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Hello everyone,

My son is 7 and has started to get interested in AOS and I was wondering what army has the most robust models and maybe cheap also as we are only dabbling in AOS. I have tried to get my son to choose a faction but he has pretty much chosen every faction before changing his mind and choosing another within minutes and before i can confirm what he wants, his interest has already waned and has moved onto something else. This poses a slight dilemma for me as to what to buy for him so I thought I would just get him a box or 2 of the most simple miniatures that we could prepare to make and paint and try gaming with. I am not worried about it being competitive it is only the two of us that will be playing the game. I would just like to get him something suitable that we could prepare quickly and won't cos the earth or break from being to fragile.

I am pretty sure they will suffer some pretty rough handling so the less dangly bits and more single part the better I feel. I'm also happy to use any faction also so if I get two small forces I can give him some extra choice to choose from too.

So far I have seen goblins, orcs, beast men and maybe chaos warriors? they seem like they fit ok but would love to hear any other suggestions for us as more choices can't be bad

Any help is appreciated

Thank you

Orcs are pretty chunky models, so they should be durable (and also not too tricky to paint). Goblins, Chaos, and Beastmen can be a bit fiddly to put together, but again they aren't too fragile (quite spiky in places though). One thing I can say for certain is to avoid all Death models like the plague. They are very fragile and fiddly, even the big monsters in certain places.

If you're only dabbling in AoS just now and want a cheap start, I would highly recommend the Storm of Sigmar box. Its meant for people in your situation so is designed as an entry point. £20 gets you 5 Stormcast Eternals (3 Liberators and 2 Retributors), 8 Khorne Bloodbound (3 Blood Warriors and 5 Bloodreavers), a print out of the rules and how to play, 4 Battleplans to play, reference cards for each unit, dice, and a rangefinder. All the models are also easier to assemble than normal models, with only a handful of pieces to put together. It's also 2 different armies, so your son can switch between them if he wants.

I'm tempted to vote for stormcasts, but some models (prosecutors for examplle) have fiddly components which will undoubtedly break off. This is the case with most new releases as miniatures become more detailed at the cost of some durability. Older models are made with sturdier poses and have less fiddly stuff. My suggestions for a youngster.

1. Start collecting stormcasts (or the starter set if you're willing to play the bloodthirsty villains). The prosecutor's wings will break off at various points (atleast IME). Noble knights , strong and courages - I like them , so I imagine your son will do too. 3 units + hero in the box

2. Start collecting seraphon - old and sturdy models overall. You can make an additional foot hero out from the carnosaur kit. Magical dinosaur army, not sure what else to say 2 units, hero and a monster

3. Start collecting slaves to darkness - if your son fancies the evil side. Generic bad dudes - 2 units, chariot + a hero.

4. Start collecting greenskins - older, but sturdy models. The range will get obsolete in time. 2 units, hero and a chariot.

All of these are easy to paint.

For yourself buy another start collecting & you're set for atleast 2 months.
It's hard for me to tell which range is cheapest in the quantity/cost meaning. Probably not the new ones, though (stormcast, bloodbound, fyreslayers, kharadron, sylvaneth

Cheap and Games Workshop do not go hand in hand. Anything you will buy will be expensive. We are so use to high prices that even a "cheap GW price" is really expensive as well.

So why not use the Age of Sigmar rules and go to Walmart and buy something else that is cheaper for the minis?

Anything with Games Workshop will eventually turn expensive. It's a drug that can't be explained. Once you are hooked you can't stop buying if you have the money.

So knowing that it will be expensive and your son being what a 7 year old will do and keep changing his mind it will be hard to do. Maybe you should go with what you will like. You will be painting them and assembling them. I am sure your son will love to play with what you build. I know my son loved playing anything I made. So don't go worrying what your son will like because it will change by the time you build and paint it.

So since he can't decide, buy the smaller box sets and use them. Play with them. If in months he is still interested then build slowly from there. So get the $40 smaller box sets and start from there.

Hope this helps.

 Fentlegen wrote:
Orcs are pretty chunky models, so they should be durable (and also not too tricky to paint). Goblins, Chaos, and Beastmen can be a bit fiddly to put together, but again they aren't too fragile (quite spiky in places though). One thing I can say for certain is to avoid all Death models like the plague. They are very fragile and fiddly, even the big monsters in certain places.

If you're only dabbling in AoS just now and want a cheap start, I would highly recommend the Storm of Sigmar box. Its meant for people in your situation so is designed as an entry point. £20 gets you 5 Stormcast Eternals (3 Liberators and 2 Retributors), 8 Khorne Bloodbound (3 Blood Warriors and 5 Bloodreavers), a print out of the rules and how to play, 4 Battleplans to play, reference cards for each unit, dice, and a rangefinder. All the models are also easier to assemble than normal models, with only a handful of pieces to put together. It's also 2 different armies, so your son can switch between them if he wants.

+1 to the Storm of Sigmar. Having all the warscrolls and rules printed out will make it feel more like a boardgame and be more intuitive to pick up.

Saying that though, the Stormcast and Bloodbound might be a little tough for the 7 year old to understand what they are contextually, and you might want to play off familiar fantasy tropes instead. A box of Orcs + a hero and a box of Elves + a hero would be a good starting point in my opinion too.

I think a 7 year old should have no problem with shiny knights vs evil warriors. He probably doesn't need to understand the bloodbound's quest for skulls, the cannibalism of the raiders, etc., and the like.

You can't go wrong with the starter set or any of the start collecting boxes. GW may do many things wrong but those aren't one of them.

Spire of dawn is only £50 . and you would both have your armies.


one with swifthawk agents the other with skaven. nothing competitive but fun enough. For fragility, just mount the gryphon with an iron nail or magnetic flying base. the rest will do just fine
a friend of mine bought it for his little girls xmas and she is a big warhammer fan ever since.

For easy painting look into army painter's quickshade dips.

Stormcast, bulky, sturdy models, low unit to point ratio (so not as overwhelming for a new player to build and paint) and fairly easy to learn to play with and forgiving.

 HunterEste wrote:
Stormcast, bulky, sturdy models, low unit to point ratio (so not as overwhelming for a new player to build and paint) and fairly easy to learn to play with and forgiving.

Along this same note, maybe Ironjawz? Teach dat lil' grot to be roight propah Orky!

Wilks wrote:


Hello everyone,

My son is 7 and has started to get interested in AOS and I was wondering what army has the most robust models and maybe cheap also as we are only dabbling in AOS. I have tried to get my son to choose a faction but he has pretty much chosen every faction before changing his mind and choosing another within minutes and before i can confirm what he wants, his interest has already waned and has moved onto something else. This poses a slight dilemma for me as to what to buy for him so I thought I would just get him a box or 2 of the most simple miniatures that we could prepare to make and paint and try gaming with. I am not worried about it being competitive it is only the two of us that will be playing the game. I would just like to get him something suitable that we could prepare quickly and won't cos the earth or break from being to fragile.

I am pretty sure they will suffer some pretty rough handling so the less dangly bits and more single part the better I feel. I'm also happy to use any faction also so if I get two small forces I can give him some extra choice to choose from too.

So far I have seen goblins, orcs, beast men and maybe chaos warriors? they seem like they fit ok but would love to hear any other suggestions for us as more choices can't be bad

Any help is appreciated

Thank you

Just dont man it is a very very expensive hobby, I would try and stick him with model tanks and such from michaels or other hobby shops. He can enjoy them with out worrying if the game will end in a week or 2. Also the price is a hell of alot better.

If you can get your meathooks on "battlemasters" you can build a nice little mostly 1 piece each freeguild force

The Beastmen Gor box is easy to put together and apart from the braids does not have too many little pieces.

The heads are 2 pieces (face and hair) then there is a choice of 2 arms and a body.

If you use plastic glue they should be quite sturdy as the weapons are Heroic scale.

The little beastmen Ungors are amazing models, but the bowmen are a bit fragile with their bows.

Not sure about the Minotaurs, but I imagine they would be quite exciting as a future goal.

The Stormcast eternals are fine, but the easy to build stuff does not go together in that intuative way of body, head, arms. In my experience this is not so much fun to build. The single unit boxes for the Stormcast are built in this fashion though, but they have many pieces per model.

I'd go for two potential things:
Orks:
Easy to follow instructions, not too complicated, easy to paint. Quite robust miniatures.
S P O O K Y S C A R Y S K E L E T O N S:
Low part count, easy to assemble, very easy to paint. But they are fiddly.

Both also have simple rules making learning to play them a doddle. My two cents.