It seems my last post struck a chord with a few of you so I figured I would continue my rambles in the 30k universe for a spell.
How to get started with 30k?
I have seen this post on various forums in one guise or another – people seem quite overwhelmed in just how to get into the game setting! There are several small steps in my mind…
- Pick a Legion
- Decide on aesthetics
- Pick up the rules
- Build and paint
- PLAY!
Pick a Legion
This is perhaps the most crucial of the decisions anyone embarking on a trip down the road of 30k. The core of the setting is the legions and typically, these are the forces you will play. If the Solar Auxillia are your thing – that’s great! Ditto one of the mechanicus forces – these all fall under pick a legion. For the majority though – it will be the pull of the Primarchs and their sons that draws them in and its these forces that offer the setting its feel.
Picking a legion is reasonably straight forward in my mind – pick the legion that appeals to you for whatever reason! Maybe you want to play the Sons of Horus led by Loken right at the start of the heresy since you loved that section of Galaxy in Flames. Maybe you want to play the sneaky and underhanded Alpha Legion because their double crossing nature means you can play loyal or traitor. Maybe you want to play Word Bearers with swathes of cultists at the Battle for Calth – it’s about finding inspiration. The brilliant part about this is that since all the legions have basically the same army list – with only the characters and a couple of special units adding variety – you should be picking the legion based on inspiration rather than list power. For me – the book Betrayer, which focused on the Shadow crusade with the Word Bearers and World Eaters really grabbed me. So my first legion to see table time was the World Eaters while I am just getting started on the Word Bearers. I do also have a heavily converted Emperors Children army (based on an older version of the 40k chaos marine codex) which was built before Forge World gave us resin kits but it does not fit the 30k rules set very well so only sees table time sporadically. This army was inspired by the novel ‘Fulgrim’ and allowed me to field daemons and noise marines with the heresy aesthetic.
Decide on Aesthetics
What I mean by this is not just colours of armour but the whole look and feel of the force. How important is it to you to have the right styles of armour on the marines? For some, a box of plastic GW marines combined with a set or 2 of the Forge World torso and/or head upgrades makes perfectly serviceable 30k marines. For others, the greaves, vambrace and even back packs count and so it’s usually heavy conversion or a shopping cart full from Forge World. The same goes for the vehicles. The most common legion vehicles are simply current plastic kits available from GW – even minor changes can make them look a little different and give the right feel. The legion specific weapons can require some conversion but most are not insurmountable. It’s only the unique vehicles where a resin shopping run will be needed. There are even Primarch models from 3rd party sculptors available but to be honest, I would just buy the Forge World ones – it’s not like you buy more than 1 of the model (typically!) so you might as well get the real deal.
The other part of the aesthetics is the colours themselves. While each legion has its own colours (that most gamers who play this era will know at a glance) you can still put a personal twist on it. I really liked the Imperial Fist colours that were shown in book 3 of the rules set with a strong black component to the colours. This makes the colour scheme far less daunting for a player who want to run the siege experts. With so many companies in each legion, adding your own twist to the colours makes them yours so don’t be afraid to do it!
Pick up the Rules
Now you have your legion sorted it’s time for the rules so you can plan the force. Grabbing the Crusade book is a straight up purchase from Forge World and well worth it as you get all the core rules for any legion force. Next you need the book for the legion you want to play. At present we have rules for 13 of the 18 legions (with Blood Angels, Dark Angels, White Scars, Space Wolves and Thousand Sons still missing from the range). For 12 of them – the Istvaan legions book gives you nearly all the rules. You will need book 5 from the set for the Ultramarines as well as the extras for the Word Bearers and a few extra legion wide options but they are not essential when starting in my mind. Book 4 lets you play the Solar Auxillia while the Mechanicus is unfortunately spread across a number of books right now and has the hardest time of putting a full list on the table in just 1 book.
Build and Paint
The physical process of building and painting an army should be pretty straight forward to any 40k gamer but the build step will obviously have you deciding on units and writing a list with a set of rules you are not familiar with. While I will be completing unit spotlights for Heresy Units in the future, the general ‘rules’ for building an army is as follows (maybe guidelines is a better word)
- Bigger units are almost always better than small units
- Taking the extra elite and HQ choices in the force org are options – not requirements
- Remember the limits of the units – they are specialists, not generalists in most cases. Build the units to suit this
- Remember that only the Troops Choices are scoring units in 30k rules – you will want 3+ of these unless you have other units who gain this ability
I like to build and paint the army in units so each looks unified. I am presently trying to build then paint the World Eaters as an army but the psychological barriers for this are proving difficult! So many marines in undercoat makes for a daunting sight! It goes without saying that however you like to work through this process is what you should do – no point fixing what ain’t broke!
PLAY!
I would be suggesting the smaller games of 30k start at 1000 points minimum and really, 1250 or even 1500 is probably better. The cost of the units – where multiple small units are penalised with high starting unit cost or large units are simply very expensive since they are 20 models strong – means that after you have a couple of troops and a HQ you can be up for as few as 400 points for 21 models but they will have no upgrades or transports. Adding transports, extra close combat weapons and so on plus some gear for the HQ and an elite unit for him to join means you suddenly have hit 1000 points! Going the large foot units it no better as the maxed out 20 model Tactical Squads will run 300 points or so with ease – more with an Apothecary. 2 of them plus the HQ and again we hit close on 1000 points. 1250 or 1500 lets you get a couple of the cool legion models/units/tanks/etc that you really like and want to use in.
Don’t be afraid for the games you play to be simple Eternal War missions from the 40k rule book – especially when starting. The Heresy missions are a heap of fun and very setting driven but while keeping track of the new rules and units plus the changes to marines in general, playing the stuff you know will make it easier.
If you want to play against a 40k force – and there is ZERO reason you can not – be mindful that the high cost of units and the limited access to scoring units will put you at an immediate disadvantage against 40k forces. Playing at less than 2000 points will see you lose more than win in my experience – the legions lack of flexibility in its units combined with lack of scoring means that the smaller the game the more these issues are magnified. In pickup games you will have to deal with it. If you are playing friends or in a regular group – asking your opponent to use the 30k force organisation chart/detachment to build their lists helps as they are then limited in scoring capacity and access to lords of war like the legions. It will still be tough but it’s probably a more even playing field. At 2250 or greater you will see the legion force start to shine. You will have the units you need in the numbers you need to really push the 40k army lists and compete on even ground. You will have access to Lords of War as well by that stage so fielding a Primarch or Super Heavy tank helps as well.
The other option is to allow the 30k force to use the standard Combined Arms Detachment and rules when playing against 40k lists. This gives them the scoring options back as well as access to lords of war in smaller games like any other list.
Regardless of which way you end up playing – I am sure the new challenges the list gives will make it memorable and hopefully – Fun!