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Or maybe Project 50 or 60 bucks depending on where you live. Read on for where the name comes from.

So that other thread that was talking about how GW's Pricing scares new people away got me thinking: Anyone else remember those startup tutorials GW use to have on Black Gobbo? The ones where you took a box of troops from your chosen faction, paint them up, then split them between your mate and play a small Kill Team game while you drink some beer with pretzels? So the idea here is you grab a box of a faction, any faction, that is decently cheap and comes with a lot of models (the most obvious being a box of Tactical Marines) and you and your pal build and paint them up, splitting the contents evenly. Then you guys do a friendly game of Kill Team with some extra, but simple, rules to get a feel for the game. No Formations, no fancy Psychic Powers (unless you chose Grey Knights or something), just a quick, cheap game.

Got the idea because I realized 40k's major competitors in the board gaming sector right now are mostly cheap, sit down games that you can crack open a box and play. Especially ones where you can pack everything into one tiny neat little box and put away for another day. This reminded me of the Black Gobbo tutorials, which I feel were perfect for intros.

To that end, I propose the following Beginners Scenario:

Armies: Each player evenly divides up the contents of the chosen box into roughly equal points, with a difference of no more than 5 points between the forces (the exact points will vary depending on the box).

The Scenario uses basic Kill team Rules (i.e: Each model moves on it's own without coherency and each model is considered a unit in it's own right for the purposes of shooting and charging). In addition, select one of the following Special Scenario rules:

Objectives: Three objectives are arranged in the center of the table, equally spaced apart from each other and the table edge. A player controls an objective as long as he has more models within 3" of an objective than his opponent. Whoever controls the most at the end of the game wins.

Escape!: One player must run from one side of the board to the other, the other player must stop them before the end of the game. The runner gets 1 VP for every model that successfully escapes to the other board edge (the model is removed when it "escapes"). The blocker gets 1 VP for every enemy unit destroyed.

Holdout: One player must survive until the end of the game. The Defender just needs to survive. The attacker needs to kill every enemy model, but can return any models killed at the beginning of the turn on any turn after the 1st on a roll of a 4+.

Annhilate: Kill the other guy. Whoever has the most units (or any units left) at the end wins.

Board: a 2.5' by 2.5' area. Each player gets 6 inches for their deployment zone opposite each other. No other scenario rules are in effect.


The idea is a short, simple game that you can play with some models right out of the box, then toss everything back in for the next game night.

The only problem I see with this is getting the rules for the units. A rule book off ebay is still 20 bucks and a codex 60, so unless they were to get it by other means they wouldn't know what Ballistic Skill is even. Like the idea though.

True, but at least it's 1 codex as opposed to 2. That or some kind soul maybe can make a few post-it notes with the old Macragg style spreadsheets on To Hit, To Wound and Armor save charts, and some basic weapon costs.

This would be a lot easier if some rules were free or came with the box.