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 Capt. Camping wrote:
No clix please. Wizkids release a new expansion every 3 months so you have to keep updating for the new minis. Read in the Hcrealms forums what other players says about using the old minis vs the new ones. The buying cycle is just like Magic and Yugioh!, it never ends.

What you can do buy some clix minis, rebase them and use them with another rule system you can download or buy in the web. Heck you can use them in RPG. For example some people use the old Mechwarriors in Tomorrows War, Mech Attack!, Reaper´s CAV and FUBAR.

Exalt. In think they are at a full set every other month, and plenty of mini sets in between. And to bring up a point the OP mentioned earlier, clix sets expire after about a year or 2 from their release from the major tournament scene.

I can throw a few into the ring:

Warmachine/Hordes can be a blast (minus the fantasy/not prepainted thing you're avoiding).

I've played MERCS once at it was a lot fo fun. Very quick. Things don't die too often as opposed to other games.

Infinity is fantastic with it's miniatures (opinion, obviously)

And if you're willing to hold off for a bit, Warzone: Ressurection is coming out soon. Having played that, it's a blast.

Armor Grid: Mech Attack is a very fun game to use the prepainted mechwarrior clix for.

How is Leviathans?

Leviathans is pretty cool. It's fairly cumbersome to learn but once you get the hang of it, it feels pretty thematic.

There's always CAV: a battletech-esque game from Reaper Miniatures, with less cumbersome rules.

I'm going to suggest Firestorm Armada. Sci-fi space naval game with an interesting setting and a very fun and quick to pick up rule set. The rule book is a free PDF on Spartangames.co.uk. A fleet starter box (10 models at 40 GBP) and a carrier (depending on which one you get 11-12 GBP) gives you roughly 700 points which is a good sized game and provides a lot of flexibility tactically. The ships have excellent detail and are a good size. battleships are about 6in long.

Infinity is a very balance game. The only downsize rules will take a lot of time to learn.

The new Dropzone Commander starter is a good value, better than Heavy Gear.

Have a look at EM-4's website, near future/sci-fi, huge variety of (very inexpensive) figures, and they do box sets of pre-painted, single unpainted, with their own rule set.

AegisGrimm wrote:Armor Grid: Mech Attack is a very fun game to use the prepainted mechwarrior clix for.

Agree. I use MW clix for Mech Attack. Lots of fun and fast playing. Slows down once you get around 10 units per side, but even larger games play faster than BT.

AegisGrimm wrote:There's always CAV: a battletech-esque game from Reaper Miniatures, with less cumbersome rules.

A fair choice, but which one?
CAV 1st ed. The three books are still available from Troll and Toad cheaply.
CAV 2 Free rules online, but no longer supported. It and the first ed are both less cumbersome than BT.
CAV Strike Operations. I read through the Beta Rules and they didn't seem that much less complicated than Battletech.

The New Alpha Strike Rules for Battletech would be a great option for fast playing mech action using BT figs or CAV figs or Mechwarrior Figs.

Really though, it sounds to me that based on your preferences X Wing is your best bet. Fast, Fun, prepainted, not complex, small'ish in scope and with decent models. It's probably not going to have star destroyers, but that's not the point of the game.

If you like the idea of x wing there is a new star trek game using the same basic game engine but with star trek capital ships.

CAV 1st ed. The three books are still available from Troll and Toad cheaply.
CAV 2 Free rules online, but no longer supported. It and the first ed are both less cumbersome than BT.

I'd say either of those two. Alpha Strike if you really like Battletech.

 Lunar Eclipse wrote:
-Must be a decently-priced game to collect 2 armies in (I'd say could spend around $500 in the next few months to get 2 armies going)

-I don't care of the models come pre-painted or not, but I'm leaning towards pre-painted due to how little free time I have

-Genre I don't really care, but I have no interest in a wild west/cowyboy game (does a wild west tabletop wargame even exist?) I am leaning more towards sci-fi, modern or recent (i.e WW2), or superhero'ish. I'm not against fantasy, but I'm generally more interested in modern/sci fi right now.

-Decent detail in models

-I don't have a preference on how many models you have to field in order to play, but I'm learning towards "smaller is better" in terms of how many models you need to carry around.

-A game that is FUN. I don't want a game that has a million different custom rules for every army and it gets confusing.

Infinity.

Two starter boxes and a few blisters to add to them will come in well below $250us and can give you two 300pt armies (300pts is the games recommended and maximum point level). Rules are completely free, all templates and tokens downloadable. The only thing that's not free outside of the rules is the campaign system, which isnt required. The game uses a LOT of terrain, but you can get a good amount pretty cheap with all the MDF terrain for it these days with the leftovers of that $500us.

Not pre painted, but very few models per army. Models are absolutely gorgeous, and even lend themselves well to quick painting methods with dips and washes due to details veing very sharp.

Models are, again, gorgeous. Sci-fi with an anime touch.

Again, generally 10 models per side. Small game, detailed rules.

Infinity has complex rules, but in general the special rules are available to all armies, with only a few army exclusive special rules to give them flavour. The ARO system makes fights very dynamic, so when it's not your turn you're not just rolling dice and removing models - you're shooting back and defensively hacking missiles and more mechanical infantry as well.

Welsh_Furey wrote:
If you like the idea of x wing there is a new star trek game using the same basic game engine but with star trek capital ships.

With the same crappy Star Trek HeroClix miniatures

I would DEFIANTLY recommend spartan games' range of games.

Dystopian wars for steampunk
Uncharted seas for fantasy
Firestorm Armada for sci-fi

I highly recommend Uncharted Seas over the 3 (I wasn't much a a fantasy fan when I got it but it is very enjoyable and simple to pick up. Can be played with small armys too!)

Mercs is great fun to play, the models are a bit pricy bit you only need a handul to play and have fun. it's about 40 quid for a starter set

and with risk of sounding like a broken record i cannot recommend Secrets of The Third Reich enough, it can be played as a standard ww2 game or you can play with the fun stuff: zombies, warewolves, and mecha design rules. i did not get ay starter sets, only blisters from my local hobby store and it set me back about 130 quid-ish
quickplay rules are available http://www.thewargamer.com/grognard/SotR_Rules_V2-5.pdf

I have yet to play a game, but my mates assure me that Malifaux is fun too.

 Alfndrate wrote:

Welsh_Furey wrote:
If you like the idea of x wing there is a new star trek game using the same basic game engine but with star trek capital ships.

With the same crappy Star Trek HeroClix miniatures

Yes i agree with that the minis are not the same quality as x wing but the rule set is similar so worth a look because it will be fun.

Infinity is a great sci fi skirmish game with excellent rules and models, cheap to get in and keep up and has excellent internal and external balance.

A testament to that is that for 8 years now and after 2 expansion books the units from the first book are still highly competitive.

Rules, army lists and (online) army building software are provided for free from the company.

Dropzome commander is small, great deal and on top of that its a blast to play (from my opinion). The models are detailed and are durable (stepped on one by accident and its still intact)

 zman111 wrote:
Dropzome commander is small, great deal and on top of that its a blast to play (from my opinion). The models are detailed and are durable (stepped on one by accident and its still intact)

Agreed i love dropzone its ace.

 zman111 wrote:
Dropzome commander is small, great deal and on top of that its a blast to play (from my opinion). The models are detailed and are durable (stepped on one by accident and its still intact)

Wouldn't really call them a "deal" at those prices, but they are bloody nice from what i'v seen

 doc1234 wrote:

 zman111 wrote:
Dropzome commander is small, great deal and on top of that its a blast to play (from my opinion). The models are detailed and are durable (stepped on one by accident and its still intact)

Wouldn't really call them a "deal" at those prices, but they are bloody nice from what i'v seen

The new plastic starter kit which should be out on the 27th or 28th of this month is a great deal however. It's two of those like $125 starter armies, a full color rulebook, 2 posters that can be flipped over for a city board, and half of their $45 cardstock paper buildings pack for 92 dollars.

Superhero genre: SuperSystem or Pulp City. Both good games that are inexpensive to get into. SS has the added benefit of having miniatures, but being figure neutral since it has rules for creating your own supers.

Boardgame (that is very wargame-ish): Zombicide. Huge amounts of fun and given the amount of choice in characters and missions, never really gets repetitive.

Wargames: X-Wing. Lots of fun, and the relatively low number of different ships is not an issue since there are so many options with skills and pilots.

Blasters and Bulkheads. Goalsystem game (same "engine"as SuperSystem above) for Space Opera. Again, figure neutral since there are creation rules.

Infinity. Seriously good game. Excellent miniatures, balanced game. Low entry cost.

That's about all I can think of right now.

~Eric

 Alfndrate wrote:

 doc1234 wrote:

 zman111 wrote:
Dropzome commander is small, great deal and on top of that its a blast to play (from my opinion). The models are detailed and are durable (stepped on one by accident and its still intact)

Wouldn't really call them a "deal" at those prices, but they are bloody nice from what i'v seen

The new plastic starter kit which should be out on the 27th or 28th of this month is a great deal however. It's two of those like $125 starter armies, a full color rulebook, 2 posters that can be flipped over for a city board, and half of their $45 cardstock paper buildings pack for 92 dollars.

Had forgotten about the starter set actually in fairness if the starter ends up all that amazing like it's looking to be, makes me wonder if they'l do more in plastic. The resin model prices is really the only negative thing i'v ever heard about that game (or the only reason that's put people off playing).

maybe check out Songs of Our Ancestors by Zombiesmith. The Quar are a unique, compelling race and the setting is reminiscent of World War I.

The skirmish game (SoA) requires only a handful of miniatures and is cinematic like Infinity without the complexity.

Sorry, but 40k seems to fit best into the requirements you posted.

And if there was ever proof that someone had read the OP but then none of the replies..

 sing your life wrote:
Sorry, but 40k seems to fit best into the requirements you posted.

Wow, your funny, I almost pissed myself.

OP, Infinity is the best option givingt here, just a great game with great models. For ship based game X-Wing really is a good choose too.