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Hello,

Tomorrow, I will begin the challenging task of teaching a friend of mine how to play this wondrous game...again (at his request). The main problem I am having is that this guy (who ironically enough was the one who got me into the hobby in the first place) has a crippling aversion to reading the Rulebook. He instead insists that he would find it easier to learn by playing the game (how he knows this without having ever read the rules, I'll never know). Despite my repeated protests he has insisted that just hitting the books is not a likely possibility.

This brings me to point number two. In my previous attempts to teach him the game (of which there have been many since my first attempt in 4th ed), I have encountered several critical problems. They are as follows:

1. The guy in question seems to be in denial about how little he knows of the game.

2. The guy in question seems to have a memory/attention span of a feral squig.

3. The guy also seems to have an intense fear of making obvious rational decisions.

To illustrate point 3: in one of my failed attempts to teach him in 6th edition we were playing a game of SM (me) vs CSM (him) and during his turn he had Abaddon within 6" of a 5 man squad of Sternguard (completely bare bones). Having explained to him that the Sternguard specialised in shooting and that Abaddon was arguably the best CC unit in the game he proceeded to move Abaddon 6" away (toward nothing but his table edge) and did nothing but fire his twin-linked bolter at that squad for the rest of the game.

I've tried every technique you could think of.
I tried breaking the rulebook down into little sections and playing games in between. Didn't work (he couldn't recall anything).
I tried to introduce him to the game like the fellows at GW did and build up from there. Was never able to build beyond that. (ie, he knew a SM bolter hit on a 3+ but didn't know why)
I tried writing up a cheat sheet he could refer to that told him turn order and the appropriate sequence of actions to do and to do them. That worked for a little bit, but encountered similar problems to above.

The only reason I still bother is because a friend of mine is selling some necrons and this guy has expressed interest in buying them. I figure that he might lose interest in such things if he can't learn the game (as has happened before).

Do you guys have any advice on what to do?

I'd try to minimize everything.

1. Start by only doing a squad of marines against another squad of marines. Equipped very much the same way.
2. Print off the stat lines of the marines and any special weapons that you purchase.
3. Work with that until he is able to grasp the concepts of a single tac marine. Doing multiple instances of a single unit v single unit.
4. Once he can accomplish #3, add a second unit.

Yeah small is beautiful. Start with a HQ and a squad, with a vehicle Vs a HQ Vs a squad and a vehicle. This keeps things interesting yet small enough to start with.

Make sure the vehicle isn't powerful enough to wipe out the squad. So no battle tanks or anything.

I gave an intro game a couple of weeks ago and basically gave my friend a couple of squads of marines and a razorback, and a librarian. That way he learnt about how squads worked. Transports, independent characters, transports, the psychics phase, etc.

Don't worry about army creation or anything like that to begin with. That can be added later.

Teach the basics first. Movement, shooting, assault, with a squad of Marines.
Then, teach vehicles with Rhinos, walkers with Dreadnoughts, and skimmers with Land Speeders.
Finally, introduce Librarians for psychic powers and Flyers.

From the sound of it, your friend is more interested in the spectacle of the game, rather than it's function. Ask yourself this question; when he had Abaddon spend the whole game shooting at the Sternguard, did he enjoy it?

This is a VERY important question!

You see, he may feel like Abaddon, being the baddest thing since slicing the Talon off Horus himself, is so good at killing in close combat, that he'd rather test his mettle in shooting instead. He's having Abaddon "play" with the Sternguard, mocking them. This has no in-game effect, but it might be part of the story in this guy's mind.

He doesn't understand "Space Marines hit on a 3+ because they have a BS of 4, and you look up this chart to see how the shooter with BS of 4 hits a target, and a simple way of figuring this out is take 7 minus their BS of 4, and you get 3+, so that's what 3+". But he probably DOES understand "Space Marines are great shooters, so they hit on 3+". Don't even explain it unless he asks.

In m experience, during the very first time players try this game out, I completely forgo explaining the rules in order to just focus on the story of why it happens. "See this guy? He's a legendary fighter. So he's got a lot of attacks, and all those attacks will hit others easier, meanwhile he can defend against attacks better too." Then, when it comes time to actually roll dice, "So he's really pretty awesome. Most guys only get 1 attack, but this guy gets 4. Plus, since he's running in, he's all pumped and gets an extra attack! Go ahead and roll 5 dice, and each 3 or better is a hit.". When it comes time for enemies to attack him back, "Yeah, he hit you on 3+, but because he's so much better than you at fighting, you only hit him back on a 4+."

If a player wants to get better tactically, they will self-motivate into reading the rules or asking about them. Otherwise, if they're HAPPY, they'll stay where they are with really bare bones stuff being fed to them. Remember, this is absolutely 100% fine, so long as you're both having a fun time doing it.

Honestly, I've been in the OP's shoes and its usually a waste of time. You will keep having to explain the rules every time you play with that person because they refuse to read through the rules and try to play solely on memory of editions past without a good level of understanding of the current rules.

Small and try to keep out things that complicate the game. Formations, weird ally interactions, even pyskers and special characters. Take it back to the basics, 500 points and a CAD.

Its simple you give this git homework.

Step1:
let the git print out this sheet.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4104995/Games/7edRef_V8.pdf

Step2:
Let him watch this series, with the sheet in his hand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV3ku2aGOc

Step 3:
Let him bring that reference sheet to the game.
Then play a regular game, you take the first turn and be prepared to spend time on having to explain stuff. Don't dumm it down or do a small point game a regular battle will be fine.
Give him 1/3 more points to play with to keep it interesting avoid gamebreaking / oop stuff in your army. Just don't start playing before he has actually done his homework.

You need to understand what he wants to get out of 40k and build your games around that.

Many people see the game not as a competition between two players, but a co-operative process where players make in character decisions to try create a narrative flow of events that match the background.

Ask him something he would like to see happen (how many Sternguard can Abbaddon mow down with his bolter!) and build learning scenarios around that.

Start with the storytelling and the killing - preferably with a game the size of Dark Vengeance or AoBR. If he picks up on the tactical play element of it, there may be hope. If all he cares about is "pew pew layzorz" you may have difficulty in continuing with him, as he will have to read these books to continue playing.

Listbuilding and understanding both your and your opponent's army requires reading in your free time.

A) 40K in 40 minutes

B) Give up

Using a small, no-frills game tends to work when teaching the basics to a complete newby, but trying that approach to a returning veteran doesn't work in my experience, especially one who thinks they know more than they really do.

The returning vet wants all the bells and whistles, and if they aren't willing to take the time to at least read the current rules, its a challenge to teach them anything. My biggest problem always came with them remembering bits and pieces of the old rules and trying to force them into the new set.

I know a guynwho still tries to tell me that 4e rules are in the 7e rulebook. He refuses to get a copy of the rules. Even a free one from me.

I'll be that guy: don't bother. It's not your job to teach someone to play the game. If he's not putting in any effort? He can sit and watch.

This isn't public grade school. I know many people don't have the ability to be a miserable, cold-hearted, cynical donkey-cave like myself...but dude learns the rules or doesn't play. It's on him to act like an adult and put in some effort to engage in something he's interested in. I wouldn't waste my time.

I spend a lot of time teaching my nephew how to wargame...but even there I gave him his own Kiddiehammer codex and I'm slowly making him do his own math and strategy. He's nine years old.

I agree with Elbows. Based on the OP it isn't worth the effort of trying to teach them. I've tried teaching someone who doesn't want to learn and it's just irritating.

I'm kind of on the opposite end of the OP's situation. I was taught by someone who got me into the fluff and subsequently the game, and then didn't want to learn the current edition and would not keep up with the current rules, nor did they use the actual rules. Rather, they would use their version of the rules that best fit their vision of the game at the time (This was like a week after the 6th Ed. BRB came out, and he taught me a mix of 4th, 5th, and 6th Ed. rules). While that is perfectly fine for homebrew games, as a new player, I wanted to know how to play the actual game as stated in the current rules, so I bought Dark Vengeance as soon as it came out, and read the 6th Ed. Rulebook front to back multiple times, and did the same with Stormclaw and 7th Ed.

What I'm getting at, is if he really wants to learn how to play the game, more tactically than fluff-immersion-wise but all the same, he will take time out of his personal time and educate himself as well as take your teaching to heart. You can only do so much, and the rest is up to him. There's nothing wrong with wanting to play fluffy instead of tactically, but the rules are there for the game to function either way.

Honestly, I learned by playing team games with veterans who played my same army. I brought about 200 points of orks while the other guy brought 800 and we played a 1000 point game. Of course, my guys died pretty quick, but since we shared the same rules, he could help me out with my guys, and I could watch him use his guys. Granted, you need two other people for that, and people who are willing to play with a novice in a team game, but I think it's a great way to learn. That way it feels less like actual teaching, and it's still the thrill of a real fight, so to speak.

Oldzoggy that is a great piece of information thank you!

I did a Learn to Play event at a convention many years ago, and they did it with a squad of Marines versus a squad of Orks. The GM just walked everybody through the turn sequence and we used printed chart reference sheets. Never saw a rulebook.

That's more than enough to learn the basics of the game, and actually works better since the big rulebook itself is a confusing mess for new players.

There are plenty of YouTube videos of gameplay as well, which is good since you get the visual and spoken description...plus you can rewind.

WELL YOUR IN LUCK MY FRIEND!

It just so happens that GW with their re-releasing of Kill team is a perfect way to teach your friend!

I in no way represent GW, but IF I DID! i would suggest you go down to your local GW store and pick up your copy today!

>.> <.<

*Whispers* Totally not affiliated with GW