Newbie friendly faction advice, please.

[Dominoris]

I have a friend who is ... challenged.  (I don't care to get into details here)  
He likes the game and wants to build and paint an army.  Lots of rank and file troops if possible.  The fewer "special" rules the better; at least for now.
I have heard Necrons are good for beginners but I don't know how complex their new codex is now.  We are not too concerned with secondaries right now but he will need some good mobility once he is familiar with the game and his army.  That may not happen for another year or so, though.  For now it's casual annihilation.

Anyway ... what would be your advice for an easy to play army?

[phandaal]

40k is not a simple or easy to play game these days, so keep that in mind. That said, Orks are pretty simple as a faction. Just pick as much melee stuff as possible and Zug Zug it into your opponent as fast as you can.

 

Trukks, Deffkoptas, Bikes, Squighog Boyz, etc, all that is pretty fast. And Orks are basically synonymous with "lots of rank and file troops."

 

Also, maybe consider giving Combat Patrol a try if his heart is set in 40k, or Kill Team if he is will to try something smaller. Work your way up to the full experience so he doesn't bonk off of the impenetrable wall of rules right away.

 

 

Edited February 9 by phandaal

[N1SB]

I thought a long time about this, not for your friend, but for myself.

 

I wanted an easy to paint, easy to play army for 10th ed and Brother Grotsmasha's Call to Arms.  For me, it was Necrons with C'tan.

 

A simple sample list is just a mix of:

 

• Cryptek + Troops (i.e. Any-mancer + Immortals), spam for lots of rank & file, a Silver Tide
• Transcendent C'tans, plural, they're not "Epic" so you can have more than 1, so can also spam

 

This way, I have the least amount of unit profiles to learn/remember, and they do what I expect, it's easy to plan around.

I'll just elaborate on the Trans C'tan(s).  They're just big Monsters that can teleport instead of Advancing, they're Anti-Anything, they still have an OC value.  I actually proxied mine with an AoS model (the giant lady ghost), just choose models with a 60mm base.  Win or lose, they always do something, and never disappoint.

 

I think what you're doing is a great thing.  My own list is a variation of this (I took different C'tan), and it's about as easy as 40k can get.

[chapter master 454]

I mean, Orks seem to fit all the requirments. Tons of troops; check. Not too many rules; check. Orks tend to do well with that sort of thing and even can augment their rank and file with straight forward units, things like Badruk and Company (aka 10 flash gits) ain't a difficult unit to use and could even be a great starting point to getting used to various rules as the unit can be used simply and with a once per game lethal hits thing, it isn't a big load because effectively the unit has a "super" that is can use. And...I mean you pick an enemy unit they can see and it disappears...simple.

 

Stratagems for Orks are also fairly straight forward too. One makes you tougher, one makes you hit a more...thats about it isn't it?

 

And to make a point: how is 40k "not simple to learn now"...pardon me my fellow frater but have you played 4th, 5th, 6th or 7th editon? 8th? 9th?

Just curious what yardstick you are measuring by because I think you got 5 feet where it should be 3. Want to talk about Unit sizes and the complete silliness that comes from that? What about trying to talk about how scatter weapons work and the scatter die. Maybe you'd like to take a look at the ol' vehicle damage charts of Glancing, Penetrating and ordanance penetration tables.

Perhaps a small leisurely stroll through 5 pages of USRs that are anything but USRs.

40k in 10th is the simplest is has ever been. It isn't a simple game by any stretch but goodness fellow frater..."not simple or easy to learn" MY GUY, dearest frater, please show me what Yardstick you are measuring with. I am only exploding with curiosity because such a statement to me considering I still remember 7th edition rules for how to treat a template weapon hitting a firing port on a building relating to the unit inside (how many of you know the answer? Because most of the people I faced didn't!).

 

Emperor's Grace...

[Craig]

If I were starting an army now I'd get the Horus Heresy starter box and paint up an iron warriors force. I don't think anyone would mind you playing your Spartan as a land raider and your contemptor as a hellbrute. You have 40 bolter legionnaires, 10 terminators, a terminator lord and an exalted champion. All have basic load out options so they will be simple to play, easy to paint and better value than any 40k box. And if your friend doesn't get in to 40k he can play heresy with the same army.

[Emperor Ming]

I would also say orks

 

Easy to learn, less rules and strategies than other armies, combat and charging is your main tactic. 

[Dominoris]

Thanks for the advice, everyone.  I had forgot about orks.  Of course it will all depend on which one he likes best, Orks or Necrons but we don't have any ork players around here at the moment.  At least I don't remember seeing any at the game shops I go to.  

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

I say Imperial Knights. Less than ten models for an army and only a handful of weapon rules to learn.

[tychobi]

Orks have the most fun but have a lot of moving parts. Necrons are great for new players tough strong straight to the point and lots of homogenous units. Herd the ctan in the right direction aok!  Mechanized (vehicle based) lists are often far easier to play with than delicate and fiddly infantry. Less decisions the better!

[Xenith]

Forgetting the rules, the main thing to bear in mind when collecting an army is getting the models they like the look of the most, as they'll spend a lot of time looking at and painting them. 

 

40k is actually decent to play if you do as you do and forget about secondaries. There's enough complexity in individual unit rules. I'd go so far as to ignore stratagems also, as any army that relies on stratagems to be good is broken from the outset.

 

The Narrative missions from the leviathan campaign in the book provide some nice, often asymmetric missions which are fun and have clear objectives beyond 'kill one another', there's only one mission objective which is easier to focus on, and it rewards playing the game as opposed to the current tourney meta. 

[lhg033]

+1 for orks though personally this is as much because they are quite easy and fun to build and paint too. Contrast paints work amazingly well on them with a basic rattlecan spray base or a zenithal spray base.

The combat patrol is pretty good for the models and I dont think there is anything that complex rules wise and it's easy to build on for a bigger army.

Add a few more boxes of boys to flesh it out to build a green tide or start throwing in a few vehicles when they are ready for them (or just like the models)