Hey Guys New to Warhammer 40k

Hey guys I'm brand spanking new to Warhammer 40k. I love miniature games and just never got into them before, but its never too late to pick up a new hobby right?


So, I've done research and I believe that the Dark Eldar armies are for me. I like the strategy behind their units in game and I absolutely love their models. I also really enjoy painting them. So that being said. I have found your guys website (not sure exactly how...silly interwebz browsing), and I wanted to ask you veterans what the first thing for me to buy is.

Mind you I am married and I'm not going to go balls deep and drop 2k+ or something stupid. I want to collect these over time not just hop right in right away. Besides I want to paint them all as well. So I just want to know what the first things i should buy to actually be able to play/ get a decent foothold for some good army compositions.


All your guys advice and info will be greatly appreciated!

Total Warhammer 40k newb,

Seeryous

Hi there and welcome to the wonderful world of the Dark Eldar. As a starting point you could do a lot worse then pick up one or more of the Start Collecting boxes. You'll find a use for pretty much everything in that box. I'd recommend finding a gaming store that gives a decent discount (usually 20%+) instead of buying direct from GW.

After that you'll probably want a few Venoms and some Ravagers. Scourges are also a decent unit and can provide some extra anti-tank firepower.

You might want to look at Coven units (Haemonculi, Wracks, Grotesques, Talos, Cronos) in the future but for the moment the above should serve as a good introduction and let you get some games under your belt.

Take a look at the forum. There are plenty of threads about starting off with the True Kin so there's plenty of advice out there for you.

Good luck!

I'll mirror Count Adhemar and say to pick up a box or two of the Start Collecting box. After that I would pick up, a Lhamaean (if you want to go the really cheap HQ route), a Succubus, a couple venoms, a ravager, and maybe some scourges if you are inclined to use them.

After that I would also recommend picking up the Haemonculus Covens supplement for their formations and decide which ones you want to use and base additional purchases around that. The Raiders you get in the starter boxes are great for running your Grotesques close to the enemy.

Cool thanks for the tips guys, yeah I have a local gaming shop that I frequent quite often to play DnD. I'll see what they can do for me. I don't think they have the Start collecting boxes in stock.

If they don't I am sure they will order it in for you, they are great value and all then units in them are worth having and will form a good core to your army. Both the above posters have some excellent advice about how to expand. IMO Scourges are a must as they are a reliable anti rank platform when toting haywire blasters or heat lances

Haha the funny thing is I know exactly nothing about the actual game and or rules haha, so I don't even know what to look for in troops. How many points are in that starter set?

243 points before you buy upgrades. So that would be just the unit costs.

I guess i should go pick up a rules book first and try to learn about the game haha

Yeah a rule book would be a good start and is going to hit your wallet a bit.

Do i just need a rule book or what all do i need to buy to start learning the rules?

I take it there is no GW store close by you? They will often times have a set up so you can play a very basic game. Do you know anyone who currently plays? If you do ask them to help you learn.

First you will need the base rule book: https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Warhammer-40-000-EN-A

For you to play Dark Eldar you will need https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Codex-Dark-Eldar-2014-English

To get started you will need someone to play against. If you know people who might want to get into it and play Dark Angels and Chaos then maybe split the costs of a Dark Vengeance box. They have starter rules (and a mini rulebook) to make it easier to learn the basics. https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Dark-Vengeance-EN

If you have miniatures (you mentioned DnD) that you could proxy, you can wait on the miniatures and try and find the starter rules for Dark Vengeance online and download them, use the proxied miniatures and just focus on learning the basic rules with infantry, then add vehicles. Once comfortable with the way the rules play start dealing with the special rules. There is a lot to learn best to not just throw yourself into it all at once. Start with small games and work up. Maybe even find the rules for Kill teams, start with that then work into pitched battles.

I hear the new Masque of Death comes with a mini rulebook and harlequins are great allies to dark eldar as well as playing similarly to help you not only learn the rules but also a similar playstyle and strategy. All for 150$. Even less if you sell the deathwatch models. Which I'm sure you will have no trouble with.

The Red King wrote:

I hear the new Masque of Death comes with a mini rulebook and harlequins are great allies to dark eldar as well as playing similarly to help you not only learn the rules but also a similar playstyle and strategy. All for 150$. Even less if you sell the deathwatch models.  Which I'm sure you will have no trouble with.

That would be a good starting place as well. Wasn't aware that they were including a rulebook, that would save a good chunk of money for the beginner.

Thatd be cool, yeah there's a game shop nearby me but the Games Workshop is quite aways away at least an hour. Would a mini rule book be enough or do i actually need the full rule book?

The mini rule book is all the rules you need, the difference is that you don't get all the basics of the story of the world.

I believe it was a mini rulebook. And while I love fluff I must advocate a mini in this case. Fluff is online if you want to save money.

Oh awesome, so what set is it that has the rulebook in it? And are they a usuable army to go with this race?

As of right now we know that they book is in the Dark Vengeance I linked but doesn't really sound like things you want to collect. If you wait a little longer the new Death Masque box will be out and it might have it, confirm it before buying. The Death Masque box is still a deal if you want to collect Harlequins who are battle brothers (best kind of allies you can have in the game) to the Craftworld and Dark Eldar. If anyone around you wants to collect the Death Watch Marines maybe split the box which will make it an even better deal.

Ah ok cool. So the box that I want isn't actually out yet. Any idea on when it will be released or is it a guessing game?

We don't have an exact date yet on release, but I'm pretty sure by the end of the month. I'll drop a comment in this thread on the release date when I find out and if it has the rule book, which from a leaked image I just saw that was small, looks to include it but until I can get good confirmation I don't want to say that it is.

CurstAlchemist wrote:

As of right now we know that they book is in the Dark Vengeance I linked but doesn't really sound like things you want to collect. If you wait a little longer the new Death Masque box will be out and it might have it, confirm it before buying.

There are pics online which pretty much confirm that it includes the mini rulebook.

I believe the pre-order begins tomorrow and it hits shelves next Saturday. As for going with this army ABSOLUTELY. Look up JimSolo's posts on "freakshow" lists, but even in a traditional army Harlequins can keep up with your dark eldar and really just work great together.

My two cents on the topic:

Before you even start to buy minis I would advice you to get the rulebooks. So as the guys above have said you'll have to get the 40K rulebook (I too have the mini version from the Dark Vengeance box. You can get those for cheap on eBay). Then you'll want the Dark Eldar Codex. This is the book that contains all the rules for the Dark Eldar, like the points-costs for the different models and their abilities etc.


After you have those two books you should familiarize yourself with the rules. If we tell you "Get some Scourges, they have haywire weapons!" and you don't know what the special rule "haywire" does then all our advice won't help you at all.

Moving on. You got the books, you know the most important rules. Don't worry, you won't have to remember everything from the books. That'll come with time and practice. My advice: Watch a lot of battle reports on Youtube. You'll learn the basics like the turn order and you will get to hear the most used terminology like "A: My unit charges your unit! B: Okay, they'll overwatch!" etc.

Now that you know the basic rules you can obsess over all those pretty minis on the GW website. Sure we can tell you which units are good and which are bad but at the end of the day it comes down to looks. If you hate the looks of Grotesques you won't buy or field them, even if they could win any game by themselves. This is a miniature game after all - we wouldn't start to collect this plastic crack if we weren't thinking that it looks pretty awesome.

Okay, you know the rules, you got your first minis, you are ready to go and play, right? Almost. ^^" You will need a few dice (I recommend about 15 to 20 for the beginning), a measurement tape (inches, not cm) and templates (weapons that shoot explody things and flamers need these). You can of course ask your buddy if he will share his dice and tape with you but if you move on to play against other people and/or strangers you'll want your own equipment. You wouldn't want your opponent to "kill" your models with your own dice now would you? Over time you may also want to aquire some markers (this can be anything, like plastic bits with symbols on them etc.) as those will help you keep track of stuff like "Did my third Venoms also jink? Oh, it has a marker next to it, so yes, it did!" etc.

Alright, you have spend a kidney and a leg worth of money on the rulebooks, minis and your equipment. You may now play as comfortable as a nerd can be.

If you want my advice on what you should buy from a powerlevel/gaming perspective, here is how I would do it:

Get a Start Collecting Box (or multiple of these)

For each unit of 5 Kabalite Warriors get a Venom (you don't want them to go on foot since they die to a stiff breeze)

Get three Ravagers (all at once or over time, depending on your budget)

Get Grotesques (Tip: Convert them! Get a box of Age Of Sigmar Crypt Horros and glue the masks and weapons from the Dark Eldar Talos kit onto them. After you have build the Talos/Chronos of course). Over time, increase to six Grotesques, as you'll need (and want) them for the Grotesquerie formation.

Buy whatever you want/need. If you find that you can't deal with tanks, buy Scourges. If you want a scary monster, get a Talos. If you want Wyches buy them and put them on your shelf where they'll look nice.

You will also need some glue and pliers to assemble your minis, as well as a scalpel/hobby-knife. I recommend Revell Glue and some super glue.

Finally: Welcome to the Dark City and to 40k! Always remember that this hobby costs a lot of money, time and storing space. If you are not prepared to invest 500$+ into a single army you may want to look elsewhere.

Okay preorder for the Death Masque is up for New Zealand so far, you do get the mini rule book. Looks like it will be released on the 13th.

Side note: the price gave me a heart attack until I realized it was the New Zealand site... I feel for those guys. I'll post a link when the US pre-order is out. Not sure if you are here or not but I'll be able to better gauge prices and if it is still a deal if not splitting the box once I see what we will be paying.

Man you guys are great seriously, and Causalis thanks for your write up it really is very informative and gives me a kind of map to follow.  I agree with everything you posted and I do love the detail in all the models I also like the space marines but damn do they have to be blue? lol I think they do that's what is drawing me away from them, but like i said I see this as a long term investment/hobby.  I don't think i'll be actually playing games anytime soon and I wont be fielding an army unless its fully painted.





I think i uploaded those images correctly... needless to say that's the 3rd model I've ever painted and I am having a ton of fun painting these little guys.

It's just a generic paladin for my brothers DnD campaign.  He wanted it painted like Anduin from the warcraft movie.  (was just my best guess at the color scheme for the mini)


Umm... IDK to edit the photos i hosted to turn them the right side up...