Starting your Warhammer journey is equal parts exciting and overwhelming. With dozens of factions across Warhammer 40,000 and Age of Sigmar, it’s easy to feel spoiled for choice – or just plain stuck. Whether you’re painting your first miniature or gearing up for your first game, choosing the right faction can shape your experience. So let’s break down some of the best Warhammer factions for beginners and explain exactly why they work so well for new players.
What Makes a Good Beginner Faction?
Before we get into specifics, here’s what we looked for in a beginner-friendly faction:
- Ease of assembly and painting – Simpler models, fewer fine details, forgiving colour schemes.
- Straightforward rules – No weird interactions or complex synergies.
- Balanced army composition – Access to a mix of unit types so you can learn the ropes.
- Starter set or Combat Patrol availability – Easy to get your hands on without breaking the bank.
- Strong community and support – More tutorials, advice, and examples helping you make faster progress. Posts like our beginners painting guide are a great place to start.
Now let’s break it down by system.
Warhammer 40,000 Beginner Factions
Space Marines
Space Marines are poster boys of 40k, and they get a lot of favourable treatment from Games Workshop. They feature in a lot of the box sets, have a huge variety of sub-factions and loads of lore to add flavour to the faction. This extra attention does make them one of the best Warhammer factions for beginners; they’re marketed as being a great way to start getting involved in the hobby.
Why they’re great: Flexible, durable, and supported with a mountain of resources for painting and playing. Most starter sets feature them, and you’ll find tutorials everywhere.
Painting tip: Their classic blue (Ultramarines), green (Dark Angels), or red (Blood Angels) schemes are easy to replicate with minimal paints. You can also invent your own Chapter.
Gameplay style: Balanced – not too shooty, not too melee-heavy. Though you can tailor towards either end of this spectrum if you’d like.
Perfect for: Anyone looking for a “classic” Warhammer experience.
Necrons
Undead, Egyptian-inspired space skeletons with a metallic twist. They’re an ancient all-powerful force that’s reawakening in the Imperium and seems unstoppable. They’ve also featured in recent starter boxes and had a refresh of their models. They lend themselves to a force of strong, easy to paint units with a few amazingly sculpted centrepieces and they can hold their own against most other factions.
Why they’re great: Simple, forgiving to paint (spray silver, wash, done), and very resilient in-game. Their rules are simple but effective, and they were featured heavily in 9th Edition’s starter kits so if you’re lucky you can find sprues and kits second hand.
Painting tip: Keep it simple. You can achieve striking results with just a few paints and drybrushing. You can then get more ambitious with the larger, centrepiece models.
Gameplay style: Tough, slow-moving, good at board control.
Perfect for: Beginners who like soulless legions of robots, Egyptian inspired ancient lore, or hate edge highlighting.
Tyranids
Alien swarms with simple rules and wild colour schemes. They’re kind of the ‘big bad’ of the 40K universe as their never ending swarms of creatures devour everything in their path in search of more biomass to feed the hive mind. In our opinion they’re one of the best Warhammer factions for beginners because of the creative fun they offer.
Why they’re great: Tons of hobby freedom with colour schemes, levels of grimdark and centerpiece models. Their playstyle (swarms backed up by big monsters) is easy to grasp. Their Combat Patrol is beginner-friendly, and recent updates have revitalised the range.
Painting tip: Get creative. You can go with simple bone and purple, or unleash a vibrant, custom Hive Fleet that feels more like an acid trip, and they all look great on the tabletop.
Gameplay style: Aggressive, melee-focused, but supported by synapse and buffs.
Perfect for: Hobbyists who want to experiment, or like fast-paced gameplay.
Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Beginner Factions
Stormcast Eternals
The Sigmarite answer to Space Marines. Similarly to what we said about their 40k cousins, these are one of the best factions for Warhammer beginners because they’re the poster boys and girls. Plenty of lore, cool models and support for collecting and painting.
Why they’re great: Durable, straightforward units with easy-to-understand synergies. Tons of support from starter sets to tutorials. Most new AoS players start here.
Painting tip: Their gold armour is iconic, but they look great in any colour. Many box arts use contrast-friendly techniques.
Gameplay style: Mid-range powerhouses with strong durability.
Perfect for: Fans of fantasy paladins or those new to Age of Sigmar entirely.
Orruk Warclans (Ironjawz)
Big green lads who like hitting things. There’s a reason Orruk’s (or 40k Orks) are often regarded as some of the most fun armies to play. The Orruk warclan’s have a simple approach to war that translates into their rules. In general you want to charge quickly and overwhelm your opponents in close quarters – easy to understand and execute for a beginner.
Why they’re great: Simple rules, brutal melee combat, and surprisingly few models needed to make a functioning army. The Ironjawz sub-faction is a popular and beginner-friendly option.
Painting tip: Bold colours and textures make for forgiving schemes, and they look great with minimal effort.
Gameplay style: Fast, smashy, and full of personality.
Perfect for: Beginners who want a bit of fun and a lot of krumpin’.
Cities of Sigmar (New Range)
A beautifully modern take on fantasy humans. This is one of the newer additions to the Age of Sigmar line up and offers some fun sculpts to paint. Cities of Sigmar armies move slightly away from the big monsters, daemons and god-like warriors of other factions and starts to feel a bit more gritty and, frankly, muddy. The soldiers in the range lean towards a more ‘modern medieval’ vibe (fusiliers with shields and guns anyone?). That said the battletome allows for armies made of all the citizenry of the Cities of Sigmar – so you can field men, duardin and aelves, which gives a ton of variety for a new player.
Why they’re great: The new Cities models are stunning, and the army offers access to a variety of playstyles which gives you room to explore as you learn.
Painting tip: Earthy tones, leather, metals, and subtle accents give you great practice without requiring perfection. If you start burning out painting one type of troop you can always mix it up with another race.
Gameplay style: Balanced combined-arms armies with flexible strategies.
Perfect for: Painters and strategists who want a “classic” fantasy army with a modern edge.
Most Importantly: The best beginner Warhammer faction is the one you enjoy.
At the end of the day, the best faction for you is the one that excites you. All of the options above are strong entry points, but if you fall in love with the look, lore, or vibe of another faction — go for it! No army is truly off-limits to beginners if you’re passionate about it.
Did you enjoy this article? You could always tip the author with a coffee (or something stronger). If you fancy getting yourself some minis to start your collection, then check out Element Games. They have great deals on paint supplies and a wide range of Warhammer and other minis. Finally, make sure you’re following us on Instagram to stay up to date and get involved in our community!
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