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Beginner Wargames
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John Geoffrey
Sep 8, 2012, 6:08:49 AM9/8/12
to
I am not really into wargames yet, but I am interested in the hobby as
such. I played a few games of different miniature games so far, but
don't have any clue about them either. What wargames might be good to
get to get into the hobby?
--
J.E.Geoffrey
Stuffed Crocodile Weblog
http://gmkeros.wordpress.com
such. I played a few games of different miniature games so far, but
don't have any clue about them either. What wargames might be good to
get to get into the hobby?
--
J.E.Geoffrey
Stuffed Crocodile Weblog
http://gmkeros.wordpress.com
Seamus
Jul 10, 2013, 11:28:12 AM7/10/13
to
John Geoffrey <gmk...@gmail.com> wrote in
news:20120908120849....@gmail.com:
> I am not really into wargames yet, but I am interested in the hobby as
> such. I played a few games of different miniature games so far, but
> don't have any clue about them either. What wargames might be good to
> get to get into the hobby?
>
(I know this is late.)
I suppose the first question is, what genre are you interested in?
I'll go ahead and list a few options by genre to help sort things out a
bit
* * FANTASY * *
Warhammer Fantasy Battles (Games Workshop) [ www.games-workshop.com ]
Probably the most marketed mass-battle fantasy miniatures game, and one
of the most expensive to get into. It has it's own flavor of fantasy and
technology (humans have (limited) black powder weapons, and several
armies have bizarre warmachines.
The game can be a lot of fun, but the official minis are expensive, the
heroes tend to be nigh-unstoppable killing machines in some editions and
each basic miniature in a formation is basically a wound marker.
Hordes Of The Things (Wargames Research Group)
[ http://www.wrg.me.uk/WRG.net/History/HOTT2.pdf ]
Intended for 10-15mm figures, HOTT is a free, very simple wargame that
isn't tied to a miniatures line and includes rules to design your own
armies. I haven't played it, but it's got a strong following on the 'Net.
Warmachine/Hordes (Privateer Press) [ http://privateerpress.com ]
A pair of very popular skirmish wargames based on the old Iron Kingdoms
RPG by the same company. The setting uses a steampunk-magitek tech level,
featuring large steampunk mechs called Warjacks. Price per miniature can
be comparible to Games Workshop stuff, but armies have less on the table
so the buy-in is cheaper.
* * SCI-FI * *
Warhammer 40,000 (Games Workshop)
Based on an old 15mm skirmish game called Laserburn by Bryan Ansell.
Bears only passing resemblance to its older fantasy counterpart, but is
much more popular. There are space-orks and space-elves, and the four
Chaos Gods were the Big Bad (just like WFB) until the Necrons joined the
line in 1998-99.
WH40K can be expensive, but the miniatures can be fun to paint and the
game fits the "Big, Stupid Fun", beer & pretzels role very well.
Infinity (Corvus Belli) [ http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/ ]
A sort of Anime skirmish game, but I don't know too much about it.
If you're interseted in tinkering with your own sci-fi setting, or if you
like to write up back-stories for military units yourself, there's
always...
Stargrunt II (Ground Zero Games) [ http://shop.groundzerogames.net/ ]
Written in 1996, Stargrunt is a free, hard sci-fi wargame intended for
15-25mm miniatures. Jon (the owner) sells a very nice range of miniatures
and there are a number of other manufacturers that produce 15mm
miniatures as well.
Stargrunt II is modeled around real squad-based tactics, and is best
played with about two or three platoons for each army. There is no points
system for building armies; the idea is to come up with interesting
scenarios.
If Stargrunt looks a bit complex, Fast & Dirty (WeaselFierce) is a
streamlined rules set that was inspired by this game.
[ http://www.freewebs.com/weaselfierce/ ]
* * HISTORICAL * *
Black Powder (Warlord Games) [ http://www.warlordgames.com/ ]
Black Powder (spanning 1700-1900) was based on the old Warmaster Fantasy
rules by Games Workshop (Warlord includes several old GW alumni) and
takes a toolbox approach to army design.
There are several basic army lists in the book for several periods to
start with, but there are also options to customize the units. For those
who really want to use points to build armies, they've included a points
system in the back of the book.
I'm using Black Powder for my own homebrew setting.
I hope this helps!
--
Step 1. Declare targets.
Step 2. Roll perfectly on your shooting just to watch the other player
pass all of his Morale Saves.
Step 3. Jazz Hands!
news:20120908120849....@gmail.com:
> I am not really into wargames yet, but I am interested in the hobby as
> such. I played a few games of different miniature games so far, but
> don't have any clue about them either. What wargames might be good to
> get to get into the hobby?
>
I suppose the first question is, what genre are you interested in?
I'll go ahead and list a few options by genre to help sort things out a
bit
* * FANTASY * *
Warhammer Fantasy Battles (Games Workshop) [ www.games-workshop.com ]
Probably the most marketed mass-battle fantasy miniatures game, and one
of the most expensive to get into. It has it's own flavor of fantasy and
technology (humans have (limited) black powder weapons, and several
armies have bizarre warmachines.
The game can be a lot of fun, but the official minis are expensive, the
heroes tend to be nigh-unstoppable killing machines in some editions and
each basic miniature in a formation is basically a wound marker.
Hordes Of The Things (Wargames Research Group)
[ http://www.wrg.me.uk/WRG.net/History/HOTT2.pdf ]
Intended for 10-15mm figures, HOTT is a free, very simple wargame that
isn't tied to a miniatures line and includes rules to design your own
armies. I haven't played it, but it's got a strong following on the 'Net.
Warmachine/Hordes (Privateer Press) [ http://privateerpress.com ]
A pair of very popular skirmish wargames based on the old Iron Kingdoms
RPG by the same company. The setting uses a steampunk-magitek tech level,
featuring large steampunk mechs called Warjacks. Price per miniature can
be comparible to Games Workshop stuff, but armies have less on the table
so the buy-in is cheaper.
* * SCI-FI * *
Warhammer 40,000 (Games Workshop)
Based on an old 15mm skirmish game called Laserburn by Bryan Ansell.
Bears only passing resemblance to its older fantasy counterpart, but is
much more popular. There are space-orks and space-elves, and the four
Chaos Gods were the Big Bad (just like WFB) until the Necrons joined the
line in 1998-99.
WH40K can be expensive, but the miniatures can be fun to paint and the
game fits the "Big, Stupid Fun", beer & pretzels role very well.
Infinity (Corvus Belli) [ http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/ ]
A sort of Anime skirmish game, but I don't know too much about it.
If you're interseted in tinkering with your own sci-fi setting, or if you
like to write up back-stories for military units yourself, there's
always...
Stargrunt II (Ground Zero Games) [ http://shop.groundzerogames.net/ ]
Written in 1996, Stargrunt is a free, hard sci-fi wargame intended for
15-25mm miniatures. Jon (the owner) sells a very nice range of miniatures
and there are a number of other manufacturers that produce 15mm
miniatures as well.
Stargrunt II is modeled around real squad-based tactics, and is best
played with about two or three platoons for each army. There is no points
system for building armies; the idea is to come up with interesting
scenarios.
If Stargrunt looks a bit complex, Fast & Dirty (WeaselFierce) is a
streamlined rules set that was inspired by this game.
[ http://www.freewebs.com/weaselfierce/ ]
* * HISTORICAL * *
Black Powder (Warlord Games) [ http://www.warlordgames.com/ ]
Black Powder (spanning 1700-1900) was based on the old Warmaster Fantasy
rules by Games Workshop (Warlord includes several old GW alumni) and
takes a toolbox approach to army design.
There are several basic army lists in the book for several periods to
start with, but there are also options to customize the units. For those
who really want to use points to build armies, they've included a points
system in the back of the book.
I'm using Black Powder for my own homebrew setting.
I hope this helps!
--
Step 1. Declare targets.
Step 2. Roll perfectly on your shooting just to watch the other player
pass all of his Morale Saves.
Step 3. Jazz Hands!
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