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Hello everyone:
I am a relatively new player to Warhammer 40K and I have the 5th edition rule book and I have the Assault on Black Reach on preorder and should hopefully be here next week. When I say relatively new I mean I've played a few games using borrowed armies (Space Wolves, Tau, and Necron). However, I need some help and advise:

1. I'm still learning the game and I was wondering which army is most forgiving to new players?

2. In the back of the 5th edition book it has stats for what appears to be every unit and weapon in the game, and I was wondering if the stats listed for Space Marines are going to be the same stats listed in the new SM codex coming out in Oct?

3. What armies do members of this forum here play and have a preference for?

P.S. - I hope this is the right forum for this, I didn’t know if I should post this here or in Off-Topic. If I'm wrong would a moderator please move it to the right place.

Considering that you have Assault on Black Reach already on order, I'd suggest you start with either an orkish horde or space marines. there is more than enough models in there to put together a fairly decent small army.

If you use what you already have coming, then you also save a ton of moneythat is more or less needed when collecting a new army...Models ain't cheap. The AoBR box is extremely good value for your money

As for the codex situation, chances are those values will change slightly. (though the main ones will probably stay the same)

Edit - Forgot to add this. I usually play blood angels, or a successor chapter from their line. Fascination with red I guess.

You're posting in the right place, dont worry about it.

I've not got a copy of the big book, I'm opting for the Assault on Black Reach copy of the core rules, much better value for money for someone mostly after it for gaming, so I cant really speak about the details in the core book. The usual way of things though is that they'll give a basic army list which is then superseded by the codex. No matter what you'll want a copy of the codex for the army you're looking to play. The core book never has all the options and gear that the real lists do.

The new marine book is only a month away now, but it looks like it's going to have some interesting new units in it that havent been listed before.

As for what armies are best for beginners, here's my thoughts on a few:

Space Marines are a decent enough choice for starting out, they can be fairly forgiving since your basic troops can be counted on to deal with most things. The trusty bolter can deal with most things and there are plenty of ways to get heavier firepower into your force for those things it cant cope with. The AoBR box gives you a reasonable core to build a marine army up around. If you opt to expand on that, then you'll likely want at least another tactical squad box to allow you more troops...beyond that it becomes more personal. If you like the idea of tanks, there's always the land raider or predator, or if like me you enjoy speed on the battlefield, there's land speeders and bikes. Whatever happens though, a good core of battlebrothers with bolters will always stand you in good stead.


Imperial Guard are forgiving in a different way than marines. While marines can be trusted to stand up to most tasks, the guard have weight of numbers on their side instead. They're a good pick if you're a treadhead and enjoy the idea of lots of armoured vehicles. The standard transport in the guard list is basically a light tank. Forgeworld do lots of great stuff for the imperial guard as well, but they're pricey. That's the big drawback to the guard, you need a lot of models to field an army which is going to cost you.

Orks are hit and miss. When it comes to shooting, mostly miss. Da Boyz are a good fun army to play, but a lot of their more powerful options are random in terms of how effective they are. There's a decent core force in AoBR for the orks as well, and it looks like the Defkoptas are going to be lots of fun on the tabletop. They have a few special rules that definetly give them an edge in the forgiving stakes, they can "mob up" any units that run away and get them back in the fight, which can be helpful if you make a mistake. They're very forgiving so long as the dice gods smile on you...when they dont you've got problems.



As for what armies I play. My main force is my own chapter of Marines, the Astrum Corvus, who wear black armour with a blue night sky on the shoulderpad complete with starfield. They're a lot of fun to play, but since 5th edition has come along I've started to dust off old models and get a few new ones to add to my selection of armies. I've got a small Deathwatch force that I can use along with my imperial forces, and a small (compared to my marines) Imperial Guard army. Just a few chimeras, a leman russ and a basilisk on the armour front for them, but they can be real buggers as Coaan will tell you . I've picked up a few models to start an eldar force with, I'm aiming to get a 750pt army together in the not too distant future and I'll be adding an ork force using my old Gorkamorka mob and the stuff from the AoBR box set.

Oh, and I also have a small genestealer force.

Thanks for the replies.

In my previous fights I did not do too well. The Space Wolves that I used seemed to be more orientated to close combat then ranged. And the Tau is more geared towards ranged combat but horrible close combat. Needless to say I got plastered.

I personally would like to field a well rounded army that’s ok in any situation, not the best but ok, and can do the job. It sounds like SM may be the army I need to fit my play style (just not the Space Wolves). Though the orks sound like fun, I'll probably stick with the SM.

After the Assault on Black Reach, what should I get for my SM army other then the codex?

Also is Games Workshop going to offer a package deal with the new SM codex? For example are they going to offer the codex and the SM battle force as a package deal?

They have a package deal up at the moment that gets you the codex and an assortment of the new models a couple of weeks before the individual releases. They might do a deal with the codex and the standard battleforce at some point, but it's not something I'd be holding my breath on.

As for what to get to round your force out after AoBR you'll have:

HQ - Captain
Elite - Terminator squad (5 man)
Elite - Dreadnaught
Troop - Tactical Squad (5 man)
Troop - Tactical Squad (5 man)

The first thing I'd want to do is get some more bodies to fill out the tactical squads to 10 men. Then I'd want to add some more heavy firepower to the squads with some lascannons to help take out tanks. I tend not to use heavy bolters, I find that the traditional bolter does alright for thinning numbers of light troops, but some people find them very useful and they're cheap points wise.

The main thing that would be lacking then would be some kind of mobile element. There are lots of options to fill that slot. A bike squad would give you some very mobile firepower, but they are expensive points wise and isnt all that potent in an assault. An assault squad is fairly mobile and a decent option for taking on most things in an assault. A landspeeder or two would give you some mobile heavy weapon support, either a multimelta for anti-tank work if you dont go with lascannons for your tactical marines or heavy bolters and assault cannons to mop up enemy infantry.

If he's up against greenies, he's gonna need every HB and AssCan he can get his mits on. he's lucky he's not me, scooting around the board with almost all of my bodies having to get to range 12 to shoot anything...

then again, we do count as standing still for our ShurCans after moving 12" and we can claim objectives, etc. oh, did I mention those lovely clowns I have, that are just going to give you a nice kiss, or those brightly coloured dudes, or how about the fact that all my tanks are transports and skimmers...

oh did we mention our damn mecha scum?

The Yosemite Bear wrote:If he's up against greenies, he's gonna need every HB and AssCan he can get his mits on. he's lucky he's not me, scooting around the board with almost all of my bodies having to get to range 12 to shoot anything...

then again, we do count as standing still for our ShurCans after moving 12" and we can claim objectives, etc. oh, did I mention those lovely clowns I have, that are just going to give you a nice kiss, or those brightly coloured dudes, or how about the fact that all my tanks are transports and skimmers...

oh did we mention our damn mecha scum?

Well since you mention that, here's todays conversion and the can of energy drink that helped fuel it

nice, I swapped a banshee head on mine, and turned a bit of green stuff I used to get the head swap to fit into a nice white scarf, trailing behind her.