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Guys, I am new to the Dakka boards, and this is my first post ever. So, I need your advice and guidance. I have played Table Top Miniatures in the past, but only the Star Wars games from FFG. As much as I enjoy FFG games, I am at the point where I am just burned out from Star Wars. After watching the Last Jedi, something just died inside of me for my love of Star Wars. I did buy into Star Wars Legion, but now I am regretting my decision. I really bought the core set and expansions because I got caught in the hype. But after I unboxed everything, I was like "Luke vs Darth Vader again . . . " Don't get me wrong, I love FFG, they are a great company and I have several of their games. But . . . I just want something . . different. I have always wanted to play 40k, but was always intimidated by the rules.

So, I decided to go the local Games Workshop store and I bought the Necrons Codex. Complete spur of the moment decision. I always liked the models and told myself that they would be the army I play when I jumped into 40K. As I was reading the rules in the codex, I realized, I need the 40k 8th edition rulebook, Chapter Approved, the FAQs, etc. I am not used to having to buy this many rules book. Yes, the basic rules are available for free online,but the 8th edition rulebook has the rules governing the various detachments as an example, so you have to buy that to get the detachment rules.

So where am I going with this post? The more I think about, I just feel there is too much going on. Too many rules, too many interactions, too many books I have to flip through to really enjoy the game. I went to the local game store last weekend and watched two guys play 40k. They spent most of their time flipping through the rule book. I am not criticizing you guys at all, but I want to try this out. But it is a big time and money commitment, and I am weary. I am married with two kids, so going to play would be like once every two weeks. I need something I can enjoy, and there is a huge 40k following in my area. I can get a game in anytime,which is the big allure.

How do you all remember all the small details? The command points, detachments, warlord traits, etc, etc. Again, not hating on you guys, but I don't see how you can remember all of this when playing without flipping through multiple stacks of books and paper. With FFG and Age of Sigmar, at least you get the cards and warscrolls in front of you without flipping through tons of rules.

I appreciate your time and help everyone. Wondering if any of you ever felt the same way before you got into the game.

Side Note: Here is a funny story, when I went to the store last week, I brought the family with me. My wife and oldest son played around with the 40k miniatures, and wanted to buy the starter set. However, they come from a Monopoly, Trouble, Operations, etc., background. No idea how these complicated games work. So maybe play with the family? See how they like it? Just another idea.

Use notes. Write everything you need down on paper, trust me it will help.

Mesrob wrote:

How do you all remember all the small details?

You're not wrong, there's a heck of lot to the rules.

How to approach this will depend on a few factors, but primarily who you will be playing with. Do you have friends who are well versed in the game, or will you be playing with other newbies? Or do you not know yet, and you're hoping to find people to play with?

If you have friends who know the game, that's the easiest. Ask to play a very simple game to get the hang of the core concepts. Just one or two small units on each side. Don't even worry about command points, Stratagems, or detachments at first. Just a few guys killing each other. Do this a few times, and you should have the bulk of it down!

If that's not possible, go back to the store and ask for a demo game. Either with a friend or against staff. They should be happy to oblige, using models from the starter set most likely.

You will get things wrong. Even veterans forget bits from time to time. That's ok, it's part of the learning process!

My advice would be to start small until you have a basic handle on the rules. Yes, you'll need the big rulebook, CA, FAQs, etc etc to be able to field everything and open up all the possibilities, but you can definitely play some games--especially smaller ones--without worrying too much about strategems, detachments, etc. I'd say get the Start Collecting box for Necrons, which is probably somewhere in the 500 point range (your codex will tell you this; you can also absolutely play power level instead of points, as this may be easier to wrap your head around). Try to play some small games around this point level using the free rules and your codex, and don't worry about command points, strategems, detachments, etc until you understand the basics of the rules.

It can definitely be intimidating, but don't feel like you have to do everything all at once and understand absolutely every rule before you can play. You'll get better with it with time and practice, so jump in and have fun!

I learned to play by just doing that: playing.

Keep the games small, keep your units kind of plain and easy. Learn those units as you play and paint them. Then start growing your army once you've gotten familiar with that core you've put together.

Digest it by doing little things at a time, and building a good foundation.

Notes help, I know people hate it, but Battlescribe helps, too.

Index cards to track your units stats are great, too, until you get the mess of burnt into your brain

Try to stick with one faction. There's not much variance across the core stat line for a faction. I know all of my Eldar are Toughness 3, so now I just have to remember the exceptions. I know my armor sucks (usually 4+), so just have to remember which ones are really bad (5+) and a little better (3+).

A lot of people got into the game long before it got this complex, but I definitely understand where you're coming from. People who have been playing a long time tend to have to reference the books MORE, because they have a lot of legacy misunderstandings in their head. It's very easy to fill out 'cheat sheets' of unit rules/stats for quick reference and eventual memorization, and the basic rules are only a few pages long.

What you're missing is that 40K has three levels of play (Open, Narrative and Matched) and several levels of army construction (Power Levels and Points), and a lot of the complications are part of the Advanced Rules.

Open Play is very simple and doesn't involve Detachments, Battle Forged Armies, Tactical Objectives, Stratagems and Relics. You can use Power Levels to roughly balance each side's forces and play simple games to learn the rules or just to keep the complexity to a dull roar.

Chapter Approved did nothing to Power Levels, only points values, so it's unnecessary at the Open Play level. You'd need the Main Rules and theoretically your codex, though these days GW packages unit rules with the units - for example, Dark Imperium (the starter) has rules for all the units contained within. You might buy a unit box that doesn't have 8th edition rules contained within, however, so if you're serious about an army, buy the Codex.

Watch some batreps. They help learning the flow of the game when you don't have time to play.

Play some small scale power level games (25-50 PL) to get the hang of the flow first hand. Either don't worry about formations at this point, or use them. The rules for formations are so general knowledge no one will give you gak for using them without the BRB, especially if you mention that you're brand new to 40k.

Pick up the big rulebook, chapter approved and/or your Necron Data Cards. The first two will give you the rules to play however you want legally, give you some fluff to read on the toilet, and the Data Cards give you some quick reference things to look at and use while you're playing or building a list. Seriously, they're awesome. If you're feeling really crafty, scan the pages of each book you use the most, edit them to make them look nice, print and laminate them, then punch some holes in them and make your own custom rulebook that covers only the stuff you need. This may seem like a lot of work, but in the long run it will save you some MAJOR time looking for rules across your three rulebooks. It helps both during play, and while list building.

40k does have a lot of stuff going on, but if you find some cool people to play with and follow the KISS method as you ease into it you should have a great time. Good luck.

Firstly, welcome to the hobby. If you have questions the community is generally very good at helping out.

Secondly, start small. I started in 2nd edition and believe it or not, thus edition is veeeery easily learned. Start small. Remember the turn sequence. Once you have a handle on the turn sequence, you're more than half way there to knowing the game. Every stat or rule in the game relates to either Movement, Psychics, Shooting, Assault or Morale. Once you know how to operate in each phase, that's pretty much it.

For shooting and assault just remember Hit, Wound, Opponent attempts to save.

Some suggestions:

1) Start very small, as others have stated. Most importantly, find a veteran player who is willing to coach you a bit - or find another new player and agree to work together to "learn" the game. This'll be the hardest part - finding a person who A) knows what the hell they're talking about, B) is a good teacher/instructor, and C) doesn't just beat the gak out of you every game.

2) In your initial games, agree to skip everything but the basics. Don't use "traits", "relics", "warlord traits", or "stratagems" if you don't have to. Concentrate on the basic game mechanics. Then after a couple of games when you feel confident you have a handle on the basic rules, slowly introduce the other stuff.

3) For your first several games, use the same army. Don't get excited by hundreds of options and try to "fix" your army after each game. Play the same army, until you feel you're comfortable with their rules and then consider adding or changing models.

4) For a brand new player, only open/build/paint what you're going to use at first - you may end up hating the game, or hating Necrons, etc. Do not build $1000 worth of models only to discover you don't like the game or army --- then you'll end up selling them off at a loss and your experience will be soured. Start small, open, build, paint...play. Only the units you're using.

5) PM and I'll send you a copy of my front/back cheat sheet for 8th edition. It's handy for new players and veteran players alike.

6) The hardest part will be the rules - they're a mess at the moment. You'll need the big rule book (Dark Imperium), your codex. Then look up FAQ/Errata for that codex when it is released. Skip the old Index, and don't worry about Chapter Approved, as your codex replaced that now. Eventually if you like the game, you can compress that whole codex to about 3-4 pages of "quick reference" material and this will be a life saver. A simple Word document or a spreadsheet will save you soooooo much time. But that comes a lot later, so don't worry about that right now.

7) When learning the game, skip all the fancy missions...just start with basic "you kill me, I kill you" to work on the core mechanics. 40K missions are mediocre at best, and often way too poorly designed - this is a bad way to learn the game. Once you've played a couple games, start introducing some simple objectives, and go from there. Don't get overwhelmed by the bizarre mission builds that GW provides.

I started a group last September with me being the veteran (lol because I hadn't played much myself before 8th) along with three brand spankin' new players. The first few months were very slow, we were like the players you mention flipping through various books at every stage.

Now, our games are much more streamlined, we know the stats of our units and most of the basic rules pretty damn well. Of course sometimes something comes up that we aren't sure of and we have to consult rules, but not often, and certainly not even close to as much as in the first few months.

I would suggest a cheat sheet for your army to help expedite the first few games. Include only the units you plan on using, including their stats, weapon stats and any special rules. I would post mine as a template for you but I think since I included points I'm not allowed to do this.

I hope you can get past this initial trepidation, most of us find this to be a really fun and rewarding hobby. Good luck.

You're in luck! Forgebane is the latest big box for 40k and it's half Necron, half Adeptus Mechanicus, a very cool faction. I'd strongly recommend you buy this to start off with, as then you can play games with the family. As to rules, don't worry about chapter approved, you can get the new points costs as they're updated using list building programs like battlescribe.

As for learning to play I strongly recommend watching some good battle reports - my favourite channel by a mile is Tabletop Tactics. Sit down with a beer and watch a game, you'll soon get the hang of it. Welcome to the game.

What you are referring to is the 'burden of knowledge' required to play a game.

A lot of people have been playing for quite a while. Whilst it's intimidating for a new person to see a few hundred rules, to s more experiences player, Its not - it's learning a dozen new rules and that isn't that big of a deal when you can instantly recall a few hundred rules because of experience, for example, because you e been playing for years and yo have it all memorised - it's just a small bit extra.

Perspective, in other words.

How to deal with it.

(1) in game - Start small. Couple of squads. Beginner games only, even if it's nothing more complex than 'meet in the middle and kill the other guy'. Focus on the basics. Don't worry about the 'flash' and esoteric stuff.
(2)for rules - Focus on the rulebook. And your codex. And for the codex, literally just your stuff that you are fielding. Don't even bother about the the rest of the stuff in your codex - literally just the handful of unit sizes you are fielding. Don't worry about allies or anything else just yet.
(3) take your time. You're a beginner. Only tfgs will demand absolute perfection from someone with no games under their belt - most folks will be accommodating. Maybe as an aside seek folk to play against that are more patient and laid back and happy to show you the ropes. Ask questions. You're new. This is not a bad thing.

And it must be said, 40k is a time consuming hobby. There is a lot of material. And you have a wife and two kids. Time, more so than anything else Is your enemy here. I can appreciate some of that myself - married a whole week today! Still getting used to it. But damn. I don't have time for gaming. Well, not for time-intensive gaming. Maybe if the sheer volume of rules etc of 40k is turning you off, it's worth considering alternative wargames as well? 40k is the most popular, and while pretty straight forward, there is a large time consuming volume of things to know, before you can even get started and frankly, there are simpler games out there too. I know this is a 40k board primarily, and while I am happy to make suggestions for 40k here, it could be worth your time to look at games like bolt action or test of honour from warlord. Or even gw's other game - lord of the rings As some examples. I would not recommend infinity or warmachine- great, great games, but both have a Huge amount of stuff going on and have a huge 'burden of knowledge'.

Definitely start small.

I think someone has mentioned it. But get Battlescribe installed on your phone.

You can produce pdfs that list the rules for things like warlord traits etc. It will help loads. Definitly cross reference it with your rule books, but it's seems to be pretty accurate.

 mrstimpson wrote:
Watch some batreps. They help learning the flow of the game when you don't have time to play.

OP, there's a lot of advice in here but I wanted to make sure you didn't miss this little gem from mrstrimpson. I learned the basics of 40k 8th on youtube very easily by watching games (batreps). Then the hard part is learning your own army, which really requires some reading.

100% buy Forgebane, and treat it like it's meant to be treated. - A complete game in a box.

Play it with the family. Paint it, build it. Mess around with it.

From there you'll learn if 40k is for you or not. No Rulebook. No Codex. No FAQ's. No additonal purchases beyond the paint, and family friendly.

Deadnight wrote:
What you are referring to is the 'burden of knowledge' required to play a game.

A lot of people have been playing for quite a while. Whilst it's intimidating for a new person to see a few hundred rules, to s more experiences player, Its not - it's learning a dozen new rules and that isn't that big of a deal when you can instantly recall a few hundred rules because of experience, for example, because you e been playing for years and yo have it all memorised - it's just a small bit extra.

Perspective, in other words.

How to deal with it.

(1) in game - Start small. Couple of squads. Beginner games only, even if it's nothing more complex than 'meet in the middle and kill the other guy'. Focus on the basics. Don't worry about the 'flash' and esoteric stuff.
(2)for rules - Focus on the rulebook. And your codex. And for the codex, literally just your stuff that you are fielding. Don't even bother about the the rest of the stuff in your codex - literally just the handful of unit sizes you are fielding. Don't worry about allies or anything else just yet.
(3) take your time. You're a beginner. Only tfgs will demand absolute perfection from someone with no games under their belt - most folks will be accommodating. Maybe as an aside seek folk to play against that are more patient and laid back and happy to show you the ropes. Ask questions. You're new. This is not a bad thing.

And it must be said, 40k is a time consuming hobby. There is a lot of material. And you have a wife and two kids. Time, more so than anything else Is your enemy here. I can appreciate some of that myself - married a whole week today! Still getting used to it. But damn. I don't have time for gaming. Well, not for time-intensive gaming. Maybe if the sheer volume of rules etc of 40k is turning you off, it's worth considering alternative wargames as well? 40k is the most popular, and while pretty straight forward, there is a large time consuming volume of things to know, before you can even get started and frankly, there are simpler games out there too. I know this is a 40k board primarily, and while I am happy to make suggestions for 40k here, it could be worth your time to look at games like bolt action or test of honour from warlord. Or even gw's other game - lord of the rings As some examples. I would not recommend infinity or warmachine- great, great games, but both have a Huge amount of stuff going on and have a huge 'burden of knowledge'.

Congratulations!!

AdmiralHalsey wrote:
100% buy Forgebane, and treat it like it's meant to be treated. - A complete game in a box.

Play it with the family. Paint it, build it. Mess around with it.

From there you'll learn if 40k is for you or not. No Rulebook. No Codex. No FAQ's. No additonal purchases beyond the paint, and family friendly.

I agree with this. If you are just starting out, I would not use a rulebook. Just use the free basic rules and don't worry about points or other stuff. The Forgebane set is a good way to start Necrons. Either split it with someone or grab half the set on ebay.