So, you are new to the hobby aspect of miniature wargames and feel a bit overwelmed. Its understandable. I will post some tools you should look into as well as some general tips and tricks to make assembly smooth.

Most of these can be bought either at local hobby stores or hardware stores. these are my personal preferences,but you do you. Go to the local hobby shop or game store and talk to people they will give you really good advice on tools needed and what to buy and not buy.

Hobby Knife: - Use this to de-sprue your pieces and to remove mold lines by scrapping the back edge of the blade perpendicularly across the mold line (plenty of youtube tutorials)
https://www.amazon.com/X-ACTO-2-Knife-Safety-Cap/dp/B000V1QV7O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503492149&sr=8-1&keywords=exacto

Clippers: - quick and fast way to de-sprue bits to be cleaned further by a hobby knife
https://www.amazon.com/Revell-39000-Precision-Side-Cutter/dp/B00E9S1JHM/ref=sr_1_4?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1503492462&sr=1-4&keywords=sprue+cutter

Files: - more model cleaning. This particular set has every shape and form needed for miniature wargaming
https://www.amazon.com/Precision-Needle-Jewelers-Metal-Glass/dp/B013WFLH3S/ref=sr_1_16?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1503492508&sr=1-16&keywords=hobby+file+set

Plastic Glue: - I have been using this glue for 25years now (im only 31) this stuff is tried and true hands down the best plastic glue for Polystyrene (Typical model kits for boats, cars, planes) material
https://www.amazon.com/Testors-3507AT-Liquid-Plastic-1-Ounce/dp/B00005CA7S/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1503492559&sr=8-8&keywords=plastic+glue

Super Glue: - I used to swear by GaleForce9 but they have changed the bottles and the formula. This is the best super glue for me personally. It has a metal pin to make sure it never plugs.
https://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Super-Glue-15-g/dp/B001IY82FM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1503492551&sr=8-6&keywords=plastic+glue

Wall tac for posters and such. It is a great way to hold pieces together, or bases to pill bottles for better painting technique.

Tips:

Wash your sprues. Now I pretty much don't do this, so this is more of a do as I say not as I do. Take your sprues, rinse them and gentle wash them with dish soap and an old tooth brush. This helps get the mold release agent off the models which makes gluing and priming easier and stick better.

Dry fit your pieces. Make sure the pieces fit before you commit to glue. This is fairly important and can alleviate a lot of head aches or mistakes. You would be suprised how many people don't do this and put the wrong leg on the wrong side of the torso even though there are clearly marked instructions.

Follow directions. Really, its not hard, and one again saves lots of headaches.

Be patient.

Something I do not suggest is super glue accelerator. While it make set faster it leads to a more brittle bond which makes it easier for the model to accidentally break if you used super glue. If the set time is less than desired you can use sweat or spit. One thing I do (remember I don't wash my sprues so incoming tongue cancer) is put glue in the socket, lick the part that goes into the socket and combine. you can also run the piece across your forward in these warm summer months. I have no idea if certain sweat is better than others. Only down side is you will absolutely try to combine the pieces get frustrated lick or swipe and either have superglue on your tongue (which feels really really weird but comes off easy) or rip out part of your forehead. The joys of modelling.

Hope this helps and if anyone has any more suggestions for tips, pointers, tools feel free.

This is a good post.

On the topic of glue, we don't know yet what the exact material used for this will be.

As such, super glue is the safest bet until we know whether polystyrene based plastics are used.

2 minutes ago, BergerFett said:

Be patient.

Don't tell me how to live my life.

Good stuff here. At least for me.

What the **** is a sprue and why are you licking them?

1 minute ago, Undeadguy said:

What the **** is a sprue and why are you licking them?

A sprue is the excess plastic that's part of the molding process. For games like 40k or Bolt Action the models come still attached the sprue and you have to clip them off it.

11 minutes ago, kurttkrueger said:

This is a good post.

On the topic of glue, we don't know yet what the exact material used for this will be.

As such, super glue is the safest bet until we know whether polystyrene based plastics are used.

IIRC it was said to be the same as RuneWars but that may not be 100%

7 minutes ago, VanorDM said:

A sprue is the excess plastic that's part of the molding process. For games like 40k or Bolt Action the models come still attached the sprue and you have to clip them off it.

It was mentioned in one of the demo videos that there would be some desprue-ing required.

<---- a sprue

Please no sprues, PLEASE!!!

1 minute ago, Thraug said:

Please no sprues, PLEASE!!!

Don't worry. FFG has already said no sprues. THANK THE MAKER! Clipping, sanding, rinsing....sprues and release agents are the worse.

i actually wish there WERE sprues. The odds of thin bits being busted in the box are drastically lower when theyre in a sprue and not a baggie.

Not hard to get them off. Clippers and a fine file over a few seconds per attached point, done. Unless they do some BS alot of older GW sprues did where it connected in a dip that was **** near impossible to cleanly cut off.

Also personally im against plastic glue. Theres two issues with it, 1) its not universal, some modelling materials may not work with it very well (also Resin isnt plastic and its quite common). 2) when it does work, its such a solid fixture you cant do anything about it afterwords. I dunno how many times ive glued something and 2-3 days later gone OH CRAP WHYD I GLUE THAT and thanks to superglue really not liking being in a freezer for a few days i can usually just snap it right off cleanly.

Just wanted to say that I almost always use Loctite gel glue for my minis, unless they're metal of course. It gives you excellent control and cures in the perfect time frame. The Empire endorses this product!

why don't people like sprues? As mentioned its great for fast debris piles of terrain. Also where was this mentioned. During the Team covenant demo video the Dev mentioned some minor clipping required.

Plastic glue chemically "melts" the plastic and then solidfys it. It is really hard to fix (usually need to heat the blade, get it to the joint and pry apart). I generally just enjoy the smell (don't judge)

sprue trees would make spraying primer/base coats a lot easier... Spraying all the storm troopers before assembly for example

Yeah thats why its so strong, but not universal
If it cant "melt" the material it does nothing. But if it can oh boy does it make it solid.
Other side effect is unlike gel superglue or liquid superglue on a totally flat surface, plastic glue doesnt offer any "tack" to help hold the model while it does its work.

6 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

Yeah thats why its so strong, but not universal
If it cant "melt" the material it does nothing. But if it can oh boy does it make it solid.
Other side effect is unlike gel superglue or liquid superglue on a totally flat surface, plastic glue doesnt offer any "tack" to help hold the model while it does its work.

yea. freezing a model to break it is always fun.

7 minutes ago, Wiredin said:

sprue trees would make spraying primer/base coats a lot easier... Spraying all the storm troopers before assembly for example

this hurts me with every fibre of my soul... unless you are painting skeletons. no one cares about skeletons.

25 minutes ago, BergerFett said:

yea. freezing a model to break it is always fun.

this hurts me with every fibre of my soul... unless you are painting skeletons. no one cares about skeletons.

hand paint all the troopers????

1 minute ago, Wiredin said:

hand paint all the troopers????

yea... i guess it depends on how good or bad you want them to look.

4 minutes ago, BergerFett said:

yea... i guess it depends on how good or bad you want them to look.

Huh? Nothing wrong with sprayed primer/base, it's totally normal even among pros.

4 minutes ago, Extropia said:

Huh? Nothing wrong with sprayed primer/base, it's totally normal even among pros.

thats what I thought too. ie: Sorrastro's guide.

4 minutes ago, Extropia said:

Huh? Nothing wrong with sprayed primer/base, it's totally normal even among pros.

maybe ive been so ingrained against it.

Isn't it a bad idea to spray or paint over where you're going to glue though? Doesn't the glue just bond the paint to the paint, making for a weak join?

I've always cut stuff off of sprues, and either assembled the mini before spray priming or used tack to cover up where the glue would go before spraying.

Airspray primer is technically the best, but airspray equipment run you 200USD minimum typically (which is why i dont have one).
Smaller figs you can get away with brushprimer but larger surfaces you really should use spraycans. If the primer has brushstrokes in it it can mess up the final product. Smaller figs (i.e. what we got in the core box atm) usually wont have this problem.

When using a spraycan though you REALLY need the spacing right, and its not a simple X distance. You have to factor heat, sunlight, how empty the can is, and depending on how youre doing it: wind. Too far away you get a gunky blotted mess on your model, too close you gum up the detail. I've de-primed numerous models because i fudged up the priming and it got all gummy lol

Painting over glued spots isnt as bad as people make it sound but it will mess with things. Typically i dont care since i use superglue and when it snaps it snaps cleanly so i just reglue it real quick.

If in the US, Hobby Lobby and Michael's each have standing weekly coupons in the 30-50% off range. Valid for a single item. On many items it works out to be the same or less than what you will find on Amazon.

Snips ... X-Acto knives ...files ... sand paper ...Tamiya spray primers ... some Vallejo paints ... fancy green matt with yellow measurement lines in all the "how to" vids ... visor with magnifying lenses ...

Prices out at or below Amazon with the coupons.

The only item easily cheaper on Amazon are Windsor & Newton brushes. Retail mark-up on those are car/diamond high and art stores carry the ones desired. Hobby Lobby and Michael's do not. Talking the black, acrylic brushes in 2, 1, 0, 00 and 000 sizes.

I may have pre-bought Legion out of excitement; done this research; purchased these items and started to learn how to model/paint this weekend

So would it be weird of me to say that I plan to buy into the game but don't care to paint or file my miniatures or build terrain, and plan to do neither?

It'll be a bother enough to have to glue them. Was hoping that they would be IA-style where most small figures are single mold and anything with assembly snaps together quickly. Will be really annoying to not be able to open new expansions and play them immediately.

But that's okay. Because it looks like loads of fun and the rules are fairly simple from what we've seen.

Regardless of there not being a sprue (ugh..) i am seriously glad they didnt FUSE THE DANG BASE TO THE MODEL like they did for RWM.

It makes painting boots a nightmare, and inner legs. Plus, basing the model with anything other than basic "paint on base material" becomes a serious challenge. That is my only gripe about RWM minis, to the point where i made the sacrifice of just having flat black boots.

42 minutes ago, Dash Two said:

If in the US, Hobby Lobby and Michael's each have standing weekly coupons in the 30-50% off range. Valid for a single item. On many items it works out to be the same or less than what you will find on Amazon.

Snips ... X-Acto knives ...files ... sand paper ...Tamiya spray primers ... some Vallejo paints ... fancy green matt with yellow measurement lines in all the "how to" vids ... visor with magnifying lenses ...

Prices out at or below Amazon with the coupons.

The only item easily cheaper on Amazon are Windsor & Newton brushes. Retail mark-up on those are car/diamond high and art stores carry the ones desired. Hobby Lobby and Michael's do not. Talking the black, acrylic brushes in 2, 1, 0, 00 and 000 sizes.

I may have pre-bought Legion out of excitement; done this research; purchased these items and started to learn how to model/paint this weekend

only windsor newtons you really need is the 2 and 0 and the 0 gets used like 5% of the time. For how expensive they are id suggest just getting the 2 for now. you will also need brush soap for those brushes

Just spray with one color (diffrent for faction) to give them boardgame-like look

Nice Post!