What is a good beginner army?

[Rob P]

What is a good army for learning the game? And what makes that particular army a good choice?

 

I appreciate it's a very broad question, but i'm interested in both the answer and how people arrive at it.

 

Edit:

 

I appreciate different people might look at it from different angles and i'm interest in all angles e.g.

 

- Only a few units therefore a good starter army

- Forgiving therefore a good starter army

- Not too costly to start with therefore a good starter army

- Participate in all phases therefore a good starter army

- Etc

 

There are (possibly) no wrong answers

[MARK0SIAN]

Yeah, I would agree Space Marines are probably the best army for beginners. However (speaking as someone who finds painting quite a challenge) I would always advise people to go for the army whose look and fluff they like the most. Yes some are not great armies for a beginner but nothing will kill someone’s interest faster than having to paint colours/models they don’t find exciting.

 

However, one thing I would say is, even if the person isn’t going for space marines, I would advise that the first models they buy should be a small unit of space marines. They’re great for learning how the building and (more importantly) painting process works. Plus they’ve got the most tutorials out there by a large margin.

 

At the end of the day though, theres actually only a very small number of armies that would be a really bad idea for a beginner as they either require a fair bit of experience to play well (elite armies with board control problems or armies that need you to stack a lot of buffs from various sources to make them effective) or their models are hard to work with (current sisters of battle models).

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

When it comes to ease of painting, Necrons can’t be beat. Additionally, RP and Living Metal mean that mistakes that don’t kill a unit allow for it to be pulled out, or reinforced due to the additional durability they regained at the start of the turn.

 

Plus, Ld 10 is extremely forgiving of casualties, and also renders morale an essential nonissue for any unit except Warriors and Flayed Ones.

[ShibeKing]

The only good army to play is the one that you love visually and for the lore. Therefore anything Eldar or Imperium related. ;)

[Rob P]

Thanks for the answers so far.

 

Purely from a learning the game perspective, do you think that the ability to engage in every phase makes up for the problems that 8th presents to MEQ armies? Does playing a ''lower tier'' army make you a better player in the long run?

[mel_danes]

Rob I guess a question before I attempt to answer yours. Who is the starting army for? You, someone you know, a young person?

Does the person have a solid understanding of miniature gaming outside of 40k, and just needs to learn this system, or is this the first toe into wargaming?

[Ratherdashing]

The other advantage of Marines is the variety within them in theme and playstyle. You got Vikings and vampires and paladins and medieval knights and basically whatever color you want to paint is fair game.

[MARK0SIAN]

Thanks for the answers so far.

 

Purely from a learning the game perspective, do you think that the ability to engage in every phase makes up for the problems that 8th presents to MEQ armies? Does playing a ''lower tier'' army make you a better player in the long run?

I think playing lots of different armies and experiencing their playstyle, strengths and weaknesses makes you a better player in the long run. Playing a low tier army, especially for a beginner, might kill off their enthusiasm if all they’re doing is getting beaten all the time.

 

This is the major downside Space marines have as a beginner army, the player will have to do a lot more to get them to win at the moment and it will be demoralising if he comes up against armies like Eldar that seem like they just wiped the floor with him with ease.

 

The other thing to be aware of with marines is the utter cliff edge of difference between how they are in the lore and how they are on the table. If he’s decided he likes marines because of the fluff he’s read and expects their abilities on the table to come anywhere close to that level of greatness then it will be a really disappointing shock when he discovers that they’re nowhere near. I think this goes for marines far more than any other faction.

 

I’m not saying don’t go for marines as a starter army, just make sure he goes in with his eyes open as to what the reality of playing them will be.

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

Are you looking for a starter force you can teach people the game with or do you have a friend that is interested?

 

If your looking for an army you can use teach the game with then I would suggest something you can ally with an existing force or different fraction your curious about.

 

If it's a friend that's interested have them look at the models and research the army that appeals to them.

[Rob P]

 

Thanks for the answers so far.

 

Purely from a learning the game perspective, do you think that the ability to engage in every phase makes up for the problems that 8th presents to MEQ armies? Does playing a ''lower tier'' army make you a better player in the long run?

I think playing lots of different armies and experiencing their playstyle, strengths and weaknesses makes you a better player in the long run. Playing a low tier army, especially for a beginner, might kill off their enthusiasm if all they’re doing is getting beaten all the time.

 

This is the major downside Space marines have as a beginner army, the player will have to do a lot more to get them to win at the moment and it will be demoralising if he comes up against armies like Eldar that seem like they just wiped the floor with him with ease.

 

The other thing to be aware of with marines is the utter cliff edge of difference between how they are in the lore and how they are on the table. If he’s decided he likes marines because of the fluff he’s read and expects their abilities on the table to come anywhere close to that level of greatness then it will be a really disappointing shock when he discovers that they’re nowhere near. I think this goes for marines far more than any other faction.

 

I’m not saying don’t go for marines as a starter army, just make sure he goes in with his eyes open as to what the reality of playing them will be.

 

This is my concern with marines, but I suppose it could be mitigated via an escalation league and smaller value claims in the early days. What I like about Space Marines is the ally options when looking to expand the army.

 

I am, however, kind of, leaning towards Necrons or Custodes as decent durable starter armies (though Necrons aren't very varied in the long run). They both lack psychic phase participation but they are pretty forgiving and easier to learn.

 

Are you looking for a starter force you can teach people the game with or do you have a friend that is interested?

 

If your looking for an army you can use teach the game with then I would suggest something you can ally with an existing force or different fraction your curious about.

 

If it's a friend that's interested have them look at the models and research the army that appeals to them.

 

Hi Black_Star, the former really. I'm looking for something to teach my son how to play and to remind myself how to play - not played for a long time! Contrary to my reply to Markovian, I do wonder if (funnily enough) a starter box set is the way to go like Tooth and Claw?

[MARK0SIAN]

Necrons would definitely make a good start. I’ll admit I’m pretty new to mine and I’ve only played half a dozen or so games but I’ve really enjoyed them. They’re pretty forgiving and the generally fixed loadouts take away some of the second guessing that can affect marines. Plus reanimation protocols is one of the most fun rules in the whole game and they’re super easy to paint.

 

Custodes are pretty good, their game plan is good for beginners (get in close and kill them) and the limited wargear makes list building simple. However they do have some downsides (namely board control and long range shooting) and to really get the most out of them you need to make pretty good use of their stratagems. This can be pretty tricky without a CP battery and could be pretty confusing for a new player. I think if I was starting 40k right now, I’d prefer an army that isn’t as dependent on their stratagems like necrons or even Astra Militarum.

[Rogue]

Necrons come in the Forgebane box alongside Adeptus Mechanicus - the rangers make a fairly straightforward starting squad, but I have no experience of the Necron forces or the armigers.

[slitth]

The best beginner army is not a army but a Kill Team.

Low cost because of the low model count and a great way to get a feel for the race.

[DarkRaven89]

Pick up models you like the most and go from there. If you like their lore and models then learning the army will be easy.

[Jorin Helm-splitter]

If I were teaching my son how to play I think I would look for a starter where both forces appeal me. That way if he doesn't like it or the game is to complicated you'll still use everything. If you also want to show him the modeling aspects than both primaris and deathguard have a lot of easy build models available. Deathguard actually do meet a lot of the requirements your looking for in a starter army as well.

[Slasher956]

A good beginners army is one that the new player like the look of the models and is self contained enough not to need another codex to help it out... eg custodoes ‘need’ more CP so take guard -bad beginners army.

[Dosjetka]

I'd recommend Death Guard, Astra Militarum, or Necrons for the reasons posted above by others.

[tylerw]

 

 

Thanks for the answers so far.

 

Purely from a learning the game perspective, do you think that the ability to engage in every phase makes up for the problems that 8th presents to MEQ armies? Does playing a ''lower tier'' army make you a better player in the long run?

I think playing lots of different armies and experiencing their playstyle, strengths and weaknesses makes you a better player in the long run. Playing a low tier army, especially for a beginner, might kill off their enthusiasm if all they’re doing is getting beaten all the time.

 

This is the major downside Space marines have as a beginner army, the player will have to do a lot more to get them to win at the moment and it will be demoralising if he comes up against armies like Eldar that seem like they just wiped the floor with him with ease.

 

The other thing to be aware of with marines is the utter cliff edge of difference between how they are in the lore and how they are on the table. If he’s decided he likes marines because of the fluff he’s read and expects their abilities on the table to come anywhere close to that level of greatness then it will be a really disappointing shock when he discovers that they’re nowhere near. I think this goes for marines far more than any other faction.

 

I’m not saying don’t go for marines as a starter army, just make sure he goes in with his eyes open as to what the reality of playing them will be.

 

This is my concern with marines, but I suppose it could be mitigated via an escalation league and smaller value claims in the early days. What I like about Space Marines is the ally options when looking to expand the army.

 

I am, however, kind of, leaning towards Necrons or Custodes as decent durable starter armies (though Necrons aren't very varied in the long run). They both lack psychic phase participation but they are pretty forgiving and easier to learn.

 

Are you looking for a starter force you can teach people the game with or do you have a friend that is interested?

 

If your looking for an army you can use teach the game with then I would suggest something you can ally with an existing force or different fraction your curious about.

 

If it's a friend that's interested have them look at the models and research the army that appeals to them.

 

Hi Black_Star, the former really. I'm looking for something to teach my son how to play and to remind myself how to play - not played for a long time! Contrary to my reply to Markovian, I do wonder if (funnily enough) a starter box set is the way to go like Tooth and Claw?

 

 

I'd go with a vehicle/walker/monstrous creature-heavy army I think. Those are badass things that are fun to play. Something like the Ad-Mechs and/or Imp Knights, or Nids/eldar with an emphasis on having at least one of the biggest units in that faction, just for the cool factor and simplicity of "here's this big thing that will use a lot of your points, learn where to aim it for good return."

 

Orks tend to be a great fit for young folks since they're savage slightly humorous things and you can always just slap green on their exposed skin and brown, grey, or whatever on the armor/clothes parts (and a little red somewhere) if they want some color on them to game with.

[Beams]

I'd argue against imperial Knights -- they really aren't playing the same game as everyone else.

 

A good beginner army would ideally have enough boots on the ground to give them an understanding of the importance of cover, Los, objective holding instead of just trying to table the opponent. Lord knows, a lot of my wins come from being able to outplay the opponent on objectives not killing them.

[tylerw]

I'd argue against imperial Knights -- they really aren't playing the same game as everyone else.

 

A good beginner army would ideally have enough boots on the ground to give them an understanding of the importance of cover, Los, objective holding instead of just trying to table the opponent. Lord knows, a lot of my wins come from being able to outplay the opponent on objectives not killing them.

 

That's a good point, but I'd try to avoid it as a pure knight list, more like "a knight + a SM faction or AM or Ad Mech" while still giving him a figure that's so freaking cool and huge. If you want to avoid the sheer high power of the full Knight, the armiger/warglaive kit might still get a positive reception at a slightly more fair level of power.

 

My son is 8. He wants to save birthday money, holiday money, chore money etc towards an imp knight even though he's only built/painted a few orks, eldar bikes, etc. He saw how big they were in an old white dwarf and how creepy they look, and was hooked.

 

He also loved wraith knights, flyers, etc. I don't know how old OP's son is, or if he works the same way, but I'd follow "rule-of-cool" and get a huge model as part of any force you get him started with. There's just something about it that kids love even more than they love the already cool space-war-with-elves-orcs-aliens-and-robots. 

Other figures that might scratch that itch include the primaris dread, murderfang, almost all flyers that look nuts, most of the large Nid models, probably any Lord of War/Titanic model, dreadknight (if you want to really start him off learning how to play well and also hate the game, get him into Grey Knights!!! They are pretty cool from a fluff perspective though), Killa Kans, almost any bike squadron army (so white scars, ork bikers, eldar/dark eldar?) and that sort of thing.

It's probably also worth taking him to the closest hobby shop on a tournament or game day to see painted armies and see if any army or types of figure catch his eye - maybe I'm all wrong about it and he loves a huge blob of infantry, and just wants to have 150 models to place!

 

EDIT: also it's a good point about learning the game, but you can "help" him with that by disabling his big pointsink early on so he sees the value in whatever other units he has, or just playing small point games in 2 ft by 2 ft playing areas without that unit so he can experience moving into/out of cover, charging, overwatch, grenades, maybe psychic phase and so on.

[killersquid]

I'd have to say Knights are great for new players. Easy army to play, very few models, and one of the cheapest armies to build. Very forgiving too. People also love big stompy robots. Great for if you want to get into competitive play too, as all the Knights are good.

[MasterDeath]

A good beginner army is the one that appeals to you visually, story-wise or in any other way. Whatever you need to keep you painting is the best starter army. Mechanically Space marines by far, but if you cant stand them, dont get them. I started playing WHFB way back then with Nurgle Chaos and never looked back, although Chaos was hard to play (No shooting, only a very narrow selection of units was good powerwise etc.) the backlore kept me playing. 

[Panzer]

Unpopular opinion: I don't think something like a proper beginner army exists. Different people enjoy different things and that goes for young people as well. Learning the rules is something they all have to do. There are just some armies that require a bit more learning until they can compete with other armies.

I know many young people who picked one of the harder/more complicated armies as their entry to the hobby because they liked the concept/design/whatever and they learned the game just as fast as the ones who picked the 'easy' army ... except that they often got a better grasp of the rules earlier since it was required to play the army on a good standard.

Sure you can give someone a Knights army but they will never learn anything about the psychic phase, proper deployment, positioning or holding objectives. They will always just deploy their models wherever, point at an enemy unit and wave goodbye to it while the Astra Militarum player will learn about screening, using transports, deep strikes, psychic powers if he wants to, auras and utilising cover so he can actually hold objectives.

Continuing with the Knights I'd also actually say it would be the worst army for beginners since it would make it a LOT harder for them find opponents to play against. Especially in lower points matches.

 

Overall I'd say don't recommend specific armies to beginners and rather listen to them what they like and what they want. Then show them some of the armies that would fit their wants, talk a little bit about the faction with them and then let them decide which army they want. Just exclude some of the corner cases that really wouldn't be a good army for beginners like Drukhari and Knights unless it's REALLY the one army they'd like to get into the game with.

For me it was Tomb Kings back in fantasy ... not the recommended choice by far but I just loved their theme. It always required a bit more efford to compete with the other armies but it was worth it since I was playing what I really liked and I always got told I was one of the tactically better players which was largely just because it was required from me to play the army. It didn't take me longer to learn the game than others, I just didn't stop learning as soon as them. It also wasn't much harder or easier to paint or assemble them, I just learned different skills. While others learned more about layering and edge highlighting I learned more about washes and dry brushing so they later could show me how to paint my chariots properly and I showed them how to paint their fur and such properly.

 

If you know the beginner and know he'd struggle with the rules Space Marines would be a good idea since they don't have many complicated rules, can contribute to the game in each phase and don't require particularly many models. However if you know the beginner can get a grasp of rules quickly or you don't know him a all I'd say pretty much all the armies in the game are open for him.

Young people don't have much money anyway so it's better for them to pick a faction they like visually and thematically than picking a faction that's just easy to play/build/paint. Chances are that if they pick a faction they actually like they stay in the hobby long enough to have enough money to try out other armies eventually anyway but if the only thing about their picked faction is that it's easy on them they have less reason to stick with it long enough.