Warhammer 40,000
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
Warhammer 40K (or WH40K) is another big Games Workshop game. Warhammer used to be the big GW title, but now WH40K is giving it serious competition. In October '98 it underwent a revamp, the 3rd edition being totally unlike the 2nd. I will get round to that, after I've summarised the game's background for you, you ungrateful lil...
Once upon a time, in the far future, mankind was ruled by this all-powerful dude called The Emperor. With a breakthrough in space travel, the Warp Drive, it became v easy to travel through space. So the Emperor's domain covered the length and breadth of the Milky Way.
The Emperor got a little bored, and decided to create 12 bum-chums for himself. However, the Chaos Gods, who lived in the Warp, decided this was bad for them, so they flung the Primarchs (for that was what they were called) through space. And, before long, the galaxy was overwhelmed by an orgy of self-indulgence and suchlike, the empire quickly being overwhelmed by warfare.
After a few thousand years worth of fighting, the Emperor decided to reclaim the galaxy and his Primarchs. So he went round and reconquered the galaxy and recovered his chums. His favourite of them was Horus, but the Chaos Gods convinced him that they were cool and the Imperium of Mankind was a big girl's blouse.
To cut a long story short, half the Space Marine Legions became corrupt/ crooked/ bent and proceeded to fight The Emperor and his armies. This cumulated on a ship orbiting Earth when Horus killed Sanguinus (the Primarch of those gay men, the Blood Angels) and crippled the Emperor, before being killed himself. When Horus died all the Chaotic dudes ran off to The Eye Of Terror and proceeded to boast about how solid they were and the universe was imminently there's despite the fact that they'd done precious little in over a few thousand years.
Now, how do you play the game?
After spending pots of cash sorting your army out, you'll want to play a game or twenty. The game works by you and your opponent taking alternating turns, with each turn divided into three phases: movement, shooting and assault.
In the movement phase you can move your troops up to six inches. With some weapons you will not be able to fire if you move. Tanks and the like have their firing capabilities hampered by moving.
The shooting phase used to be the most glorified part of WH40K. In the good old days, masses of troops would unload thousands of rounds into crazy alien types, exotic weaponry caused untold mayhem, whilst giant tanks and dreadnoughts would become the centrepiece of the conflict with their massive guns. Nowadays, GW has changed it round so that combat is the battle winner. But nevertheless, in the shooting phase you aim your gun at your opponent and blow their head off. Roll a dice to hit, roll it again to try & wound them, and if your target is wearing any armour then give your opponent some loaded dice so that he'll fail his save ;-).
In the assault phase, if your are within six inches of any enemy, then you can charge them and try to kill them. Again, roll to hit and wound and they roll to save. Various factors can get involved to decide who strikes first, and you can have some very nice fancy gear to take off people's limbs. Nice.
Psychic abilities have been relegated to a minor role, to speed things along. This is actually quite good as it speeds things along and makes sure that beardy psychic dudes won't dominate the game. However, though luck to anyone who bought Dark Millennium. Blame those dudes and GW, guys!
WH40K can be a very enjoyable game, but my enjoyment has been tarnished by the GW store in Plymouth's incapability to keep it a skid-free environment. Which is a shame as their 40K games were quite good. My only other opponent was a beardy Blood Angels player with a phobia of reading rules. Anyone want a 300-point game against my Imperial Guard?
Once upon a time, in the far future, mankind was ruled by this all-powerful dude called The Emperor. With a breakthrough in space travel, the Warp Drive, it became v easy to travel through space. So the Emperor's domain covered the length and breadth of the Milky Way.
The Emperor got a little bored, and decided to create 12 bum-chums for himself. However, the Chaos Gods, who lived in the Warp, decided this was bad for them, so they flung the Primarchs (for that was what they were called) through space. And, before long, the galaxy was overwhelmed by an orgy of self-indulgence and suchlike, the empire quickly being overwhelmed by warfare.
After a few thousand years worth of fighting, the Emperor decided to reclaim the galaxy and his Primarchs. So he went round and reconquered the galaxy and recovered his chums. His favourite of them was Horus, but the Chaos Gods convinced him that they were cool and the Imperium of Mankind was a big girl's blouse.
To cut a long story short, half the Space Marine Legions became corrupt/ crooked/ bent and proceeded to fight The Emperor and his armies. This cumulated on a ship orbiting Earth when Horus killed Sanguinus (the Primarch of those gay men, the Blood Angels) and crippled the Emperor, before being killed himself. When Horus died all the Chaotic dudes ran off to The Eye Of Terror and proceeded to boast about how solid they were and the universe was imminently there's despite the fact that they'd done precious little in over a few thousand years.
Now, how do you play the game?
After spending pots of cash sorting your army out, you'll want to play a game or twenty. The game works by you and your opponent taking alternating turns, with each turn divided into three phases: movement, shooting and assault.
In the movement phase you can move your troops up to six inches. With some weapons you will not be able to fire if you move. Tanks and the like have their firing capabilities hampered by moving.
The shooting phase used to be the most glorified part of WH40K. In the good old days, masses of troops would unload thousands of rounds into crazy alien types, exotic weaponry caused untold mayhem, whilst giant tanks and dreadnoughts would become the centrepiece of the conflict with their massive guns. Nowadays, GW has changed it round so that combat is the battle winner. But nevertheless, in the shooting phase you aim your gun at your opponent and blow their head off. Roll a dice to hit, roll it again to try & wound them, and if your target is wearing any armour then give your opponent some loaded dice so that he'll fail his save ;-).
In the assault phase, if your are within six inches of any enemy, then you can charge them and try to kill them. Again, roll to hit and wound and they roll to save. Various factors can get involved to decide who strikes first, and you can have some very nice fancy gear to take off people's limbs. Nice.
Psychic abilities have been relegated to a minor role, to speed things along. This is actually quite good as it speeds things along and makes sure that beardy psychic dudes won't dominate the game. However, though luck to anyone who bought Dark Millennium. Blame those dudes and GW, guys!
WH40K can be a very enjoyable game, but my enjoyment has been tarnished by the GW store in Plymouth's incapability to keep it a skid-free environment. Which is a shame as their 40K games were quite good. My only other opponent was a beardy Blood Angels player with a phobia of reading rules. Anyone want a 300-point game against my Imperial Guard?
