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Hey all, I'm looking for some advice here on these forums. I'm a new player(Technically), new as in I want to get in some games, and learn to play the game out, however I am not new to the setting, or the models themselves, having been collecting since I was about 10 or 11 years old(I'm now 29). I have never played a single game of 40k, but own 3 armies, a Blood Angels Army that has fallen into disrepair(and unfortunately will never be repaired due to the amount of missing parts when SOMEONE packed them oh so roughly into a box), a CSM Iron Warriors Army(Which is a completely non-meta list), and a 30k Iron Hands army that is currently in progress(Just order a Sicarin from FW to add as well as needing to finish my second 15 man Tac-Squad and Cataphractii).

The main reason I am here is, I want to get involved in the game some, both 30k, and 40k, however being the person I am, I'm shy, quiet, and quite the nervous type about going into an unfamiliar enviroment(Social Awkwardness be damned!), as well as my not so great knowledge of the rules(I've gone through ALOT of codices so what works, and dosen't work is lost on me as of now), and don't want to conform to "Meta" or "Competitive" builds to enjoy it. My local gaming shop is all about the fun, and everyone there seems genuinely nice, and always willing to talk, and shoot the breeze about things, but I still can't get over the whole shyness, as well as feeling dumb in the rules department. Any Advice for a new guy to get over these issues?(Besides the obvious buy the rule book, codices, and study them harder than I do for my College work).

Don't be afraid to ask to see a codex entry. I still do it a lot.

You can be a gamer who wants to win at all cost and be miserable with trying to win with BA and CSM. Suffering is caused by wanting.

Or you can relax and waste time and play with what ever you have. Dont be afraid of losing. If you make a list and post it in the army section, people will tell you to buy stuff that will make it cookie cutter competitive in the tournament scene.

Just write a list of everything you have bare bones. Then determine which category your collection fight at, 1000, 1500, 1850, 2000? Make a note of that but play several 500pt games. Each 500pt game try out a different unit. Progressively advance to 1000pts. Then 1500. This game is about managment. Get good at managing squads. Once you are good a managing all the movements, all the psychic, all the shooting, all the assault. Then you can focus on strategy. Strategy occurs in the pre deployment phase. How are you going to win? Which models will help me do that? Does this army list accomplishes this strategy well?

Once your army is on the table, your strategy or overall plans will have to be changed as tactical objectives are random. This is where tactics come in. Each little tricks your models can do is a tactic to change the strategy to adapt to the battlefield. Some models have tricks or can be used in a way not listed in their rules. Like transports being line of sight blocking terrain. Or use a small squad as a road block to your enemies assault.

but for the most part starting out, your amy is a shooting gallery for your opponent.

I agree, try different army setups in game. You'll see what works quickly enough.


On the shyness part: I get that feeling you don't know the rules can make you nervous. The thing is, I think the quickest way to learn the rules is by gaming. I'd recommend making it clear to your opponent that you're not an experienced gamer, your opponent will know what to expect and will be far more likely to give helpful advice. Also try to accept that you won't get it all right the first few times, and know that your opponent won't expect you to. I still make mistakes, and I've been at it for 16 years!

Thanks all for the advice! Winning or Losing, neither of those matter, I just want to casually play and have fun, and all the while make new friends through the game. As far as Army goes... I'm not worried about that, I don't want to build a Meta based army so much as I just want to run fluffish yet still able to hold their own armies... which is probably more why I'm moving to 30k slowly, and then building a NEW 40k CSM Red Corsairs/Crimson Slaughter Army(Undecided, hence the 2 choices there). But seriously, thanks all for the advice!

My advice is don't take the bickering on the internet (like on these forums or on 1d4chan) too seriously. The general 40k public, I found, are actually quite friendly and understanding in person, and few people actually do meta lists to win. That is not to say they don't exist at all, but they're few and far in between that you will likely not run into one at all. In fact at my first ever store (the only one I went to with any regularity, mainly because it was literally next door to me) had only one WAAC player, and everyone pointed him out to me before I even started.

I say this so that you won't be discouraged to field "fluff" armies. 40k, despite it's imbalances, is so broad and large that unless someone is dedicated to the game to an obsession, almost any kind of list can still work. I've once ran a 5th edition Tyranid army with nothing but infantry and a walking Tyrant and still beat out a Mech IG army (at the time Mech Guard was considered one of the top tier armies) simply because the other guy didn't know which models to target in my army. In 7th edition I once successfully won with a melee-based Blood Angels Terminator/Dreadnought army against Thunderwolves, simply because I got a few good deepstrikes and Bjorn managed to take out some key models in the opening game.

My other advice to you is: learn to lose with grace. 40k (and 30k by extension) at it's core is still largely based on random chance. Learn to draw humor from your bad rolls is often a lot more pleasant and enjoyable than blaming them for a loss. Unfortunately, there are a few people that just love to throw tamper tantrums when they lose, and brag like there's no tomorrow when they win. These will probably test your patience the most, but I would let them have their day and humor them a bit, because they can be extremely unpleasant when their mental superiority is tested. And at the end of the day, this is just a game. It's not worth losing sleep or hair over.