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I'm among the small group of players who increasingly lose understanding of the more complicated and intertwined rules as the years go on.. Being both a Senior Citizen AND a Parkinson's/Altzheimers patient tends to do that to one. Just short of slapping a HANDICAPPED sticker across my own forehead, so to speak.. And resenting every minute of it.

I know what you are going to say. The most obvious and most cutting "solution" is to advise seeking another game to play. Perhaps Candyland.

Hush, the "adults" are having a game.. Just go sit quietly over there.

You've seen the YouTube videos where someone describes having had a game against the TO's friend who "knows all the rules" but conveniently forgets theior own army's Codex and Forge World supplements. So the person is encouraged on all sides to simply "take their word on it" when the friend's combinations all work and none of their own do. It's kind of like that. Each of the friend's keywords easily extend from Leader to Unit like flavoring and brings decisive advantages but each of his own are described as like trying to extand the Keyword Character from Leader to Unit (which is impossible). You get the idea. Every situation is like that.

Combat Patrol seems to be one solution. Everything is designed as straight forward without trying the other guy's hand beihind his back to make it a fair fight. Or to try to make it an uninteresting one for either player.

Are there others?

If you want to play "40k", there is always the possibility to play older editions where the mental load on bookkeeping was less demanding. There are several unofficial, fan-made rulesets as well that are compatible with everything you can buy from GW. "One Page Rules" in particular is very light with its rules.

If you want to play "10th edition 40k", I don't think there are many more alternatives than Combat patrol.

I have yet to find any. Combat Patrol is still 10th edition 40k, just slightly streamlined (and in some cases haphazardly). The main rules are still there, with all the quirks and nuances that somehow make it incredibly difficult to grasp.

I find using game play aids critical. Print/copy/access by phone the datacards you are using for a battle.

I prefer print, because I can hand the page to my opponent for their perusal- which I find doesn't work as well with a phone.

Also, small battles are best. I think 2k points is fine every now and again, but 500-1k is ideal for me.

Finding the right group of players is also a really, really big deal. You want a group of "Rule of Cool" players who are taking the models they like, rather than those who are taking only the most powerful netlists.

There's still the potential for imbalance, even in a small game between rule of cool players, but the odds do drop considerbly.

Yep - gameplay aids. I am not disadvantaged and I still need them. If you had little chits that maybe magnetized to the leader ( so they don't get lost ) then you could glance at the unit and see they have Lethal Hits or what have you. Then it's just repetition to get used to everything. Diving in and expecting to know everything is not practical. You'll lose games, because of a lack of understanding -- and that's the best way I learn.

Don't stress out about not remembering the rules. They are short, shallow, & (most importantly) written down.
Just read them as often as necessary. And if some one has an issue with that? Politely tell them to

You also might consider simply playing smaller games of 40k. I find that there's way less mental juggling involved when playing a 1k game rather than a 2k game.

I really liked building 500 point armies- I haven't fought my first battle for the escalation league because I've been home sick, but for 500 points I got:

An Inquisitor leading 10 Arbites Vigilants, A Canoness with the Mantle of Ophelia leading on BSS squad and a Palatine with the Blade of Saint Ellynor leading another.

Very easy to learn and manage, even with Crusade book keeping.

Hey TomWilton, have you looked into "Playsheets"?

I had a quick search and found this...
https://warhammer-alliance.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2021/09/ENG_6-Gaming-Tools.pdf

Fingers crossed that's what you're after...