Warhammer 40,000 does feel like Dungeons & Dragons is on the verge of breaking into the mainstream after the launch of fifth edition, the Stranger Things homage, and the huge success of Critical Role. Unlike Dungeons & Dragons, which is very easy to pick up and the rules can be relaxed as you wish, Warhammer 40,000 can be slightly intimidating for beginners.
However, if you’ve already sworn your allegiance to the Emperor (or the Chaos Gods, if you’re interested) for the first time and want to learn more, we’ve got some suggestions to help you get into wargames, backstory, and more. Whether you want to immerse yourself in the tomes of the Black Library or spend countless hours perfecting your helmet’s visor, we’ve got plenty of ways to help you take the next step in this interest without overwhelming you.
Entering Warhammer 40,000 – Wargame Advice
Warhammer 40,000 is one of the most mature tabletop gaming experiences we have right now. However, it will continue to iterate. On the one hand, this makes it a bit cumbersome to keep the rules, but it also means everyone else has to constantly study the rules too. So don’t be too scared when you first start working on a list or rules. Of course, some things almost never change, but a big suggestion for Warhammer is that, like history or science, it’s always being rewritten. game The environment is constantly changingwhich should give you a sigh of relief.
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With that out of the way we can get into a real beginner’s tip, which is to pick an army that you like. One that you really, really like. Before you look at the rules, and before you buy your first combat patrol, you should know that you’re going to want to spend hours building and coloring these little guys. Aesthetics are very important to this, probably more than backstory and play style, but there are definitely a lot of factors that go into choosing an army. The important thing is to choose one, and Hold on to your troops. Unless you just want to collect, that’s okay, but getting pulled out of every release wave is not a good idea. Other armies often get cool gear, too. For example, I was almost dragged into spending hundreds of dollars on Space Wolves this year, but I held on to my beloved Angel of Darkness because I knew I would be wasting a ton of money otherwise.
I don’t recommend buying the starter set directly into the game unless you are sure you want either the Zerg or Space Marine units. Even the Combat Patrol, depending on your alignment, may not be a great deal even if it’s billed as the way to get started. They will give you a discount on all units in the box though, which is a big advantage in Warhammer. Something worth considering when choosing an army is how much it will cost. Even if you think Space Marines are a bit generic at first, they’re nowhere near as expensive to get on the roster as a Zerg or an Eldar. PS: If you didn’t know already, a roster is a collection of units that make up an army. They need a warlord, some line units, other data sheets, and maybe a monster or vehicle mixed in for balance.
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Picking up the free monthly minis from your local Games Workshop store is a great way to figure out if you’d like building and painting a particular faction, but there are plenty of resources online to help you learn other things. But in my experience, buying, building, and painting are the things you need to do the most, so be sure to satisfy all three when choosing an army. Just like D&D, the rules of cool are paramount in Warhammer 40,000, and sticking to what you like is more important than chasing the current mainstream. Warhammer has a long lead time, even if you don’t paint it, which means that by the time you’re ready for a super mainstream build, it’s likely to be nerfed.
Once you’ve chosen your faction, assembled and drawn an army list ready to be brought to the table, it’s time to learn the rules and gameplay. If there’s one secret to learning how to play wargaming, it’s battle reporting. I can’t help but recommend Play On Tabletop’s 40 minutes and 40 kilometers. The cinematic and short structure the team brought to Warhammer 40,000 makes the game both accessible and exciting, and new players should really try a few games to see what the structure looks like, even if they skip certain details. Once you have an idea, you’ll be able to better understand the guidelines of the rule book and faction code. If you’re playing with friends, the Codex may be enough for all your rules needs, but if you want to be more competitive, you may need help from the web or an app.
As you can tell from the paragraph above, Warhammer 40,000 looks pretty complicated, and to a certain extent it is, but you can master the rules by choosing a side, steadily building an army without leaving the dreaded pile of shame (a bunch of unassembled or unpainted Warhammer models), and watching battle reports, making life simpler. Think this through, and you’ll soon be on your way to a grand battle in the dark, distant future.
Tips for getting into Warhammer 40,000 – Backstory
This is easier because really everything depends on where you start. If you just want an overview of the setting, the rule book, or preferably the faction codex, can present thousands of years of story in a condensed form. YouTube helps too, but there are so many backstory YouTubers out there now that it’s hard to just pick one and say they’re the best for newbies. You can judge who you like based on the sound, video length, etc. If you just want the official backstory and little else, you have plenty of options.
As long as you accept the Imperial perspective (even if you like the other factions, you may just have to live with it), then you have plenty of places to start, from games to books and everything in between. Secret Level gives you a lot of cool action scenes, but not much background detail, so we wouldn’t really recommend it as a backstory. Space Marines II does a better job of occasionally throwing in some keywords to give you an introduction to Warhammer like many players do. We think The Wandering Trader is the best introduction to the Warhammer 40,000 video game, although the sheer volume of text at times may put some fans off.
But if you’re looking for text, the Black Library has a ton of Warhammer books to flip through. The largest narrative series to date is The Horus Heresy, but if 50+ books sounds a bit daunting, you can opt for the Eisenhorn Trilogy, which is through the eyes of Games Workshop’s version of James Bond, as the perfect introduction. If you want more book recommendations, you can find them here and here .
