Do you remember your first time playing Warhammer 40k- well what if you started the game coming over from Age of Sigmar…?
I finally had a chance to play a couple of games of Warhammer 40k as we needed to wait for the weather to break to play outside. Coming from an AoS standpoint, there are some things I really liked about it, and a couple that I thought were a bit overdone. Here are my thoughts on a complete Warhammer 40k newbie trying it out.
An AoS Player Tries Warhammer 40k for the First Time
The Armies:
I was playing my Tzeentch daemons vs his Khorne daemons. Since we both played those armies in AoS the price point was low. We borrowed the books we needed and decided to play a very simple scenario where there is a single objective in the center of the board. A power level of 50 was chosen as it would allow us to field different units but keep it small enough for learning matches. We spilt the matches, each winning one. And I have to say, I enjoyed the games and would be happy to play more in the future, though I think I still lean more towards AoS.
Warhammer 40K for the First Time – What I like about it:
Five things I really liked about 40k:
- While the AoS double turn can be fun. I think I prefer the knowledge of knowing you go then I go, and it’s not because I think when you get double turned you instantly lose. It’s that getting double turned makes you wait longer to go. Which is just less fun in slower games that make you lose a turn or lets another player play your cards. (Really hope they drop double turn in AoS 3.0.)
- I really like that charging units get to swing first and then it’s, I go, you go. To me, this makes sense in a melee heavy game like Age of Sigmar. As it would reward aggressive melee armies. Plus, I kind of think the current activation wars in the combat phase has become convoluted.
- I like Movement Phase before Magic Phase (Psychic Phase) which makes you wizards a bit more useful turn one. I understand that Age of Sigmar magic is powerful. So it might work out to be too powerful to get your wizards in range turn 1, but I still think it makes sense.
- The smaller board size I think is also a good change. A 4 foot by 6-foot board is something you usually build yourself. (See how I did mine here) With a smaller board size, you are driving people more into hand to hand combat. The games can potently be played on tables that players might already own.
- The lore is pretty good. Given it has a long history there are some unique things to it that you do not find in other sci-fi worlds. I do think they need to push the narrative a little bit faster, however. Though from talking to other 40k players they have been doing a good job of it lately.
Ideas to Improve it:
There is a lot of good things more than what I listed above that I think could transition to Age of Sigmar and improve the game. However, there are some things in 40k that I really did not care for. Here are five things that I did not care for in Warhammer 40k:
- There are too many books needed to play this game. To play my Daemons of Tzeentch army I had to get 3 different books. That was the minimum I needed to build my army. Some had correct info, and some had different… It was just kind of a mess and confusing to me. I had to text my friends that have been playing for a while to figure out what to use to just build a starter army.
- Speaking of Stratagems, they were hard to wrap my head around. While seeming more confusing than they needed to be. There was a ton to choose from and I could not figure out if I need to buy CP somehow to use them or just take certain units for it. Also, it seems like if you get a lot of CP upfront and can burn through it fast. To do a bunch of stuff all at once and destroy your opponent before turn 2.
- Too many Space Marine Chapters. Don’t get me wrong I like different varieties of Stormcasts (Space Marines in AoS). But I think it is perfect they are different battalions in one nice book. (Maybe a white dwarf etc.). When you look at Space Marines you have what looks like 8 different codex’s. (there might be more?) They all use what looks to be the same models just with different colors painted on them. Just seems like a bit of overkill for me. Though if I were to choose one it would be salamanders FTW.
- The terrain rules I prefer. The AoS, roll some dice on a chart and get one of those, rather than dedicated rules that there is in 40k. That being said I think that is too much in AoS as well. Remembering 12 different terrain types with every piece of terrain having a different rule. And some even have special rules, it’s a lot to deal with along with playing your army.
- Being able to cast smite repeatedly is kind of boring and seems overpowered. Dropping D3 mortal wounds repeatedly, with a chance of D6 mortals seems like it can end the game quickly. I like how magic is done with the rule of one in AoS. As it can prevent spell spam.
Warhammer 40K for the First Time – Final Thoughts:
Again, I have only played a couple of games and it was against someone else who had never played 40k either. So we may have gotten some things wrong. But overall, I enjoyed it, though do I like it more than AoS? No, I do not think so, but will I play it again if someone wants to roll some dice? Yes, for sure! It was a fun game and while I do think there is room for improvement, that can be said for any version of a tabletop game. We were laughing and make the pew-pew noises while rolling dice for the first time in what seemed like forever. While we were both overwhelmed by the rules, I think we both got enough of them right, (and wrong) that it equaled out in the end.
Next time we play we are going to use the new starter set that he picked up with the Primaris Marines vs Necrons. Hopefully, that makes things a little bit easier on the rules front. (newer rules, fewer books from 8th edition)
What was your experience moving to 40k for the first time? Which game do you like better?
Let us know in the comments of our Facebook Hobby Group, and make sure you enter the latest monthly giveaway for FREE today!
