What non-GW game to choose?

[Greendragon]

Hey Forum,

I play all 3 main GW systems at the moment, but am looking to expand into something new. I'll be the first in my large group of East Devon gamers to branch out properly into a new gaming system, so I think its an interesting one as likely if I recommend others might give said gaming system a try too. The question is, what should I go for? There are loads! Historical Games, Flames of War, Mantic Games, Warmachine, Avatars of War. I'd rather play the more popular one - whichever one everyone else is playing, then there is more chances of meeting fellow players in Exeter or other cities for gaming events. Currently I'm taking a look at Mantic's WarPath setup, but what would you lovely fellas suggest?

- Steve

[Deamon-forge]

depends what sort of setting you after. as their are a lot of post apoc rules around and they use models from any company you like.

[x-esiv-4c]

Flames of War is a lot of fun.

[Zink]

If you're looking for a replacement for Warhammer and want to still use your current minis you could try out Armies of Arcana. All you need is the rulebook. It allows you to use a variety of fantasy and historical armies and is easy enough to tailor to what you want. Not sure how easy it will be to find other groups playing it but I know there are some scattered around England.

[Lothlanathorian]

NON-GW system?! Are you mad?!? Insane, even??!!!??


I assume the third system is the LoTR games? I see a lot about FoW, AoW and Warmachine posted about and used to see a good bit of Warmachine and FoW being played in-store before life slowly deprived me of gaming time.

[blackcherry]

Exeter played warmachine and flames of war last I checked. So maybe try those first, see if you like them. They are both pretty big in the UK.

[Easy E]

Honestly, we need to learn more about you to help out...

What do you like about the GW games you play now?
What do you NOT like about them?
What drew you to teh armies you are playing now?
What do you like to paint?
What movies/books have really spoken to you?

With that info, I might be able to give you a useful suggestion or two.

[forthegloryofkazadekrund]

I you are looking to branch out and not spend a great deal of money until you get used to it, you could look at Malifaux - essentially gang based so normally less than 10 models and uses cards instead of dice to play.

[canberraguy]

Still a GW game but Blood Bowl is the most fun and strategically challenging minatures game as far as I am concerned. Flames of War is good fun too although I personally find that people can go over the top a little and be quite offensive.

Eg
Playing an SS army is ok.
Wearing an SS jacket whilst playing said army is extremely offensive.

[New Cult King]

I'm quite a fan of Warmachine, and while I'm collecting Firestorm Armada fleets and some Infinity dudes, I have yet to play them.

[Greendragon]

Good advise there, to answer the above posters questions,

I am getting a bit weary of the same old stuff circulating around the GW systems, whilst great, 40k is 40k, LOTR is LOTR. I'm looking to discover a new universe of entertainment, be that possibly WW2 or perhaps a completely different fantasy universe.
I chose High Elves as I love the whole nobility and regimented look they present, I chose Iron Hand space marines as I loved the colour scheme and the fact they had a few extra trinkets than your average Space Marine.
Thinking about what I love to paint etc I haven't really painted all that many vehicles/tanks, preferring to focus on my individual LotR figures or my countless scores of High Elves. So I'd like to choose a game that requires a bigger variety of models. Warhammer requires a certain number (quite large) of figures before it makes sense by the rules to bring in some of the larger more exciting models, are there any games where its more balanced toward the bigger models?

The SS jacket comment did seem a bit shocking, I also liked the look of infinity miniatures but don't think theres anyone in the South West that plays it to my knowledge, think Warmachine and FoW might possibly be my best bet..

[AsleepByDay]

Infinity is fairly simple, has a great wiki, the rules are online for free and you could play using 40k models so you could try it for free you can also convert your fellows the same way.

Personally I'd recommend dystopian wars if you are going to start an entirely new game its fun, cheap and easy to pick up.

[canberraguy]

Sorry. I am sure that was an isolated incident, should not have mentioned it.

[Greendragon]

@canberraguy no its alright, you always get some people like that - I imagine that the majority of wargamers are decent chaps though.

Living near a Royal Marines base I am tempted to grab a Flames of War army, but also interested in Warmachine and Dystopian Wars - lots of great games out there!

[canberraguy]

For sure. I have an australian force. Really enjoy it and may go with a 101st airborne force next. Band of Brothers cemented that decision!

[Darkness Screamer]

Flames of war,nothing better than driving a Tiger tank right through a bunch of burning British tanks.

[Easy E]

Good advise there, to answer the above posters questions,

I am getting a bit weary of the same old stuff circulating around the GW systems, whilst great, 40k is 40k, LOTR is LOTR. I'm looking to discover a new universe of entertainment, be that possibly WW2 or perhaps a completely different fantasy universe.

I chose High Elves as I love the whole nobility and regimented look they present, I chose Iron Hand space marines as I loved the colour scheme and the fact they had a few extra trinkets than your average Space Marine.

Thinking about what I love to paint etc I haven't really painted all that many vehicles/tanks, preferring to focus on my individual LotR figures or my countless scores of High Elves. So I'd like to choose a game that requires a bigger variety of models. Warhammer requires a certain number (quite large) of figures before it makes sense by the rules to bring in some of the larger more exciting models, are there any games where its more balanced toward the bigger models?

Thanks for the info.

I would recommend WarMachine. I have a hard time saying that, as I am not a fan. However, this isn't about me now is it.

1. You like to paint cool individual models, not vehicles- WarMachine has that for Jacks and Casters.

2. Big Variety of Models- Warmachine has infantry, Casters, and Jacks. Lot's of individual models, but with a variety of non-vehicle models.

3. Larger more exciting models- War machine has this as a core element of the game, so more focus on Big models.

4. You want a different setting- Check. The Iron Kingdoms are pretty well developed now.

5. Regimented with some spice- ou also like regimented look with some trinkets. War Machine can provide this as well with a mix of line soldiers, casters, adn Jacks.

Unless you really want to explore Vehicle painting, I would not look into FoW or Dystopian Wars. Those have a heavy vehicle focus.

For the record, my favorite game at the moment is Force-On-Force/Tomorrow's War, but I don;t think it would apply to the criteria you have laid out.

[sigur]

Easy E made a really good and founded suggestion there and yeah, yeah, Warmachine is said to be a really good rules system. Aaaaaaanyway, ....

Given that you currently play Warhammer, Warhammer 40k and (probably) War of the Ring I think you might enjoy a skirmish-scale system. The advantages are:

.) No bigger investment from the get-go
.) You can basically use models you have already if you like
.) It's easier to get people into it (if you can't find anyone who plays it).
.) Rules are often for free online.
.) You need only a handyful of models. For example, Infinity models aren't cheap at all but you only need about ten. Same with the GW skirmish games or Malifaux (for which you need between 10 and 20 if I remember correctly). For example, I got about 50€ worth of Infinity models and was set for the first bunch of games. Of course I'm a hopeless case and got another bunch of models as well but mostly because they're so pretty.

Thus, I suggest looking into Necromunda (people already got the models for the most part and are familiar with the universe, yet it's a whole different game). If that's too much 40k for you though I can wholeheartedly suggest Infinity. The Specialist Games in general are all good actually. Blood Bowl, BFG, Mortheim, even Gorkamorka and so on. But as I said, if you don't like those for being too GW'ish in universe that's of course a reason to turn those down.

Sure, Flames of War is a really attractive option but it means a big investment (mostly. You can always go with models from the Plastic Soldier Company and all that but still, it will cost a bit) and it still is a company-level, points-based, battle-scaled system so it's not too far off the GW core games. Maybe too much of what I want to get into these days sneaks into my suggestions but if you're interested in playing WW2, why not look into some other rulesets that work very differently to GW's systems? I Ain't been shot, Mum's third edition was just released and is said to be really, really nice. There possibly aren't too many people around playing that but it shouldn't be too hard getting people into smaller-scale games.

There's a huge variety of great systems around these days so maybe you could sit down with your gaming pals and ask what they'd be interested in? I think that this would be a rather secure way to make sure that you got people to play with.


One little word on Warpath: From reading the preview rules and having a look at the models I see no reason why you would want to play that if you play 40k already.

[Serpent]

The game I'm going to get into along my next payday (or this Easter's gaming convention) is Dystopian Wars. I like the look of the models, and it looks different and seems to play a bit different than the main GW games. Even though I won't play Prussia, how can you not love a honking big flying aircraft carrier..?

The GW game I'm always missing time to play is Blood Bowl. I'd love to get some opponents around here.

[AndrewGPaul]

It might also be worth looking at generic systems - for instance Tomorrow's War for 15 and 28mm sci-fi, Songs of Blades and Heroes for fantasy skirmish, Future War Commander for 6-10mm sci-fi, Armies of Arcana for mass-battle fantasy and any number of historical systems if that's what interests you. That way, you can play some new games without having to also buy into a new miniatures range. It also means you can buy into a range and not have to worry that no-one else wants the opposing factions, or mix and match from various different ranges.

(fair warning - I'm not a fan of SoBaH - I find it soo simple, but it's very popular. It's not a bad game, just not one I like )

Alternatively, have you considered looking at the variety of board games available these days?