I really like 40K, have a ton of nostalgia for it and a huge pile of SoB and IG minis in my closet, but basically ever since I gave other, better tabletop wargames a try I haven't been able to go back. Come to think of it I haven't played since 4th edition which was ages ago, and unlike, say Dungeons and Dragons where when 5e came out everyone constantly told me how good it was and made me want to try it, I haven't gotten that vibe from the more recent 40K rules. If anything, everyone who talks about it seems to be in agreement that it's gotten worse over time, so that puts me off getting back into the hobby.
I've only read half of one of the Horus Heresy books, half of one of the Ciaphas Cain novels, half of one of the Space Wolf novels, and half of one of the Sisters of Battle novels. I didn't hate them, but the reason I didn't finish them was because they were all pretty bad in a bland and uninteresting way. The comics I like though - the otherwise played out pulp sci fi plots can get carried by the gothic horror visuals and creative designs in a way that doesn't work in a non-visual medium.
The fanbase is hit-or-miss. I was and still am a fa/tg/uy so I guess I'm biased towards giving them the benefit of the doubt, but every time I get linked on youtube to that one guy who really plays up his british accent and says fash shit it's a reminder of why going to the FLGS was such a slog at times. A lot of my best friends are people I met at a gamestore though so I think it's a matter of sifting through the coal to find the diamonds.
X-Wing has already been mentioned in the thread, I've had a ton of fun playing that but haven't tried the new edition.
I've heard good things about Age of Sigmar, though I've never tried it myself. Around when AoS came out there were a couple game systems competing to be the "new Warhammer Fantasy", and I really liked Kings of War (which IIRC was made by ex-Games Workshop devs). Kings of War is cool because a lot of the rules were written with "miniature preservation" in mind - so you don't pull individual minis off the board as your formation takes damage, creating a lot of possibilities for dropping or bumping them into each other, instead damage is tracked on a whole formation at once and the objective of charging into melee is to make them break and run, not kill them off.
I think my favorite Tabletop wargame of all time is Warmachine / Hordes. Compared to 40K the army sizes are smaller, and the "core" units (at least when I played) are all still viable even in the face of the new stuff, so it's quite a bit more newbie- and budget-friendly. I have a Khador army, who are very much USSR-inspired, and my main strategy tends to be to charge in with a couple "Kodiak" mechs who can pick up enemy mechs and throw them at other units, which is hilarious and decently effective (though if I was playing seriously I would probably stick to their armor-piercing punches). Oh, and both Warmachine and Hordes are basically the same game and you can fight Warmachine armies against Hordes armies, the difference is whether you want a steampunk army or a more traditional fantasy one.
I also really like BattleTech, though I haven't gotten to play it in about fifteen years :agony-deep: but there's a steam game that's pretty faithful to the tabletop. Come to think of it there's a Warmachine game on steam that's pretty faithful to the tabletop too.
edit: how could I forget about HeroClix? Probably because it has such a lame name, but the game itself is fun. The minis are prepainted, the play is fast, and the battles are pretty manageable skirmishes, so it's a good one to try and get people into wargames with. There's a bunch of spinoffs including a BattleTech one.
I really like 40K, have a ton of nostalgia for it and a huge pile of SoB and IG minis in my closet, but basically ever since I gave other, better tabletop wargames a try I haven't been able to go back. Come to think of it I haven't played since 4th edition which was ages ago, and unlike, say Dungeons and Dragons where when 5e came out everyone constantly told me how good it was and made me want to try it, I haven't gotten that vibe from the more recent 40K rules. If anything, everyone who talks about it seems to be in agreement that it's gotten worse over time, so that puts me off getting back into the hobby.
I've only read half of one of the Horus Heresy books, half of one of the Ciaphas Cain novels, half of one of the Space Wolf novels, and half of one of the Sisters of Battle novels. I didn't hate them, but the reason I didn't finish them was because they were all pretty bad in a bland and uninteresting way. The comics I like though - the otherwise played out pulp sci fi plots can get carried by the gothic horror visuals and creative designs in a way that doesn't work in a non-visual medium.
The fanbase is hit-or-miss. I was and still am a fa/tg/uy so I guess I'm biased towards giving them the benefit of the doubt, but every time I get linked on youtube to that one guy who really plays up his british accent and says fash shit it's a reminder of why going to the FLGS was such a slog at times. A lot of my best friends are people I met at a gamestore though so I think it's a matter of sifting through the coal to find the diamonds.
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X-Wing has already been mentioned in the thread, I've had a ton of fun playing that but haven't tried the new edition.
I've heard good things about Age of Sigmar, though I've never tried it myself. Around when AoS came out there were a couple game systems competing to be the "new Warhammer Fantasy", and I really liked Kings of War (which IIRC was made by ex-Games Workshop devs). Kings of War is cool because a lot of the rules were written with "miniature preservation" in mind - so you don't pull individual minis off the board as your formation takes damage, creating a lot of possibilities for dropping or bumping them into each other, instead damage is tracked on a whole formation at once and the objective of charging into melee is to make them break and run, not kill them off.
I think my favorite Tabletop wargame of all time is Warmachine / Hordes. Compared to 40K the army sizes are smaller, and the "core" units (at least when I played) are all still viable even in the face of the new stuff, so it's quite a bit more newbie- and budget-friendly. I have a Khador army, who are very much USSR-inspired, and my main strategy tends to be to charge in with a couple "Kodiak" mechs who can pick up enemy mechs and throw them at other units, which is hilarious and decently effective (though if I was playing seriously I would probably stick to their armor-piercing punches). Oh, and both Warmachine and Hordes are basically the same game and you can fight Warmachine armies against Hordes armies, the difference is whether you want a steampunk army or a more traditional fantasy one.
I also really like BattleTech, though I haven't gotten to play it in about fifteen years :agony-deep: but there's a steam game that's pretty faithful to the tabletop. Come to think of it there's a Warmachine game on steam that's pretty faithful to the tabletop too.
edit: how could I forget about HeroClix? Probably because it has such a lame name, but the game itself is fun. The minis are prepainted, the play is fast, and the battles are pretty manageable skirmishes, so it's a good one to try and get people into wargames with. There's a bunch of spinoffs including a BattleTech one.
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