How To Start Your First Army
Introduction
In this blog we’re going to look at a few steps that will hopefully help you get started with your first army project. The game system I am focusing on is Warhammer Age of Sigmar but these steps can be applied to any system or project. I will be covering everything from picking your faction, exploring the lore of your choice and even steps to make sure you don't become overwhelmed by larger projects.
I recommend you first take the time to think about what you want out of this project. Are you looking to just get them built and painted for games? Looking to paint them the best you can, perfect for displaying or for dioramas. Either is perfectly fine as at the end of the day it’s your hobby to do with as you please, we all enjoy it in different ways: from casual games with friends to painting and modelling, competitive games or even campaigns. Pick whatever is right for you.
Picking a Faction
In Age of Sigmar there are four major factions known as Grand Alliances: Order, Death, Destruction, and Chaos. Inside these four major factions exist a whole host of sub-factions, offering plenty of options to choose from. I would recommend looking at each faction and the models that make up each of the sub-factions included within as if you dislike the models you won’t enjoy painting them.
For example, I have chosen the Grand Alliance Death and the sub-faction Soulblight Gravelords. The reason I chose this faction for a few reasons: the Vanguard: Soulblight Gravelords box is not only a solid base to expand upon, it also has some of the best-looking models from the faction in my opinion. Some of these models include The Blood Knights, bloodthirsty knights riding undead horses into battle, and the new Deathrattle Skeletons which are minions of the deathrattle kingdoms that cover everything from war to workers. It’s a plus that their new kit is stunning!
The Story
Before I pick a new project to work on, model or army, I like to do some digging on the chosen faction's story and what major characters are at play in the faction. I have always been a fan of the Mortarch of Blood Queen Neferata. Her most prized Domain is the city of new Nulahmia. This is based on her home from the world that was. The core of the Legion of Blood is made up of Deathrattle units and her honoured vampires the Sanguinarchs whose obsession for blood is almost unrivalled amongst Nagash’s countless legions.
That is just a snippet of the lore of her character and really helps me get excited about the faction and helps motivate me to paint and play that specific army. Remember, not only is there a whole host of books you can read but the battletomes themselves come with a great amount of fluff and story related to the faction. If you don’t want to read yourself then you’re in luck, there’s so much content out there on YouTube from channels that will give you a full breakdown of lore for every faction or specific character imaginable.
Building/painting
This one will come down to personal preference. Some people like to crack open the box and build all the models, some like to build one kit from the box at a time and paint it before moving on to the next one. For this project, I started out by building everything and then looked at painting schemes.
The best way to inspire yourself with ideas if you are unsure of what paint scheme to go for is to look at places like Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, Google and The Grand Alliance Forums. These are great resources to use as they host some amazing painters on there who paint miniatures across all the factions. Games Workshop themselves have their own YouTube channel with a whole range of painting guides. From troops and battleline to big monsters and heroes, don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun if we are not having fun then really what is the point?
Tools
Depending on the kit you aim to build, you will need a few different tools to assemble it. In the box that I have chosen, the Vanguard: Soulblight Gravelords, all of the kits are plastic/ Be aware that some kits come in metal or resin and require different tools and a bit of extra work. As a beginner, I recommend looking at plastic kits to start with. Here is a list of tools I will be using for this box.
If you are under the age of 18 you will need adult supervision or an adult to help you with using these tools. The reason I have gone for these tools is that I looked at the kits I am building and looked at how they are built (you can do this by eye or find a video where you can see the assembly process). I then noticed that the Deathrattle Skeletons have very thin legs (because they’re skeletons - duh!) so I went with Plastic Glue to build them, as this will fuse the connection points together and create a stronger bond to leave the miniature stronger overall.
The Super Glue is used only for connecting the models to their bases. The reason I have chosen super glue over other adhesives like plastic glue is in case I want to re-base the models or change the basing in the future, as this will mean I can cut or snap the model off much easier.
Please feel free to tag us on Facebook, Instagram, and X and show us what army you are working on or thinking of starting, we would love to hear from you.