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HELLO FROM JAPAN!!! Currently in the U.S. Navy stationed overseas in Japan...trying to figure this whole universe out, lol

My first introduction to the WH40k Universe came when I was walking through some back alley book store in a port visit last year where I stumbled across the first book in The Horus Heresy series. I've been reading them ever since trying to finish the series and then move on to other Novels and just keep learning about the current status of the Galaxy.

On top of the literature surrounding 40k, I am an avid scale modeler and I've begun looking at the Games Workshop site at the miniatures. Someday when I get back to the USA, I would like to find a local shop and maybe club and give the whole war gaming thing a try. I have the current 3 book series from Games Workshop which includes the base rules and I have tried to understand it from just reading, but damn this game is complex. I will definitely need to take watch some games and actually get my head in the game. I also own the current Dark Angels Codex and that will be where I get my start. I've also looked around these forums and other forums at Army lists to try and get a feel for how this all comes together.

Anyways, before I ramble on forever, I am happy to finally be a member and look forward to advice and friendly conversation as I stumble around looking like a super n00b. For the Emperor!

Welcome to Dakka, TommyBoy!

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

Hello from London!

I've definitely seen a few people on here from Japan - it might well be possible to learn to play with English-speakers while you're out there. There's a player finder app in the top menu, thought I'm not sure how up-to-date it is.

You're right, it's a stupidly complicated game at the moment (and gets more complex with each book released). If you got into it through the 30k novels, then it might be worth starting with 30k instead of 40k. Both settings use the same Warhammer 40,000 rulebook, and play with the same rules. But, 40k then has about 20 codexes, 10 campaign supplements, innumerable online dataslates and special formations, all of which add rules, units and formations to the game.

30k, by comparison, just has four 'army books' which add army-specific rules. It might be the simpler system to learn at the moment. Plus, with the release of high-value boxed sets like Betrayal at Cath and Burning of Prospero, there's not much difference in cost between the two.

Also, have a look in my sig for the '7ed Reference Sheet' link. These are quite complex, and assume you already know the game, but they do try and present all the phases as a sequence of steps you take in order, which might be useful if you're learning!

Happy geeking....

Welcome TommyBoy!

ArbitorIan's reference sheets are invaluable. I've been playing for 25 years and still use his reference sheets every game!

Once you start playing, my tip is to start small. I recently introduced some friends and the first game we played was 400pts and nothing too fancy - just to get to grips with the mechanics.