Warhammer 40K Advice for a beginner to tabletop games. *EDIT*
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You'll get used to the terms pretty quickly. The phrase "building an X points army" refers to the size of the army you have. Each unit within your force will have an assigned points value that is or can be modified by varying things. For example, attaching heavy weaponry to a unit will increase its points value.zombie goat fetish said:
Most small and early games are played between 500 and 1000 points, which is enough for a small-medium sized army, depending on what faction you're playing. In Assault on Black Reach you'll get Space Marines and Orks (if memory serves) - Space Marines are expensive, points-wise, whereas Orks are cheaper. This means that in a 500 point game (for example), you would be able to have a small force of Space Marines for 500 points, whereas for the same points cost, you could have a bigger Ork army (bigger here referring to number of minis on the table).
Hope that helps a bit
Oh yeah, and while Assault on Black Reach is a good set, I'd definitely advise looking around at other armies as well. Bear in mind that most new players start with Space Marines, so if you want to game, be prepared to find plenty other Marine players!
EDIT: MOAR ADVICE!
Buy your Poly-cement and Superglue somewhere other than GW - you'll get more in a tube and for cheaper.
Buy your paintbrushes somewhere other than GW - they'll be cheaper and of as good quality.
Buy your paints - acrylics - from somewhere other than GW - you'll be more per tube and for cheaper. The only exception is washes or metallics (in my experience)
Try and find your codex/codices pre-owned or off the net, GW charges too much for them.
My advice with Warhammer is always watch and think about how your spending your money. I see you've already decided to buy AOBR, yes AOBR Is a great starters pack, you get two small armies and a mini rule book which is all you need to start playing and painting. Its also a great little introduction into the game which will give you plenty of time to learn how to paint, play and most importantly have fun with the game.zombie goat fetish said:
But what if you don't want to play Space Marines or Orcs? There often comes a time for every W40K player when they think, I'm bored of painting big guys in power armour or Its time to step up to the big leagues and build an ass kicking 2k points army. Well that comes a little later but what I would advise there is every army can win in any situation so just pick the army that means the most to you or looks the best and go from there. Also buy the codex first so you can better understand the army you've chosen and can build the best army possible. Many hardcore players I know have an entire army planned out before they buy the first unit.
Thanks very much, that explains a lot.EscapeGoat said:You'll get used to the terms pretty quickly. The phrase "building an X points army" refers to the size of the army you have. Each unit within your force will have an assigned points value that is or can be modified by varying things. For example, attaching heavy weaponry to a unit will increase its points value.zombie goat fetish said:
Most small and early games are played between 500 and 1000 points, which is enough for a small-medium sized army, depending on what faction you're playing. In Assault on Black Reach you'll get Space Marines and Orks (if memory serves) - Space Marines are expensive, points-wise, whereas Orks are cheaper. This means that in a 500 point game (for example), you would be able to have a small force of Space Marines for 500 points, whereas for the same points cost, you could have a bigger Ork army (bigger here referring to number of minis on the table).
Hope that helps a bit
Oh yeah, and while Assault on Black Reach is a good set, I'd definitely advise looking around at other armies as well. Bear in mind that most new players start with Space Marines, so if you want to game, be prepared to find plenty other Marine players!
Good point, my main reason in buying AOBR is just to get the hang of a battle scenario. When I decide on what army I want to focus on I can us the units as background corpses and such.tunderball said:
Before buying Assault on Black Reach, do a little reading through the codex for each army and the rule book, go to your local comic book store or something, I know there's one around. You should get a general idea of how each army works in terms of tactics, theme, etc.zombie goat fetish said:
Once you decide what army you want, go online and look for models, pick up a copy of the rule book (if no one else you know has one) and the codex for your army.
You can often pick up large armies, sometimes painted, for cheaper than you can doing it all yourself. If you want to paint them all yourself, more power to you, look for some new models or unpainted ones. They're out there.
Once you have a good foundation for your army, then you can start hunting for specific models you want to add in. To form any army you must have 1 HQ model and 2 Troop models, Games-Workshop website lists what models are what for each army. Each model has a point value attached to it. Typically, the better the model's abilities, the higher the point cost. This is where terms like 1000 pt army come from, and you can generally discern the size of the army from the point value (1000 point is typically a good sized force.)
If you want easy wins, get yourself an IG army and build some serious tanks.
Honestly with ordnance weapons you can reduce many games to a maximum of two turns, just spam that large blast marker!
Honestly with ordnance weapons you can reduce many games to a maximum of two turns, just spam that large blast marker!
Not really much to add that others have not said. If you do choose to play Space Marines don't feel you have to play the Ultramarines chapter that are featured in AOBR. You can choose to play as any number of chapters. The Lexicanium has a list of all named chapters: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/List_of_Space_Marine_Chapters#.ToJISeyE9YA
Some of them are just a name and a colour scheme and others have a substantial amount of fiction dedicated to them. Some even have their own models.
Some of them are just a name and a colour scheme and others have a substantial amount of fiction dedicated to them. Some even have their own models.
If you get rid of the tanks and only use infantry, the game will still only last two turns, usually. Maybe not with the best result for the poor old Guard, mind...fix-the-spade said:
>_<zombie goat fetish said:
Codex are 22.50 USD each. Check em out before you buy them outright. I would strongly advice against buying more than just the one for the army you would be playing.
AOBR is definitely a great way to start, and pretty much what someone above me said, kind of take a look around, look at the codices, and see what army you like.zombie goat fetish said:
Me personally I started out on Space Marines, played some orks, liked how they had numbers, then liked how IG (Imperial Guard)had even more numbers, and a lot more shootier than orks.
first and foremost, find a regular group of people who play, and kind of talk to them, and if you can watch games, that'll be the easiest way to get the feel of the game, and to get used to the terminology. most games are around 1000 points, so it won't break your bank to get enough to play a decent game.
But every army has it's own playstyle, and even then, people play those armies in imaginative ways, and definitely you want too look for units that you are interested in. For example, Guard are famous for their tanks, and the ability to put a lot of different weapon options on those tanks, and for having incredible amount of troops on the field at once, Space Marines/ Chaos have a bunch of awesome elite options, Necrons, their infantry are hard to kill, with Monoliths being the best vehicle in the game (arguably), and so on.
If you want, I've been playing since 2nd ed., played 3 different armies, played against all of them lol, and played differnet styles all along the way, so if you have any question about 40k, feel free to ask, either quote me, or PM me, I don't really care, and that goes for the rest of you
Bah! What kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you find faces hard to paint, then instead of avoiding it altogether you should practice it more, trying to learn some cool techniques until you're good enough to paint faces looking good!thaluikhain said:
And I guess that's my advice for the OP as well:
When it comes to painting miniatures: practice makes perfect. And the only way to get better is to do it more often and challenge yourself by trying out new ways to paint. Never feel "satisfied" with one model that you've painted but try to think of how the next model could get a "better" paintjob. Also, never feel satisfied when you've accidentally painted "outside" the area you intended to paint (like some brown colour that was only supposed to be on an Ork's leather vest spilling over to form a brown spot on the green skin of the ork). Always try to be meticulous as you can, and correcting small mistakes and slip-ups by painting them over because that will eventually make you better at painting.
Also, remember that good paintjobs come from an understanding that all colours have shades and highligts. I mean, just look at the pants you're wearing right now. If you look really closely you see that even a pair of blue jeans isn't simply one kind of "blue" allover. The blue in between the little creases of the jeans look darker due to being in the shade, while the raised ridges of those creases are more pronounced and closer to the light, making them look like they are a lighter shade of blue. It's the same for tiny miniatures!
That means if you're going to paint the blue armour of an Ultramarine, then don't just use ONE type of blue for the armour plates. You should try to integrate at least THREE different kinds of blue for each blue area of the model (one darker blue for the shaded areas, one in between and one that's lighter for the highlights and raised edges of the blue areas). That's a good way to start out.
When you want to get more advanced you'll see that you can achieve much more striking results by using much larger spectrums of colour (like five or even SIX different shades of blue).
Also, when painting, remember to water down your paints A LOT, when building up successive highligts to achieve the best results. You should only use thick and fully covering blobs of undiluted paint when basecoating something. I mean, if you're even going to go through the hassle of using several shades of the same colour and successively build up different shades, then what would be the point of basically covering up those subtle changes in shades by using paints that are too thick? So water those paints down and have patience (I say that because it can be quite time-consuming to successively build up several layers/shades of one colour). Once it's all dried and have many layers of watered down paint with great nuances of the same colour, the results will look awesome.
Another tip: take care of your brushes and try to get different kinds of brushes to suit different needs. Make sure you clean your brushes thoroughly otherwise they'll become ruined. Also, the paints that Games Workshop sell are water based, which means that they aren't toxic. A good way to keep your brush tip really pointy is actually to suck on it and pull the brush out between your lips.
Also, if you have a hard time painting really small areas due to having less than steady hands, remember that if you give your lower arms adequate support, your hands will be a lot more steady. So if you sit in an office chair by a desk when painting, then adjust the chair so that you sit REALLY close to the floor. That will make you have to lean your arms across the desk to reach up and make sure that your arms are supported fully at all times and will make it a lot easier to keep your hands steady enough to paint a tiny iris on the eye of a 28mm tall miniature.
Granted, it might not be the most "ergonomic" way to sit, but it helps.
Hope some of those tips were useful/interesting.
Also, check out the website: www.coolminiornot.com
It's pretty much THE "go to" website when it comes to modelling, sculpting and painting miniatures with plenty of user-written tutorials, guides and forums where people can give you a truckload of advice.
Awesome advice thanks very much and I have bookmarked the site.Housebroken Lunatic said:Bah! What kind of defeatist attitude is that? If you find faces hard to paint, then instead of avoiding it altogether you should practice it more, trying to learn some cool techniques until you're good enough to paint faces looking good!thaluikhain said:
And I guess that's my advice for the OP as well:
When it comes to painting miniatures: practice makes perfect. And the only way to get better is to do it more often and challenge yourself by trying out new ways to paint. Never feel "satisfied" with one model that you've painted but try to think of how the next model could get a "better" paintjob. Also, never feel satisfied when you've accidentally painted "outside" the area you intended to paint (like some brown colour that was only supposed to be on an Ork's leather vest spilling over to form a brown spot on the green skin of the ork). Always try to be meticulous as you can, and correcting small mistakes and slip-ups by painting them over because that will eventually make you better at painting.
Also, remember that good paintjobs come from an understanding that all colours have shades and highligts. I mean, just look at the pants you're wearing right now. If you look really closely you see that even a pair of blue jeans isn't simply one kind of "blue" allover. The blue in between the little creases of the jeans look darker due to being in the shade, while the raised ridges of those creases are more pronounced and closer to the light, making them look like they are a lighter shade of blue. It's the same for tiny miniatures!
That means if you're going to paint the blue armour of an Ultramarine, then don't just use ONE type of blue for the armour plates. You should try to integrate at least THREE different kinds of blue for each blue area of the model (one darker blue for the shaded areas, one in between and one that's lighter for the highlights and raised edges of the blue areas). That's a good way to start out.
When you want to get more advanced you'll see that you can achieve much more striking results by using much larger spectrums of colour (like five or even SIX different shades of blue).
Also, when painting, remember to water down your paints A LOT, when building up successive highligts to achieve the best results. You should only use thick and fully covering blobs of undiluted paint when basecoating something. I mean, if you're even going to go through the hassle of using several shades of the same colour and successively build up different shades, then what would be the point of basically covering up those subtle changes in shades by using paints that are too thick? So water those paints down and have patience (I say that because it can be quite time-consuming to successively build up several layers/shades of one colour). Once it's all dried and have many layers of watered down paint with great nuances of the same colour, the results will look awesome.
Another tip: take care of your brushes and try to get different kinds of brushes to suit different needs. Make sure you clean your brushes thoroughly otherwise they'll become ruined. Also, the paints that Games Workshop sell are water based, which means that they aren't toxic. A good way to keep your brush tip really pointy is actually to suck on it and pull the brush out between your lips.
Also, if you have a hard time painting really small areas due to having less than steady hands, remember that if you give your lower arms adequate support, your hands will be a lot more steady. So if you sit in an office chair by a desk when painting, then adjust the chair so that you sit REALLY close to the floor. That will make you have to lean your arms across the desk to reach up and make sure that your arms are supported fully at all times and will make it a lot easier to keep your hands steady enough to paint a tiny iris on the eye of a 28mm tall miniature.
Granted, it might not be the most "ergonomic" way to sit, but it helps.
Hope some of those tips were useful/interesting.
Also, check out the website: www.coolminiornot.com
It's pretty much THE "go to" website when it comes to modelling, sculpting and painting miniatures with plenty of user-written tutorials, guides and forums where people can give you a truckload of advice.
Well in that case, since you're not worried about money... www.forgeworld.com you rich git.zombie goat fetish said: