I bought my eldest son a 40K starter set the other day after he convinced me he really, really wanted one for his birthday. It's not until June but, having considered buying him just a few individual boxed sets of figures at exhorbitant GW prices, I thought the Black Reach set would be a much cheaper option in the long run, relatively speaking that is.We spent a day last weekend putting the space marines together and undercoating them. I say we but Alex actually did most of it himself and quite well too. Anyway, he's now going on and on about painting them up so I'm going to see how he gets on tomorrow with a simple base coat and highlight. He wants to paint them green, so they're going to be Salamanders (apparently).
To be honest, what I know about the 40K megaverse wotsit could be written on the back of a very small postage stamp, so I'm a bit in the dark when it comes to space marine chapters and paint schemes. I guess we'll just look at the piccies in the rulebook and do something similar.
Now, on the other hand, I quite fancy getting myself a 40K army of some sort to paint up and use for a few simple games against the space marines. I think I'd go for something quick and easy to paint so Necrons, Eldar or Tau look like the best options. I've never really been interested in 40K but, if I'm going to get my money's worth out of Alex's new hobby, I should really give it a try I suppose?
Any suggestions?
Saul (my son) is well into 40K and some of his stuff is on Bleaseworld:
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For yourself, Tau are nearest to "proper" SF, Necrons easiest to paint, Imperial Guard have lots of historical influences but tend to be large armies and therefore expensive in the long run (but remember eBay is your friend, as are Wayland Games). This all said the Black Reach set provides a good intro to Orks and I've found them to be very Russian!
They also have lots of fluff books. Dan Abnett writes WW2 in 40K and are pretty good but personally I recommend Sandy Mitchell's Cain series, 40K Flashman with Baldrick in tow - excellent,
For starting out get hold of a 4th edition rulebook (coppers on eBay but possibly expensive to post as it's a thick hardback) and lot at the Combat Patrol scenario - 400 pts and no super-troops allowed, 4'x4' table for the games which last about an hour. It's completely rejuvenated 40K at the Stourbridge club.
ReplyDeleteJim,
ReplyDeletesnap my eight year old has the same set. We painted his marines up yellow for imperial fists. Salamaders used to be GW snot green I believe. Remember you don't have to use GW minis unless you plan to play in store or a GW tournement. I use the EM-4 troopers as Imperial Guard (gives you an excuse to paint them up and kill two birds with one stone). Also E-bay is a gold mine of cheap GW stuff the eldar army on my blog was all bought on e-bay for pennies and re-painted.
Oh dear. The first step on the slippery slope to eternal damnation - of the wallet. :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome to 40K
Painted a Tyranid army for my son when he was into it for one christmas, great fun.... so go for them if you want a truly alien influence...good excuse to make 'bizare alien scenary'. I painted a few imperial guard & made a tank (reverted to type) but actually prefered the 'fun' of making & painting the Tyranids
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