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Hello, I used to collect Warhammer 40k (Imperial Guard) around 15-20 years ago, but I never actually played the game. I’ve recently had some time off work through injury and treated myself to some Space Marines and Scout Snipers, just to paint and set up a small diorama to pass the time, without any intention of playing.

However, me and my partner have also recently started playing the board game Risk of an evening, and we are thoroughly enjoying it, but would both like to play something where the ‘tactics’ are a bit more immersive and creative.

As such, I am considering setting up a small army for each of us but I am absolutely lost in this world! We would only be playing together, and I would like to keep the game/rules as simple as possible…

As such, I have a couple of questions which I wonder if you guys may be able to help with please:

1. Can I use my old Imperial Guard figures (if I can find them)?
2. Is there a simple set of general rules that I can use to play?
3. Where would I find said rules?

I hope that makes sense… thank you for taking the time to read this.

(I must add that I was also considering Flames of War/Team Yankee or Bolt Action as alternatives).

You can download the free core rules for 40K from the official website, right here:

https://warhammer40000.com/rules

Those will give you the basics to get you playing, although they don’t include the rules for “battle-forged” army construction. Point costs for all units are now in a free to download pdf from the Warhammer Community site.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/5iSs9obkISmPlK4t.pdf

Data sheets/army rules are in the codex for each army, which you would have to buy, although you could use the free (unofficial) BattleScribe app for that. I think the free version of the Warhammer 40K app gives you access to the basic data sheets for all armies, although you need to buy the relevant codex and input the code to the app to get access to all the army rules/stratagems, etc.

There is a site called wahapedia which may help.

As far as models go, if you have infantry, tanks, heavy weapons teams and so forth, I am sure those all still have rules. There should be no issue using old models in games, unless they have been updated with a much bigger (physically) model, as has happened to various special characters.

Should be enough to get you started, anyway.

Enjoy!

Ah brilliant, that’s exactly what I was after, thank you. I’ll have a look at those.

I genuinely appreciate your reply and information, thank you once again.

As it's just you & your partner (for now), do what you like.

It only becomes an issue if you turn competitive, or run into an idiot at a store or games club (or be really stupid yourself).

The game you want is Kill Team, not 40k. 40k is a raging dumpster fire of rules bloat and balance issues and dysfunctional rules where most games are won or lost in the list building phase and actually playing the game is a tedious slog of "LOL YOU FOUDN MY TRAP CARD" and stacking up a bunch of buffs (all of them obvious choices) to roll better dice than your opponent. And small games make all of these issues worse. A 500 point game rarely lasts for more than one turn before the outcome is obvious to both players, and that's assuming you make a conscious effort to avoid the "win in the list building phase" problem by working together to build balanced and interactive lists that don't abuse any overpowered options. Without that deliberate effort most 500 point games have an obvious winner before the game even begins and there's little reason to bother playing the game.

Kill Team, on the other hand, is a much more fun game and perfectly suited to your desire to build small armies. You only need 5-10 models to play, the rules are much more elegant, and replacing IGOUGO with a modern alternating activation system leads to much more engaging gameplay where on-table strategy matters more than obsessively memorizing 50 pages of rules to find the option that is 5% more efficient. The only drawback is that you won't get the tanks and giant monsters but you can always build and paint those models for your display shelf.

That makes sense… thank you.

I’ve seen the Kill Team boxes in the shop, so I will give them a look - thank you very much!

Also - although nothing is confirmed, there are rumours that the next version of 40K will be hitting this year, so you may find stuff you buy now is outdated shortly.

Please remember that if you enjoy (old and obsolete) Risk, there are plenty of new, state-of-the-art board games that may scratch that itch while being a lot more centered on strategy and player agency than venerable Risk. For this area-control feel I'd suggest sleek Imperial 2030 or deeply thematic Clash of Cultures: Monumental Edition, although most area control games are at their best with more than 2 players. For strictly 2-player experience the benchmark is set by Twilight Struggle, War of the Ring and SW:Rebellion.

With WH40K you may find that design-wise it has a similar philosophy to Risk - outdated solutions, randomness is king. Doesn't mean you won't enjoy it, but we're living in a veritable golden age of modern board game design and if you want less tedious upkeep and randomness and more lean rules and deep gameplay, WH40K is not your port of call.

Wonders what's obsolete about Risk....

stroller wrote:
Wonders what's obsolete about Risk....

The new games which do the same thing but much (MUCH!) better? Just like Monopoly is obsolete because of an immense range of modern "run your business" games like Brass or Food Chain Magnate or even already venerable Power Grid, Risk is made obsolete by all these titles like Inis, Kemet, Blood Rage, Imperial, Clash of Cultures or Quartermaster General.

The fact that the vast majority of the population is blissfully unaware that games other than Monopoly, Risk and Scrabble exist is another matter altogether. Or even if they see that they exist they assume these other games are exactly the same because the idea of how much progress has been made in game design in the last few decades isn't something an average Christmas gift buyer bothers to research.

Onepagerules used to be fun (haven't played it lately). If you stil have your "original" rules just play those.

Recognises that other newer games MIGHT be better, but also observes that a well known older game has "heritage" BECAUSE it's good enough to have lasted as long as it has.

stroller wrote:
Onepagerules used to be fun (haven't played it lately). If you stil have your "original" rules just play those.

Seconded on One Page Rule's take on 40k called Grimdark Future. It's exactly what you're looking for when you said "Is there a simple set of general rules that I can use to play?"
It could be learned and played on a Friday board game night and works as a great intro to 40k.
Second to that in simplicity I would recommend 8th edition with indexes instead of codexes if you can find it cheap.

JoeSolo wrote:
1. Can I use my old Imperial Guard figures (if I can find them)?
2. Is there a simple set of general rules that I can use to play?
3. Where would I find said rules?

I hope that makes sense… thank you for taking the time to read this.

(I must add that I was also considering Flames of War/Team Yankee or Bolt Action as alternatives).

1. Yes though may need to "count as" a few legend models (or just use the rules from legends available on warhammer community under downloads)

2 & 3: https://warhammer40000.com/rules/ & https://battlescribe.net/

I'm a veteran third edition player that jumped back into 40K about a year ago.

I used the free core rules to start then bought a couple of codexes and the open war mission pack.

No plans to buy the full rule book now, will probably wait until 10th edition for that (If I think its worth the money).

That's the nice thing about this hobby. For casual gamers you use the rule set that works for you and your group. No one should feel "pressured" to buy the latest anything unless you are going all in on tournament play.

Some brilliant advice and information here, thank you all very much - Genuinely appreciated!

Undaunted normandy is a great tactical board game for two players, with platoon based skirmishes. It's fairly cheap and requires no effort with terrain and miniature work. It could be a good starting point

Almost feels like a miniature game when I play it.

I don't know where on the 'gamer' spectrum your partner stands, but in my case my wife, and her friends are not 'gamers' as we would teem.them. they'll play a game, sure, buy it has to be the right game and the right level (even mentioning a 4 plus to my eife had her looking funny at me, haha)

Mrs deadnight isn't really into 'war' and 'military settings' but loves sport so I bought the bloodbowl starter for us both a few years ago - for a laugh mainly. When we went to warhammer world a few years back, it was bloodbowl minis that was the most memorable thing for her). And on occasion that gets taken out and played. Her best mate, likewise is an avid sports fan and will dabble on the xbox, but like myself is nowhere near any kind of 'elite' level. In her case I was able to play things like bloodbowl or shadespire.

What also helped was approaching 'casually'. Last thing they wanted or needed was to be bogged down in minutae. They just wanted to roll.dice, block some orcs and kill my chaos Boyz.

I would therefore recommend a boxed game like shadespire or bloodbowl as a first choice. Possibly games like blackstone fortress or cursed city. But that's not really what you're asking

If you want to play with your old 40k figs look for skirmish games like kill-team or necromunda (but use the 90s rules and keep the load outs light and simple!).

Kill team 21 is a solid game and quite tactical. And you don't need much to get started- 6 marines or 14 guardsmen is an 'army'. I'm not interested in the mass battle game of 40k any more. Kill team gives me everything I need. The rules though are weird - don't get me wrong, I like them but in some ways they are funny and not in a haha way. Its like gw attempted 'technical writing' but kind of missed the mark a bit. 'Engaged/hidden and 'cover' lines shouldnt be as hard as it was to figure out! That said when you get past the actual language and words used the rules are pretty solid, simple and straight forward. Might be best to speak to other players who might have a 'layman's version' of the rules to use along with a 1-page cheat sheet (thats what ive done with my group), just so ye can get on with it and not get bogged down. I'd also consider just playing the 'basic' level of the game and ignore the ploys for the first while.

But there's no reason you and your partner should be able to get gaming together.