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This isn't against Games Workshops prices, I have no problem with them per se, just to get in to the game is quite expensive and I have many friends interested in starting table top wargaming.

I play 40k and Warmachine, I know how expensive 40k can be and how inexpensive Warmachine is in comparison, but you're still looking at closer to £150 for Prime, the army book and your first list etc. etc.

So, what's a great priced game to get in to? Good model set, good rules etc. etc.

Pro's and con's so on and so forth, and why do you play a certain game over others? For example, I've never seen someone play Infinity or Hell Dorado but on certain boards I go on they're the bigger alternative than WM/H.

So... Go!

Well, Texas Hold'em can be very cheap or even very profitable depending on your skill level.

But really most table top games are about the same cost wise to stay competitive.
Look at PP games; you can get a smaller army to start with, and play the Mangled Metal/Claw and Fang tourneys for a very low starting cost. When you move up to full on Steam Roller with multiple lists, you're shelling out just as much for that as you would a solid 40K army.
Or if you're looking for something lighter to play, look at monsterpocolypse (or whatever it is). It's fun, and pre-painted. Just don't take it too seriously.
You can play GW games on the cheap side, just start slow with small Kill Team games, and work your way up. One of the bigger road blocks in the hobby is the start up costs of paint/brushes/razor knives/files/green stuff/ etc.

Necromunda and Mordheim come to mind: The rules are free to download from the GW site and you can easily get minis from other companies to fit the theme of the gang/warband you want to play.

BrookM wrote:Necromunda and Mordheim come to mind: The rules are free to download from the GW site and you can easily get minis from other companies to fit the theme of the gang/warband you want to play.

Definitely this.

I would actually suggest that the Necromunda models are very well priced, a basic gang for about £20 I think or as Brook suggests any other minis.

Both are great games (necro edges it IMHO) and the availablility of the rules makes it a good one to drag friends in with. And the will get dragged in, improving you gangers is suprisingly addictive. Having 3-4 mates in a Necrod campaign is one of the best experiences you can have in TTG and probably would use less that 50 minis for all of you (you dont need GW minis to play btw). Tables/Terrain are inportant but this can be a good group exercise as well.

If you want a good war game the Kampfe Group Normandy is selling at half price from WH historicals. A good WW2 game and WW2 minis in 20mm are very cheap in comparison to GW, vehicles are even cheaper.

I also picked up Tomorrow War (Generic sci Fi rules) from Amazon for £14.70 which is pretty cheap for a decent set of rules that can be used with any miniatures.

I would like to throw Brushfire out there. Small, skirmish game, currently the PDF is on sale for a buck at Wargame Vault, and one of the companies reps Cyporiean is here on Dakka most of the time, when she is not heading to a convention.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/415838.page

Anthromorphic animal, Mordheim-esque is how I tend to explain it to folks..

notprop wrote:If you want a good war game the Kampfe Group Normandy is selling at half price from WH historicals. A good WW2 game and WW2 minis in 20mm are very cheap in comparison to GW, vehicles are even cheaper.

ATTENTION DUELLISTS, the Warhammer Historical sale runs until the 8th of this month! Thought I'd throw it out there.

Infinity and Malifaux also both have very low model counts and free rules.

BrookM wrote:Necromunda and Mordheim come to mind: The rules are free to download from the GW site and you can easily get minis from other companies to fit the theme of the gang/warband you want to play.

Definitely this.

Alternatively, Infinity or Maliflux. Another new game is MERCS, although I haven't tried that one yet I think it is playable with just 5 models a side.

If you want to use the 40k setting/minis, but with a smaller count, I would recommend getting the Tomorrow's War AAR book.

Or, if you are in to historicals there is a new ruleset called SAGA: The Dark Ages, which is very cheap to get into.

To put it mildly, there are lots of skirmish scale games that aren't GW, many of which have very good rulesets and with models which are at the the very least comparable (if not better, when considering Infinity).

Pacific wrote:

BrookM wrote:Necromunda and Mordheim come to mind: The rules are free to download from the GW site and you can easily get minis from other companies to fit the theme of the gang/warband you want to play.

Definitely this.

Alternatively, Infinity or Maliflux. Another new game is MERCS, although I haven't tried that one yet I think it is playable with just 5 models a side.

If you want to use the 40k setting/minis, but with a smaller count, I would recommend getting the Tomorrow's War AAR book.

Or, if you are in to historicals there is a new ruleset called SAGA: The Dark Ages, which is very cheap to get into.

To put it mildly, there are lots of skirmish scale games that aren't GW, many of which have very good rulesets and with models which are at the the very least comparable (if not better, when considering Infinity).

Subjective, because I think infinity is vile.

I think I can get my friends in to Malifaux because its kind of creepy, pro's and con's people, pro's and con's.

I second Brushfire and would also suggest Blackwater Gulch, if wild west skirmish games take your fancy. You can obtain the rules cheaply if you want a hard copy and I think there is a PDF available too. Scenery is easy to get hold of (plenty of low cost papercraft buildings out there) and you can get an outlaw or sherriff posse or what have you from someone like Black Scorpion miniatures for under £20 or so.

filbert wrote:I second Brushfire and would also suggest Blackwater Gulch, if wild west skirmish games take your fancy. You can obtain the rules cheaply if you want a hard copy and I think there is a PDF available too. Scenery is easy to get hold of (plenty of low cost papercraft buildings out there) and you can get an outlaw or sherriff posse or what have you from someone like Black Scorpion miniatures for under £20 or so.

Aye, if you register for Blackwater Gulch you can download the rules free of charge.

Have to say that GW games don't have to be expensive. Get an ebay account and start watching different 40K or WFB figures. You can get certain armies pretty cheaply if you wait for the right lots to come up. So you may have to do a bit of painting and remodelling, but it beats the RRP prices.
Have to say that Warmachine and Hordes do not seem "cheap" to me. As someone said, all the main games are a fair old price. The cost of casting metal has gone up a lot in the last five years.
For historical you could always pick up 20mm plastic figures for all sorts of eras pretty cheaply (I have some Airfix/ESCI type Napoleonics I got for about 2 pounds for 50 inf / 12 cavalry.
The DBA game can use 6mm to 28mm figures from any manufacturer and only needs 12 bases per side. I have some 10mm metals from UK suppliers - still cheap and easy to paint (and only needs a 2 x 2 board to play on).
In the end it depends what most players in your area are doing. I still have three WFB armies as my regular opponent doesn't play anything else but GW! I am trying to convert him to Flames of War now - some hope.

For something a little different and most certainly cheaper, how about Firestorm Armada? Basicaly spaceship combat. Rule book as about $15, all the basic fleets are downloadable from Spartan Games as paper cut out fleets. The basic starter fleet (x10 ships) is a bargain around $30.

Its well supported by Spartan Games and new stuff is coming out all the time. All new rules are posted online for you to download.

I'll look in to Firestorm, seems up my friends street.

Basically I'm really looking for an inroad, something which will really capture the imagination and not hurt the wallets of my friends.

I just looked through my basement of stuff and I realized I have Legends Of The Old West by Warhammer Historical, really enjoyed the read, I think I can get together some warbands with friends.

cricketofdeth wrote:Look at PP games; you can get a smaller army to start with, and play the Mangled Metal/Claw and Fang tourneys for a very low starting cost. When you move up to full on Steam Roller with multiple lists, you're shelling out just as much for that as you would a solid 40K army.

This statement is simply not true. A solid, competitive 40k army will be anywhere from $6-700. Two Steam Roller lists can be done for around $250. Neither of these include the rulebook costs.

adameast wrote:Basically I'm really looking for an inroad, something which will really capture the imagination and not hurt the wallets of my friends.

Do your friends collect comic books? I think WizKids is still producing HeroClix. If not, there has to be at least some type of clix game still on the market.

Monsterpocalypse, D&D miniatures, or any other type of pre-painted miniatures are always a good starter for tabletop wargaming.

adameast wrote:

Subjective, because I think infinity is vile.

I think I can get my friends in to Malifaux because its kind of creepy, pro's and con's people, pro's and con's.

Haha right, I should have specified in terms of sculpt detail!

The wonders of subjectivity, where one person can find beauty, another can find.. erm.. villainy (no that's wrong .. vileness?!)

One of the good things about life I suppose, although if I were leader of a totalitarian regime I would force people to like them! (And specifically, make Kanluwen build and paint several daktari cat doctors, one for each colour of the rainbow )

On Topic, there was a re-release of a Wild West game a couple of years ago, which lots of people were playing at my club (the name escapes me however). There is also the bonus of some of those great Wild-West buildings from Saritosa precision which are very reasonably priced (http://www.sarissa-precision.co.uk/)

Go for 15mm sci fi skirmish games, miniatures are sold for peanuts and have great detail these days and many rulings are for free.

Songs of blades and heroes you can use any fantasy miniatures and rules are also cheap.

Yes, you should play Blackwater Gulch (shameless Plug)

I made the rules to purposely be fun with as little as 5 models, but you can go as big as you want. I wanted an alternative to the big-army-big-wallet games. I have my own minis in the pipeline but Black Scorpion makes great stuff and their Tombstone line is perfect, and they sell a lot of em in batches of 5 which is all you need for a gang. I'll eventually be doing all kinds of other settings too, just thought the wild west would be a fun and less common setting to start with.

You can get really cheap papercraft buildings from Whitewash City, or go with the laser cut wood buildings from Sarissa or Gamecraft. I haven't tried Gamecraft yet, but will be getting some of their stuff soon.

Hi folks.
My cheapest wargame start up.
Full Thrust space ship combat game rules.(Free down load.)
12 space ships on flying bases from EM4 minatures £2.50
Dark blue plain table cloth ( charity shop, £2.00)

A bit of paint and planetoidy crafting.

Cool fun game for less than £5!

I am suprised no one has mentioned Mantic Games.
They sell Army Boxes of about 100 minatures for less than £100.
And they include the rule book and ALL the current army lists free!

Most historical rules sets are reasonably prices (or free!).And the wide variety of manufactureres mean competative prices.(PSC WWII infanty and vehicles are great value IMO.)

Also, here's a great little site with links to a bajillion free wargame rules

http://www.freewargamesrules.co.uk/

ambler wrote:Have to say that GW games don't have to be expensive. Get an ebay account and start watching different 40K or WFB figures. You can get certain armies pretty cheaply if you wait for the right lots to come up. So you may have to do a bit of painting and remodelling, but it beats the RRP prices.

BrookM wrote:Necromunda and Mordheim come to mind: The rules are free to download from the GW site and you can easily get minis from other companies to fit the theme of the gang/warband you want to play.

Agree with both of the above. The popularity of 40k really helps this, since there is SO much of it on eBay for cheap. You can pick up some disinterested kid's whole collection (including rulebooks and codex) pretty cheaply. Even if books aren't included, you can pick up a AOBR copy of the rulebook for a fiver...

And, completely theoretically, if evil people burst into your house and forced you at gunpoint to illegally download 40k rules and codexes, you'd have a much better chance than if they wanted Infinity....

Necromunda is also a great game. Ten models of any type to start and a bit of easily made terrain, plus free rules. If someone is starting out, you can even plan this into the start of a 40k army...

adameast wrote:Subjective, because I think infinity is vile.

I think I can get my friends in to Malifaux because its kind of creepy, pro's and con's people, pro's and con's.

I play both Infinity and Malifaux and find both games to be great.
This is coming from someone that still enjoys 40k.

Also, the rules for both games are available online.

Each game's models are like $10 for a single human-sized model or cheaper if you buy them online from places like TheWarstore.
Boxed sets can help you get up and running for cheaper.
Both games can basically be played right out of the box.

INFINITY:
Pros:
+ The game is not I go You Go.. Both players are doing something meaningful during each active player's turn. I can't emphasize this enough.
+ Rules are free online.
+ Immensely Strategic and Tactical gameplay. Your skill really matters significantly more than your army list.
+ Each individual model really matters and has a good chance of making a difference.
+ Realistic and believable world. No magic. Bullets are lethal.
+ Roll a d20 for all actions, so there is less randomness and games are less swingy.
+ Official forums are great.
+ Really no rules confusions.
+ Absurdly detailed models.
Cons:
- If you make a mistake, your models can and probably will die. High-ish learning curve. Unforgiving game.
- Critical hits can be annoying at times, but it's a 1-in-20 chance.
- Rulebook is a bit confusing.
- Anime-aesthetic. Some factions like Nomads take this to the extreme. Some like Ariadna are cool and gritty and have the odd sexualized model. Mostly fine in other factions. (I personally hate anime and love this game).
- Conversion opportunities are difficult
- Not 40k-scale (some people find this to be a con)
- Models can and oftentimes do have really thin connections.

Malifaux
Pros:
+ Rules are free online.
+ Game is alternating activations (with exceptions). You won't spend much time being the non-active player. Also, there are many triggers which allow you to act during another player's turn.
+ You flip cards (pretty much standard 52-card deck of cards) instead of rolling. Not a gimmick. For example, you flip a card to shoot a gun (high numbers good). If you get a certain suit, you have a chance of triggering a "headshot". You have to balance whether you want a high number or whether you want a specific suit. Makes the game really interesting.
+ You have a hand of cards. These are essentially "saved" card flips that you can use to replace any flip you don't like. Or you can discard cards for effects. Or you can force your opponent to discard. Makes it a cool resource.
+ You flip a card for each action, so it's like rolling a d13. Less random than games that use d6s.
+ Unlike Warmahordes, caster-kill is rather difficult.
+ Easy to expand your force. There are plenty of options across several masters, and you can even dip into choices from other factions and mercenaries sometimes.
+ Characterful models
+ Aside from GW and PP games, Malifaux is the most popular miniatures game in the US
Cons:
- Card-flipping seems like a gimmick at first
- There are tons of triggers. They're easy to miss if you're not paying attention. Know your models.
- The cards provided don't really fit in any protectors.
- Balance between masters is somewhat questionable, but nothing as bad as 40k.
- 32mm models are of a strange scale compared to the more common 28mm models. Also the lipped bases are strange for people that don't play Warmahordes.
- The model range greatly varies from "cool" to "goofy" to "stupid". Your mileage may vary.

If you're looking for a good game for cheap, Combat Storm might be worth a look. It uses plastic army men (the green and tan things that have been around for a long time), so cost wise it's very cheap. It has the turn structure like Malifaux, so I move and shoot a squad, you move and shoot a squad, then we continue until the game is deemed over. You only need a few dice to play. The company sells 4 tanks at $13USD. The game can be played in either a skirmish level, or as a mass battle game. I really suggest you checking it out.

Even though i havent played a game i cannot say enough good things about Tommorow's war. It is scalable and very Realistic without being Overly complex. You can have games between about 8 guys a side (2 fireteams). Up to whole infantry platoons with mechanised support, Mecha - nized support and aircraft.

It does not have an official miniatures range and positively encourages using your existing model collection.

Its main barrier to entry is the fact it does not have a points system. You basically have to guess what's a fair fight or use one of their (well made) scenarios.

And you can use your 40k models with only a little bit of creative intepretation of the, robust, ruleset.

I suppose it is worth mentioning that The game is ideally (as in if you are being very, very, very beardy) suited to 20mm.

dust tactics is a good one ,
not too strange like malifax and others
and you can get the core boxset for £50ish so split between two works out nice ,
also there prepaints so if they dont wanna paint them they dont have to .

Off-topic digression redacted -Mannahnin


Are we talking cheapest to play at standard game size, or cheapest to play in any capacity period?

i recommend melding a cheap game with a solid playgroup. its all well and good to find a cheap game you like, but if you cant find an opponent your kind of assed out.

+1 for malifaux, and to a lesser extent warmahordes which can be pretty cheap if you know your playstyle.

ArbitorIan wrote: And, completely theoretically, if evil people burst into your house and forced you at gunpoint to illegally download 40k rules and codexes, you'd have a much better chance than if they wanted Infinity....

The codexes can be pretty cheap if you use ArmyBuilder as well. No way would I pay £20 plusr for a GW codex or army book.

Hell Dorado (http://cipher-studios.com/category/helldorado/)? AE-WW2/AE-Bounty(http://darksondesigns.com/)?

Believe it or not War of the Ring/Lord of the rings is an inexpensive GW game.