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Hey everyone. I play board games pretty heavily, and love miniatures (think imperial assault by FFG if you've heard of it). I've dabbled in 40k before, quite a few years ago. Long story short, I want to get back into either 40k or Age of Sigmar, and I can't decide which one! Any suggestions, recommendations, tips, or other things would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!
*also posted on the 40k forums*

Depends on what you're looking for in a game. AoS is not at all what you want if you're after a competitive game. I'm told it handles scenarios well. 40k is unbalanced, but at least tries to give you a point system to work with, making it much easier to pick up and play with randoms at gaming stores while AoS seems to need a much more close knit group with similar ideas on exactly how it should be played.

The rules for AoS are free (and 4 pages), so go see if you like it. If you do, the starter set is good value with a lot of excellent models. If you are familiar with the board game scene, Sam Healey of Dice Tower did a video series on AoS where they painted the figures and played a game of it.

40k doesn't have free rules, which is both the extent of my knowledge on 40k, and the reason for it.

AOS is easier to learn and play than 40k. Look into Kings of War for better value miniatures.

Either way buy used minis on eBay and save tons of money. Then look into Simple Green.

My advice to you would be to skim over both settings and seee which you like best, and go from there.

The starter set is great value, but not necessary if you don't like either of the armies in it, as all the rules for the game are free on the GW website. If you like a different army more, the Start Collecting sets are also excellent bundles.

 jonolikespie wrote:
Depends on what you're looking for in a game. AoS is not at all what you want if you're after a competitive game. I'm told it handles scenarios well. 40k is unbalanced, but at least tries to give you a point system to work with, making it much easier to pick up and play with randoms at gaming stores while AoS seems to need a much more close knit group with similar ideas on exactly how it should be played.

Again I recommend actually following the scene... AoS has difficulty as a pickup game with strangers because of the lack of clear army building rules, but as a 'competitive' (as in tourney-worthy) game it has been seeing success. The largest WFB tournament, SCGT, is running it this year and all of the competitive players in the podcast community in the UK have been giving its events glowing reports.

First question. Why did you quit 40K in the first place? Knowing this, it can still be the same reason not to start 40K and or GW in general.

I think the real question is do you like swords-armour-bows-magic or swords-armour-guns-psychics?

Go for whatever takes your fancy really!

Another question is if you will be playing this with other wargamers of with friends who have no wargame experience? If the latter, AoS can be awesome to get your friends playing in 5mins. Not gonna happen in 40k without a lot of hand holding.

Lastly, do you want to build multiple armies or just one? If you want multiple armies the starter boxes are great - and for 40k DV is very important as it contains the rulebook. But if you just want one are the Start Collecting! boxes might be better.

You should dabble in the Chaos Daemons Start Collecting sets. That way you have models to use for both Fantasy and 40k.

Chaos is always good for that.

Find out what's played in your area. If everyone is playing xwing it would be a mistake to invest in a game nobody else plays.

I am someone who likes playing AoS, have played alot of games, but I will be the first to say the starter set is absolute garbage unless you like sigmarines and khorne. the set is useless unless you like those factions. the free rules and warscrolls make it completely unnecessary. The hardcover rulebook is also pretty useless unless you want the pictures. you would in my opinion be better served looking over the armies you like the look of, then grabbing a start collecting box from them and go from there. The game is a bit deceptive though on "cheaper" to get into. You can argue that you dont need as many models but the truth is, you do. small 20-30 model games of AoS are boring as hell. about 1-200+ models and you can get a real good scrap going. wouldn't touch 40k with a 10 foot pole. but I think the most important thing is "what can you get a game of locally" here I would recommend anything but GW. They are virtually extinct here. If you have a decent AoS community then jump right in. you can get good armies here on this site pretty cheap and folks are always offloading GW stuff.

I quit because I couldn't afford to keep up with the hobby, didn't enjoy the painting and assembling side, and was just inexperienced with gaming other than video games at the time. All of those issues have been solved though with practice, better paying job, and a lot of board gaming experience. I would be playing with people in the same boat as me; lots of board game experience, want to get into table top a bit.

LucarioB wrote:
I quit because I couldn't afford to keep up with the hobby, didn't enjoy the painting and assembling side, and was just inexperienced with gaming other than video games at the time. All of those issues have been solved though with practice, better paying job, and a lot of board gaming experience. I would be playing with people in the same boat as me; lots of board game experience, want to get into table top a bit.

I would say, you guys should try Malifaux. Its a great game, cheaper to get into ( a competitive crew is usually around $50, but easy to get cheaper online) and you can get some great terrain for it. With the terraclips buildings and streets of malifaux set it is not too far from board game, but still miniatures.

If there's a group of you take a look at the Start Collecting boxes. For 40k they are all formations and so are legal armies on their own, and for AoS the boxes are a nice start, if limited in terms of factions. But aside from the Malignants box I think the other 5 would be fairly good games against each other, and that's all the money you need to spend. $85 and you can get some fun games in with AoS.

For 40k you'd still need the core rules, but if there's a group of you and some people are on the fence you can all go in on a single rulebook for the group to use. That's what I did starting out and it helped not having to buy rules I might not like.

It's going to be hard to answer when you go back and forth through both forums. Good idea to get a sense of what people think but it can be one sided since people in 40K will say 40K and people in AoS will say AoS.

You said you will play with family and close friends. What kind of gamers are they? Will they make their own armies or will you make the armies and then people will play?

What kind of experience do your family want? Your friends? Do some want to have fun while others must win?

Also I guess is, what is the family and friends interested in? I mean what setting? Fantasy or sci-fi?

 Cirronimbus wrote:
If there's a group of you take a look at the Start Collecting boxes. For 40k they are all formations and so are legal armies on their own, and for AoS the boxes are a nice start, if limited in terms of factions. But aside from the Malignants box I think the other 5 would be fairly good games against each other, and that's all the money you need to spend. $85 and you can get some fun games in with AoS.

For 40k you'd still need the core rules, but if there's a group of you and some people are on the fence you can all go in on a single rulebook for the group to use. That's what I did starting out and it helped not having to buy rules I might not like.

This is also a good site to get 40k armies and rulebooks and codexs. I have generally done much better trading here than other sites or buying stuff. you can really get into games pretty budget wise.

I play the starter box as a self-contained board game of sorts. I like the factions included and despite the on-going gak-storm from other veteran players the rules are actually pretty interesting. IMO they're just as workable as WFB was, at least in 6th-8th editions.

The box is especially good if you use the two forces under the battalion rules and scenarios at the back of the nicely-done campaign/warscroll book that comes with the game. Adding on to the starter is where it gets pricey and a big reason why I'm just sticking with just the starter.

Viewed that way, AoS starter is a really nice product.
I also highly recommend watching this play through video where two players use just the starter set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8geGRMr7gag

privateer4hire wrote:
I play the starter box as a self-contained board game of sorts. I like the factions included and despite the on-going gak-storm from other veteran players the rules are actually pretty interesting. IMO they're just as workable as WFB was, at least in 6th-8th editions.

The box is especially good if you use the two forces under the battalion rules and scenarios at the back of the nicely-done campaign/warscroll book that comes with the game. Adding on to the starter is where it gets pricey and a big reason why I'm just sticking with just the starter.

Viewed that way, AoS starter is a really nice product.
I also highly recommend watching this play through video where two players use just the starter set.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8geGRMr7gag

the rules are pretty much warhammer fantasy with the vast majority of them removed and the remainder slightly tweeked. AoS really was not a new product, just a rehashed watered down version ( I wont call it dumbed down) of an old product. the more I play it the more familiar it gets. like most GW starters if you aren't into the factions it really offers nothing. with the rules and warscrolls being free, the "rulebook" it comes with really isn't worth the price. The only good thing I will say about the starter is if you are into the new factions then its the best way to get into the game. I definately agree as a standalone boardgame its not too bad, but it will get old fast. GW has lost its mojo on making good games. Now they are just "adequate". not good, not bad, just meh.

thekingofkings wrote:
I definately agree as a standalone boardgame its not too bad, but it will get old fast. GW has lost its mojo on making good games. Now they are just "adequate". not good, not bad, just meh.

What do you think is missing from the set? Rules content or the lack of terrain? I think the only thing missing from the starter sets nowadays is terrain as that would make them true "standalone" games. For obvious reasons, GW won't include all the great card terrain like they used to as they are now in the business of selling expensive plastic terrain kits as well as models.

Yes, the best advice is to see what others are playing in your area.
For the rules alone, neither system is all that good BUT the models do look awesome for either 40k or AOS.
The expense of models is steadily a growing concern.

Do you like science fiction or fantasy?

If you really liked fantasy, for the large battles "Kings of War" my friends are getting into and like it a lot (some of these guys have gamed for 20 odd years).
For fantasy small skirmish games Frostgrave is doing very well and I like the rules, it is like a better version of Mordheim.

If you really like science fiction, there are not many large battle systems... "Infinity" plays well.
"Gates of Antares" takes the "Bolt Action" rules and applies to science fiction.
Oddly, the above games are very much like early 40k rules which is not all that bad a thing.

As an odd mix, Malifaux is a steampunk-gothic-Victorian horror game (whew!).
If you are into a nightmare before Christmas setting gone bad, it has an awful lot of character.

Really popular is X-wing and SW: Armada is picking up steam for games with pre-painted models to it is a game that plays out of the box.

There, my best shot at getting you to look around and in the end: have fun.

 Bottle wrote:

thekingofkings wrote:
I definately agree as a standalone boardgame its not too bad, but it will get old fast. GW has lost its mojo on making good games. Now they are just "adequate". not good, not bad, just meh.

What do you think is missing from the set? Rules content or the lack of terrain? I think the only thing missing from the starter sets nowadays is terrain as that would make them true "standalone" games. For obvious reasons, GW won't include all the great card terrain like they used to as they are now in the business of selling expensive plastic terrain kits as well as models.

Rules content has been beaten like a dead horse in the forums, just have to accept its a minimalist game and make the best of it. A starter for AoS is really not much of a starter. the core rules of the game aren't even in the book that it comes with. granted they are free online, but I think they could have made a much better starter with the warscrolls and core rules (but please less art and more rules) and fewer models for a cheaper price, they could have tossed in a single terrain piece to fight over,. they did fine with mines of moria.

thekingofkings wrote:
the core rules of the game aren't even in the book that it comes with. granted they are free online, but I think they could have made a much better starter with the warscrolls and core rules (but please less art and more rules) and fewer models for a cheaper price, they could have tossed in a single terrain piece to fight over,. they did fine with mines of moria.

I'm not sure what the issue is. The core rules aren't technically printed in the book, but they're printed on a nice, glossy fold-out card that you can tuck into the book, if you want, or use separately if you're playing with armies other than the ones that come with the starter box. The book comes with warscrolls for all the models that come in the game, plus some scenarios that are optimized for the models you get in the box.

Sure, free terrain would have been nice

 Talys wrote:

thekingofkings wrote:
the core rules of the game aren't even in the book that it comes with. granted they are free online, but I think they could have made a much better starter with the warscrolls and core rules (but please less art and more rules) and fewer models for a cheaper price, they could have tossed in a single terrain piece to fight over,. they did fine with mines of moria.

I'm not sure what the issue is. The core rules aren't technically printed in the book, but they're printed on a nice, glossy fold-out card that you can tuck into the book, if you want, or use separately if you're playing with armies other than the ones that come with the starter box. The book comes with warscrolls for all the models that come in the game, plus some scenarios that are optimized for the models you get in the box.

Sure, free terrain would have been nice

I didn't get any glossy card in my set.

The figures in the AOS starter set make a pretty good Kings of War starter set.

Also, look on eBay. The AOS starter set is for sale on very deep discounts.

I really like the starter, I use it to introduce new players to AOS at my shop, was easy to paint, some varied units, all pretty straight forward. I think I ended up adding an extra unit of the blood marauders to it after seeing a lot of sigmarines wins (also that 20 box called to me), but other then that, solid!

saxx wrote:
I really like the starter, I use it to introduce new players to AOS at my shop, was easy to paint, some varied units, all pretty straight forward. I think I ended up adding an extra unit of the blood marauders to it after seeing a lot of sigmarines wins (also that 20 box called to me), but other then that, solid!

I agree that the shape and detail is impressive in the AOS kit.
The size and the tiny little spikey bits worry me on how on earth do you package those properly to not snap off little bits, never mind survive a heavy handed 8 year old.
I would say if GW is pushing for a collectable "game" it is very much leaning toward not being playable.
Painting all those bits would lead to panic attacks each time a model is picked up in a game.

 Talizvar wrote:

The size and the tiny little spikey bits worry me on how on earth do you package those properly to not snap off little bits, never mind survive a heavy handed 8 year old.
I would say if GW is pushing for a collectable "game" it is very much leaning toward not being playable.
Painting all those bits would lead to panic attacks each time a model is picked up in a game.

The spikey bits are sturdy enough for basic handling. You probably don't want to drop your figures a lot (although I have without issue), but the models are fairly resilient and will be fine with a little bit of rough handling. I let my 7 year old daughter hold my figures (and I've played a few simple games with her), but I do monitor her when she does.

thekingofkings wrote:

 Talys wrote:

thekingofkings wrote:
the core rules of the game aren't even in the book that it comes with. granted they are free online, but I think they could have made a much better starter with the warscrolls and core rules (but please less art and more rules) and fewer models for a cheaper price, they could have tossed in a single terrain piece to fight over,. they did fine with mines of moria.

I'm not sure what the issue is. The core rules aren't technically printed in the book, but they're printed on a nice, glossy fold-out card that you can tuck into the book, if you want, or use separately if you're playing with armies other than the ones that come with the starter box. The book comes with warscrolls for all the models that come in the game, plus some scenarios that are optimized for the models you get in the box.

Sure, free terrain would have been nice

I didn't get any glossy card in my set.

You should email GW. They'll probably FedEx you a card

http://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Age-Sigmar-Box-ENG

As well as this, the box contains:

A four-page rules set (this is everything you need to know to begin playing);
A pack of twelve dice;
Two range rulers;
Enough transfers to apply to all of the included Stormcast Eternals.

LucarioB wrote:
Hey everyone. I play board games pretty heavily, and love miniatures (think imperial assault by FFG if you've heard of it). I've dabbled in 40k before, quite a few years ago. Long story short, I want to get back into either 40k or Age of Sigmar, and I can't decide which one! Any suggestions, recommendations, tips, or other things would be greatly appreciated. Thanks everyone!

This may or may not be of interest, as there are different ways to play AoS - however, I did do a kind of beginner's guide to how I play it (narrative, story-based): https://ttgamingdiary.wordpress.com/2016/01/23/one-way-to-enjoy-age-of-sigmar/

If you want to get into a GW game, go for 40k.
AoS isn't really playable, while 40k is. At least in a closed group where all members have some common sense.