How to Start Warhammer 40,000: A Beginner's Guide

Warhammer 40,000 is the world's most popular miniatures game — grim far-future battles fought with models you build and paint yourself. It also looks, from the outside, like a wall of plastic, paint and rulebooks with no obvious door in.

It's more approachable than it looks. This is the guide we'd give you across the counter: pick a side, buy the right first box, get a handful of tools, and you're playing. Here's how to start without wasting money on models that don't work together.

Step 1: Pick a faction on looks first

There are dozens of armies in 40,000, from the noble Space Marines to the ramshackle Orks, the ancient Aeldari, the high-tech T'au and the trench-warfare Astra Militarum. New players agonize over which is 'best'. Don't.

Pick the army whose models you most want to spend an evening painting. You will spend far more hours building and painting these miniatures than pushing them around a table, and the single biggest predictor of whether an army gets finished is whether you actually like looking at it. Every faction is viable; none is a mistake.

If you're stuck between two, come in and hold the boxes. Seeing the models in person settles it faster than any tier list.

Step 2: Start with a Combat Patrol box

Once you've picked a faction, the entry point is its Combat Patrol box. It's a curated bundle — a small, playable force in a single purchase — and it works out significantly cheaper than buying the same models one kit at a time. One box gives you enough to assemble an army, learn to paint, and play your first games.

Resist the urge to buy big. It's easy to spend a few hundred dollars on models that look great and then discover they don't fit together into a working list. One Combat Patrol, built and painted, teaches you more than a shelf of unassembled boxes. You can browse what we carry in our Warhammer 40,000 collection, and if you're building a first list, ask us before you order — that's exactly the mistake we can save you from.

Step 3: The tools you actually need

You need less than the internet will tell you. To get started:

• Plastic glue (polystyrene cement), not superglue. Plastic glue melts the parts together for a much stronger bond on Games Workshop's plastic kits.
• A pair of side cutters to clip parts cleanly off the sprue.
• A hobby knife to tidy up the small nubs (mold lines) left behind.
• A primer — a spray or brush-on undercoat that paint will actually stick to.

That's the core kit. Our hobby tools and cutters, files and glues cover all of it, and a wet palette is the one cheap upgrade worth adding early once you start painting.

Step 4: Building your models

Twist or clip each part off the sprue, scrape away the mold lines with your knife, and glue the parts together following the instructions. Take your time on the first few — dry-fit before you glue so you can see how a model goes together.

One tip that pays off later: if you plan to paint, it's often easier to paint some models in sub-assemblies (leaving, say, a separate backpack or a rider off its mount) rather than gluing everything solid first. And leave models off their scenic bases until the paint's done if you can — it makes the whole thing easier to reach.

Step 5: Painting (you don't strictly have to, but here's the fast way)

You can play with bare grey plastic. But painting is half the hobby, and getting a squad to a good tabletop standard is far easier than it looks thanks to modern paints. The fast route:

1. Prime the model.
2. Lay down your base colors.
3. Hit it with a wash (a dark shade that flows into the recesses and does your shading for you).
4. Drybrush or highlight the raised edges to make detail pop.
5. Seal it with a matt varnish so all that work survives handling.

For paints, you have options at every budget. The Army Painter range — especially its one-coat Speedpaints — is the fastest way to get a whole squad looking good, and AK 3Gen acrylics spray and brush beautifully on vehicles and armor. If you'd rather match the exact studio scheme, Citadel is the official Games Workshop line and every color the painting guides call for is on the shelf. Any of these mix happily — you're not locked into one brand.

Step 6: Learning to play

The good news: the Core Rules are free. Games Workshop publishes the current rules and every faction's basic army rules as free downloads, so you can learn without buying a single book. Your Combat Patrol box also comes with a ready-to-play mission designed for exactly this size of game.

Start small. A Combat Patrol-sized game is quick, teaches the core mechanics — moving, shooting, charging, fighting — and doesn't drown you in special rules. You'll pick up the rhythm in a game or two.

Step 7: Come play in Lemoyne, Pennsylvania

40,000 is a two-player game, and it's far more fun with people who can teach you. Our Lemoyne, Pennsylvania store is our wargaming home — we run Warhammer there most weeks, and we're happy to walk a new player through their first game. We can also tell you what people are actually bringing to the table locally before you commit to an army. Lemoyne is just a few minutes from Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg and Harrisburg.

Prefer to build and paint at home first? Everything in this guide ships nationwide, so you can get started from anywhere — then bring your army in when you're ready to play.

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to start Warhammer 40,000?

A Combat Patrol box plus a starter set of tools and a few paints will get you a built, painted, playable army. It's a real hobby investment, but a single Combat Patrol is far cheaper than assembling the same models separately — and it's all you need for your first games.

Do I have to paint my models?

No — you can play with unpainted models. But most players enjoy painting as much as playing, most events reward or expect painted armies, and modern one-coat paints make a good tabletop standard genuinely achievable for beginners.

Which faction is best for a beginner?

The one you like the look of. Every army is viable and every army can be played simply at Combat Patrol size. Space Marines have the most beginner guides written for them if you want plentiful tutorials, but liking your models matters more.

How many models do I need to play?

Fewer than you'd think. A Combat Patrol box is a complete small army on its own and is a recognized game size — you do not need a giant collection to have real, satisfying games.

New to the hobby and not sure where to begin? Come in and we'll point you at the right first box for the army you like — no pressure, no wasted money.