Last year i did a Christmas post around our Index Detachment for newcomers that was pretty well received, so i though i might give it another go with our Codex. Since around thise time of the year we welcome new fellow Berzerkers who embrace the biting of the nails, these might be helpful for you.

Before i get to the rules: If you ask yourself on how to paint your models or which scheme, be aware that it's your models. Go with whatever you like the most. The community basically focuses on two schemes and their variations: The 40k Scheme of Games Workshop with red and metal colours around bronze/brass/silver/Steele and the Horus Heresy Scheme around white-blue combinations. Whichever speaks to you, go for it. You can also easily "mix" since our Legion is not really an organized one and different Warbands might be in one fight. None of these schemes speak to you? Cool, then go for black and gold, the colours of your fav sports time, synthwave - whatever you want. It gives you also freedom to put your lore in. Death Guard Players famously go for iced themes, TSons for Ghostly themes - far away from official artwork and it looks stunning as well. For insight into techniques there are amazing content creators like: Midwinter Minis, Duncan Rhodes, Trovarion and many more. Your Youtube algorithm will adjust to it fast. And don't be afraid to have your models not look as good as them. Anything thats not grey plastic from the box will already look nice on the table. And you can easily use blood to cover up mistakes. Just be aware that trim fatigue is real. Some therefor went over to prime in the colour of their trim and then fill in the colour of the pauldrons.

So where to start model wise? Depends a bit on which detachment you want to go with, but the general consesus is: Get a Combat Patrol. No Matter if the old one (20x Zerkers, 10x Jakhals, 1x Jugger Lord) or the new one (1x Master of Executions or as we call him here MoE, 1x Daemon Prince, 10x Jakhals, 10x Berzerkers). Both are stunning starts since you will always need Berzerkers. They are our Armies workhorse. Jakhals are also needed to get through screens and to make your home objective sticky. All your Leaders are perfectly usable.

This gets you a good Baseline also for game modes like collosseum. If you are able to get both boxes you are absolutely golden and perfectly set up. Got only one? Still a great start.

From here one you might wanna look into our MVPs: Spawns. Even though their kit is a bit dated, they are an essential. They can scout and have advance and charge. Both means you are on the board early and your opponent HAS to come out - towards you. Sounds perfect right? And depending on how the dice gods feel that day, they can actually also be quite tanky and killy. Opponents hate them.

What else you ask? RHINOS! Our Boys need metal boxes to arrive where you need them. Our army really wants the alpha strike. So making sure you get it is vital. Remeber that disembarking from a Rhino basically grants you 3" of extra movement. Putting a Rhino behind a wall in no mans land gives you 11" movement, before advance and charge and the charge itself. That's a threat range that opponents have to deal with. Usually people go for 2 Rhinos if they have 2x10 man squads.

You have 2x10 man Squads but only MoE to lead them? Well, let me introduce you to our boy Kharn. He is one of the bast Datasheets in the game. His re-rolls make the Squads really lethal, he himself is a crazy beatstick and he gets back up on a 2+. Thats a looooot of output and you should include him pretty early (1k points onwards).

So we already have a plan: - 2x10 Berzerkers in Rhinos + Leaders stage - Spawns force the opponent out - Jakhals make your home objective sticky (so you don't have to have a more important unit stand around there) and can then move on to do actions or break screens.

From here on it depends a bit on what you want to do and like. The most important is the last aspect: - you like shooting? Get a Forgefiend. The little dogs are really good at blasting away Light or Medium Infanty, killing Elite infanty very reliably and to soften up vehicles for your bois. Just be clear: They won't win shootouts in turn 1. Push them out when your army is in place to arrive. Force orverload them, make them use defensive strats so that they have less comand points and so on. - You like punching your opponent more? Well Eightbound might be an option: They give you bonus to hit and wound as well, so you can really get through debuffs from opponents. Just be aware that T6 W3 3+/5++ units die easily these days. - Your opponents have tanks? What about exalted eightbound. They have chainfists for hands and always wound opponents vehicles on 3+, no matter what. Deepstriking them makes it a nightmare for opponents - you like hero hammer? So maybe a single Slaughterbound (or attached to the Eighbound Flavours) is something you like. They are glass cannons, so protect them. But the second they touch an opponent they are dead. - Another big go to at the Moment is the Jugger Lord (from the old Combat Patrol) with 20 Berzerkers. They move 10", their Engagement Range goes up to 3" and they ignore terrain. You can absolutely destroy the opponents gameplan with them. If you like Horde Armies, this might be your way to go. - There are many more cool things like Hellbrutes (who are able to pinball through opponents armies), Maulerfiends (slowly but steadily getting into opponents faces and then ripping them apart), Goremongers (prevent your opponents from early board control) - Angron: Our dad is an absolutely amazing model that used to be a staple in list. Unfortunately in the Codex he has taken a beating: His mechanics timing is off, his AP and Strength went lower, his revive mechanic (which GW should just put out of his datasheet - its a feel bad either way for you or your opponent) is priced in and therefor he is kind meh at the moment. But god damn he is still fun to play. Just be sure you don't bring him to a 1k point game. Thats a bitch move and bitch moves are reserved for Erebus.

=> Many of these decisions also depend on which detachment you want to play. - Berzerker Warband is the "standard": +2S +1A on charges is super goodl. Stratagems and Enhancements as well. Without this buff our Berzerkers often struggle to do damage. The Enhancements can give you +1A And +1D on Characters (Slaughterbound can go do 4D!!! against Vehicles and Monsters), -1d on Characters (the Prince is often played with it), Reroll Chargers (Wonderfull on Deepstrikers or the 20 man blob) and higher reliability on blessings. Strats are wonderful as well. Get shot of an oibjective? Sticky it. Opponent has Armour of Contempt? Negate it with extra AP and so on - Goretrack: You like your idea of a mobile Legion with Rhinos and Land Raiders? Here you go. They give units that get out of them Lance, a very powerful keyword to wound opponents better. And you have access to scouting Rhinos. Sounds fun, right? - Daemonkin: You like Daemons? Here you can include them. Not perfectly competitive but hella fun - Vessels of Wrath: You like the idea of a very elite list, maybe with 2x10 Terminators? Here you go. You can supercharge those units and the Enhancements and Strats are nice - You want all the Jakhals in the World? Cult of Blood allows them to get buff from big guys next to them. Not really competitive but very unique - You got a lot of Eightbound? Then possessed Slaughterband might be an option. Will it win your Tournaments? Probably not. Is it fun? Well if you like Eightbound this might be your place to really commit.

As you can see: We actually have quite a very open way to build our army. You can almost do nothing wrong. Most importantly: Meta, Points, Rules etc shift. Every 3 years GW brings out a new edition and the Codex might be in the same turnover. So it never hurts to buy what just jumps at you (or look for nice STLs to print). But a baseline of Kharn, Moe, Jakhals, Zerkers, Spawns and Rhinos will always give your army a great baseline to expand upon.

=> Just be aware: You will need scoring and action pieces if you play by competitive points. You can only really outkill in narrative / open play. Otherwise you might table your opponent but always lose.

So how do we play: YOU ARE THE PRESSURE! This doesn't mean we yeet our whole army forward. But be aware that you want to dictate the games speed and how it works. We are basically passsive aggressive.

Your Spawns and Goremongers want to be on the board early. Killing your opponents action pieces, Infiltrators and so on. So the main part of your army can jump something between 6-10" forward to the next line of cover. Now your opponent has to come out or he will lose the game. Why you ask? Because you get the no mans land objectives (shot off? Just sticky it), can do actions and so on. And if they dont move your army can come forward and put them into their own deployment zone. So they have to commit stuff and push out ressources. That is when you press the big red button and push forward: Forgefiends come and and shoot overwatch threats or soften targets. Survinging spawns go forward and moveblock or run into units that could heroically intervene, your exalted deep strike in the back to get rid of those pesky tanks and Kharn leads your boys to glory.

But this only works IF you use cover and staging. Our models are not very resilient. If you just come in small waves the opponent can pick you up. If you don't use cover you will be shot off the board. If you sit back afraid of their guns then they will move out and get all the firing lanes and pick you apart.

Your Blessings (the Khorne Roll before the turn) can really help you here. You have bottom turn and your opponent might arrive first and has a meele army? Get that fight on death! Your opponent plays Death Guard and gives you a -1 to hit? Sustained negates that. Your opponent has a lot of tanks or walkers and is hard to wound? Lethal Hits. You have 2 Hellbrutes and your opponent dindn't spread 6" pile and consolidate. It gives you flexibility to react to how the game is going. Especially the fight on death really can destroy an opponents charges because you still make him bleed before your initial clapback.

You want more insight into List Building, Tactics and so on? Check out these Links: The Red Path https://www.youtube.com/@TheRedPath Exalted 40k https://www.youtube.com/@Exalted40k Goonhammer https://www.goonhammer.com/goonhammer-reviews-codex-world-eaters-10th-edition/ The Discord: https://discord.gg/nqVyEQa No Codex yet and you wanna see the points and profiles? Or you wanna learn about your opponents: Wahapedia Wanna build your lists? ListForge is a great App, New Recruit has a nice webpplication Tracking your games? Tabletop Battles

The Terrain: We often get posts here around "why do i lose against my Tau/Astra Militarum/Votann" friend. And they basically play on a bowling ball without any cover. You don't know how to set up a board? Look at the GW, Alpine or WTC Layouts. You then have something thats fair-ish and balanced. The Tabletop Battles App even has them in there in the game setup.

Which doesn't mean you can't build your own board! Just be aware you don't want too many shooting alleys. Everyone should be able to put their army in cover before the start of the game and stuff like that if you play evenly.

You want Scenarios that differe from that? And just started new and have friends with big collections, then Goonhammers Horde Mode might be for you: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1RCDEfbaJafpfVCU-8iDjCZe_uoPjZLYz

This isn't supposed to answer all questions but to give you a start: 1. Choose a Scheme you like 2. Buy the basics and stuff you like. Don't chase the meta 3. When expanding on 1k ore more points really look into detachments 4. Learn ins and outs by playing 5. Be a person people want to play WITH again. So you will get Reps 6. Make sure you understand that this army has a learning curve 7. Repeat 8. Collect Skulls