The Voice – brought to you by The Page & Epistle

By: Christian Faulkner-MacDonagh ’25

Tanks roll into objectives, leading their supports. Land Raiders’ doors crash down, and the infantry inside rush into battle, letting their guns roar. Some charge the enemy, drawing power and chainswords.

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop wargame where players build and paint their own models, then take those armies and battle against others. If any of that sparked your interest, this guide is for you.

The Hobby

Before you can play, you need to buy, build, and paint models. Between the high prices and the time commitment, this part of the hobby can feel like the most daunting.

The first step? Pick an army you like. Some factions are more beginner-friendly in both price and playstyle—Custodes and Grey Knights are solid choices—but ultimately, go with what excites you. As Chris Mahon from The Fantasy Hive puts it, “It’s most important to choose an army that excites you, either because their playstyle fits yours, the lore fascinates you, or their units look awesome.”

Next, you need to build your models. You’ll need a few basic tools: a hobby knife, sprue cutters, and plastic glue. Just follow the instruction booklet—clip the parts, clean up the cuts and mold lines, and glue it all together.

Now, you might be looking at a bunch of plain gray models, which leads to the third step: painting. First, prime your model—black is a solid choice. Then, get creative. You can follow the box art, pick another sub-faction, or homebrew your own.

A quick tip: if you’re unsure about committing to a faction, buy a single character model or basic unit. Build and paint it to see if you enjoy working with that army before diving in completely.

The Game

Once your army is ready, it’s time for battle. As the slogan goes, there is only war. Each player places their models on the battlefield, and the game is played in five phases:

1. Command Phase – This is where army rules take effect and players gain a command point (CP), which can be spent on special abilities called stratagems.
2. Movement Phase – Move your models across the battlefield based on their movement stats. You can make an Advance move by rolling a D6 and adding the result to your movement, but doing so means you can’t shoot or charge that turn.
3. Shooting Phase – Time to fire your weapons. Attacks follow three rolls:
   • Hit roll – Roll equal to or above your Ballistic Skill (BS).
   • Wound roll – Compare the weapon’s Strength to the target’s Toughness. Higher Strength makes it easier to wound.
   • Save roll – The defender rolls to save their model. Armor Piercing (AP) can make it harder to succeed.
4. Charge Phase – If an enemy model is within 12 inches, roll 2D6 to see if your unit reaches them. If successful, they engage in melee combat.
5. Fight Phase – Melee combat works just like shooting, but uses Weapon Skill (WS) instead of BS.

Final Thoughts

Personally, I love Warhammer 40K. The games are long, but the hobby side of things—while not exactly adrenaline-inducing—is extremely rewarding.

Don’t just take my word for it. Fellow Warhammer enthusiast Woody Carol says, “Warhammer has been an incredibly interactive franchise to indulge in. The community’s high attention to detail and appreciation for art and literature allow many people of many niches to enjoy one fictional universe.”

And if miniatures aren’t your thing, but the Warhammer universe interests you, don’t worry—there are plenty of video games and hundreds of books to dive into.