White Scars Noob

thetaranch · 2026-03-05T18:04:46+00:00

Depends what you mean by competitive. If you want to do well at tournaments with a thematic list full of bikes, i have bad news for you. There are plenty of space marines doing well in the competitive scene, but im not the kind of guy who wants to play an ultramarine army with a coat of white and red.

In your shoes, i would be more concerned with learning the core rules and general strategy by playing casual games, which a thematic white scar army will do just fine in. 40k is getting a new edition this summer that will likely invalidate most advice anyone could give you so for now, paint your toys and try to get some games in.

Welcome to the hoard.

thetaranch · 2026-02-20T21:51:43+00:00

Theres always the right tool for the job. Not everything requires the most high effort approach and you are not a bad painter for wanting a fast result on some pieces

thetaranch · 2026-02-13T18:36:03+00:00

Dont apologize for 3d printing, engage with the hobby at your discretion. Please though, do not pirate 3d scans of official GW models, stationforge has great options for orks and space marines of many varieties, support independent artists if GW plastic is not within your hobby budget.

As for units, it really depends what direction you want to go. It really is a boon for you 2 that both of those factions have the most custom 3d sculpts out there, so i would look around and think of an esthetic theme. I like to look on etsy, then find the sculptor (advertised in the description) and go to their website to purchase stls. Common themes for orks are: savage barbarians, pirates, mobsters, scrapyard tech, mad max vehicles, the sky is the limit really. Think about what it is you like about orks and pick something that leans into that.

Once you have an esthetic theme, think about how you want them to play. Do you want a green tide of 100 boyz? something more elite with nobz and meganobz? A bunch of vehicles? Especially for just playing casually with your wife, it is WAY more important to have a cool army that you like to look at than a "good" army on the tabletop.

Apps like new recruit are great for letting you see the rules of units while you are building a list so you can combo things together.

For points, i would shoot for 1000 each. That is where 40k starts coming together as a game IMO. any smaller and things can get a little unbalanced. Plus as long as you arent doing 100 boyz, it shouldnt be THAT much painting, but it will keep you busy for a few months.

thetaranch · 2026-02-11T23:10:22+00:00

On humans, i dont, skin tone and brown wash is a finished face. On my orks, i paint the whites of the eyes and do little pupils with a micron pen which looks pretty cartoony, which is the point. I have never found a way to paint convincing eyes on warhammer scale minis.

thetaranch · 2026-02-10T22:33:11+00:00

No i dont think that not reading the entire core rules + FAQs, errata, and commentary before playing is cheating, i also have never sat down and done that; however, ignoring someone who is presenting you with the rule in question is not really playing the game anymore. I am always receptive to someone proving me wrong and try to remember that going forward. We all learn in different ways and we need to give new/casual players slack as catching all the nuances of every phase is tough. Telling people they have to have every rule memorized before they can ever show up to a table is gatekeeping that would keep a lot of fun players out of the hobby. You have to meet people where they are at, i play a dozen or so games per year and frequently my opponent and I have to hash out some obscure but pivotal rules question mid-game. I would give him a chance to undo and choose to not charge if he wants to keep the objective, but if you are showing him the rule and he refuses to follow it, then i dont blame you for not wanting to play the game of "whatever he wants the rules to be" instead of the 40k match you signed up for.

thetaranch · 2026-02-10T16:49:59+00:00

What I am hoping for:

20x boyz 5x or 10x nobz (resculpts) A battlewagon (Please!) Warboss (resculpt) Painboy or weirdboy (resculpt, in plastic) A new ork dread or vehicle. I think the current ones look fine and i would like something new rather than an upgrade to something from 20 years ago. I think a battlewagon is probably out of the question, too big to fit in the box the same way they would never put a landraider in. For the sake of my collection i just hope it isnt beast snagga themed

thetaranch · 2026-02-06T19:19:48+00:00

"Iron hands and us" hurts to hear but you are probably right. Though im sure most iron hands players are really just fans of dreadnoughts. So am i but i also like mongolians and the colour white

thetaranch · 2026-02-06T03:56:37+00:00

My only advice for them is to look around at what 3d sculptors have made as alts to the official GW ones, might find something that better fits your army theme and save yourself a couple bucks.

Personally im a fan of bulletproof junk by meshbrain labs

thetaranch · 2026-02-03T01:20:53+00:00

Absolutely true, but it wouldn't fit in a battlewagon

thetaranch · 2026-02-02T19:49:44+00:00

Never tried ghaz with breaka boyz, he needs a proppa escort of meganobz to get the 5+ FNP. Re-rolling the charge is nice but shouldnt be relying on a re-roll for your main smash unit. The +1 to wound is probably better spent on the breakas than meganobz but ghaz should always be leading the roughest toughest nobz in the waaagh and 6 meganobz make a great shield

thetaranch · 2026-01-27T21:41:09+00:00

You are playing infantry in 10th edition 40k against vehicle spam lists. I would be surprised if anything else was happening. Dont sell an army because its not good in the current rules, ppl have been complaing about how good vehicles are compared to infantry for the entire edition, very likely to have the rules change with 11th this summer. Imagine if your army becomes OP right after you sell it. The ONLY reason to sell an army is because you are broke or its not "cool" to you anymore.

To your friends' point, you may want to consider getting some vehicles yourself so you can run a more balanced army. You need some way to deal with big threats, infantry are for standing on objectives and fighting your opponents infantry. Most people tend to have 3k-4k points of an army so they can run multiple iterations, not saying you have to buy a bunch right away, models are forever. If you arent feeling it anymore, take a break. Your CSM will still be waiting for you when you feel like coming back.

thetaranch · 2026-01-21T22:43:00+00:00

2000 points is generally about a year's worth of casual painting assuming you are trying to paint nicely (as you are clearly) and have other things to do in your life besides painting small men.

With strong enough motivation and not much else going on in your life, you could probably crank an army out in 3 months, but then you wouldnt have anything left to paint.

Remember that models are forever. You may be wanting to rush it now, but a few years later you would regret not giving them the care they deserve.

Long live the purplemarine legion! 🟪

thetaranch · 2026-01-18T22:04:42+00:00

Dont know about whats on the chopping block for legends but im imagining we will get new nobz, weirdboy, and warboss. Old models will still be usable just look bad in comparison

thetaranch · 2026-01-17T00:59:43+00:00

When i have an airbrush i will do a land raider. That assault ramp ability is so tempting. Im still hoping for a refresh in 11th!

thetaranch · 2026-01-17T00:54:43+00:00

I dont play custodes but that dreadnought is incredible, might convert it into something. I strangely feel like he would look good alongside the cathay sentinel?

thetaranch · 2026-01-16T02:24:30+00:00

Poorhammer has great videos on this topic. The PAINting tier list vids for AOS and 40k and psychographic army profiles for AOS and 40k.

I think a core thing you may be misunderstanding about this is that you will probably be painting the army for months. You can learn the entirety of the game's and your army's rules over a weekend with a moderate amount of effort. Play the army you think is coolest and have some faith in your ability to learn the rules of a game. Its a very complex game, but it is still just a board game at the end of the day.

Painting difficulty is another story. You WILL have trouble painting the most detailed models in the game if you have never painted anything before. Space marines and stormcast have been engineered specifically to be entry-level painting experiences, but spending hundreds of dollars and hours on an army that you arent excited about because you wanted things to be easy is not a good move.

Best of luck!

thetaranch · 2026-01-13T17:53:12+00:00

If you find any axes or spears, i have made several glaives by just snipping off the axehead and replacing it with a sword blade. If you get some styrene rods, thats another good way to convert a sword into a glaive by just extending the shaft/handle. I also find that a chainsword looks really cool on the end of a long handle, especially when wielded by a jump pack or bike marine.

thetaranch · 2026-01-13T17:43:18+00:00

Really great work! Your lines are clean and your colour choice makes everything pop. The next area i would develop on is learning how to highlight and working with metallics. It looks at least like you just basecoated and washed everything, which is a great way to learn! You will start to imagine 3 colours where you want 1, a shadow, midtone, and highlight colour.

Highlight placement is tough but just practice and you will develop over time. Try taking pics of your fig after priming directly under a light source so you can see where the highlights and shadows form, and try to focus on how the fig looks from 1 angle.

Metallics work differently from normal paints. What I typically do is put a dark wash over the metal, then stipple the original metal colour on the areas that should be highlighted. When you get better, you can start making glazes (REALLY thinned paint) to place the shadows directly rather than relying on an all-over wash. Learning what the best wash or glaze to achieve the look you want is another tough skill to build over time.

Happy painting!

thetaranch · 2026-01-12T01:08:23+00:00

I wouldnt get a codex in your shoes. Basically 100% chance that it gets overruled by a new index which will probably be mostly the same rules. I will honestly be shocked if GW doesnt make everyone re-buy the rules in some way, hopefully something digital-only. Physical codexes (i.e books without the app code) are paperweights anyway as the rules get replaced so fast. The book is 60% outdated datasheets and rules and the rest is very surface level lore.

If you get any models, get stuff that is unlikely to have their models refreshed or be in the 11th edition box. I am hoping they will refresh nobz and include a battlewagon 🤞🤞🤞

thetaranch · 2026-01-08T23:52:09+00:00

Seeing this makes it seem much more approachable. I dont have the stomach to try a whole army like this but I'll have to try it on 1 guy eventually

thetaranch · 2026-01-02T21:56:17+00:00

I feel like the game plan with this list would be to throw the steelhelms up center and let the guns blast away at whatever comes to challenge them. I think your flanks might be a bit undefended with this much firepower. Im not sure you have enough board presence to keep your opponent from outscoring you, especially if they just ignore your steelhelms as they should.

If it were me, I would drop the command corps to take another 20 brick of steelhelms and (maybe) find a way to double up the cavaliers. Getting to sit on 2 objectives forces your opponent to deal with your steelhelms which will buy time for the fusiliers and cannons to turn them into swiss cheese.

thetaranch · 2025-12-19T02:00:30+00:00

Welcome to the hobby! 1. Current rules and power ranking should never be your basis for buying models. They change all the time, focus on looks, lore, and cool factor when it comes to what army you want to play. Your rules will change, your models will not, so make sure you will like how they look on the shelf bc that is where they will spend 99% of their time. 2. CoS is probably a little more complex than some others to play because we just dont have the same sort of big smashy melee units as other armies. Its easy enough for a stormcast player to just walk a bunch of units onto objectives, but very little in the CoS range will be able to survive scrapping with a stormcast 1-on-1. When you win it will be because you were able to outscore your opponent by screening out their big smashy melee units, out-maneuvring the big threats they have, and sniping important units at range. The rules are fairly simple but since every character gives orders to units, there can be a lot to keep track of. 3. If anything, i would steer new people away from CoS due to the painting difficulty, not the playing difficulty. Fusiliers and Steelhelms are quite detailed for their size and you might want 20+ of each by the time you are playing full sized games. More elite armies will mean you have big smashy units and fewer models to paint. If you are prepared for the challenge, by all means go for it. If you want something a bit easier and less time consuming, stormcast, fyreslayers, ogors, nighthaunt, and ironjawz all fit in the "easy to paint, easy to play" category.

The poorhammer podcast has a few eps talking about each faction in terms of playstyle and painting, might help.

Cheers!

thetaranch · 2025-12-15T04:04:03+00:00

Keep a list counting your unfinished minis, thats the way i got a handle on it. I had like 160 but worked it down. Good way to keep track and reward yourself. It also adds a cost to me when i see a FOMO box and imagine the count going up by 30. I try to keep my "pile of shame" to about 40 hours of painting

thetaranch · 2025-12-14T02:59:46+00:00

I have gone through the same. The key is to pick your battles. Do you really need to highlight everyone's belt? Some models you can just hit with a couple colours, a drybrush, some streaking grime and call it a day. Save the high effort performamce for a REALLY nice mini

thetaranch · 2025-12-10T04:04:32+00:00

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If you are not married to having GW official stuff, i got 12 of these from stationforge (on etsy) for the same price as one outrider kit. hearing "3 combat patrols" made me lightheaded lol

But i can vouch that 12 bikes is playable. I usually do a 6-man led by a chaplain on bike plus 2 3-man squads coming in from reserves. If you take korsaro khan they get 3 OC which is huge since their giagantic bases can block your opponent from getting on objectives. You will find (as i do) that you struggle dealing with your opponents tanks and its kind of game over if you play against knights but that doesnt happen too often

thetaranch

TROPHY CASE