Whether you are new to Warhammer, or even wargames, or you’re interested in starting your second or fifth new army, getting started in Warhammer 40k can be confusing. We’re here to help get you started, and show you how to get your new favorite army on the table with our new series: The First 2,000: Necrons.
In this series, I’m going to start a new 2,000 point Warhammer 40k army, tracking my choices and progress as I build my army. In the end, I’ll bring this completed army to a future TBZ Warhammer 40k tournament. There’s a lot of ways to build a 40K army, so I’m giving myself some rules to keep this from becoming overwhelming.
The Rules
Only Official & Available GW Models
There’s a lot of ways to get started with your collection. There’s tons of minis on auction sites, and plenty of people willing to trade unused parts of their collections. But that’s a tough way to get going, especially when you don’t really know what you want your army to do. So, the easiest way to get started is to only buy official, in production, and in-stock Games Workshop models.
Limited Online Only Models
GW has lots of Online Only models for each army. While these can be ordered from TBZ (stop in and ask!) I wanted to limit the use of these for this starter army. I’ve given myself two Online Only purchases.
Fun Over Meta
If you’re just starting out, it’s easy to get lost in trying to figure out what’s good. The issue is that the meta of the game is constantly evolving. If you buy what’s top tier now, by the time you build and paint, it might be less effective. GW regularly releases game balance updates, and opposing players work out strategies to deal with difficult units and popular builds. When you’re just starting out, it’s far more important to build models that you think are fun or give you a solid foundation for the future than chase the current meta builds.
Efficient Purchasing
It’s easy to buy a few of everything, especially when starting out. We’re going to try to make a 2,000 point list without spending a lot of money on models we don’t need. The focus will be on using Combat Patrols and Battleforce boxes as the base of the army where possible.
Where To Begin
Sometimes something about an army just speaks to you. The way the models look, a story or some lore you read about them, or a particular color scheme just hits you and you’re hooked. If that’s you, awesome. You have an idea where to start. The sheer number of options can be intimidating for everyone else who is interested in Warhammer, but hasn’t decided what they like. The best thing for new players is to decide what looks cool, and start there. Every army can be played a variety of ways, from elite to horde, or from shooty to melee. Each rules update and new edition changes what an army is better at doing, so the key is to find what you think is fun as a starting point, and worry about what’s good much later.
I’ve had a few armies in Warhammer, and tried many others. The army that I always keep going back to is Necrons. They’re the coolest army to me. Robot skeleton/undead with Egyptian themes and some really interesting insectoid constructs? Yes to all of that. So my starting point is a 2,000 point Necron army. Trazyn is my favorite Necron character, and I like my Necrons in the turquoise and gold of the Nihilakh Dynasty. My first Necron army was a Silver Tide list, one that featured multiple blocks of Necron Warriors marching up the battlefield, relying on their Reanimation Protocols to keep them going and eat up lots of incoming attacks. Finally, I love the look of the Canoptek Doomstalker. It’s a fantastic mini, and Necrons haven’t historically had taller walkers. That gives me a starting point.
Two Necron Combat Patrol boxes gets me a very solid base. That’s 20 Warriors and two Doomstalkers, which is great for my direction. 20 Warriors isn’t enough, but it’s a solid start, and probably half of what I want to have in my final list. The two Doomstalkers are exactly what I want. I could take up to three, but I think that’s too many. Two Doomstalkers gives me decent punch, and more than a single walker threat to deal with.
The additional bonus to two Combat Patrols is having access to six Skorpekh Destroyers. That’s the max for a single unit, or two individual units. Skorpekhs are fantastic minis, with the tripod bodies and big melee weapons, they look great on the table. And, on the table, they look very interesting. A pack of six is capable of 24 melee attacks, and each successful attack can do two damage. They can also reroll Hit rolls of 1 in melee, or the entire Hit roll if they charged. That’s a fantastic unit to use as protection or counter-charge.
Yes, it’s very early in this series, but I’m ready to make both of my Online Only selections. First, obviously, I’m taking Trazyn the Infinite. He’ll be my Warlord, and I’ll be building my list around using him both thematically and also strategically. Then, if I’m bringing big blocks of Warriors I’ll want a Canoptek Reanimator to help keep them Reanimating. And, with a block of Skorpekh Destroyers, a Skorpekh Lord would do a lot to help them even more by giving their melee attacks Lethal Wounds and adding Mortal Wounds to charges. That means my second Online Only choice is the Necrons Royal Court box.
The final selection of my starting list is two boxes of Lychguard. In the lore, Trazyn keeps a unit of Lychguard close at all times. I love the look of sword and shield Lychguard. A block of ten of them to protect Trazyn while he holds objectives. That’s themey and very cool to put on the table.
Now, we have a starting point for ordering, building and painting. Next month we’ll take a look at my progress and continue building up to 2,000 points!
The Current List
Current Purchases
2x Necron Combat Patrol ($302.40)
1x Trazyn The Infinite ($29.48)
1x Necrons Royal Court ($114.75)
2x Lychguard ($108.00)
Current Units
1x Trazyn
1x Overlord
1x Skorpekh Lord
20x Warriors
1x Canoptek Doomstalker
1x Canoptek Doomstalker
1x Canoptek Reanimator
10x Lychguard
6x Skorpekh Destroyers
Points and Cost
Current Total: $554.73
Current Points: 1155
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