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My girlfriend, Amanda, is mildly interested in Warhammer. I showed her the armies and she fell in love with the Tomb Kings (having liked ancient Egypt all her life).

I play Daemons of Chaos, and I have enough for us each to play a small thousand point "army", to show he the rules.

She knows nothing about it, just that the models are cool and she loves the Tomb Kings.

Does Dakka have any experience in this field? What can I do to help her not shun the game, and to keep an open mind? How can I make it more enjoyable? Also I've never taught anyone how to play, so should we go through the rulebook together first, or just throw her into the midst of it all with a game where I explain everything and walk her through it?

Thanks guys.


[Inevitable typo edit]

I love TK for the models as well.

Does Dakka have any experience in this field? What can I do to help her not shun the game, and to keep an open mind? How can I make it more enjoyable?

Build the army around what models she loves the most. I can assure you she would rather lose every game with her most loved models than win every game without.

People on this forum have girlfriends?

Orkeosaurus wrote:People on this forum have girlfriends?

Wouldnt that imply you dont have one , if its such a shocking news -_-

I've had a few girlfriends that have enjoyed the "hobby" aspect IE painting etc as well as just the way the models they used.


My advice is to let her just use whatever she likes; whether its empire mixed with tomb kings etc...

Dont focus on the rules just use the very basic rules if you want to play the game.


Its my opinion that Female Painters really are superior in most aspects to male painters due to their natural wider range of color vision.


That's the approach I would take.


Get a Citadel catalogue and sit down with her and go through the models of all the fantasy etc.. ranges if she likes it pcik up a unit. Also, its a fantastic wa to spend time together generally I would put the models together and they would paint them.



So

1. Dont restrict her interest with saying hey you gotta play onty this in this army most women involved generally get models they LIKE aesthetically. Let her play with that.

2. Make it a "date" fix some dinner etc... and spend time together assembling painting and playing small games. This is a great way to strengthen your relationship with her as well.

3. When playing try to focus more on the "story" not the field of battle. Meaning name characters etc...

LunaHound wrote:Wouldnt that imply you dont have one , if its such a shocking news -_-

I'm married to the sea.

Hollismason wrote:I've had a few girlfriends that have enjoyed the "hobby" aspect IE painting etc as well as just the way the models they used.


My advice is to let her just use whatever she likes; whether its empire mixed with tomb kings etc...

Dont focus on the rules just use the very basic rules if you want to play the game.


Its my opinion that Female Painters really are superior in most aspects to male painters due to their natural wider range of color vision.


That's the approach I would take.


Get a Citadel catalogue and sit down with her and go through the models of all the fantasy etc.. ranges if she likes it pcik up a unit. Also, its a fantastic wa to spend time together generally I would put the models together and they would paint them.



So

1. Dont restrict her interest with saying hey you gotta play onty this in this army most women involved generally get models they LIKE aesthetically. Let her play with that.

2. Make it a "date" fix some dinner etc... and spend time together assembling painting and playing small games. This is a great way to strengthen your relationship with her as well.

3. When playing try to focus more on the "story" not the field of battle. Meaning name characters etc...

Good tips, thank you for the response!

But is that to say they *can't* be as tactical and hardcore as we are?

My wife and I do 40k rather than fantasy, but the path is pretty much the same. First step is already done in that she found an army she likes the look of; now its on those who know the game to help her make an army that both suits her aesthetic sense and is functional enough to make a splash on the table. Her play experience should be more enjoyable if you're there to coach her through her first couple of forays, but having a rulebook readthrough is good. Be there while she reads it, and answer her questions, but if you try to explain it all in one go it'll probably go over her head unless she has prior gaming experience.

My wife plays Thousand Sons for almost the same reason your girlfriend likes the Tomb Kings...she likes to play the 'bad guys' and she loved the clean lines, bright colors, and Egyptian motif. She knows and accepts it'll never be competitive, and has fun with what she's got because she likes the army so much, winning hardly matters.

As a hint, if you go to a game store populated by the chauvinistic stereotype gamer guys, let her play to their expectations of 'She's a gurl, she don't know how 2 play hurr" and surprise them. At my wife's first small tournament, an overconfident Necron player tried to beat her at her own game and had a gunline versus gunline battle. It was one of the more convincing stompings I've seen.

As far as teaching her how to play the game (if you want to), start exceedingly small. Like a block or two of infantry and a character. Just teach her the very basics, really just the core mechanics. Then, if she's still interested, I'd slowly add more complex units as her grasp of the rules increases.

Darkreaver55 wrote:My wife and I do 40k rather than fantasy, but the path is pretty much the same. First step is already done in that she found an army she likes the look of; now its on those who know the game to help her make an army that both suits her aesthetic sense and is functional enough to make a splash on the table. Her play experience should be more enjoyable if you're there to coach her through her first couple of forays, but having a rulebook readthrough is good. Be there while she reads it, and answer her questions, but if you try to explain it all in one go it'll probably go over her head unless she has prior gaming experience.

My wife plays Thousand Sons for almost the same reason your girlfriend likes the Tomb Kings...she likes to play the 'bad guys' and she loved the clean lines, bright colors, and Egyptian motif. She knows and accepts it'll never be competitive, and has fun with what she's got because she likes the army so much, winning hardly matters.

As a hint, if you go to a game store populated by the chauvinistic stereotype gamer guys, let her play to their expectations of 'She's a gurl, she don't know how 2 play hurr" and surprise them. At my wife's first small tournament, an overconfident Necron player tried to beat her at her own game and had a gunline versus gunline battle. It was one of the more convincing stompings I've seen.

Thank you very much!

Absolutely true ; also women in my experience are tougher to play than men simply because your so accustomed to playing other men.


The seperating margin of males being better at wargames is false its not that they are better its that they are more experienced an experience female player is just a capable as a male player.

It was best of all that my wife chose the Thousand Sons (the most bitter enemies of the Space Wolves, my own starter army) without any knowledge of the fluff behind them. She gave me the funniest look when she pointed at the screen and said "I love those ones. I'll play them!" and I burst out laughing. After narrowly escaping death by laughter asphyxiation, I explained to her why. Of course, that just made her even more interested in them when she found out.

Tomb Kings is the army I started with and it's super easy to learn as you ignore most of the rule book. All the spells get cast unless stopped, all the shooting hits on 5+, you can't march, you crumble when you lose combat and your only charge reaction is take it.

Aw well, give her a cute army to play with(witch hunters or dwarfs)and she'll be allright i guess..

Orkeosaurus wrote:

LunaHound wrote:Wouldnt that imply you dont have one , if its such a shocking news -_-

I'm married to the sea.

Thats romantic o_o

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucentaur#Marriage_of_the_Sea_ceremony

My girlfriend likes Dark Eldar models best... I can't really convince her to full-out start playing, in part because gorram GW doesn't support the army, Throne damnit. It's a bit ironic anyway, since I play Ulthwe...
My other female friend is mildly interested in Tau (she likes mecha) but is turned off by the old joke about them being communist (she's really conservative- ugh). I've been wondering how to get her to give in to the heresy and play with me.

I'm just gonna be a total troll and leave THIS right here... *runs off*



WHY, OH WHY DID YOU TRY TO GET YOUR GIRLFRIEND INVOLVED?!?

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

That's so awesome, I like Hello Kitty

But stereotyping aside, girls can have tough badass armies too - it's not all pink and fluffy.

Hmm... maybe you should help her out and show her how to play - and even if she never fully gets into the gaming - atleast she'll have some pretty miniatures Don't get discouraged if she doesn't "get it" then it's just something you'll have to get around and jackpot if she does - it's a good experience to have together.

I'm helping my girlfriend learn 40k on her request. The first part was I made a deal to learn ballroom dancing with her since she liked it and she'd learn 'my game' as she calls it.

already she's helped paint scenery and enjoys the OCD side of it all.

For the rules i'm going to start small with a marine squad vs 2 imperial guard squads of mine, no fancy stuff just explain to her how weapons work, movement and shooting etc. the bare basics. If she does well then she can have a kiss, (The best reward supposedly) and as she learns i'll expand the rules etc.

Don't rush in and try to be open minded and explain how things work and why they work so the girlfriend can unserstand why the spacemarines hit on a 3 while the guard hit on a 4. things like that spelt out properly can help in the long run.

Yay, girlfriend! That's enough, forget warhammer, 40k or not..

PS:I'm 16, out there!

Mordheim would be a great place to start.
Very low initial financial and time outlay and nowhere near as daunting as collecting even the smallest of Warhammer armies.
Small character driven warbands and a similar system to get used to abstract ideas like range, inititiative movement and leadership etc
The warbands can then easily be absorbed into a Warhammer army as character models or just for fun.
It is a really simple way to add more narrative and emotional attachment to otherwise faceless units.

It will also give you a great excuse to build more terrain!
In my experience, the better your set up looks the more interested noobs become!

My wife paints and is generally more interested in the artistic side of the hobby than gaming. Though she has played a lot of D&D in the past and will play the odd game now. But I don't play much either so who am I to talk? :p

No girlfriend yet, :( , but I'm only twelve. I guess the best thing to do is start with a small battle, then make them bigger as rule understanding grows.

Or is that why I don't have one...

Me and my wife are the total oposites... so we have very diferent hobbies.

I would suggest losing the first few games deliberately. Nothing helps get people into a hobby than if they think they're good at it, plus it won't put her off.

Ketara wrote:I would suggest losing the first few games deliberately. Nothing helps get people into a hobby than if they think they're good at it, plus it won't put her off.

This is an iffy one, if she knows or thinks your letting her win it could be an insult, if you thrash her she might not want to keep learning. instead by making really interesting things happen during the game or fun objectives she can have fun and remember funny moments and not the oh i lost again, but more the damn you how i'd have had a chance if my marines hadn't fallen off that ledge when making a run for the teddybear.

That or make a vital objective an engagement ring... she has to capture it to get it. there's a whole new level of incentive to play

Be careful, she may just want to play to get to spend more time with you. It's possible that you'll buy her a decent sized army, and that at some point you will be selling them.

I have first hand knowledge of this. It sucks and I don't want to see it happen to anyone else.

Props to her if she actually wants to play and learn how to play.

I tried to get my girlfriend into 40k once, but my wife wouldn't allow it.

Actually, my wife enjoys it, and plays (although very infrequently)

Redbeard wrote:I tried to get my girlfriend into 40k once, but my wife wouldn't allow it.

What?
You live in Arabian country or something?

Redbeard wrote:I tried to get my girlfriend into 40k once, but my wife wouldn't allow it.