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Hey Folks,

I used to play a lot ~10 years ago. I tried to pick it up again about 5 years ago maybe? These days I've got a wife and 2 kids that I didn't have before. I was playing 40k and have a pretty sweet ork army there, but alas, I think I'll have more success getting the family into the fantasy version more easily (Age of Sigmar). What I want to try to figure out is which 2 armies to get started with and some picks in those armies. The following considerations are items I think I need to make:

1. Armies with smaller quantities of units to get rolling. It takes me ~1 hour per infantry, ~3 hours per cavalry and ~6 hours per monster/vehicle. I get ~5 hours/week to paint. I may have to hire up a painting service; so more models costs more.
2. Classic theme of good vs evil
3. Awesome Minis (but nothing gruesome, sorry Nurgle)
4. Diversity of model purposes. Monster Killers, Infantry killers, objective holders, infiltration, magic of various kinds not just destructive but perhaps supportive in some way.
5. Ability to start simple and expand to more complex.

I know its a tall order, but looking at the list, its 3 orders with ~10 per order = ~30 armies to choose from.

Most interesting armies that fit my concept of "good" vs "evil" seem to be:

Good
1. Stormcast Eternals
4. Fireslayers

Evil
1. Nighthaunt & Nagash
3. Daemons
4. Everchosen & Slaves

"Mercanarial" - Feel like they could possibly ally with either in a campaign
1. Overlords
2. Gutbusters
3. Idoneth
4. Sylvaneth (cuz the models just look kinda evil; not like good trees, but angry evil spirit ones)
5. Seraphon


Anyways, I thought it would be interesting to get some opinions from folks out there, especially if you've been able to on board your wife + kids into playing. Specifically I'd like to go after campaigns as I've got a large space in my house where I can keep a game room going.

How old are the kids?

I would advise against Nighthaunt if they're under 12 just because some of the models are quite spindly.

The oldest is 4. I think she can get it if we are really good with the story telling. I think if the models can survive being dropped or being roughly placed they should be ok. Night Haunts do look a bit fragile for sure.

The stormcast do seem the best fit, the models are pretty robust and not a pain to paint (for the most part)

Also they have gryph hounds.

For the other side... the deepkin are very neat but i've found some of the figures to be tougher to put together. that might be my clumsy fingers though. Also a bit delicate. Ogres (ogors, whatevs) are beefy and fun to paint!

I'm an aunt and i've got my nephews to play some games, and they like the stormcast, though the youngest funnily enough decided they were evil robots.

I know it is not exactly what you are asking for, but if you want to teach your kids miniature gaming, I strongly recommend warhammer underworlds. I have been teaching my own 6 year old how to play it.
The game can be easily divided into 4 distinct areas: moving and combat, objectives, upgrades and ploys. I have been teaching my son my starting with just moving and fighting and then adding the other stages one by one.
It is GW's cheapest game to get into, especially if you just want to play casually.

If you want to teach measuring, you can take the minis from the game and play skirmish, or hopefully the upcoming warcry game.

You can play a variety of different factions and see what the kids take to before expanding out into full aos armies.

Chikout wrote:
I know it is not exactly what you are asking for, but if you want to teach your kids miniature gaming, I strongly recommend warhammer underworlds. I have been teaching my own 6 year old how to play it.
The game can be easily divided into 4 distinct areas: moving and combat, objectives, upgrades and ploys. I have been teaching my son my starting with just moving and fighting and then adding the other stages one by one.
It is GW's cheapest game to get into, especially if you just want to play casually.

If you want to teach measuring, you can take the minis from the game and play skirmish, or hopefully the upcoming warcry game.

You can play a variety of different factions and see what the kids take to before expanding out into full aos armies.

I'll second this. Each of the Underworlds warbands has rules in Age of Sigmar, and they tend to be a little bit better than the corresponding unit, so they make excellent mini heroes/leaders in Age of Sigmar Skirmish. The variety allows you to buy only what interest you and your family without breaking the bank.

Chikout wrote:
I know it is not exactly what you are asking for, but if you want to teach your kids miniature gaming, I strongly recommend warhammer underworlds. I have been teaching my own 6 year old how to play it.
The game can be easily divided into 4 distinct areas: moving and combat, objectives, upgrades and ploys. I have been teaching my son my starting with just moving and fighting and then adding the other stages one by one.
It is GW's cheapest game to get into, especially if you just want to play casually.

If you want to teach measuring, you can take the minis from the game and play skirmish, or hopefully the upcoming warcry game.

You can play a variety of different factions and see what the kids take to before expanding out into full aos armies.

Also worth mentioning is "Dreadfane", something previewed at New York Toy Fair. It's a simplified version of Underworlds using the Easy to Build Sequitors and Banshee kits.

DrCrook wrote:
The oldest is 4. I think she can get it if we are really good with the story telling. I think if the models can survive being dropped or being roughly placed they should be ok. Night Haunts do look a bit fragile for sure.

Do they like bright colours & dinosaurs? If so, one of the armies you get should be the Seraphon.

You can also save a chunk of painting time & $ by converting you're own monsters & even mounts - Papo, Schleich, & Animal Safari etc all make very durable, already painted, hard rubber/plastic dinos in the right scales (or close enough for playing with the kids). And they're readily available.

Hah, they LOVE dinosaurs. I actually really like the Seraphon stylistically as well. They could probably be pitted against Stormcast Eternals (Seraphon seem more evil to me).

I'm not sure about Underworlds, I just watched the video, it seems as if it could be even more complex. Got a link to dreadfane?

To simplify underworlds, it seems like you removed everything except moving & combat?

DrCrook wrote:


I'm not sure about Underworlds, I just watched the video, it seems as if it could be even more complex. Got a link to dreadfane?

To simplify underworlds, it seems like you removed everything except moving & combat?

I started with moving and combat, then added objectives. One point for each kill and one point for each objective held at the end of a turn. Once they're used to that you can add upgrade cards. It is the ploy cards that add in the complexity.
Dreadfane is not out yet unfortunately.

DrCrook wrote:
Hah, they LOVE dinosaurs. I actually really like the Seraphon stylistically as well. They could probably be pitted against Stormcast Eternals (Seraphon seem more evil to me).

Seraphon aren't evil nor are they good. They just are.

I'm not sure about Underworlds, I just watched the video, it seems as if it could be even more complex. Got a link to dreadfane?

No, as it's not out yet--but I can show you what it includes:

Here's where they announced it.

To simplify underworlds, it seems like you removed everything except moving & combat?

Kinda/sorta?

Basically, it's more of a boardgame than a wargame. Each player has a preset 'team'(size of which varies--Sepulchral Guard[Skeletons], Briar Queen[Ghosts], and Goblins are currently the most numerous warbands and thus have a hard time getting to go first) and they can build their own Objective and Powers/Upgrades Deck.

You're limited to 12 Objective Cards for the match and a minimum of 20 Powers/Upgrades(It has to be 50/50 split of Spells or Gambits and Upgrades) for the match.

Honestly? We've had a few kids playing it locally and they seemed to catch on easy.

It sounds like a soul wars box or even one of the original starter boxes (Khorne vs stormcast) is going to be your best bet. Although all the blood and gore might not be the best bet for kids 4 and under. Ghosts are more relatable.

Nighthaunt are not as spindley as you may think and they are very easy to paint if you want a straightforward asesthetic. The beauty of them being that you can wash them all in a single colour (hexwraith, nighthaunt gloom or Nihilith oxide) and then just drybrush them. Later on when they want to make them better, you can paint in the cloth, weapons etc. Most GW stores just have them mono-colour.

Stormcast is a definite for easy to paint examples of a "good" side of the fight. They also offer a lasting army for later due to them being the AOS poster child.

Finally, for low model count and easy to paint - Beastclaw Raiders are really good. Arguably one of the cheapest to collect due to the start collecting boxes containing all you need to start, good looking models and very, very low model count. I would suggest investing a little extra time on the big beasties to magnetise the heads at least - make the most of the little variety they have.