What is the best 40K army for beginners?

[Dimitrios]

For me its Tau. Buy an army, buy an aegis, stand back and shoot. All units work together to stop attackers, no need for strategic planning or movement. No need to worry about assaults. Its a point and click army.

[sfshilo]

Just because they have been in the game forever doesn't make them a good starter army.

Durability used to make them a good army but who thinks most space marine units are that durable these days?

For me Necrons are the winners. They have solid units with forgiving rules. Durable troops section. They have answers for everything in their book and can become very specialized as the players collection increases. Easy to paint a basic army.

Pretty much this.

I play, ALOT. Space Marines, Daemons, Guard, Sisters, CSM. I play against Tau, Crons, Orks, Eldar, Space Marines, etc.

Space Marines are not easy to win with. Tau and Necrons are. (I give Tau the edge)

Not only that Tau have the same thing going for them painting wise, nice flat surfaces with little or no skin, high point models that can be fielded as low volume armies (cheap), and very good overall performance on the table.

People are picking space marines because of ignorance and 5th edition bias, there is no reason the poll should be this biased to a faction that cannot even play well at a 1000+ point level.

I have a hell of a lot harder time coming up with Space Marine lists then I do the other armies, even sisters.

Examples:
Sisters are much more durable 3+ army. (Cheap effective transports, 3+ armor, lots of shooting, and overlapping special rules for a low point cost) but are cost $$$.
Tau are better at shooting, have just as good armor, have better vehicles, better slots, cost less $$$ and can ally with more armies then any other.
Crons are tougher then SM, have good $$$ ratio, have excellent firepower, and can stand alone as well as any army. Their basic troop gun can kill land raiders!

[Aspire to Glory]

Best? Space Marines are the most forgiving of mistakes, allowing one a less frustrating chance to learn.

Easiest? Tau. However they're so point and click that you won't learn anything. They ignore half of the rules! A pity, too, as they're brilliant looking models.

[Aspire to Glory]

People are picking space marines because of ignorance and 5th edition bias, there is no reason the poll should be this biased to a faction that cannot even play well at a 1000+ point level.

Really? Is that kind of attitude necessary? Take that mouth to 4chan if you want to be a jerk about it.

The space marine thing is BS.

Tau are BY FAR the easiest army to wield. Shoot at things until they are dead.

Space Marines are such a odd sack of stuff. You can't just take a bunch of random stuff and win with SM. Tau? Battlesuits, railguns/missiles, and S5 30" spam. (WIN)

You are all living in 5th ed...

You, too. Learn to share your opinion without crapping all over everyone else's.

[Archon]

Its the Space Marines (sad? but) true!

Buy the knew [URL="http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=cat440270a&prodId=prod2220 002a"]"Strikeforce"[/URL] Box and you got a whole Army to start with for less than 200,- € add the Codex and it´s 250,- (you can get it cheaper if you buy it at your local store or mailorder discount). Add in the basics for TT: Paints, Basing-Stuff, Brushes, Glues etc. this will eat up easy another 50,- €.

But the best way to start is simple: Look at the armys, read something about the armys, read some 40 K stuff and choice the army you like best - don´t look for playability. Buy some stuff (roughly about 500 pts), build it, paint it an make some games.

And: Play Chaos!

[Wolfshade]

The other option is Grey Knights, all the advantages of space marines, though more complicated rules. But for just 11 models you can play 1,500pt games

[Hello1701]

I went SM because they are durable (3+) forgiving of misplays. You don't generally break the rules so if you move on to another army you a good understanding of the basics. Easy to paint. Plenty of available used models so you can spend less $. Not to mention in the poll all SM are grouped together, if they had been separated I would probably went necrons.

[Power Klawz]

I just don't feel Space Marines of any flavor are overly beginner friendly in 6th edition. They are still rather resilient on an individual basis, but with their relatively high cost it would be hard to say that they're any more resilient overall than cheaper horde armies who can just throw bodies at problems instead of hoping to roll 3+'s.

Actually the depth of tactical nuance to the current (6th edition that is, i.e. DA and C:SM) space marine armies has made me take a much deeper look at them than at any point in the last decade.

But I don't think they're an overly easy force to get good results out of anymore. Their damage output when compared to reigning destruction kings Tau isn't all that amazing. They don't really have an all-killy iwin button personified in a single model and rely on synergy to achieve great results. Not the most technically complex army of course, but not the easiest either.

I'd have to say that Orks make up the easiest to grasp beginner army. You just need a lot of green bodies with guns and hacksaws. At its basic level its about having more boyz than the enemy has bullets and tossing lots of dice.

I make my estimation based on the intended use and spirit of the army, not necessarily on current strength within the meta game. Obviously most people consider Tau to be a might bit cheddariffic and its not very hard to obtain decent results even if you have no idea what you're doing. Just because a bazooka can cause a lot of damage doesn't necessarily make it a beginner friendly item.

I also wouldn't lump all the space marine armies together like that. I mean especially Grey Knights, they're hardly comparable to the other power armored armies.

[warflail]

I consider myself a beginner - bought the Dark Vengeance boxed set about a year ago and have been painting and building up the DA and CSM armies to 1500pt+ strength each. The boxed set was the easiest way to get into the hobby, as there were enough models for a variety of battles, as well as the beginner's guide, rulebook, dice and templates - in short, everything but the paint to get started.

I found both the DA and CSM armies quite easy to learn to play. Subsequently, I picked up an AoBR boxed set and my 12-year old son has been getting into building up an Ork army, which has also been pretty easy to learn (and paint).

I have little doubt that if the 6th ed boxed set had contained, say, Tau and Necrons instead, I would have gotten into those just as easily and would have put my vote for either of those. What's friendliest to the beginner is whatever is included in an all-in-one boxed set.

W

[khambatta]

Space Wolves, although the reasoning fits some other armies.
Grey Hunters give you a solid & versatile core of troops to build on. You're not locked in to a particular playstyle: Long Fangs let you stand back & shoot, but if you find you prefer to get stuck in, Thunderwolf Cavalry fit the bill. You're not overwhelmed with too many options, or too many rules; nor do they have the expense/model count of a horde army.
While they may not be regarded as top-tier right now, they are solid performers - anyone'll enjoy learning the game more if they actually manage a few wins now & then.