"Advice for someone starting out" Topic

A friend asked for recommendations for rules for minatures gaming. His era was a bit large, these psot is the result of that conversation.

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What are the hive's thoughts? What advice do you give for a complete novice to the hobby?

BG

Why not start with Joe Morschauser's rules, which cover Ancients, Horse & Musket and Modern periods in one slim volume? A reprint edition is published by John Curry's History of Wargaming Project.

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If your friend likes them, Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame series, in part inspired by/derived from Morschauser, could be the next step.

Neil Thomas' Introduction to Wargaming and other of his books are excellent for the beginner.

I second Neil Thomas Rules Introduction. You could not have a better starter

I recommend that any new entrant into the war-gaming hobby find, if at all possible, a good club to join.

B

Find some games and play them before picking something. Try and retry the same thing with different people. Following that, if you try a con or club "walk ups welcome" has many shades of meaning. Don't let one experience drive your assessment.

If you already play certain rules, start there. What is it about the rules you already play that excited you and gets you talking about them? Enthusiasm can be infectious. Start with what you already have and then find others who may game differently.

For the absolute, "never done this before', newbie: I would find a club, group or similar minded friend. The rules don't matter, the minis don't matter. Print up some paper based counters, use some free rules (starter rules from major publishers or something from Junior General), play a game or ten. Figure out what you want to do, then start collecting and getting more serious.

I've got two guys at work that bought WH40K starter boxes over six months ago and haven't played yet. Too hung up on getting their minis 'just right'.

I think you also need to ask him, does he like to paint? Will he paint armies for the rules you mentioned, or is he more comfortable painting a handful of figures for a skirmish game? The level of gaming has a lot of impact on rules.

I agree with the find a community to game with crowd. The community could be a club, or regulars that meet at a game store or just a single friend. Then you could see what others are doing or interested in before going out on a limb alone. What are the periods they're interested in, what are the rules they are playing? When you get those answers, then invest your hard earned money.

Miniature wargaming is an extremely social activity. Take advantage of that.

I would also look for local cons, and join the local HMGS chapter. I'd even look at playing with unpainted 1/72 scale plastics to try out different periods and rules.

Why does he want to play? To recreate history? To match wits with someone? To get away from his wife? To look at the glory of a diorama?
That would make a big difference.

Joe

Don't spend any money for at least 5 games. Find a local club or shop that has games and play a few, then decide what you like.

Stick with booze and loose women, it will be cheaper and almost as much fun. :) I am a big fan of Neil Thomas and would also suggest One Hour Wargames.

Stryderg – I would find a club, group or similar minded friend.

This is the best advice that I would give. However if you are gaming with a friend who is also a new timer then perhaps look at rules reviews and pick something that attracts you. There are free rules available, perhaps try one of them to get the gist of it.

These videos may assist:
Example Game. youtu.be/K6qDbttZn9c
Overview of a set of rules; youtu.be/CsEjtb8HfPk

However before you get involved with the rules you may wish to determine the scale of figure you wish to game with, assuming your bent is modelling. If you are a pure games type of person then try a boardgame initially.

I think phmodel has it. I read the blog bit and history never really gets a mention to any great extent; so by that I put the guy in warpainter not wargamer. In that case the model aspect is likely to dominate and so deciding scale is proably a lot more important than re-creating history. Proably practical issues like storage spece and gaming area are key aspects with larger scales that need to be considered.

Like others I think a visit to a local club is the best way and that may even define what rules he can practicaly use and evrn the period(s).

Thanks for all the great comments! I need to point him at this for more advice. You have been most helpful, and there are couple books I need to pick up.

Most appreciated!

If he is into "The Old West," as in cowboys and Indians, I would suggest he buy some buckets of such toy figures. They can be painted; they're large (54mm, typically), inexpensive, and they used to be easy to find. Simple block painting, followed by either The Dip, or Magic Wash, will produce decent looking figures, quickly and easily.

Hot Glue them to a 2"-square, MDF base. This is a very inexpensive way to try out the genre. Cheers!

I would suggest looking at the free wargame rules site. That way you don't invest any money in rules you end up not liking. Give people a chance to learn about wargame rules in a non-commitment manner.

+1 Grattan.
Excellent way to get one's feet wet.

B

Not sure if you are looking for opponents, rules or both.

Find your nearest club and join it.

Find your closest game store and ask the folks there or post a note if they have bulletin board.

There are lots and lots of wargaming blogs.

Then there is this:

TMP link

There are a number of free rules sets online. We use a free set for the AWI.

You may want to narrow down your interest to one historical period for now. Don't try to do everything at once.

From personnel experience it is not always a good idea to mention your hobby at work unless asked. In my 30 year career I have only found one fellow gamer at work. Co-workers can be very cruel. Just my opinion.

Any wargamer needs people to play.
A prospective eargamer should find those people. A club or group of gamers.
See what they're playing and if you like it.
Do you like the people?
Borrow, substitute and try out.

You could otherwise buy, build and paint the "wrong" stuff and there's nobody to game with. You could find you don't even like the game you invested in. You could find you don't like the only guys in your area.

Neil Thomas "one-hour wargames" absolutely.

his "Wargaming: an Introduction" a very close second.

To my mind the key is for him to analyze why he is interested. Was it a particular book or movie? That should determine the starting era. Without that inspiration, the hobby is just work, and no fun.

I got into gaming independently of having people to play with, so it wasn't that. After I got interested, I looked for opponents (as in those lists which SPI used to publish back in the 70s). However the idea of finding a local gaming group, and trying a few pickup games in the era of interest isn't a bad idea, because it allows some exposure without commitment.