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So hear me out: is Legions Imperialis the best Warhammer gateway game? I know it may sound weird. When we think of gateway games into Warhammer we think of the intended gateway games like Kill Team and Combat Patrol. But ever since picking up Legions Imperialis, painting it, and getting a few games in, I’m more and more convinced that this is the easiest on-ramp into the Warhammer 40k (or 30k) universe.

For introduction, what is Legions Imperialis? It’s the Warhammer 30k, or Horus Heresy, era game that is on a miniature scale–it’s what old Epic used to be when there was Epic. The miniatures are six millimeters instead of 32 millimeters, meaning that the tanks are about an inch long, give or take, and you put five soldiers on a single base. It’s little.

But there’s more to it being easy than just being little. There are three reasons why I think that Legions Imperialis is the easiest way to get into Warhammer.

1. Painting

At first you might think that painting Legions Imperialis is going to be MUCH harder than painting regular Warhammer 40k or Horus Heresy, because the small scale means that the details are that much harder to access. But the fact of the matter is that the tiny details mean that you don’t need to paint the details. In fact, you only need to do the bare minimum to paint your miniatures because they’re so incredibly tiny that three colors on a model, plus a wash, is enough to make them look good.

Now I’m not talking about matching the ‘Eavy Metal team’s paint jobs. I’m talking about painting for the tabletop. But seriously.

I painted my Space Marines as Blood Angels, because that’s what my Horus Heresy army is painted as. So, I primed these tiny models in red (I painted all of this on the sprue, by the way, which is just another reason they’re awesome to paint). Then I picked out the guns with black, a few bits of the power pack and swords with silver, and painted their helmets the appropriate yellow, blue or gold, and then washed them with what Sonic Sledgehammer calls “Marine Juice” (a 1:1:1 mixture of Nuln Oil, Reikland Fleshshade, and Lahmian Medium). And, that was it.

Now sure you could do a lot more if you wanted to and if you have better eyes than I do, but you don’t need to. And that’s the whole point. The reason that Legions Imperialis is the best Warhammer gateway game is that there is no reason to paint them any more detailed than that.

And the tanks are even easier. Basecoat, pick out the guns and treads in black and silver. Maybe paint some markings to make them more Blood Angel-y, give them a wash, and you can really pound out all of the tanks in an hour.

In fact, that’s one of the best things about the Legions Imperialis starter set: I bought Leviathan last summer–the Warhammer 40k 10th Edition starter set–and I have yet to even assemble all the minis let alone paint them, but I got the Legions Imperialis box ten days ago and the entire thing is painted, plus some Baneblades and Kratos Battle Tanks that I bought separately. It just comes together so fast.

2. Rules

I cannot even tell you how much easier it is to play this game than Warhammer 40k, Horus Heresy, or even Kill Team. For starters, the mechanics have been streamlined. An example is that (for the first time in my memory) a Warhammer game doesn’t make you roll to hit, roll to wound, and then roll to save. You just roll to hit and roll to save. It may not seem like a big deal to take that single wounding roll out of the mix, but to be honest I’ve always thought that roll was unnecessary anyway. If you hit someone with a bullet they’re going to get wounded, right? Unless their armor blocks it with an armor save. Seems easy.

So, Legions Imperialis has that going for it. The rules are streamlined. There are also some mechanics I really like that have to do with the You Go I Go gameplay. Instead of You Go I Go, you place order markers on all your units facedown, and then both players reveal them simultaneously. This makes the game turns split up between both of you and makes the game move faster.

But the biggest thing that Legions Imperialis has going for it in terms of rules improvements is just that there aren’t so many frigging strategems. Each Space Marine Legion has a Legion rule, and… that’s it. Yes, there are special rules and traits, but you don’t need to memorize your opponents’ codexes to make sure you know the fifteen faction-specific abilities they have.

I honestly love the rules and think they’re a BIG part of why Legions Imperialis is the best Warhammer gateway game.

3. Just One Book

Yup. There are no Codexes. There are no army books. Their No Liber Astartes, Liber Imperium, and Liber Hereticus. In fact–and I love this–the entire army composition lists take up a page and a half. That’s it. It lists every unit of the game on a page and a half, and that’s all you need to know. (Yes, there are pages that go into more details about each unit, but the point is that there are probably more Space Marine units in Warhammer 40k than total units in Legions Imperialis–including both Astartes and Solar Auxilia and Titans.)

Now, I hear what you’re going to say, and I already agree with you: If Legions Imperialis gets more popular they’re going to release more books and errata and Chapter Approveds. But right now the game is just a single book, a single set of rules, and the entire thing comes in a box for under $200.

On The Other Hand

Now, for the downsides.

Just joking, there aren’t really any downsides. The only thing that comes close to being a downside is that the entire game isn’t self contained in a single box, or, in other words, you can’t follow the official army structure rules using just the models that exist in the core box. But the barriers to entry are very low. You can double the size of your Space Marine force for $60. You can get more tanks for anywhere from $42 (for Rhinos) to $60 (for Baneblades).

And, if you’ve already been in the Warhammer ecosystem for a few years there’s a chance you’ll have some of the extra units already–everything from Adeptus Titanicus and Aeronautica Imperialis can be ported over. (You’ll be pleased to know that the rules for Titans in Legions Imperialis are much more simplified than in Adeptus Titanicus, and seeing as how all of your jets are attacking ground forces the Aeronautic rules are also streamlined.)

Seriously, guys. Legions Imperialis is the best Warhammer gateway game, and it’s not even close.