When I first got into Warhammer 40k I got the Assault on Black Reach starter set because I wanted to play Space Marines and I liked what the box came with. 10 tactical marines ($37.25), one Dreadnought ($50), five terminators ($50), Captain ($20), along with a bunch of orks and a rulebook for only $100 and tax seemed like a fantastic deal, and for a time it was. I ended up going with Space Wolves and bought a bunch of Blood Claws and every HQ choice in the book. The more I delved into my specific army book the less I used the starter set models because they didn't fit into my army lists. Eventually I ended up getting rid of my Wolves because they simply did not work out the way I wanted them to so I switched to Blood Angels who have been awesome for me.
You may be asking yourself how you can avoid buying into an army that does not fit your style. Luckily there is a community that is all over the internet or the gaming store that you plan to play at that you can ask questions to. I am sure that if I would have said that I wanted a fast, foot based, assault army I would have been shown Blood Angels from the start. The biggest key to not wasting money is knowing what you want your army to do, and what your play style is. If you want a shooting based army that castles up in a corner and dares your opponent to out shoot you or assault your fire base then you should probably not waste your money on assault oriented units.
This is a lot of information to take in and I am sure there are still a lot of questions that are being asked. I am going to put in a simple step by step process that should help you figure out what to do before you start spending mass amounts of cash on the game.
1. Buy the rulebook. If the rules are too much for you, then right off the bat you know this is not the game for you. If you are reading it and it just gets you pumped up to play a game and get some models in your hand then move on to step 2.
2.Buy an army codex. Don't just pick a book at random or if you like the look of the cover. Look at the models that are associated with the army book and see if you they look like something you would spend hours assembling and painting.
3. Spend hours with that army book. Reading the fluff, what each unit does, points cost for each model, and all that jazz. If you have any questions what something does ask those in the community to help you out.
4. Build a few army lists. Keep it small, around 1,000 points so that you are limiting yourself to the things that you want the most and that is all. Usually the units that keep showing up in every list are the ones that will be the solid core of your army for years to come.
5. Get in an escalation league. This will allow you to learn the game at a slow pace since your first games will be around 500 points, 1 HQ choice and 1-2 troop choices. For a marine equivalent army that will cost about $100 depending on how you build your list. The upcoming months will become less expensive since you will only need to buy one more unit a month to abide by the monthly points increases.
6. If you are loving the game after a few months in the escalation league then move on from there in any direction you please.
Note: Escalation leagues seem to be an uncommon thing which is sad since it is a great start for new players and it encourages older players to either start new army or add to an existing one with some models that may not normally make it into an army list. Once again this is where the community can help. Find one of the older gamers or even the store owner and mention the idea of an escalation league and watch it jump off from there.
On Painting: Painting is a huge part of the hobby. Very few gamers like fielding units, much less armies that are not entirely painted and tend to look down on those that play with unpainted figures. New players tend to find this discrimination off putting which is entirely understandable. The escalation league allows you to put in the time to paint your models as best as you can as well as increase your skill with each new purchase. You will want to get a good set of brushes and paints. Usually the stuff available at the store will be more than adequate for your needs.
So what is the bottom line for all of this just to get started? I am going to use Dark Angels as my example for the full cost. $50 for the codex, $50 for Sammael who is a special character HQ choice, $82.50 for 6 bikers which will be perfect for your troop requirements, $30 for paint, $15 for brushes, $10 for plastic cutters, $3 for an X-acto knife to get rid of those lines on the models comes out to a grand total of $240.50 and whatever tax comes to. This is a lot of money but remember that $100+ of this is really full on investment that you will not have to spend again unless you want to start a new army. This price can go down even more if you go to ebay and pick up things there, or even go to your local store that gives 10% off products. Doing a little bit of hard looking could get that $240 down to a more manageable $200.
This is going to be the first post of what I hope to be series on getting started in Warhammer for beginners. I have a person in my gaming circle who has shown interest in the game and hopefully these will help him and anyone else looking to get started. Maybe it will even be a good reminder to some of the older gamers out there in some areas. Thanks for reading and have an Emperor blessed day.
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