Warhammer 40K Tabletop XVI: "Terminator? I hardly know 'er!"

[Zorg]

40k-in-the-Playground presents...
Cheesegear's Newbie Guide on How to pick Warhammer 40K army
by Cheesegear and GitP contributors

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Disclaimer: This is not a guide to say which armies are 'better' than other armies. Except in hyperbole. The 'stars' notation is for what Newbies should play. By no means does this mean that you shouldn't play Chaos Daemons. It means that if you're a new player and don't fully understand the rules to the game, it might be hard to make Daemons work.

Any unit that gets specifically mentioned is a stand-out unit, or will represent a 'must-have' unit that the army has.

General Advice for all armies;

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• Where possible, you should always talk to a GW Staff Member. No, you don't have to actually listen to or do anything they say. But, you should at least talk to them so they can point you in at least a general direction. Don't buy anything on your first trip into the store. GW Staff are very persuasive, and you can - or will - often end up buying something you don't even want.
• If and when you do finally decide on an army, play a few games in an actual GW Store using the Store's models. Otherwise, where possible, use proxy models. This will give you a basic understanding of most of the rules and the turn sequence and a general idea of how your army-of-choice plays. Or, at least give you an idea that an army or unit that you thought was cool, really isn't. Or maybe that particular army just isn't for you. And that unit that 'looks cool' doesn't fit your play style.
• Read a Codex. Whatever gets said on the internet, means absolutely nothing if you don't have a Codex to understand what's being said. This ties into the above in that it's kind of important that you have played a few games and know the rules.
• GW doesn't mention it all that much, but; You don't have to use your army's Codex for your army. For example; It's perfectly reasonable to, say, use the Chaos Space Marine Codex to represent a 1st Company of Loyalist Marines. You can, in fact, use Imperial Guard models to represent Tau, or Eldar. Just so long as your models look suitably awesome and your models conform to the rules of a different list (the WYSIWYG rule). If you can also give a background justification - or 'fluffy' reason - for why your Imperial Guard are wielding Shuriken or Pulse Rifles; Even better!
• In regards to the above; 'Counts as' models can generally be shown to be a fluffy reason for why you have what you have. So, maybe your Imperial Guard regiment has a lot of Ogryns. You can use an Ogryn-holding-a-Lascannon as your 'Heavy Weapon Team'. As long as it's WYSIWYG, and at least makes a passing attempt at conforming to the rules (such as base size/shape), nobody cares. However, GW really doesn't like it when you come into their store and start using a different company's miniatures to play a GW game. However, making a scratch-build from Green Stuff and Plasticard is totally okay. Just so long as you aren't giving their competitors money, eh?
• With that said; Painting, Green Stuff, Plasticard and Conversions in general, the only way to get better at it, is to practice. Start easy, start small. Start with adding cloaks to troops. Large, rectangular pieces of Green Stuff. Easy. Maybe you'll be confident to add textures. Ability comes with practice. And, there are literally dozens of tutorials to be found on YouTube. And hundreds of tutorials just about everywhere else.
• Less is more. Don't try to equip your unit to do everything. Assign your units to fulfill a role, and let them do it. Don't waste points on things you aren't going to use.
• Bodies are far more important than Wargear. Do not spend 100 extra points on Wargear, if you could otherwise spend 100 points on buying a whole unit. Wargear is not a substitute for models. Well, it is. But, it's a poor substitute.
• In regards to the above two points, very rarely, should you spend more than 200 points on a single model (such as an HQ model), or 300 points on a single unit.
• Troops. Win. Games. Do not, under any circumstances, skimp out on your Troops selection. More often than not they are the cheapest unit in the Codex, and, Troops are the only units who can capture an objective. Any unit can contest an objective, but, only Troops can claim objectives. All contesting objectives will do is get you is a Draw.
• Assault on Black Reach. Bad for Space Marine players. Good for Ork Players.
• Vehicles and You.
• Cheesegear's Speaking Of Tournaments.... General themes to consider when attending a competitive arena.
• To Tailor Your List Or Not To Tailor
  
• Wraith's Handy-Dandy Guide to Painting and Assembling an Army
  
• Closet_Skeleton says:
  "Every Troops choice you spend on a non-Scoring unit is Troops choice wasted."
  
• How To Write An Army List | Sample

Guide to Armies

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Space Marines (Codex Marines, SMs):

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Pros: Space Marines are the eponymous 40K army. They are the army by which all other armies are judged. Just about all their units can be outfitted in many different ways to fulfill many different roles (but, in regards to General Advice, they should only try to do one thing at a time). With few exceptions, the entire army selection is plastic for easy conversions and assembly (and, most of the metal models you don't even need). As plastics, the army is also relatively cheap to buy.
GW Staff are extremely knowledgeable on all things Space Marine.
Troops unit choice with the ability to Infiltrate and have Sniper Rifles.
Power Armour and Bolters.

Cons: Honestly, none. Save for the common misinformation that GW Staff will tell you to get you to buy certain units and sets (like Assault on Black Reach). But, this is by no means bad. As a Space Marine is a Space Marine. And pretty much all the units in the Codex can be useful one way or another.
One such example is that there is a growing proportion of Space Marine players who feel - despite the fluff and the statline - that Scout Squads are superior to Tactical Squads (the reason why is outside the scope of this guide).
The only truly bad thing about Space Marines, is that everybody has them. GW sells them at every opportunity. All starter sets ever produced by GW has contained Space Marines as one of the 'learner' armies. By extension, a lot of people turn to Space Marines because that's what they learned the game with, but, what they don't realise, is that the Assault on Black Reach starter kit is weak.

Recommendation for Newbs; *****. But the Assault on Black Reach kit isn't a good start to a Space Marine army. GW likes misinformation.
* or ** depending on whether or not you care about being 'just like everyone else'.
What's so bad about AoBR?

Codex Space Marines theoretically allows you to build 7 different 'themes' of Space Marines (even though it's 6) based around what colours and which Special Characters you like. However, any special character can be used in any Chapter, painted any colour that you choose. So, really, what Chapter you choose is kind of irrelevant since you can use other Chapters' special characters anyway.

The common belief is that 'Space Marines is Space Marines'. They all have Power Armour and Bolters. All of the above applies to the below;
Dark Angels: You will need the Errata/FAQ. Essentially a carbon copy of Codex Marines with the option to play Ravenwing (all bikes) or Deathwing (all Terminators). Both of which, for the most part, can be done much better by Codex: Space Marines and either Grey Knights/Space Wolves, respectively. *
Black Templars: You will need the Errata/FAQ. Slightly more focused on close combat. With some unique rules. ***
Space Wolves: Space Wolves are actually the 'most fair' list out of all the Space Marine variants. They're a solid list. They have no actual 'bad' or 'trap' units. ****
Blood Angels: The only real difference in the List is more options to take Jump Packs, Fast vehicles, and a slight bonus to Deep Striking. Staggeringly similar to Codex Marines otherwise and you wont actually lose much by playing Blood Angels. ****

What if you like one particular unit more than the others? Which Codex would be best for you?

Chaos Space Marines (Chaos Marines, CSMs):

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Like Space Marines, but Evil. So, just about everything that applies to Space Marines applies to Chaos Space Marines.
Pros: Chaos Space Marines are slightly more focused on close combat than their Imperial counterparts - but, by no means to they have to be. CSMs are not necessarily 'better' than regular SMs. Just...Different. Each faction has different toys at their disposal.
There are a variety of different ways you can outfit your squads, and it's kind of difficult to find any two CSM armies the same.
Power Armour and Bolters.
Converting your 'Starter Box' Space Marine army to Chaos Marines is fairly easy. Just add spikes and arrows and mutations.

Cons: There are options in the Codex. Too many options some say. It's very easy to get confused on what or what not to get for your squads and characters. And it's even easier to go overboard on wargear and skills and the like (remember; Wargear != Bodies).
CSMs are also a fairly commonly seen army as they cater to the people who want to play Space Marines, but, think that 'Evil is Cool'. Some do consider who they get associated with as a bad thing.
The 'some of everything' approach that a lot of new players have when collecting their armies doesn't really work for Chaos Marines. Most of the time, you're best off going all-out on one or two of the Cult units (below).

Recommendation for Newbies: ****

Chaos Space Marines (Cults):

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Contributions supplied by Winterwind, DaedalusMkV and unknowingly by Myatar Panwar

World Eaters/Khorne-based/Beserkers:
Lots of attacks...Aaand...That's about it. Khorne Beserkers have WS 5 and also gain Furious Charge, meaning that when Assaulting, they're hitting and wounding most things on 3s and 2/3s. Their initiative 5 (when Assaulting) helps them a lot when they can strike before most enemies and kill them before they get attacks back. Khorne Berzerkers are fairly good at what they do, but, their individual unit effectiveness is directly proportional to their opponent's armour save.
Meaning, that, for the most part, you need lots of Beserkers. Lots. Khorne Beserker armies also don't function very well without Rhinos, as their only ranged weapons are Pistols. So, this is a lot of currency. On top of which; As they lack ranged weapons, Obliterators, Vindicators and Defilers are almost required for the army.
Khorne Lords and Daemon Princes are considered to be the least efficient. The Daemon Weapon gives you double the chance to hurt yourself. As well as +2D6 Power Weapon attacks is pretty much overkill. You don't really need that many.
Their special character - Kharn - is quite good though.
*** You will need Rhinos. Luckily, Berzerkers come in boxes of 12 (which is more than the other Cult units) and are plastic. Which is good.

Thousand Sons/Tzeentch-based:
All models with the Mark of Tzeentch gain an Invulnerable save. Or, their save gets improved if they already have one. This makes Tzeentch-based lists very tough to kill on the outset.
Onto specialised units; Thousand Sons are a Troop choice that comes with a 4+ invulnerable save, and have AP3 Bolters. Perfect for objective-squatting. This also makes them deadly in ranged firefights - and their invulnerable save makes them hard to kill on the return. Being Slow and Purposeful, it's a good idea to get as much use our their Bolters as you can get.
Thousand Sons also have a Sorcerer as their 'Sergeant'. Chaos Psychic Powers being as they are, this is quite good, as most 'shooting' powers tend to be AP3 or better, or allow no save at all. The Sorcerer also comes with a Force Weapon (add Warptime for fun). Meaning units with an Independent Character kind of need to think twice before Assaulting Thousand Sons units.
However, units without Independent Characters (that you can't target), and other dedicated Assault units will have an easy time. As Thousand Sons are the worst Assault unit in the Codex. But, this isn't saying a whole lot, as they're still Space Marines.
Tzeentch Daemon Princes and Sorcerers are quite good, able to choose and use two powers in the same turn. As well as receiving a better Invulnerable save. Tzeentch Lords are 'okay'. The Tzeentch special character - Ahriman - is pretty good. But, far too overpoints'd.
*** Thousand Sons boxes are expensive. But, you get plenty in a box.

Emperor's Children/Slaanesh-based/Noise Marines:
Marks of Slaanesh add to Initiative. This means pretty much everything in the CSM army will be functioning at Initiative 5. If you're unit holds Power Weapons, you can do a lot of damage before your opponent even gets to attack.
Noise Marines. Are. Amazing. Sonic Blasters are essentially Storm Bolters that get an extra shot if you're standing still. A Blastmaster, is a S8, AP3 Blast weapon that causes Pinning. Do you want yet? Just before Assaulting, the Noise Marine Champion has access to a S5, AP3 Flamer. This will kill things dead. Then Assault, at Initiative 5 (if you're opponent didn't fail their Morale check from you shooting the crap out of them, that is) and you can do some serious damage.
Daemon Princes and Sorcerers gain Lash of Submission. Usually considered one of the more unfair psychic powers as it allows you to move your opponent's models. Where? Into Dangerous Terrain, out of their precious cover, towards your own models into Assault range, or even just moving their Heavy Weapon team out of LoS.
Chaos Lords with Blissgiver are perfect Character killers as with 3+D6 attacks and Initiative 6, they only need to cause one wound (with a 'Power Weapon') to kill pretty much anything they want.
Lucius the Eternal is just as good as - if not better than - Kharn. And doesn't even cost that many points.
**** The Noise Marine box doesn't come with with many Sonic Blasters. They are, however, available in bulk from Mail Order. But, they're not that important. You're really only getting Noise Marines for Blastmasters and Doom Sirens.

Death Guard/Nurgle-based/Plague Marines:
Extra Toughness. Might not seem like much. But, it's (usually) the most expensive Mark for units that can take it for a reason. Works best on models in Terminator Armour or models on Bikes.
Plauge Marines are pretty much exactly the same as regular Chaos Marines, except with Toughness 5 and Feel No Pain. They're extremely hard to kill. On top of which, they have Defensive Grenades. And that's pretty good. Aaand...That's about it actually. Not much can be said about Plague Marines except exactly that.
The Mark of Nurgle is mostly wasted on Daemon Princes as they don't really need the extra Toughness compared to what else they could take and Sorcerers on gain access to Nurgle's Rot, which, again, compared to other powers, isn't that great. As Nurgle's Rot works best in close combat. But, Nurgle Sorcerers only get one psychic power per turn. So, it's Nova, or use the Force Weapon.
On Chaos Lords (especially in Terminator Armour), the Mark of Nurgle is alright. Giving access to a reasonably good Daemon Weapon.
The special character for Death Guard is Typhus. He's pretty damn good. Opinion appears to be divided on whether or not he's worth the points. He has Wind of Chaos, and Nurgle's Rot (otherwise known as Nurgle's Nova). And he auto-passes all psychic tests when using those powers. As well as having the Nurgle-based Daemon Weapon, that also counts as a Force Weapon. As well as Terminator Armour and Defensive Grenades. Whether you like him or not is your choice.
**** Plague Marines are pretty boring for options. But, Toughness 5 and Feel No Pain are really, really good. And the Mark of Nurgle is usually the most expensive Mark for those who would get any real use out of it.

Tyranids ('Nids):

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If you think of the movie Alien, or Starship Troopers, Tyranids aren't far off the mark.
Pros: Tyranids are primarily seen as a close combat swarm army. The big Tyranids are extremely customisable and immensely powerful in whatever role you want to give them (but you should only choose one role at a time, remember), and, the smaller Tyranids come in massive numbers designed to make your opponent crap themselves on just how many bodies you can put on the table. The Tyranids also possess one of the most deadly close combat units in the entire game.
A Troops choice that can Infiltrate.
Most of the army is plastic. And, many of the blister models you only need a few of. So, per box, Tyranids are pretty cheap. Also, the Tyranid Battleforce is generally considered what you need, it's definitely recommended by most of the internet that you should get at least two.

Cons: Like CSMs, it's often possible to overload your Monstrous Creatures with too many biomorphs (wargear), which gets expensive. Fast. And, many of the smaller Tyranids are designed for one unchangeable role. The smaller Tyranids can't adapt their units for what they want to do. A Tyranid army is usually seen as very shooty-heavy, or very assault-heavy. It very - extremely rarely - can be both. Often, trying to be both is actually a detriment to the Tyranid army.

Without the bigger Tyranids to back them up, the smaller Tyranids suddenly become a lot more vulnerable, partly because they already have low toughness and high armour saves to begin with. Therefore, you may need to spend a bit of money on the larger, more expensive models.
As a swarm army, box-per-box, you also don't get very many points in each box. This means you'll probably have to end up spending a lot of money to get a decent amount of points onto the table.

Also, like SMs and CSMs, if a 14 year old kid isn't playing SMs or CSMs, then they're playing Tyranids.

Recommendation for Newbies: ** to ****. Depending on how much real-world currency you have to spend. If you don't have a lot of money, you wont be able to field a lot of bodies or acquire the larger Monstrous Creatures. If you can field ~50 Termagants and 50 Hormagaunts per battle and have Monstrous Creatures to back them up...Good.

How to build your Tyranid Army.

Eldar:

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Elves. In SPAAACE!
Pros: The Eldar boast a 'swiss army knife' army. They have a unit for everything and every unit can do their job well. Each and every unit looks vastly different to every other unit, and are actually supposed to be painted in different colours to each other. So, you have a huge variety of models and colours. If variety is important to you.
Most of the army can Fleet. All Eldar tanks are Fast, Skimmers, and the army contains Eldar Jetbikes (which have different rules to 'normal' Jetbikes). In short, the Eldar army boasts speed and maneuverability.
As with their Infantry, they also have HQ units to fit certain roles. An Autarch can be outfitted to suit almost any battlefield role. Eldar Farseers and Seer Councils are powerful psykers. And the Avatar is a close combat Monster (literally).
A lot of the metal models in the range come in reasonable sized boxes at a (fairly) reasonable price. The good news is, you usually don't need too many of the metal models.
Troops unit choice with the ability to Infiltrate and have Sniper Rifles.
A Wraithlord is one of the scariest models in the game. An absurdly high Toughness and a reasonable armour save. And can kill troops and heavy armour with equal ease. Often at the same time. It's strength 10 and Monstrous Creature status also means it can rip apart tanks even when it's guns are suited to killing Infantry. It even causes Instant Death on most Infantry that attack it. Including a lot of HQ characters.
Wraithguard are like smaller Wraithlords high Strength and Toughness, with a good save and toting around deadly guns.
...It's possible to build an entire army out of Wraithguard and Wraithlords.

Cons: Low 'Elf' Toughness.
The sheer amount of variety can sometimes make it hard to decide which units to take. Especially since some of the units in the Eldar army overlap, but, achieve their role in slightly different ways. And it's these 'slightly different ways' that can make or break the unit depending on your opponent. Some particular units are even useless or near-useless depending on your opponent.
Every unit fills a role. And is unadaptive. You can't manipulate any squad to do anything other than what it was designed to do (except Dire Avengers). And, in smaller point games where you can't afford to take every unit you want, you'll know that you're missing that unit. Because nothing else you have will be able to perform as well as the missing unit.
It's these missing units that make of most of the metal models that will be in your army. You'll need the metal models.
Individual Wraithguard units can often be prohibitively expensive in currency.
Taking too many Wraithlords in your army will have people crying for curdled dairy products. That is; Cheese. In lower point games, just one Wraithlord is enough for "OMG! Cheese!" cries.

Recommendation for Newbies: *** or ****. The Eldar army is an army where it's hard - but not impossible - to go wrong. With such a huge mandatory variety in models, an 'I want every unit' mindset (common in newbies) is actually beneficial to the Eldar army setup.

Wraith teaches you where you should go with your Eldar;
HQ and Elites
Troops and Fast Attack (and Wave Serpent)
Heavy Support and Special Characters

Dark Eldar (DE):

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Like Eldar, but evil (there's an argument that Dark Eldar are more evil than 'regular Chaos'). But much, much different in play-style from Eldar, than SM's are from CSM's.

Stuff About HQ Choices
Stuff About Everything Else
Stuff About Special Characters
Cheesegear says: "The Dark Eldar one is...Fairly out of date. Sliscus rules. Razorwings kick arse and Venoms are potentially the best Transport in the game - oh man was I wrong on that score!"

Recommendation for Newbies: ** or ***. The Dark Eldar are easy to learn, but hard to master. But, once mastered...The Dark Eldar tend to either win by a significant margin (often by Turn 3 or 4), or lose spectacularly (by Turn 5 or 6).

Tau:

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With help provided by Nameless Ghost, Ricky S and Selrahc

Tau are the archetypal alien race. Very progressive technology and a near-utopic society. Also draws several parallels to Mechs and Exosuits - if you like that sort of thing.
Pros: Firepower. You want a really 'Shooty' army? You pick Tau.
Like Necrons and Space Marines, you actually can't go very far wrong with the 'normal' Troop choice; Fire Warriors. They have a decent save of 4+, so they aren't dying en masse to Bolter fire. And they boast the best base-Troop weapon in the game. Yes. Better than Bolters. Easily. Their Transport (Devilfish), similarly, for it's points cost is one of the best in the game. Second only to the Eldar Wave Serpent. You can field a very respectable army fielding nothing but Fire Warriors and Devilfish - just bring some anti-armour weapons.

HQ and Elites choices field some very respectable units in the form of Crisis Suits and Stealth Teams. Effectively your Mechs/Exosuits/Gears. With their ability to take a wide array of guns, on top of their ability to fire at multiple units at the same time, it makes them a very nice support unit for your Fire Warriors. Or, even a front-line squadron if you're brave enough. Crisis Suits also possess Jet Packs, rather than Jump Packs. Which is a really cool bonus to have. As it allows you to move in the Assault phase for move-shoot-move combos like Eldar Jetbikes.

Tau Heavy Support though is what you're really looking at. Broadsides are exactly what their name suggests if you're into Naval Warfare. Broadsides carry Railguns; High-strength guns designed to annihilate whatever they're pointed at. And they do it well too.
This author would be remiss if he didn't also mention Hammerheads. One of the better tanks in the game.

Cons: Tau fold like paper in Assault. What they do in Shooting, they lose out in Assault. Even worse than Necrons. Low Weapon Skill, low Toughness, low Initiative, and no access to Power Weapons or weapons that don't allow saves in Assault. Their decent armour saves them somewhat, but not much.

The Tau also have more than their fair share of 'trap' units. Which, outside of Themed Lists, don't actually do very well.
Like taking Kroot. Kroot are better in Assault than pretty much anything else in the army, but, that's not really saying much. You're best off with more Fire Warriors.
Ethereals are extremely good. But, your opponent will pretty much always target him first. And then he becomes a massive liability for your army.

Like Tyranids and Chaos Marines, it's kind of hard not to go overboard on Wargear options on your Crisis Suits, because they're all just so good. Leaving you fewer points to spend on Fire Warriors. Not only that, Crisis Suits are not Terminators, and don't do real well under fire.

Heavy Support choices are expensive in points. Problem is, if you don't take them, you're seriously missing out on some really impressive firepower options.

Recommendation for Newbs; *** The Battleforce is one of the better ones around, so long as you remember that the Kroot are essentially 'free'; If you didn't pay currency for them, you're under no obligation to use them. Replace them with Fire Warriors as soon as you can. The Tau way of battle also requires a lot of tactics to use well (similar to Eldar), in that you need to prioritise fire and occasionally you have no choice but to sacrifice the odd unit here and there. Tau often play very static roles, unless you shell out extra currency for Devilfish. Which isn't always the best thing in the world. And no. There really isn't a way around being bad at Assault. The best thing you can hope for is that you've shot the crap out of your enemy before they get there.

Ricky S tells us how to get started for the Greater Good.

Chaos Daemons (Daemons, CDs)

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Daemons. They come out of the Warp to eat your face. That's about all you need to know.
Pros: Chaos Daemons, as an army, possess some of the more powerful units in the game. Strong HQs, strong Elites, reasonably impressive Fast Attack, and some strong Heavy Support in the form of Soul Grinders and Daemon Princes.
The entire army is Invulnerable and sports Eternal Warrior and Fearless on every single unit except the Soul Grinder. But, as a Daemon, the Soul Grinder gets some pretty impressive things on its own. So, Power Weapons and other low AP ranged weapons don't really have any extra effect on Daemons. Your opponent is basically wasting points.
Very powerful Assault army if you can get it there. It only takes three or four models to wipe out an opposing unit of 10 even on a fairly average day.
Very fast army. A number of Beasts/Cavalry and Jump Infantry units, and the whole army Deep Strikes.
High diversity and distinctive imagery of all it's units.
Most of the army is plastic (or soon will be), which keeps currency costs low.

Cons: *Deep Breath* Well, deployment. Before any game even starts, you're at a disadvantage. You can't actually plan with Chaos Daemons. Before the game starts, divide your army in half. Half your army arrives on Turn 1 via Deep Strike, and the rest of the army trickles in over the rest of the game.

...The really annoying part, is that you don't actually get to pick which half you get on the first turn. The only way to make a 'plan' with Daemons, is to have symmetrical halves, so, no matter what comes down, you've got what you want. Which means, all that diversity in models goes out the window as you now need to duplicate every unit. Leading to 'cookie cutter' units. Which nobody really likes - unless you want that.

Yeah, the entire army arrives via Deep Strike and reserves. It's both good and bad, it's more often bad. Since Chaos Daemons have a real lack of shooting. The opposite of Tau, who have low Assault. But, due to Deep Striking, and the disallowance of Assault, your army will get shot at before you get to Assault with your units.

This is solved by 'aggressive Deep Striking', which is ignoring terrain difficulties, and deploying as close to your enemy as you possibly can so you can Assault next turn. This means that you could take casualties from Difficult Terrain, and following Shooting phase from your opponent. To do this, you need lots of models, which costs currency.

The Codex - like Eldar - has a higher-than-normal amount of unit redundancy. Some of those diverse units that you like, just wont be taken because there are other units that can do the same job, better. Like Necrons, Daemons' Elites and Fast Attack choices are mostly just more powerful versions of the Troops units. Because of this reason, Daemons' Troops are pretty lackluster in comparison to everything else. Except that you have to take Troops...well, because they're your Troops. Which is even worse because those Troops units aren't exactly cheap in points.

With such a low save, Fearless is quite often a hindrance. And, unlike Orks or Tyranids, Daemons don't usually have the numbers to keep up a sustained losing-assault. But, Daemons don't usually lose Assault (even with such small unit sizes). So, you've got that.

Recommendation for Newbies: * The deployment rules are like nothing a new player would be able to deal with. Not to mention the complexity and tactics that you need with a Chaos Daemons army in order to win.
** If you really like the imagery and painting/conversion opportunities that Chaos Daemons presents.
Sadly, Daemons are more Cons than Pros unless you build your list a specific way. Which you - a new player - probably wont do.

Grey Knights (GKs):

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Super-Massive-Long-Posts-of-DOOOOOOM provided by Cheesegear.

• - HQ Choices
• - Elite Choices
• - Troops, Transports, Fast Attack and Heavy Choices
• - Special Characters

Recommendation for Newbies: ** or ***
On the one hand, Grey Knights are very hard to build properly. There's lots of weird and wonderful wargear and squads to choose from and they all look so good.... But it's easy to pick all the wrong ones, for all the wrong reasons, and end up paying through the nose for the privelage.

On the other: Get the balance right, pick the right units with the right wargear and send them to do the right tasks, and they can easily break almost any other army in the game apart with surprisingly little effort. Grey Knights are tremendously powerful if you use them correctly. They are utterly unforgiving if you get it wrong.

The Necrons:

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Tomb Kings IN SPAAAAAAAACE! Legions of soulless, undying automatons cruising around the galaxy, atomizing everything in their path. Except for the senile, insane ones, who invite you to tea and then atomize you after you've finished the biscuits. What's not to like?

What Winterwind Thinks About Necrons.
What Cheesegear Thinks About Necrons.
What Cheesegear Thinks About Necron Special Characters.

Recommendation for Newbies: ***
Necrons are tough, with good armour and good guns, so it's hard to really use them "badly". It requires a bit of a knack to get the best out of the units in the book though, as well as needing a very careful understanding of their many special rules work and interact.

Orks: *** to ***** depending on how much currency you have (horde army). Extra points because it's the more useful of the AoBR Starter Armies. So, a decent Ork army actually comes stock in the 'newbie box'.

Imperial Guard (IG): * to ***** depending on how much currency you have. A ***** IG army is the single-most expensive army in the entire game. Even more than the old, fully-metal Daemonhunters.
About Imperial Guard Tanks.

Still to come;
Imperial Guard [2009], Witch Hunters [2003], Sisters of Battle [2011 - WD edition] and Orks [2009].
These armies I have lot of experience with. Send PMs if you believe you have advice that I might leave out.

Actually looking for, or things I can't write myself;
More General Advice (I think I've covered most of it).

SEND PMs. Don't Derail Thread.
Please submit suggestions for additions to the guide to my PM box as to keep from derailing the thread. Also, try and keep it general. Specifics can be delved into after the aspiring player has picked an army.

This hobby breeds opinions like no tomorrow. Please read.

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* Warhammer 40K Tactics
* -II- Tactics for the Tactics God
* III - Hats for the Hat Throne
* IV - The Enemy of Your Enemy is Still Your Enemy.
* V: Everyone Is On Fire. Some Moreso Than Others.
* VI: Chaos Bringing Eternal Darkness? I brought my flashlight.
* VII: Common Sense is not RAW.
* VIII: "You're Gonna have To Face It, You're Addicted To Maths
* IX: "Mech Is King? I Never Voted For It!"
* X: "Everybody expects the Inquisition!"
* XI: "More Threads than your Tactical Squad has Room for!"
* XII: "Now in Rapid Fire range!"
* Warhammer 40K Tabletop XIII: "Ironclads, Furiosos and Soul Grinders, oh my!"
* Warhammer 40K Tabletop XIV: "Pray for 6s!"
* Warhammer 40K Tabletop XV: "More People Should Be Punched In The Head."

[Zorg]

Current background, lore and storyline thread.

Current painting, converting and modelling thread - not just for 40k but for all miniature lines.


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Wouldn't let me edit them in above, think we've hit the post/tag limit on that one.

[Squark]

Hm... Should we be adding things Like the allies and psychic powers guides people here have recently done?

[Renegade Paladin]

You know, if you're going to post a big 'do not post here' image, the polite thing to do is to make a new thread

Cheesegear complains when people who aren't him start the thread. And since he maintains the guide, I sort of see his point, especially with a new edition that will surely require changes to it.

[Zorg]

Bah! A pox upon him!

I was hanging around waiting for you to do it and now I've forgotten what I was going to say


I'm looking forward to seeing what FAQs ForgeWorld bring out so I can hopefully field a kickass Corsair / Dark Eldar list - which can get more crazy as the Corsair list lets you draft in Craftworld units, so you can have all three flavours of conehead in one, legal, list (maybe).


And in other news it's all sorted for me to be going to Games Day - holidays are in at work so should be another good year

Hm... Should we be adding things Like the allies and psychic powers guides people here have recently done?

Maybe, but when I tired to edit in links to the background and painting threads it wouldn't let me, so I think that intro post is at its limits of tags. More text can be added, but it needs a cull and edit rather badly.

[Wyntonian]

So... I've been reading the Lexicanum, mostly for worldbuilding things to shamelessly steal and I've developed a bit of an interest in this, but I have a question.

How much money (USD) would I need to scrape together to get started in the tabletop game? $20? $120? $1200? How much have you spent? Do you think it's a good use of that money?

[Borgh]

So... I've been reading the Lexicanum, mostly for worldbuilding things to shamelessly steal and I've developed a bit of an interest in this, but I have a question.

great, welcome to the hobby, skulls go over there by the throne and if you ever have rivers of blood on offer let us know.

How much money (USD) would I need to scrape together to get started in the tabletop game? $20? $120? $1200? How much have you spent? Do you think it's a good use of that money?

To get started you would need
A rulebook
a codex
some units, a Battleforce plus some HQ units would be a good starter.
a starterset with paints, glue and other stuff.

if I toss together these things on Games-workshop.com I come at around $300,-
And yes this is a lot. Expect to buy more as I only covered the basics. If you want an armycase, ten more paints and an elite unit you will have to bring $100 more

The amount I've spent over the past decade is not something I feel like contemplating as probably it would amount to a nice long holiday in a warm country. And being a broke-ass student most of that time means I'm not even that big a spender.
Was it worth it? yes. Painting is a great meditative experience to me and many great night were had clashing armies with friends. As a hobby Warhammer is not that expensive. You can drop 200 dollars on a weekend rafting or spend that money on two battleforces spend three weeks painting and an infinity gaming with them.

[Lowkey Lyesmith]

Was it worth it? yes. Painting is a great meditative experience to me and many great night were had clashing armies with friends. As a hobby Warhammer is not that expensive. You can drop 200 dollars on a weekend rafting or spend that money on two battleforces spend three weeks painting and an infinity gaming with them.

This is pretty much all you need to know. Yes it is expensive to build huge amies and have all the nice new things. But the thing is, it don't feel all that expensive (at least not to me, in Sweden). And as soon as you have the core of your army it's mostly about collecting and buying a couple of things now and then.

However if you add all the things I have togheter, hmm, I think I could have paid for my wedding including honeymoon with that...

[Wraith]

To get started you would need
A rulebook
a codex

These two are mandatory. You'll struggle to get the rulebook for less than $50. A great deal of the Codicies can be found second-hand from places like eBay and Amazon, all but the newest at a discounted price.

some units, a Battleforce plus some HQ units would be a good starter.
a starterset with paints, glue and other stuff.

DEFINITELY available from eBay at a massively discounted price, including ones that are assembled and even painted to a reasonable standard. Get good at finding bargains, it will save you a lot of money and headaches, if you're wanting to get into 40k

You should definitely buy the rulebook first, and then read (but not necessarily buy) several codicies before you buy any models. Decide what you want to do, learn the best way to do it, and then plan very carefully where and how you'll make your purchases. You will otherwise end up with a bunch of expensive stuff that you probably won't need or want.

[Eldan]

Also, the amount of money you can spend is basically open-ended. There is a world of difference between, say, 1500 points of chaos space marines, and 8000 points of tyranids with special forge world resin models.

[Voidhawk]

Welcome to the hobby! Always good to see a new Thirsting God ready to laugh at the pain of the galaxy!

The best advice I feel able to give for someone just starting is NEVER BUY DIRECT FROM GW if you ever can avoid it. Shopping around online you can easily find 20% or even higher discounts on all their products from 3rd party companies. I use Total Wargamer myself, but it depends alot on where you're based.

Of course this doesn't mean never go to a GW store itself, the people are (in my experience) helpful and friendly, especially with tips on painting; but if you get inspired to buy anything while there, write it down and order it online when you're home. This also helps reduce sudden purchases wrecking your bank balance.

Good luck, and may Tzeentzch smile on your dice!

[Wyntonian]

I found out that a friend of mine has a big ol' stack of codices (codexes?) and a rulebook, so I'm good on that front. How about just models? I plan to screw around with him and his stuff until I find a playstyle I like, but what would a halfway decent beginners set of models run?

I'm also pretty sure that there isn't a GW store in my town, but I'll poke around a couple of hobby shops and such, see if I can find anything.

[Eldan]

Depends quite a bit on the army you want to play. For some armies, the battleforce makes a decent basic army, that comes down to 75 pounds, IIRC. However, for your first few games, ask your friend if you can borrow some of his models to use as proxies. Learn the rules first and play around with some different army lists and races before you go buying.

[Wyntonian]

Oh, last question, (for now, anyway), which rulebook should I get? I've seen 2nd, 5th and 6th editions, is there a hobby standard?

[bluntpencil]

Oh, last question, (for now, anyway), which rulebook should I get? I've seen 2nd, 5th and 6th editions, is there a hobby standard?

6th is current, so 6th.

[Wyntonian]

6th is current, so 6th.

Yeah, but 4e is "current" for D&D, but the 3.5 boards get like 15 times as many posts. Ca you use an older codex with a newer rulebook?

[bluntpencil]

Yeah, but 4e is "current" for D&D, but the 3.5 boards get like 15 times as many posts. Ca you use an older codex with a newer rulebook?

People tend to use what is current, so 6th, definitely. You can use older codices, yes. There are erratas and FAQs on GW's site.

[Eldan]

Yeah, but 4e is "current" for D&D, but the 3.5 boards get like 15 times as many posts. Ca you use an older codex with a newer rulebook?

It's different in Warhammer. People basically never use older material if they can avoid it. Even if some of the new rules are always controversial.

Also, material from different editions is usually compatible. Some of the races have codices that are three editions old now and still sort of work.

[hamishspence]

It isn't quite as extreme in 40K as in Warhammer- the last 3rd ed codex was Witch Hunters- and that got updated in White Dwarf to 5E a few months before 6E came out.

That said- there was a period (6E Warhammer and 3E 40K) where all the codices that came before it were invalidated- and instead people had to use Ravening Hordes (a free supplement) in the case of Warhammer, and the rulebook army lists (in the case of 3e 40K) until new codices came out.

GW hasn't repeated this- trying to ensure old codices remain usable despite edition changes.

[Wyntonian]

That's pretty intelligent, from a commercial standpoint.

By the way, folks, thanks for being so helpful and welcoming. I knew that the playground was the place to turn!

Oh, so I don't clog up the thread with more simple questions, does anyone here mind if I PM them with stuff like that?

Last one, does 40K work on PbP? Is there any way that could possibly function?

[bluntpencil]

That's pretty intelligent, from a commercial standpoint.

By the way, folks, thanks for being so helpful and welcoming. I knew that the playground was the place to turn!

Oh, so I don't clog up the thread with more simple questions, does anyone here mind if I PM them with stuff like that?

Last one, does 40K work on PbP? Is there any way that could possibly function?

It probably wouldn't work so well, since sometimes, the positioning of a single miniature can determine how a battle swings. And by that, I mean if your guy with a power fist is behind another dude or in front of him, or a little to the left...

[Eldan]

Feel free to PM or Skype me if you want. Or ask questions here, really, that's what the thread is for.

Also, I'd call it about impossible in PbP. It's almost entirely battle focused, and battles are notoriously difficult in PbP. On top of that, it does not use a grid of any kind while placing a lot of weight on positioning and has dozens to hundreds of entities acting, not just maybe six to ten.

There is a way to play 40k online for free, but I think we are not supposed to mention it.

[Razgriez]

In truth, to play regular tabletop 40k online is impossible to my knowledge. All that is for online are official RTS games like Dawn of War, or First/Third person shooters (such as Fire Warrior, and Space Marine)

If you are looking for a more Play by Post friendly version of 40k, you're best bet would be the Dark Heresy/Death Watch/Rogue Trader RPG series.

[Tome]

PBP doesn't work for 40K, but if you really want to play it online look into a program called Vassal. It kind of misses some of the point of the game though, if you ask me.

That said, there's a line of very good 40K RPGs that do work on PBP, if that's what you want. Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, Deathwatch, Black Crusade and Only War.

[lord_khaine]

Now that Vehicles are suddenly a lot more squishy, then im wondering if my Wraithlords would be worth including in the army again, what do you people think?

[Cheesegear]

Now that Vehicles are suddenly a lot more squishy, then im wondering if my Wraithlords would be worth including in the army again, what do you people think?

No. Because Monstrous Creatures that don't fly/jump are even squishier. Grenades can be used on Monstrous Creatures now. You can't just run into a unit of Marines or something and tarpit them for four turns. Even if they don't have Grenades, you can always choose to fail a Morale check against an enemy you can't hurt.

Support batteries are still the go-to support choice. Especially because Artillery doesn't suck anymore. Support Batteries got better.

[Renegade Paladin]

So where's our clever thread title?

[Squark]

So, was playing around with the special weapons in my bits box, and I noticed how 2 of the Plasma Pistols seem made to go with each other for dual wielding. Just wondering how effective people think 48 points for dual plasma pistol-wielding wolf guard is. I suspect that even with precision fire, it's a bad idea, but man did it look cool.

[Cheesegear]

So where's our clever thread title?

It's what happens when I don't make threads.
Anyway, I'll get to writing that second half of the Allies now.

EDIT: No thread title is better than ANYthing to do with ponies.

[ZeltArruin]

Warhammer 40K Tabletop, thread XVI: No thread title is better than ANYthing to do with ponies.

Fixed that for you!