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Hello, I am new to the 40k Universe. A buddy of mine had told me of a game that involved miniatures, war, shooting, and tactic and i was hooked. I recently started watching videos online to see how the game is played and it has raised lots of fascination but also lots of questions. I love the movement of figures and the way they look. All the different varieties of armies to choose from! I have yet to play but I love the models so much i have acquired a few armies. Some are painted some are not, that way I can both start playing and paint while im at it. However, videos online don't really explain why certain players are doing what they are doing when they are moving characters, the mental process behind the reason in doing things. I get that stuff shoots and stuff dies when it gets shoot but I wish a video wold explain why they are shooting certain characters first and why they are moving characters into certain locations. Furthermore, its been tough learning all the different weapons and troops everything belongs too. List building should be easier too haha. Anyways, I go play my first game this thursday at my local hobby shop and am excited to learn and talk Warhammer. Any suggestions on how to look less like a noob?

Oh, I have 2 complete armies (astra militarum (catachan and death guard). Also am completing a tau army. Got some pics posted if you wanna see.
What should I take to my first game and do I need any other characters to add to my army?

Sincerely,
Scuba Steve

Hi,

Welcome to Dakka

Hi,

I can't help you much with Warhammer 40K as I am new to that system myself. Though, I am not new to miniatures wargaming having played a bunch of other games.

I think the Youtube channel Miniwargaming has some videos on the basics of how to play which you may or may not already know. As for specific tactics, it is hard to cover given the sheer number of army lists (both yours and your opponents), mission types and table setups.

What I can say is most games have units that perform a specific function or role within the army. In general, troops (tactical marines, Imperial Guard, fire warriors) are armed with infantry fighting weaponry and sometimes light vehicles (such as bikes). In terms of 40K, from what I can see, you want to determine if those units are best continuing to fight at range or close the distance to assault. Additionally, some units really need cover more than others.

Depending on the points size and typical meta (how everyone else builds their lists) you will want to make sure you have anti-vehicle weapons to be able to tackle them. Again, I have no experience with 40K so I don't exactly what this entails.

40K also has added flyers to unit types. Typically games with aircraft require specialized anti-aircraft weapons or counter flyers to tackle or you will have to accept your opponent has air superiority. In most of the other miniatures wargames I have played typically anti-aircraft is also good against infantry. However, I get the impression that this might not be the case in 40K.

A specific general tactic for 7th ed 40K is the idea of keeping your good troops to the back of their squad as units are removed from the front in this edition. Of course, this has to be weighed against the idea of them taking an extra turn to get into range.

Another one is close order vs. open order squad formations. Depending on the number and range of your opponent's template weapons you will have to decide how closely you want to space out your infantry. 40K gives you 2" coherency so you have quite a bit of distance to space everyone out if you want to. However, while this will reduce the number caught under the template, it also increases the chance of troops still being under the template should it scatter.

It appears that once you figure out how everything works in 40K, the most challenging aspect is target priority or know when to have each of you units attack the correct enemy unit at the correct time.

I think your best bet is just accept you are going to lose your first few games. If you are lucky, you might be able to find an opponent that both knows how your army works and is willing to play more of a demonstration of how make it work. I do this all the time for Bolt Action.

Hello and welcome to the hobby.

First, just to get it out of the way, you seem to have the most "field ready" army in the catachans; they seem reasonably complete, and should cover all the bases nicely.

Second, how to compose your army for your first games: KEEP IT SIMPLE. I would recommend you create a combined arms detachment (CAD), and keep the units VERY simple. Back in the day, we would play what were called "combat patrol" missions. Simply put, you make a 500 point army, you bring 1 HQ choice and 2 Troop choices, and I would also recommend 1 vehicle as well. This allows you a great way to learn the basics of movement (for different types of units), shooting, how to calculate damage, how saves work, and after just a couple games you'll have a fairly broad idea of what makes the game function (how to move around, what to target AND what to target them with, when you need cover, etc.).

As far as why someone is moving one place or attacking another, the reasons can be very numerous, but seasoned commanders typically do it for one reason only: because they believe if they do, it will bring them closer to victory.

In 40k, there is no standard hierarchy for what you do and when, but as a general rule of thumb, use the weapons as they were intended to be used. The main categories of weapon fall into the "who do i usually kill outright" category, meaning "if I shoot you with x weapon, hit you, and wound you, you won't get a save" categories.

--------Weapon Guidlines--------

0.KNOW YOUR ROLE(all units): don't shoot with units meant to charge into close combat, don't expect gunlines to rip and tear the enemy to pieces with swords, and don't assume anything about your opponents units; ask them what they do if you don't know! This is the fundamental rock-paper-scissors mentality of 40k; don't attack rock with scissors, don't expect paper to beat scissors, and don't think there isn't a paper to beat your rock.

1. Horde clearing: these weapons typically have average strength (3-5) and average to no armor penetration (AP5 to AP-). What they do well, though, is have either a lot of shots or are template weapons (templates auto hit anything under them, and can hit as many models as you can fit). You use these weapons to clear out swarms of low value targets that your nicer, more expensive, and stronger weapons don't need to be wasted on. Occasionally, you will find special versions of horde clearing weapons (either much higher strength or much stronger armor penetration), but don't worry about those for now.

2. GEQ (guards and their equivalents): weapons which will kill anything with 4+ armor or worse outright. You can also assume that your targets tend to be toughness 3-4, with toughness 3 being average. Not too common to find standard troops with weapons that can do this in bulk, but very common to find at least one or two weapons in a squad that can. Things like autocannons and heavy bolters happily rip through 4+ armour saves entirely, and do remember that the standard Space Marine bolter is AP5, which can punch plenty of holes in not so well armored militarum.

3. MEQ (marines and their equivalents): now we're into some nice anti-infantry weaponry. Very few (if any) standard weapons will be able to punch through 3+ armour saves entirely. This power of weapon is usually reserved for special weapons and specific units. The most common type of weapon that will touch on this is the rocket launcher, which can fire a single S8 AP3 rocket. Now this is typically done to hit vehicles, however it can absolutely be done to pick off valuable targets (like independent characters out of position or multi-wound models). Space Marines come standard with 3+ armor saves, and plenty of other armies have a proliferation of it as well.

4. TEQ(terminators and equivalent): the baddest of the bad, we're talking weapons that are so potent they can rip, burn, melt, or otherwise destroy any type of armor infantry might have. You'll find these are your AP2 weapons, and the gold standard is the plasma gun. You get both an above average strength of 7, and an AP2, in a rapid fire weapon with decent range.

5. Land Vehicles(tanks, walkers, etc): not as critical to have a great AP value on the weapon (though they typically do anyway), these are the highest strength weapons in the game (or the most special, like strength D and haywire). Vehicles will have an armour value ranging from 10 to 14 (special rules aside), and the name of the game is to at least equal the armor value with whatever you are shooting at it (which is usually the strength of the weapon plus the value of a single D6 dice roll). What this means, is that vehicles like a land raider (which is AV14 on every side) are effectively impervious to any weapon which cant get a total of at least 14. So something like a bolter, with a strength of 4, has a maximum of 10 that it can reach to penetrate vehicle armor; no chance. What you want are, typically, weapons with strength 8 or higher, and you DO want as low an AP value as possible (these are where a lot of your AP1 weapons are). The most common form of anti-tank is the melta weapon, be it carried by infantry in a meltagun or be a vehicle with a multimelta, and the lascannon. Melta weapons are strength 8, AP1, and allow you to add up to 12 to find your armor penetration (if fired correctly), giving a value between 10 and 20. Lascannons dont have the extra punch, but are S9, AP2, and have a much longer range of 48" (compared to the meltagun at 12" and multimelta at 24").

6. Aircraft(planes, flying monstrous creatures, etc.): you'll find anything with the "skyfire" special rule is meant for this, double so if it also has "interceptor". However, its no fun to bring dedicated anti-air units if your enemy has none, so most opt for units which can do decent anti-air as well as anti-something-else, just in case. You'll find the best anti-air to be medium strength, and has a lot of shots. Flyers typically have only low to average armor (10-12), and not many hull points, so you dont need as much to kill them, but they are damn hard to hit. Weapons with multiple shots (2+), decent range (36"+), and decent strength (6+) tend to do best. Some prime examples are autocannons and assault cannons. Autocannons fired in groups make excellent impromptu "flak cannons", but are also perfect at destroying armored troop carriers and monstrous creatures. Likewise, assault cannons arent as strong, but get more shots and have a special rule that makes each penetration you do land more deadly.

7. High Toughness(monstrous creatures, devil spawn, horribly nasty independent characters, etc.): this can be varied, but it really depends on what else the unit has besides just high toughness. As a general rule of thumb, if you're going to shoot a high toughness model with a low strength weapon, then you best do it with a lot of shots. Alternatively, if you're going to shoot a toughness 7 model with a strength 10 weapon, a handful of shots could be fine, just always keep track of how many wounds the model has left, as higher toughness models nearly always have multiple wounds to chew through.

8. Everything else(oye vey...): from super heavies and titans, force fields to feel no pain, deep strikes, melee combat, psychic powers, objectives...this could end up as a very, VERY long post (you might say it could end up as an entire book of rules). Seriously, 7th edition is coming to a close, but you can probably find an older used one either around the forums, online, or at swap meets at your FLGS. Give it a read, keep watching the vids, but above all else, hit the tables.

Best of luck, cheers!

Welcome to Dakka.

It looks like plenty of people are helping you out here but I'll jump in and give my two cents.

Fist of all! Pick an army that you think looks cool. Read their backstory and make sure you like their motives. I chose my first army because everyone said they were a good learning army and I ended up quitting playing them because they ended up being dull, no fun to paint, etc. You can learn to play any army with reasonable effectiveness. Yes, if you choose to play orks you won't win as many games as if you play eldar, but at least in my opinion it's worth it if you enjoy painting and playing the army. I enjoy playing my orks way more than I enjoyed playing Necrons. Yes, I lose more, but I also get to control a horde of orks. Choose what appeals to you, not what people say is easy.

Second! The start collecting boxes that GW recently released are an excellent place for a new player to start. They normally come with an HQ choice, a troops choice, and a vehicle of some sort. This is generally enough to play a game of "Kill Teams" which I'll explain later.

(Not sure how much you know, but here's a quick explanation of HQ, troops, etc.)
HQ: Your army's commander. Almost all armies have at least one in a battle, some have two. One is almost always mandatory unless you are playing some weird army that doesn't have any (Harlequins and Skitarii are the only two I can think of off the top of my head)
Troops: The backbone of your army. These are your basic footsoldiers. They may not be the hardest-hitting, but they can secure objectives more effectively. (If your troops choice and your enemy's elite choice are ever holding an objective at the same time, your troops count as holding it on the pure virtue that they are troops!)
Elites: Heavy infantry, some vehicles, etc. These guys may be variations of the basic troops, or they could be entirely different. These are generally more expensive, but hit way harder and generally will survive longer.
Fast Attack: Self explanatory, this includes orks on rokkit backpacks, space marines on bikes... Anything that is fast.
Heavy Support: Generally, these guys sit at the back of the battlefield and launch long-range heavy bombardments on the enemy.
Lord of War: Only one is generally allowed per army. These are the big bad boys of the 40k universe, including massive Imperial Knights, Wraithknights, as well as any characters of special importance such as an army's chapter master.

Third! Games to start on! I very much recommend starting with playing a few games of Kill Teams. Its a very small game, typically will only take about 30 minutes to an hour, and teaches you most of the basics of a full-scale game of 40k. Anyone at your FLGS should be happy to show you the ropes in this, and explain the differences when you scale up to a larger game. A kill team also normally uses between 6 - 15 models, meaning its not an overwhelming amount to paint for your first games!

And my last point of note: I played 40k for almost a year before I ever read the rulebook. Watch people play games. You can get a sense for how the turns work, how wounds are dealt out, and how saves are made. 40k doesn't take long to learn the basics, the tough part is the mountain of little subrules you'll learn. Once you pick an army, you can start by learning their special rules, and then branch out. Start with the basics and move on to the smaller rules. Trust the folks at your FLGS. I highly doubt they'll cheat against a new player, and they should be more than glad to help explain rules.

Wow, thanks for the reply and all the great information. I am definitely going to try and play smaller games at first in order to understand all the different phases in movement and shooting. I recently ordered the rule book and am reading over that also. But you are right, their is nothing like playing the game and diving head first in order to learn the different aspects of the game. I shall be taking the imperial guard army on thursday and I will let you guys know of my first experience their. Hopefully some of the same question I have along the way are the same thing other new players may be thinking. maybe not, who knows haha. Again, thanks for taking the time to make such a great response and I will update you guys on my first game from what I learned to any new questions that were raised. To others joining the hobby and veterans, good luck and have fun!

Sincerely,
Scuba Steve

Just don't lay on the ground for Adam Sandler to step on...welcome to Dakka!

Went to my local hobby shop and the concept of time does not exit there. Time flies when your having fun. It was really interesting to see all the different people playing all the different armies. This week I took my imperial guard army to test them out. The people their were great and super friendly. Plus you all have something to talk about, Warhammer. The fella who told me about his location helped build an astra militarum list. Now, when most people start playing i assume they purchase character by character one box at a time and are able to look at the skills, guns, attachments, etc. over an extended period time therefore making learning a bit easier. However, I acquired my army in one big swoop and having to digest everything has been a bit daunting. Especially the lingo. Now, what I have done is taken every troop that I am taking (quick list made at hobby shop) and have made a sort of 2 page quick guide for my army. In this list are the quick facts of every troop in my army that I can quickly look up while playing and to also study at home. The distance they can move, the weapons they have, the distance of he shot, etc are all in this guide. From what I saw, me knowing as much detailed information about my army will make my next game go much smoother. So even if my list isn't optimal or whatever, playing it over and over will let me understand the different weapons and rules.

One of the big questions I have is how do you know what to roll after you hit and you now need to roll to wound. I get that the whole 7- 2 ( balistic skill) equals the number you must roll or roll higher of. An example with a popular space marine model would be helpful.

Written quick and prolly a bit crappy. My condolences.

Thank You,
Scuba Steve

The roll to wound compares the weapon's strenght to the target's toughness.
If it's the same, you wound on 4+. The roll is modified by 1 for each point of difference, i.e. your Str 3 lasguns wound a T 4 marine on 5+, while your heavy bolter with Str 5 would wound the same marine on 3+.

Three things to keep in mind:
1) if the strenght value is at least twice the targets toughness, you inflict Instant Kills, that means the target loses all of it wounds instead of just one. I.e. when you should a Str 8 battle cannon at a T4 Space MArine Captain with 2 wounds.

2) if the targets toughness is 3 more than the weapon's strenght, you still wound on 6+, if it's 4 higher, you can't wound

3) a roll of 1 is always a fail