Where's A Good Place To Actually Begin Again?

[Chapter Master Jake]

If I wanted to really get back into 40K and I have my heart set on starting a new force from scratch, from your experiences, where would the best place be to start AFTER I purchase the Codex and the Rules?

In my particular case, I want to embrace the Greater Good and get into Tau. I have my own "4th Sphere Sept" lore and color scheme in mind as well as an idea to which general direction I want to go with the army. That said, should I build my own force in 750 point chunks to get back into the swing of things or should I go all-in with a big box bundle like the Farsight Enclave or a Commander and 3 Battleforces?

[HsojVvad]

I say start small. Since if you go all in, you are not saving any money, you might as well start small, finish it and then buy something else.

Who knows, you might get upset at GW and want to quit again. This way if you do, the investment is not so large. Also since the rapid release schedule who knows, Tau might come out this year, next year for sure and that can change how you model things.

So start off small.

[Chapter Master Jake]

The only reason I quit is because I had priorities. I'm not gonna make the same mistakes I did some 10-15 tears ago. One army, 750 point chunks as advised by some friendly gamers, and of course a little more responsibility with my plastic crack purchases. I was just asking if it was best to start small or big because I've noticed a trend among those starting new armies. Basically I see a lot of big bulk purchases because of GW's infamous price rises. *cough price gouging cough*

I don't personally like GW's laziness when it comes to rules releases but until they start releasing codecies all at once afteran edition change, we're all stuck in their greedy game.

[Lord Manton]

I'm not gonna make the same mistakes I made some 10-15 tears ago

It makes it sound like GW hurt you and you shed a single tear for each betrayal.

But back on topic, do the people you plan to play with play smaller games? Is there any chance you could entice them to? If yes, then definitely start small, get it painted in manageable chunks and leave yourself room for tweaks to your list as you learn about your force and play style again.

If, however, no one is going to play small games with you, then go whole hog and get yourself 1850 pts worth of minis. There's no point buying all this stuff if you can't use it.

Maybe check out Kill Team and see if you can arrange a little escalation league to get you involved. It's good for current players too if anyone wants to start a new project.

[vonDietdrich]

Basically I see a lot of big bulk purchases because of GW's infamous price rises.

The only time when bulk shopping is really effective, is if you can find a decent bulk lot on Ebay for substantially under retail with either naked plastic, black or white primer, or a paint scheme you like (or can easily paint over/modify). It really requires the purchase of either a codex or a list-building program (and a working understanding of the army) to make sure you get stuff that you're fine with. So that'd be the first thing to get.

Codexes that were recently updated are much harder to find good deals for. Eldar, for example, are super picked over on Ebay now as opposed to how they were a month or two leading up to the codex drop. If you want the good deals you have to invest before the codex gets its day in the spotlight. The downside of this is that you're gambling on the next edition of the Codex being good in advance. Since you want Tau, I'd say you've got two or three months to scope out the 'second-hand' market for deals before Tau get a new codex (though not much longer than that if their current release trends continue).

If you know you're playing Tau, you can at least pick up things like transports and troop choices for much cheaper than retail. My advice would be to make a list of models that you want at GW retail prices, math out how much the army would cost you if you were to buy it retail (and factor in sales tax), then take that number and compare it to any bulk purchases you're considering. For Tau, I'd say that Pathfinders, Fire Warriors, and all the vehicles are all pretty safe buys, and I doubt Broadsides and Riptides will get any substantial changes. Wouldn't be surprised if they released new Crisis suits though.

Once you have a working idea of what you want and how much it costs at retail, it's pretty easy to make your money go further with targeted or bulk purchases.

[Defenestratus]

I always thought the GW battleforce boxes were a good deal to people just starting out.

[deinol]

I thought you did save money on the big boxes. The ones I've bought all had basically a free unit in them. But I haven't looked at the tau boxes.

If you know you are going all in, buy a bundle deal if you will use everything it includes.

If you are on a budget, what I do to limit spending is buy one squad at a time, and not buy the next one until I finish painting it. But I've already got my core armies, so I'm just expanding.

How fast you build depends a lot on how quickly you want to get to full strength. Which varies a lot based on your local area. But usually 1500-2000 points. On the other hand people are often willing to play small battles when you are starting out. 750 is not a bad initial starting point. Or just get a legal ally detachment and partner up with someone for a bigger battle.

[40kGamer]

From what I've calculated you always save money on box deals but the web bundles are typically just the sum of the individual kits.

[Chapter Master Jake]

Lol, I meant "years" of course, the post editor on this forum doesn't actually let me edit the post so I couldn't fix it.

[TheyStoleMyName!]

The biggest consideration to me, assuming finances are not a huge issue, is whether or not you can make enough use of small chunks to be satisfied with your purchases. Even.....10-ish armies in I can't get away with buying an army a few units at a time, as I want to get them on the table straight away while they're still new and exciting to me. No one around here is terribly fond of playing 5 or 6 hundred point games, so if I get the standard 2 troops and an HQ to start out I find that I'm staring at them for months without doing anything and that gets me down on the army pretty quickly.

That said, if you CAN get consistent games in at a low points value, buying in little chunks like that is very much the way to go. Having worked for GW at one point I one got mass amounts of free 40k, and while that was freaking AWESOME, it is really easy to get overwhelmed looking at 2500 points of army still in a box, and it's also really easy, especially for a new player, to struggle to build a list they're happy with in terms of look and playability right from scratch. If you buy in 500-750 point chunks you can adjust your plans as you see what happens on the table, and discuss with the people you're playing with things like "Ok Experienced Joe, what are you adding to get up to 1500 points? Oh, a Storm Raven? Ok that means I should start worrying about anti-flyer now!" etc.

So I guess long story short, make contact with your local gamers and see whether you'll be able to make use of small chunks at a time. If yes, I'd start with like a commander and some Fire Warriors and a unit or two of suits. If not, I'd talk to them and get an idea of what kind of power level their community is at and some suggestions on a list at 1850-2000 points. Nothing worse than showing up with a brand new army and realizing that it's either way too weak or way too strong for the group you're hoping to play with.