Tips for learning 40k

[Hm74]

Hi

 

Just wondering how you guys learn the game?

 

my sons autistic and is really struggling with all the different aspects of the game, to be honest I'm also struggling and wanted to know if there are any hints or tips to make the process a little easier or at the very least less daunting.

 

I'm probably gonna have to learn both DA & CSM codex's and is something I'm not relishing.

 

Any help would be very much appreciated ;)

[Crazy Jay]

Learn in steps. Cut out the complicated parts. Run games of just move and shoot. Add in assault and psychic later. Also if you have a FLGS available, use the pros to help.

[DA_WarM]

I'd go step by step.  Here's my two cents :

 

Here's the phases in a turn :

1. Movement
2. Psychic
3. Shooting
4. Assault

You can play games with simple rules at first.  Like everyone moves 6", shoots and assault 2D6".  Play a few games and then introduce new concepts.  Like bikes and jump troops moving 12", vehicles moving and shooting and so on.   There's quite a few rules but adding new ones every few games should help master the games.

[SvenONE]

I found the Dark Vengeance set was a great way to start learning the game.  Each mission was fun enough, and small enough a scale to focus on the basic rules without getting tripped up with the amount of models you needed to worry about.

 

When it comes to the USRs, it's just a matter of repetition to learn things.  My friend and I got into the game playing two different armies, he with Necrons, myself as DA.  Now we both also play Daemons and Dark Eldar, so we learned those armies together and know them pretty well.  When we first started playing we would look up rules after to see what we may have missed when your focus isn't on the game as much.

 

Also, I found playing in the comfort of your home when you're not being rushed off of a table or out of a store can help.  Having someone who also has been in the hobby helps immensely also because they can give context, it's sort of hard to find someone who isn't a know-it-all type who is more willing to actually help you learn the game than just prove how smart they are though, they are out there though.  You find a lot of the latter in local stores if you ask me.

 

If it makes you feel any better I still see people who have been playing a long time still forget phases of the game or make illegal moves from time to time (self included).

[Teetengee]

Play a game using only infantry, without buying special rule upgrades or psychic powers. But only play for kill points, don't worry about all that other victory condition stuff.

Now add, one unit at a time, different types of non-vehicle units.

Then add warlord traits.

Then start worrying about special rules.

Then start playing missions (not maelstrom).
Then add in a vehicle on both sides, preferably not a walker.
Then try walkers.

Then try psychic powers.

Now start playing maelstrom (or maybe after flyers).
Once you are comfortable add flyers.

Once you are comfortable add superheavies and gargantuans.


Basically, start with the simplest bits, that you feel ok with, play those until comfortable, then add slightly more complex parts bit by bit.

[Hm74]

Thank you so much for the input, I really appreciate it.

 

We've played quite a few games at home but knowing we weren't playing correctly we ventured to the local store and up until this week we've really enjoyed the very basic aspects of the game.

Unfortunately we ended Sunday's game on a bit of a low after loosing the plot trying to resolve an assault round between DWT, Chosen , Chaos termies & chaos Lord.

 

I was thinking of writing up some cheat cards for my son which can sit beside each unit and be used for reference

[Teetengee]

That sounds like a great plan.

[Crazy Jay]

My whole gaming group uses cheat sheets. May I recommend citing page numbers? It makes it easier to clarify a rule if you know where you got it.

[HsojVvad]

Google or see if you can find the starter rules for Battle for Macragge. While yes they are for 4th edition, they are great beginner rules and should help out to start at least. 

[shabbadoo]

First, read the main rulebook completely so you are somewhat familiar with the vocabulary of the game.  Then play the starter set scenarios, which are designed for beginners.  Play them a few times even, switching sides.  After you are confident playing with the untis that come in the starter set, branch out to others.  The simple answer is to practice.  Practice leads to familiarity, remembering, and understanding.

[Cloud Sensei]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4104995/Games/7edRef_V5.pdf

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/597998.page

 

This helped me immensely and I think it will help you too. Basically most of the rules crammed into a few sheets. You can drop a couple of them, such as terrain to make it somewhat easier. Further than that, you need the codexes for the armies you are playing for obvious reasons and maybe should look into killteam. Killteams are smaller 300-500 pt games of wh40k. They are the perfect way to get your feet wet with the core rules of the games, there are some differences but majority is the same.

 

http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.nl/p/kill-team-rules.html

[Hm74]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4104995/Games/7edRef_V5.pdf

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/597998.page

 

This helped me immensely and I think it will help you too. Basically most of the rules crammed into a few sheets. You can drop a couple of them, such as terrain to make it somewhat easier. Further than that, you need the codexes for the armies you are playing for obvious reasons and maybe should look into killteam. Killteams are smaller 300-500 pt games of wh40k. They are the perfect way to get your feet wet with the core rules of the games, there are some differences but majority is the same.

 

http://heralds-of-ruin.blogspot.nl/p/kill-team-rules.html

That's awesome CS, thank you very much!

[ValourousHeart]

One more thing that I might suggest as you start playing more games at the store, is to start with a small 1000 point core list, and play that list for a month without changing anything.

 

You'll want the list to be fairly symmetrical.  By that I mean you will want 2 or more identical copies of each unit.

You'll also want each unit to focus on 2 specific weapons... one geared to deal with infantry and one geared to deal with armor.

If you are playing marines, bolters are a good go to solution for dealing with infantry... so you really just need to pick an anti-armor weapon, like melta, for each squad.

 

If you have multiple units that are armed to deal with both infantry and armor, then you won't be penalized for poor deployment.

Learning how to deploy well and how to counter different units will come with practice.

But to start, it is better to have units that are ok/good at everything instead of being great at one thing and sucking at the other.

 

The last bit to learn is not to deploy units by themselves, you always want to send 2 units to deal with 1 threat.

 

As you get better and more comfortable you can add  more units... but for now keep it simple... try at first to just add more of the same units you already have.

Once you are comfortable with your core army at different point levels, then you can start adding in diversity.

 

As an example, my 4th edition army consisted of 3 different units (Bikes, Attack Bikes and Speeders), 4 different guns (Bolters, Heavy Bolters, Multi-Melta, and Assault Cannons) and 2 different assault weapons (Chainswords and Power Fists).

The only difference between the army at 1000 points and 2500 was that there were more of the 500 point blocks.

The 17 modeles at 1000 points played the exact same way as the 44 models at 2500 points.