Looking for advice on wh40k

Hi, well pretty much I've been thinking along with some friends of mine, to start playing wh40k- We're thinking on buying assult of black reach (so that two of us get an army to start with).

Now, the thing is that I'm not interested in neither space marines nor orkz.
(well.. maybe Orkz just a little.. just for comical reasons...)
I'm more inclined into Tyranids or Tau empair kind of stuff..(I like the way those two armies function, and also consider them fun to paint)

So, do you think that is possible to start playing WH40k without the starting box? I mean, the thing is that neither of us have ver played warhammer nor 40k.. so.. yeah...

Even so, I already downloaded all the rules, codexes, etc.. so learning how to play shouldn't be a problem.. I also have a good supply of dices (from AD&D mostly) The only thing missing would be the damage templates.. but I gues I could find some samples on the web regarding sizes, and just build them with some translucent plastic from CD cases or what not...

- Buying assault in black reach we could build two small armies splitting the cost in two people.. so it would be cheap... having armies that we don't like though.. but we would get dices, some scenery, rulebook and damage templates
- Buying any armie's box set individually would be more expensive but we would play with the arimes we like. though we wont get any premade scenery, rulebook, dices, nor damage templates.

What do you experienced folk recommend us go for?

If you don't like orks or marines, don't get them. All you really need from the box set is the rule book, and perhaps templates if you haven't got them already. Search ebay for chopped box sets - many buy a box set and split it up, selling the parts for slightly more than what they would cost as part of the box!

The minis of AOBR are good though, very nice sculpts, far superior in quality to Battle for Skull Pass.

A Tau starter set is cheap as well. Go for the greater good!

OT: recently ordered an Elysian veterans army from Forgeworld. I guess I'm just stupid, but that's how much cheapness of minis should matter. Lifestyles of the modestly rich and perhaps not so moderately stupid.

Depending on the money you got, I'd say get the AoBR boxed set. I intended to play WH40K when Battle for Macragge was still around, and though I never really got into it due to a lack of opponents, I thought it was quite a nice introduction to the game, with two small armies, some scenery to go with and a nice mini campaign to introduce you to the rules step by step. Plus, the rulebook is very conveniently sized so you can take it with you to battles.

After you got into the game, you can always start with the army you prefer without having spent too much on the other stuff.

I think I'd go for The Assault on Black Reach. The big thing is you'll have the components to learn the rules AND decide the type of army that appeals to you; i.e., close combat or ranged weaponry. THEN, if you don't care for the Space Marines or the Orks, showing admirable discernment with the former & an appalling lack of taste with the latter, you could sell them off for funds to aid in the purchase of thingys for the army of choice.

Marines are a good beginner army to learn to play with as their troops are fairly forgiving. Although outnumbered their quality means they can put up a decent show against most armies except against elite troops in their preferred setting.

While you could buy the box, learn to play, then sell the minis - you could just use eBay or other sites to buy the "mini" book at a discount and go from there.

I've found that if you like the look and background of an army, you'll probably collect it eventually and will adapt your playstyle to fit. No point beating around the bush - just get the army you want and learn to play with it!

As a Tau player I would say the box set is good depending on your play style. For me if I were to get it the next few things I would buy would be more crisis suits first and foremost maybe a commander as well and either a broadside battle suit or a skyray (I am told this has the parts for both the skyray and hammerhead).

I honestly don't know about the tyranid box set but to me it doesn't look all that good It has way to many troop choices and you would probably need to buy quite a few units to make it better.

I would definitely look on ebay as you can get a lot of stuff for cheaper than you normally would. Also you probably can find a lot of pre-used tyranid stuff since a new codex has come out since then and some people sell whole armys off to buy the latest.

-DTR

My 2 cents... The AoBR retails for $75

1) The mini rule book! This travel-size companion is a MUST for every player. You can buy one for ~$10 in eBay... but to me is priceless!
2) Templates, Dice AND Scatter Dice: ~$4 in eBay.
3) Space Marines: 1 Space Marine Captain ($15), 10 Tactical Space Marines ($35), 5 Space Marine Terminators ($50), 1 Space Marine Dreadnought ($40)... retail over $140.
4) Orks: 1 Ork Warboss ($20), 20 Ork Boyz ($44), 5 Ork Nobz ($25) and 3 Ork Deffkoptas ($90)... retail over $180.

GRANTED, the retail parts are multi-part plastic... but this is very good for the price. I would suggest get the AoBR, learn to play... PAINT the models and sell them! You can EASILY get the $75 back AND you keep the templates and the mini-rulebook (is GOLD!)

Go with whatever army you think you would love to paint and look at. Thats the best advice I could give you in 40k....I play the game with Orks, then IG and Now my son and I are building a SM force together. Made our own chapter too.

Go with what you know and whith what looks good to you.

If you do not want to play Orcs or Space Marines then I would suggest not buying the Assault of Black Reach. I would suggest purchase the Army you want to play.

You can go on Ebay and buy a copy of the rule book and templates at a pretty good price, so I would suggest starting there.

Also I would look into buying people's old armies on Ebay and/or Craig's List. If someone is looking to dump there army you can usually get a pretty good deal. I had a friend who wanted to switch fantasy armies from Orc to Dark Elf and I picked-up at least $250 worth of stuff for $50.