Newer than new!

Hello all,

I'm just entering the world of Warhammer in the 8th edition. I have absolutely zero experience with this game but I've always been interested and I'm already hooked

However, I honestly have no idea what I'm doing

I've decided to start with the Dark Eldar as my first army. From what I've read that might not have been the best choice for a beginner but the decision has been made lol

I've picked up the Drukhari starter set along with a pack of Scourges. I've only built the Reavers out of the starter pack so far

My first question is, does the gear need to be physically present on the figurine in order for the character to be able to use it? Example: I glued the Cal-trops to my Arena Champion but it looks like I should've went with the Grav-Talon. Am I stuck with my choice?

I'm looking just to start out with casual play and as I learn more eventually work into competitive play. So with the Drukhari and Scourges how should I build my army? What am I missing and need to add to make it so I stand a chance against opponents?

I know a lot of this information has been posted but it's hard to filter and a lot of it isn't geared to 0 experience newbies. So thank you all for your patience and support!

First, welcome fellow archon. Our new codex should be released in the following month-S, or at the very least the chapter approved. So, you should avoid to buy too much model for now. But you can't go really wrong with a few kabalites and 1-2 raiders.

For the gear physically present, I'd say it'll depend on how competitive you're going to play. If it's a few games with friends, you'll be fine.

Welcome to the depths of deception and cruelty, and I was in the same boat as you, dark eldar was my first army, going from 0 experience to learning how to play with one of the most tactically challenging armies 40k has wasn't easy, but I'll be damned if it didn't get me hooked. I was the only DE player in the area and this had very little help as I didn't discover the dark city till towards the end of 7th edition (I started in 5th Ed).
So ... For what you are missing, depends ... Do you have an idea of how you want your army to play? As in heavy shooting or heavy melee? I went melee at first then went shooting ... And found I liked the melee more and thus have more focussed on the melee but I can still make a solid army of both.
I would say a few solid picks to go either way would be 3 raiders, 2-3 venom, 2-3 kabalite units (one of which becomes 2 units of Trueborn) 2 units of wyches (again one box becomes a unit of the elite version) 2 ravagers, a Razorwing jetfighter, you have a unit of reavers, and a second unit of scourge and a unit of incubi, and lastly a succubus. I didn't add any coven as I don't play them and can't really advise on them. But that collection gives you a bit of both shooty and melee to try out and see which you like the feel of.
Next for the "must it be modelled with the weapon to use it" as dumpeal said ... It depends on how competitive you get ... Granted it's pretty hard to actually model them with the weapons as scourge and Trueborn can take more copies of a weapon then their kit comes with, as in scourge can be fielded with 4 dark lances ... the kit only comes with one ... Same with Trueborn, they are built of a the standard Kabalite warriors box, but that box only comes with one copy of each special weapon so ... I tend to just tell my opponent at the start who is holding what, and it's never been a problem.
But after right say all that I say this, a list is only as good as the player, make a list you want to play, then play it over and over and over and over, learn it inside and out and you will stand a chance against any opponent, of course there will be fights that are harder than others.
So again, welcome and good luck

Hello, greetings and welcome to Commorragh.

Right now the meta is very boring, so I would hold off on buying anything until the codex comes out and more viable options become available.

That said, there are some safe buys.

1) Raiders. Dark Eldar always need transportation.

2) Kabalite Warriors. Our shooty troops choice will never be a bad choice, simply because we have only 2 shooty infantry units and this is one of them.

3) Ravagers. We will always need heavy weapon spam, so a heavy weapon platform like this is a good start.