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Hey guys just a pretty straightforward question that if I'm able to shed some light on it, will help me answer potentially another question I have in the future. When does a game of 40k oficially begin? Is it during deployment or at the start of turn 1? Or my wrong on both counts?

The game begins when you roll the first dice for deployment and mission.


This is of course, completely opinion, as there is no official 40k league or judges to say when it begins, and there is no such official "GAME START" in the BRB.

Edit: Okay, I found my book.
Page 17, "Before the game begins" more or less has your answer(s).
It's before armies deploy. The game would "begin" just as the first army is deploying.

Define "begin". That will give you an answer. Do you include list building as part of the game? Scenery placement? And so on and so forth.

A difficult question.

Starting from page 116 a lot of actions (such as picking Warlord Traits) specify they happen before something else.

Others specify they are done 'before the game begins', such as placing terrain.

There is also page 17 (Before the Game begins, etc..) that says thosethings happen 'before armies deploy for battle'...

That said, it all happens before the first turn.

"Game Length" on page 133 says that "the length of the game will be a certain number of game turns".

Would 'the game' then include anything that doesn't happen during a turn?

It may be easier to answer if we know why you are asking. What situation/problem are you trying to solve?

The game begins when you take off your Power Fist and throw it at your opponent's feet.

 milkboy wrote:
The game begins when you take off your Power Fist and throw it at your opponent's feet.

This is correct. It's on page 472 of my limited edition rule book on tactics and game etiquette.

Seriously, it may be easy to track down if we know why it matters.

 milkboy wrote:
The game begins when you take off your Power Fist and throw it at your opponent's feet.

I thought you had to slap them with it. But that would make for a short 'game', wouldn't it?

I always figured it began when my opponent finished going to the bathroom, engaging in random conversations with other people and realized that his uber cool net list army was about to be crushed.

So usually around player turn 3.

Anything that happens before the game begins happens before deployment. (The Turn Chapter, ‘Before the Game Begins’ and ‘At the End of the Game’ section).

So it looks like the game begins when the first person deploys his army for battle.

coredump wrote:
It may be easier to answer if we know why you are asking. What situation/problem are you trying to solve?

A thread was posted earlier on this several months ago in regards to being able to place Scions in Drop Pods. most of the response was because it was a Dedicated Transport I could not do this, however when reading the rules:

-After the game begins it can then transport any friendly Infantry unit, subject to Transport Capacity and other special exclusions as explained in the vehicles entry."

Now in conjunction with the above entry, it seems that if the game begins in the deployment phase it would mean that in an unbound army Scions could be mounted in drop pods since units are placed in the deployment phase, it never says they have to be plased while on the table.

I think in context, that would be when the first turn starts. Or else there would be no need to have a distinction that DT can only transport the unit they are bought with.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
And you can still slap your opponent with the Power Fist. Just do it gently.

When the gauntlet is thrown down.

 gmaleron wrote:

coredump wrote:
It may be easier to answer if we know why you are asking. What situation/problem are you trying to solve?

A thread was posted earlier on this several months ago in regards to being able to place Scions in Drop Pods. most of the response was because it was a Dedicated Transport I could not do this, however when reading the rules:

-After the game begins it can then transport any friendly Infantry unit, subject to Transport Capacity and other special exclusions as explained in the vehicles entry."

Now in conjunction with the above entry, it seems that if the game begins in the deployment phase it would mean that in an unbound army Scions could be mounted in drop pods since units are placed in the deployment phase, it never says they have to be plased while on the table.

I bolded the key part. You may not deploy a unit in a Dedicated Transport unless it was bought for said unit, or it is an IC joining the aforementioned unit.

Milkboy,
Don't think you can slap your opponent softly with a Power fist, it is full strength or nothing with Warhammer physics!

JinxDragon wrote:
Milkboy,
Don't think you can slap your opponent softly with a Power fist, it is full strength or nothing with Warhammer physics!

You can. What do you think to-wound rolls of 1 with Power Fists are? They're soft slaps.

Point taken, and thank you for the chuckle.
I pictured two Terminators in a slap-fight....

If your actions are bound by the rules, then the game has obviously begun.

For example, in placing terrain you must follow the rules, so that must be part of the game.

You will notice that the rules sometimes divide what they describe as the game beginning from the actual beginning of the game. It gets confusing and doesn't make sense.

I believe the life of a 40k game begins at fertilization. There are others who believe a game really begins during the first turn, and others who say a game isn't real until the third bi-round (when assaults begin).

There are also nihilists who believe 40k really starts with contraception and that there's no difference between playing and not playing. Technically, the start of a game occurs when it ends, under this system of belief.

 techsoldaten wrote:
I believe the life of a 40k game begins at fertilization. There are others who believe a game really begins during the first turn, and others who say a game isn't real until the third bi-round (when assaults begin).

There are also nihilists who believe 40k really starts with contraception and that there's no difference between playing and not playing. Technically, the start of a game occurs when it ends, under this system of belief.

Exalted.

I have ignored the SERIOUS derailment of this thread to shed some light on the thread from a few months ago.

This is the easiest way to deny what you are trying to do.

What lets you embark or disembark while in reserves after having chosen Drop Pods to be a dedicated transport for X unit?

Since you can not do this, you can not move the Scions INTO the drop pods that are dedicated for something else since they need to "begin the game" in reserves for you to even attempt what you are trying to do.

(Which I assume is just have them hop into the drop pods that "Haven't launched yet")

From a narrative perspective, yes that would make sense, but sadly that is not how 40k works.

 gmaleron wrote:

coredump wrote:
It may be easier to answer if we know why you are asking. What situation/problem are you trying to solve?

A thread was posted earlier on this several months ago in regards to being able to place Scions in Drop Pods. most of the response was because it was a Dedicated Transport I could not do this, however when reading the rules:

-After the game begins it can then transport any friendly Infantry unit, subject to Transport Capacity and other special exclusions as explained in the vehicles entry."

Now in conjunction with the above entry, it seems that if the game begins in the deployment phase it would mean that in an unbound army Scions could be mounted in drop pods since units are placed in the deployment phase, it never says they have to be plased while on the table.

That is interesting, but even if you are making an unbound army, can't you still only purchase dedicated transports with it's parent unit? I know you don't have have to place the unit in their dedicated transport (thus making room for the scions if it all happens during deployment) , but such a restriction would limit the amount of scion pods you could have.

GorillaWarfare wrote:

 gmaleron wrote:

coredump wrote:
It may be easier to answer if we know why you are asking. What situation/problem are you trying to solve?

A thread was posted earlier on this several months ago in regards to being able to place Scions in Drop Pods. most of the response was because it was a Dedicated Transport I could not do this, however when reading the rules:

-After the game begins it can then transport any friendly Infantry unit, subject to Transport Capacity and other special exclusions as explained in the vehicles entry."

Now in conjunction with the above entry, it seems that if the game begins in the deployment phase it would mean that in an unbound army Scions could be mounted in drop pods since units are placed in the deployment phase, it never says they have to be plased while on the table.

That is interesting, but even if you are making an unbound army, can't you still only purchase dedicated transports with it's parent unit? I know you don't have have to place the unit in their dedicated transport (thus making room for the scions if it all happens during deployment) , but such a restriction would limit the amount of scion pods you could have.

You do have to buy the unit that buys the transport. i.e; I want a Drop Pod, so I have to buy Tacticals, Sternies, Honour Guard or another unit that may buy a drop pod.
Only the unit that bought the transport may embark upon the dedicated transport at the start of the game. Any transport in reserve cannot have units jump out and let another unit jump in.
ICs that are battle brothers or are from the same faction may join a unit in their own dedicated transport at the beginning of the game.

JinxDragon wrote:
Milkboy,
Don't think you can slap your opponent softly with a Power fist, it is full strength or nothing with Warhammer physics!

Your opponent would get to hit you first (you hit at I1, remember) and with the average 40k gamer, this means you not getting to strike back

@OP: Difficult question. Do you refer to the "game" as per the rules? "Game" could also be defined as the situation you and your opponent are in and then, it would start when choosing armies, missions etc.

It begins when you get your first models and ends when you kick the bucket ir quit and go to plastic crack rehab.