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40K WITH 3 OR MORE SIDES

Playing games with more than two sides is not difficult. There are only a few rules you have to consider. The only other obstacle is adapting missions.

The following rules should allow you to avoid most difficulties:

Mixed Assaults - read the rules on messy combats (combats involving different troop types). These can be applied to situations where three forces clash. When determining who won a combat, compare different enemies separately. When counting models for outnumbering purposes, count all the enemy models. As usual, any unit that still has at least one member in close combat cannot run away.
Shooting into Close Combat - you can shoot at enemies involved in close combat as long as none of your own models are involved. Distribute hits evenly between enemy units. In the case where the hits do not work out evenly, the shooting player decides which unit takes the extra hit.
Template Weapons - where blast markers can be repositioned by a unit's owner, the person placing the marker can place it over any model head as per usual. When a template hits two or more enemies involved in close combat, each player rolls a D6 and the highest roller gets to place the template.

The following missions from the 40K rule book lend themselves fairly easily to 3 or 4 player battles:
- Cleanse
- Night Fight
- Rescue
- Take and Hold
Missions that involve Victory Points are more difficult. You can count victory points as you go along, but this is tedious and error-prone. An alternative is to calculate the amount of victory points that would be gained by an opponent for inflicting casualties on your force and deduct this from the original points cost of your force to get your score. However, this method tends to reward players who participate least in the battle (eg 2 players slug it out and one decimates the other while suffering minor losses; this player loses though because a third player didn't do anything and so didn't lose any troops).

By far the most popular way to play with more than two players is with alliances. In this case, two lots of compatible races fight each other. Each side can have as many players as is practical, though the total points allocated to each side is the same. Orks and Chaos vs. Marines and Eldar is a popular example of this type of battle.