Wanna scratch my wargaming itch

[koz]

Basically, recently, I decided I really miss wargaming, like, with miniatures. However, for many reasons, I don't want to give a dime to GW. However, I am not well-schooled on the alternatives.

A couple of things I am looking for:

- Fantasy or sci-fi (not historical, basically)
- Decent scale (28mm or so)
- Somewhat decent-looking miniatures (so, nothing too hideous)

Other than that, I'm open to a variety of things, and would love to hear Denner suggestions about what I can try.[/list]

[OgreBattle]

I was going to ask a similar question...

So I've heard good things about Flames of War as the best in terms of depth, learning curve and play speed.

[Laertes]

My ex-housemates and I used to play Necromunda using miniatures from em4. If you're okay using GW rules and not their models, then it worked well for us.

[sandmann]

http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/

- great minitures
- free Rules + armybuilder
- "real"/hard sci-fi (like, they use guns. Because that makes sense in a world with guns everywhere)

= great game

[Koumei]

Soda Pop Miniatures have some decent things to offer, with very nice minis - and given the Kickstarter pledges are getting shipped now, I imagine they'll soon be ready to take regular orders.

Boobie KnightsRelic Knights

They also have a board game with minis and stuff: Super Dungeon Explore (a friend bought this one and says it's great)

Also: if you give so much as a penny to Privateer Press (Warmachine), I will say mean things about you on the Internet.

[darkmaster]

Step 1: By a 3d printer

Stept 2: print exact copies of the minies you need for warhammer

Step 3: PROFIT!!!

[souran]

So the thing about miniatures wargamming is its not actually about what rules are good, or even what miniatures are good (unless you just want to paint and not to play).

Its about what you can find opponents for.

Go to your gamestores, ask your gaming group, and otherwise figure out where you are planning on playing. Then find out what they play. That is probably your best bet because otherwise you are looking at the convention/tournament scene to actually get to play at all and that basically sucks.

Ogrebattle suggested flames of war. While Flames is a pretty good game, and its rules set better depicts fire and movement combat better than most other minis games on the market (including battletech which is actually more about heat sink accounting), it is a historical. Historical minis guys are nuts even compared to other minis guys.

Also, Games-Workshop puts out 28 mm miniatures when everybody else puts out 25 mm miniatures. They have an number of reasons for doing this, but there are people, especially in the tournament scene who will assume you are a groveling GW fanboy if you talk about 28mm minis games.

[sandmann]

So the thing about miniatures wargamming is its not actually about what rules are good, or even what miniatures are good (unless you just want to paint and not to play).

Its about what you can find opponents for.

This. Or you make your own group, when you can find enough guys who want to start a new game.

Historical minis guys are nuts even compared to other minis guys.

And this. My roommate told me that he really would like to start a few games of FoW, but where we live, 20% of the FoW-gamers are ok, 70% have a weird Wehrmacht-WW2 fetish, and the rest are just nazis. Nothing against the game, but the fanbase is just crazy.

[souran]

And this. My roommate told me that he really would like to start a few games of FoW, but where we live, 20% of the FoW-gamers are ok, 70% have a weird Wehrmacht-WW2 fetish, and the rest are just nazis. Nothing against the game, but the fanbase is just crazy.

Or they place so much attention to detail that they are insufferable. I was learning flames of war and burrowing a friends minis to do so. we had a collection of stuff from the eastern front sourcebook/army book going up against desert brits/"Montey's gambit" forces and one of hte people at the game store thought that was stupid and kept telling us so till we decided to leave....

[Dean]

Flames of War is good but doesn't meet your qualifications. I think Warmachine is the best non-historical wargame that's currently on the market. You can find players for it, the prices aren't GW crazy, and the rules allow clever and creative army builds that don't decide who wins on turn 1. Warmachine is a solid game that does almost everything I want my wargames to do. Anima or Infinity are both ok as well but don't have anything close to the same player base.

[Archmage]

I can't argue too heavily against the "find out what people in your area are playing," but I play and greatly enjoy Malifaux.

[Koumei]

I think Warmachine is the best non-historical wargame that's currently on the market.

We're going to have some problems. This is a pretty good thread for explaining it, but basically:

1. Metal is a dumb choice for minis when plastic is a real thing.

2. The rules encourage dumping all minis in the middle of the table, rattling it about and declaring a winner based on whichever mini is on the top. Tactics are banned.

3. DO YOU HAVE BIG MANLY BALLS OR ARE YOU A LITTLE GIRL WITH DOLLIES? YOU NEED BALLS FOR THIS GAME.

4. "I will torture your cat"

5. Giant robots are often quite shitty to the point where they found the best way to encourage them is to give you "free points for taking giant robots only" and set limits on how many of any non-robot unit you can take. In other words, they fail at their main goals.

6. It's badly balanced. Also it offers options for even worse-balanced quirky lists, which range from "sucking an awful lot" to "Wait, I can just take heaps of what I was already going to take, and get bonuses on top?"

7. You caught an STI from a seal.

[souran]

I have heard good things about Maliflux.

I know a lot of people like Warmachines and Hordes. I have never gotten to play it (only read the rules). I do know that if Warmachine and/or Hordes is the dominate game in your area then even mentioning GW will generally have the same effect as wearing a Yankees jersey into a downtown Boston bar.

Also, if you are really looking to just scratch the wargamming itch, there are good games by guys like John Pardos that require only a 1 time investment.

However, if you want to do minis gaming, want to make sure that you have opponents you can have a lot of fun playing either warhammer fantasy or 40k.

For all the wierd stuff or things that people gripe about, it is the biggest game system around. It can be very fun, and very competative. The minis are commonly available. Heck, even people who like it a lot tend to froth and get angry at its own designers.

However, finding what other people will play with you is probably more important than anything else.

[Stahlseele]

Battletech maybe?
It's reasonable cheap and easy to get into, as long as you stay away from the "More Toys!" Book for some time . .

[virgil]

Step 1: By a 3d printer

Stept 2: print exact copies of the minies you need for warhammer

Step 3: PROFIT!!!

3D printer for $100

[Marisel]

I play Malifaux as well and have a good bit of fun with it. Can be hard to find players some places though, so it may not be ideal depending on your location.

[TarkisFlux]

There's one where you build your own figures with legos. Really. As a bonus, it's CC licensed if you want to look it over without throwing money at it.

Not that I know if the game is any good or if you have sufficient legos or people to play it, but I thought it worth mentioning as a model alternative.

[Edit] Vincent Baker is associated with the project... which makes no sense to me as there are probably actual rules in a wargame. Still, you have been warned.

[Archmage Joda]

Not particularly relevant, but just about every time I see this thread's title, I misread it as "Wanna scratch my wargaming lich"

[Voss]

I have heard good things about Maliflux.

I know a lot of people like Warmachines and Hordes. I have never gotten to play it (only read the rules). I do know that if Warmachine and/or Hordes is the dominate game in your area then even mentioning GW will generally have the same effect as wearing a Yankees jersey into a downtown Boston bar.

Most wargamers I know play both (or well, increasingly not WFB, and since 7th edition 40k, less of that too, since its explicitly 6th with ~10 pages of errata for $70, and the army building rules basically fuck sanity). Even when I was enthusiastically playing 40k every week, the GW folks had a much larger chip on their shoulder about everything, and were wound far more tightly about rules discussions. My experience with the WM/H crowd has been very casual.

What I see people play in shops:
Warmachine/Hordes
Infinity
Malifaux

Personally, I find the background to Infinity to be horribly bland and interesting and very samey. Which leads to a feeling of balance, but also a feeling of disinterest.

Malifaux I found interesting conceptually, but really boring to play. The card system made it horribly predictable and the move+action system struck me as too limited- I could always get into a position to jump enemies, because I took gangs with bonus movement tricks.

[CapnTthePirateG]

Brikwars.