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I've been mostly out of the hobby for a good long while and I'm curious as to what folks in these parts consider to be the best two-player starter boxes and why.

Privateer Press does a pretty fantastic one with both their Warmachine and Hordes 2 player starters. I've heard good things about Operation Icestorm from Corvus Belli as well.

Malifaux now has a two player starter set that comes complete and allows you to play straight out of the box.

Infinity's Operation Icestorm is good. Not many models, but they're fantastic sculpts, and the card terrain in the box is pretty damn good too. The rules and aesthetic you'll either love or hate.

GW's starter sets are still among the best out there if you're looking for models-for-your-money. The 40k and Age of Sigmar sets are both chock full of some very good quality minis, though as a starter for the game the 40k one in particular is less good just in terms of the portion of a 'full' army you get in the box.

X-wing's is pretty cheap (compared to the rest of the range), but I couldn't tell you how much value you'll get out of just one X-wing and 2 TIE Fighters. That said, compare it's price to other starter sets and you could grab another 2-3 ships and still come out cheaper.

Halo Fleet Battles has a lot in, the only issue is that it's all quite similar stuff, lots of multiples of the same stuff.

For a good start the Malifaux, Infinity, and Warmachine / Hordes starters are all top rate. I'm not personally familiar with Infinity but I know it's short on terrain. The Warmachine and Hordes starters are full playable forces that only need a unit or two to be up to standard play level. While the leaders and Beasts/Warjacks are good long term, unfortunately the basic units included are often considered sub-par. The Malifaux starter is missing terrain and doesn't contain a standard force but is actualy made for starting players with a how to play scenarios and the models in it can be used in any other faction due to special rules.

GW may still lead in models per dollar but the 40K starter is unballanced and only about half a standard game for the "hero" side from what I remember of the last one I bought. Meanwhile Age of Sigmar is a very polarizing rule set.

The Dark Vengeance boxed set contains the best plastics in the industry.

 Laughing Man wrote:
Privateer Press does a pretty fantastic one with both their Warmachine and Hordes 2 player starters. I've heard good things about Operation Icestorm from Corvus Belli as well.

I started out Warmachine with the two player started set and much of the Khador side still anchors my army and does well(poor Man O' War though). Pretty soon I'll actually get around to the Menoth side and teach the kids to play in a year or two.

Definitely the Warmachine/Hordes starter boxes. Great cores to armies to build upon. Likewise, my Khador army is built up from this set and I still use the Man O' Wars.

The Operation Ice Storm starter is magnificent in terms of everything. The sculpts are amazing, the scenery is beautiful and comes with lots of neat stuff.

X-Wing is a great starter set, but more of a game than a hobby.

I'll put in a good word for Infinity Operation Icestorm too. Great models, nice starter mission to teach the core rules and nice paper buildings and crates.

Dropzone Command is also a great 2 player start, for much of the reason above plus it come with the full rule book.

For sheer number of minis the American Civil War Battle in a Box from Perry Miniatures is worth mentioning. Over 170 minis plus rules and some scenery for £90 is simply remarkable value.

When I'll find the time to get everything in that box built and painted is another matter entirely.

I wanna say BattleTech, although it's not touted as a '2 player box'. It's just a box with 26 'Mechs in it, which is more than enough for tons of games, even with more than 2 sides.

Bolt Action isn't too bad. Though the real value with Bolt Action is the army sets. If you buy the 2 player starter + a couple of army sets.

40k has a good starter set.... but everything that comes after the starter set is horrible

Infinity's Icestorm set is pretty cool. Pretty nice metal figures and surprisingly good terrain. Most terrain-heavy games struggle with having it in the starter.

X-Wing's starters are both pretty good. They're not great without at least a couple more ships added to each side, but they're cheap enough that that's not much of a problem.

The Warmachine/Hordes boxes for the above reasons. And The Drop Zone Commander Starter is great as well. Two balanced forces, maps, and really nice card buildings. The thing I loved about this set is the starting point it puts you at. Any other time I start a game with a new/different scale you are always starting from scratch. This game put me right in the middle of it. I haven't had to buy any terrain for it so far.

Indeed, the starter sets from PP, both Warmachine and Hordes, are very good.
I'd start with a Warmachine army if you are interested in, since Hordes is a bit more involved for the beginner - dual thinking.

Another +1 here for Operation Icestorm. Although newbie modellers might find it difficult at first with the metal minis they are outstanding quality. And the beginner terrain pack and starter missions are great for getting you going with what, in my opinion, is the best sci-fi/skirmish wargame on the market right now.

I also really like the X-Wing set, and especially the new one with the Force Awakens style ships for the price will make a cool little stocking filler.

Finally, Gates of Antares reminds me of the old 2nd edition 40k box. Absolutely packed with stuff and a great hefty rulebook inside.

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Age of Sigmar has a ton of models in it, if I recall.

Xwing also has an enjoyable game right out of the starter.

Assault on Blsck Reach and Battle for Mscragge were both good boxes, too. Maybe not to heavy in models in the latter, but the crashed Aquila lander was top.

The Perry one wins in pure value for money. It really has everything you need for a game.

Dark Vengeance is one of the best out there in my opinion, really good well made miniatures included and plenty of them also.

Age of Sigmar seems pretty good value too models wise, it is a box packed full of models and has simple easy to learn rules, it is quite popular with newcomers to the hobby and people coming back to it alike.

If models are not your priority or you are not a fan of GW or its aesthetics then Star wars X-wing is a pretty cool little game, the starter sets have a few ships, and everything you need to get going, the rules too are pretty straight forward and easy to learn whilst also being cheap. Everything is all pre painted as well, which is a bonus for some people.

I'm surprised there's been little mention of Dropzone Commander.



It's the single greatest starter set I've played (in saying that, I've not played Infinity and Icestorm is often mentioned alongside it).

It comes with the full game rulebook, something often missing from most starter sets.

The thing with most starter sets is that, well, they're kinda boring... Sure, they're fine for learning rules and deciding whether you like the game or not but after the first couple of games, normally it's a case of *yawn.*

DZC, I've played literally 20-ish starter set games nowa nd I still haven't fully 'cracked' the strategy for it. And one of the other awesome things is, the other starter armies that you can buy are all pointed up the same, so, say, if your mate likes PHR, he can spend £32 on that and play against you in the starter game.

Interesting that the AoS starter set has been mentioned.
I'd consider it as some kind of board game. Play with the models inside and don't bother to buy new models.
Too expensive and the rule set is the worst ever.

Dropzone commander is great in that all larger games will still use what you get in the starter set.

'Dropzone Commander' is incredibly tempting and may just scratch that old epic itch.

It's on my 'tempted' list, for that reason. Especially after more and more infantry are getting released, as well as some truly big tanks, like the new UCM commander in a superheavy.

The AOS starter is a great starter for Kings of War.

Well, only if you want both sides. The Stormcast half (for Basilea/Ogres) can be had on Ebay for as low as 45 bucks with free shipping. And when basing 3-man troops like Ogres you technically will need two more Liberators for the Stormcast side, so you can have four troops or two regiments, unless of course you want one of the standard 10 liberators from the starter to use as a hero.

Actually, you can get the entire starter for $60 right now on eBay. AOS's quick descent into clearance pricing makes for cheap minis for other games.

I played a 2500pt game of Dropzone Commander recently.





At the core of both armies were actually 2 starter sets. - Everything in those 2 starter sets was used in each army.

This is kinda easier now, really as you can buy the standalone plastic sets of those armies for £30-£35 now.

 joseph_curwen wrote:
'Dropzone Commander' is incredibly tempting and may just scratch that old epic itch.

DZC is fairly close in terms of scale but it has completely different mechanics to Epic, the two play absolutely nothing alike.

If you want something like Epic I would recommend waiting to see what the new Age of Tyrants game is like, which will probably have similar, multi-company scale combat. (there is a thread in the Misc games section: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/650957.page )