Helping a friend to pick a faction

[StepwisePilot]

Disclosure: I first posted this on reddit, but figured I'd reach out to you guys as well. So, if you see a similar post on reddit, you know why, hahaha. 

So, a friend of mine may try getting into 40K. He's still in the process of trying to figure out a faction that is right for him. He has it narrowed down to 3 factions at the moment, and I am trying to gather a bit more information to help him out. I'm doing this, as he doesn't really have a reddit account, so it's easier for me to make the post and then rely the information to him.



He is interested in Chaos Daemons, Necrons, and Tyranids.


For the Chaos Daemons, he is interested in either a Khorne mono army, or if a mono god army isn't viable, Khorne and Tzeentch, or Khorne and Nurgle. He doesn't really like Slaanesh. Would any of that be viable? He wants Khorne mostly, as he likes the idea of "Rip and Tear".



For Necrons, I told him they can reanimate, and that I think they are a bit ranged focused. I don't know what else to tell him. The fact that they already have their codex is a plus, and they recently got a model refresh/new models.



As for the Tyranids, I don't know much beyond big swarm and old models (For the most part). They have really cool looking monsters.




He would prefer to not have to use metal models if possible. I think it's because I told him horror stories of my experiences with metal models. I don't know if he has any opinion on resin models. In addition, we have agreed to not have Forgeworld stuff. Mostly because it's even pricier, and harder to get, hahaha.



One last note, but he is still looking at factions, so things are subject to change. 


He is not at all interested in Eldar.

He isn't a fan of hit and run tactics. He also likes the idea of being hard to kill.

[Jack Shrapnel]

All three of those armies are in plastic, so no need to deal with metal models.

Mono Khorne is the weakest mono-faction daemon army, however a new book is still to come for 9th, which will likely change the army significantly, so I wouldn't build an army based on what works now, especially if he's just learning, as by the time he builds an army and learns how to play, the new codex will likely be changing things up.

Necrons got their new book in 9th, they're one of the cheaper armies to collect with indomitus out there if you can still find a copy (or people wanting to unload their half if they're a marine player).

Tyranids have great models, but no book yet in 9th, however they are very likely to get one this year. Again, buy and build what you like for now because everything is changing soon for them.

[raceygaming]

The safe play is the necrons. They always seem to live in the middle to middle high of the codexes.
They are an easy army to learn and paint and the new models are awesome.

Demons are good if he might want to try AoS as well but mono khorne is going to be really rough to learn on. Demons have some good stuff but are probably going to see a lot of changes in the codex and might make a good used model market for cheaper buying.

Nids is the big gamble. Could get 2nd hand pretty cheap, have lots of cool models and I think they are ok but not top table. New dex might make a huge difference or almost none...so you might get stuck with a lemon or get a really cheap powerful army.

[Frosty the Pirate]

There are two pieces of advice I've been giving new players recently:

1) Rule Of Cool Trumps Everything

If you like your factions backstory, looks/models, lore, playstyle, colour scheme, etc, etc etc. You will stick with it. As experienced hobbyists we often forget for someone new that your very first combat-patrol/start-collecting box to someone who isn't used to clipping sprues and assembling tiny models that it actual represents a significant number of hours of time spent just to get assembled and painted on the table. If you really love your faction, the effort will just _feel_ like less, and that's important for new players.

2) Melee Armies have the hardest learning curve

For new players, Melee-focused armies are the most daunting to learn. If you think about it, to learn how your Shooting works, you need to learn weapons profiles, how the basic dice-roll-mechanics work, and get an idea of what weapons work best against which types of targets, with a little bit of terrain (LOS, Light/Dense Cover, etc). To learn all the rules that affect a melee army, you have to learn how to survive AGAINST shooting, how to setup tables/terrain properly, plus all of the rules around the Fight Phase (which many experienced players still get wrong). Getting shot off the board while your army charges straight across planet-bowling-ball will lead to feels-bad moments that are very frustrating for new players.


Overall, I've heard of very few players whose first-faction was Tyranids or Khorne-Daemons who had good experiences. I want to stress there's nothing wrong with those factions, and at smaller points levels (Combat-Patrol and Incursion) with decent table/terrain the learning curve can certainly be overcome. But Necrons is by-far the safest choice, especially since they are a known-quantity with their codex, most of their new-models/kits, and indomitus/starter kits widely available both from local game shops and second-hand.

[voodoo]

Touching on several other mentions above; Necrons are in a VERY good spot right now.

They have:
- MANY viable builds
- Inexpensive models (thanks Indomitus!)
- The ability to flex into either shooting, melee or a blend between the two
- Super cool new model range
- 9th ed Codex
- Easy to assemble and paint to a tabletop standard in a short amount of time

I only JUST started playing Necrons; but they've always been interesting to me so I'm likely a little biased. I will temper that though by saying they're in a pretty good spot. They won't burn down the meta by any stretch, but they will do lots of things well and should win him some games.

[distractedcarnifex]

Mar 20, 2021 23:12:47 GMT -5 StepwisePilot said:

Disclosure: I first posted this on reddit, but figured I'd reach out to you guys as well. So, if you see a similar post on reddit, you know why, hahaha. 

He isn't a fan of hit and run tactics. He also likes the idea of being hard to kill.

Deathwing.