"Cheap, Easy, Simple: Low Cost of Entry?" Topic

Hello wargamers.

I have a question: What would you recommend as a wargame for a person looking to spend very little money, do very little in the way of prep, and spend the least amount of time reading complex rules?

I have a rather involved project I'm working on, but I'm considering starting a much simpler project that I can get on the table almost immediately, without lots of time building, painting or reading rules, BUT, which may have some relation to actual tactics which may have been used in the past, are used at present or may be used in the future.

I also don't want to spend much money, on figures, vehicles, or terrain.

I want to play skirmish, or not much above a platoon, at most, per side, on a card table, or similar small surface.

Please recommend scale, figures, terrain, rules and period/genre.

1/72 plastic figures with small boxes and cheap trees using NUTS or FUBAR for an obscure 20th century conflict? Pre-paints? Bolt Action and plastic army men? "Sorry" pieces, a D6 and free one-page rules?

I wouldn't mind doing some very minor historical research or writing some fictional fluff to accompany it, but again I don't want to spend months getting it on the table.*

I'd like to be able to play almost immediately, as in, within hours of gathering the resources, not days, weeks or months.

My other project is a 15mm sci fi campaign using FoF/TW, so something using semi-modern squad/section tactics would be of greatest interest to me.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

Cheers.

* I do have an interest in the FIW period, as I'm originally from Iroquois country, so that would also be a possibility. That's an era I could see myself researching, and not seeing it as "work". I'd still like to keep the engagements small though, so even if I were to go with something like Black Powder, I'm not looking to recreate the Battle of Montreal, more like Pathfinder saving the Colonel's daughters, or the Six Nations defending themselves against the Algonquins or the Delawares, possibly with some colonial power aiding one faction or the other, with few troops and "simple" objectives, e.g. save the village, defend the longhouse, return the captive, etc.

Oh no multiple projects and scales!

I'd reccomend another hobby.

Look at Warrior miniatures.
warrioronline.demon.co.uk

No, this is do-able.

Quickest way to get rules is buy them in pdf form from Wargame Vault. Also 3d paper terrain is there

wargamevault.com

buy 1/72nd figures fro Squadron, most of the time they're on sale.

squadron.com

Search TMP for fast painting methods, many and varied.

While glue and paint is drying read AAR's on everyones' blog from here. Watch historical and scifi films, and listen to Epic Music

YouTube link

and write scenarios, find some players, add soap opera to attract lady gamers and Wango Bango Zip Zap Zoop..you've done it.

So there…

For figures, try free ready coloured ones printed out on 160gsm card from juniorgeneral:

link

For rules, take a look at sites such as freewargamesrules:

freewargamesrules.co.uk

I really appreciate any and all suggestions. I think it could be valuable to anybody thinking of trying wargaming, without going all in at once.

In the time TMP was shut down for nightly maintenance, I talked myself into Armies in Plastic 1/32 (54mm) FIW skirmish, and trying to track down one of the rulesets mentioned in a thread I found as soon as the site came back up. 4 boxes of "army man" figures for around 64 bucks, and all the cheap/free/one-page rules I can find, until I get some better ones from the public library. On the dinner table with books for hills and leftover trees from the 15mm SF project for terrain.

No paint for a while. Maybe a wash. Individually based (already). Storage: throw them back in the box. Future expansion: Buy the five or seven most recommended rulesets. Get the Osprey book. Read a couple more wiki articles.

I think I can do it (initially) for under a hundred bucks, with less than forty hours of labor, including reading, shopping, walking to the mailbox, etc.

Thanks for the suggestions. I want to try to get a couple friends into the hobby as well. Now to post some threads on the appropriate fora…

Memoir '44. link

It's essentially a miniatures game converted into a board game. As such, you get rules, miniatures, board, and 2D terrain pieces all in one box. If you want to upgrade, you can paint the figures and build 3D terrain.

'Look at Warrior miniatures.
warrioronline.demon.co.uk'

they look worse than Prince August minis from back in the day you'd pour your own at home. I'd say stick with a couple of boxes of 1:72nd plastics – most genres are covered – look at theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk for a start to see what is out there. If you do WW2 or later, you could probably fudge it using Fubar easily enough.

Edit – just read the last post by the OP – the link is still valid to see what 1/32nd's are out there too ;-)

Fantasy Warlords!!

Free rules, free expansions

50-packs of figures available from EM4 for 8 pounds each and they'll do a decent army each. You could have got going for 16 quid plus some shipping there…

You might get along to your local wargames group, if you have one. They would let you join in on games for no cost and might even have stuff to give away. I often give older armies away to deserving individuals. You would need to convince them that it was due to lack of money rather than being a "bit mean" though.

martin

You don't need minis to be playing a wargame. Go buy a $3 USD copy of Ogre from Steve Jackson instead. It was just re-released at the same price as the original edition but with better counters and print quality. By far the best buy on the market these days.

If you really must use figures, you can always buy some proxy 6mm (or 2mm) scifi to replace the counters, maybe transitioning to the Ogre Miniatures rules as budget allows.

When I consider side projects my biggest consideration is whether anyone else would play it. You can go down all sorts of rabbit holes with obscure scales and rules sets, but it's all for naught if no one else is interested in playing.

So the rules sets that come to mind that best meet your criteria would be DBA (ancients to start Renaissance), Saga (Dark Ages and now Crusades) and probably Infinity (which you could effectively play in 15mm scale, so two birds one stone). If there's any organised gaming in your area you should be able to find opponents for those. DBA, whilst not skirmish, is probably my top choice as a wargame and in 15mm should also be the cheapest. Pick up a Early Imperial Roman box set from Corvus Belli and you're good to go.

Two Hour Wargames offer a good selection of rules that work with any and a few figures.

Mighty Armies from Rebel Minis can set you up with Rules and two armies for about $70 USD

15mm.co.uk offer the USE ME rules in PDF for $5 USD a set. Lots of genres, written for 15mm, should work in any scale though.

As for cheap, low, prep figures, 1:72 plastics with a quick wash do fine. I actually once played an F&IW game against Indians that had been primed white and hit with a Burnt Sienna wash, it was about two hours into the game before I noticed they weren't fully painted.

The Ganesha Games "Song of …" Series also play quickly with minimal figures, prep time, etc.

For French and Indian Wars – Musket and Tomahawk is a pretty good choice. It is simple in design and only takes about 25 figures a side. You can play as either French, British, Indian or a mix of Indians with one of the others. They also let you go out to Revolutionary War. The biggest problem with FIW is the terrain. Lots of trees.

If you're willing to invest another $3 USD, the Courier vol 5 no 5, has an article called An Incident Near Fort Stanwix with a fun and simple set of skirmish rules for the period you've already decided to purchase figures for. Available at Wargame Vault for download, I think that you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I'd do something that required little or no terrain but was still skirmish level. The obvious choice would be air wargaming using pre-painted or toy diecast models and simple .pdf rules like air war C21. Either that or coastal warfare naval.

So I assume you have no figures, no terrain, no buildings at all in your collection already? Because with trees, roads and rivers you can do a LOT of skirmish gaming. As you play you may hunt down a paper building to add (many can be had free) or make an odd bit of terrain here and there. But for pity's sake don't start a new scale/size. If your involved project is 15mm make the side project that too so whatever you make for one can be used for the other.

As for a suggestion, SciFi tanks. Buy painted "clicks" cheap from Troll and Toad (stock to the commons). I bought to complete armies that way – with infantry and choppers – for about $50 USD and had them in my hands in a few days. All I had to do was pop off the bases and re-base the infantry. Just took an hour or two.

Find some free rules (FUBAR), and go. Easy SciFi buildings: spray paint plastic containers (yogurt cups, trays from Oreos) a metallic color. Add a few paper details (download a paper space station from WargameVault) and you're good to go. You can make a village in an hour (not counting drying time)

Take a look at Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame rules on his Wargaming Miscellany website, or Russ Macfarlane's Heart of Tin and other rules on his Battle Game of the Month website for simple, concise, free rules.
Buy an old RISK set with the 18th century style figures – I got one for £1.00 GBP in my local charity shop last year! – and divide them into battalions/squadrons by colour. Make some simple buildings from card or LEGO bricks,
You're good to go!

Now I want to start all these projects… :)

You all make convincing arguments.

I, of course, have more questions.

I'd get the pdf of Song of Blades and Heroes and pick up some cheap fantasy figures on ebay. The great thing is that you can use the rules for fantasy or historical, and with a few additions they will probably work for FIW.

Green army men and rock-papers-scissors.

Off you go!

1/72 ancients + dba +2d flat terrain you make with crayons

Can't recommend Ganesha games enough. FIW can probably be done with Drums and Shakos.. Modern with Flying lead..

Aerial, spaceship, or naval gaming, with just a few units.

15mm, or 20mm troops in metal, or plastic, and free rules.

Terrain is cheap and easy to make, and/or purchase, e.g. cardboard houses, twigs for logs/trees, dirt for dirt, rocks for rocks, a flat bedsheet or felt piece of fabric of the appropriate color for the playing surface (items stuffed under that to make ridges and hills), etc.

Really, buy a board game. You'll get rules, possibly modular maps, miniatures… You'll be playing in 1 or 2 hours after unboxing.

Try QILS, it is a fast and easy to set up/play game with a decent amount of strategic depth. The scenario sets are pretty cheap and most come with terrain templates and a few with paper figures included in the .pdf so you can print and play.

For small numbers of figures and little terrain, you really can't do better than gladiators. All you need is a handful of figures and a small arena space and you're off.

To me, this is definitely a period where 54's shine, particularly in metal. There is something about the size combined with their heft that can draw people's interest in a way that the smaller guys can't. If this interests you, you might take a look at Irregular Miniatures or Black Cat for 54mm metals--they aren't too expensive and are fun to paint. And again, you only need a few. If plastics are more attractive The Toy Soldier Company has all types in both 54 and 20mm scales. Very inexpensive.

They are a little old fashioned, but the old Metagaming rules called Melee and Wizard (if you want some spell casting) are still some of the best around. They are perfect for small skirmish type games, and are tailor made for gladiatorial fights. Best yet, they are free. Take a look at:
meleewizards.com/rules.html
Good luck with your project!