In The Beginning…

Warhammer 40k is a fun game and I encourage everyone that is interested in playing to get the rulebook so they can read through the rules and all the neat fluff themselves. In addition, it will be invaluable when a situation comes up in a game that you do not know how to handle and you need a rule for it. Of course, if it turns out that there is no rule covering it, or that you and the other player do not agree on what the rule means, simply let a die roll decide it for the moment and carry on, you can check with experts like those on the Millennium Gate Rules Discussion Forum later. (Note: their answers are no more official than those of the Rulz Boyz, but they do offer a lot of supporting evidence, state their cases well and have very differing viewpoints, so they are quite helpful) I have always felt, however, that the bulk of the 40k rules can be condensed into a more useful size and made into a short form starter kit for new players. Personally, I think Games Workshop should make starter kits with 1 HQ and two Troop units and a short (4-5 pages or so) version of the rules, so that people can buy them and get playing quickly. This is my take on a basic version of the rules. Remember, these are just the basics and you really need the rulebook to play, but this gives some of the feel of the game and a taste for the mechanics.

Stat Lines

All units have statistics that go with them. For the moment, I’ll leave out vehicles, as they can be added later, once the rest of the game makes sense.

WS-Weapon skill, relative chance to hit an opponent in Hand to Hand combat

BS- Ballistic Skill, chance to hit an opponent when shooting

S – Strength, affects chance to wound an opponent in HTH

T – Toughness, affects an opponent’s chance to wound you in HTH

W – Wounds, the number of times you can be wounded before death

I- Initiative, used to determine who strikes first in HTH

A- Attacks, the number of attacks when in HTH combat

LD – Leadership, how good the model’s morale is

Sv – Armor Save, chance to survive a wound. The lower the better.

Space Marine: WS4 BS4 S4 T4 W1 I4 A1 LD8 SV3+      15pts

Dark Eldar Warrior:      WS4 BS4 S3 T3 W1 I5 A1 LD8 SV5+       8pts

Quick Comparison: WS and BS are the same for both, so they have equal chances to hit in HTH and are both good shooters. The Space Marine is tougher and stronger than the DE Warrior, so he will have an easier time wounding the Warrior and be harder to wound in return. OTOH, the Warrior goes first in HTH with I5, so might kill him before he can go. This is unlikely, however, due to the extremely good SV the marine enjoys, which explains why the Marine costs almost twice as much.

Weapons also have stat lines:

Marine Bolter: S4 AP5 24” Rapid Fire (more on Rapid Fire in the Shooting section)

DE Splinter Rifle: S3 AP5 24” Rapid Fire

DE Dark Lance S8 AP2 36” Heavy 1. (more on Heavy weapons in the Shooting section)

Turn Order

Each Game turn consists of 1 Player turn each. (i.e.: you do your entire turn, then I do my entire turn, that makes up a whole Game turn) Most games are 6 Game turns in length.

Each Player turn is composed of 3 separate phases: Movement, Shooting and Assault.  Each phase should be completed before you move on to the next one.  In other words, don’t start shooting until you’ve moved everything that you want to move. 

Movement

Move each unit one at a time. Most units will be able to move up to 6” during their movement phase. At the end of movement, all models in a unit must be within 2” of another model in the unit. (this is referred to as Coherency)

Shooting

Select a unit and declare a target for it. (the convention is to not measure range before declaring a target, but I generally don’t worry about that) Make sure that the unit has Line Of Sight to the target.  Terrain (rocks, trees, buildings, etc.) can block LOS.  Vehicles and close combats block LOS.  Enemy models block LOS, but friendly ones do not (they duck or something when you are ready to fire.)  Note that you cannot fire into close combats, even if you really, really want to. Fire that unit’s weapons at the target, by using their BS Statistic. BS4 hits on a 3 or better (3+) on a d6, BS3 hits on a 4+. Roll attacks that have different effects or strengths separately, or use a different die to represent them. (“I have four bolters and a plasma gun, the plasma gun will be this red die.”) Let your opponent know which unit is shooting, what the target is, and what weapons you will be using, to avoid confusion. Some weapons are listed as Heavy. These weapons cannot be fired if the unit carrying them moved. Even 1 member of a unit moving makes the whole unit count as moving. Some weapons are listed as Rapid Fire. A Rapid Fire weapon may be fired once at 12” if the unit moved. If the unit remained stationary, Rapid Fire weapons may be fired twice at 12”, or once at the listed range. (usually 24”) After determining how many hits you get, roll to wound. Compare the S of the weapon with the T of the unit members. If it is equal, then a 4+ is needed on each die. If it is greater by 1, reduce the number needed by one (3+) and if it is less by one, then add one to it (5+). If it is greater by 2 or more, you’ll need a 2+ (it never gets better than that, no matter the difference) and if it is less by 2 or 3 you’ll need a 6 to wound. If it is less by four or more, it cannot wound. This doesn’t come up very often. After the wound dice have been rolled, compare the AP value of the weapon to the armor save of the target. If the AP is equal or less than the armor save value, the armor is penetrated and the target cannot make an armor save. (For example: a Dark Eldar Warrior with a SV of 5+ is hit and wounded by a Space Marine Bolter with AP of 5) If the AP is greater than the armor save, the opponent rolls an armor save for each successful wound. (For example a Space Marine with a SV of 3+ is hit and wounded by a Dark Eldar Splinter Rifle with an AP of 5) For each die that rolls under his armor save (a one or two for a Space Marine) he will remove 1 model in the unit.  Then move on to your next unit. If, at the end of the shooting phase, a unit has lost 25% or more of it’s models (Say, 3 out of a 10man squad) it must roll against LD. Roll 2 dice and compare it to the LD stat. If you exceed the LD number, the squad is broken and falls back 2d6”. If the squad is at less than half strength, their LD is reduced by one.

Assault

The assault phase includes moving and fighting close combats.  Treat it as a mini-turn, do all of your assault movement first, then resolve all of the combats.  If you have no units in close combat, or none within their assault movement range that wish to assault, skip this phase.  If you have units that are still in combat from the previous player turn, take care of them after any assault movement you make.

Movement: If you have a unit within 6” of an enemy unit (some units have a longer charge range, but most of them are 6) you may choose to have them charge into assault. Units that stood still to fire heavy weapons or Rapid Fire their weapons may not charge. If you do charge an enemy unit, you must move the closest model first and try to get them into base contact with the closest enemy model. Subsequent models within the charging unit must try to engage an enemy model, and should move to unengaged models where possible. (if there are two enemy models within the 6” move distance, but one is already engaged by one of your models, you must move to the other one. If all the enemy models in range are already engaged, then you can go ahead and team up on someone.)  Note that if a unit is not within assault range of a target, it may not take assault movement (there are a few units, such as Eldar jet bikes that have special rules contradicting this, but that is covered in the special rules for the unit.)

Combat Resolve combat with the highest initiative going first, then progressing down. All models in base contact with an enemy get their A statistic number of attacks. In addition, on the turn they charged, these models add 1 to their A number as well. Those outside of base contact, but within 2” of an enemy model get a single attack no matter what their weapons or statistics say. To hit, compare WS skills of opponents. If your WS is equal or less than the opponent’s, you must roll a 4+ to hit. If your WS is higher, you will need a 3+. (WS5 vs. WS4 = 3+ to hit by the WS5 player. WS4 vs. WS5 = 4+ to hit by the WS4 player)  Compare model S to target model T just as for shooting wounds. The same goes for armor saves, with one caveat. Models in base contact with enemy models(those closest to the fighting) must be removed before models outside of base contact are removed. Note: this is the model’s S, not that of the guns they carry. There are some special close combat weapons that will modify rules (such as the higher strength you get from a Frost Blade or a Punisher) but the adjustments will usually be written up next to the weapon itself.

Victory At the end of all attacks for each assault phase, determine the winning side by comparing the number of wounds that made it past the armor save. If both sides are equal, even if none were inflicted, each side rolls a die. If the dice are equal, there is no winner and the fight will continue next turn. If there is a winner, the losing side must make a morale check (roll 2d6 equal or less than LD) with some possible adjustments:

Under 50% of starting unit strength: -1

Outnumbered:-1 (-2 if outnumbered 2:1, -3 if 3:1 or –4  if outnumbered 4 or more to one)

If they make it, the fight continues. Note that neither side engaged in a combat may fire, even during the shooting phase, and no one may fire into the combat from outside. If one side is wiped out, the other wins, no matter the compared casualties, and the victors may Consolidate (move 3” in any direction) or make a Sweeping Advance (move 2d6” toward any enemy model or unit, see the Pursue option below, but it can be toward any of the enemy)  If they contact a new enemy unit during this move, they will be engaged in HTH next round and get the usual +1A for charging with any units that are in base contact. Note that if you perform a Sweeping Advance on your turn, the enemy army gets a chance to shoot at you during his turn, even though you are in base contact! If you won during the enemy assault phase and then did a Sweeping Advance, you do not have to worry about being shot, since the enemy does not get to shoot during your turn.

Run Away! On the other hand, if the number is higher than the adjusted LD, the unit Falls Back and is usually considered broken (I'll detail this more later). Roll 2d6 to see how far they go. The winning side may then choose to consolidate their position (move up to 3” in any direction) or pursue the unit falling back (roll 2d6 to see how far they go.) If they pursue and the number on their 2d6 beats the number on the dice of the unit that fell back, the unit is caught and immediately killed with no chance to fight back, unless they are Space Marines, who automatically rally and will get to fight back next turn (due to their special rules, see the Space Marine Codex for more details.) Regardless, no further combat is fought this turn. Units that are Falling Back move 2D6 inches each turn until they can rally or they fall off the board. They may make a LD check to rally if: they have at least 50% of the original squad remaining, there are no enemy models within 6 inches, and the unit is within coherency (see movement) (Special note: Space Marines may ignore the first restriction, not the other two.) They may make this check at the beginning of their movement phase and also once per turn if the whole unit falls back through cover, so long as it is after their first Fall Back move. When the first model of the unit reaches the table edge, they have one last chance to regroup. If none of the restrictions apply, they may roll vs. LD to Rally. If unsuccessful, they are removed from the board. If they Fall Back into an enemy unit that is not Falling Back or engaged in HTH, they are wiped out immediately with no chance to fight back. (this is called Crossfire)

Here are some sample situations to try out that progressively demonstrate the rules.  If you do not have access to the appropriate models, use other models to proxy (stand in) for these models.  You could also use coins or something else, but models just look cooler!

1: Set up 6 Space Marines 16” away from a unit of 10 Dark Eldar Warriors. 8 Warriors have splinter rifles and 2 have Dark Lances. Both units will stay stationary to make use of Rapid Fire and/or Heavy weapons. Give the Space Marines the first turn.

2: Same set up, but this time, the Space Marines will move toward the Dark Eldar, eventually engaging them in HTH. Again, Space Marines get the first turn.

3.  This time, set up 2 units of the aforementioned sides. The Space Marine units will both attempt to charge 1 DE unit. Once the first is engaged, the second DE unit should have no one to shoot, and can move backwards 6” in the movement phase. During it’s shooting phase, it may employ a special rule that certain types of models can do: Fleet of Foot. Instead of shooting, the unit may move an additional d6 inches. This should take them a little further from the combat, possibly allowing them to shoot any Space Marine survivors. Note that using two units in a close combat adds an additional rule: the power of the unit.  In close combat, each unit takes wounds separately.  A model in base contact with only squad A cannot do any damage to squad B.  A model in base contact with both squads may choose which one takes the attacks or (if it has multiple attacks) even split the attacks between the two squads.  If there are 2 Dark Eldar in one squad and 5 in the other and you do 7 wounds to the squad of 2, the squad of 5 will still be intact.

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