How Quarantine Got Me Into Warhammer 40k

Quarantine was the perfect time for me to get into Warhammer 40k. It was kind of inevitable; here is why.

I come from Dungeons & Dragons, a game that typically requires that you sit around a table with about three to six other people. However, when quarantine happened, I canceled my Dungeons & Dragons sessions for everyone’s safety.

Part of Dungeons & Dragons is tactical combat. We use miniatures on the table to keep track of what’s happening during combat encounters. Some of these miniatures are custom painted to represent the player’s characters. This can range from regular humans to that one ridiculous player who decided to play as an elephant-man.

Not only do I paint the Dungeons & Dragons party, but I also paint the villains, monsters, and occasionally the terrain they fight on.

So without any Dungeons & Dragons sessions, I decided to be proactive and work on finishing the painting projects I had for the upcoming sessions. A month into quarantine, I found myself with nothing left to paint. All the Dungeons & Dragons models that I would be using for the rest of the campaign were finished. With no more miniatures to paint and no more Dungeons & Dragons games to host, I needed to find a new hobby.

Getting Into Warhammer 40k

Warhammer 40k was the other big tabletop game that had always caught my eye. I knew Warhammer 40k was a completely different game than Dungeons & Dragons. I was never able to get into it because all my attention was taken up by my Dungeons & Dragons sessions.

But if ever, quarantine was the best time to give Warhammer 40k a shot. I looked into the many Warhammer 40k armies to choose from and told myself, if I were going to start a Warhammer 40k army, I would want it to double over into Dungeons & Dragons. I was either going to play a Demon army or an Ork army. It was the only way I could justify buying the expensive Warhammer 40k models. That way, I could use them for both tabletop games. 

My original plan was to go with a Demon army, but I found some great Warhammer Ork 3D print files. Since I already owned a 3D printer, I decided 3D printing an Ork army would be the most cost-effective way to get into Warhammer 40k. So I spend a lot of time during quarantine 3D printing Orks over and over again until I ran out of printing material for my ELEGOO Mars 3D Printer. Yes, that mad scientist in the photo is me 3D printing my army!

I also ordered some actual Warhammer 40k models to test paint. I was impressed with their level of detail. They were expensive models, so I would have to ease my way into the hobby with them, but they were a blast to paint. Between the models I 3D printed and the models I ordered, I ended up with a small army ready for battle. Half 3D printed and half actual Warhammer 40k models.

One of my friends had caught on to how much fun I was having creating these models, so he started an army himself.

So there it was! I had an army ready, and my friend did as well. He and I took it upon ourselves to learn how to play Warhammer 40k.

It took a lot of upfront work to get into Warhammer 40k. You need to build and paint an army of models, learn the complicated rules, and create a battlefield. A battlefield with terrain so your models can use it for cover. Fortunately, I had plenty of Dungeons & Dragons terrain I could use as Warhammer 40k terrain. Looking back at it now, it probably would have been a lot smarter and cheaper to get a Warhammer 40k Starter Set.

What I Love About Warhammer 40k

Warhammer 40k is a complicated game that is a lot more convenient to set up and play than Dungeons & Dragons. Now that I have a Warhammer 40k army, I can just pick it up and go to my friend’s house. Since the game is one on one, it’s easy to plan.

With Dungeons & Dragons, I had to schedule around six other people for my group; that’s not always easy. Also, as the Dungeon Master, there was a lot of upfront work I had to do leading up to every single session. With Warhammer 40k, the upfront work was already done. I have a painted army. Now I can pick it up and play whenever.

Another thing I enjoy about Warhammer 40k is how each match is different. I come from competitive card games. Those games can get very repetitive. In most card games, you play the same combo turn one, two, and three. Sometimes card games felt like they played themselves. You have a limited amount of cards in your hand and so you have a limited amount of options.

This isn’t the case with Warhammer 40k. It’s not a game just about destroying your opponent’s army. There are also random objectives that need to be considered in every match. If you don’t play objectively, you’ll lose.

I use Open War Cards to keep the game interesting. Each time we play, there is a random objective, a random deployment type, and a random set of rules that spice up the game. Since Warhammer 40k uses lots of dice, the outcome is always unknown. The only thing you can control is how well you command your troops.

With Warhammer, I find myself needing to be a strategic thinker every turn. Your troops have different abilities that activate under certain conditions. It’s a constant gable of weather to rush in with swords or stay back and shoot. And if to shoot, then who? And if I split fire, then how many shots each? You have a lot of troops to manage, so you have a lot of options.

I still love Dungeons & Dragons and haven’t given up on it. But large social gatherings are something to avoid right now. Warhammer 40k has been an absolute blast to play because you only need one opponent. I am glad I used the downtime of quarantine to build and paint an army. It was a lot of work, but I now have a Warhammer 40k army I can use for the rest of my life.