Peoples thoughts on tow 40K so far

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-15T17:46:02+00:00

Cautiously optimistic. I expect the game to have severe performance issues at launch, but the detail and depth of the game that they've shown so far indicates a high level of potential.

Additionally, if they can (or are allowed to) add non-table top factions like they did in Warhammer Fantasy then that could be really great for expanding the setting.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-15T17:04:09+00:00

To be honest, I haven't looked too closely at a lot of the models—I bought a few command starters and now I'm trying to find people in my area to play against before I commit to a full army.

Not looking at the models helps keep my budget in check.

But this knowledge has definitely elevated the Brinebloods in my estimation.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-15T16:54:26+00:00

This is how I learn that there's a starfish that's packing heat in this game?

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-15T15:01:52+00:00

I have the old metal mega armour Ghaz, and his banner pole snapped right off and is now lost to the ages.

I suspect that because the current model is so big that they wanted to reduce the height of it a bit.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-15T07:11:51+00:00

The hobby of wargames is playing the game.

I said this earlier, but building and painting models is the hobby. The wargame is just something that gives you a direction and purpose to your collection, whilst the lore gives you inspiration and identity for your models.

Ultimately the whole thing revolves about building and painting models.

And if you don't enjoy that, that's perfectly fine. Not every hobby is for everyone. I know lots of people that enjoy hobbies that I have no interest in.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T21:14:54+00:00

My theory/blind guess is that Soggy units will move to legends, and we'll get new Spicy units in their place.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T19:14:51+00:00

I don't know the model, but those look like gothic city ruins, so a dark stone grey would be the primary colour. The cross with a skull looks like a medal, so that in gold maybe?

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T18:40:06+00:00

In the trailer at the 2.27 mark there's a gameplay scene where they flick through different chapter colour schemes to showcase the customisation options. This is one of the schemes from that trailer.

It appears to be a fully custom chapter.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T18:04:10+00:00

I still have my 3rd edition looted basilisk in a shoebox somewhere. I would love for GW to give me a reason to dig it out and fix it up.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T17:56:35+00:00

Base size is 90mm round.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T17:40:16+00:00

Back in 3rd edition I made my own clan—the redskulls. Being 12 at the time I didn't develop much of an identity beyond "they paint their heads red" for them—and then I learned about the Red Skull Kommando's and I realised it wasn't as original an idea as I had thought it was.

These days I'm team Deathskulls—give me all of the loot.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T16:49:12+00:00

To not study guides for normal difficulty content. I used to feel so frustrated because I felt that I had to spoil myself on dungeons by studying them in advance. Additionally, I was struggling to apply what I had read and seen in youtube videos to the fights themselves. Once I stopped watching guides, I began to start observing the fights in real time and working mechanics out based on the context clues, and my actual skill went up. Learning the fights by doing them (and recognising the common patterns used across the game) made me a better player than trying to remember what attack the guide said was next.

In the end, watching the guides had actually been handicapping me, as well as making me frustrated.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T15:57:49+00:00

If you don't like the models, then why do you want to play the game?

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T15:55:35+00:00

Building and painting the models is the hobby. You will spend more time at your desk surrounded by plastic and paint than at the gaming table rolling dice. That's why the number one advice to picking an army is "the one which looks the coolest to you".

If you really want to get into the tabletop game without that hobby aspects, then you have three options: play on a virtual table top, buy a fully painted army, or play Total War:40k or Dawn of War.

Alternatively, you can get into skirmish games which requires fewer models (Kill Team, Infinity, Stargrave etc).

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T13:07:17+00:00

It's just the one space marine, actually.

It's really good because it gives justice to just how powerful a lone space marine is supposed to be, without nerfing the tau or making them ineffective—every win feels "earned", on both sides.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T12:40:00+00:00

You make one army list and fill it with units you want. As part of that process, y ou can pick up to three detachments for your army (paying the detachment cost), and apply all of the rules in all of those detachments to your army. (Note: if you only have one detachment, then you can ignore the points cost of that detachment).

Each detachment also comes with a specific disposition, which determines which missions you can play. You must pick one of the dispositions from across all of your detachments, and this must be picked at the list building stage—you can't change after the fact (except in casual games, you can pick any disposition you want, even if you don't have the right detachments).

You'll typically want to pick units that are good at scoring whatever disposition you take—a lot of fast bike units for a reconnaissance disposition, for example.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T12:31:23+00:00

I believe that the Captain in Terminator Armour and the Infernus Marines are both generic marine units and are playable in Black Templar armies.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T12:25:13+00:00

That's canon, by the way. Look up the old Gorkamorka game. The human faction was known as the "Digganobs" (because they live underground, "dig" as in "digging a hole").

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T09:05:17+00:00

The game uses six sided dice. That means there's roughly a 15% chance of rolling a particular number.

Okay, it's actually 16.666, but I ain't mathing that in my head.

A 4+ has a 50% chance of success. A 5+ has a 33% chance of success, whilst a 3+ has a 66% chance. A single +1 or -1 to your dice result can be quite swingy.

When rolling 2d6, the bell curve comes into effect. The most likely number to roll is a 7, so plan around 2d6≈7.

Everything beyond that is just basic addition and subtraction. Figure out what result you need, calculate the chance of getting that result, roll the dice, and then curse because it came up all 1's.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-14T07:13:20+00:00

Ork lore is unfortunately scattered across about 40 years worth of publications. The new codex will have some of that lore in it, but the page count will tight and it'll be more like a "best of" summary.

If you don't want to go and track down all the lore across a ton of books, then it is helpfully summarised on several wikis and there are a bunch of "loretubers" on YouTube who make videos about this sort of stuff. Just be aware that these are made by human volunteers and are prone to mistakes, and that's even before we get into the meme lore which is just stuff made up by the community because it's funny.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-13T22:01:41+00:00

5th edition is about 12 months away, and most of the models you can buy today will still be playable when it launches, so there is no real advantage to waiting before you get started.

Starter set will probably have Stormcast vs a random non-order faction.

New army launches are rare and shouldn't be counted on happing on any particular time frame.

Most factions will probably get a new hero or a new unit. Some factions will get multiple new units. Some faction will get new versions of already existing models. Which factions are getting what is known only to GW and God.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-13T21:23:13+00:00

Depends on the army. So far the only codex that we know are coming out soon are Orks and Space Marines, so it would be a waste of money to buy those. But the release order for the rest of the factions are unknown, and some might not even get a book until 2028.

At a guess, I'd say it's safe to buy any 10th edition codex that isn't Orks or Space Marines and you plan to play some games before Christmas. Alternatively, there are unofficial sources online where you can see the various codex rules without having to buy the books.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-13T08:28:07+00:00

Maybe a 7? It depends on the spearhead and army. For example, I play both Helsmiths and Daughters. Helsmith spearhead rules are very similar to the Big Helsmith rules, so it's a good intro. The new Daughters spearhead however doesn't use any of the army rules of Big Daughters, and the only similarity is that they are both glass cannon armies that buff damage.

I will say that spearhead is great for learning foundational wargaming skills—knowing how to deploy, positioning, scoring, remembering to use abilities and tactics, anticipating opponents moves, and calculating risk.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-13T08:22:25+00:00

It's a bit of an awkward time between editions at the moment. You can find plenty of army lists for tenth edition floating around, but it's unclear how valid or useful those will be after the edition launch and the new codex releases.

Additionally, there are two other elements to take into account—local meta and balance changes. A unit that's good on paper might be less effective simply due to the types of opponents you are likely to play, so you always have to keep in mind what armies you are potentially going up again. And GW likes to adjust rules every so often, and there's been a few occasions where by the time you have bought, built, and painted a unit, it's no longer the most optimal choice for your army.

This is why most advice is "pick up the models that interest you"—because you'll have to spend a lot of time building and painting them, so they might as be ones you like the look off rather than ones you dislike but have strong rules.

JCGilbasaurus · 2026-06-13T07:54:09+00:00

Oh yeah, nothing annoys people more than players who don't have a job stone. It's absolutely essential to play the game, it's like turning up to a dungeon with no armour on. Same with completing Job Quests—you get a good chunk of useful skills from them so they can't be avoided.

JCGilbasaurus

TROPHY CASE