I have to buy how many books?
40k is, well, a beast. I have never come across a game that has so much depth in the variations possible. From the dense rulebook, the crazy number of factions, the immense array of weaponry and units, to the simple fact that every few years the rules actually change (along with new releases of specific rules that consistently shake up the game). How is somebody supposed to take all that in effectively, especially when you’re just learning the game?
If you are a new player looking down the barrel of getting into 40k, you are probably in one of two camps. In one camp, you’re living in blissful ignorance not knowing just how deep the rabbit hole goes and still thinking a Space Marine is just as epic as the lore would lead you to believe. In the other you’re just now realizing that there is way more out there than you’ve been allowed to grasp by your limited experience, and the idea of being “good” at 40k has suddenly become much more daunting.
Now, I don’t have any get good quick schemes up my sleeves, but I would like to break a few things down for those new players out there that are sitting in that latter camp. I hope that after reading this you find yourself feeling a little better about whatever time/money investment you’ve made into the game and are ready to roll up your sleeves and get better at 40k.
See the Bigger Picture
The more I’ve played 40k the more I’ve seen that there are some major concepts, mechanics, and/or classes that usually govern how things interact with each other in the game, and I’m not talking about the basic rulebook stuff. It can be hard to pinpoint these, lets call them themes, when you’re a newer player because every faction’s stuff is named differently. A Helbrute for a Chaos player, a Dreadnought for a Space Marine player. Now just in that example you might realize that those two units are not the same, and there not, but they definitely fall into an extremely similar class and both essentially perform the same role on the battlefield.
So lets say you’ve never played against a Chaos player before, but you’re a Space Marine player and have at least tasted some of the acute vulnerabilities of your Dreadnoughts in battle. I mean why do they just get popped turn one every freaking time!?! Well if you didn’t realize how similar the Helbrute in your new opponent’s army is to the Dreadnought in yours, you know, the one you’ve stopped trying to make work so you didn’t even bring it, then you might be pretty unsure how to handle it (I mean it is a pretty ferocious looking model). If you were aware of these similarities, however, then you’ll probably know exactly what to do.
This is but a lowly example of what I’m talking about, but there are similarities like this all throughout the game. There are so many, in fact, that your brain will probably begin to categorize all these seemingly disparate classes of information into bigger, more digestible chunks. If you can do that then you can sort through all that information better and make better decisions.
This might seem kind of dumb, given the example, but I’m sure when you realize that if you have something in your list that can kill an Eldar Wraithknight, then you probably have something in your list that can kill an Imperial Knight too. You might then see how thinking this way can be beneficial. If, in this instance, you have a friend with a Wraithknight and have played against it enough times to get comfortable with the idea of a 24 wound model of death running around blighting your chaf out of existence, and maybe you’ve even learned how to counter it, then I promise the first time you play against an Imperial Knight you’ll be able to make much better decisions. You might even win.
To be clear, I’m talking about things being similar, not things being the same. You’ll still have to get reps in by doing what we all do, playing games, but if you start to see these bigger themes throughout the vastness of 40k and mentally run them down, then you will be a better player in short order. You really do have to get out there and just play, but if you think about the game this way then everything really won’t be as scary as it seems, and lets be honest, a Knight can get real scary real quick.