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ok, So here's the deal.

My friend plays Brettonia and Tau. He easily has 1,000 points for both, possibly 2000 for Brets. The problem is, he doesn't really know how to play.

I think I'm going to play Skull Pass with him, so he understand the rules, but, how did you get your friends into gaming?

Obviously, he'll need the rulebook. I'm also going to see if I can get him to go for a painting session (he has nothing painted)

Any advice?

Just play simple games with fairly simple units to start with, explaining the rules as you go. Trying to memorize beforehand is ridiculous.

Reading pages of rules as first time warhammer gamer would be abit intimidating.

I would use the back of the rule book ( super super condensed charts ) to start , and play a small 500 point demo While explaning the basics while refering to the chart step by step.

When he knows the basic flow / and game phases
he can read the rule book.

hmm, thanks for the advice LunaHound and captain.gordino,

We'll see how it goes.

captain.gordino wrote:Just play simple games with fairly simple units to start with, explaining the rules as you go. Trying to memorize beforehand is ridiculous.

I did that. Not too hard. There's a lot to take in, but I was able to take in and memorize most of the rules in the rulebook and the DH codex all at once. Sure, there are a few that need to be checked up on, there always are, but for the most part, it's not too hard to just sit down with the book and take it all in.

Tell him of any rules that might be important to know, such as run, and whether your guys have fleet and may be in assault range if he moves or doesn't move there.

Don't let him forget to move his suits in the assault phase.

maybe using the AOBR rules, and then advancing with more rules added each game so he understands the bare basics then learns the new rules over time and not all at once.

learning and remembering running, fleet, stealth etc all at once is confusing, especialyl if hes trying to learn ap and to hit and wound rolls etc.

He could prob learn them all over his first 10 games

Start off with small games - 500pts, and scale up from there as you get a bit steadier with the rules (750/1000/1250/1500/2000, for WFB). Guide your friend through the first several games, explicitly calling out what phase it is and explaining what you're doing for everything. Assuming he's not opposed to it, for the first half dozen - dozen games, kibitz for him and offer up suggestions on what he should do and explain why he would want to do these things. If he makes a bad move, let him know about it and allow him to undo it.

This should give him a nice learning curve to basic rules at small points levels, and progressively learn about other special rules as you escalate the points, and basically "playing" for him allows him to learn the basic tactics and strategies of the game, while also learning a bit about the strengths and weaknesses of his and your armies.

If you want your friend to stick with the game then be very patient and help them learn all the rules inside out. Answer all their questions. This will be a big for them.

G

Copy out some of the refernce charts (To-Hit, To-Wound, turn-sequence, vehicle damage table etc) to keep handy during the game, along with army-lists with stat-lines for each model.
It's probably easiest to start with a few simple units.
Work slowly through each stage, (getting faster as they get to grips with each rule).
Your first couple of games will be more "This is how to play" rather than "lets see who wins", but so long as you're having fun, and learning, then think about saying "Reckon you know what you're doing now? Next game, I won't offer so much help "

Cryonicleech wrote:ok, So here's the deal.

My friend plays Brettonia and Tau. He easily has 1,000 points for both, possibly 2000 for Brets. The problem is, he doesn't really know how to play.

I think I'm going to play Skull Pass with him, so he understand the rules, but, how did you get your friends into gaming?

Obviously, he'll need the rulebook. I'm also going to see if I can get him to go for a painting session (he has nothing painted)

Any advice?

Start small. 1 figure vs. 1 figure to teach the basics.

Then add a team 5 man vs 10 man, or something along those lines.It introduces the special and heavy weapons, templates, etc.

Graduate up to 2 squads and a HQ choice, to introduce the leadership roll of a commander.

Add on a couple of special guys for the commander and explain about his choices. Then add another squad, or a vehicle.

The games don't have to last but a couple of turns. 1 then add another, then add a third turn with night rules.


I found that gradually adding more rules adds to the interest, and teaches realistic playing when you discuss the different aspects, and add the additional content.
The guy ( or gal) that you teach isn't so much worried about jumping in and getting themselves owned by some sort of tot, or one of those power gamer types.

Making it fun and teaching the game, rather then just regurgitating stuff to get an easy win off of a newb is the key.

I ended up teaching about four different guys one time using this method.

Each guy started with one guy to get the basics, then added a team a piece, then added a squad after that.

2 of the guys ended up buying some of thier own stuff, and we got a good little group that ended up starting a steady gaming group. worked out really well when one or two of the guys then brought a friend, or thier girl to continue the sickness.


good times... good times.

Hmm, that seems interesting.

Though, I don't really like Black Reach. The Space Marines don't have enough core choices for a full army, (He wants to learn with Space Marines first) and so I was thinking about two 700 point lists, along the lines of...

Captain-115
Power Sword

5 Terminators-200

10 Space Marines-170
Flamer
Missile Launcher

7 Space Marines-122

Land Speeder-90
Assault Cannon

Orks

Warboss-95
Power Klaw
Cybork Body

Elites
5 Nobz-125
Power Klaw

Troops

15 Ork Boyz-95
Big Shoota

15 Ork Boyz-95
Big Shoota

Fast Attack

3 DeffKoptas-135
Rokkits

3 DeffKoptas-135
Rokkits

Neither are too cheese huh? They both include templates, (minus the large one) and both armies have CC and ranged capabilities.

It's often a good idea to demonstrate basic concepts with the most 'vanilla' generic squads you can find. THis is probably Space Marines for 40k, specifically a very basic tactical squad. The goal is to get across the extreme basic concepts: Turn phases, how attacks are resolved, etc. Then add some more fun stuff.

Playing as a new player against a tuned 'competitive' list is likely to lead to frustration. Let them get a few games under their belt (win or lose) before stacking up combos and more complex unit interactions.

Cryonicleech wrote:ok, So here's the deal.

My friend plays Brettonia and Tau. He easily has 1,000 points for both, possibly 2000 for Brets. The problem is, he doesn't really know how to play.

I think I'm going to play Skull Pass with him, so he understand the rules, but, how did you get your friends into gaming?

Obviously, he'll need the rulebook. I'm also going to see if I can get him to go for a painting session (he has nothing painted)

Any advice?

I just explained to my fiance in abooooout..... 4 minutes the basics of BS and To Wound rolls. Start with that and play a small skirmish regular 6-turn game and that should get them understanding the basics.

Cryonicleech wrote:hmm, thanks for the advice LunaHound and captain.gordino,

We'll see how it goes.

I ran demos for 7 years with GW.. and a whole mess of other stuff, mega battles, bring and battles etc.. give me a pm if you'd like to discuss ..