Started Playing WH40K

[Dayoh]

Iv been eyeing off (tabletop) Warhammer for like a year now, so i finally walked into a GW, played a couple of scenario's with the every helpful staff at GW, this ones name was "Tim" :P.

So i bought "The Battle For Macragge", constructed/half painted models, played the scenarios, Just from doing that i cant wait to jump into amassing an army and crushing my enemys.

Theres one thing i cant decide on though, which race to start with?
Heres the ones i have in mind -
-Space Marine - Easy to pick up and play (from "The Battle For Macragge")
-Imperial Gaurd - They look awesome
-Necrons - Same

So there we go, any input about which race would be much appreciated :)

BTW, i really dont know why i didnt get into this at an earlier age

[Pisces]

I would go with what makes you feel like you MUST play them. Get to know the back story, perhaps play some games, GW probably has models of each race you can play when available which will give you basic mechanics. Your original army will likely suck but you will rework it as you get better. The games workshop website is a good place to look at the backstories, go to the US or UK websites because they are updated more often then flick back to your local one to check prices. On the US website if you go under 40k, then "getting started with 40k" on the sidebar, then click "Next: Choosing an army" at the bottom of the page and scroll down to the army browser, its not great but will give you a quick background.

Personally I like witch hunters, they can be combined with space marines or imperial guard but I think they would be coolest as a pure witch hunters army.

[singo]

I wouldnt recommend space marines, I just think they are too generic. The background is pretty damn cool, but every other player (it sometimes seems) has a Marine army.

Guard are fun, but you tend to just sit around with a battle line sending las-volleys down the table. Personally, I like a shooting phase that lasts about a week but it isnt everyones cup of tea.

Necrons? never played them, never played against them, so I wont pretend I know about them.

[Dayoh]

I see what you mean about the Space Marines being generic, there pretty easy to keep alive (nice save throw).

Alright cross Space Marines off the list.
I did check out the US GW site, I suss'd out the backgrounds, checked out some battle reports.

I prefer shooting at my enemy's (not a fan of the assualt too much), i love the gaurd models, ill go to to GW sometime in a few weeks ask the guy about it before i fully decide on it (mainly becuase i dont want to "waist" money on an army i wont like).

Thx for the feedback thus far.

[Pisces]

Just to make you decision harder:P There is also tau who a lot of people hate because they seem sort of cartoony and are another shooting race. While the backstory behing IG is a fighting army with no concept of human rights or freedom and survive as a race by dieing on their feet. It has many references to real life conflicts, especially the world war. Tau on the other hand reference hypothetical situations, while space marines are the perfect soldiers, tau are the perfect army. They don't use hand to hand because it is very unlikely that hand to hand would be used in the future, except maybe by mechs (tau have) and tougher aliens (tau have). These guys may want to control to universe but they are doing it because all the other races are bent on war and have no regard for life. Their design reflects the desire to keep the normal tau soldier alive while staying effective, as such they have big guns and stay together to keep the enemies heads down while advancing. Armour or aliens is used when advancing leaves yourself exposed and to carry the expensive heavy weapons.

This isn't necessarily how they play, but its the feeling I get of them.

Eldar are also a shooty army but they are short range shooty and are hard to use so better saved for a second army.

Sorry for making this harder for you, just giving you the options. IG are quite a good army to play and will let you expand into daemon, alien or witch hunters if you so desire at any point.

[Dezzick]

I can't really describe chaos space marines, as they're getting a new codex in september, but there's a daemonic codex coming out a few months after.

Also, read through the UK GW site as well, I think they all have different hobby articles, but both are useful

[Dayoh]

Just to make you decision harder:P There is also tau

Im reading about them now, they are very cool.

Im not really a fan of Eldar not sure why just dont.
I read abit on the Chaos Space Marines there awesome also but im not keen on the idea where they focus on a lesser amount of units on the table (I would like to hear someones point of view who plays Chaos)

Yer my desicion is harder now, why cant i just get them all!

[kongurous]

Im reading about them now, they are very cool.

Im not really a fan of Eldar not sure why just dont.
I read abit on the Chaos Space Marines there awesome also but im not keen on the idea where they focus on a lesser amount of units on the table (I would like to hear someones point of view who plays Chaos)

Yer my desicion is harder now, why cant i just get them all!

Chaos can be as massive or as small as you like. There's an incredible amount of customization available in the Chaotic army, it's everything you want it to be. Plus daemons.

[Pisces]

I'm a chaos player, not Tau which is why I couldn't comment on their gameplay.

For chaos you do field less troops than most armies, but that is because each individual is stronger. I wrote a fairly decent writeup of how they play in another thread, GA's one on him looking into playing an army. So I'm not going to write it again. Generally you will need to mix in some C/C even in shooty Chaos armies so it may not be what your looking for.

[Ktan]

Necrons can be limited in terms of choice. You can go Destroyer Heavy, Immortal Heavy, or take the twin 'Recycling Bin of Doom' list, and that's about it, really. Fill in the rest with scarabs or something else that's good at disrupting in close combat.

I mainly stick with them for the backstory. Though, personally, the power of their shooting and their WBB rule is wicked good fun. Just ensure you get plenty of bodies on the board, but don't just fill the list with warriors, either. Better to have a smaller amount of models that you can make a lot out of than an army of millions, but that's also not as punchy.

Oh, and, Pariahs are a very difficult investment to make wisely and Flayed Ones will only really be useful against shooty armies. Even then. FO's just aren't that great, IMO. Assault Marines without the jetpacks and other nice options.

Tomb Spyders can be handy in a phalanx and Res Orbs are a must.

Not too up on the IG, and I only dabble in Marines (but Marines are quite fun to paint, IMO)

[Dayoh]

Hmm well it looks like Chaos has slipped into the mix, im not fussed on necrons anymore due to there lack of minitures.

When i go to GW ill have a few games with the different races and go from there.

[Darmago]

I would go with what makes you feel like you MUST play them.

I agree with this all the way. mostly just because thats how I picked my army(yay tyranids)

[Dayoh]

With the idea of playing a race i must play well, that leaves me with Chaos and Imperial Gaurd, i keep on changing my mind so much lol.

On second thought, i love the background of the Chaos, gore/Betrayel/anything to win praticly.

Ill roll with Chaos, thx for helping me decide guys.

[Ktan]

Ok, you'll just have to wait for the new codex before you start gaming.

It's not a bad time to start, really, you'll just have to wait a couple of months before you start properly.

[kongurous]

Which is a perfect opportunity to save up cash.