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You definitely need to choose a game that other people will want to play.

There are three approaches to this.

1. Find out the popular games locally and pick on.
2. Pick a ruleset that can use a variety of figures. Songs of Blades and Heroes was mentioned earlier as an example. Then people can use whatever fantasy figures they already own.
3. Pick a game or ruleset and make two armies. De Bellis Antiquitatis is the classic example from Historicals. Because the armies are small it's a lot easier to build and carry them around.

I'd also suggest Battlegroup from Ironfist Publishing for WW2 games if modern history is your thing. A very tidy set of rules and you could get two 20mm armies together for less than £100 if you use plastic soldier company.

As always, I will recommend Battletech.

Original, slower paced beer and pretzels version, which you can make as complicated as any game you can imagine. Or not.

Or faster play Alpha Strike, using the same minis.

Minis are readily available on the secondary markets, as are some of the books.

Infinity is my game of choice, but it ain't cheap unless you're VERY strict with yourself; there's so many options you'll want to try them all! Plus, MDF terrain soon adds up [although the cardstock terrain is an option].

Probably the cheapest games I've gotten into recently are Mordheim [bought Perry Miniatures European Infantry for £15, downloaded all of the rules, job done] and Bushido, as it requires so few models and rules are also available for free.

Do not neglect the possibility of repurposing the GW miniatures that you already own.

Fantasy is easy - while I can highly recommend Kings of War there are other very good fantasy miniatures games out there - that do not care whether or not you are using 'official' miniatures.

Even starting over in Kings of War, $250 goes a long way for Mantic miniatures.

WH40K is harder - but you may be able to use them in Deadzone. Marines for the Enforcers, Orks for, well, Orcs.

Malifaux is good, as is Frostgrave.

The Auld Grump

Back on the Marvel hype train, because Marvel.

They just released the rulebook for the game as a free download.

http://knightmodels-store.com/WebRoot/Store19/Shops/afaa2a23-c31d-4ae6-b1cd-12757513fd3b/5786/5A10/6163/74B6/C341/0A48/3548/4E24/MUMG_Rulebook_.pdf

If you like post-apocalyptic settings check out Wreck Age.

The rules allow for miniature gaming or RPG gaming, and it has a fairly diverse range of metal miniatures with more coming out very shortly, including resin watercraft with a post-apoc theme.

I have been enjoying building scenery for my Wreck Age table. Because the game is set in the future but after an apocalypse, you can have a lot of fun building terrain or objectives that mix sci-fi with modern and even retro elements to produce some quirky pieces.

For example, I am currently working on a lobster boat model that I've grated armor plates to the hull and added a plasma-like cannon turret to the bow. It looks funky and cool and has really rejuvenated my interested in terrain building and model kit-bashing.

 Compel wrote:
Back on the Marvel hype train, because Marvel.

They just released the rulebook for the game as a free download.

http://knightmodels-store.com/WebRoot/Store19/Shops/afaa2a23-c31d-4ae6-b1cd-12757513fd3b/5786/5A10/6163/74B6/C341/0A48/3548/4E24/MUMG_Rulebook_.pdf

Is there stats for heroes online for models to try out the game??

Could you go cheap with heroclix instead??

A lot of hero stats have seemed to make their way online; check in the Knights Models news thread. At least the villains are all shown. You could easily use heroclix. Granted, I hate heroclix models, but if thags what you want to use, you totally could.

The stats for every hero is on the Knight models store page. You go into the entry for that model, then hidden between the stock levels and the "add to cart" button is a link called "Product Data Sheet" - clicking on this link gives you the page for the models stats.

Guildball by Steamforged games has all their rules,paper dolls, templates,cards, and tokens able to be printed out and tried for free. Give it a try...

http://steamforged.com/guildball

https://anvilindustry.co.uk/AFTERLIFE

This is what you are after

Walk into a local FLGS, see what other people locally are playing, and give that game a serious look.

Infinity and KoW are both great, relatively cheap, games with fairly solid playerbases, and I'd recommend either, but there is no point if you won't have any opponents.

If I ever quit GW for good, I will definitely go for SAGA with crusaders.

First off, look at your FLGS and see what people are playing. Seems like a lot of common games are dead in my area, Warmachine and Infinity are not popular at all where I live.

I first left 40k to play Flames of War, which is still my favorite but somewhat dying in my area. Another one bites the dust, speaking of Dust . Then got into Warmachine but like before, its hard to find people to play with. If lots of people play Warmachine in your area I would recommend it, strong rules, good looking models and over all well rounded lists. Though im a novice and no expert at this game.

Currently I am playing X-wing and starting to get into Bolt Action. Both games are pretty strong in my area and have good rules. I personally am leaning towards playing Bolt Action more because I like 28mm armies that I can build and paint.

WMH is good but not much cheaper than 40k.

 wuestenfux wrote:
WMH is good but not much cheaper than 40k.

Model for model or army for army?

Let's not get into that argument again.

The OP is bored with GW and wants a change of pace.

Lots of good suggestions. Mantic would be nice and if you like the models you have you can use them as part of a KoW army. Dreadball is super cheap and fun. Beyond the Gates of Antares is not so cheap yet unless you have the starter armies in plastic, but again, maybe mix and match with what you have. Warpath will maybe be ready by the end of the year.

Either way, good luck!

 Fifty wrote:
https://anvilindustry.co.uk/AFTERLIFE

This is what you are after

Selling him a system that it's own creator barely bothers to support? He'd do well to stay the hell away from that. Creator made it very clear Afterlife got back-burnered in favour of yet another bunch of generic not-GW-imitation miniatures.

You have alot of great choices right now since I stopped buying GW stuff as a protest I've played:

X-wing
Armada
Batman mini game
Flames of war
Zombiecide which is great for group play
Battletech
Alphastrike

And I'm still considering bolt action and a few other games, and with all that I've spent less than I would of on GW.

ill throw another vote in for infinity.
all of the rules are free and the system is great.
some people claim that it I too complicated but just like any system you can leave out what you don't like or find confusing.

its also a great time to get started with two awesome starter sets out there or you can always sub your own stuff easily.

I'd take this as an opportunity to take ownership of your hobby and stop looking for a combined rules + figures solution from a single company. First thing I'd do is find a good set of rules and use your existing collection to play a different sort of game.

As for looking at what's locally played and joining in on that, I'd caution against it. Given that painting, planning and prep is often the majority of the hobby time spent for many people, doing something that speaks to you might be more important. If you prioritize getting in games over that though, then by all means look around a bit and join in on the fun that's already going on.

If it's a question of using existing minis, just turn back the clock and play the rules and codex edition that you actually enjoy.

Otherwise, switch to boardgaming that requires no prep work.

But if you're starting new, start something small.

 luky7dayz wrote:
Cheapish (dropping 200 dollars to start the hobby is fine, 250 for 2 player boxes also acceptable)

You may want to try historicals. Rules are written by editors. Minis are cast by manufacturers... And they're not the same. Any mini can be used with any game. And some of these games may even be free.

Let's take two examples.

I built three DBA/HOTT armies from Baccus (6mm) for 50€. With enough extra minis to field a fourth (mercenary) army for 2vs2 games

(pics from my project log)





Not too bad for the cost of one Deathwatch squad.


I also built four 1500 pts Trafalgar fleets for £50 with two 1:2400 packs from FigureHead. Pics are not up to date (fleets are finished), but basically, just add the ships from the two pics.


First pack (FNF-11)


Second pack (FNF-1 + 1 extra 1st rate spanish ship).
I may need to take a picture of all the finished fleets put together.

I love small scales : dirt cheap, quite easy to store/move, and painting them is a breeze since the "above average" painting level is much, much lower than the 28mm one (which has become quite insane).

You can also try to go the 1/72 way. Lots of manufacturers like Zvezda, Italeri, HaT, Caesar... Sure, quality is not GW's quality, but the cost is definitely not the same. You're not paying 45€ for 10 minis. But 10€ for 45 minis.
A 1500 pts Warhammer Ancients army made of 1/72 minis would cost something like 30-40€.
Same cost for a 1500 pts Bolt Action zergling russian army with 90 infantrymen and two tanks.

I suggest AFTERLIFE:

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/692818.page#top


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 Bolognesus wrote:

 Fifty wrote:
https://anvilindustry.co.uk/AFTERLIFE

This is what you are after

Selling him a system that it's own creator barely bothers to support? He'd do well to stay the hell away from that. Creator made it very clear Afterlife got back-burnered in favour of yet another bunch of generic not-GW-imitation miniatures.

I only just noticed that you posted in this thread, when also realising that I was posting for a second time.

My Grandmother always taught me that if you don't have anything good to say, then say nothing at all. I guess yours did not, as this seems to be a major issue for you.

You are A) wrong, and B) deliberately sabotaging something out of what seems to be some sort of spite or childish fit of pique. If it fails, it fails, but please stop trying to make failure more likely, as I would like to see it succeed.

JohnHwangDD, your avatar is the highlight of my day.



I'm kind of crushed that nobody has mentioned Star Trek: Attack Wing yet. Same premise as X-Wing, but with Trek Universe so more variety than simply two factions.

Plenty of good advice here: Rather than just repeat it, I'll chip in by adding the games I have been enjoying greatly


1) SAGA

2) Frostgrave

3) Ronin

4) Lion Rampant using Perry Miniatures

5) Fighting Sail

Who cares if Afterlife is barely supported? They are beautiful hard sci-fi minis and there's a thousand indie rulesets to use them with. Have fun!

 Just Tony wrote:
JohnHwangDD, your avatar is the highlight of my day.



I'm kind of crushed that nobody has mentioned Star Trek: Attack Wing yet. Same premise as X-Wing, but with Trek Universe so more variety than simply two factions.

I feel like it's just so much more needlessly complex. I had both. I got rid of my attack wing stuff. Plus the models suck; Wizkids just recycled Heroclix models, and those things are terribad.