Wargames Barrier to Entry

[ted1138]

X-Wing would be my 1st choice if it was on the list. Other than that I wouldn't advise anyone to start any of those games. I'd instead steer them towards board games like Spartacus, Small World and Settlers of Catan. One small up front investment, and multiple people can play together. Tabletop wargaming is getting ridiculously expensive.

[Weidekuh]

X-Wing The miniatures game by Fantasy Flight Games.

-Very easy rules yet a lot of strategic depth. (There is even a video tutorial: [url]http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite_sec.asp?eidm=174&esem=4[/url] )
-Everything you need is in the starter box.
-Good price and good quality.
-No terrain needed (again, everything is in the starter box).
-Low point games are short enough.
-Both sides play simoultaneously, no boring wait time for either side.
-Very very good balanced game.
-Already painted and assembled.
-Just awesome game even if you don't like star wars.
-Fantasy Flight Games customer service is extremely good.
-X-Wing is growing very very fast. It's now even easier to find X-Wing games than 40k for me. Also it allows to play with people that normally don't play wargames and they don't need to bring an army, since you will have everything to play.
-Fantasy Flight Games puts a lot of effort into tournaments too. There are qualifiers all over the world and last year they had a world championship with all the local winners for the second time.

[Lord Tothe]

To find other players: 40K. But the entry price is prohibitive. Minis, rulebook, codex, etc. is a huge hurdle. GW makes awesome minis though.

For big armies fast, Mantic delivers the goods. Their rules are free downloads, too! Unless you're playing against a snob, you can use most of their minis to proxy quite nicely for GW units if you want to cross over later. Thus, Kings of War and Warpath get a vote.

Malifaux has great minis, and a starter box gets you into the game right away for somewhere between $40-$50. Rulebooks aren't too expensive. Minis look great. BONUS: The upcoming Through the Breach RPG!

Warmahordes also gets you into the game quite nicely with a starter box. Great minis, another game with a solid RPG alternative for the models. Thus my 3rd vote.

[Deadlift]

I'm certainly going to give x wing a go, I've heard so many good things and my mrs is willing to give it a go. My eldest too has shown interest, and as she's nearly 7 she's ripe for getting into wargaming now.

[Bowser]

I agree with most other comments. 40k is very expensive to start, but the huge amount of people that play is probably the strongest thing going for it. The main reason why I don't try any of the other games on the list is because of not being assured to find people to play against.
That being said, X-wing is getting big and it is by far has the easiest ruleset and lowest start-up cost.

[Darren Richardson]

For me, 40K and WFB are the easy games to get into, because here in the UK you can find GW products in most large towns and in virtually every city.....

Now Mantic is also based in the UK and so you can order their stuff at reasonable prices online and get it quickly, also they give their rules away free online....

Now everybody else, the main barrier is availability, all these other games are VERY hard to find in shops, there just too few FLG Shops in the UK, those that can get them have to take into account that these products are often imported from the States over to the UK which increases the costs a lot.

Now yes you could possibly get them from Internet suppliers, but then your buying blind, you cant really see the box, you can't see the quality, and of course you can't get to play test the game like you can in a FLGS.

So for me all the other systems suffer from problems of availability and thus a lack of player base to make it a worthwhile investment, while GW products do have the player base here.

I expect over in the states this would not necessarily apply....

[Houghten]

While it may cost more than some others, its still a birthday or xmas worth of prezzies and your fighting your buddies.

I think your Christmas budget might be a smidgen higher than mine.

[Popsical]

Depends on how many points you want to start with.
For my first couple of years i didnt have 1500pts but had loads of fun.
To be honest those years were the best, before the list building and just expanding little by little.
WOW! Marks got a landraider!!!!! Etc.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

i voted for kings of war/warpath, dystopian wars and malifaux.

kings of war/warpath is simple and easy to understand, plus the models are cheap and the backround is basic. For large scale skirmishes id say it's the best choice.

Malifaux beats infinity for one reason - and that is it's starting to release plastic kits, making it a bit more accessible. otherwise, it's a decent low model count game.

Dystopian Wars covers land, air and sea so that makes it accessible to a wide number of people that care about different types of warfare, the models are fairly affordable and easy to paint to.

[YorkNecromancer]

40K's main barrier to entry is price, though I think everyone else here has covered that well enough.

DUST is really good; quick to pick up, decent strategic depth, lovely models. I'd rate that as possibly the number 1.

Malifaux is great too; you don't need masses of scenery or play area either.

Warmahordes comes third, because of low model count and a polished set of rules. Too many goofy looking figures for my taste are all that keep it from being higher.