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So, we have a new starter set from Games Workshop. Let’s talk about what a good wargame starter is.

It’s quite obvious that the main purpose of the starter set is commercial. It has to be popular and make players who bought it stay in the wargame and continue getting other miniatures.

What do you need for this? Sure, brilliant miniatures. They should look unusual tasty and draw attention. It would be great if starter miniatures are unique and can be bought only with the starter set. Even if the set contains usual units, they should look better that their small-box counterparts. More attractive poses, unusual armor and so on. It’s also great if you those sets are launched sometime after the starter is released.

That’s why Death Masque, Shield of Baal and other campaign sets which are often called starters by mistake, aren’t starters – yes, it’s a good start if you want to collect one of those armies. However, they don’t have the same marketing value.

Ok, we have brilliant miniatures. But now everyone is going to buy only starters and ignore other releases. That’s why starter miniatures have fixed poses and no wargear options – no one will like playing an army of clones. Sure, you always can go into conversions… Moreover, starter armies should be playable themselves, but require reinforcements if you want to play with full-scale armies – they must have not ideal wargear, lack transport or something else. The main purpose is to show the player how his new army can be powered up. And it’s really good thing when starter has multi-purpose squads which can be used in any army concept

Speaking of balance. If there are two of them, starter armies must be balanced against each other. Before a new player decides to stay in this wargame, He should learn the rules using starter missions example, get some pleasure from the game, feel the spirit. And it’s kind of hard when your army loses every time.

Starter missions should gradually show the player every rule, using first a couple of models, demonstrating different aspects of the game and only then throw them into a full-scale battle with all their miniatures.

Such obvious and easy rules. Easy? Let’s look at the latest starters from Games Workshop to understand how it works on the example.

In spite of being really popular and staying for 2 editions, Dark Vengeance is not an ideal starter at all. Pretty miniatures – yes. But the balance has huge problems. Dark Angels part looks nice, but CSM players still have nightmares with those chosen, each armed differently and completely useless as one squad even in friendly play. The crowd of 20 cultists was supposed to outperform 5 terminators and 15 3+ space marines, but practically they were dying before getting into close combat each time. So, most people bought DV for the conversions or for the bunch of cultists. By the way, all of these miniatures (except for Hellbrute) still don’t have another edition.

An example of a perfect starter is Age of Sigmar. Great useful miniatures which differ from their box analogs, interesting, really teaching missions. And the balance – nonetheless Stormcast Eternals were a bit stronger, Chaos still had a chance to win using army synergy and tactics. No wonder, this starter was a big success.

And what’s the new one? Firstly, the faction choice is really wise – still CSM and SM (which covers more than half of the players) but in fact, there are 2 new sub-factions – Death Guard and Primaris Marines – so every player can start a new army using this box set. Miniatures are also great (nonetheless some are unhappy with them)

Unfortunately, the balance is still a problem. GW still conceder a bunch of cultists to be capable of outperforming 15 well-equipped space marines with 3+ armor. Also, we already know that Primaris marines are much stronger than usual ones and have 2 wounds while plague marines are almost the same. So…7 against 18... Looks weird.

Anyway, we all know that this box will be extremely popular. What about you? What can you add about starters from other wargames?

Find more in our blog:
https://warzone40k.com/wargame-starter

You talk about the miniatures, but there's a couple of other considerations for starter sets (and I guess we're talking about two-player sets? What about single faction starters): price and accessories.

If GW is planning on selling Primaris Marines at $50 USD for a five man squad, then the Marine contents alone of the new box set make it worth purchasing, not to mention the inclusion of a hardcover book.

Also, accessories. Including a ruler and dice is smart, and if I remember correctly, the new edition no longer uses templates.

How about other starter sets? Well, All Quiet on the Martian Front has:


So, two sides that are relatively equal in power, but play very different. The plastics (tripods and tanks) are the full retail versions, so they have assembly options. You also get dice and templates. The only knock against it is that the mini-rulebook is terrible, and players will need to buy the full rulebook to get all the rules.

I love the infinity starter sets. Their operation ice storm is.the perfect example of starter. Two players, terrain, dice, markers, and a mission book that eases you into how the game is played and each mission builds on top of what was learned in the last one.

A starter box needs to be more than just a collection of figures with a small price discount. That is an army box. Starter box's need to get you into the game.

All Quiet on the Martian Front does have a very nice starter box, so I'll second that one also.

My vote goes to Battletech, though I believe the box set is out of print at the moment (correct me if I am wrong, please) it is a great value and an excellent foundation purchase for getting into that game.

With 24 plastic `Mechs plus 2 premium multi-part plastic `Mechs, rules, a background book and thick map boards, the game really has everything you need to play indefinitely if you are okay with proxying minis.

Balance is easily achieved as each type of `Mech weight class is represented multiple times with the different `Mech designs included in the game.

Downside is it is hard to find at the moment.

For me, the best starter sets are the one's that assume you've never seen or played a wargame before in your life.

They have a good getting started section/booklet/leaflet and they launch you straight into a scenario or battle with minimum fuss.

Starter sets I like are:

Bolt Action Band of Brothers and Armoured Fury

Maelstrom's Edge Battle of Zycanthus

and Judge Dredd the miniatures game for its no nonsense approach.

I also have to say that GW including a hardcover rulebook in the starter set is a questionable choice - seems like they could have shaved a few bucks off the boxed set price if they had gone with a lighter (pun intended) starting rulebook.

A starter set is for learning the game - not getting whalloped with a 500-page rulebook "to start". Yes, I'm sure they have a "Getting Started" pamplet also included, but I think including that big book is going to intimidate more folks than it pulls in by having the full rules.

The best starter set I've seen in ages is AoS's Storm of Sigmar "mini starter".

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Storm-of-Sigmar-ENG

It has...
* 5 Stormcast models (2 of one unit, 3 of another)
* 8 Khorne Bloodbound models (3 of one unit, 5 of another)
* Warscroll cards for each unit
* A copy of the core rules
* A fluff book to explain who these people are and why they're fighting each other
* A mini campaign book featuring 4 linked missions that teach the game and are actually super fun
* 7 dice and a ruler printed on the back cover of one of the books
* A Stormcast Eternals transfer sheet
* A 'what next' guide if you like the game

All for $33 USD.

So... what do I like about this?
1. It's affordable. $33 for a game two people can play is a good deal.
2. It has everything you need. Push fit models, rules, missions, dice and a ruler.
3. It's a good lead in to the full game. Players can buy a couple more units and then buy the General's Handbook if they want more structure in their games.

I think that a good example of a bad starter set would be Star Wars Armada, which bears much of the blame for the games relative lack of success. First, there is the cost. at $99.95 US, this is not a cheap starter, especially given that there are only 3 ships in it. Worse, it offers fairly minimal savings. These are hard to estimate, since the fighters are where you make your money on the starter, and only have one type of fighter per faction (as opposed to the four per for the fighter packs). It works out to about $20 of savings over buying all the components separately. The only reason to buy the starter is that it is the only place to get a couple cards (Notably, Howlrunner and Tarkin), obstacles and range ruler.

It is also rather imbalanced between factions. Rebels will probably not kill a Victory-class star destroyer within the time limit, but the VSD can easily kill a Rebel ship, meaning that in starter set games Empire will almost always win. Rebels also have a keyword that is completely useless (Escort) in a starter battle. They also don't really have any sort of squadron command, and the title included for the Nebulon-B is nearly useless in a small game, due to being designed to buff a formation of ships. The Rebels also have a rather gimmicky crit-based strategy, in comparison to the Empires much more simple beatdown approach. While the Empire commander also assumes that you will have more than a starters worth of ships, he also provides a useful crutch while learning the command dial mechanics.

Finally, it rather insultingly does not include enough components to even play the game- X-wings roll four dice when shooting squadron, and the starter only comes with 3 of them. You can also boost the shooting of any of the ships to the point where you will roll 4 dice of the same colour. Three more dice, and we wouldn't be having this problem.

I Feel like a starter needs at the bare minimum, models for 2 players

rule books and rules to play those two armies
measuring devices and templates because you cannot assume normal people have tape measures.
and preferably a board/terrain. people starting wont often have a straight 4x6 hanging out some where even if plywood is cheap. and plenty of terrain for it too. yeah you can get away with books and garbage when you start but it shouldn't be the case when cardboard is cheap.

it should be priced well for 2 people to split (in general)

but it shouldnt be priced soo well that people will buy it up just to split models for full armies. it hurts sales of other items.

imho

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
I think that a good example of a bad starter set would be Star Wars Armada, which bears much of the blame for the games relative lack of success. First, there is the cost. at $99.95 US, this is not a cheap starter, especially given that there are only 3 ships in it. Worse, it offers fairly minimal savings. These are hard to estimate, since the fighters are where you make your money on the starter, and only have one type of fighter per faction (as opposed to the four per for the fighter packs). It works out to about $20 of savings over buying all the components separately. The only reason to buy the starter is that it is the only place to get a couple cards (Notably, Howlrunner and Tarkin), obstacles and range ruler.

It is also rather imbalanced between factions. Rebels will probably not kill a Victory-class star destroyer within the time limit, but the VSD can easily kill a Rebel ship, meaning that in starter set games Empire will almost always win. Rebels also have a keyword that is completely useless (Escort) in a starter battle. They also don't really have any sort of squadron command, and the title included for the Nebulon-B is nearly useless in a small game, due to being designed to buff a formation of ships. The Rebels also have a rather gimmicky crit-based strategy, in comparison to the Empires much more simple beatdown approach. While the Empire commander also assumes that you will have more than a starters worth of ships, he also provides a useful crutch while learning the command dial mechanics.

Finally, it rather insultingly does not include enough components to even play the game- X-wings roll four dice when shooting squadron, and the starter only comes with 3 of them. You can also boost the shooting of any of the ships to the point where you will roll 4 dice of the same colour. Three more dice, and we wouldn't be having this problem.

QTF. If only that starter had been streamlined or seen as a loss leader, then I'd have a much bigger Armada group to pay with.

X-Wing has just enough, though, and the IP makes it a great common denominator.

I quite like the Malifaux starter.

2 4 model crews, each with a Henchman, Enforcer and 2 Minions, including their stat cards and 2 upgrade cards. 2 Fate decks (since your dice collections are useless here), 2 (admittedly simple) measure tapes, and a booklet of intro scenarios to gradually teach the rules.

Crews were designed to be simple to learn with, but still good enough to be used in the game proper. Each crew also brings something that the faction tends to be lacking, like a close combat henchman for Guild and a ranged henchman for Neverborn, and the rest of the models all have their own unique niche. They're all also Mercenaries, so can be taken in any faction you decide to start properly.

The above is also important because as Malifaux isn't a game where to want repeats of models, so giving you models that are available outside of the starter is bad. It also gives established players a reason to buy it, because they likely want the miniatures since they can't be obtained outside of the starter and are actually unique units.

The only points of contention is the price and a lack of terrain. At $65 it's not expensive as starters go, but not cheap either, and it lost $15us in value when they made the rules manual PDF free for everyone. Also terrain is rather important to the game, so some simple cardstock buildings like Infinity had would have been nice, but would have added on cost.

 Kriswall wrote:
The best starter set I've seen in ages is AoS's Storm of Sigmar "mini starter".

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-US/Storm-of-Sigmar-ENG

For someone like me who isn't to big on Stormcast I have to agree with this here. That mini Starter set is such a good quick start box that even I bought one. Heck I can throw in that Bloodpriest model I got from that White Dwarf a ways back and I basically have a good starting force for AoS Skirmish.

 Kriswall wrote:
The best starter set I've seen in ages is AoS's Storm of Sigmar "mini starter".

<snip>

So... what do I like about this?
1. It's affordable. $33 for a game two people can play is a good deal.
2. It has everything you need. Push fit models, rules, missions, dice and a ruler.
3. It's a good lead in to the full game. Players can buy a couple more units and then buy the General's Handbook if they want more structure in their games.

When I put my preorder in for the skirmish book I added this starter.

So while I think it's good, the contents don't match the rules as well as they could. Storm of Sigmar + Skirmish book is better.

As far as I can tell starter sets for any sort of tabletop game (wargame, collectable/living cardgames or whatever else you care to mention) are a very tricky thing to do well. Stating the bleeding obvious they should provide an introduction to a game system without providing so much that the customer has no desire to expand beyond the basic starter set. At the same time they need to come with enough that the starter doesn't feel like a bare bones experience. From the point of view of a miniature wargame (as opposed to a board wargame which will probably be a complete game) there are a few key things that they should include.

1: Minis

You've got to have minis to play a miniature game (or cardboard standee Ork dreads if you're going for 2nd ed 40k vibe). How many will obviously vary from game to game, I wouldn't expect a starter set for the likes of Infinity to have the same number of minis as a game like Black Powder. I would personally say that the ideal number of miniatures is the amount needed to play a small game of whatever system the set is for. That could be as few as 4 or 5 minis per side or many as 200, just make sure it's appropriate for the game. To my mind the minis shouldn't all be only the core of the force. The vast majority of games have some sort of command structure or heroes leading their forces and plenty of different support options. Including a commander/hero and one or two support options alongside the basic troops should be enough to keep things interesting without being overwhelming for a new player. If you are making a 2 (or more) player starter set try as hard as possible to make the starter forces balanced. Finally if the minis need to be built rather than being single piece make sure to include full instructions on how to build them.

2: Rules

You would think this would be obvious but there are a number of starter sets out there that only include quick start rules with a note stating that the full rules are available elsewhere. NO!!!!!!!! Don't do this! If I buy your starter set I want to be able to read the rules, I don't want to have to download a free PDF (and pay the cost of printing it) or buy a separate print copy. Sure it can be a smaller format version of the rules and you can cut out any superfluous extras like fluff or modelling sections but your boxed game should include all the rules needed to play it without having to go elsewhere for them. Please do include quick start rules and a series of scenarios that teach the game but not at the expense of the full rules.

3: Gaming Equipment

By gaming equipment I am of course referring to the dice, cards, tokens, measuring devices or whatever else is actually needed to play your game. Make sure you have enough of them (I'm looking at you FFG) not just for the starter game but ideally to go beyond it. Of course most experienced gamers will have a lot of this sort of thing anyway but a starter set should to my mind assume that the purchaser is completely new to the hobby. It's hard to say more about this but appropriate gaming equipment really is essential for starter sets in my opinion.

4: Scenery

Sure you could play a game on a totally bare table but where's the fun in that? Include some scenery in the box to add some visual excitement to the game. Obviously this could significantly raise the cost of a starter set if large plastic or resin scenery pieces are included, but cardboard is cheap and can be packed flat at the bottom of the box. To my mind though the very best example of this has to be the current Infinity starter sets, which contain not just buildings and other scenic items but also a play mat. Of course if the game in question doesn't use true line of sight rules simple flat terrain elements can also be used.

5: Reasonable Pricing

I hope this one speaks for itself. I don't want to be having to pay a large price to try out a new game. To my mind the sweet spot for a starter set is in the £20 to £70 range depending on the contents. Anything that costs less than that is probably too bare bones and anything more expensive has got to be something special to warrant taking the risk on spending that much on something new. It also helps if the set costs less than the total cost of buying all the contents separately.

I'm not sure that I could ever find a perfect starter set. There's almost always something small wrong with them but there are many excellent options out there.

I think another big consideration is price.

To draw in someone new (i.e. who's never ever played a miniatures game before) I think the sweet spot is probably $65-85.

Warhammer 40K can get away with it because it's 40K, but I think most other ones I've seen are far cheaper and with good reason.

Price, contents and most importantly, good starter scenarios that ease you into the game, one scenario at a time. I'm not a big fan of "starters" whose whole tutorial spiel is nothing more than a leaflet telling you read chapter I through X to understand the game.

 BrookM wrote:
Price, contents and most importantly, good starter scenarios that ease you into the game, one scenario at a time. I'm not a big fan of "starters" whose whole tutorial spiel is nothing more than a leaflet telling you read chapter I through X to understand the game.

Dark Vengeance and Island of Blood were somewhat guilty of this, which annoyed me to no end.


One of my favorite starters (and my first wargame starter) was the Battle for Macragge.

In terms of sheer army value, it possibly wasn't the best, but perhaps my favorite element was the included terrain bits. Terrain can be an oft-overlooked feature for newer players, but can do a great job of setting the "scene", if you will, of a particular game. Having terrain that helps connect a group of miniatures to the setting is always great.

Skull Pass was also horrible at it. Which is a shame really as the game came with extra terrain and objective pieces (the pony and the tied up Slayer) that were never used.

But yes, Macragge is awesome! It slowly built things up and told a cool story at the same time as well.

Look at Xwing 25-30 pounds gets you a few ships all the templates and tokens you need and the full rules.

Its cheap enough that if you don't like it you've not wasted a fortune.

Now look at 40k its £100 for a game you don't know you'll like, and if its not your cup of tea you're out a fair chunk of change.

If I didn't know anything about 40k and my kid wanted that starter I'd say no, anything over £50-60 is too much for a starter set.

I'd be happier with the X-Wing starter if it had at least two rebel ships instead of just one (say an X and Y wing). It's a little annoying for one side to end up with just a single model. Otherwise, it's a brilliant set.

I also agree tha the small Sigmar starter set is a great value at a decent price point - even the scenarios it includes are fun and way better than the "Come at me bro" you usually see in matched play.

The proper Flame son War "Open Fire" (not the later cut down version) was for me about the best starter set going.

- Full rules
- two game legal and usable armies that taught the basics of the rules well but are playable as they are
- basic terrain (ok printed card but it works)
- getting started guide
- painting guide
- dice
- counters

really just add a tape measure and a table and you're good to go.

The forces included also include rules for several other units as a suggested 'where to go from here', so its possible to expand without having to buy another book.

The model for the Sherman and Stug was horrible at first 9own goal there) but got sorted later.

The current FoW 'starters' are rubbish

 Mathieu Raymond wrote:

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
I think that a good example of a bad starter set would be Star Wars Armada, which bears much of the blame for the games relative lack of success. First, there is the cost. at $99.95 US, this is not a cheap starter, especially given that there are only 3 ships in it. Worse, it offers fairly minimal savings. These are hard to estimate, since the fighters are where you make your money on the starter, and only have one type of fighter per faction (as opposed to the four per for the fighter packs). It works out to about $20 of savings over buying all the components separately. The only reason to buy the starter is that it is the only place to get a couple cards (Notably, Howlrunner and Tarkin), obstacles and range ruler.

It is also rather imbalanced between factions. Rebels will probably not kill a Victory-class star destroyer within the time limit, but the VSD can easily kill a Rebel ship, meaning that in starter set games Empire will almost always win. Rebels also have a keyword that is completely useless (Escort) in a starter battle. They also don't really have any sort of squadron command, and the title included for the Nebulon-B is nearly useless in a small game, due to being designed to buff a formation of ships. The Rebels also have a rather gimmicky crit-based strategy, in comparison to the Empires much more simple beatdown approach. While the Empire commander also assumes that you will have more than a starters worth of ships, he also provides a useful crutch while learning the command dial mechanics.

Finally, it rather insultingly does not include enough components to even play the game- X-wings roll four dice when shooting squadron, and the starter only comes with 3 of them. You can also boost the shooting of any of the ships to the point where you will roll 4 dice of the same colour. Three more dice, and we wouldn't be having this problem.

QTF. If only that starter had been streamlined or seen as a loss leader, then I'd have a much bigger Armada group to pay with.

X-Wing has just enough, though, and the IP makes it a great common denominator.

Honestly, if they had just added another die of each colour, tweaked the rebel side slightly (Include Yavaris, and replace a couple X-wings with Y-wings, maybe toss is XI-7's or something), and cut the costs a bit (Maybe $85?), and Armada would be a lot more popular.

I was super impressed with Steamforged Games Kick Off! starter for Guild Ball. Basically everything you need to play including measuring tools that you would normally on find from 3rd party sellers.

I feel like for the amount of product in the box its a hard starter to beat for that price point.

http://store.guildball.com/getting-started/kick-off

 Hückleberry wrote:
I was super impressed with Steamforged Games Kick Off! starter for Guild Ball. Basically everything you need to play including measuring tools that you would normally on find from 3rd party sellers.

I feel like for the amount of product in the box its a hard starter to beat for that price point.

http://store.guildball.com/getting-started/kick-off

it is a good starter , and i love those measuring tools! perfect for so many games

Admit I found Armada underwhelming and expensive, all it really needed was two smaller Imperial ships as the forces are not at all balanced for unskilled players.

Lots of cardboard in the box, no single rulebook which is odd, just a getting started guide then the rest of the rules - would be better to have one booklet for the rules and a few pages of 'getting started'.

The game is actually pretty good, but the starter lets it down, especially compared to how cheap the X-Wing starter is, which is vastly better