but they have some great back story.

Mainly though its because of the fact that their heritage is unknown, possible theories of them being descended from Ultramarines AND Dark Angels and the possibility of a complete turn to Chaos. This means that I can really Chaos up some of their weaponry and gear and when I throw them down on a table with one army I can legitimately choose to play them as any Space Marine chapter in the codex, Dark Angels, Chaos, or even Space Wolves or Blood Angels.

It really is a versatile army - I have two models of my chapter master Mezillious Maximus, one is a counts-as Marneus Calgar for when I want to play UM and the other is a counts-as Pedro Kantor for when I want to use IF tactics.

[Tom Visser]

As a Space Wolves player I would urge them, but like the Dark Angels, they have no access to the fliers the vanilla marines do. Also, they are hard pressed for something to combat fliers. You could always take an ally, but now we're dealing with rules nuances that I dont even have down. Vanilla Marines have always been the best starter army rules wise because they're good all around. 4s across the board and a standard 3+ armour. Ultimately, you choose your army based on what looks good to you. That's what I tild new players when I worked for G.W.

[agosyb]

You can't go wrong with Space Marines, the "generic" book has a huge amount of not only stylized but effective army lists. Even just standard tactical marines can make an opponent sweat. There's a guy at my store who busts out the 80 marine list and that's a lot to remove from the table.

You're not limited to the main loyalist books, though! There's another book. Chaos marines come a tiny bit cheaper that standard, play fairly differently to loyalists, and most squad sizes are capped at 20, not 10. They also have relatively cheap access to special weapons in the forms of havocs and raptors, and pound-for-pound their bikes aren't too shabby. They have access to all the staple loyalist units and Centurions make very believable Obliterator stand-ins if you want to field those as well. Plus cultists.

There's still another book, or series of books, you can use if you want to jump into the forgeworld Horus Heresy ruleset, which has rules for the old space marine legions. The units start expensive but squad members are added at a discount, so you're encouraged to take very large unit sizes. The main difference between "30k" legion lists and 40k marine lists are that generally all the members of a squad take the same gear. For example your troops will be 20 guys with boltguns and your elites/heavies will be 10 guys with plasma/missile launchers or whatever, so your units are very specialized and can be an achilles heel if you only brought one very effective unit versus certain army builds.

[DarkLink]

CSM Marines are pretty bad, though. They're basically Marines, minus the secret sauce.

Try out Reece's Raven Guard style army. Take 60 Tactical Marines in Rhinos, Scout them forward, Combat Squad, and jump on objectives. Your opponent now has to kill 12 scoring units. You can do similar things with Infiltrating Scouts. Takes a lot of skill to play, but it's a fun army and you can do pretty well if you know what you're doing.

- - - Updated - - -

Also, a better strategy than picking a named chapter is to create your own paint scheme. That way you can play around with different chapter's rules with minimal fuss. You'd have one army that you can play as any SM chapter you want, though making Grey Knights or CSM comparable models for the purposes of WYSIWYG would be very impractical.

[ElectricPaladin]

In my mind, an army is a long-term investment, so if I were you I'd abandon ideas like "starter." Play what you love, and whatever money, time, and care you invest in your army will pay you back exponentially in fun and relationships with your fellow nerds. If you pick something because it's "cheap" or "easy to paint" or "good for a beginner," you will never progress past the beginner stage. You won't love your army enough for the hobby to really sink its claws into you.

That said...

Personally, I really dig my Blood Angels. I started this game with Tau, and I also own some Sisters of Battle and some Eldar, and I used to play 'nilla Marines (Exorcists), but the longer I play, the more I love my Blood Angels, though I have since stripped them and repainted them as Knights of Blood, a successor.

I can tell you that if you enjoy speed, mobility, and aggression, you will enjoy the Blood Angels. Whether you're filling the board with fast tanks or smashing your opponent in brutal hand-to-hand combat, the Blood Angels codex gives you the opportunity to play hard and fast, with models that can zip around the board.

The Blood Angels also have a good number of successors, many of them interesting to paint and play.

The Grey Knights have always had an appeal to me - I almost started them instead of Tau, back in the day. They're an incredibly tiny and elite force, only a handful of models. If you like the whole psychic angle and want to turn the "knight" part of "warrior monk knights in space" up to 11, you might like them.

Personally, I don't really understand the Dark Angels or Space Wolves. I don't get what's supposed to make them unique, or how their rules work, or really anything about them. I almost played Space Wolves back in high school, the first time I was exposed to Warhammer 40k and almost started, but in the end didn't... though honestly, I probably would have ended up playing Ulthwe Eldar, my other choice, instead.

[DarkLink]

It's easy for a vet who knows all the factions and their ins and outs well to say that.

[ElectricPaladin]

It's easy for a vet who knows all the factions and their ins and outs well to say that.

Does two years in the hobby make me a vet?

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

11 years. :D

[DarkLink]

Does two years in the hobby make me a vet?

Moreso than someone who is at the 'those space marine thingies are pretty cool' ;).

[ElectricPaladin]

Moreso than someone who is at the 'those space marine thingies are pretty cool' ;).

Fair enough, but you seriously think that it's a good idea to pick an army because it's "easy" and then blow $500 on it, without doing the homework to figure out if it's really what you're going to enjoy in the long run?

[Wolfshade]

Does two years in the hobby make me a vet?

No, you need to be able to wax lyrical about the good old days of 2nd edition and how it was a proper table top role play game and talk about the glorious vehicle damage charts and talk about rogue trader ;)

[Katharon]

No, you need to be able to wax lyrical about the good old days of 2nd edition and how it was a proper table top role play game and talk about the glorious vehicle damage charts and talk about rogue trader ;)

That makes you a Venerable Dreadnought, not a Veteran.

[Power Klawz]

If I were starting an army right now I'd probably go for one that has been updated for 6th edition all ready, as has been mentioned. Space Marines are pretty great and likely occupy a mid tier in terms of power level compared to top tier armies like Eldar and Tau.

Dark Angels are suffering from being the first codex of the edition, and they missed out on a lot of new toys that their skittles colored brethren got. I personally prefer to motif and personality of the Dark Angels, and they can make some pretty decent lists from what they have. Their two flyers aren't that bad in the 6th edition context, although the bomber can be a bit esoteric and challenging to get full effect out of and the fighter is certainly not the best imperial fighter available. (it will still knock other flyers out of the sky and kill things on the ground though, just not as efficiently as say a vendetta.)

Deathwing terminators are all ballers. In my humble opinion the best bang for your points in the terminator world. You get fearless to go along with all the normal termy goodies, but the real magic is the ability to dictate what turn they teleport in, with the added bonus of twin-linking all their shots on the turn they abracadabra onto the board. Combine that with some excellent fast attack options that let you completely avoid scattering and you've got a hell of a one-two punch. Then there's the Knights, who are probably the premier close combat assault unit in the game right now (for one turn a game.) They will kill basically anything in one round of hyper violence. (I haven't done the math on it, but I'd bet even odds they can take down middling titans, they will definitely hand Wraithknights and Riptides their shiny metal bottoms if they can catch them.)

The oft forgotten "Green-wing" are also pretty darn good at what they do. Being the stubborn marines gives them even more of a "set it and forget it" feel. Plop these dudes on an objective and you'll probably control it until the last plastic superman draws his final, tiny little breath. When you combine them with the banner of devastation it becomes, well devastating.

One last thing of note about the Dark Angels is that their librarians have access to divination. This has become a rarer skillset in 6th, with the skittles marine codex losing it completely. The divination psychic tree is probably the most powerful in all of 40k. Nothing says lovin' like 40 twin linked bolter shots from a single squad.

You might wait around and see if/when the bloody angels get a 6th edition update as well. I give it even odds that it will be better than bad. So far power armor armies are about even (Space Marines good, Spikey Marines bad, Dark Angels MEH) Assault armies are also tied (Chaos daemons good, Tyranids make everyone sad.) If we see orks come out before BA I think that will be the tipping point for my arbitrary determination.

[Maelstorm]

As much as I love playing Necrons.....

I agree that for a starter force you should lean towards Vanilla Marines. 75% or more of your opponents will be playing some form of Space Marines as well - which will decrease the learning curve for weapons and rules. After you've collected and played the basics for a bunch of games you can decide your playing style; shooty, assaulty, heavy vehicles, bikes, fortifications, etc.. - then select a chapter that has the tactics which match your playing style - then it's off to the paint table to update your generic Marines paint scheme into your chapter colors.

Welcome to the party!

[ElectricPaladin]

I will concede that buying some generic marines and not painting them - perhaps even affixing character's arms with putty rather than glue - and then picking your chapter isn't a bad idea. Actually, it's pretty clever. You could easily use this strategy to pivot to almost any chapter, from some of the "special" chapters like Blood Angels and Space Wolves to the more-or-less normal chapters, like those described in Codex: Space Marines.

However, there are three important flaws in this plan that you should be aware of:

1) Some chapters use sufficiently different models that this pivot will be challenging and nigh-impossible. The Grey Knights, for example, actually rarely use ordinary power armored dudes. They are much more likely to field terminators, and when they field power armor, it has special teleporter options... and also, they all have storm bolters and swords instead of boltguns and pistols. The carcharodons (a brutal and mysterious close-combat focused Chapter detailed by Forgeworld in their Chapter Tactics document, which you should download) often field at least one tactical squad with assault squad gear. The Fire Angels chapter (same document) has access to special wargear for their sergeants. And so on.

2) You will miss out on a lot of awesome modeling opportunities for your initial squads. A Blood Angels squad - even a Blood Angels tactical squad - doesn't have to look anything like a vanilla marines squad. Neither do Space Wolves or Dark Angels. This is part of what makes these chapters so awesome, and you're going to start off your career missing out on that, which would be sad.

3) The codices are pretty dense and have a lot of important information. You're going to have to... er... acquire them somehow. Blood Angels aren't just marines-that-are-red - they have a lot of special rules, and you need their book to run them. The same is true of Space Wolves, Dark Angels, and every other chapter represented by Codex: Space Marines, including the ones whose Chapter Tactics are in that Forgeworld pdf I mentioned. Unless you have a buddy willing to let you extendedly borrow his army books, you are going to need to possibly... er... get them in some other way that I'm not allowed to mention, which you may find objectionable.

[Power Klawz]

Unless you have a buddy willing to let you extendedly borrow his army books, you are going to need to possibly... er... get them in some other way that I'm not allowed to mention, which you may find objectionable.

I think he means pay for them. Nobody likes doing that. lel

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

The Fire Angels chapter (same document) has access to special wargear for their sergeants. And so on.

He means the Fire Hawks Chapter.
I play the Fire Angels and there is nothing special about us. xD

[ElectricPaladin]

He means the Fire Hawks Chapter.
I play the Fire Angels and there is nothing special about us. xD

Bah. I always get those guys wrong.

[Vangrail]

Space marines for sure. They are a easy army to learn because almost all of your units are made up of the basic marine. But that still gives you access to a lot of cool toys and they are fun to play. Now do not think they are the bland army of this game they are far from it. You will have to figure out a chapter/paint scheme you like and the chapter tactics that come with it. They have plenty of great kits that are easily compatible with one another and you will always have tons of spare sweet bits you will use in the future.

[Dave Mcturk]

it depends on how purist you are.

proxy models left right and centre until you get the feel; save £££$$$.

lots of other figure manufacturers are far cheaper for basic start off packs.

[Filthspew]

You can make a really cool and hard to beat Pace Marine army with power armor spam.

Six tacticals and three devastators, thats 90 (!) power armor on the table, and you can do that at 1850 points.

Never underestimate power armor spam.

Hint: The key to their success is "Shall know no fear" and "Combat Squads".

[Crydon Games]

You can make a really cool and hard to beat Pace Marine army with power armor spam.

Six tacticals and three devastators, thats 90 (!) power armor on the table, and you can do that at 1850 points.

Never underestimate power armor spam.

Hint: The key to their success is "Shall know no fear" and "Combat Squads".

This is actually very true. I played a 91 marine list (6 10 man tac squads and 3 10 man dev squads w/1 captain.)all the way through 5th edition and did very well. Most marine lists average 50-60 models. They have a difficult time contending with an additional 30-40 suits of power armor. Gives you a large number of heavy weapons also...It is possible to put an army like this together very inexpensively if you shop ebay and poke around your lgs...the tac squads from Dark Vengeance are all around and people tend to be willing to part with their extras for beans... I built my last 91 model army entirely from the tac squads from the previous starter box (battle for macragge) so i had all missile launchers...but if you combat squad that up, you wind up with 12 combat squads able to lob a missile down range and 6 more that are purely scoring combat squads...lot of 3+ armor saves...