So you've got your hands on Warhammer 40,000 11th Edition. The box is open, there's a satisfying stack of grey plastic in front of you, and a small voice in your head is asking: now what?

Good news. You've picked the perfect moment to start. 11th Edition is a "quality of life" refresh rather than a total reboot, the core rules are free to download, and the hobby has never been more welcoming to newcomers. Whether you fancy yourself a painter, a general, or both, this guide walks you through exactly what comes next — and just as importantly, why.

We've split it into the two halves of the hobby: building and painting your miniatures, then learning to play the tabletop game. Take them in whichever order grabs you. There's no wrong way to do this.

One thing to get out of the way first, because it matters: everyone started where you are now. Every beautifully painted display army you've ever admired began as someone's first lumpy, slightly-too-thick attempt. Mistakes wipe off, paint covers over, and the standard you actually need to get playing is far lower than you think. Relax and enjoy it.

Part One: The Hobby Side (Building & Painting)

What's actually in your box

The miniatures in your 11th Edition set are push-fit, which means they're designed to clip together without glue — the parts are engineered to slot in place. That's brilliant for getting models built fast. That said, a dab of plastic glue makes them considerably more durable once you start handling them regularly for games, so it's worth doing properly.

The assembly toolkit

You need surprisingly little to build your army. Here's the short list and what each thing is for:

• Clippers (side cutters) — for cleanly removing parts from the plastic frame (the "sprue"). Never twist or snap parts off; you'll tear chunks out of the model. Clip slightly away from the part first, then trim flush. You'll find these in our hobby tools collection.
• Plastic glue (polystyrene cement) — this is the right glue for Games Workshop's plastic kits. It chemically melts the surfaces together for a near-unbreakable bond and gives you a few seconds to nudge parts into position. A needle or brush applicator gives you the most control. Browse our model glues and adhesives.
• Superglue — keep this for metal or resin models, or for sticking plastic onto a metal/resin part. It's the wrong choice for plastic-to-plastic.
• Mould-line remover or hobby knife — plastic kits have faint seam lines where the two halves of the mould met. Gently scrape these away before painting, or they'll show up glaringly once colour goes on.

If you'd rather grab it all in one go, the Citadel Paints + Tools Set bundles clippers, a mould-line scraper and a brush alongside a spread of paints — a tidy one-purchase starting point. We also stock standalone Warhammer Colour tool bundles at the beginner end if you just want the kit.

How to build a model, step by step

1. Identify the parts on the sprue using the instructions before you cut anything.
2. Clip each part free, leaving a little excess plastic, then trim the remainder flush.
3. Scrape away any mould lines with your knife or scraper.
4. Dry-fit the parts — push them together without glue to check the fit and plan your build.
5. Glue it up. Apply a small amount of plastic glue, press the parts together, and hold for a few seconds.

A pro move: consider leaving fiddly bits — a backpack, a weapon arm, a head — off until after you've painted the body. Painting a flat, accessible model is far easier than digging a brush into deep recesses. These are called "sub-assemblies," and they'll save you a lot of swearing.

Priming: the step you must not skip

Here's a hard truth that catches out almost every beginner: paint does not stick to bare plastic. It beads, smears, and chips off the moment you touch it. Primer (also called undercoat) gives the paint something to grip.

• Spray primer ("rattle can") is fastest and gives the smoothest, most even coat — see our spray paints and primers.
• Brush-on primer is your friend if you can't spray — useful for flats, cold or damp weather, or working indoors.

If you spray, do it outdoors or somewhere well-ventilated, wear a mask, shake the can for a good couple of minutes, hold it 20–30cm from the model, and build up thin passes rather than one heavy blast. A word of warning for the Welsh weather: don't spray in the cold, damp, or direct sunshine, or you'll get a fuzzy, gritty, or sticky finish that ruins the model underneath.

Which colour primer?

• Grey — the most versatile all-rounder.
• Black — good for dark schemes and hiding the odd mistake.
• White or bone — essential if you're planning to use Contrast or Speedpaints (more on those below).

Brushes: you need fewer than you think

Forget the giant set. To start, you want:

• One general/base brush for the bulk of the work.
• One finer detail brush for eyes, buckles, and small areas.
• One cheap, stiff drybrush (more on drybrushing shortly — the technique destroys brushes, so never use a good one for it).

Games Workshop's brushes now sit under the Warhammer Colour name (rebranded from Citadel — same brushes, new label) and are organised by job: Base, Layer, Shade, Dry, Glaze, and Stippling. The synthetic (white-handled) range is durable, holds a decent point, and is excellent value — perfect for beginners. The premium Artificer brushes are Kolinsky sable: they hold a finer point but cost more and need more care. You don't need sable to start, and honestly, cheap synthetics are the better choice for rough jobs like drybrushing. We carry both ranges, plus brushes from The Army Painter and others in our paint brush collection, so you can mix and match.

A wet palette: the best £15 you'll spend

This one's a genuine game-changer. A wet palette is a sealed tray with a damp sponge and a sheet of parchment on top. Your paint sits on the parchment and stays workable for hours instead of skinning over in minutes. It also helps you thin your paint consistently — which, as you'll see, is the single most important painting skill. If you buy one "nice to have" early, make it this.

A simple dry palette (or even an old tile) is fine for washes and metallics, but a wet palette will transform how your base and layer coats go on.

Understanding the paint system

Games Workshop renamed Citadel Colour to Warhammer Colour in early 2026 — the paints, pots, formulas and names are all unchanged, so every "Citadel" tutorial you find online still applies exactly. The range is organised by type, and knowing what each does demystifies the whole wall of pots:

• Base — thick, heavily pigmented paints for solid first coats over your primer.
• Layer — thinner paints for building up highlights on top of a base coat. (The medium Layer brush is the single most useful brush you'll own.)
• Shade (wash) — very thin paints that flow into the recesses and instantly create shadow and depth. Nuln Oil (black) and Agrax Earthshade (brown) are so universally useful they're nicknamed "liquid talent."
• Contrast — the beginner's secret weapon (see below).
• Dry — thick, low-moisture paints made specifically for drybrushing.
• Technical — special effects: texture paints for bases (Astrogranite, Armageddon Dust), plus blood, rust, snow and crackle effects.
• Spray / Primer — your undercoats.

The fast track: Contrast & Speedpaint

If you want a fully painted army on the table quickly, one-coat paints are how you do it.

Citadel Contrast paints (and rival ranges like The Army Painter Speedpaint and Vallejo Xpress Color, all of which we stock) are applied in a single pass over a light undercoat. As the paint settles, it pools in the recesses to create shadow and thins over raised areas to suggest highlights — base, shade and highlight in one go, in about thirty seconds per area. A Contrast basecoat followed by a quick edge highlight is one of the fastest routes to a genuinely good-looking model.

A few tips to get the best from them:

• Use a light primer — bone or pale grey works best.
• Don't thin Contrast with water — it leaves tide marks. Use Contrast Medium or Lahmian Medium if you want to dilute it.
• Use long, confident strokes and don't overload the brush.

Picking a paint brand

We deliberately stock a wide range, because there's no single "best" — only what suits you:

• Warhammer Colour (Citadel) — the advantage is that every official box-art recipe and tutorial names these exact paints, so you can follow along precisely. The trade-off is price and the flip-top pots, which dry out faster than dropper bottles.
• Vallejo — Game Color and Model Color come in dropper bottles that last far longer and are superb value. Their Xpress Color is their one-coat range.
• The Army Painter — Warpaints Fanatic is a strong, good-value traditional range, and Speedpaint 2.0 is an excellent one-coat option.
• AK Interactive & Green Stuff World — brilliant for effects, weathering, and one-coat work.

The good news: all miniature acrylics are cross-compatible. You can base with one brand, shade with Citadel Nuln Oil, and highlight with another. Nobody will know, and nobody cares.

Core painting techniques, explained simply

• Thin your paints. The golden rule. Add a little water (or medium) until the paint is roughly the consistency of milk. Two thin coats always beat one thick coat — thick paint hides detail and dries lumpy.
• Base coat — block in your main colours, working from the hardest-to-reach areas outward.
• Wash / shade — flood a wash over the base coat and let it settle into the recesses. Instant depth, almost no skill required.
• Drybrush — load a stiff brush, then wipe nearly all the paint off on kitchen roll until it's almost dry. Lightly drag it over raised detail to catch the edges. Magic for fur, armour trim, rubble and bases.
• Edge highlighting / layering — paint thin lighter lines along the sharpest edges, or build up gradually lighter layers on raised areas, for a more refined finish.

How "finished" does a model need to be?

Three standards worth knowing, so you can aim sensibly:

• Battle-ready — main areas coloured and a simple based finish. This is the modern "three-colour minimum," it's a perfectly respectable tabletop standard, and most gaming events only ask for this. This is all you need to play.
• Tabletop standard — battle-ready plus a wash and some highlights.
• 'Eavy Metal — the studio's display-quality showcase finish. Aspirational, not expected, and absolutely not where you should set your bar as a beginner.

Don't forget the base

A finished base is what signals a model is genuinely "done." Easiest first:

1. Paint the base, then apply a texture paint like Astrogranite or Armageddon Dust straight over it.
2. Or PVA-glue sand and grit on, then paint it.
3. Add small patches of static grass or pre-made tufts — peel, dab of PVA, press on. Use two or three patches, not a uniform carpet, for a natural look. Browse our basing materials.
4. Always paint the rim of the base. A tidy, dark rim instantly makes a model look finished.

(Add grass and tufts last — if you drybrush afterwards, you'll flatten them.)

Useful extras as you progress

• Liquid Green Stuff for filling gaps and seams.
• Varnish to protect finished models from chipping during handling. Matte gives a natural finish (most popular); gloss is hard-wearing. A gloss coat followed by a matte coat gives you durability and a matte look.
• Transfers / decals for chapter and clan markings.
• A transport case or magnetic trays to keep your painted army safe on the trip to the shop.

You don't need a dedicated hobby room — a corner of a desk, a daylight lamp, a cutting mat and some ventilation is plenty.

Part Two: The Game Side (Learning to Play)

What you physically need at the table

• Dice — lots of six-sided dice (D6). You'll roll handfuls at once for big units.
• A tape measure or measuring gauges — everything in 40k is measured in inches.
• Terrain and objective markers — 11th Edition fights over terrain features rather than plain circular markers, so a few ruins matter.
• Tokens — for tracking wounds, status effects and Command Points.
• A play surface / gaming mat.
• Your army list — printed, written on paper, or built in the app. Just show your opponent before you start.

On board size: Combat Patrol games are played on roughly 44" × 30", while the standard larger matched-play size is around 44" × 60". Plenty of players still happily use a classic 6' × 4' table and simply mark off the unused strip. For casual games, either works fine.

Your rules-learning path

1. Download the free Core Rules from Warhammer Community or the app. You don't need to buy anything to learn the rules.
2. Use the Combat Patrol Companion alongside the Warhammer 40,000 app to play your first small games. (Note: the Companion is a beginner's hobby-and-lore guide — the rules themselves are the free download.)
3. Get your faction's Codex or datasheet cards when you're ready to expand beyond your starter box.
4. Watch a battle report or two — and, best of all, get an experienced player to walk you through a game in person.

A quick note on the app: free users get datasheets, but a faction's full army rules and detachments are unlocked either by a code in your Codex or via a Warhammer+ subscription. So the app is a great companion, but not a complete replacement for a Codex.

The game sizes, smallest first

• Combat Patrol — small, roughly hour-long games on a 44" × 30" board. This is your ideal entry point.
• Incursion — 1,000 points.
• Strike Force — 2,000 points; the "standard" competitive size.
• Onslaught — 3,000 points.

And three broad ways to play: open play (anything goes), narrative play (story and campaign-driven), and matched play (balanced, points-based — what most events use).

How a turn works (the light version)

Players take whole turns in turn. Each turn runs through five phases, in order:

1. Command — gain a Command Point and use abilities.
2. Movement — move your units. You can Advance for extra distance, but usually can't then shoot or charge.
3. Shooting — pick targets, roll to hit, roll to wound; your opponent rolls saves; apply any damage.
4. Charge — roll 2D6 to move into close combat.
5. Fight — pile in and attack with melee weapons. Chargers fight first, then players alternate.

Command Points (CP) fuel Stratagems — one-off tactical tricks. You score by holding objectives and completing mission goals. Don't try to memorise all of this up front; you'll absorb it naturally over a couple of games.

Army building, in plain terms

An army list is simply your chosen units adding up to an agreed points limit. To build one you:

• Pick a Faction.
• Choose your units.
• Select one or more Detachments (each provides Stratagems, Enhancements and a particular play style).
• Nominate a Warlord — your leader character.
• Optionally give characters Enhancements (upgrades).

Building from your starter box or a Combat Patrol box is the natural first army. It's a ready-made, balanced little force you can paint and play as you grow — no list-building headache required to begin with.

Actually getting a game in

The single best thing you can do is play with people who already know the rules. Visit a friendly local game store, find a gaming club, or get a mate into it. Experienced players are almost always delighted to teach a beginner — it's how all of us learned.

Start at Combat Patrol size, find an opponent at a similar level, and don't be shy. The etiquette is simple: be friendly, measure honestly, tell your opponent what your units do, and have fun.

If you're local to us in Barry, pop in. We stock the full Warhammer 40,000 range, Warhammer Colour paints and a wide spread of alternatives (Vallejo, The Army Painter, AK Interactive, Pro Acryl, Green Stuff World and more), plus all the tools, dice and accessories you'll need — and we're always happy to point a newcomer in the right direction or connect you with local clubs.

Your Next Steps, in Order

If you only take one thing from this guide, take this sequence:

1. Build a few models carefully. Clippers, plastic glue, mould-line scraper. Don't rush to assemble everything — leave fiddly parts off for painting.
2. Prime them. One can of grey spray (or a light colour if you're going down the Contrast route), on a dry, mild day, outdoors or well-ventilated.
3. Paint fast and forgivingly. A wet palette, two or three brushes, and a small set of Contrast or Speedpaints will get a squad battle-ready quickly. Aim for "three colours and a tidy base," not perfection.
4. Learn the game small. Free Core Rules, the Combat Patrol Companion, the app for datasheets, and a Combat Patrol-sized game.
5. Get a game in. Take your force to a club or shop, find a friendly opponent, and play.
6. Expand deliberately. Then — and only then — grab a Codex, more units, dice, a tape measure, varnish and storage.

Budgeting tip

First: clippers, plastic glue, spray primer, a wet palette, a few brushes, a small paint set, the free rules.
Soon: dice, tape measure, a Codex or datasheet cards, varnish, basing materials.
Later: a gaming mat, terrain, a transport case, magnets, maybe an airbrush.

The most common — and most expensive — beginner mistake is buying a second army and a pile of kits before finishing the first box. Resist it.

Common Beginner Mistakes to Avoid

• Painting straight onto bare plastic. Always prime first.
• Paint too thick. Always thin it. Milk consistency, two coats.
• Thinning Contrast or Speedpaint with water. Use the proper medium instead, or you'll get tide marks.
• Fully gluing models when leaving sub-assemblies separate would make painting far easier.
• Ignoring mould lines until after painting, when they suddenly become very obvious.
• Buying far too much, far too soon. Finish your first box first.

A Final Word

There is no single "right" way to do any of this. Some people are here purely to paint and never roll a dice. Others build an army as fast as possible just to get it on the table. Most of us drift happily between the two for years.

Whatever you've come for, you've started in the best possible way: with a box of models and a bit of curiosity. Take your time, embrace the wonky early attempts, and enjoy it. We'll see you on the tabletop.