By Robert Nowinski
Warhammer 40,000. One of the games of all time. If you are reading this, it’s probably for one of 2 reasons. Either this is a new article, or you read my previous article and clicked on the link to get here. Welcome to the instructional section. Also, before we start, the game uses six sided dice, aka d6’s.
A game of Warhammer is split into two sections: pre-game and the game itself. You start with the pre-game. You have your army with a character chosen as your warlord, which doesn’t mean much. However, it is required for a few secondary missions and army building, but there is no negative effect if they die. You also have your faction’s universal rule (buff for everything in your army), detachment (chosen when you make your army), which gives you an extra buff, and you also get some enhancements you can apply to characters and stratagems you can use later in the game. For your army in general, each unit costs points and you and your opponent agree on how many points is the maximum. Most people play at either 1000 or 2000 points.
You will then choose a map layout, which will tell you where your deployment zone is and where the objective markers are placed. You also choose a primary mission and mission rule. These tell you how you will score points/main objective and the mission rule will give a bonus or other things that will affect the game.
Some examples of primary missions are standing on an objective to hold it, standing on it and performing an action, like burning it or terraforming it (burning just removes the objective marker from the board and terraform is a one time action, and the objective marker stays on the board, but you get points for the action). Mission rules can have things like certain units who can do action and shoot, allow you to put more units in reserves (this will be explained later), replace a secondary mission for free, or have models cover for the 1st round.
Then you roll a die for the attacker or defender and the person who rolls the higher number gets to choose who is attacker and who is defender. The main difference between the two is that the defender sets up the first unit. After that, you pick how you want to play your secondary mission. You either choose 2 to be active the whole game, or you shuffle the deck and draw up to two at the beginning of each of your turns for a maximum of 2 currently active secondaries. Once that is done, you choose what models are going in reserves. Then each player, starting with the defender, takes turns placing units on the board in your deployment zone. If models can, they redeploy. Finally, you will roll a six sided die to see who gets to go first and then resolve any pre battle rules.
Now, the first round begins. The game is split into 5 rounds, with each player getting a turn in the round. Each player’s turn goes as follows: command phase, movement phase, shooting phase, charge phase, and fight phase. Once all those phases are done, it switches to the other player. Take your time and decide together how long you want to play since each turn doesn’t have a set time limit. Who goes first won’t change for the entire time of the match. So, if you go first and your friend goes second, it will be that way every round.
We will use this War Dog Executioner for referencing datasheet stats.
The command phase is normally the fastest phase in the game. It starts with each player getting one command point, which can be used to get new secondaries or use for stratagems later in the game. Most cost 1 command point, while some cost 2. They can be found in the core rules and your detachment. These allow you to do things like making a unit harder to hit in shooting, re-rolling a die, making your stuff fight or shoot better, etc. Then you resolve any other rules that happen in this phase, including primary missions, which you check by determining your objective control (OC) and your opponents OC. Whichever one is higher will determine who has the objective.
After you take care of the other things, you check to make sure your units are not below half of their total starting wounds. Each model in a unit has a set number of wounds, so just multiply that by the number of models. Characters that can be attached to the unit counts for wounds as well, so add theirs separately to your total. If you are below half, check the Ld (leadership) of the unit, and roll 2 dice. If you exceed or match it, they are fine. However, if you fail, they are considered battle shocked. Unless stated otherwise, they can’t hold objectives or be targeted by stratagems when in this state. They stay battleshocked till they die or the next command phase battleshock test, whichever happens first.
The 2nd phase is movement. In this phase you can move your models equal to their movement characteristic (M), or they can advance, which allows them to move their movement plus whatever you roll on a d6. You can also fall back (move away) with any unit currently in engagement range (within 1” of enemy models). You can’t end a move within 1 inch of any enemy models. You also must stay within unit coherence after you move, which is 2″ horizontally and 5″ vertically of other models in the unit. If you have 2-6 models, you have to stay within that range of one model of the same unit, and if the unit has 7 or more models, they have to stay within the range of two other models in the same unit.
Shooting is one of the fun parts. You get to unleash your guns on the enemy and DESTROY THEM LEAVING NOTHING STANDING! Until you roll all 1’s on your wound rolls and are annoyed since your gun that wounds on a 2 failed. You go one unit at a time for this. First you determine if one model in the enemy unit is visible to your models that want to shoot and within range of the guns you want to use. This edition of the game uses true line-of-sight, which means if your gun barrel/foot/elbow can see any part of the model, your model can shoot. If you are within 1” of enemy models, you can only shoot them, and only with weapons with the Pistol keyword. Once that is determined, you then roll dice equal to the attack (A) characteristic of the guns. Then you take any dice that hit, and try to wound. You compare the weapons strength (S), to the opposing unit’s toughness (T). The table below will help you determine what you need to roll to wound.
Once you have (hopefully) wounded the enemy, the opponent makes their saving throws if applicable. They add the Armor Penetration (AP) to their save number (SV) and then roll dice. If they get that number or higher, they are fine and they take no damage. If the AP pushes the save above a 6, and you don’t have an invulnerable save, the unit will automatically take the damage. Each die does damage equal to the damage characteristic (D) of the weapon. Each die will deal full damage and the damage normally doesn’t transfer to other models in the unit. Once you get done with all your shooting, we move on to the charge phase.
The charge phase is very simple. You pick a unit you want to charge with and measure how far they are from the unit they are going to charge. The unit has to be 12” or closer. You roll 2 dice, and if you roll the distance, or further, you can make it and charge in.
Finally, we have the fight phase. First, any units that have fights first (from charging or because they do from abilities), fight first. For fighting itself, it’s split into 3 stages. First you move up to 3” towards the models you are fighting as long as you are within unit coherency. Then you fight, which is the same as shooting, but with melee weapons. Then you can consolidate another 3” towards the closest enemy unit, and if none are available, towards the closest objective. Then resolve other fights, starting with the unit that got charged if they are still alive. After them, resolve other ongoing fights, starting with whose turn it isn’t. Then it goes to the other player’s turn and the whole process starts all over again.
Once 5 rounds are done or if the enemy has no models left, the game is over. Then you get to see who won. Hopefully this explanation helps you start playing and enjoying the game of Warhammer: 40,000.
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