Warhammer Minis What do I need?

[Ryan L.]

Ok what do I need to start plaing Warhammer? I have finally given into the temptation and decided to donate a portion of my monthly check to Games Workshop. I know there are at least a few Warhammer players here so what do I need? There's a ton of stuff. Come o help out a n00b.

Ryan

[PigPoker]

pick what army catches your eye as looking cool.

Buy a box of plastics of the basic troopers and maybe a metal character or something (like a hero or wizard)
Spend the weekend glueing them together, and se if you actually like them after that. Then go down to your store and ask to play a demogame to see if you like the rules...

but basic advice-collect a army you like the look and feel of rather than just going for whatever one is most powerfull at the time...

Its skaven for me me , neekneek!

[NPC Balance]

As PigPoker suggested, picking an army is the best way to start. The Box Set is usually a good deal if you are interested in either of the included armies, althoguh some of the included elements are, well, useless. The plastic range rulers they often include break easily and are somewhat short... Buy a $5 measuring tape from the hardware store! Also, they don't include the army book (see below).

Anyway, for either Warhammer 40,000 (WH40k or 40k) or Warhammer Fantasy Battles (WHFB) once you choose an army you like, you'll need to pickj up the codex (40k) or army book (WHFB) for that army. Sometimes no book exists... This may be a sign that your preffered faction is getting ready to be revised, but there's ussually a 'get you by' list somewhere. As a 40k Sister of Battle player, the concept of a 'get you by' list is pretty fresh in my mind.

Anyway: more info about chosing armies: First, the newest armies tend to have slight edges, at first, but countermeasures are determined, errata released, and most of this advantage evaporates after a few months. For example, when the 40k Tau were released, they were accused of being massively overpowered, but now most people seem to think they need to be upgraded! Also, many stores, both GW stores and independants, will help you try armies if there's a player base around and you are polite about it.

I also recommend taking models into consideration. You're going to have to assemble and paint a horde of them, so make sure you like looking at them! Most army books include some painting ideas and such.

For some specifics, army lists are broken into seveal categories. WH40k has a categort called Troops, while WHFB has Core. These both include your basic core troops (ahem) that form the base of your army. Buying boxes of these in plastic is a very good idea. For example, I'm building a WHFB Skaven army, and I will need to get another box of plastic Clanrats to fill out my basic squads, which will be somewhat oversized to take besta dvantage of the Skaven rules. You need these troops, and it's a good idea to work on these before going nuts with the cool bits like siege engines, vehicles, giant leader miniatures, etc.

Feel free to ask more directed questions!

[woodnoggin]

It's a good idea to get some friends together who also play the game, or join a gaming club, unless you're just interested in the aesthetics of owning a nicely painted army. You'll need some dice (generally just D6, but some special artillery dice are also used) and a big table (8 foot by 4 foot is good). A tape measure, movement trays cut out of card, glue, paint, ability to tolerate children: all useful.

[DonGnocci]

You can get Minis quite cheap at ebay.com so don't go wasting money through buying the minis at a retailer!

[ParadoxBoy]

A few points to add/clarify:

-As mentioned before, the core box set for both Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 (hereforth 40K) contain a skeleton of a force for each of two armies, no army books or codices, but the main rulebook and assorted paraphernalia. 40K contains Space Marines and Dark Eldar; Warhammer contains Empire and Orcs & Goblins. If you don't plan on playing any of these, or do but can't foist off the spare models for the other army on someone else, you might be better advised to get the core rulebook, GW dice, and army codex individually. All are fortunately available for order, and will probably save you a small amount of money. (Don't get used to that - I'm sure you already know this, but your money is now property of GW now and forevermore. [grin]) I should also add that the plastic templates (blast, ordnance, flamer) are available for order as well - you may not need them, depending on your army, but you might need them quite often as well.

-The forces in the core box are not complete; they lack any leadership-types (HQ in 40K, Heroes in WH) and in fact contain very little other than Core/Troops choices. You are required in 40K to have two Troops choices and an HQ, for example, so you'll need to supplement what you find with more before it's even playable. If you're building your army from scratch, these are the selections you want to buy first. (Without muddying the waters too much, you do want to look at your army list, if possible, when doing your purchasing - the above rule is the standard, but exceptions exist. If you're playing a specialized army that switches around the troop types [and they do exist], tailor your buying to that. No sense in picking up an expensive boxed vehicle or regiment set that you won't need or use.)

-Movement trays are only necessary in WH: 40K uses individual and squad-based movement where the models only have to be within 2" of each other (barring special exceptions), not in any sort of formation.

-Don't neglect your transportation options. Putting your army in a shoebox might be feasible at first, and only if you're not accident-prone; for the rest of us, anything from a foam-lined gun case to a tackle box with lined compartments to a full-fledged Army Transport (http://www.saboldesigns.net/) or Battlepack (http://www.battlepack2001.com) will do. Be sure not to get a case big enough for what you have now, but for what you intend to have - if you're planning to do about 2000-3000 points in an army, figure out how many models you'll need to move at that point and tailor your case choice to that.

-Have fun; nothing ruins WH or 40K worse than someone who's not enjoying the game. *8)

[NPC Balance]

-Have fun; nothing ruins WH or 40K worse than someone who's not enjoying the game. *8)

This is important and often ignored. Playing Warhammer games can often require as much if not more social behavior than an RPG, since it is competitive and the rules tend to be somewhat inconsistent at times.

Playing to have a good time, with comeptitiveness as a secondary goal, is much, much better than the other way around.

[Unregistered]

-Don't neglect your transportation options. Putting your army in a shoebox might be feasible at first, and only if you're not accident-prone; for the rest of us, anything from a foam-lined gun case to a tackle box with lined compartments to a full-fledged Army Transport or Battlepack will do. Be sure not to get a case big enough for what you have now, but for what you intend to have - if you're planning to do about 2000-3000 points in an army, figure out how many models you'll need to move at that point and tailor your case choice to that.


Nice plug. thanks

andy lucas
charon productions
www.battlepack2001.com

[grubman]

I should feel like a butthead for doing this, since it really isn't "advice"...but over on the sales/auctions forum I'm selling a decent Empire army (If Emp tripps your trigger), the book plus about 3000 pts. of the newes models avaliable for pretty darn cheap ($75). Check it out or PM me if you are interested.

[Ben Rogers]

Originally posted by Ryan L.
Ok what do I need to start plaing Warhammer?

An 8-figure income and living on Ramen and Katsup for the duration...

[J Arcane]

A second mortgage.

Selling a few kidneys wouldn't hurt either.

[Gloombunny]

Just because you like the look and style of an army doesn't necessarily mean you'll enjoy playing it, I should warn you. If that were true, I wouldn't have a box of clanrats I have no use for... :(

[Brother Tiberius]

Originally posted by NatalieD
Just because you like the look and style of an army doesn't necessarily mean you'll enjoy playing it, I should warn you. If that were true, I wouldn't have a box of clanrats I have no use for... :(

Or I a 4300 point Tyranid army.:(

[aiwendel]

Or I a 3000-point WH40K chaos army... several of the models *pre*-2nd edition.

[Ryan L.]

Wow, this was started months and months ago. It's almost on its one year anniversary.

Rise! Rise! I said ARISE!

Ryan

[old hat]

Originally posted by Brother Tiberius
Or I a 4300 point Tyranid army.:(

damn, that's hard core. 4300 points is a lot of bugs.

[Phantom Stranger]

Originally posted by old hat
damn, that's hard core. 4300 points is a lot of bugs.

Yup. Depending on the style of gaming, maybe a helluva lot. Tiberius - and most of the gamers here - strike me as believing in the flavour of the army rather than the minmax route, so I suspect this hits 'helluva lot' proportions.

In response to the thread's key question - these days, the plastics are your friend.

[Brother Tiberius]

Originally posted by Phantom Stranger
Yup. Depending on the style of gaming, maybe a helluva lot. Tiberius - and most of the gamers here - strike me as believing in the flavour of the army rather than the minmax route, so I suspect this hits 'helluva lot' proportions.

In response to the thread's key question - these days, the plastics are your friend.

64 Hormaguants (32 new/32 old)
32 Termaguants (new)
36 Genestealers
10 Ripper Bases
16 warriors (15 new)
6 Tyrant Guard (3 new, 3 scratch built off of 2nd edition
Warriror bodies)
2 Tyrants (1 new, 1 old)
4 Carnifexes (3 new, 1 old)
Old One Eye
The Red Terror
8 Ravaners
3 Lictors
3 Biovores
3 Zoanthropes

I'm only missing Gargoyles. With as bad as the codex is written, I'm not in a hurry to pick any up. It's an investment that I wish I had never made. The money isn't so much the issue, do you realize how long it takes to paint 32 gaunts?

[old hat]

yeah, i play tyranids too. my army is less than half that size. a third maybe but yeah i have some idea. i have around half the number of gaunts that you have.

[Oddsod Blok'ed]

Originally posted by Brother Tiberius
The money isn't so much the issue, do you realize how long it takes to paint 32 gaunts?

Talk to me again when you've tried painting about 80 Gobbos and 30 Orcs. >_<

[Brother Tiberius]

Originally posted by Oddsod Blok'ed
Talk to me again when you've tried painting about 80 Gobbos and 30 Orcs. >_<

Agreed. Doing that Nid army has killed me on ever doing another high numbers, low point cost army. Actually, I've also built and painted a large Mordian army for a friend, somewhere on the order of 75+ lasgunners, plus officers, heavy weapons, tanks, commissars, etc. But even that was more fun than the Nids.

I have a long list of Nid complaints, but that would hijack this thread.

It sounds like you've been working on a Orc army for fantasy. I've been considering getting into WHF and doing and Orc for myself, any suggestions? (I got me a Grimgor Iornhide, his model is just too kewl. Hoody Hoo!)