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build her a 1500 pts mandrake "footdar" deldar list to play with and then get out your 3 riptide tau battle suit list and stop all over the army. she will be so impressed with your display of money, power and manliness that she will instantly wish to marry you.

seriously though, if you already have it, the 40K starter sets has some pretty fun scenarios that you can play out.

the other option is to build 2 500pts armies that are equal in power and can easily display moving, shooting and assaulting then maybe bump it up to 750 pts to show off tanks and psychic powers

 Ouze wrote:

How to get the girlfriend into 40k without freaking her out?

1.) Put on some Barry White.

2.) Invite her over.

3.) Answer the door like this.

I think this guy might be more freaky. He's got a big.....gun.


Warmaster Jy2.

Each woman has a different approach on the game. Mine after some years we are together likes tha aesthetic of the miniatures, enjoys them on their cases and set on the furnitures. She like the painting part too. She finds the game/playing part extremely complex and boring (as most women find anything that has to do with board games ). So if she asked to see tha game take the step forward and do as the other dakkites above said. I agree that a game of kill team will be more easy for her. Don't forget, women even if they are excited with something, want less complex things to entertain them. Avoid the complexity of main game rules.

It is kinda hilarious actually, when I met my sorta-BF, I was the first to mention 40K.

Not all of us need to be introduced!

Terrific advice above, but also adhere to the red shirt salesman approach and make a fun close game that she ultimately wins... everyone is stoked to play a game they win. Obviously don't continue to sandbag but give her that glorious fanfare of a grim battle won.

She's just a person like anybody else. How would you introduce anyone to the game? A small intro scenario with two small prebuilt forces is the best way to go about it. Escalate from there.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

 Asmodai Asmodean wrote:
Never mix girls and gaming, it never ends well

Because we kick your sorry emasculated behinds every time?

be fair - you fine ladies only win 95% of the time - the rest are draws

But on topic, throw together a couple of balanced 500 point lists and go at it - that always seems to be a good way to start, IMHO

I did much what has been recommended here; two 500 point forces, I gave her Marines and I played a basical guard platoon, a commissar and a customized, but un-upgraded Veteran squad.

I tried to show off a range of models without introducing overly complicated elements of the rules right away (I learned the game by being thrown into a 2k battle of Guard against Sisters full of a billion special rules, not the best approach).

On account of my horrible dice luck, I didn't try to throw the game (still lost, but c'est la vie), and focused on the core elements of the game; no psykers, no real special rules, just a Commissar to highlight an example of some of the wacky unique stuff in the game.

She enjoyed herself, and then I showed her a range of different armies, gave her a breakdown of their background and playstyle (she loves wolves, so despite my loathing of them, she wants to play Space Wolves, with wolf-mode engaged full throttle). Ultimately, however, limited time and the buy in cost has meant nothing has happened yet, but it did open her up the idea of miniatures games in general, and we now play X-Wing pretty regularly (I also get trounced there, but perhaps one day the rebel scum will rue the day they crossed me).

Because we kick your sorry emasculated behinds every time?

Maybe...........

be fair - you fine ladies only win 95% of the time - the rest are draws

Much more accurate.

 MajorStoffer wrote:
I did much what has been recommended here; two 500 point forces, I gave her Marines and I played a basical guard platoon, a commissar and a customized, but un-upgraded Veteran squad.

I tried to show off a range of models without introducing overly complicated elements of the rules right away (I learned the game by being thrown into a 2k battle of Guard against Sisters full of a billion special rules, not the best approach).

On account of my horrible dice luck, I didn't try to throw the game (still lost, but c'est la vie), and focused on the core elements of the game; no psykers, no real special rules, just a Commissar to highlight an example of some of the wacky unique stuff in the game.

She enjoyed herself, and then I showed her a range of different armies, gave her a breakdown of their background and playstyle (she loves wolves, so despite my loathing of them, she wants to play Space Wolves, with wolf-mode engaged full throttle). Ultimately, however, limited time and the buy in cost has meant nothing has happened yet, but it did open her up the idea of miniatures games in general, and we now play X-Wing pretty regularly (I also get trounced there, but perhaps one day the rebel scum will rue the day they crossed me).

Amusingly, while my partner also loves wolves, she loathes the Space Wolf armies because the thunderwolf models' fur looks more like skin after little worms have dug their way out of it. Especially on Canis - apparently, the Fenrisian Wolves are a bit better on that front.

 j31c3n wrote:
If you have a GW nearby, take her in for one of those "trial games" that they do with the Dark Vengeance box set. Show her all the armies, and let her pick. I thought my wife would like the Eldar, but she went for Necrons.

No offence man, but that is the last thing I would do. I would much rather buy the minis from online sources.

If she continues to show interest after a few little mock battles, I would recommend showing her the entire range of models. My daughter was torn between Eldar/Dark Eldar. Then I proceeded to go over the fluff for both armies. The decision was then easier for her to make.... Eldar.

Never take your girlfriend into gw if she's not into the hobby I hate being in there and over crowed/pressured to buy miniatures at the best of times and its worse being a woman if she has an interest explain it to her as you would anyone else if you dumb it down she'll get angry. If you want to get here in and she's not too fussed tell her its something big to you and you'd like it if she tried. You don't have to purposely lose chances are if you taught it to her right she'll enjoy it just because she doing it will you.

Would be funny if she finds out she likes tyranids lol. I've heard a lot about how us girls seem to love tyranids, I don't know why but yeah they were the first army I saw at 13 and was sold straight away XD
But yeah if she was interested to begin with, there's no worries at all, so just have fun

Take her to Warhammer world for the day!

Let her see the spectacal of the mini's in the cases and the dioramas, ask her which ones she likes best.
Then have a nice small point game (take your time) on some top class scenary, keep the units simple but distinct. Have a unit of snipers, a unit of bikes, a tri-las predator, that kind of thing. It means she will quickly learn the basic game strategy and what is good at killing what. For your own list make sure she has a hard counter for everything you bring, and dont try anything devious in your first game.
Play simply but deliberately.

Afterwards go and get a meal at bugmans, take photos near the statues, and basically share a fun day with her.

She will definately want to play again.

 Brother SRM wrote:
She's just a person like anybody else. How would you introduce anyone to the game? A small intro scenario with two small prebuilt forces is the best way to go about it. Escalate from there.

This. Stop thinking about it as "how to make a girl like 40k" and start thinking about how to introduce the game to someone who doesn't have any previous experience with gaming hobbies. Keep the game small and simple: a couple basic infantry squads, no vehicles/special characters with tons of rules/etc. Tactical marines vs. orks is perfect since it lets you show the turn sequence and basic gameplay, demonstrates the idea of the different sides being truly distinct armies (unlike many board games, where it's just different color tokens), but doesn't introduce many special rules (and I suggest just ignoring morale/ATSKNF/etc). And if the person you're teaching isn't interested don't pressure them to keep playing, it's a niche hobby and not many people are interested, regardless of their gender.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Naminé wrote:
Have a unit of snipers, a unit of bikes, a tri-las predator, that kind of thing.

I strongly disagree with this. 40k's rules are overwhelmingly complex if you don't have any previous background in similar games to help you understand the basic concepts. It's hard enough to understand the basic core mechanics without having to try to remember that bikes move extra distance, re-roll charge distances, and get to shoot as if stationary, while vehicles have completely different movement and defense rules. And that quickly gets frustrating, which means that the person you're teaching is going to have a hard time getting anything out of the lesson, even the basics, because they don't know which things are most important in the flood of new information. And that's if your lucky, more likely they're just going to feel overwhelmed and not have much fun, and they aren't going to have much desire to repeat the experience.

Bugmans isn't that good, Namine. :p It's just standard pub grub. It's certainly not going to sell the hobby to anyone.

 Peregrine wrote:
I strongly disagree with this. 40k's rules are overwhelmingly complex if you don't have any previous background in similar games to help you understand the basic concepts.

I can agree with that. Maybe not "overwhelmingly" so, but I found some of it fairly complex at first when I played some practice games at GW. Speaking of practice lessons, I found the GW way of doing it to be pretty helpful. Start with a few small games involving a HQ and a troop squad, then work up from there, introducing vehicles and more units.

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
It is kinda hilarious actually, when I met my sorta-BF, I was the first to mention 40K.

Not all of us need to be introduced!

Huh, assumed you were male. Guess it was the "brother" in your name.

Kill team is very promising, you would want the game to be shorter and easier. rules are easier and would introduce 40k with enough to show her how it works, but not be overwhelming and possibly frustrating for a first time player.

 Troike wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
I strongly disagree with this. 40k's rules are overwhelmingly complex if you don't have any previous background in similar games to help you understand the basic concepts.

I can agree with that. Maybe not "overwhelmingly" so, but I found some of it fairly complex at first when I played some practice games at GW. Speaking of practice lessons, I found the GW way of doing it to be pretty helpful. Start with a few small games involving a HQ and a troop squad, then work up from there, introducing vehicles and more units.

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
It is kinda hilarious actually, when I met my sorta-BF, I was the first to mention 40K.

Not all of us need to be introduced!

Huh, assumed you were male. Guess it was the "brother" in your name.

Brother Haralus is a girl, Sister Sydney is a boy... expectation management perhaps?

 Furyou Miko wrote:
Bugmans isn't that good, Namine. :p It's just standard pub grub. It's certainly not going to sell the hobby to anyone.

it's in a better state than the game is in right now that's for sure

 Brother SRM wrote:
She's just a person like anybody else. How would you introduce anyone to the game? A small intro scenario with two small prebuilt forces is the best way to go about it. Escalate from there.

Also agree with this.

And I would never take any adult, male or female, to a GW store to learn the game early on in their interest. Maybe that's just the stores around me, but they feel targeted to much younger gamers, and the massive overenthusiastic approach can really put off an older newcomer, particularly if they haven't grown up with (for lack of a better term) 'geekier' hobbies.

 Troike wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
I strongly disagree with this. 40k's rules are overwhelmingly complex if you don't have any previous background in similar games to help you understand the basic concepts.

I can agree with that. Maybe not "overwhelmingly" so, but I found some of it fairly complex at first when I played some practice games at GW. Speaking of practice lessons, I found the GW way of doing it to be pretty helpful. Start with a few small games involving a HQ and a troop squad, then work up from there, introducing vehicles and more units.

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:
It is kinda hilarious actually, when I met my sorta-BF, I was the first to mention 40K.

Not all of us need to be introduced!

Huh, assumed you were male. Guess it was the "brother" in your name.

The 'Brother' thing is due to the fact that I have a Space Marine character with that name, and 'Brother' is a common word to just slap in front of a name to get a SM name.

I don't see why the fact she's a girl has such a massive part of this? Surely it would be exactly the same as just introducing a male friend to the hobby?

 Furyou Miko wrote:
expectation management perhaps?

That'd be the best policy, given how diverse the Internet's users are. Though I think that people automatically make little assumptions like that, to some degree. A few people were mistaken about my gender too on a few occasions (including you one time, IIRC), possibly due to my avatar being of a female.

 Ayemee wrote:
I don't see why the fact she's a girl has such a massive part of this? Surely it would be exactly the same as just introducing a male friend to the hobby?

That, too, is very true.

It's a person like anyone else.

 Ayemee wrote:
I don't see why the fact she's a girl has such a massive part of this? Surely it would be exactly the same as just introducing a male friend to the hobby?

In my experience girls and guys are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different

 Swastakowey wrote:
In my experience girls and guys are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different

In my experience people are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
In my experience girls and guys are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different

In my experience people are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different.

You are both right. The genders have psychological differences, that is proven, but the individual differences are what I notice the most.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
In my experience girls and guys are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different

In my experience people are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different.

There are noticeable trends between the 2 genders. Trends arent 100% true.

 BrotherHaraldus wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
In my experience girls and guys are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different

In my experience people are drastically different when it comes to the hobby. Hugely different.

You are both right. The genders have psychological differences, that is proven, but the individual differences are what I notice the most.

I totally agree. Two males could be just as different when it comes to the hobby as a male and a female. Fair enough, the hobby is very much male dominated, however I don't really see that as a problem. It all just depends what you're into. I'd like to think that being female doesn't mean I get treated any differently.