I've got a freind who has recently decided to get into 40k, he's a master of the car boot bargain hunt and has managed to pick up two thousand points worth of marines for about sixty quid. Which is pretty impressive.

He wanted a gentle introduction to the game so we played a small battle on my kitchen table last night. He wanted to play the marines from Assault on Black Reach so in order to help him learn his army I played exactly the same list.

Playing the same list on both sides was a good way to learn a new army as both sides were equally matched and we were both thinking and talking about tactics to use. We played the mission with an objective each as I thought that was the best introductory game.

A dreadnought with multi melta, five terminators, five marines with sergeant, flamer and captain and five marines with a missile launcher.

Not surprisingly it was a draw, but what was more important was that he left enthused about the game, so there's a good chance I'll have myself a regular opponent who lives nearby. Now I'll just have to make sure that I don't use my Thousand Sons for a while, as they break most of the marine rules about rapid fire weapons, are fearless and are also experts at killing marines and I don't want him to lose hope before he's properly hooked.

I could manage about 400 points of harmless guard, maybe more if I proxy in some tanks. I can also do some ancient eldar. But for the next game I think I'll try and do a thousand point marine list that mirrors his again. He got hooked into playing by the Predator tanks in Dawn of War, so maybe a couple of those.

Here's hoping I can lure him in deeper and play my more dangerous army once he's properly hooked.