How to get an old player back into the game?

[Arguleon-veq]

I have a mate that used to play an edition or two ago and is interested in getting back into the game. He has some of his old Marines and Guard to use.

So I was wondering how best to introduce him back to the game. I play in quite a competative environment and we all have pretty hard lists so I dont think a straight up game is best. So how would you do it?

Im thinking of making him a fairly tough list using what he has but making sure it uses a variety of units and rules to help him get used to this edition and I could take a poor but hard to kill army against it so that the game will go the distance but with his stuff coming out on top. This should also ensure gets to see how combat, challenges, charges etc work. Keeping things at a small points value should ensure that all the new rules dont get overwhelming.

What I dont want to happen is what happened to a mate of mine last year, he was coming back to the game but wanted to jump straight into battles but because it was in a really tough environment he didnt pick up a single player win and it put him off the gaming side of 40K. Even using weaker lists it was still obviously an uphill battle for him to be taking on more experienced players.

I think this way it takes the whole winning/losing out of the situation which will let him build on his skills, then I can introduce him to a local less competative club for him to get some games and wins in against other players.

Do you think this should work or would it be best to just run through unit on unit scenarios and run through the rules like that? I think this way it still gives the fun of an actual battle.

[Naser Al-Istikhara Cyrus]

I think the best way to teach any person the rules is with experience. People can read the rulebook cover-to-cover all they like; it's only when they actually play with the rules that they begin to grain into their memory.

I like your idea; another option is to give him a points handicap of 20-30% or something while he learns. So 1250 points vs 1000 points or something.

Zambia

[Chicop76]

1. When did they first started to play. Some of 6th is a hark back to the original material. In a way the 1-3rd edition players may have an easier time playing 6th than a 5th edition player.

2. Overwatch was used in Space Hulk. Play Space Hulk or play similar Space Hulk type games with 6th edition rules.

3. It would be best to no start with Warlord, Fortifications, flyers, or the radom effects of terrain. I would suggest playing with 2 or 3 types of troops and work from there. I would play bikes, infantry and jetbikes and that's it. As you get familiar with the rules and special unit rules add jet packs, MCs, flyers, etc. Once you get used to all the unit types throw in Warlord, Forts, and random terrain effects.

[LinnScarlett]

Sounds like a solid plan, Argu! I've been trying to nurse myself into actual gaming as well, and I can tell you that nothing is as demotivating as getting curbstomped by people with more experience, especially because experience is an advantage you can't just pick up and have (hence the frustration it causes when losing to it). I personally would suggest against using a handicap, but then I don't like being made an exception that way. If you apply the plan you outlined and help him along, I am pretty sure you will both have a good time, and the actual out come of the game won't matter at all. It also depends on what he wants - casual games with friends like you, or get back into competitive gaming.

[loeldrad]

I like you idea of helping him craft a list. After the game I'd suggest reviewing the list with him and going over why you choose what you did.

I find when teaching someone how to play (or in this case how to play the new rules) I enjoy taking a diverse list with units I wouldn't normally take included. The "uncommon" units from your army should give the player small victories on the battlefield so even if they don't win the game they did win conflicts (not to mention you personally get tabletop experience with units in your army that you normally wouldn't get and you may find some nice uses for the units you didn't previously think of)

I also would highly recommend recording the battle in some fashion. I think this helps new players out alot. If you can just do a quick cheesey iphone/droid recorded round recap thats fine, it's just for you and your friends sake you don't have to post it online (and it can be pretty fun). Or even just a pencil and paper and write up a quick summary after each round. Now after the game this can be used to go over choices that were made in the game from both sides. You can explain what your game plan was better to the player this way and he can explain his thought process and you guys can go over other choices that could have been made. A friend of mine was really struggling for wins and I think this technique more than anything really improved his decision making in the game.

[Arguleon-veq]

Well it went pretty well, his list used a guard blob with a libby and primaris support, a chimera, platoon command, russ, sentinal, vets and scouts for a nice mix of units with a variety of special rules. Plus its also a pretty competative list for him to build on. I took 2x10 tac marines, libby, 5 termies, vindicator and a ven dread. This gave him enough to face for him to actually be taking some wounds and some assaults but not enough to really beat his force. It was big guns never tire and when it got to a point that the marines couldn't win I let him bring a vendetta on so he could get to grips with the flyer rules.

So all in all it worked quite well, got him interested and he now wants a vendetta for his army. That and a defense line with quadgun should take him to a pretty good 1500 point force.