Does or has anyone played the miniature wargame Warhammer 40,00? If so, is it fun, popular, etc.? Would you recommend it as a hobby to anyone? I'm just curious for thoughts on the matter....

Yes. Yes. No. Maybe.

WH40K is ferociously expensive and they have a habit of invalidating your armies by changing the rules just to make you buy more of the stuff. It can cost quite a lot just to get started.

On the other hand, it's fairly easy to find opponents, figures and supplies because it's well known.

If it's the actual idea of miniatures gaming is attractive but you're not overly fixated on the WH40K setting, there are loads and loads of options, (many of which don't come with quite the same issues). Historical gamers, for example, have many different companies to buy figures from (unless you pick some really obscure era). Skirmish games systems mean you might only need to pick up[1] a dozen figures a side and can be played on smaller tables; some are deliberately designed to only need areas like 2x2 or 3x3 feet instead of the larger tables. There are even fictional-historical genres to pick from. WW2 with zombies or victorian era with advanced technology for example.

More open systems are happier for you to get your figures from elsewhere so you can pick up excellent options from all over the place.
Systems like DBA/DBM use fixed numbers of units (meaning the cost of starting is less) and much more formal rules. Smaller figures (say 10mm) can be easier to paint up and get good results. Many gamers like the "larger" feel of the games using them.[2]


I mean, obviously, if you get addicted, these are all still bonkersly expensive and time consuming.. :-)

Might I point you at theminiaturespage.com which is a discussion site about miniatures gaming in generally and includes info about many historical and fantasy based games systems. The other thing is to find some gamers nearby and go give things a try. Most games clubs can be found playing things like WH40K, WH or the WW2 oriented "Flames of War" and newcomers are usually made fairly welcome. There'll generally tend to be other people around who play other things as well. (Your problem might be STOPPING them talking about it..) An online search should find someone nearby.

(I was a 40K gamer, but got better. I now do medieval and WW2 skirmishing and English Civil War mass battle.)


[1] And assemble. And paint..

[2] A friend does napoleonics with 6mm tall figures and each unit is an entire brigade...

1. No, I never played the game, but I know a few people which did and followed a few plays, including a small regional tournament.
   
2. Yes, it is fun (if you find strategy fun). The amount of strategy involved is higher than most RTS ever shipped in my opinion.
   
3. No, it is not very popular around here. Most important barrier is the sheer cost.
   
4. No, I would not recommend it. Too expensive.
   

Skirmish games systems mean you might only need to pick up[1] a dozen figures a side and can be played on smaller tables[/quote]
Out of curiosity, what are some good available skirmish games?

I wanted to try heroscape, but from what I've heard the good master sets to start with are all out of print.

I do find the info useful in general. Does anyone know which other miniature war games are really popular?

I heard HeroClix(R) is pretty popular. Based on DC and Marvel comics (mostly). Much cheaper and future proof.
AFAIK, miniatures in HeroClix(R) are never deprecated but they are sometimes made obsolete by new miniatures providing the same benefits at a slightly lower cost.

Skirmish games -- I've never played it, but people have spoken well of Warmachine.

Games Workshop used to have a subsidiary which published skirmish games rules; Legends of the Old West and Legends of the High Seas are Wild West and Pirate games. They tend to use half a dozen figures a side. They still sell "Mordheim" which is a fantasy skirmish system and packs of figures to go with them. http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&categoryId=cat480008a&section=&pIndex=0&aId=2600002&start=1&multiPageMode=true

http://www.worldoftwilight.com/ -- always liked the figures and the setting, but never really had the time to get into it. It's fantasy skirmish in an alien world with no humans.

A lot of people like games by http://toofatlardies.co.uk/ -- I'm not a fan myself, but again, they're popular so opponents are easy to get.

http://www.crooked-dice.co.uk/7tv.html make a game about 60s and 70s era television shows which is fun (I'm painting figures for this at the moment).

As an example of a historicals game http://www.ebobminiatures.com/ do a medieval skirmish system and figures for William Wallace's uprising in Scotland. Starter rules are available free IIRC.


Lots of links to read.. :-) Have fun!

Alright, so let's say I get into any one of these miniature wargames (Warhammer 40k included), how much of a time commitment am I looking at? I don't really mean for actual games, but mainly for building and assembling, etc..

Alright, so let's say I get into any one of these miniature wargames (Warhammer 40k included), how much of a time commitment am I looking at? I don't really mean for actual games, but mainly for building and assembling, etc..

This depends on a lot of factors like how big is your army, how detailed you want to paint your figures and of course how much you generally get into it.
Let's say you buy the WH40k-starting-package and want it glued together and painted (very simply), I would say you spend the first weekend purely on setting up the army. I used to play WH40k and it ususally took me an afternoon to get a squad (~10) Soldiers assembled and painted. Tanks and bigger models took at least a day, ususally longer because they are more complex and since I wanted them to be eye-catchers I added a lot of bits nad nibbles on them and painted them very detailed.

This was also one of the reasons I sometime got frustrated with WH40k because whenever I bought some new stuff I never could use it right away because the building took so much time. Especially since on conventions or in stores you ususally are not allowed to play with unpainted or halfway assembled figures (exception maybe on a newbies-night) This sometimes goes as far that you have to have the exact right model or you cannot use it at all. Say you want to have a guy with a flamethrower in your platoon, you have to have a fully painted model of it.

To get an Idea what I see as basic painting: http://fumbbl.com/help:PaintingTips