BEST Warhammer 40K Armies for Beginners 🎲 

My first army was Space Wolves. Just loved the aesthetic of them

What should the first army be? Well, that's quite simple, ORKS. Why ? Well, the orcs are forgiving of many painting mistakes. And you can be super creative with them. For example, you can build a whole orc base out of rubbish, and make super easy kitbashs.

Another Suggestion I'd like to add would be Chaos Daemons. Depending on which Daemons you wish to collect, You have an army that can be played In pretty much any Warhammer Setting. With the Combat Patrol, True It's only Khorne Daemons but you already have a good army for not only the 40k chaos daemons but also Blades of Khorne, Including things like the Boarding Patrols. Kill Team and Warcry and with The Old World they released a PDF Online Rules for Chaos Daemons. Not to mention that with Daemons are very easy to paint. Due to their nature you can really be creative. Like with Nurgle Daemons you can afford to make mistakes with them and make them look dirty or with Tzeench you can give them vibrant colors like their contently being wrapped. Also depending on which setting you'd wish to get into. You can Expand your collection of Daemons with the mortal followers at some point, Again blades of Khorne for AOS Or World Eaters for 40k and have the Daemons be allies or just a straight up unit choice in Blades

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Great video. My friend got me into Warhammer 40k and I've been struggling to find a good starter army. I was thinking Tyranids because I always like the swarming alien race in other games (Zerg and Flood).

As a new player looking to start I found this really helpful as I was contemplating starting with a necron army 😊

I would swap tau for world eaters for the “one phase army” slot , as i think tau can be harder to pilot for beginners you need to know movement and positioning to to decent with them

All the reasons you listed (especially Rule of Cool and the lore) are why I went for Necrons. I’m painting up a Void Dragon as I watch this!

Interesting video, was thinking about which army to pick up, more of a hobbyists than player, but also want to get my daughter into it as we enjoyed things like other board games. I used to love painting minis as a bit of a chill moment. I bought the small box of runtherd and grots as it was on a shelf for cheap. I think I’m going to buy some bits off Facebook just for painting, like sm, tyranids, daemons, but I think irks will be the bits I buy up, the fun lore, the aesthetic and ability to create an army rolling hundred dice. They also have the most internal diversity of models and kit

I went with the Orks because I saw there was a unit that are a bunch of lads that have strapped ACME rockets to their back and that was rad as hell

I’m actually in a very weird position right now…. Where when I started out with minies I said to myself that I won’t play Space Marines, because everyone plays them. But with time, getting more and more bits of different fractions, Tau, Tyranids, CSM, Sister, I start to consider actually just stop overthinking and get an SM army. I’m very inconsistent person, one day I think that Psykers are the coolest thing in universe, other day I’m thinking that tanks are. It really drains me mentally….. Nice video! I really do like the fact that you recommended everything but SM. For reason I completely understand

This is a really interesting analysis on the armies a player could start with. At first, I wanted to start with the Tau Empire because I was a fan of the futuristic military aesthetic (and I suppose mecha, too) but I was worried that they wouldn’t be flexible of the table top due to their laser focus on ranged combat. I later tried to pivot to Aeldari for their mobility until I learned that their models were kinda old and the instructions to put them together aren’t always intuitive. Also, their lore kinda stinks ATM. In the end, I feel like I should follow your recommendation and go back to the Tau and sell the Aeldari models I already have (which I never even assembled). Thanks for your recommendations.

Id personally add price as a huge + point for custodes. You can more or less get a functioning army for 300€> and get into the hobby, find out what you like and maybe start a second army if you are looking for something in particular that custodes can not do well.

Green iz best! Da new gitz should pick up da beakies though… so I kan krump em!

With the expansion of Kroot, The Tau will also have a pretty unique anti burnout feature. A feature that is already preasent in only Orks and Demons really. So one issue with Warhammer, at least in my opinion is once you settle on an army, and a paint scheme, your going to be doing a lot of minis in that paint and mini look. Everything looks like your chosen chapter or whatever faction equivalent, and uses mostly the same painting techniques. Space Marines? all your minis are blue and gold walking tanks, and vehicles. Eldar? All your minis are yellow and blue guys and vehicles. Tyrnids? Hope you like painting red and black bugs, because this is your life now. The only armies that really break this monotony are Orks with their junkyard aesthetics and the squigs. The two sides of their atmy can feel completely different. Its even more drastic with Demons eho straight up feel like 4 different armies stuck together. Now Tau will have this too. Tired of painting those tan spacesuits? Grab a giant bird man.

I think Death Guard would be also a great starting army, only the painting could be a little harder.

currently i'm building Tyranids from the Levi Box. I find them really hard to build, because of their small/fine details and already broke a couple pieces. Don't know if beginners would enjoy building them

Me Ill get into the Guard they seem cool now I am drowning in Russes and Infratry models

I'd suggest Custodes for a 1st army every time. Cheap, easy to paint, easy to play.

I disagree with nearly everything on your lists save for Necrons as everything else is either difficult to pilot or requires extensive knowledge of not only your faction but everyone else’s as well. Also space marines may have a large range but something like 80% of it is a dude in power armour making it the easiest faction to proxy or kitbash on top of being easy to paint and pilot making them the best starter faction.

I was going to start with Imperial Knights, but I heard a lot of people say that you don't really learn the game properly as almost all other armies have a lot more models. I think I'll start with Necrons instead, I'm really taking a shine to their lore and aesthetics.

Any Astra Militarum players? I've always been fascinated by the tanks that supplement the grunts. Are they hard to paint/play?

Very interesting choices, I think they are good choices. Too many rules and too many models aren’t good to begin with.

I've always struggled to feel like "Rule of Cool" didn't bait me when I started. 1 year and 20+ games into the hobby I think me and my beloved Aeldari are still at like a 20% win rate? When I was also, apparently, the 'best army in the game'. Elves that die to a stiff breeze be hard yo. That being said, I'll always love these space elves the most.

So back in 1996 when i first heard about 40k I decided on Space Wolves for my army of choice but like you said they are just mediocre after accumilating 1000 point army I was bored, think it was about a year later I decided on a fresh start and I chose Tyranids at absolutly enjoyed every part of gaming and painting them I ended my 40k career at a 14k point Tyranid army and sold it all on ebay I havent played or collected since then that was about 17 years ago but i enjoy the lore and always watch 40k videos on just about anything I am very tempted to get back into it would love to collect Tyranids again.

DA BOOYYZZZ!!

Tyranids really do not excel at close combat anymore.

Blood for the blood god for me.

Watching this video very intently despite owning 2 armies

FUCK IT I LL GO ANGRY MARINES!!!

No play Aeldari?? Sad...

Expect $500-$1000 usd for an army. Admech players that can currently spend $2,400 on an army with popular troops. Gee, wouldn't that be nice.

I atarted getting into Warhammer 40k and my first army is ORKS cuz there da biggest and da baddest and lots of WAAAAGH

I dunno, man. I'm a T'au player, and I think that in 10th Edition they are pretty nuanced. You gotta work and strategize to get your firepower, pick correct targets, choose who gets shooting buffs, and know where to place your army on the table. If you don't know what you are doing, then your army can easily underperform. Units are diverse but each is good at one specific thing and not so good at doing anything else. You need to know who to pick, for what role, and who needs to support them, so the army composition can get pretty complex. Not to mention, that as a range only faction, you are basically playing only half of the game, which is maybe not the best introduction for begginners. (Also T'au don't have any psychic abilities just as Necrons) I don't want to disincourage anybody from playing T'au; they are deffinately an interesting way to play the game. If you are into nuanced, tactical way to play, centered around min maxing, and planning, then go for it. If you are not sure, then I suggest taking T'au as a second army, and the first being something more balanced in melee/shooting. Also if you are going to paint them white, then prepare to suffer. (you'll become a pro at painting, though)