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I have been playing 40k off and on for about 3 years (middle of 6th). I'm pretty familiar with the rule-set, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who would say that there are a lot of rules for this game, and sometimes you forget one here or there. I play casually with friends, so this isn't a huge deal, but it is annoying when you remember after the fact that Ork Trukks have Ramshackle for instance. That's the kind of thing that can keep your little transports from exploding, and keep your Boyz alive a little longer. Or your opponent forgets to that a unit has Fear, and it could have impacted the assault last turn. Or you forget your Warlord trait. Or remembering to roll for reserves. Or rolling for an Ld check to see if your fleeing units rally. Or rolling for Gets Hot! etc. etc. These aren't cases of YMDC, but rather remembering specific/situational/specific rules at certain points in the game.

I have taken to using tokens for things like Jink, Go to Ground, Fall Back, Fleeing, etc. I find that this helps for these kinds of temporary status modifiers.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for keeping track of these sort of things? (other than 'play more' or 'L2P noob' )

When my Dad and I used to play, he would photocopy parts of the rules he used to forget. He'd then laminate these and use them as quick reference cards. They were really helpful!

I usually make a mental note of some of the more obvious rules that I would rely on or would come up more often and accept any losses that a smaller, more obscure rule would have even if it would be crucial.

For example, if I were to field the Thunderwolf Cavalry and use Iron Priests on T-Wolves to fill out my Elites slot for the Champions of Fenris's FoC, I would probably remember that he's not S10 like normal wolves, but S9 (I don't wanna argue this one but I'm willing to go with S9), has no Storm Shield to protect himself, and probably has a lower WS than everyone else in the army. What I won't remember is that he still has a Servo Arm and Rending, since the Thunder Hammer would be enough to take care of most CC problems and I probably won't be fielding that many vehicles to begin with. In the odd chance I do field vehicles or is partnered with someone with a vehicle, if I forget that I could have fixed and saved a crucial vehicle, I wouldn't be too torn up about it, cuz in almost every other situation I wouldn't even care if the servo arm is there.

Create a step-by-step turn guide. There's also a double A4 reference sheet kicking about.

Well, this guy has done a fine job of creating a 7th edition Reference sheet:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/597998.page
This should be fairly helpful.
The rest of the time my rule book has sticky notes at key pages.
I sometimes make a list in alphabetical order in excel of hard to remember bits with page reference numbers included.

Good luck!

Counters and quick reference cards help. I make M:tG-esque cards to track things like warlord traits and 1-use doctrines.

For things like reserves, you might want to perch them on a corner of the table if there is space. Models still in the case are easy to forget.

At the end of each phase I try to go down the table, reiterating what everyone did. "Moved, moved, stood still, moved" just so I don’t forget anyone. Same thing with shooting. I’ll still occasionally forget to fire the snipers in the woods, but it helps.

Make an army cheat sheet? Includes summaries and when they take effect?

Best advice: Play more small games. In a big game there's too many things going on to remember all the rules for everything. If you play some more small games, you'll practice your memory of each unit's individual rules. Then when you go back to playing big games you'll retain some of those rules better than you otherwise would have. Practice, practice, practice. That's what it takes.

Otherwise, here's some other helpful tips:

#1 - Eat it; Get into the habit that a missed play or a forgetting something means that you don't "go back" to fix it. Negative Reinforcement is a powerful tool, and punishing yourself for your mistakes is an incredibly effective way to force your brain to remember this for fear of being punished more. It's a painful method, but it works.

#2 - Mark Down Rules Discussion for After the Game; Trying to make the right call during a game, especially when it's one of 40k's vast realm of vague interpretations, is next to impossible. Each of you will be dead-set in your way. For the game you're playing, do a Hand of Fate roll. On a 4+ you get your way, on a 3- they get their way. But mark down the rule debate and look it up afterwards.

#3 - Study the Rules; Really. Every few days, take out that rulebook and go over a section. Shouldn't be a big section either. Keep it tight at maybe 10 pages max. Really get to learn those 10 pages. There's a bunch of small words that can make a big difference. Imagine the scenarios where this occurs. Same with your own forces. This gets harder as your collection grows, especially when you have multiple armies, but having a solid knowledge of your rules is very good to do.

#4 - Organize a Rules Game; My buddy and I like to say that we know the rules pretty well, but we really don't know how to play. Now and then ask a friend to play a game with you, but a game where you are going to look up every rule as you go through it. Schedule an extra-long time for the game. The game should not be about winning or losing, but rather to explore the rules itself.

#5 - Read your Opponent's Rules; Don't be afraid to ask to see your opponent's codex. Just like you'll discover that you've been doing certain things wrong, so too will you find opponents often making similar mistakes.

All good advice, thanks guys, much appreciated. I have been re-reading my rulebook between games, and yes playing more helps. It's just frustrating when you forget a rule that could have changed the outcome of a dice roll. My last game against Necrons, I completely forgot that my Trukks had Ramshackle, and 2 of them received penetrating hits that resulted in Explodes! results. (Ramshackle gives a 1 in 6 chance to downgrade a penetrating hit to a glance.) Bummer!

I found writing down bulletpoint notes on a word document army list helps for reference - takes preparation and slows game pace - but doesn't slow as much as BRB checking.

 Wulfmar wrote:
I found writing down bulletpoint notes on a word document army list helps for reference - takes preparation and slows game pace - but doesn't slow as much as BRB checking.

I'm scatterbraind so I do something similar I have a sheet with my units and i just list rules each unit has as a reminder that this is what they can do. The more I play the less often i need to use it, but it does help to remind one of what they can do. And going over rules helps too.

Type up a quick set of the rules on a word doc. I always forget my psychic powers or anything of that sort. So i always write down the power (just what its called) and place it by the unit... it works wonders.

 Cleatus wrote:
I have been playing 40k off and on for about 3 years (middle of 6th). I'm pretty familiar with the rule-set, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who would say that there are a lot of rules for this game, and sometimes you forget one here or there. I play casually with friends, so this isn't a huge deal, but it is annoying when you remember after the fact that Ork Trukks have Ramshackle for instance. That's the kind of thing that can keep your little transports from exploding, and keep your Boyz alive a little longer. Or your opponent forgets to that a unit has Fear, and it could have impacted the assault last turn. Or you forget your Warlord trait. Or remembering to roll for reserves. Or rolling for an Ld check to see if your fleeing units rally. Or rolling for Gets Hot! etc. etc. These aren't cases of YMDC, but rather remembering specific/situational/specific rules at certain points in the game.

I have taken to using tokens for things like Jink, Go to Ground, Fall Back, Fleeing, etc. I find that this helps for these kinds of temporary status modifiers.

Does anyone have any tips or advice for keeping track of these sort of things? (other than 'play more' or 'L2P noob' )

You know I have seen some nice cheat sheets on the internet that, for example will have the assault phase progression but with notes regarding special rules interspersed. For example, "Roll for Fear" being added into the text.

i know GW itself once created such a cheat sheet on a nice laminated type of page. i suppose it wouldn't take much effort to go to Kinkos and print something like that out? I wish I had a link to give you. Those things kind of come across my awareness periodically on facebook posts and what not but I am unsure where to go to give you the most competehensive one.

However: i think you could perhaps construct something like that for yourself?

The charts in the backs of most of the more recent codex's kind of have these cheat sheets too. staple a copy to the army list might work?

Just options. I like the tokens thing. i also forget things like Psyker powers. Dominate is one I forget all the time.

One thing about cheat sheets:

While there are some very nice ones out there to download, the act of making one yourself will help you learn the rules better. Just the act of going through, studying things and writing them down should help fix them in your mind.

If that doesn’t help, you could try writing it 20 times on the blackboard.

 Nevelon wrote:
One thing about cheat sheets:

While there are some very nice ones out there to download, the act of making one yourself will help you learn the rules better. Just the act of going through, studying things and writing them down should help fix them in your mind.

If that doesn’t help, you could try writing it 20 times on the blackboard.

Good luck trying to memorize each result of the Warp Storm Table or the Champion of Chaos Table.

Or, god forbid, you took a combination and needed to memorize both (Chaos Daemons as your primary with CSM allies).

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
One thing about cheat sheets:

While there are some very nice ones out there to download, the act of making one yourself will help you learn the rules better. Just the act of going through, studying things and writing them down should help fix them in your mind.

If that doesn’t help, you could try writing it 20 times on the blackboard.

Good luck trying to memorize each result of the Warp Storm Table or the Champion of Chaos Table.

Or, god forbid, you took a combination and needed to memorize both (Chaos Daemons as your primary with CSM allies).

You're being silly. At no point did anyone say write down the whole rulebook and every rule. Do we have to explain every detail of how to summarise key rules as a reference to speed play?

 Wulfmar wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
One thing about cheat sheets:

While there are some very nice ones out there to download, the act of making one yourself will help you learn the rules better. Just the act of going through, studying things and writing them down should help fix them in your mind.

If that doesn’t help, you could try writing it 20 times on the blackboard.

Good luck trying to memorize each result of the Warp Storm Table or the Champion of Chaos Table.

Or, god forbid, you took a combination and needed to memorize both (Chaos Daemons as your primary with CSM allies).

You're being silly. At no point did anyone say write down the whole rulebook and every rule. Do we have to explain every detail of how to summarise key rules as a reference to speed play?

The Warpstorm Table and Champions of Chaos Table are kinda important to playing with their respective codexes, since they basically determine (respectively) what happens at the beginning of every player turn and what happens when one of your (many) characters wins a challenge. They are just ONE of the many rules you need to make a note of, but mentally remembering the entire chart and what happens with each result rolled isn't exactly easy. Sticky notes are better.

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

 Wulfmar wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

 Nevelon wrote:
One thing about cheat sheets:

While there are some very nice ones out there to download, the act of making one yourself will help you learn the rules better. Just the act of going through, studying things and writing them down should help fix them in your mind.

If that doesn’t help, you could try writing it 20 times on the blackboard.

Good luck trying to memorize each result of the Warp Storm Table or the Champion of Chaos Table.

Or, god forbid, you took a combination and needed to memorize both (Chaos Daemons as your primary with CSM allies).

You're being silly. At no point did anyone say write down the whole rulebook and every rule. Do we have to explain every detail of how to summarise key rules as a reference to speed play?

The Warpstorm Table and Champions of Chaos Table are kinda important to playing with their respective codexes, since they basically determine (respectively) what happens at the beginning of every player turn and what happens when one of your (many) characters wins a challenge. They are just ONE of the many rules you need to make a note of, but mentally remembering the entire chart and what happens with each result rolled isn't exactly easy. Sticky notes are better.

You seem to be making the mistake of assuming you use nothing but the notes and not the rulebook. You have your notes with respective key words. When you reach a keyword like Chaos Boon Table, you crack out the Chaos codex to check it.

I like to make little reference cards for some of the rules in my army so I don't forget. I have a decent handle on the main rules, but I struggle a bit to remember some of the army specific stuff.

In practice I would just have the photocopied page on the table when playing, if not just have the book opened to that page by default.

Something that I will need to reference that much is not enough for a sticky note and especially not for memorizing completely by heart, even if you write it out 20 times on a blackboard (although if you are capable of that, kudos to you. I am jelly of your test taking skills).

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
In practice I would just have the photocopied page on the table when playing, if not just have the book opened to that page by default.

Something that I will need to reference that much is not enough for a sticky note and especially not for memorizing completely by heart, even if you write it out 20 times on a blackboard (although if you are capable of that, kudos to you. I am jelly of your test taking skills).

I feel like I'm saying one thing and you're hearing somehing entirely different.

You have the codex and rulebook when you play the game.
On a sheet of paper like your army list you include some of the rules you keep forgetting, or key words to remind you to check them in the codex or rule book.

 Wulfmar wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
In practice I would just have the photocopied page on the table when playing, if not just have the book opened to that page by default.

Something that I will need to reference that much is not enough for a sticky note and especially not for memorizing completely by heart, even if you write it out 20 times on a blackboard (although if you are capable of that, kudos to you. I am jelly of your test taking skills).

I feel like I'm saying one thing and you're hearing somehing entirely different.

You have the codex and rulebook when you play the game.
On a sheet of paper like your army list you include some of the rules you keep forgetting, or key words to remind you to check them in the codex or rule book.

It's more of you are dragging me into an argument that I never made.

I was talking about Nevelon's comment about writing down rules to help memorize them. I pointed out that some rules are much harder to do that for (The Warp Storm Table and the Chaos Boon Table) since, at best, you remake the table and still gotta check it to know what happens. Somehow that apparently meant I was saying "write down every single rule in note form instead of using the rulebook", and here we are. Anyways, in that case, it's easier to just crack the book open and keep it to that page.

Digital version of rulebook with search function makes things a bit quicker so some items may not need to be memorized.
http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/40k-cod-sup/Warhammer-40000-eBook.html

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:

 Wulfmar wrote:

 MechaEmperor7000 wrote:
In practice I would just have the photocopied page on the table when playing, if not just have the book opened to that page by default.

Something that I will need to reference that much is not enough for a sticky note and especially not for memorizing completely by heart, even if you write it out 20 times on a blackboard (although if you are capable of that, kudos to you. I am jelly of your test taking skills).

I feel like I'm saying one thing and you're hearing somehing entirely different.

You have the codex and rulebook when you play the game.
On a sheet of paper like your army list you include some of the rules you keep forgetting, or key words to remind you to check them in the codex or rule book.

It's more of you are dragging me into an argument that I never made.

I was talking about Nevelon's comment about writing down rules to help memorize them. I pointed out that some rules are much harder to do that for (The Warp Storm Table and the Chaos Boon Table) since, at best, you remake the table and still gotta check it to know what happens. Somehow that apparently meant I was saying "write down every single rule in note form instead of using the rulebook", and here we are. Anyways, in that case, it's easier to just crack the book open and keep it to that page.

Oh I see, you were helpfully pointing out the obvious.

I can't remember all the rules, hell I can't even remember some of the rules. I got the iPad version, that helps a lot. Sadly I don't play anymore so never really used it much.

Was thinking of starting again. I have a disabled daughter who wants to play. So how do I get around from me not remembering the rules and trying to teach her who can't read or remember much either. So I am starting to make cards. Like Magic the Gathering or how Privateer Press does it.

So I have lernt instead of using words, I am trying out icons to see if my daughter can relate to that.

So make cards, and instead of words, drawings or icons can help and simplify rules that are needed for the units I am using and not worrying about everything I need.

So have cards like they use in X-wing/Star Trek Attack Wing. So have a card for your unit that you are using. Then give that unit cards for any special rules it may have so you can see what they can do. So this way you know what you only need to know at the time for what you use.

It takes work, a lot of work since I need to know how to make these cards now, but it seems to be so worth it.

Davor wrote:
I can't remember all the rules, hell I can't even remember some of the rules. I got the iPad version, that helps a lot. Sadly I don't play anymore so never really used it much.

Was thinking of starting again. I have a disabled daughter who wants to play. So how do I get around from me not remembering the rules and trying to teach her who can't read or remember much either. So I am starting to make cards. Like Magic the Gathering or how Privateer Press does it.

So I have lernt instead of using words, I am trying out icons to see if my daughter can relate to that.

So make cards, and instead of words, drawings or icons can help and simplify rules that are needed for the units I am using and not worrying about everything I need.

So have cards like they use in X-wing/Star Trek Attack Wing. So have a card for your unit that you are using. Then give that unit cards for any special rules it may have so you can see what they can do. So this way you know what you only need to know at the time for what you use.

It takes work, a lot of work since I need to know how to make these cards now, but it seems to be so worth it.

It's easier if you work up to the more complicated rules. A simple game with Space Marines VS Space Marine, there are very few rules you need for a good enjoyment. 2 tactical squads, a Captain (NOT a librarian or Chaplain), a Dreadnought and two Rhinos can make for a very enjoyable afternoon and it helps get the basics down (ignore chapter tactics for now). In my first game i brought Defilers to the match and had a horrible time keeping track of what it can and can't do. Later on I decided on a small game with only khorne berserkers (back then they just had the old version of Rage and +1 attack, I didn't buy chainaxes) and that was so much easier to handle and I slowly worked up from there.

Page references and a note "not to forget" them would be enough.

I don't have a problem with looking up rules in the rulebook. For me, it's remembering when certain rules come into play. "Oh yeah, Trukks have Ramshackle", or "Oh yeah, I need to roll Gets Hot now", etc. My challenge is that I don't play very often (just 12 games last year), which makes it tough to remember some rules that others might take for granted. Digital rulebooks or photocopies wouldn't help with that. Only familiarity with the rules can help with that. Tokens, cards, and other reminders can be helpful during the game to an extent.

Sadly, I think this game just has too many fiddly situational rules for a casual like me. Kinda makes me want to chuck the whole thing sometimes. But I try not to sweat it. When I do get a chance to play, it's a friendly game with people I know, and sometimes we forget things. It happens. If I notice my opponent forgot to roll for something, I mention it as a courtesy. And yes sometimes after the game I remember things that would have helped in this situation, or that situation. *shrug* I've gotten a little better with each game. As long as I'm having fun, that's what's important.

Have a mental check list that you check no matter what. Basically, if you train yourself to always check for something like Ramshackle, even on non-Ork vehicles, it will eventually become second nature to the point that it takes no time and you recognize it automatically.

Basically, each game you play, have a list of things you always check, doesn't matter how certain you are, you check those things each time they might come up. If you do that enough you will build that mental muscle memory, you can even work at one thing at a time if you'd like, or multiple things.

Edit: Since you don't play a lot, do the same thing if you watch battle reports or whatever, just always ask yourself that question, so it's always there. Every time you build a list, every time you think about models, etc, ask yourself a set of rules you want to have built in to your memory until you can't not think about them. Basically, every time I build a list, I try to memorize more war gear, I try to do it from memory as much as possible, I haven't played a game since I came back from a ten year break, and I can probably tell you most of the stats in the Tau Codex since I often times contemplate different builds and concepts, while running points and rules in my head. I don't know everything obviously, but I try to learn more and more each time I think about anything in theory.

A checklist honestly isn't a bad idea. I play CSM, and it's taken a while for me to remember that nigh on all, if not all, my unit leaders have to issue challenges, or that some units have grenades and some don't.

There can be a lot of things that occur for each phase for each army - a checklist for all of them is a smart thing to do.