How to Play

In Warhammer 40,000, each unit, model, or item is worth a certain number of points—representative of its relative impact on the table. Armies are built by spending points up to an agreed maximum. This is referred to as the Game Size.

Games can be any size, from small skirmishes up to sprawling mass battles. Some recommended games sizes are:

• Skirmish - 600 points
• Standard - 1500 points
• Large - 2000 points

To put together an army, points are spent on units and wargear from one or more army lists. Army lists detail which units and equipment are available when constructing a given force—and how many points they cost—as well as any army specific rules and/or constraints.

Although it is not a requirement to spend every single point, it is advisable to try to use as many points as possible—wargear can help with this.

4 turns is considered the "default" length for a game; however, players can agree to alter this as they see fit—extending on a turn-by-turn basis until there is a clear winner, or ending it prematurely if it is a foregone conclusion. Some missions or scenarios may also dictate a specific game length.

During this step, players construct the battlefield for the game. A basic way to do this is to take turns placing terrain so that no player has a particular tactical advantage due to the landscape.

Another option is to work together to create a board that fits a certain narrative theme, such as a pitched battle or a last stand.

There is no specific requirement for what type or how much terrain is placed, but the general consensus is that the game plays better—and looks better—with more terrain.

Deployment Zones are the areas of the game board where each army is placed at the start of the game. In a standard game the board is 4' x 6', with two Deployment Zones along the long edges. The deployment zones begin at the board edge and extend 12" into the table, leaving a 12" margin on either side.

In practice, Deployment Zones can be placed anywhere on the game table that serves the narrative of the scenario being played. To draw a Deployment Zone, place markers at each corner—or in a manner that clearly marks its boundary.

In the simplest game of Warhammer 40,000, the objective is purely to destroy the opponent's army. To give this more flavor, players can define mission objectives for each army. These can be decided in one of two ways:

Mission Cards

Mission cards define one or more objectives and the rewards for accomplishing them. If both sides agree, players may randomly draw one each.

Scenarios

A scenario is a narrative through-line for a game—"capture the space port" or "hold out until reinforcements arrive". A great source of inspiration for this are old White Dwarf battle reports—a personal favorite being Last Stand at Glazer's Creek from White Dwarf 222.

Win Conditions

The standard way to win a game of Warhammer 40,000 is to score the most Victory Points; however, for some scenarios it may be preferable to define a specific win condition—escaping from a table edge, surviving for X turns, etc.

For every full 1,000 points an army consists of, 1 Strategy Card may be drawn at random. Each card can be redrawn once, but the redraw must be kept.

The Tyranids faction never draws Strategy Cards. Instead, they have special rules that are implemented directly before Strategy Cards are drawn.

Armies can be deployed anywhere within an allocated deployment zone, with two restrictions—squads must start the game within Squad Coherency, and vehicles must be deployed on terrain they are normally able to move over.

Players may allocate deployment zones by agreement, a D6 roll-off, or by giving first choice to the army with the highest individual Strategy Rating. The faction with the lowest Strategy Rating always deploys first. Armies formed of allies from different factions deploy each according to its individual Strategy Rating. Any ties are resolved by a D6 roll-off.

Default Strategy Ratings^†

To determine who goes first, players roll a D6 and add the result to the Strategy Rating of their army's main faction—the highest total goes first. Players may alternatively agree who goes first based on the narratove thread of the scenario.

The game is split into turns, with each turn divided into five phases. Each player alternates taking their turn, progressing through all five phases of the Turn Sequence.

The turn Turn Sequence is as follows: Movement, Shooting, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Psychic, Rally.

At the end of the game, players sum up the Victory Points accumulated by each side. The side with the most Victory Points is declared the winner.

Alternatively, The winner is determined by the Win Condition of the senario.