If I Was Starting WARGAMING in 2024

What if I was just starting out in wargaming, but I knew all the things I know now? What would I do? I'll tell you.

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[dirtygranny]

OPR have recently made all of their paper mini army bundles free for all. What a great way to get people into this hobby.

[andystocking]

My bit of advice to a newbiew looking to get into wargames is to ask around the local game shops to find out what is being played. You can watch vidoes online about a cool game, buy, build, and paint an army only to find nobody nearby plays it. Which you can maybe fix by being a game ambassador, but is an extra barrier to entry that a new player probably isn't up to.

[STSGingie]

Battletech is an incredibly scalable game from 1 on 1 duels to Interstellar campaigns

The rules have more or less state the same since the 80s. And the learning curve is not too steep as the rules themselves are scalable. While catalyst game labs does make and sell plastic miniatures metal miniatures are also available. But the best thing about the game is that you don't need miniatures at all if you don't have any.

[terrencemiltner]

One advantage to having a cold is I'm awake when the new video dropped. Maybe a follow up video about where to find people to play these indie games.

[ronnielaw]

I have three tips.

First, be goal oriented and start with small goals. It's a big hobby and not all aspects of it appeal to people the same. Find what you like and do that.

Second, if your goal is to learn to paint, get a kit that is a basic squad of dudes. It's gonna be your garbage squad. Seriously, you're never gonna use them to game, they're for testing and learning how to play with the paint. Eat the cost, now you're painting with house money. I want to stress that word though so I'll say it again. Learn how to PLAY with the paint. You're doing it for fun, so have fun. It will be much easier to paint when you've figured out what the capabilities of the paint are. It's not JUST about your own talent, it's about what the paints can physically do as well. You want to find that out sooner rather than later. This leads directly into...

Tip three, learn how to strip a model. You're going to mess up. You're going to be unhappy with a paint job. You're going to want to start over. Way better to get that out of the way up front than halfway through a project and decide to learn then. Or worse, to never learn and saddle yourself with being unable to fix a mistake or start over.

[CirWot]

Great video as always. As the resident middle aged gamer, I'm obliged to mention that Bolt Action from Warlord Games has excellent rules and a good value starter set. Also for historical skirmish games, companies such as Grey for Now games have great value starter sets with some of the best rulesets around. Both are also easy to play, and if you want 'lore' there's always history books, YT history videos and museums too!

[encryptedprinter]

I'm 40 and just getting into wargaming. While I've been on the periphery for a while (all the 40k videogames and books) I was never in a position to actually buy in as the models were crazy expensive and all the supplies to paint them / etc even more so. Plus I lacked a friend group that was interested in that sort of thing.

3d Printing has changed that for me. The hobby is finally within my price range and I love it. I found a local game shop that is friendly to OPR / 3d printed stuff and suddenly I have a reason to buy paints and brushes. It feels fantastic to finally be able to get into wargaming proper.

[jefferyzimmerman]

If I was getting into wargaming today, I'd tell myself to stick with Historicals. You don't have a figure limitation by manufacturer.

[AskDoctorBear]

Best advice I can give, though it may be obvious to us already in the hobby, is to see what games your friends would recommend! Any game where you already have a playgroup willing to help you get in to it will be a smoother on-ramp than solo

[LockedInluke]

My wife and I recently got a 3d resin printer and didn't know about one-page rules. Both the rule sets and models seem like a great start for us! thank you for highlighting this!

[peterdickinson]

I would have to include Mantic's Deadzone Starter Boxes as the perfect, value for money, place to start if a SciFi setting/game is what you're looking for. Great gameplay and no measuring tape required.

[YeAuldGrump]

One thing to add on the $5 rulebooks from OPR - the $5 tier of their Patreon gets you all of the main games for the same price, including the updates when they change the rules. Plus they have an early release for their paper minis as well as scenarios for their main games. (Their most recent scenarios included one where the two opposing forces are protecting each other - I am working that one into a narrative campaign.)

That said, if you DO have a 3D printer, their $10 tier is insanely good.

[jamesaskins]

Great video, really appreciate the good work your doing to bring people to the table (literally).

Personally, despite being a 40k fan boy since '87, I tend to direct people away from GW to start, simply because its the most expensive way to get into wargames and that puts them off once the initial hook buzz wears off.

Mantic, Warlord Games, One Page Rules, all great options.

If you START with the idea in your head that "everything comes from one company and this is expensive" it's very off putting, but if you start with "I can buy what I want from where I want and budget how I choose to" you are more likely to stick arround BUT it CAN be overwhelming at the same time!

[KelstenGamingUK]

I liked your Innsmouth U shirt so much I tracked it down and bought one for myself. And then I also treated myself to a lovely Pa-Chow! shirt because how could I not?

[Brandedwolf]

Thanks for this! Really been loving all the info I've found online since coming back to the hobby. I appreciate that your channel isn't just about painting/making minis, but also being inspired to work on things and ways to get into the hobby at a good pace. Been trying to take your advice of not buying tons of minis and resisting the urge to Necron all over the place lol. But I have spent a decent amount on paints (curse you army painter speed paints and certain technical paints from Citadel and AK terrain paints for being so fun) and some tools (but feel at least those are good long-term investments) as well as some DnD minis to practice and get better with (found a sweet box on Amazon with 36 various DnD type minis for $30). Definitely going to hit up the stuff you talked about here! Thanks again Atom :)

[Salic]

Buying a board game like zombicide is a great way to get a large quantity of higher quality minis to practice painting. The price per mini is excellent and the box is easy to obtain with no assembly

[chrisbatchelor]

I picked up all the books for Killteam 2018 for £10 off ebay, some I might not use as much as others but it's now a full self-enclosed game which isn't going to be messed about with balance pat patches etc and I can use random assortments of cool 40k or 40k proxy miniatures that I may have picked up because they're cool or maybe 3d print.

[earnestwanderer]

My advice for people thinking about getting into this hobby? DON’T! For god’s sake, save your money, invest wisely, retire early! I’m 66 and working a part time job to support my addiction to tiny plastic soldiers. It’s too late for me, but you can still save yourself! When you see that Warhammer sign... turn and run. That way leads to financial ruin!

[joesturn]

I think a cool follow up video would be "what kind of gamer will you be?" Now that you've got some models and you've played a game how will you interact with the hobby?

Will you be a tournament player? A pick-up game player? A narrative player? What scale will you play in regards to warband size or in regards to physical figure scale? What do these terms mean? What games fit well into these categories?

[robcooper]

I could not have thought of a better more inclusive video. Great job! I might suggest part 2: Where to start with terrain/battle mats.