My son is starting to get into Warhammer and so far he’s learned the mechanics of Age of Sigmar, but he still isn’t sure what road to go down. Normally he’d go for whatever my brother in law is into (he introduced him to MTG, obviously the gateway drug) but he’s not deep into Warhammer yet (BiL was gifted a Necromunda squad) so my son will have to figure it out for himself.
Assuming most people here picked 40k over Age of Sigmar, I’m curious to know what motivated your choice? He’s painted a few random figurines he was gifted, but is now giving serious thought into going further. We’d welcome any tips on where to start!
My son got into 40k and wanted me to go with him to the shop and help paint figures. We bought him the Starter Set and he played as Tyranids and left me with the Space Marines. He moved onto Age of Sigmar (and I get the impression that most kids/teens seem to be more into Fantasy than grimdark SF). I enjoyed the painting and started to play.
My only regret was choosing an army too soon. I wish I’d taken longer and learned more about the lore before choosing. (My son is mad about Skaven currently!)
I got into 40K by randomly watching some Luetin lore videos on YouTube and then becoming super interested in the lore. I’ve only played two games of Combat Patrol (against myself) using the models from the Leviathan box. 😅 It seems fun but is quite the time investment.
When I got into it I didn’t really consider the amount of hobby time investment required. I think it took me over a month just to assemble the models I needed to try out Combat Patrol, I still don’t have any of them painted, or even primed.
Then I tried out Kill Team and love it. It’s arguably just as complex as 40K, but much more approachable from a hobby perspective. It’s a blast too! I’d highly recommend trying out a game or two, the light rules are available for free online and they have an app too.
Thanks for the insight, that’s another mention of Kill Team in the thread. I actually think the long prep time is a bonus because it means he’ll have to take his time before adding any more to the collection, hopefully…
I’m an oldie who got into 40k way back in the early 90s with the Rogue Trader stuff.
In my honest opinion, I love the minis (they look glorious), but I would not recommend the current game to anyone. It’s far too expensive and just not that fun.
There are better games out there that you can play using 40k minis. One Page Rules : Grimdark Future is one such example.
Ah interesting, do you mean using the figurines but with different game rules and mechanics?
Exactly this!
I mentioned One Page Rules in particular because it’s the one that I still play.
The buy-in is zero - you get the core rules for free. They are clean, easy to remember, and fast to play with.
OPR : Grimdark Future is the 40k equivalent OPR : Grimdark Future Firefight is a smaller scale skirmish based version. I like Firefight best personally - you can play with just a handful of figures per team.
An additional aspect is that it is miniature agnostic. Most of the teams are “legally distinct” spins on the 40k factions, with each troop type having an equivalent, but you can use any miniatures you have (regardless of who makes them) totally legitimately.
They have a free army building web app called Army Forge. You can spin up a couple of armies based on the models you have already, print off the rules, and have a quick game straight away :)
Edit: I just visited their homepage and thought I should clarify something. When they say “receive 50 minis a month”, they are talking about files for 3d printing these miniatures, not actual physical figures in the mail!
Thank you this is really useful information!!
Kill Team seems like a much more manageable game (I have very limited experience in Warhammer)
Smaller armies and faster games. So you don’t have to commit to 4 days of army building before you get a taste of the gameplay.
I don’t mind him spending time preparing his minis if it means he has to wait before adding more to his collection. We’ll look into Kill Team though, thank you for the tip!
It’s not so much that he won’t or shouldn’t, more so he can get to playing faster.
The Emperor called me from the void and I have been here since.
Guys, I think Grimdank is leaking
You make it sound like it’s a bad thing mate.
I prefer Sci Fi.
Fair!
I got into painting minis over the pandemic when everyone was picking up new hobbies left and right with the reaper minis learn to paint kits
I enjoyed them, but I have a hard time justifying buying minis unless I have an actual use for them, and since we don’t tend to use them in my D&D games, I went on the hunt for a game.
And from there it wasn’t long before I settled on 40k. It’s probably about the biggest one out there, so I can always find someone who plays, I already have a small handful of friends who play it, and when I looked around at the options, they just kind of looked the most fun to paint to me.
That’s interesting, one of the reasons he got into minis was because someone bought him some to use in his roleplaying games, and from there it was a short walk to Warhammer. He’s still new to tabletop RPGs and hasn’t tried out any particular system beyond using his imagination and printing some things out to play with his friends. I think Warhammer caught his eye because it’s more tangible and easier to play in a sense? He’s keen to try D&D but it’s been hard to find places to learn. I guess the benefit of AoS over 40k is I could see him using some of the minis for his RPG games given they lean towards fantasy.
- Does he have friends that will play? A lot of wargaming is just garage folks. That requires a group of people you can play with regularly. Kinda sucks to get into a game and you have no one to play with.
- Go to your local game stores that do wargaming and see what the scene is. Plural stores is important here. The store with the biggest scene might actually be the worst to play at or host the dumbest players. In my experience, there are shops that have lots of models and accessories with huge play areas and there are shops with great scenes geared for all players. Sometimes those intersect; often they do not. You’re looking for a friendly place willing to cater to beginners. Good starter scenes have lots of people willing to share armies so you can see what’s going on.
- How much do you want to spent right now? Kill Team, Combat Patrol, full 40k in that order is probably cheapest. AoS doesn’t have the cheaper options yet AFAIK officially but there are some smaller skirmish options.
- Marvel Crisis Protocol and Star Wars several things might be better options based on the first three points depending on your wallet and local scene.
However, in my experience, once you start one of these things you usually dabble in lots especially if you’re at a good store.
Thank you for the thoughtful comment, these are all very good points to think about. To answer your questions:
- To be honest I’m probably going to be the friend he plays with, at least to start. When he was getting into MtG, he and I would play until he eventually started introducing his friends to the game at school. It’s one more good excuse to spend quality time together especially, as he heads into his teens, so I don’t mind.
- There’s a Warhammer store near our place (where he got to try AoS) that hosts some games. I thought it was the only one in our city but after your comment I had a look and there are a bunch of others nearby, one of which is a café specifically for people who want to play and paint. We’ll definitely be checking those out.
- It’s his birthday in a couple of weeks, so I don’t mind buying him a starter kit or something along those lines, but beyond that we agreed any additions would only happen if he’s done assembling and painting the set he has. Then if we add more it’ll be for birthday/Christmas gifts, or he uses his own pocket money. I have to be honest though, when he told me he was interested in Warhammer, this was the first thing that popped into my head.
- He was gifted a few minis from the Lord of the Rings set (that’s how he caught the bug), I haven’t seen the Marvel or Star Wars in the store but I’ll have a look around.
Battlefleet Gothic was really cool, and they had this game with tiny little guys too.
I didn’t realise they made Warhammer video games but makes total sense. Are they any good?
Battlefleet gothic started as a tabletop game with plastic space warships. That’s what I was referring too.
But, totally apart from that, the Battlefleet gothic videogames are also really good, if you like slow tactical ship sims.
