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If you had a whole 5 minutes to do a demo and teach someone how to play 40K (or fantasy) and make them love it, what would yo do? How would you set up the board? what kinda army lists? Or would you just use a starter box set and take it from there?

My girlfriend has expressed a slight interest in my army men so I'm wondering if there's a way I can show her the game in a super fast and super fun way without overdoing it with a big 2000+ pt game that I'm used to and have her not have a clue what's going on and get bored before I even finish moving my gaunts... Any ideas?

I would set up something with minimal FOC requirements, and probably marines because they don't have complicated rules.

HQ

Tactical squad
Missile/Flamer

Tactical squad
Missile/Flamer

versus something similar. Start them off like 18 inches away from each other and play a few quick turns. You don't want to overwhelm a new player with a lot of units or time it takes to play a full turn with 12 units.

I like using 1 squad of random stuff for a person defending a hill. And your men move up and shoot/ assault theres it basically covers the big rules.

Kill team vs Kill team on a 18"x18"(or slightly larger) space. It would teach the basics of everything in the game(movement, shooting, melee, how different weapons work) without being too much to remember or handle all at once.

When I teach my friends, I do two games:

First, just basic troop choices to learn movement/weapon types.

Second, an actual small game (but with premade lists, and nothing with wonky special rules).

As an example, last time I did:

10 Space Marines (flamer, heavy bolter) vs 20 Guardsmen (2 plasma guns)

That introduces rapid-fire, assault, and heavy weapons, as well as the Gets Hot! rule (just to make it more interesting).

Once she learned the basics of the game from that, we did a 500-point game that introduced vehicles (rhinos and chimeras).

For simplicity's sake, we played the game as "last man standing" rather than any missions in the book.

How to teach a game:

Keep it small (200-500 pts )
Keep it simple (all member of a squad are the same)
Focus on rules not exceptions (no invunerable save, no melta, no weird weapon)


Exemple:
Space marine commander (bolt pistol + ccw)
2 squad of space marine (all bolter)

VS
Horde of IG (all lasgun)
1 sentinel with multilaser.

Pick up dice and roll dice.

Spend 4 minutes arguing language that will never be cleared up.

As superficial as it sounds, having something humanish vs. something not human or clearly "bad" really helps give a feeling for the game better than human vs. human. Visual appeal is more important than rules when it comes to getting someone's attention.

Don't know if you own AoBR, but on pg.8 of the noob-book, they have an awesome diagram and quickstart rules for players just getting into the hobby. In case you don't own it I will post it here:

Marines
Tac Squad
+5 SMs
Missile Launcher, Flamer
Sgt w/ chainsword

Orks
Ork slugga boys x10 (ea big shoota)
Ork slugga boys x10 (ea big shoota)

The battlefield is a simple 3x3 table (it says 4x4, but it's definately smaller) with your common terrain types - a few ruins, hills, and craters. It requires a Pitched battle deployment variant, leaving 12" of dead-man's land in the center of the table and plays a "last model standing" mode until turn 6.

Pretty much: most of the ideas listed here are variants (or copies) of this exact setup. I think there is no better way to begin, but I would reccomend using all painted models/terrain. If you're trying to appeal to someone's addiction, might as well use the good stuff, right?

FlightMek wrote:Don't know if you own AoBR, but on pg.8 of the noob-book, they have an awesome diagram and quickstart rules for players just getting into the hobby. In case you don't own it I will post it here:

Marines
Tac Squad
+5 SMs
Missile Launcher, Flamer
Sgt w/ chainsword

Orks
Ork slugga boys x10 (ea big shoota)
Ork slugga boys x10 (ea big shoota)

The battlefield is a simple 3x3 table (it says 4x4, but it's definately smaller) with your common terrain types - a few ruins, hills, and craters. It requires a Pitched battle deployment variant, leaving 12" of dead-man's land in the center of the table and plays a "last model standing" mode until turn 6.

Pretty much: most of the ideas listed here are variants (or copies) of this exact setup. I think there is no better way to begin, but I would reccomend using all painted models/terrain. If you're trying to appeal to someone's addiction, might as well use the good stuff, right?

When I run 30-45 minute demos at my work I usually use black reach minus the koptas and dread. I usually go until either the commander dies in a suitable fashion, or until I'm tabled.

Necros wrote:If you had a whole 5 minutes to do a demo and teach someone how to play 40K (or fantasy) and make them love it, what would yo do? How would you set up the board? what kinda army lists? Or would you just use a starter box set and take it from there?

My girlfriend has expressed a slight interest in my army men so I'm wondering if there's a way I can show her the game in a super fast and super fun way without overdoing it with a big 2000+ pt game that I'm used to and have her not have a clue what's going on and get bored before I even finish moving my gaunts... Any ideas?

You can't teach someone to love a game. Thats on them.

You want to teach someone in five minutes, you use 1 piece. then add another, then add a fire team, then add a squad, then you add another squad and an HQ, either a single model, or two for the effect, then you can get into the vehicles, and then ask for questions and then have them teach it back to you.

You don't teach someone with a 2000pt game, thats going to blow thier mind and more then likely they are looking at thier watch within five minutes.

Basic five minute version is to use two guys and teach the basics, then you add the fireteam with the different weapon loadouts, then you go on from there.

The thing is to take it slow and make sure you teach them and answer questions and don't rush them. Fantasy is a little different because of the block system that they use.

you can use the 8 man blocks or the 12 man for the basic run, then add the other alternatives and units in there.

Be one of those people who when you ask them for help answer: *insert snobby voice* "why dont you read the book" because we all know that if we did not understand it the first 5-10 times we read it to avoid looking like a n00b, reading it again is really going to help

Hi all.
It takes longer than 5 minuites to list all the exceptions to the basic 40k rules!
(There are more exceptions than rules !)
So what the point of pretending its a simple rule set that can be explained in 5 minuites?

The game play is incredibly straight forward,however.

But the rules are so over complicated even the develoment team can not decide how to interprite them definitivley .(If they could, they could issue USEFULL FAQs far quicker .)

So teach the basic rules first,(about half an hour.)
Then take your time going through the multiple poorly defined exceptions.(ten years and counting.... )

Foda_Bett wrote:When I run 30-45 minute demos at my work I usually use black reach minus the koptas and dread. I usually go until either the commander dies in a suitable fashion, or until I'm tabled.

How does it work? Would you say it gets their chops drooling for more and they understand the "basic" rules? Or is it a hit-or-miss endeavor?

Thanks for the ideas

I think what I'll do is just pick up the starter box set. maybe I'll wait for the rumored new fantasy one, though I think 40K might seem easier and she's more a sci fi gal than a fantasy gal.

Maybe for the very first game I'll just use one of my ROB squares and 2 5-man marine squads vs some of my nids. it'll be a 2x2 board but really teeny units should be ok for a quickie demo.

That sounds about right.
Start the nids far enough away and place the marines in the opposite corner on the hill section.
Give it a bit of a last stand narrative and make her play marines.
That type of scenario always gets the blood pumping and the narrative is easy enough to relate to.

If this is a her, always let her choose.

In 5 mins?

I'd use space marines and grots or somthing. Something OBVIOUSLY weaker but more numerous, maybe gaunts.

5 space marine combat squad inc Missile Launcher (or other OBVIOUSLY heavy weapon)

15 guardsmen including two flamers or something.

The two very different forces and sizes teach the importance of points, and how different everyone's 'men' are, and therefore the importance of the army lists. There are different types of weapon, but only a couple, so as to teach that all the weapons are used differently, but not to overwhelm. The flamer is included because it's very different, and also won't come into play until later in the game.

After this, I'd maybe include a single vehicle. But the main thing is, for the first few games, use as few different TYPES of units as possible.

Also make a clear crib/reference sheet with the unit stats and a breakdown of ranges, movement, simple special rules, equiptment, tables for wounding, shooting etc etc
Maybe include pretty pics of the models on this sheet as more unit types are used.
Giving some involvement in working out combat rather than you just saying, 'You need to roll fives, just do it', will give a little control/ownership to the starting player.
It'll also distract them whilst you sneak those few extra inches of movement and palm that 'lucky' dice of yours.

holy cripes....

if you want to just teach someone the basic concepts of the game in 5 minutes your going to have to drop a ton of stuff. and i can tell you that most girls are not gonna works well with the total influx of rules in the first game if your trying to get the concepts across.

game 1 :

"to give you the basic idea of the game i'm going to simplify all the rules. so we are going to use the rule of 4 in this game. everything hits on a 4, everything wounds on a 4 everything saves on a 4. all guns have a 12" range and no hand to hand combat."

6 models on each side. the weapons type dont matter

start 15" apart, let them go first.

let them move 6"

measure 12 " range for gun to other models.

roll to hit on 4+, roll to wound on 4+ save models on 4+ remove casualties.

move 6" repeat until one side is dead.

game 2 : introduce assault ( all models have 1 attack + 1 if assaulting, let them assault FIRST)
game 3 : introduce armor saves at 3+
game 4 : introduce bolters with rapid fire
game 5 : introduce S vs T (assume all weapons are str 4, all models are T 3).
game 6 : maybe introduce 2 squads on each side

should take 20-30 minutes to get through those games total and you have given them the basics that everything is based on without over whelming them with the rules and using alot of rand units.

then talk to them about the different armies and what they would like to play.

^ What lixulana said.

hmm starting simple like that is a great idea. I don't want to get into all the crazy rules issues right off the bat. I was hoping to just have 2 very different kinds of forces (like a few marines vs weaker horde types) to show how different armies can be, but otherwise make it a quick and easy game.

I doubt she'd get heavily into the game and want an army of her own one day, but she might like it as something to play on rare occasions. Though she is very competitive, one of those types that always manages to dominate the board in monopoly

Grot 6 wrote:You want to teach someone in five minutes, you use 1 piece. then add another, then add a fire team, then add a squad, then you add another squad and an HQ, either a single model, or two for the effect, then you can get into the vehicles, and then ask for questions and then have them teach it back to you.

You don't teach someone with a 2000pt game, thats going to blow thier mind and more then likely they are looking at thier watch within five minutes.

This.

I taught one of my co-workers the basic rules of the game in about five minutes with a Space Marine and a Chaos Space Marine. We started about 18" apart and learned movement, shooting, wounding, saving throws, and assaults.

Adding concepts onto this foundation is easy once someone knows the basics. Keep it simple.

Necros wrote:hmm starting simple like that is a great idea. I don't want to get into all the crazy rules issues right off the bat. I was hoping to just have 2 very different kinds of forces (like a few marines vs weaker horde types) to show how different armies can be, but otherwise make it a quick and easy game.

I doubt she'd get heavily into the game and want an army of her own one day, but she might like it as something to play on rare occasions. Though she is very competitive, one of those types that always manages to dominate the board in monopoly

to start i would assume everyone is identical so the sides are exactly even.

maybe make that a later game. "ok i have twice as many guys as you but my guys are easier to kill than yours." like marines vs eldar guardians.

ive found that 40k has so maybe tables charts and differences that few people can really grasp the general concepts of the game if you try to do marines vs orcs or anything else.

When my buddy and I started the first thing we did was use two squads - something like 6 Space Marines (They were actually Legion of the Damned models, but we treated them as vanilla) and 12 Eldar. Everybody had the basic rifle loadout and we went from there. Probably took us 45 minutes just to figure out all of the shooting, assaulting, and saves. We just put them about 18" away and slugged it out.

Second game we did a king of the hill setup.

Third game was 750 points and lots and lots of rules misinterpretations (Ok, so terminators get 2 attacks, and their storm bolters are assault 2, so I get to shoot 4 times!), but we muddled through.

Of course, neither of us actually knew the game rules - we were working with 3rd edition rule books and the AOBR small handbook.

Now when we introduce new players, we play a usual game (1500 or whatever), but give the new player a squad of vanilla Eldar to serve as spoilers. Basically they come in on one side and just sort of harass whatever. It's worked out well.

Keep it small! Construct several armies of equal points (maybe 400) which are all legal if possible (2 troops, 1 HQ). Let her choose her army then you get yours.

Have fun!

Never explain rules that haven't come up in the game. It is BORING and slows the game down. Keep it simple, have fun!

Hmm.. i may not be teaching her 40K after all :( we were talking on the phone last night and I mentioned how one time I used my all in one scanner printer thingy to scan my baneblade datasheet out of my apocalypse book so I could take the rules to a game and not bring the big book everywhere for just 1 model. Then the coversation went like this..

her: why do you need to bring the rules with you?
me: so I know what it can do and what kind of weapons it has
her: so you bring rules with you to every game?
me: yep
her: why? Don't you just know all the rules like monopoly?
me: there's lots of rules so it's good to have the books on hand in case something comes up.
her: so it's like scrabble where you pull out a dictionary and argue over if something is a real word or not?
me: kinda
her: so all the nerds argue fight over rules for the whole game?
me: yeah I guess...
her: that doesn't sound like a fun game, now I know why it takes you 3 hours to play
me: ...

hehe

Yeah, I thought Malfred covered that in post 7 of this thread.

Yeah, that's right I counted. I just wanted to make sure it was correct.