[DH] Beginner seeks help

[Brother DjoulZ]

Hi there,

 

My friend wants to start a Daemon Hunter army whose look and fluff has baffled him.

He's an abolute beginner in 40k and obviously this DH army will be his first.

I'm seeking intel on what he should buy first to fill in the mandatory slots : 2 troops and 1 HQ. We're looking for a nice balance between fluff and low price as DH seems quite an expensive army to build.

In case this should matter, he'll be playing mostly against me and my BT army (2.000 pts), and also my Tau army (1 model finished , whoopee) and some friends' UltraMarines and Tyrannid.

I thought maybe he should buy a box of Imperial Guards Stormtroopers Squad 2 consisting of 4 specialists and a box of Imperial Guards Shock Troops.

That could fill at least 1 troop slot.

Also, is it really useful to get each troop a transport as early in the army building process or can it wait a bit ? If it is, would you go rhino or Chimera ?

 

What do you reckon ? What other suggestion can you make ?

 

Thanks for your help

 

Yours most zealously,

 

Brother Djoulz

[ArmouredWing]

My first question would be has he got hold of a copy of Codex:Daemonhunters yet?

 

If not then it might be the first stumbling block as it has been withdrawn from GW stores and GW online store and may be a bit tricky to get hold.

 

As for Damonhunters as a whole he'll find them very difficult to get to grips with from a beginers point of view. I started with Witch hunters and the long road to success was very long indeed, I didn't achieve a win in the first 18 months of playing and I almost ended up switching armies before I really began to understand the lay of the land with them.

 

I reckon there'd be few people who'd recommend starting with DH's, existing players tend to be gluttons for punishment who like the thrill of fighting with an underdog force but if he's that kind of guy then they'll be right up his street.

 

As for tactical recomendations? I'll leave that to the more experienced DH's out there, after all this is one of the best places to find them.

[Brother DjoulZ]

Thanks ArmouredWing,

 

Yes, he does possess Codex:Daemonhunters. That's one less trap to fall in I guess.

 

I think he's conscious that it's a tough army to begin with, but in his point of view, fluff matters more than a direct path to victory. Plus, as said previously, he'll be playing against me mostly, and I'll do everything possible not to put him off 40k... Yes, I admit it, the lonely-player-in-need-of-someone-to-play-with has just revealed himself...

[Justicar Valius]

Right this is the most important thing he will ever read about DH:

 

5 IST, 2 meltas(or plasmas if going for a third unit in one army), rhino with extra armour and smokes, 128 points. Learn it, love it, use it. This unit is your bread and butter of DH for obvious reasons.

 

Also when starting its a kind of go for 1000 points all at once rather than the usual 2 troops and 1 HQ. I'd say 2 of the above a landraider crusader a brother captain ( may as well buy the terminator set for later and use the brother captain in that)

 

Don't use cadians, that's hardly justifiable! e'hem i give you the Kaskirin: Kaskirin also look on the right, I have 4 of those blisters for my DH.

 

GK terminators eat anything if they pop out of a LRC. Incinerators on all GK but characters. No purgation squads, no orbital strikes, No fast attack unless you ally in Seraphim (hard to do now) troop grey knights are a bit naff but can be used devestating effect (jump out of raider and incinerator to death, use raider as cover so they dont get shot to pieces then hop back in and camp on an objective). Now let us have a look at my 1000 points list.

 

Brother Captain, psycannon,91

8 power armoured grey knights (including justicar), 2 incinerators, 245

5 Inquisitorial storm troopers, 2meltas, rhino with extra armour, 125

5 Inquisitorial storm troopers, 2meltas, rhino with extra armour, 125

10 Inquisitorial storm troopers, 2 plasmas, 120

Land raider crusader, 255

[Ceasarian]

Daemon Hunters are a notoriously difficult starter army. The crux of the issue is that while Space Marine armies can be very forgiving to new players with their stat line, DH cost to many pts. so if you screw up just once it can be all over rather quickly. They have a steep learning curve, but once you get over that initial problem- DH are a blast to play.

One thing that I personally did was run a small escalation league with a small group at my school. We started out at 200pts! (squads only need to have 3x models in it/ don't need a HQ unit/ no models with over 3 wounds/ no terminators). Every week we went up a bit (200 to 250 to 300...) Then stick at 500pts for a few before moving up to 750pts.

As a new player this allows you to get a feel for the game before putting down larger units, as well as play around with the different weapon layouts, and squad types before playing a 500pt games (with the regular rules of course).

Plus if you friend is just starting out, and he's one to paint such an escalation concept will give him some time to paint up his army block by block, rather than the whole thing in a single go.

 

Basically try to stress the importance of trying new units in the codex, and giving different combinations a go. Also try to have him proxy (heresy indeed) units in his army before investing the money into the older metal models (they cost alot especially if your not going to use them later on). Also if he isn't already have him browse this forum to look at different lists and discussions, that may help him form his final army lists.

 

I hope this helps, and it's always great to see another DH player.

 

-Cease

[number6]

What everyone else has said about the DH. Probably one of the most difficult armies to play successfully. And the army really doesn't get competitive generally, against all comers, until you induct at least one IG platoon.

 

I strongly recommend checking out the Hunting daemons topic. It contains a surprising amount of general tactical advice as well as several sample army lists. Those army lists are restricted to just the DH codex, however, and IMHO, those lists are about as good as you can get with just the DH codex. I would consider them "good enough" for typical friendly play, though they won't pass muster in some tournament environments if you care about such things.

 

That topic is listed in the Online resources topic that is pinned at the top of this forum. In that topic you will find links to a wealth of brilliant tactical discussion for both the DH and WH armies. Other than "Hunting daemons", the DH material is all written for 4th edition -- and strongly focused on GKs -- but it is still relevant and useful for all that. Definitely worth checking out.

[Brother DjoulZ]

@ Justicar Valius, nice army list that you have here. So, rhino is your way, not chimera ? Oh, and thanks for those Kaskirin, they sure look good...

 

@ Ceasarian, Yes testing different combinations thanks to heresy, I mean proxying, will take place

 

@ number6, thanks for pointing out the Hunting daemons topic, that's the kind of compulsory reading I was looking for when I posted here.