Hey all,

So I'm new to Conquest. Bought the Core set last week and over the next few days got Scourge, Isha, and Blackmane warpacks (I know, I need at least 1 more Core, 2 more if I wanna be pro!). I've only played 2 games, 1 as the Orks and 1 as SM + AM. I plan to get a couple more games in a couple days, maybe another couple more this upcoming weekend.

Going into the game, I had wanted to play 2 of either Orks, Chaos, and Necrons (once they're out). Tau was a darkhorse. Now after seeing all the art and playing SM+AM (which I didn't expect to care for, but ended up liking a lot), I'm kind of torn what to play. I'm really big on fluff/flavor and I've always favored Orks, Chaos Marines, Necrons, Tau, and Nids in my 6 years of following 40k. But I'm loving the Eldar art in Conquest and Baharroth seems like an awesome Warlord, so now Eldar are tempting me lol (along w/ possibly some Imperium deck, focused on BT and AM once the BT Warlord comes out).

So my first set of questions are about how to decide what decks to play. Should I focus on just maining 1 or 2 decks? 1 or 2 factions as a whole? Diversify and just play as many as possible? If it's best to focus on just 1 or 2, I know it'll be up to me to make the ultimate decision between the 6 candidates lol...

But this is related to my 2nd set of questions... How common is it to just trade cards for factions you don't intend to use/play w/ your friends?

I may have reeled in 1-3 other players to start w/ me and we're discussing splitting a lot of Warpacks, more Cores, etc. Is this the best approach or should I just keep everything for myself in case I change my mind on what I'm playing? I was going to buy a few more Warpacks tonight, but decided to hold off til I know if my friends are buying in and what we can trade/split. Should I just buy what I want and sort out any trades/splitting later?

Also, how frequently do you all play? I don't want to burn myself out too soon, so I'm trying to "slowly" take all of this in, but I'm just too eager to really get into the game. Is 5~10 games a month a good pace? For a new player?

I think that's about it for now. I definitely am looking forward to learning more and researching more about meta strats, decks, my local meta and what they play (we have at least a few regular players, but no regular meet up day. My FLGS is apparently hosting a regional tourney soon), etc.

Thanks for any and all input!

Welcome to the game . I jumped into this game feet first , after playing Invasion quite religiously , and started with 3 cores. Playing with a faction you favour is probably the best way to begin . With me , I found both D.Eldar and Eldar to be my favorites and played them as eachother's allies as well . I have stuck with these two and began to blend D.Eldar with Chaos lately .

I cant say much about other races other than ( and this is just my opinion ):

AM are good mix with SM and are heavy on supports.

SM are good by themselves . Very balanced in all aspects ( events,AOE,Cato is a good first warlord etc.)

Orc , Tau and Nids I have not played at all really . I have played more Nid games than the other two but I feel they dont have much of a punch at this point in the games life to warrant playing a lot of games with them . You can certainly throw some interesting combos with the Synapse and Warlord but I prefer the tricks of the Eldar decks to be my favorite.

I certainly would suggest trying them all . It is a lot to take in with all the combo possibilities , but the more you play each, the more the styles of each faction becomes more apparent and you will realize one that you yourself prefer .

As for 5- 10 games a month, honestly I would have that in a week and sometimes 5 or 6 a night . But to do that you need a gaming buddy commited to the game too . I play with my son in law who is 15 and he loves this game . He built his own deck of AM with some SM soldiers ( he likes the look of Straken ) and we play a few a night for sure .

Keep digging into the game and for some really good reference to builds, opinions etc. on all cards check out

www.cardgamedb.com

....volumes of information and discussion on not just this game but many others ...

Have fun!!!

Thanks for the reply. And yeah I'd like to play at a more frequent pace, but not sure I can unless I keep bothering one local player lol (the others, even our TO have limited play time and my friends are still undecided).

And yeah that site is great. Has helped me plan purchases which is always nice. I wonder, is it reasonable to just buy any new future Warpacks as they come out? Or wait for testing/reviews from other players/the online community? Guess it is just $15 I can throw down blindly

Personally, I've found Baharroth to be kinda meh until recently. You really need a lot of expansions to make him viable, from my experience. Deathly Web Shrine, Saim-Hann Jetbike, Wildrider Vyper, and the Vectored Vyper Squadron play to his strengths particularly well. Empower, Bonesinger Choir, and the Eldritch Corsair are just good cards to have.

What Lurks Below has to be hands down the single best expansion thus far. It can't really stand alone, but if you have a decent card pool, it's got some darn good stuff. Now as to how to go about buying expansions, I'd advise that you buy the whole expansion for yourself. Yeah, maybe one tends to play Eldar or Marines with a Tau splash, but you never know when that Chaos Timmy deck with a Dark Eldar splash is going to hit just the right itch. Also one might happen to be a 100% completionist magpie. One can promise oneself that it's OK, after all, a warpack and a box of dragon shields is cheaper than buying a coffee every day for a week. (No, no I'm not speaking from personal experience, where would you ever get an idea like that? The odd specificity? The fact that I had a justification on hand? OK, that is personal experience, and I'm not even a tourney player. I have a problem. )

Speaking of, that brings me to another point, for the love of all that's Holy, sleeve your cards! Yes it pretty much doubles the cost if you're getting decent sleeves. Yes, it's 150% worth it.

Ohh, yeah, and don't forget to have fun. And have money for food. Food is good.

Personally, I've found Baharroth to be kinda meh until recently. You really need a lot of expansions to make him viable, from my experience. Deathly Web Shrine, Saim-Hann Jetbike, Wildrider Vyper, and the Vectored Vyper Squadron play to his strengths particularly well. Empower, Bonesinger Choir, and the Eldritch Corsair are just good cards to have.

What Lurks Below has to be hands down the single best expansion thus far. It can't really stand alone, but if you have a decent card pool, it's got some darn good stuff. Now as to how to go about buying expansions, I'd advise that you buy the whole expansion for yourself. Yeah, maybe one tends to play Eldar or Marines with a Tau splash, but you never know when that Chaos Timmy deck with a Dark Eldar splash is going to hit just the right itch. Also one might happen to be a 100% completionist magpie. One can promise oneself that it's OK, after all, a warpack and a box of dragon shields is cheaper than buying a coffee every day for a week. (No, no I'm not speaking from personal experience, where would you ever get an idea like that? The odd specificity? The fact that I had a justification on hand? OK, that is personal experience, and I'm not even a tourney player. I have a problem. )

Speaking of, that brings me to another point, for the love of all that's Holy, sleeve your cards! Yes it pretty much doubles the cost if you're getting decent sleeves. Yes, it's 150% worth it.

Ohh, yeah, and don't forget to have fun. And have money for food. Food is good.

Haha, thanks. So far all my games (just under a dozen or so) have been fun. Even when some local vets destroy me.

Yeah, I got What Lurks Below the other day. Been focusing on Orks (Gorzod and Nazdreg specifically) the past few games and have used 2 of the 3 cards in the Warpack to good results.

And yes, I have already sleeved my cards lol. I had to settle for FFG's sleeves. I usually prefer to just use inner sleeves since they are so perfectly flush, but they seem to be hard to find at stores and even online...So I just got the FFG for American games, w/ a little give. I'm content w/ that for now lol.

Oh and yeah, my aspiration for Baharroth has gone down the wayside. I played Eldar and I just couldn't handle all the expensive units efficiently. Granted, it was just a randomly built deck, I just didn't quite have fun w/ it.

My current plan is to focus on Orks, then Necrons. Then whatever tickles my fancy down the line. I think i WILL end up being a completionist and just buy and keep everything. I have a friend who got The Great Devourer and is willing to trade me my Nid cards for that box's non-Nid cards. But I think I may avoid to just make my own Nid deck possibly down the line.

Some thoughts:

- I wouldn't trash/trade cards if I were you, even if they're for factions that you aren't interested in at the moment. You never know when a new warlord might come out that will make you love the faction (for instance, I generally don't like AM, but Coteaz and Worr are both really interesting warlords who I'd be willing to play if I weren't currently still in love with Tyranids). Splitting with friends is also problematic, particularly since most decks need at least a few of the neutrals.

- Buying packs piecemeal is fine if they have cards you really want; if there aren't any stand-outs, though, it's often best to wait for the whole cycle to decide if you want to buy into it or not. It's pretty common for the bulk of the cycle to be interrelated thematically (planet icons, for the Planetfall cycle), and sometimes packs that look terrible end up being important if you want to leverage that theme (or vice versa; packs that have a card you want might be totally useless aside from the one card you like, so you can then decide if that card is worth the cost of the pack).

- Tyranids are a great place for new players to start from an economic standpoint, because you only need one core and the Tyranid box to have basically a full set (you can forego the neutrals and just get the Tyranids box if your opponent provides the tokens, but Fall Back and No Mercy in particular are really amazing with Tyranids). However, Tyranids in general are a little trickier to get into because they play very differently from the other races (it's possible to all but ignore the command phase as Tyranids, for instance, depending on your deck composition). Personally I love them and am enjoying the challenge of figuring out how to play them effectively, but YMMV. The Planetfall stuff for Tyranids has been pretty so-so, Subject-Omega and possibly Soaring Gargoyles aside.

Welcome to the addiction!