Getting into Gaming (Warhammer 40k)

Before now, I have been mostly fixated on the painting and modeling portion of Warhammer 40k. However, I have recently taken the plunge into the gaming portion. I went to my local hobby shop, watched a couple games, and then played 2 games with a friend of mine. From my little experience, I have just a couple tips for someone wanting to start gaming

(Pictures are from my local hobby shop. They are just to show what a game/game board can look like.)

First, you should read the rule book. I know it's huge, but only the first quarter of it or so is rules. Borrow it from a friend, and read it once through. If you are very sure that you are going to be sticking with the hobby for a long time, you should buy one. A rule book is a necessity for playing the game.

Second, just going and watching a game can be extremely helpful, especially if the people you are watching are new and learning the game themselves. Veteran players tend to remember most rules from memory, and an onlooker might not even realize what is happening. Still, any game you watch can be a learning experience. You get to see some of the rules in action, and you get a better understanding of some of the basic concepts (assault phases, line of sight, etc.).

Third, find someone to actually play a game with. It can be as small as one squad against another, but this will help you the most when it comes to fully understanding the rules. You will make some mistakes, but that's ok. You can play against another beginner, reading the rules as you go, or an advanced player who will coach you on the rules as you go.

The rules can be pretty confusing at first, so if I were to try and help someone understand the game, I would start playing with abridged rules, and then slowly adding more and more complexity, finally ending with playing the game in it's entirety. This is what I mean by abridged rules:

Abridged rules(for novice players learning the game):

(These are mostly to be read by the experienced player who is teaching the newer player. Not everyone agrees with me about the use of these rules to teach someone how to play.)

-Condense the game into just the three phases: Movement, Shooting, and Assault. Make an emphasis when ending one phase and beginning another
-Play without objectives, complex terrain (such as mysterious or dangerous terrain), missions, reserves, warlord traits. allies, etc.
-Play without leadership tests/morale checks, physic powers, multiple assaults, and other concepts that may be confusing to new players.
-Play without using special rules (very novice players). This means you will basically only be using your units' stats (WS, BS, S, T, etc.) and it's basic weapons. You will not be using rules like Hatred, Hammer of Wrath, Gets Hot, Instant Death, etc. You can gradually add these rules in as you see fit, maybe explaining them as you play, but not using them (i.e. saying, " In this instance, I would get to re-roll this die because I have Hatred").

The purpose of the abridged rules is to introduce the new player to the fundamentals: understanding the charts in the back of the rulebook (To hit, to wound charts) as well as other basic rules (such as armor pierce, armor penetration, vehicle rules, etc).

 

I hope to share my gaming adventures with you. I will still be posting about painting and modeling, as well.
Feel free to share any thoughts or comments you have, about this post or the blog in general. I get lonely when nobody comments... :(

Warhammer 40k Basic Modeling Tips

Useful Modeling Tools, Tricks, etc.

Pinning

Metal pieces sometimes do not hold together with just superglue. They need to be pinned ( have a metal rod inserted into both pieces for added support). This is usually done by drilling a small hole into both pieces and securing the pin into each hole. This can be done with either super glue or green stuff, if the hole is big enough. The drilling is usually done with a pin vise, but can also be done with a low-power drill or dremel tool (be extremely careful if you do these, as you can easily ruin your model).
Pinning can be extremely helpful with metal miniatures. I have seen it done with plastic miniatures as well, but only to secure them to a cork base while priming/painting.

Pictured to the right is basically all you need to get started with pinning: a pice of a paper clip ( or some other thin, metal rod), a pin vice and an appropriatly sized drill bit.

Gluing

I know this is a pretty simple concept, but it deserves some explaining. There are basically two types of glue: super glue and plastic glue. Simply enough, you use plastic glue for plastic (and resin/Citadel Finecast) models.

For super glue, you just need to find a decent brand and use it. It does not need to be specific to Warhammer/Modeling. Some generic brands are ok, but I have yet to find a very good super glue.

 For plastic glue, it is a little more difficult to find a good brand. First off, the GW plastic glue is complete crap. Just throw it in the garbage. Some other modeling companies make better plastic glues, but I find that it is actually "polystyrene cement" that works the best. People always have their own opinions on what the best brands are. You can do some reasearch on some gaming forums and decide for yourself.

Acrylic medium

Until recently, I had been using water to thin my paints. Although this worked well for a long time, I have moved on. I bought some liquitex Matt medium online, and it has changed the way I paint. I highly recommend it.

Matt medium basically thins the paint, without making it run like a wash (stay in recesses). I will be using it all the time from now on. I also use it sort of like a glaze medium in some cases.

Green stuff

I already went into detail on the uses of green stuff (see 100 Hours - sculpting first post), so I will just briefly describe it now. Green stuff is an epoxy putty that can be used by games to fill gaps between model pieces as well as sculpt new parts to a figure, whether it is a symbol on a backpack or a new body part. It is definitely a useful tool for advanced hobbyist to get acquainted with.

Pictured to the right is my green stuff. I found the tubes to be much more cost effective than the strips. Again, this is all explained in my earlier Green Stuff post.

Magnetizing

This is for very advanced hobbyist, and is usually applied for people who play in tournament. The idea is that instead pf having a different model for every available armory option, you can havr one model with interchangeable parts. People magnetized parts of their models so that they can be switched when they modify their army. As an example, they may switch out a terminator's combi-bolter for a heavy flamer in their army list, and instead of using an entirely new model they can just remove the arm the the combi-bolter and replace it with a heavy flamer arm. Magnets can be used on any number of models, but they are usually used thing like tanks and elite squads, not so much on basic infantry.

Magnetizing is done by drilling a hole, the size of the magnet, in either side of what you want to change out. Magnets are placed into either hole (making sure opposite polarities are facing each other, or else you need to dig them out and start over), and glued into place. You can place a magnet in each part you want to change out, making sure that the polarities work out as such. Usually, rare earth metal magnets are used, because they are the only ones that have the strength to hold the pieces together.

Miscellaneous

There are a few tools that can be used for the same tasks. In order to remove models from their sprues, you can use sprue cutters (more likely you will find then as flush cutters) or a hobby knife (X-acto makes good ones of these)
In order to remove mould lines, you can use the dull, reverse side of a hobby knife blade, needle files, or something like a GW mould line remover.
Picking up a decent set of needle files is recommended, they come in handy a lot, and don't cost more than $20 or so.
There are a bunch of other tools you can find in various places, often disguised as other craft tools.

My opinion is, buy tools that you need, don't find buy tools and then make up a need for them. This hobby is too expensive as it is without purchasing useless tools all the time.

Learning More

If you read something here that was confusing, or you are interested in learning more, post a comment and I will try and help out the best I can. For some extra reading, there are some interesting posts of DakkaDakka (a gaming forum) that talk about tools, and methods to better use them. Here are two of my favorites:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/Useful_painting_and_modelling_advice

http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/The_Toolbox%21

The Painting and Modeling forum in an invaluable too. Always search the forum about a topic before you ask, especially if you would be starting a new thread. If you do join DakkaDakka (I highly recommend it to all gamers), my username is dmerr187, you can friend my if you want to.

Obviously, I don't know everything. I am only a moderate painter/modeler, so I still have a lot to learn. If you read something here that is wrong, or maybe you just disagree, say something! I don't want to be spreading false information if I can help it.