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Hi, I quit 40k a few years back to play 30k but a couple of friends have convinced me to start again by doing a slow grow over the next couple of months. The only issue we're having is picking a points limit since the two people we've asked both gave different answers to what a typical size was for just casual games in stores. Is there a definitive answer to this or are we just gonna have to take a punt?

I think it varies from area to area but normally I would play games in the region of 1500-2000 points.

Really depends.

Playing in-store? Time sensitive, probably no more than 1,000-1,500.

Local club? 1,850 is the norm, as there's a tournament crowd who usually play to that - and I'm happy to just go with the flow.

In my flat? Could be anything up to about 3.5k (when I find a 6x4 board becomes overcrowded, and even then that depends what the forces are)

There isn't a definete answer and lots of groups spend quite some time comming up with a perfect casual numbers. A friend of mine always wants to play 2.000p. I myself like 1.250p, because it makes a well rounded list while transporting the army isn't such a big deal.

Tournament standards are 1.750p (or 1.850p in some areas) so alot of people has adopted that as their casual number as well. In the end it's all up to you and your friends. If you play Nids/orks/Astra then smaller number might be better to make transportation and model painting stress less. If you play knights or superheavies 2000p might be ideal. For practically everything else 1.500-ish might be the most convenient. Hope that helps.

200 for Kill Team, 400 for Combat Patrol, or 1000-1750 at ours.

The 'trick' is to make multiplt lists for multiple points levels.

They can be the same list added too or subtracted from to reach those poonts levels or different lists entirely.

That way there you are prepared for whatever comes along (list wise at least).

It's all subjective to the interpretation of casual. Casual could mean small games of 500-1250pts; or it could mean unorganized pickups games; or it could simply mean friendly lists.
If I were to venture a guess, on account of you needing convincing yo get back into 40k, yous could be up for just small point version. Kill teams as mentioned above sits at around 200pts. Otherwise 750-1000 would be ple ty enough for a slow grow. Anything more than that is starting to head towards the realms of full armies/games, something I consider to be less casual.

I find 1,000pts is the overwhelming majority of games I play.

You mentioned 'slow grow'

If you mean as in army and collection size, I suggest you take a look at this http://comixcitytoo.com/warhammer-40k-escalation-rules-2016/

I'm currently in a league using a slight variation of these rules and it is very enjoyable. Everyone who has their regular armies, have picked an army they don't normally play with. We all agreed to keep it casual in army selection (so no scatterbike lists etc).

I think that depends on the typical play time allowed at the store.
The local FLGS stays open at an OK time so 1850 is typical on 40k night (6:30pm to 9:00pm is the schedule for 40k).

I too am just getting back into the hobby. In the past I've been a big advocate for 1000pt games. Up until 6th edition it seemed to be a good balance. After 6th edition i noticed a lot more min/maxed lists, and they fared better than they had previously. The point restriction was such that if you sink to many points into the most powerful units, you were severely handicapped. You really had to have a balanced force. It also allowed for faster games, or longer ones if you played 2v2 (which was almost the norm in my group. Also played at 1500pts). My biggest pet peeve with the 2v2s however, was it turned into a social gathering, with games stretching hours beyond a reasonable time because no one would focus on playing.

Personally, my favorite games range between 750 and 1500, with my most favorite being the smaller games. For me, it meant choosing a list was just as critical as playing, if not more. You really have to watch where your points go.

Larger games allow for more experimentation I find. You can usually play around with load outs without sacrificing effectiveness too much. A lot more forgiving, but more time consuming in all areas of modeling, painting, and playing.

1000-1850, or in teams, 750 each 2v2, or 1000 each 2v2.

I prefer smaller games, unless it is a special event game with some of my wargamer buddies, in which case we plot it out really good. If its a pick up game, my limit is 1500 points. Against my buddies, whatever we have time for, so long as the cheese is held off.

I refuse to go to tournaments in my area due to the ultra-competitive attitude the majority of players have. I would much rather have a few small games than one longer one (usually).

I like 3 rounds of ~600-800 point games on a dense 3x3 board. This is fun as it becomes a mini campaign and helps build up stories between the games.

In stores something above 1000 but quite a bit below 2000 is appropriate; you don't want to go too high or savour the game too much as you'll hog the table for too long or run out of time.

When lots of time is available, perhaps a sleep over, then 1000s of points is the way to go.

Sorry if this wasn't very helpful! I guess I'm saying you can find games of all sizes, but be aware of how much time you (and your opponent) have available, including how long you actually want to spend with this individual, and if using a shared space to make sure you aren't selfishly hogging resources. In a lot of gaming centres playing doubles is popular for this reason; twice as many people on one table.

The only answer is to talk to the people you're going to be playing with.

I like 2-2.5K personally.

2000 points is awsome! Love it there, would love to hit 3000.

I like games of all sizes. But i do think 1000 points battles seem to be the most dull spot, then id rather play at 500 points for more skirmish feel.

Heralds of Ruin for 200 points is awsome aswell.

I feel like in a 2k list you can get your list to do 1 or 2 things really well with a nice selection of perks and options or extra units to round it out. Fun, but you can pretty much do whatever you want at 2k.

I feel like 1500 you start needing to make choices. Trim some fat from your list.

1250 might be my favorite these days because you need to pick smart to have a good TAC list that is functional. Everyone kind of has to pick and choose where their points go real carefully. You still have enough points to bring a good sized army on a 6x4 table but you don't have the room to bring everything you would want to. Makes it more interesting.

That is exactly why I like 2K. You can have an effective list but still have some fun with it.

At 1500 it's either optimised or weak, no room for anything else.

I feel like by definition there isn't a standard casual size, it's just whatever you both feel like.

When we get a beginner, we run about 10 games starting at 500 up to 1500 to teach the game.

Our "normal" games tend to start at 2500 and the sky's the limit. Some of us like big games, some of us are more comfortable time-wise around 2500 - 3000.

Personally, I like about 500-1250. Means you can't just pile in everything you want to take, and games don't bang on for hours and hours.

200 point killteams or 500 point mash-up lists. I don't have the time or the room for large scale battles and I don't think I would ever get round to painting a full army. I enjoy buying models because I like them, then convert them as I squeeze them together in small lists. I will never be a tournament player as most of my lists look cool but aren't made to win, that an the fact I don't have the aptitude to make good decisions in game as some people have said...

I used to play a lot of 2 v 2 games ranging from 3000 to 3700 per side, but have recently played more standard 1000-1850 games.

I love 1000 points because it is typically a nice list building challenge when you don't have much room to play around, and the games are nice and short.

For some reason 1500 points is my least favorite, I think it's just too few points to bring lists I really want to use, but too big to build like I would at 1000. This is usually where I ride the struggle bus...

1850 is definitely the sweet spot though, lots of flexibility without overly-long games. You generally have enough room to bring whatever you want as well, and games don't take too long unless you play with my friends (who still don't know what any of my daemons do, and just generally take forever to do anything).

I've played the most 850 point games as I think that's a nice point limit for everyone that also allows them to bring some of their more powerful, nice units whilst still not taking many hours to play

My store seems to be very attached to the 1850 point size used by most 40K Tournaments (though very few tournaments actually take place there). Though, there are smaller games from time to time. Most of the time that I'm at the shop, either everyone is hobbying or there are campaign games going on from Gathering Storm.

SG