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Hi everyone! I am quite new to wargaming, and I am wanting to start playing Warhammer 40,000. I have a few AoS minis, and I have played an AoS demo game. But I think Warhammer 40,000 looks really cool. Anyway, I have noticed that the rulebook is fairly large. So what is the most effective way to read the rules? Are there parts I should skip and read later? Or should I read the whole book cover to cover? Thank you for your time!

Your best bet is to find a friend who wants to start playing as well or someone who already plays and wants to expand their collection. pick up and split one of the many starter packages that are out there. i.e. dark vengeance, battle for vedros, or each of you pick up a start collecting box for the faction you think looks cool. the starter sets come with a much smaller rulebook that covers the game in pretty straight forward steps as the game progresses. and then play the game. play it a lot, try something different each game. charge into close combat, deepstrike if your guys can deepstrike, try out the special rules that each unit has at its disposal, but play the game. if you are playing against someone who is also new, great! you will both be on the same page and will learn and argue how everything works as you learn how to play. if your opponent already knows how to play, also great! they will hopefully be able to teach you and offer many pointers.

Welcome poisonmortar!

I haven't played AoS, but from what I understand in that game the rulebook is nice and small, and all the special rules you need are located on each unit's warscroll. In 40k we call these Dataslates, but in general 40k rules are a lot more in-depth. There's a strong possibility that by this time next year, 40k will be simplified in a similar way to AoS, but until then, yes, the rulebook is quite a big book!

A cover to cover read will give you the most thorough understanding, but you'll likely need to reread it many times over in order to remember some of the intricacies. Moreover, some of the rules are very strangely finicky in specific picky language that might sound like one thing at first, but actually means the opposite when read more carefully. For this reason, if something confuses you, feel free to ask your question in 40k You Make Da Call forums!

Overall, the most important parts are:

#1 - Movement = 6", Difficult Terrain = 2d6"
#2 - Calculating roll to hit with BS = 7-BS
#3 - Declaring a charge, resolving a charge.
#4 - Memorize to-wound chart.
#5 - Unit Types and their differences.

After that there's a lot of very important stuff, but I'd say the above 5 are the most critically important.

 Yarium wrote:
Welcome poisonmortar!

I haven't played AoS, but from what I understand in that game the rulebook is nice and small, and all the special rules you need are located on each unit's warscroll. In 40k we call these Dataslates, but in general 40k rules are a lot more in-depth. There's a strong possibility that by this time next year, 40k will be simplified in a similar way to AoS, but until then, yes, the rulebook is quite a big book!

A cover to cover read will give you the most thorough understanding, but you'll likely need to reread it many times over in order to remember some of the intricacies. Moreover, some of the rules are very strangely finicky in specific picky language that might sound like one thing at first, but actually means the opposite when read more carefully. For this reason, if something confuses you, feel free to ask your question in 40k You Make Da Call forums!

Overall, the most important parts are:

#1 - Movement = 6", Difficult Terrain = 2d6"
#2 - Calculating roll to hit with BS = 7-BS
#3 - Declaring a charge, resolving a charge.
#4 - Memorize to-wound chart.
#5 - Unit Types and their differences.

After that there's a lot of very important stuff, but I'd say the above 5 are the most critically important.

Dude, 7-BS to work out "to hit" rolls is a life saver haha. Never thought of it that way, really good tip

Best way to start is to play a couple tiny games, squad on squad type with those main parts that Yarium mentioned.
And the easiest way to get the to-wound chart is Equal Numbers= 4+ (Str 4 v T 4= 4+ to wound), for each number that the strength is higher than toughness the number goes down (Str 5 v T 4= 3+ to wound), for each number the toughness is higher than strength the number goes up (Str 4 v T 4= 5+ to wound).
Skip any parts about terrain, buildings, missions, list building. At the beginning I would probably stick to uncomplicated infantry and wait with special rules until you get the hang of basic combat.

If you have a big rule book then there will be a lot of fluff (backstory) that you won't need to know about to play, they just remove it for the smaller ones.

As for rules I suggest reading up on the movement shooting and assault phases, the psychic phase isn't as important, just don't use psykers to begin with.

Unit types and characters are also quite important.

I would suggest not using any special rules for the first few games, so you can get to grips with the basics. This will change the balance of the game a bit but not too much.

You can cut out vehicles the first game too, it is easiest to learn with just a few infantry squads on either team to begin with.

Terrain isn't really necessary, a lot of people start out on planet bowling ball.

In "choosing your army" read from battlefield role to dedicated transports and use the example detachment.

For your first game don't use any of the missions in the book, just set your models up 2 foot apart and fight to the death.


The easiest way to learn is get someone who knows how to play willing to do some basic games with you. Barring that get a friend who also doesn't know how to play and fight each other over and over adding a bit more stuff each time you master something.