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Hi folks, I have officially posted my introduction in the appropriate forum but I have some burning questions that I thought would be appropriate in the general area. Please shout me back to the Introductions thread if these inquiries are bit too newbish. Once again, I am a long time RPG gamer and fun mini-painter but my contact with mini-wargaming has been sporadic enough that I have never assembled a complete army or played seriously even though I have some beginner boxes and bits over the years.

What are the major communities/forums for discussing mini wargaming, particularly sci-fi & fantasy. I noticed there is some talk of Warseer. What would you say distinguishes these forums from others?

I see talk of Warhammer, Warmahordes, Infinity, and several other house game/mini sets, but what really got me thinking about minis again was the awesome Drop Horizon Blog dealing with 15mm sci-fi minis and rules from a variety of makers. How many of you 28mm players go for the more indie pastures of 15mm?

What do most of the older/wiser 40k players play with now other than GW product? Looking at the prices of everything I almost want to just order troopers from Pig Iron and see how Tomorrow's War works for my fix of grimdark.

How many of you play regular games at a club, FLGS, or GW store? I am afraid I would have to play mal-adjusted kids if I take up 40k right now. My gaming-budies are not prone to paint whole armies.

Thanks for the help.
-GG

Welcome to Dakka and I'm one of them old and knarly veterans. Even have that patented old man moth ball smell

What are the major communities/forums for discussing mini wargaming, particularly sci-fi & fantasy. I noticed there is some talk of Warseer. What would you say distinguishes these forums from others?

Bell of lost souls
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/

House of Paincakes! Actually a very good blog ring of sites to fill your hobby needs.
http://www.houseofpaincakes.com/

I see talk of Warhammer, Warmahordes, Infinity, and several other house game/mini sets, but what really got me thinking about minis again was the awesome Drop Horizon Blog dealing with 15mm sci-fi minis and rules from a variety of makers. How many of you 28mm players go for the more indie pastures of 15mm?

I play FOW with an Italian army because.... nobody that I know does

What do most of the older/wiser 40k players play with now other than GW product? Looking at the prices of everything I almost want to just order troopers from Pig Iron and see how Tomorrow's War works for my fix of grimdark.

I'm only as wise when I am snorting that fine Warp Dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfJUi4cB4oc

But back to your question. It depends on your area that you play in. If the people there are cool with using models as "count as" in playing 40K then you are okay. Make note that you will not be able to play in a GW store with those kinds of models.

How many of you play regular games at a club, FLGS, or GW store? I am afraid I would have to play mal-adjusted kids if I take up 40k right now. My gaming-budies are not prone to paint whole armies.

I generally paint and do little gaming at this moment with friends at a local gaming store. Most of my friends do not have fully painted armies though but we still game. You should be fine with your gaming buddies at a FLGS.

My local groups mainly use FB for their gaming group conversations these days. Or Whingegamer AU.

As for switching to 15mm: I STARTED with 15mm, over 25 years ago. Eyesight does NOT usually get better with age, and 28mm is a happy medium.

If you're interested in TW, wait until the new book (march/april) by dagger and talon comes out. With rules for making up aliens, and special forces powered armour forces. You'll still need TW and it's a well produced book and a great read for the "harder" SF gaming themes.

I haven't played a game in a GW store in about 15 years. Haven't played in ANY store in about 3. I prefer my gaming areas to be outside a store environment. I also prefer to game with people closer to my age, and this usually means beer needs to be available. Both of my clubs handle this aspect admirably.

I do 15mm sci-fi as well.

If you're looking for a community that's a bit more old school with a big historical miniatures influence, I'd highly recommend checking out http://www.theminiaturespage.com. It's got a strange custom forum software thing going on, but once you figure it out, it's actually quite good. Lots of indie-minded people there.

Warseer is like Dakka but with an even stronger 40k and WFB focus. And an even more polarized community.

Pig Iron + Tomorrow's war would likely be a good fix for 28mm grimdark. I've been liking 15mm for sci-fi more and more though. So I'd probably go that route instead.

I regularly play at a local gaming store and I'm part of a once per month club. There are also a few people I know that host weekly or twice a month games that I go to some times.

1)
If you're interested in 15mm gaming and in games other than the big ones, you should also check out
- The Miniatures Page
www.theminiaturespage.com
A hotbed of 15mm fans. A fair number of Grongonards there, but an incredible depth of gaming experience amongst the members. Not so much GW though...

-Lead Adventure.
http://www.lead-adventure.de/
Very diverse, especially outside the big players.

I love me some Dakka, but those are places that tend to gather up much of the more obscure stuff.

2)
As for getting your Grimdark fix, I don't think anything but 40k will really suffice, I still come back to it when I get the jones for Grimdark. "Warengine" (see below) can do a pretty good job though as it has a similar pulpy sci-fantasy feel with a similar balance between ranged and Close combat. Tomorrow's War is a great game, but it is the exact opposite of everything that 40k is and is about as far from Grimdark as you can get.

3)
As for "older, wiser" players, I'm only old when compared to the GW store newbie crowd, and I'm only rarely confused with "wiser" but I've mostly moved on to games that are smaller in scope (less figs on the table at once), "Generic" (don't tell you which figures to use) and in most cases free or much cheaper in price.

Some of my favorites include:
-Song of Blades and Heroes (Fantasy Warband Skirmish)
-WarEngine (sci-fi platoon level, look for their yahoo group for the free rules)
-In The Emperor's Name (Warband skirmish in the 40k world).
Check the link in my sig for more of the games my club plays.

I also dabble in small scale (10mm in my case, though 6mm is more common) sci-fi mass combat with games like Future War commander, Panzer 8 sci-fi and Mech Attack.

4)
As to location, my club occasionally meets at a local FLGS, but nearly all our bi-weekly games are in member's homes.

I tend to post on here , and the FoW forums

I'm a great FoW fan so love 15mm, but the smaller scal of drop zone commander is nice too

De to having large existing 40K armies I've not needed to invest in non gw minis for 28mm (other than infinity)

I tend to always play games at FLGS as the local GW has no space

Thanks for listing all the sites folks, Paincakes looks particularly interesting.

chromedog wrote:
As for switching to 15mm: I STARTED with 15mm, over 25 years ago. Eyesight does NOT usually get better with age, and 28mm is a happy medium.

Ha, that is a good point.

chromedog wrote:
If you're interested in TW, wait until the new book (march/april) by dagger and talon comes out. With rules for making up aliens, and special forces powered armour forces. You'll still need TW and it's a well produced book and a great read for the "harder" SF gaming themes.

Yes I have been thinking of getting the TW book and some15mm, particularly the Bob Naismith Colony minis: http://www.darkeststargames.com/colony-15-sci-fi.html or some old Citadel Traveller: http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=GRAV

Eilif wrote:1)
As for getting your Grimdark fix, I don't think anything but 40k will really suffice, I still come back to it when I get the jones for Grimdark. "Warengine" (see below) can do a pretty good job though as it has a similar pulpy sci-fantasy feel with a similar balance between ranged and Close combat. Tomorrow's War is a great game, but it is the exact opposite of everything that 40k is and is about as far from Grimdark as you can get.

Good point, I must admit the Dark Vengence Box set makes me kinda interested, but then I also have my Battle for Macragge mostly unpainted in front of me. I must own up to my failings as an army painter.

Eilif wrote:1)
Some of my favorites include:
-Song of Blades and Heroes (Fantasy Warband Skirmish)
-WarEngine (sci-fi platoon level, look for their yahoo group for the free rules)
-In The Emperor's Name (Warband skirmish in the 40k world).
Check the link in my sig for more of the games my club plays.

Thanks for the recommendations,

Reaver83 wrote:
I'm a great FoW fan so love 15mm, but the smaller scal of drop zone commander is nice too

Although I would love to play FoW, I don't think I am jonesin' enough for WW2 action at the moment. I have to pick my painting/purchasing battles carefully and I want something ahistorical at this hour. (I am fickle and may jump latter.)



Automatically Appended Next Post:
I have some more questions, kind folks:

I seem to recall an "army builder" league that was sponsored by GW where new players would gradually buy and paint more stuff and play at graduated intervals. Does GW do any type of outreach/league games anymore?

When pricing out games like Infinity, Warhammer, Warmahordes, I am curious about not only he price of entry & competition but also the cost per model. For example, Infinity looks like it has a low cost for entry but it's minis are all at a higher average cost than GW. How much is a competitive selection of models for a single WFB & W40k army run?

Do the newest editions of the GW rules have skirmish/warband appendixes? I thought those were cool from the last editions that I had and I love me my Mordheim & Necromunda.

Any-place I can read up on tournament/club game etiquette. I have only ever played with friends.