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, ending it prematurely if it is a foregone conclusion, or playing until an agreed time. Some missions or scenarios may also dictate a specific game length.

A game may instead be played to sudden death, ending the moment either side reaches an agreed total of Victory Points. Or the length may be left to the dice, rolled once before the game begins.

Deployment Zones are the areas of the game board where each army is placed at the start of the game. Whatever the size of the board, the two zones stand at least 24" apart. Each runs from its own front line all the way back to the table edge behind it, and ends 12" short of the side edges. On the standard 4' x 6' board that gives a zone 12" deep along each long edge, as below.

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.

Battle Zone

Ground that is not a deployment zone is the Battle Zone, marked on the diagram above. Terrain placement and Infiltration are both governed by it.

During this step, players construct the battlefield for the game. Both players roll a D6, and the higher score places the first piece of terrain; they then alternate. Once one player stops placing, the other may put down a single further piece.

Every second piece a player puts down must stand in the Battle Zone, and neither player may stop while fewer than 2D6 pieces stand there. A piece is one feature of roughly 4" to 6" square—a wood, a ruin, a low hill.

Players may instead work together towards a board that fits a narrative theme, such as a pitched battle or a last stand. Beyond the minimum above there is no requirement on what kind of terrain is placed, or how much.

In the simplest game of Warhammer 40,000, the objective is purely to destroy the opponent's army. To give this more flavour, 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. Each player takes one. How they are taken is for the players to settle—dealt at random, chosen, or rolled for.

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—Last Stand at Glazer's Creek, in White Dwarf 222, is one.

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.

Strategy Cards are drawn at random, one for every full 1,000 points an army consists of.

See Strategy Cards for the full rules.

If either player's force includes Psykers, Psychic Power Cards are dealt before deployment.

See Dealing Psychic Powers for the full rules.

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. Any model deployed in or behind cover that would conceal it may begin the game in Hiding, marked as hidden in the usual way.

Both players roll a D6, and the higher score picks which deployment zone to use. 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 narrative 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 Sequence is as follows: Movement, Shooting, Hand-to-Hand Combat, Psychic, Rally.

When the last turn is done, each side totals the Victory Points it has taken. The larger total wins.

Alternatively, the winner is determined by the Win Condition of the scenario.