WFB: It’s Time to Play – Part 2: The Basics For Beginners
8 Minute Read
Apr 12 2014
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It’s time to learn to play Warhammer Fantasy!
If you have read the “Getting Started” series then you now know what you need to get an army ready to put down on the table, in the next series of articles I’m going to discuss playing Warhammer Fantasy.
This series is where we will go over each of the phases of the game, some of the rules and if you have something specific you want me to cover please feel free to let me know and I will see about adding a segment about it. For some of you much of this article will be redundant and a repeat of things you already know, for those of you who have never played before this may be the first time you are hearing some of this.
The Basics – What you need to know:
· The game of Warhammer Fantasy is played by points value.
· There are specific tools you will need to be able to play
· There are rules you need to read before you play
· Have Fun!
Played by Points Value
In my local meta games tend to be in the 2500 points level. The Escalation League we are running starts out
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| My oldest playing in the 500 point Escalation Tourney. It is his first tourney & first games against someone other than family. |
with 500 points and then increases every two months by an additional 500 points. So our first tournament in March will be 500 points, May will be 1000 points and so on until we wrap up with 2500 in November. I haven’t played a 500-1500 point game in a tournament format in a lot of years and am actually looking forward to being able to do so to learn the new units that I will be using with my new Empire army. I personally find that smaller points games are the best way to learn the different army units and the game in general. (More info about the Escalation League can be found here)
If you are playing a casual game you and your opponent will decide how many points you want to be able to play, if you are playing in a tournament the tournament organizer will tell you what you need to bring. Once the points value has been decided you will build your army list to suit what you want to bring (see Getting Started: Choosing the Best for my advice with this).
There are also a few computer programs/smartphone apps that can help with building your list and making sure that it is “legal”. By “legal” I mean your list meets all the requirements of the game—points are added correctly, items assigned to the correct type of character, etc. One of the more popular programs to use is Army Builder from Wolf Lair (they have recently added an app that allows you to view the roster you build on your desktop via your iPad) and QuarterMaster for iPad. These programs allow you to detail each unit or character with the weapons and upgrades you assign them, when you print it off it is easy to follow and anyone can look at it and see what you have.
The Tools
As with any game there are tools that you need to bring with you to play a Fantasy game or tournament. Most of these are well known but you would be surprised by how often they get forgotten and people try to borrow—luckily most of the time people are willing to lend their things but there are a few people who are superstitious about it.
· Rule book – whether its digital, the small book from the Starter Box, the hard cover or that lovely leather bound edition you should always have your rule book on hand. I have been playing the game for 10 years and still find I need to look up the odd rule or that I might encounter a situation where my opponent and I don’t agree on an interpretation of a rule so we just take a quick look to see how it should go. The summary section is really helpful as well, it has a 2-3 page summary of all the important things you need to know about playing.
· Army book – again, whether it is digital or the physical book this is important to have. If you are new to the game or new to the army you will refer to this for a lot of information, and if you are a veteran player you may need to be able to look something up or show your opponent so they understand how something works.
· Errata/FAQ – GW has published FAQs and Erratas for pretty much every army as well as the rule book. That means that some of the rules from your Rule Book or Army book may be slightly different from what you read in them. You should always have a copy of the most recent ones on hand.
· Army List – At least one copy of your army list is required. You need to be able to show your opponent what you are using. In a tournament the Organizer might request specific number of copies of your list—in a 5 game tournament you are usually requested to have 7 copies: one for yourself, one for the organizer and one for each of your 5 opponents.
· Dice – Being a dice game you need at least one set of dice. Color and size do not matter as long as
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| Custom Dice Bags to match each of my Fantasy Armies |
they are
6 sided dice. The number of dice you need is up to you as well, but I suggest that you make sure you have enough dice that you’re not having to reroll 5 dice 10 times to make all the attacks of a single unit. I personally carry 50-100 dice. You will also need at least one Artillery and Scatter dice. Some people like to have colored dice that match their army (my Bretonnians have Blue and Red dice, still working on getting yellow dice to match my Marienburg army), some people like to have multiple colors of dice. You can buy dice from GW or a lot of other places. Custom dice are also available from places like Chessex. Most dice that you buy come in some kind of container which is handy because then the dice don’t spill all over the place: some people use the containers they come in, some people use boxes to store them, or you can buy cloth bags at most hobby shops and custom bags for your dice can be ordered as well.
· Measuring tape – You can buy a measuring tape anywhere from the dollar store to hobby stops to big box retailers. You should really make sure it measures everything from 1” to 72” but that’s not really required, most of the time you only need up to 2 feet of the tape.· Pen/Pencil – I make notes on my army list: noting which magic spells I have with which caster, when a character loses wounds, items, etc. I don’t have to remember everything if I can write it down. At tournaments you also have to fill out score sheets so if you don’t have a pen you are going to have to hunt one down.
· Templates – Spells, and shooting attacks often need templates.
The Rules
That rule book I mentioned you should have, well you should really read it before you start to play. Don’t be discouraged by the size of it! Honestly many of us don’t read it straight through, we read bits and pieces and then fall asleep while we do so.
Specific Rules that you should read and try to remember are: Movement, Combat, Magic and any special rules that pertain to the army you are playing. Everything else will come with time and with continued looking things up.
I learn best by figuring out the rules as I play but I still needed to know a few of the basic rules before I started that first game. Not everyone has a GW nearby with an effective demo game for them to try out, I was fortunate there that when I was learning I had a good teacher doing demo games and that when I was a Red Shirt that we were encouraged to do demo games with those who wanted to learn and work on certain tactics so one week I might do demo games to deal with multiple unit combats and another week might have been demos of using artillery effectively. It was a great way to learn to play fantasy and another reason why I enjoy the idea of smaller points games and escalation leagues.
Have Fun
I played sports growing up and in sports there is a level of competitiveness, competition is great but having fun while you’re at it is really the key to enjoying any game. Games are the same way.
The boys at CHOP! are known for their camaraderie and while the noise they make can definitely get loud it
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| The shirts are an ongoing joke, another way CHOP found to have some fun |
is all in the sake of having fun in the game. So when you see someone standing on a chair yelling “CHOOOOOOPPPP!” at the top of their lungs at Adepticon or OFCC or any of the other many events they travel to, know that they are not bragging or trying to make you feel bad, they are having a great time spreading the cheer of the game. If you know any of the CHOP! guys (and several of you readers do) envision the last tournament you were at with them and I can bet some of your memories include hearing “CHOOOPPP!” echo through the room or Jamie turning the key elements of your army to Gold and should bring a chuckle and a smile to your face.
I take the rule of thumb that if I am not having fun then my opponent probably isn’t either, and while I tend to be a lot more demure and shy about the fun I am having (especially in a new group of people or when I am the only woman in the room) I can still have fun in my games. It is just a game remember.
Playing a Game
Amongst the pages of the rule book (no matter which version you use) instruction is given as to the steps required to play the game. These include:
· Setting up the table
· Choosing a Scenario
· Deployment
· Turn Sequence
· Scoring
Each of these sections needs us to spend a bit of time talking about them, so these will be the next several parts of this series I have entitled “Time to Play”.
Remember, if you have a question about anything feel free to send it along and we will try to get an answer for you.
Author: Jen A
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