Your Guide to the Best Warhammer 40K Miniature Armies for New Painters

When it comes to tabletop strategy games, Warhammer 40K has become one of the most recognizable titles on the market since its introduction in 1983.

With the relatively recent release of the Age of Sigmar line, the franchise is witnessing yet another surge in popularity among those looking to not only play the game but also collect and personalize all of their favorite figures.

Veterans of Warhammer are all too familiar with the difficulty of completing every single figurine due to their small size and high level of detail required.

However, those just starting out or who are new to the hobby altogether, may not have any indication of what the best Warhammer miniature armies for new painters are, what the easiest miniature models to paint are, or even how to start painting them.

In this guide, we will be looking at how you can get started, what to and not to look for in an army, which steps you can take to make the painting process as easy and as smooth as possible, and which army is the best starter kit for new painters.

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What You Need to Get Started Painting Miniatures and Basic Tips for Painting

1. Figure Out Your Motivation and Base Your Goal Around That.

There is no doubt about it, once you decide to take on painting Warhammer miniatures, you’ll soon realize that this isn’t a walk in the park. It is tedious, it requires a steady hand, and it is very time-consuming. In order to avoid losing interest in the project, understanding your motivation is imperative.

Maybe you want to learn to paint, maybe you want to learn advanced techniques of painting, or maybe you want to become more efficient at it; either way, figure out your motivation and create a goal around it. This will give you an end goal to strive for which will make the process more enjoyable.

2. Choose a Strategy and Stick With It.

Generally, for new painters, you are going to want to use basic painting techniques and understand that the more you paint, the better your models will get in aesthetic appearance.

Make sure that you pick a small force of models that you want to play with and always pick one that you like the aesthetics of that isn’t too complex. Once you’ve done this, understand which paint scheme you want to go with, and don’t choose too many paints for the project (2-3 for beginners).

3. Tips for Choosing Which Warhammer Army to Buy.

The number one thing to consider here is the aesthetic of the army you choose. If you want to buy something that you want to paint, that’s going to look incredible in your eyes, as that is what will drive you to finish the project.

Other than this, choose an army that matches the play style you want, read up on the lore if you are having trouble deciding, and do not go out and buy a massive set. Always start with a small starter set. If you are a collector, buy the sets that fit your army list.

4. A Note on Color Schemes.

For beginners, consider going with a lighter color scheme as darker colors tend to require more highlighting work to make look good from a distance. With light colors, you can add in some simple shade work and they will look awesome with less work.

Make sure to pick two complementary colors and use them as the foundation for all of your models as this will make it cheaper and easier to work with. Beyond this, for all other colors needed, use muted colors like brown for wood and metal coloring for armor and weapons.

Colors that are easy to paint for beginners include blue, brown, beige, and green while, black, purple, yellow, red, and white are harder.

5. The Tools You Will Need to Get Started.

Consider buying the following tools, a white primer, a cutter or clipper for the plastic pieces, plastic glue, a mold line remover or hobby knife, a wet palette as this keeps your paint moist, miniature brushes, a good soap for cleaning brushes, a base paint set, a shading/washing paint set, some texture paints, a starter set of models, and a cutting mat to work on.

6. How to Cut, Clean, and Assemble Your Pieces.

Generally, most starter kits will come with an instruction booklet that will outline step-by-step instructions on which pieces you will need in which order.

Once you find the right pieces, align the flat end of the clippers towards it and make your cut. You will need to also cut out the piece that it will be glued with.

Make sure to remove all excess plastics and mold lines from the miniature after cutting it away from the plastic framing.

Once you’ve done this, try and “dry-fit” the pieces together to see if they fit seamlessly; if they do not, remove more plastic until they do. Finally, apply plastic glue to all parts that will fit together. Always wipe excess glue away immediately.

7. How to Prime Your Miniatures.

Always place your miniatures on a hard, level surface and line them up with a little bit of space between them. You may want to use an adhesive to stick them to the surface they are standing on so that they do not fall over when you spray them.

Gently spray your miniatures in slow motion and adjust the distance as needed. Always check to see if you missed any spots but do not touch your miniatures before they are dry.

8. How to Get That Base Paint Right.

If you have not glued your miniatures to their bases, you will need to either use a miniature holder or use an adhesive like sticky tac to hold the miniature down while you apply the basecoat.

Paint from the inside out, doing the hardest-to-reach places first, so for example, the inside of a cloak or the tongue of a mouth. If possible, always paint all parts of the model that require the same color and use thin coats. Rinse your brush regularly!

9. Shading, What’s That?

Once your miniatures have a basecoat on, they are going to look pretty dull. To fix this, you add in some shadows, which is where shading comes into play.

You will need a brush that is one size up from the basecoat brush size and use the same color as the basecoat. If you’ve used a green basecoat, you will want a green shade of paint.

Apply the shade to the painted areas and move it around so that it settles in the creases, but keep in mind that it is always better to apply too little shade than too much. Always rinse your brush thoroughly throughout the process (a lot) as the shade can ruin your brush if it dries at all.

10. Adjust and Readjust Your Process.

What works well for someone else is not necessarily going to work well for you. Always be prepared to adjust your painting process to what is easier for you.

You may want to do all bases in one go or you may want to go with less shading, or you may want to try out different color schemes.

Read more: 18 Tips and Tricks To Get Better at Painting Warhammer Miniatures

What To Look For When Choosing Your Beginner Army

Buy New. It’s no secret that Warhammer figures are also one of the more expensive brands of miniatures on the tabletop market, especially the newest models, so you may be tempted to look for pre-owned or older models. Although you may avoid breaking the bank, there are several problems you may run into with this strategy.

The process of painting a miniature is time-consuming and becomes even more time-consuming with having to strip the old paint off of it first.

Provided you’re patient, this is more of an inconvenience than a problem, however, the real issue arises when the miniature is an older model. The older Warhammer miniatures tended to be much more complex, requiring significantly more attention to detail before, and during the painting process.

This involved part clean-up, as parts were made in molds, as well as assembly, which was seldom intuitive, and posing, something that is often already complete for newer sets.

Buy Big. In the case of simplicity, bigger really is better, as larger models result in two major factors: less fine detail, and fewer miniatures to paint. Smaller miniatures can result in a lot of frustration for a beginner, as the level of detail becomes so fine that any and all mistakes become glaringly obvious.

Working with larger figures adds the benefit of eliminating most fine detail, making it easier to blend in small mistakes, all while still allowing you to practice these details via shading and highlighting.

In addition to this, larger sets include fewer figurines and as such, eliminate the dashing of hopes that comes with finally finishing a model, only to realize you still have 29 more to go.

Built like a Tank. As previously mentioned, fine details result in a lot of frustration for new painters, so eliminating as much fine detail as possible will, in turn, prevent a negative experience. One such method of achieving this is to look for sets covered in as much armor plating as you can find.

Armour is one of the easiest textures to paint, as they require minimal detail, and metallic paints are readily available and do most of the work for you.

As an added benefit, armor allows beginners to test out and hone new techniques such as rust effects and battle damage with minimal effort, making it great for practice before tackling more complicated figures.

Believable But Not Realistic. Anyone who has ever taken an art class can speak to the difficulty of trying to recreate a realistic-looking image. In essence, painting miniatures is no different, and you will quickly find that close enough, is good enough.

Try to look for miniatures with a more ‘cartoon’ feel to them, as once again, this will eliminate much of the fine detail that a realistic-looking figurine would have.

Additionally, cartoon looks make it much easier to blend in mistakes in order to make them look like they actually belong there, like an accidental blotch being blended in to look like skin discoloration.

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What To Avoid When Choosing Your Beginner Army

Don’t Purchase High Volume Armies. Do not purchase armies that are considered high-volume; these will have many copies of the same unit which can make painting them feel repetitive and a chore, rather than a hobby.

Make sure that you will be able to finish painting your army before losing the enjoyment of doing so, to do this, purchase small-count armies, to begin with.

Which Materials to Avoid? In most cases, miniatures will be made out of some kind of ABS plastic which is great to work with, but there are some models and kits that will be made out of metal or resin.

The best practice for beginners is to avoid models that are made out of resin and metal as these are a lot more difficult to work with. For example, resin requires much more prep work, while metal has a more involved painting process. Additionally, both lack the amount of detail possible with ABS plastic.

Avoid Too Many Small Parts. Not only do small parts like weapons and shields involve a lot of intricate details, but they can also be difficult to work with due to their small, fiddly size.

Focusing on simpler models will save you the frustration that can come with painstakingly working for hours on one single piece per miniature.

Save the more complex models for when you have acquired the painting experience and advanced painting techniques needed to do them right.

Avoid Missing Hard-to-Reach Areas After Assembly. Remember to think ahead when piecing together your miniatures, as some may end up with hard-to-reach areas once they are assembled.

The easiest way to avoid this is to paint the pieces before piecing them together, and you can get a feel for what they will look like by using temporary adhesives, like a sticky tack.

This way, you’ll be able to make each part fit together seamlessly without the worry of accidentally painting over a part you’ve completed previously. Of course, once the painting is finished, you will need to seamlessly glue the parts together.

Here Are The Best Armies For Beginner Painters

There are many armies to choose from and each of them has its own quirks and perks when it comes down to painting them.

However, it should always be kept in mind that it is important to feel excited about painting your miniatures, so you should try to choose an army you genuinely like instead of just sticking with what’s easy. The following armies listed are those with the most pros and fewest cons from a novice painter’s perspective.

Stormcast Eternals. The positives include only newer models available so you won’t find any metal or resin-based options. Almost all kits come with entirely armor-covered units, have smaller armies to them, and are larger in model size. The only drawback is that they do have relatively intricate detailing.

Stormcast Eternals Starter Kit

Sylvaneth. The positives include small armies, easy work with colors, and require relatively simple techniques to make all models look unique. The drawbacks include no armor and require you to learn how to paint bark since these are tree people.

Kurnoth Hunters
Dryads
Drycha Hamadreth
Treelord
Branchwych

Kharadron Overlords. The positives include larger models, only newer models available, and are mostly armor covered. The drawback is that they are somewhat limited in variety.

Kharadron Overlords Starter Kit

Seraphon. The positives include that it is possible to create small armies out of them and they support a cartoony art style with bright colors. The drawback to these is that some models still come in resin or metal materials.

Battleforce Seraphon Starclaw Strikehost Starter Set

Tzeentch. The positives include being easy to work with colors, and most are covered in armor. The drawback is that they come with a relatively large army count.

Daemons of Tzeentch Starter Set

Nurgle. The positives include, larger models to work with and coming with portions or sections that are super easy to paint with little technique required (green goop, anyone?). The drawback is that while some of these models are easy to paint, some of them also come with intricate detailing.

Daemons of Nurgle Starter Set

Nighthaunt. The positives include, it’s one of the quickest armies to paint using wet blending basecoat techniques. The drawback is that learning to use a wet blending technique can be a bit of a learning curve.

The 3 best options include
- Dreadschythe Harridans
- Grimghast Reapers
- Bladegheist Revenants

Beastclaw Raiders. The positives include, that these are not restricted to realistic colors, and have the potential to be the smallest army in the game depending on how many units you want. The drawbacks are that they have limited variety and larger models that are quite complex to paint.

Beastclaw Raiders Starter Set

Bonesplitterz. The positives include minimal effort required for painting (green and brown mostly). The drawback is that they are limited in variety.

Savage Orruks Starter Set

Ironjawz. The positives include larger models, limited detail required, and lots of armor. The drawbacks are that they are limited in variety and can have hard-to-reach areas during post-assembly.

Ironjaws Starter Kit Starter Set

Conclusion

When first starting out, any artistic project can be daunting and difficult to kick off. However, as with any skill, practicing, using guides such as this one, and working at your own pace will eventually lead to you constructing and painting the most intricate of miniatures available.

As the franchise continues to grow, new and exciting options will become available to you, allowing you to continue to expand your armies and your skills. For more tips related to Warhammer 40K, check out this website as it’s a fantastic resource.