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Hey guys,

I've been painting GW models since I was 9 years old (I am now 24). In primary school, half my grade got tactical squads for their birthdays in Year 5 and we all used to play with makeshift rules in the playground at recess (the dream).

I usually find myself (due to life circumstances), being an on-off painter of Grey Knights. I will collect and paint for 12 months, and then walk away from the hobby for 2-4 years at a time. Usually I complete 5-10 models over 2 months (maybe 2 each weekend or so).

I'm not an artistic person, however I have always found painting miniatures a way to express some level of creativity.

ANYWAY[u]

Point being, I only paint the odd minature here and there now. And i'm more interested in actually playing table-top games with my models. For e.g. i have been compiling a 1850 points GK list from my models on these forums over the last week or so.

Since I started collecting, I have played maybe 4 full games of 40k, and basically got babysat through the entire thing by a FLGS staff member or a friend. I find the basic nature of the game pretty simple (move, psychic, shooting, assault) etc etc pretty straight forward, but there is so many niche rules and little bits and pieces that pop up in battle-reports (I have been watching these a lot to try and pick things up).

The thing that triggers my OCD with 40k is the fact that in an average game, a player like myself is usually going to have no idea what they are doing and get completely pushed around by the other player (happened to me in my last game, which was in 2012 against an IG player at my FLGS, who literally told me where to move my units).

Is there a way for me to quickly pick up the rules? or is practice the best way?

There truly is no "fast" way to pick up the rules. 40k is a complex game, and the only way to learn is practice, practice, and more practice. I'd suggest heading down to your local gaming store and asking someone to do a demo game with you. Even if it's just 1 squad vs another squad it'll help. I'd recommend just learning the basics first. Movement, shooting, and assault. Save the more complicated stuff (such as the psychic phase) for until you have a bit more of a secure understanding of the rules. What it boils down to is practice, I learned 40k in my friend's garage on a table with cardboard terrain. Just get out there and play, it'll come to you eventually.
Good luck

40k actually isn't that complex of a game, what it has is a kagillion little micro-rules that only pop up when you do certain things. And it doesn't help that they're scattered all thru the rule book. For example, if you want to correctly assault something thru difficult terrain, you need to know the rule for that, plus look at the terrain section, plus look at the grenade section, the unit type section, and the special rules section for fleet/furious charge stuff. Ugh.

I'd suggest sitting down with the rule book and a pad of paper and make copious notes as you go. Yeah, you'll forget little bits here and there, but once you get your face pushed in for missing something, you'll not make that same mistake again!

Definietly download this amazing 40k rules reference sheet. Get what you need to know fast without all the fat! ArbitorIan is the man!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/597998.page#6887088