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Is there a miniatures or war-game that "is cute" that my wife would be interested in.

She aint really interested in Sigmar or Warhammer 40k or Bolt Action sadly!

Burrows & Badgers is a contender: https://burrowsandbadgers.com/

Or possibly Moonstone (which I love): https://moonstonethegame.com/

i know of 3 that could maybe fall into that category, BUT, they are both expensive and the first two are old(as in could be hard to find)
What do they all have in common? They are boardgames and have unpainted chibi style minis. (but beeing boardgames, you get all you need in one box)

Super dungeon explore. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/92190/super-dungeon-explore
(yea, it has a huge amount of negative flak towards Soda pop due to their huge KS fiasko some years ago that basicly ended the company, but prior to that point, they was not doing badly. Only issue is that the minis comes un assembled and the bigger models might have fitting issues) You should be able to find some copys on amazon or ebay.

Rivet Wars. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/136000/rivet-wars-eastern-front
This too an old game, so could be a little hard to find. Think it was one of the games that sorta never found any fanbase as it is both a boardgame and a tabletop war game.

Arcadia Quest. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/155068/arcadia-quest
Dont know mutch about this one, have had it on my radar, but it has never made it to the prio list yet.

I second Burrows & Badgers. Easier to paint than Moonstone -- but MS has amazing figures also, and I'd let her choose between the two if in your shoes.

Rivet Wars is also fun, with a spawing style video game mechanic that is forgiving as a new player. But she may or may not be keen on the WWI (but CHibi) theme.

Have fun, and follow her lead once you have some parameters!

 Shrapnelsmile wrote:
I second Burrows & Badgers. Easier to paint than Moonstone -- but MS has amazing figures also, and I'd let her choose between the two if in your shoes.

Rivet Wars is also fun, with a spawing style video game mechanic that is forgiving as a new player. But she may or may not be keen on the WWI (but CHibi) theme.

Have fun, and follow her lead once you have some parameters!

Yeah, some of the Moonstone models are pretty challenging to work on (especially the Faeries), but they are in general great, characterful sculpts. It's also a bonus that you only need a total of 12 models on the board for anywhere between 2-4 players (if playing 2 players, each has 6 characters; 3 players 4 each; 4 players 3 each).

I've got the B&B rulebook but unfortunately haven't had a chance to play it yet, since I haven't got a good local source for models for it.

What about some 3d printed 40K?

https://www.patreon.com/HappyDuck3D/posts

Define "cute"?

I recommend just showing her a bunch of miniatures, let her get what she likes and then use a generic ruleset with them.

Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes is a good generic skirmish game, but you could also use Rampant Swords, Fistful of Lead, etc depending on if you want swords or shooting.

My wife actually prefers co-op games, so that is something to consider as well.

Rangers of Shadow Deep would be a great co-op minis game.

you want a co-op game to start.

Night Watch, Relicblade or RoSD for Fantasy
Zona Alfa for near future
Hardwired for Cyberpunk
Pulp Alley for anything else
make certain there is an engrossing narative that she can be a part of.

https://www.amazon.com/Patrick-Todoroff/e/B004HVAFL2/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

https://relicblade.com/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI6jHrRn7h9vnteB7AzNc5A

Frostgrave can be fun! And use any miniatures. My partner is putting together a frog warband for it using some Mantic minis.

scarletsquig wrote:
Frostgrave can be fun! And use any miniatures. My partner is putting together a frog warband for it using some Mantic minis.

An excellent suggestion. They could have a campaign together. It's far more interesting and the losses of a bad game are rather forgiving in the system as well.

There's Pulp Alley. That has a certain degree of cuteness.

Reaper mouslings, than just use whatever rules system she likes. My wife likes RPG, so adventuring mice.

Solitaire Miniatures Games on Your Table - March 2021

Some of these are true solo, others are being played two-handed. Just look through the entries for this month and the previous months, and then read ones that you think would appeal to your wife, then ask her to read those entries. Also, with figure agnostic games, she can use cute animal minis from Reaper or Dark Sword Miniatures if she likes.

Albedo Combat Patrol is a sci-fi minis game based on a comic of the same name (I've never seen the comic for sale locally) in a galaxy where all the species are anthromorphic animals. Now I know nothing about the game or minis other than they exist, but there seems to be a good variety including civilians (some are demonstrators! "Hell No! We Wont Go!"). The ILR are monospecies, and are only rabbits, while their opponents the EDF are multispecies, with dogs, cats, foxes, squirrels, etcetera. The ILR are the external villains of the story, with the EDF also suffering unrest at home.

Depending on her interests, Giants: The Action Figure Game of Colossal Combat might work. It is primarily about kaiju vs mecha combat but it allows you to use any action figures you want.

https://www.facebook.com/giantsactionfiguregame