I'm interested in getting into War40k, whats a good army to get into?

[Raenir Salazar]

Fanboys welcome :D


Basically I like the idea of Imperial Guard as they are BadAss Normals.

I think I've seen some russian/russian winter themed armies and would be interested in these.

Does Imperial Guard have NKVD officers?

[Morrandir]

If you like Imperial Guard, then go for them. Simple as that.

And if my reading of NKVD is right, the Guard does have Commissars. They have a tendency to shoot more guardsmen than they do aliens, heretics, and mutants.

On purpose.

[GolemsVoice]

You might be interested in either the "Warriors of Valhalla" http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1130437&rootCatGameStyle= or the "Vostroyan Firstborn", which go more for the russian cossacks theme http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1070011&rootCatGameStyle=

If you fancy the Valhallans, you might want to be careful, though, I don't know how much you can still get without paying horrendous prices.

[Kalbron]

Really, if you're just starting out it depends upon:

1) How much money you've got to throw around.
2) How much time you've got to spend on the hobby.
3) What sort of styles of play you think you'd prefer.

The first two are the most important, the latter one only slightly so as many armies can be made to do just about anything... though perhaps not very well.

For instance, the IG, in my experience, tend to require a ton of money and time simply because you field so many models to make up even a 1000 point army.

[Mx.Silver]

I have more experience with Fantasy, but my first piece of advice is pick the one you like the look of the most. This is especially true in the case of models as you're going to spend a lot of time (and money) getting them, building them and painting them and believe me, it's no fun doing that with models and colour schemes you just can't stand. Fluff is important to, but that can be tailored.

Playstyle shouldn't be too major a concern, since to be honest it's not that difficult to alter it. Doing so also has the advantage of being free, which changing models and armies isn't :smallwink:

So basically if you like Imperial Guard, go for them. They aren't as easy to use as some armies and are probably going to cost a lot in cash and time on account of how large their armies tend to be (unless you go all-out with tanks) but that will make the victories sweeter.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I personally am thinking about either Necrons or Tau. The most evil, or the (arguably) most good.

[Oslecamo]

Compared to the nids, chaos, dark eldar. and the emperium, the necrons are hardly evil. Sure they'll suck your life, but those other factions will do much much worst things, and the necrons actually want to close the madness known as warp, and hey, guaranteed immortality to all those who join their rancks!

[Raenir Salazar]

by eating your SOUL.

Tau were arguably the most good but now they're more good only because they present a choice in the first place "join us or die".

Ild argue that the greater good is served with the Imperium if only because no matter how bad Humanity might be at times it is still Humanity right or wrong.

[ImmortalAer]

by eating your SOUL.

Tau were arguably the most good but now they're more good only because they present a choice in the first place "join us or die".

Ild argue that the greater good is served with the Imperium if only because no matter how bad Humanity might be at times it is still Humanity right or wrong.

Plus, who can resist playing an army where they issue angry flashlights to thier soldiers, because it's more economical than issuing better guns to less soldiers. People are free, equipment isn't. :smallbiggrin:

[Raenir Salazar]

Plus, who can resist playing an army where they issue angry flashlights to thier soldiers, because it's more economical than issuing better guns to less soldiers. People are free, equipment isn't. :smallbiggrin:

Hey hey hey! When you have a gazillion flashlights somethin' gonna burn.

[Copper8642]

I feel they invented Storm Troopers just so they could avoid making Space Marines work with Imperial Guard. Wouldn't want to soil the people who matter with free bodies.

[Moose Fisher]

I believe Guardsmen have some of the best artillery around, or they have the capability of fielding lots of it. Not to mention they have numbers, and numbers can be a weapon in itself.


As for Tau, you join them or they'll give you 'commanding helmets' and you'll 'decide' to join them. They'll also sterilize planets to ensure no future uprisings take place.:smallbiggrin:

[Kyouhen]

I personally am thinking about either Necrons or Tau. The most evil, or the (arguably) most good.

Necrons are NOT evil. They only want to destroy all the creations of the Old Ones (Translation: Everything that lives) and have no emotions other than an intense hatred for anything alive and/or organic. They kill everyone equally, some more equally than others (Tyranids? Who cares? No souls there.) and are therefore not evil. :smalltongue:

That said my Necron army is on the shelf until they come out with a new Codex for them. Stupid vehicles not blowing up on a glancing hit anymore. :smallannoyed:

[Oslecamo]

by eating your SOUL.


Now now this is a common misconception. Demons eat your soul. C'tans eat your life force, wich are actually diferent things. And the necrons are the lucky ones wich got neither eaten by joining the C'tan.

It's just that after existing for several millenias inside a metal shell wich is unable to feel anything isn't very healthy for your mind. Necrons do have souls, they're just somewhat messed up.

Plus the necrons don't want to wipe out all life, because the C'tans need living beings to feed. Ok, they don't actually need them, but they're damn tasty. Their plan could be more acurately described as "herding" all life in the galaxy to feed their gods for all eternity.

Considering that's what mankind is doing right now(thousands of psykers sacrificed every day to keep the emperor running), well, gotta side with the metal dudes who'll at least give you a quick painless death.

And yes, throw enough flashlights at your enemy and you'll end up giving him an epyletic attack, thus the guard is able to score kills now and then.

[Headless_Ninja]

And yes, throw enough flashlights at your enemy and you'll end up giving him an epyletic attack, thus the guard is able to score kills now and then

Don't forget their ability to clog tank treads with their corpses!

Hope we're not putting you off Guard. They are awesome. If I had the money to get back into 40K, I would start up a Guard force.

[Raenir Salazar]

Don't forget their ability to clog tank treads with their corpses!

Hope we're not putting you off Guard. They are awesome. If I had the money to get back into 40K, I would start up a Guard force.

I think ill be picking up Guant's Ghosts I think thats the 40k Guards background fluff.

[onasuma]

Most evil race are dark eldar, due to the fact that they are evil for no reason. Chaos do it for life, necrons do it cause gods say, but dark eldar go out of their way to torture maim and so on, for their amusement, when just eating the soul would do.

Also, moose, those aligations were never proved. From what Ive read I get no indication that the vespid are mind controlled. I do believe it is just a ready alliance.

[Winterwind]

Most evil race are dark eldar, due to the fact that they are evil for no reason. Chaos do it for life, necrons do it cause gods say, but dark eldar go out of their way to torture maim and so on, for their amusement, when just eating the soul would do. I thought pain made a soul more nourishing to them? Not in these words, of course, but I was under the impression that was the gist of it?

[hamishspence]

That said my Necron army is on the shelf until they come out with a new Codex for them. Stupid vehicles not blowing up on a glancing hit anymore. :smallannoyed:

They do blow up (or rather, wreck)- but only after a lot of attrition (all weapons destroyed + immobilized + one more of either result.

[onasuma]

I thought pain made a soul more nourishing to them? Not in these words, of course, but I was under the impression that was the gist of it?

We have in total 7 pages of fluff (and we of them are only snippits). Alot of stuff has had to been made up by people to make dark eldar even possibly comparable to other races in background.

[hamishspence]

And the novels, and one or two stories in White Dwarf.

Though they are indeed due an overhaul- some of the armies have had three books over the last few editions (Space Marines, Chaos, Imperial Guard)

They are still on their first, slightly revised.

[Raenir Salazar]

Dark Eldar will die if they can't torture someone because otherwise Slanesh will kick them out of their lease.

[Kyouhen]

They do blow up (or rather, wreck)- but only after a lot of attrition (all weapons destroyed + immobilized + one more of either result.

Yeah, I know. But I miss taking tanks down by throwing alot of shots at it and hoping for a few 6's.

[Shas aia Toriia]

Though they are indeed due an overhaul- some of the armies have had three books over the last few editions (Space Marines, Chaos, Imperial Guard)

They are still on their first, slightly revised.

Imperial Guard didn't have any books in 4th ed.
Also, Space Marines are the most played army in the game, so it stands to reason that they get the most books.

[hamishspence]

IG: 3 books- one 3.0, one 3.5, and now 5th ed.
Chaos: 3 books- one 3.0, one 3.5, one 4th ed.
Marines: 3 books- one 3.0, one 4th ed, one 5th ed.

(I refer to the books published after the revised assault rules were released, but before 4th ed, as 3.5)

[Elder Wraith]

I personally am thinking about either Necrons or Tau. The most evil, or the (arguably) most good.

Nah, most good is the Eldar.

Which is definetly NOT a begginers army. If your'e just starting out, that is not the best army to get at first. If you have some experiance, then you can play them.

[onasuma]

Dark Eldar will die if they can't torture someone because otherwise Slanesh will kick them out of their lease.

No, this has no basis in fact at all.


Imperial Guard didn't have any books in 4th ed.
Also, Space Marines are the most played army in the game, so it stands to reason that they get the most books.

Or are space marines the most played army BECAUSE they get the most books?

[Arcanoi]

Or are space marines the most played army BECAUSE they get the most books?

Not really, no.

[hamishspence]

"Most support" might be closer- much higher proportion of plastics, at least initially, than the other armies, the Index Astartes articles, allowing a whole bunch of "different chapters, the various non-codex chapter army lists (Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Black Templars, Salamanders) prior to IA, etc, etc.

[Shas aia Toriia]

Salamanders are a codex chapter now. Again, the have the most support because they're the most played. A while ago, Space Marines made up half of Games Workshop's profits. Not 40K - all of Games Workshop.

As such, more plastics, more books, and non codex chapters.

[hamishspence]

yes- I was talking about in the early stages- Codex Armageddon.

Marines did seem to go through a lot of variants though.

Dark Angels
Salamanders
Space Wolves
Black Templars
Blood Angels
Flesh Tearers
Imperial Fists
Raven Guard
Iron Hands
White Scars
Crimson Fists (I think they had slightly different rules)

Cursed Chapters (Minotaurs, Legion of the Damned, Black Dragons, Sons of Antaeus, Flame Falcons)

And that's before 4th ed, with customizable army list.

[Winterwind]

Salamanders are a codex chapter now. Again, the have the most support because they're the most played. A while ago, Space Marines made up half of Games Workshop's profits. Not 40K - all of Games Workshop.Was this Space Marines and Chaos Space Marines combined, or loyalists only?

[Shas aia Toriia]

I believe it was just the loyalists.

[FlyingScanian]

Not really, no.

I think it's very much a matter of hen and egg... they get a lot of support (being poster boys and all), which in turns means that more people play them (and that is aside from almost every newbie being recommended them in some places), which means that they get more support, and so on...

[Mx.Silver]

Nah, most good is the Eldar.

Which is definetly NOT a begginers army. If your'e just starting out, that is not the best army to get at first. If you have some experiance, then you can play them.

Which would be great if it weren't for the whole financial costs thing. Collecting an 'easy' army just to get practice is a waste of time and money, and given how much 40k armies cost that's going to hurt. Go with what you like, and if that means jumping into the deep end so be it.

For instance, I started collecting WHFB High Elves back in 6th edition (when they were a lot weaker than they are now), and had no problem with it. Yeah, I lost a lot more than I won, but it was still fun and I did get better.

[Raenir Salazar]

I think ill definately go for Valhalla IMPs theyre definately modeled after Red Army, Vostroyan is more Cossacks, maybe Ill mix em match em.

How good are Valkyries in battle?

[Swordguy]

I think ill definately go for Valhalla IMPs theyre definately modeled after Red Army, Vostroyan is more Cossacks, maybe Ill mix em match em.

How good are Valkyries in battle?

Imperial Guard player here.

The Valks aren't actually all that great until you get into the 2000+ point battles because they're so easy to kill. AV 12 and the whole freaking table will have line of sight to them.

The generally accepted tactic for Valks is to bundle up a heavily-equipped anti-tank squad (usually Veterans with lots of multi-meltas) and go on a suicide run to smash a group of Rhinos or a Land Raider or some such that will generally start the game behind cover. The goal is to get close-range shots that don't benefit from cover saves (which, in 5e, are HUGE - best defense in the game because they're applied against practically everything and they're so easy to get), and cripple the enemy's ability to close with you and assault. Once your suicide squad has done its job, drop pie plates on the guys who bail out of the wreck from all your Leman Russes (of which you should, as a rule, field no less than two in any fight of more than 1000 points).

It's nice to think about zooming squads around in your Valks and taking objectives on the last turn of the game - but they just don't last that long. Using Chimeras (which can benefit from cover) are still flat-out better at getting your troops there alive.

Now the modification of the Valk, the Vendetta - THAT'S bad-ass. A Fast Flier with three Twin-linked Lascannons? Pretty good. For a hundred points? That's just downright insane. IIRC, you'll spend 95 points on a Heavy Weapons squad with three, NON-twinlinked lascannons. And it's not like the Guard uses its Fast Attack slots very much anyways. These are PERFECT for cleaning up after your multi-melta squads or for targeting large, multi-wound creatures (like the NidZilla lists that maximize high-toughness critters that your lasguns literally can't even scratch).



Also, to the Necron Player upthread complaining about the nerfing of their Gauss Weapons...my Steel Legion (all-tank/APC) list flips you off. I never lasted more than three turns playing against the old necron rules due that friggin ability to kill tanks so easily. :smalltongue:

[shazza95]

i only started lately, and i've been going ok with my friends tyranid army. the dumber they are, it seems, the easier they are to control.
that synaps things a pain though.....

[Arcanoi]

I think it's very much a matter of hen and egg... they get a lot of support (being poster boys and all), which in turns means that more people play them (and that is aside from almost every newbie being recommended them in some places), which means that they get more support, and so on...

They're the posterboys because they get played so much, leading them to get more support. They're also really easy (Yeah I said it, they're the well-round noob army.) and though it does self-perpetuate, it started because people went "OOOOO MARINES IN SPACE! THAT'S COOLER THAN SPACE ELVES, EVIL MARINES IN SPACE, OR SPACE ORCS!!!".