Beginners

Here you can find all the information you'll need to start your journey in the Horus Heresy. You will find links and guides to the different books you might need, where you can get support and help with your hobby and where to go next once you're happily settled into the hobby.

## Starting out in the Horus Heresy

### "What army should I collect?"

When deciding what army you should collect in the Horus Heresy there are 3 things you need to consider when making this decision:

* Is there a particular character or army you enjoy reading about in the books?
* Is there a specific colour palette or model range you enjoy?
* Is there a certain playstyle you favour when playing the game?

All three points are worth considering, but emphasis is on the first two in the setting of the Heresy being a much more narrative-driven game than Warhammer 40K or Age of Sigmar. Finding a playstyle that matches your own is very important though, but it is recommended to not pick an army just for how they play or what their rules are like (potentially at the cost of it being an army you hate to paint or have no connection with). This might sound like a draconian way of recommending things, but it is widely regarded in the community that players who select an army they enjoy reading about, building and painting and playing with then they are much more likely to continue the hobby and enjoy it on a much greater level.

For specific guides on the hobby side of things, here is a link to the hobby section of the wiki.

### "What army suits my playstyle?"

If you are looking to find an army that matches your preferred playstyle, then it can be quite confusing to work out which army suits what playstyle. To aid with this we have developed a basic flow diagram to help you find the right army for your preferred playstyle.

***Please Note:** Every army is capable of playing (almost) any playstyle you can imagine, however some armies lend themselves to particular avenues of play. You can do a gunline Blood Angels army as much as a melee focused Iron Warriors army, but their respective bonuses do not necessarily support that playstyle over others.*

### "What books do I need?"

When starting a Horus Heresy Army it can be very confusing to know which books you need to get when playing your chosen army. To help with this, the following table will show you which publications are required to play each army. In addition to this, you will also need the Age of Darkness Rulebook no matter what army you select.

The books listed below are not a definitive list, and do not include 100% of all the models that particular army has access to. As this is a starting guide it isn't a problem not having everything immediately, but if you want to see exactly which books have the rules for which unit you can find that in the Lexicon of the wiki.

*\*There are a lot of unique characters included in Book 6 Retribution which are available to a wide array of Legions, so if you see a 6\* in the Black Book(s) section then that denotes a special character available to that particular army having rules present in that book.*

### "Where can I get my models?"

When buying the models for your new Horus Heresy army there are several options depending on what you are looking for. The easiest option is to purchase kits from Games Workshop or Forgeworld directly.

Sometimes you have a more limited budget and you can't necessarily buy directly from Games Workshop, so buying second hand armies or models is a more economical idea. You can find models that are built, primed or even fully painted (you may even find a colour or style that you really like and want to try to reproduce yourself) for a very good price depending on where you get them from so it's always good to have a look around and see what's out there. If you're looking to get specific bits for a conversion you want to do then there are websites you can go to which sell specific bits for you to use without having to buy the entire kit.

For more information on where you can purchase bits or second hand models, here is a link to the purchasing models and bits section of the wiki.

### "When can I play some games?"

This is a tricky question given the current restrictions going on in most countries, but in general you can play games within the comfort of your own home using Tabletop Simulator. The best recommendation however is to find a local gaming group, and get chatting to them and organise a game or two with people so you can get your new models on the table and get playing.

## Next steps

Now that you have a basic idea of where you want to go with the Horus Heresy, check out the Factions pages in detail to familiarise yourself with their playstyle, as well as some example lists you can build towards for practicing your chosen army. Or you can check out the Gameplay section to see general guides, tactica and army lists as well as information on how to use them and things to look out for when playing them.