Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

willydstyle wrote:And a final skill that is important for the noob is the ability to estimate ranges. If you know what 6", 12", 18", and 24" looks like, you can avoid mistakes that are based less off of percentages, and more off of maneuvering. Every time a unit misses its shots due to being out of range, or misses its assault similarly, you've wasted a sizable portion of your force. Learn those distances, and if you don't know them that well by sight, play a little conservatively: don't assault unless you think you're 5" away, don't shoot rapid fire weapons unless you think you're 11", etc. These ranges are also important to be able to eyeball to be able to estimate what you opponent is going to be able to accomplish in his next turn, along with the basic probability math mentioned earlier.

The best way to go about doing this is to work with a conceptual ruler, taken visually from existing pieces on the board. You can think of it as a two part process, macro/micro. Just from setting up your army during deployment, you get an instant macro view of the board (which covers standard 6" increments). The board is split into four parts, each one being 12" along the short side of the board. Although you will not know with certainty the 'wide' (6' edge) increments, you can break the board down into 4 large quadrants, composed of 6- 1ft. squares. This is the part where you put together a general plan, using each of the 'wide' squares as 'lanes'. Lanes are further divided by the terrain on the board, with at least 2-3 areas that are open space directly from edge to edge. This depends on the game in question, but you can reliably have 2 lanes to charge down; these lanes will be where most of the action happens.

Corner to corner, a 1" square is 1' 4.9", making it a decent reference to make use of FoF, being an average of 1' 3'. If they are a corner to corner away from your FoF footslogging units, they won't make it in without good rolls, being 1' 6" maximum. There are tricks you can do with your eye (which happens to be very reliable in a lot of situations), using basic geometry, but they can make a game drag on forever. Note, you don't need to write the math down to know it, proportions are your friend.

Micro measuring is much harder, but not impossible to be very precise with. Generally speaking, you should use the 1" bases of your infantry models to determine their optimal movements. It gets a bit more difficult with MC bases, simply because they don't divide evenly into a 6" increment, being 2.5" in diameter. Over time you can develop a sense of exactly what an inch is, but it will always be a gamble when playing against experienced opponents, as they only need to be a hair outside of your assault/shooting range to avoid damage.

Great thread BTW Willydstyle, you should expand on it, and turn it into a Dakka article for sure.

I would say that really the best way to get better is play more games. And for those people that are new, poorly painted minis always play better than not painted minis.

If memory serves I had originally begun by playing my friend, who had an army but hadn't played for a while. so we both had to learn the rules, and at this point I was definetely the "noob" yuo are describing. And yes, in about a year and 1/2 or so I can now beat the vets in my club, and even teach them a rule once in a while. How does this correlate? Well it just proves that your article is right, being obsessive about learning the rules (though not always a good thing) really helps!!!!

BTW great article.

Great article, and very sound advise.

I also respect your decsion to not tackle army building. Usually the army a player chooses to build and play is very dependent upon the individuals personality. Trying to tell others what fits their personality is very tricky and best left for them to discover on their own.

Fiend wrote:

Shrubs wrote:
As for the articles not being read: I find it hard to find my way around the article section. Not sure how to fix that. I use(d) Wuestenfux's article on Space Marines a lot though

I seem to have trouble navigating the articles as well. Where is this SM article you speak of?

Found it: Wuestenfux's Space Marine Guide. Sorry for going OT.

Chimera_Calvin wrote:Many if not most new players have restricted budgets. They may be at school/college/university and rely on gifts from friends/family to build their armies. Others may be in work but with limited amounts of free money.

This means that buying multiple units to test builds is out of the question and proxying only goes so far.

New players need to have a basic understanding of army list construction so as to make their first purchases count. This stops the inevitable disappointment when they realise that not only do they need to spend more cash, but also that the cash they have already spent was wasted.

I assume I'm not the only noob who, due to working with a limited budget, has gone the "more and cheaper" route in building their army. I have a handful of models I'll probably never use, just because I found them too cheaply to pass up. I also haven't developed any real, cohesive army lists. I bought the models I could afford and I'll play with what I have (my list being guided only by a vague sense of army balance, should I have more models available than the current points limit demands - otherwise, it's a case of 'throw everything I own on the table').

That doesn't bother me, though, because my primary concern is learning the rules and getting comfortable playing. Getting tabled on turn 3 may mean that your opponent is a bit of a but if your only goal is to practice the mechanics of play, then that just leaves you more time for another game. I think list-building (building your own lists, that is - anyone can look up the power-list-of-the-day online and, if they have the money/models, plop it on the table) comes after a player has developed at least a basic tactical sense which itself requires time spent playing. I appreciate the sentiment from veterans who don't want noobs blowing all of their money on Flash Gits and Forgeworld looted Rhinos, but aside from the rare overzealous noob with VERY deep pockets, I don't see army-building as being all that vital to the true noob.

I have seen articles just on 'what every army should have' which is a great place to start for people you are concerned about what should go into their army.

It isn't so much, "this is how your army should look" but "make sure your army is prepared and not lacking in certain areas" i.e: Can your army kill a Land Raider?

This is a great article. Im a noob to 40k and i find that i make mistakes constantly, like not realizing TH count as PF and getting destroyed by my friends carnifexs.
Being new to the site i found it difficult to find the articles but they are excellent when i found them.
Building your own list i find is better than someone telling you, even though you could have a list which destroys everything it wouldnt feel the same as building it yourself and making the mistakes but coming out with a competitive list that you actually like and reflects your personality.

Wow great article! I'll definitely point this one out to others new to hte game. Great job.

G

While the "troops troops troops" list building advice isn't so great, there are a handful of points to address in list building that will help steer new players in the right direction:

1- Don't go overboard with wargear/upgrades
2- Don't go overboard with special characters
3- Ensure your army has something to deal with the following issues:

Enemy armor at range- Standard is long range AT firepower (railguns, lascannons), but mobile melta (land speeders, drop pod meltas) or assault (melta bombs, powerfist, monstrous creatures) can work if they can get to the target quickly enough to avoid getting shot to pieces.

Spammed enemy armor (light)- Dark Eldar, certain marine and eldar builds and Tau to a lesser degree (if you view crisis suits almost like light vehicles) can overwhelm/target an army's limited AT resources and use mobility and space to limit the usefulness of melta teams and assault. Counters include increased AT weapons from above or including light armor busting weapons (multilasers, autocannons, missile launchers).

Objective grabbing- You need assets to hold 1-2 objectives near your edge and 1-2 distant objective. Near objectives probably need long-ranged guns, resilience to shooting (cover, go to ground, large numbers to absorb wounds, good leadership, etc). Far objective grabbers need mobility, resilience to shooting and assault. Resilience in this case can be staying in a vehicle or being dangerous enough to assault/kill threats that are nearby.

Horde killing- What can clear large number of weak creatures (gaunts, guardsmen, etc). Mobile flamers, lots of small arms, decent assault assest, blasts are all potential options.

MEQ killing- you need something to deal with large numbers of MEQs quickly...specifically things like multiple, large blood angel assault squads. Powerful, large blasts, lots of powerful small arms (plasma, melta) and better assault are common options. Tarpit units, speed bumps and extreme mobility are more advance choices.

Objective clearing- You need to get enemy units off of objectives. Whether your objective clearing unit has the ability to do it (assault, flamers to kill weak troops, tank shock, etc) or you achieve it with other assets (firepower, assault by other units) you need to have assests in place.

This is a good, basic start to list building. There are tons of advanced considerations (dealing with bike Seer council, assault terminators, odd armies like Necrons, psyker and deep strike defense, etc) and a lot of tactical savvy to develop, but that all comes with time. Look for units that can accomplish multiple tasks on the above list to be more efficient purchases, as you never know what you'll come up against. Something like a medusa is a decent investment, as it can threaten anything and comes at a reasonable price. Some units, like the vendetta or a predator with side HB sponsons, but are so extremely point-efficient for that role that they are still worth taking. Ensure you have multiple units to deal with above issues...otherwise your opponent will target the one threat to his army, annihilate it, and then run rampant over the remnants of your army.