- Prices keep rising due to popular demand indicated by 700+ books and many games (e.g. Space Marine 2 - Doom with more brotherhood). Also shareholders and exec bonuses.
- Bigger boxes have bigger value.
- Terrain is easy to make.
- Resale tends to go for 60%, but with shipping it might be cheaper to get the extra bits on sprue.
- 400 USD can get you a Bambu A1 filament printer or supposedly more detailed but toxic Phrozen Sonic Mini 8KS resin printer.
- Official tournaments ban proxies except basing and scratch-built components but local shops and tournaments often allow proxies, so add the cost of 3D modeling, slicing, and safety gear if you opt for resin (which has to be 24-30 degrees Celsius).
- Rules state custom bases, bits, and components are allowed to be built from scratch, but not whether weapons, armor, and body parts are bits/components. And that models must accurately represent their datasheet, but that official models often don't, like grenades and close combat weapons on Infernus marines.
- TPU is fit for DIY injection molding.
- Green Stuff kneadanite epoxy putty and/or Milliput goes well with Blue Stuff or Oyumaru Instant Mold plastic clay. Regular modeling clay is slow/soft, dry/rough, and lacks flex needed to cast complex figures, but doesn't need 3 minutes at 80 degrees Celsius to soften.
- You may want to paint before making parts inaccessible to a brush.
- Plastic sprues should be cut in order, if marked, from the smallest to the biggest link using a single-sided flat nipper (Stedi or better).
- Plastic glue is toxic acetate but great for melting together polystyrene model bits after removing the mold lines.
- Resin is brittle and needs superglue. Resin fumes and dust are toxic. Magnetic pads are available if you don't want to pin vice the base to hold magnets (push fit and wipe some superglue).
- Superglue melts foam. And its vapor reacts with air moisture to create white monomer "frost".
- You can recycle empty polystyrene sprues by dissolving them in acetone (thick) or liquid cement aka (50/50 acetone / butyl acetate) aka Tamiya Airbrush Cleaner (51/49) (thin), making "sprue goo". Or rather reuse them as terrain or even models.
- Green Stuff is two-part epoxy that dries flexible. Good for holding 3x1mm N52 magnets to 1mm ferrous rubber sheet in cheap plastic container to transport fragile models without pointy bits getting stuck on modular foam.
- Straighten warped stuff by coating the other side as well.
- A ready-made consistent technical paint adds texture to bases and walls.
- DIY corn starch in grey base paint (1:1) for cracked effect. Spackle polyfiller for dusty rock. Sawdust or blended dry wet wipe for water.
- Cracks will be bigger on dried white glue + 'Ardcoat gloss varnish.
- Superglue + baking soda for roots/entrails
- Start painting minis with a clean jar of water, kitchen paper, and cheap pointy detail round/liner brushes size 00 aka 2/0 or 0.6mm wide or bigger, like size 2 aka 1.6mm aka the Citadel Starter Brush or Sax True Flow size 6 for basecoating.
- Save size 000 aka 3/0 aka 0.4mm and smaller for eyes and other things that require only tiny amounts of paint or where other brushes don't fit. 00 should be enough. As small brushes dry quickly, you might need a humidifier at your workstation.
- Winsor Newton Series 7 Watercolor Brush - Round #1 does it all. And might be the size of a Citadel Starter as brush sizes aren't standard after all. Amazon says that WN7#1 natural hair brush is 1.8mm wide. So just go with a sharp pointy one that holds enough water and gets where you want it.
- Synthetic brushes hold less water and snap/spatter more than animal hair brushes.
- Wooden brush handles expand and crack their coating if left in the water pot too long. When done using acrylics, clean your brushes with soap and cold water, reshape the tip with bar soap, and store horizontally.
- Larger older brushes are faster, but to get all details quickly, spray is better.
- All rattle/spray cans (even Citadel) contain styrofoam-melting acetone. Seal styrofoam with PVA (PolyVinyl Acetate) glue, aka water-soluble white wood glue.
- Spray in short sweeps from 20 cm away into an old box outside. Too far/hot/dry will cause a sandy texture as the paint dries before it hits the surface.
- Specific color favorite brands vary. Pro Acryl Bold Titanium White can add coverage/opacity and light to other paints. In general, Vallejo > Reaper > Citadel but craft acrylics work at -30% coverage and maybe more gloss. Hopefully those worker conditions are better than Vallejo's. I like Abaddon Black, Retributor Armor / Wraithbone with a little Agrax Earthshade, Leadbelcher, Cadian Fleshtone with a little Reikland Fleshshade skin and Guilliman Flesh hair. Seems like a wet brush is enough thinning for the rest as Mephiston Red and White Scar coverage is terrible otherwise.
- Mix/shake paint before use. Especially spray paint.
- Make sure the lids are closed properly after use.
- A wet palette keeps your working paint wet. I just use a small plastic food container with two layers of paper towel and baking paper on top. Add tap water, drain excess, and it'll be fine for a week after painting 20 bolters.
- To avoid crusts, thin your paint to "the consistency of milk" or whatever covers in 2+ coats. Often a wet brush is enough to thin it on the model. Plain colors take 2+ coats for 100% opacity. Wick off excess thinned paint before brushing.
- Washes are already thin but tend to stain and dry darker, so maybe thin those on a regular plastic palette or carefully wipe away excess. A clean brush helps with that, also for regular paint.
- Mid base coat, dark wash to make it muddy, light wash to make it glow, light or dark drybrush if needed, PVA glue flock/debris/plants/tufts.
- Wash to add shadows, but remove unrealistic drops and glare using a clean brush and matt varnish.
- Make your own 80% opaque ink/dye/speed/contrast/glaze paint by adding 3-4 parts water and a little dish soap as surfactant to improve coverage. A regular 30% opaque wash/shade (5 to 10 parts water) tends to stick to corners due to surface tension. Warhammer says 2 drops for contrast paint and 4+ to turn contrast into shade. Some say 1:15 or even 1:50, so always test to ensure desired coverage.
- Drybrush (with a cheap makeup brush) to make details more visible.
- You can paint 5 other models while the first one dries, and start the next color. Keep the old color on your wet palette in case you need to retouch later. It's easier to go from deepest to top color. A single pot can do 100 coats.
- MDF needs sealing.
- If stencils aren't detailed enough, use tweezers to apply wet decals on Micro Set, when dry fix their shape with Micro Sol, then hide the layer with Lahmian Medium. The setting agent (allegedly 8:1 water:vinegar) holds the decal while you use the solvent (allegedly acetone + isopropyl alcohol). Alternatively, one can use varnish, water, hobby knife, paper towel, softener, and brush or set, hair dryer, and q-tip. or according to Warhammer channel on YouTube just varnish the area, apply and let dry the soaked stencil, and varnish + Lahmian Medium to mat the varnish.
- Walls might look better with posters.
- A less toxic alternative to spraying a basecoat: Airbrush black into the nooks for shade and white as bright basecoat/guide/highlight if using translucent staining shade/wash aka ink/dye/speed/contrast paint. Faster and prettier than a base paint + wash imo.
- Airbrushed layers are thinner than brushed layers, so mistakes can be more easily corrected without using alcohol to strip the layer.
- Cheap nail airbrushes probably lack a dial, but 18 psi looks best 28 is frosty and 8 lumpy. Too thin is drippy.
- Needle size 0.2 is for details and 0.3-0.4 for primer, airbrush into a box with paper towels, brush the paint out after use with cleaner or alcohol, and water rinse the alcohol off the rubber seals after. Vallejo > AK > GW. Toxic paint like enamel requires a respirator.
- A normal backpack fits three 2L plastic containers with 1mm ferrous rubber sheets (self-adhesive stinks and 1mm thickness requires N52 strength magnets to prevent shifting, and more than one 1x3mm magnet in case they don't contact the sheet well enough because you pushed the Green Stuff filler too hard to stop it sticking to your table while drying for 1+ hour.), each containing thirty 32mm base models.
- If you don't mind rubbing foam on your models, 6x8 fit into a 39x14x30cm 14 euro modular foam tool case.
- A 75 euro dedicated backpack with wooden frame and metallic shelves works best.
- Terrain should be symmetrical or deployment zone choice random.
- Ruin visibility is a point of discussion in 10th edition. Vehicles can be seen if any part overlaps a ruin footprint, but can't see through the ruin until the entire model is inside unless it's towering or a non-hovering aircraft. Same for non-vehicles on a base basis.
- First floor ruin windows, doors, etc are considered closed in tournaments, except infantry, primarchs, and beasts can go through walls, except when their base would not fit at the stop.
- Different rules apply to 100 point Kill Team (30"x22"), 500 points Boarding Action (24"x28", 28″x 48″?, or 55"x48"??), and 500 point Combat Patrol (44"x30") formats. Regular 40k games are 1000 (Incursion, up to 44"x60"), 2000 (Strikeforce, 44"x60"), or 3000 (Onslaught, 44"x90") points.
- Regular 40k has Command (iron halo icon), Movement (arrow icon), Shooting (target icon), and Charge (double chevron icon) and Fight (crossed hammers icon) phases. For a command point or two, each can be interrupted with a stratagem (blue during your turn, red during opponent's turn, green for either) to add some Magic.
- You need about 24 D6 dice to roll hits, wounds, and saves. D20 games like Stargrave are said to be thrice as fast using D20 dice.
- To hit, roll at least BS (Ballistic Skill for ranged) or WS (Weapon Skill for melee). (Redundant distinction until weapons have both or models have either.)
- Then for each hit to wound:
threshold = 5
if strength >= 2 * toughness:
threshold = 2
elif strength > toughness:
threshold = 3
elif strength == toughness:
threshold = 4
elif 2 * strength <= toughness:
threshold = 6| S/T | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ |
| 2 | 2+ | 4+ | 5+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ |
| 3 | 2+ | 3+ | 4+ | 5+ | 5+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ |
| 4 | 2+ | 2+ | 3+ | 4+ | 5+ | 5+ | 5+ | 6+ | 6+ | 6+ |
| 5 | 2+ | 2+ | 3+ | 3+ | 4+ | 5+ | 5+ | 5+ | 5+ | 6+ |
| 6 | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 3+ | 3+ | 4+ | 5+ | 5+ | 5+ | 5+ |
| 7 | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 3+ | 3+ | 3+ | 4+ | 5+ | 5+ | 5+ |
| 8 | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 3+ | 3+ | 3+ | 4+ | 5+ | 5+ |
| 9 | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 3+ | 3+ | 3+ | 3+ | 4+ | 5+ |
| 10 | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 2+ | 3+ | 3+ | 3+ | 3+ | 4+ |
- Wounds are assigned to any (damaged first) bodyguard model of a unit.
- Then roll to save using either armor save (SV+, Cover gives +1 to armor save roll of models with SV4+ and SV3- if AP.) or invulnerable save (SV++ which ignores AP) if any.
- Then Feel No Pain (+++) and such abilities which modify (not always prevent like a save) the amount of damage dealt by a wound. There are combat calculators to skip the calculus.
- Games last for 3 to 5 rounds, and can take 0.5 (100 points) to 3 (2500 points, 4 players) to 4.5 (8000 points) hours per player.
- Rules change per edition (every 3 years) and update (every 4 months).
- Some models get discontinued and can only be played with Legend rules, similar to the Disney Star Wars universe.
- Free sites like Wahapedia, New Recruit, and KTDash help to keep track of rules, points, and lists.
- One Page Rules' Grimdark Future is a cheaper alternative to Warhammer 40k, taking only 60-90 minutes for 30-50 models and 1-2 players.
- Tabletop Simulator is an even cheaper alternative way to play if you don't count the time getting the outdated mods to work.
- Dune II, UFO: Enemy Unknown aka X-COM: UFO Defense, and XCOM: Enemy Unknown have relatively no barrier to entry and are excellent, albeit the first lacks batch selection.