How to Start Warhammer 40,000 in 2026: A Beginner's Guide to Miniatures, Paints and Lore

Warhammer 40,000 is one of the most rewarding hobbies you can pick up — and one of the most intimidating to walk into. There are decades of lore, dozens of factions, an entire wall of paint pots, and a community that talks in acronyms.

Here is the good news: you can start for less than the price of a decent video game, and you do not need to understand any of the lore to begin. This guide walks through exactly what to do first.

Step One: Pick a Faction Because You Like How It Looks

Every new hobbyist asks which faction is strongest. Ignore that question entirely. Game balance shifts with every edition and codex update. What does not change is that you will spend many hours assembling and painting these models, and you should like looking at them.

A rough orientation to the big ones:

• Space Marines — genetically engineered super-soldiers in power armour. The most supported faction by a wide margin, with the most kits, the most guides and the most forgiving models to paint. If you are unsure, start here.
• Adeptus Mechanicus — cyborg tech-priests. Fantastic silhouettes, lots of fine detail, more challenging to paint well.
• Orks — green, loud, endlessly characterful. Extremely forgiving to paint because rough edges read as intentional. Genuinely one of the best beginner armies.
• Tyranids — a devouring alien swarm. Large model counts, but a simple three-colour scheme covers the whole army.
• Necrons — ancient robotic skeletons. Metallic-heavy schemes that look stunning fast.
• Chaos Space Marines — the fallen version of the loyalists. All the Space Marine advantages with darker aesthetics.
• Astra Militarum — ordinary humans with tanks and rifles. Great if you like a military feel over the superhuman.

Look at a few boxes, pick the one that makes you want to build it, and move on. That is genuinely the whole decision.

Step Two: The Tools You Actually Need

Hobby shopping lists online tend to balloon. Here is the honest minimum to get a model built and painted:

• Plastic glue — not superglue. Plastic cement chemically welds the parts together for a far stronger join. Citadel Plastic Glue is the standard.
• Clippers — for removing parts from the sprue. Do not twist parts off.
• A hobby knife — for cleaning up mould lines.
• A primer — paint will not adhere properly to bare plastic. Wraithbone and Corax White are the go-to light undercoats.
• A painting handle — optional, but a Citadel painting handle saves your fingers and your paint job. Worth the six dollars.

Everything above is in our Warhammer collection.

Step Three: Understanding Citadel Paint Types

The wall of paint is where most beginners freeze. There are really only four categories you need to understand:

• Base — thick, opaque, high-coverage. This is your foundation colour. Examples: Mephiston Red, Leadbelcher, Averland Sunset.
• Shade — thin, dark washes that flow into recesses and instantly create depth. Agrax Earthshade is the single most useful pot in the range. If you buy one shade, buy this.
• Layer — lighter, semi-transparent colours for highlighting raised edges.
• Contrast — the shortcut. One thick coat over a light undercoat gives you base colour and shading in a single pass. Blood Angels Red, Iyanden Yellow and Guilliman Flesh will get an army table-ready faster than any other method.

There is also Technical paint for texture effects — Stirland Mud turns a bare plastic base into muddy battlefield ground in about thirty seconds.

Browse the full paint range in our Warhammer & Games Workshop collection.

Step Four: The Three-Colour Minimum

A model does not need to be a display piece. The community standard for a playable army is the "three-colour minimum" — and it genuinely looks good.

1. Prime the model in a light undercoat.
2. Basecoat the armour or main body in one colour.
3. Basecoat the metal parts in Leadbelcher.
4. Basecoat the details — cloth, lenses, weapons — in a third colour.
5. Wash the whole model in Agrax Earthshade.
6. Texture the base, let it dry, done.

That is six steps and roughly forty minutes for your first model. It will get faster. Contrast paints can compress steps two through five into a single pass once you are comfortable.

Step Five: The Lore — Where to Start With Black Library

You do not need the lore to play. But the lore is why most people stay.

Black Library is Games Workshop's publishing arm, and the 40K library now runs to hundreds of novels. Do not start at the beginning of a numbered series — start where the writing is strongest and the entry point is cleanest.

If you want to understand the setting: the Horus Heresy series covers the civil war that created the modern 40K universe, beginning with Horus Rising. It is the closest thing to a foundational text.

If you want a great novel first and lore second: the Eisenhorn trilogy follows an Imperial Inquisitor and reads like noir detective fiction. It is widely considered the best written entry point in the whole line, and it requires no prior knowledge.

If you want boots-on-the-ground warfare: the Gaunt's Ghosts series follows a regiment of ordinary human soldiers. Think war fiction with a science-fantasy coat of paint.

If you want Space Marines specifically: the Ultramarines and Space Wolves novels give you the superhuman perspective, and pair naturally with whatever you are painting.

Browse what we have in stock in the Warhammer Black Library collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to start Warhammer 40K?

A realistic starting budget is the cost of one boxed set plus glue, clippers, a primer and five or six paints. You can build a genuinely playable small force from a single starter box.

Do I need to prime my miniatures?

Yes. Acrylic paint does not bond well to bare plastic and will chip or rub off with handling. A primer coat is not optional.

What is the easiest Warhammer faction to paint?

Orks and Necrons are the most forgiving. Orks hide mistakes in their rough aesthetic, and Necrons look excellent with a simple metallic basecoat and a heavy shade wash.

Can I use Contrast paint over black primer?

Contrast is designed for light undercoats such as Wraithbone or Grey Seer. Over black it will read as a very dark glaze rather than the intended colour.

Do I need to read the Horus Heresy before playing?

Not at all. The lore enriches the hobby but has no bearing on assembling, painting or playing. Read it when you get curious.

Ready to Start?

Pick a faction you like the look of, grab glue, clippers, a primer and a handful of paints, and build one model. That is it. That is the whole barrier to entry.

Everything you need is in our Warhammer collection, and when you are ready to fall into the lore, the Black Library shelf is waiting.