USD ($)
EUR (€)
Finding your way into the world of miniature wargaming can be extremely daunting. With games upon games to choose from, and hundreds of armies to play with, which game is the best way to get started? I’ve narrowed it down to the three best ways to get into miniature wargaming, so you can choose which way is right for you!
Warhammer
The most tried-and-true method to start wargaming is through one of Games Workshop’s biggest games. The dystopian future of Warhammer 40,000, or the war-wrought fantasy of Age of Sigmar. Almost every Local Game Store carries a Warhammer starter set. Each comes with a rulebook, pre-set missions, and two small armies. These boxes are designed to be built and played on the same day as purchase.
What makes these boxes even more unique is that they vary in size and price, so you are able to invest only as much as you’re comfortable with. At the time of writing, the smaller boxes are the Recruit and Warrior editions, the medium boxes are the Elite and Harbinger editions, and the largest the Command and Extremis editions. All of these are available here.
Warhammer is easily the largest name in the industry, and it owes its longevity to just how beginner-friendly it is. But these games do centre around their own intellectual properties; this plethora of characters and worlds can be difficult for new players to learn, or straight-up impossible for outsiders to latch onto. But there are other options;
Boxed Table Top Games
If the worlds of Warhammer don’t grab your attention, it’s worth looking into miniature games that take part in an established world; most notably: A Song of Ice and Fire, Star Wars Legion, or Marvel Crisis Protocol.
These games may be more complicated rules-wise, but they start a new player off on a strong footing with characters and stories that they already recognise from popular culture. This makes it easier to learn the game in the short term as you’re already invested in these worlds.
Unlike Warhammer starter sets – which present the first few miniatures in a very (very) large range – starter sets for these games are often all you will need. There’s no reason to buy expansions or extensions until you really want to, and these extensions only offer new characters or armies that you may simply have an attachment to.
Starter sets with an established intellectual property can be costlier, so it’s up to you to put a price on playing as Captain America or Darth Vader. But, honestly, how cool is that?
Downloadable Rulebooks
If you’re looking to save as much money as possible, but still want to get minis moving around a board, there are miniature wargames that only feature rulebooks. These “miniature agnostic” games have no set minis and encourage players to build their own or use modified toys. Gaslands is most notable for encouraging the use of re-painted 1/64 scale cars.
Osprey Publishing seems to never miss the mark in this miniature category, but there are more and more independent Kickstarters who provide entire rulebooks, resources, and scenarios at a nominal fee. It’s worth searching around to see if any up-and-coming games take your fancy.
While these rulebooks will never break the bank, it does put more pressure on the player to source the miniatures by themselves, and some do work on the assumption assume that you already have wargaming miniatures lying around. It’s definitely a balancing act between how fast you want to get playing, and how much money you’re willing to spend.
So, there are several pathways into your wargaming hobby. Depending on what you want to play you can choose any of them or all of them! I, personally, would recommend grabbing whatever you think looks the coolest, tracking down an opponent at your Friendly Local Game Store, and playing to your heart’s content – there really isn’t a wrong way to go about it.
And, if anything that I’ve mentioned above sounds particularly cool, it’s all up for sale under Zatu’s miniature section.