Before you can wage war in a game of Warhammer 40,000, you must first select a mission. The Core Rules include a single mission – Only War – that is ideal to get the action started quickly. Others can be found elsewhere in this or other books, or you could play a mission of your own creation. If you and your opponent can’t agree which mission to play, you must roll off, and the winner decides.
Players muster their armies based on their selected battle size, as described in the Muster Your Army section. Each mission will guide players on what size of battle they can play, and may include further rules that could affect how players pick their armies.
Each mission will state what its primary objectives are, and may also include one or more special rules. These cover unique situations, or abilities that can be used in the battle.
Each mission will include details of the size of the battlefield that you will need. Each mission will also instruct you if any terrain features or objective markers must be set up, and will provide details of where to set them up. Otherwise, it is assumed you are using the guidelines in the Example Battlefields section to create your battlefield. If you are using a battlefield that is a different size or shape to those guidelines, you will need to adjust distances, and the location of deployment zones, objective markers and terrain features, in an appropriate way.
Players roll off and the winner is the Attacker – their opponent is the Defender.
In the order stated below, both players now secretly note down:
■ Which of their Leader units will start the battle attached (they must specify which Leader unit is attached to which Bodyguard unit).
■ Which of their units will start the battle embarked within TRANSPORT models (they must specify which units are embarked within which models).
■ Which of their units will start the battle in Reserves (including Strategic Reserves).
When both players have done so, they declare their selections to their opponent.
Each mission includes a deployment map that shows where each player can set up the models in their army (called their deployment zone), and will list any restrictions that apply to setting up.
Each mission will tell you how to determine which player has the first turn.
Players alternate resolving any pre-battle rules units from their armies have, starting with the player who will take the first turn.
The first battle round begins. Players continue to complete battle rounds until the battle ends.
Each mission will tell you when the battle ends. This will typically be after a set number of battle rounds have been completed, or when one player has achieved a certain victory condition.
Each mission will tell you what you need to do in order to win the game. If neither player manages to achieve a victory then the game is considered to be a draw.