Cult Of Games XLBS: What Makes A GREAT Wargaming Starter Set?
July 19, 2026 by crew
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Happy Sunday CoGs OTTers and Backstagers!
Loads of toys, a real set of rules, dice, terrain and a sweet art book.
I didn’t listen to the CoG thing – I’m too poor.
As much as I hate the gaming ecosystem of GW I reluctantly admit their starter box is a good start to their IP. I’ve seen a friend start building Baron’s War as a starter and it does very well as he’ll demo it with two forces.
I’m not sure about the Malifaux 4th edition 2 player starter set as there are multiple factions to play. Settling into two really doesn’t give much flavor to the game setting or lore over four editions. The Wyrd-ness of the environment is touched on but it looks like a bit of a rehash of a previous set with less bells and whistles.
Thank you kindly for the Goldly Button!
If I ever open one of the myriad starter sets I own, I will let you know what I think about its contents 😂
How does everyone feel about £50 ish starter box with full hardback rulebook, dice, tokens, cards and card terrain. But no miniatures. Starter Faction boxes as a add on. I think this is the perfect starter, because it gets round the problem of everyone getting factions they maybe don’t want.
Positive :
Negative:
I’d suggest adding cardboard tokens, so the game is playable even if you forgot to buy the faction sets.
(Rogue Trader aka 40k 1st edition had them in the back of the rulebook).
all games are miniatures agnostic
Yes some good points. It got me thinking when I started pricing up how much the different components cost. I have never liked starter sets that don’t give a full game experience. My game definitely plays much better with complex multi level terrain. This could be very difficult to provide in a box with everything included. Even if it is just card punchout building etc.
Hi @wonkygoblin, It’s a fresh idea but that isn’t really a starter set, more a set of rules with some low cost scenery only suitable for beginners.
I personally feel that a starter set needs to have enough of everything to allow at least 1 player to play a game. Back in the day, the ‘Hit the Beach’ starter set was ‘the Best Starter Set in the Industry’ (Johnston. W ), and it had everything you needed to have a battle with 2 players. It was also really cheap. I bought mine from the Beasts of War Shop for £24! This is my mates channel unboxing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmELVVVIYPg
Hit the beach was excellent as a starter. They used the advantages of small scale and quite a simple game to give a great experience in one box. The more complex the game the more difficult it is to replicate that box. I definitely have a lot of thinking to do. I have to say Bundles of the box and any two factions makes sense to me. After all factions will be small and very cheap compared to most games.
A starter set should give you playing pieces (models and/or standees), rules & start to play (quick or full), terrain, playmat, dice, measuring device, tokens if needed for the game, useful extras like reference sheet (or link to it), a what comes next, hobby material and references to downloads (especially if they have a living rule book).
I find that Corvus is doing a really good job coming to starter sets. The essentials give you enough as a complete starting player and the essentials expansion sets make it easier to expand on that set. The bigger sets they do (also Warcrow) gives you all the things you need as well. On top of that they regularly update their sets to the new updated factions.
The Battle Tech starter sets are also very good.
The excuse for not including dice or range rulers because most people have that, I find not acceptable.
It just feels you are only interested in people who are already in the hobby and not to outsiders who want to get in.
yeah … try buying simple D6’s … unless you’ve collected a lot of dice based boardgames you won’t have those.
The odd thing is that you can buy D&D dice sets quite easily these days. It only sucks if you need multiple of a specific type.
There’s usually loads of D6 cubes wherever GW, Bolt Action and similar games are sold. Even Amazon has the Chessex sets. Should be simple and loads of colour choices…
Bang-on @caledor2!
Happy Sunday…….
18:44 And I took that personally *blam* *blam**blam*
Happy Sunday easily the best two player starter set is Bloodbowl its got everything required
That’s a solid suggestion mate! Regardless of how you view the games, Bolt Action and particularly Flames of War have decent options. I particularly like the way that Flames of War has a starter set for 2 players, of a variety of single Nation sets with rules etc.
Aside from the inevitable accidents that glue in a box could cause … there’s never enough.
I remember my very first scale model from ages ago (think early ’80’s). that had glue in some sort of plastic tube. The kind you’d see them use for sauce packets for DIY salad meals in the super market.
Revell do this with their ‘beginner’ scale model kits with paint.
I can’t imagine a beginner being careful and skilled enough to not run out of paint …
Anyways …
I’d add in a scenario/quickstart booklet too, because the first roadblock is not having a clue what the map should look like and a few scenarios that introduce the rules bit by bit are perfect for that.
Measuring tools is an interesting one, because in the real world we use centimeters … which means you can’t walk into the local DIY store and get a measuring tape that has those weird things called ‘Inches’ on them.
Just realised where I’ve seen Ben’s tee before….on TEMU…for about £4.50
I agree with you both about the requirements for a starter set. It should have everything needed to get playing the game. Hobby stuff like paint and glue isn’t needed but everything else should be in there. Starter sets for historical games are something new, mostly brought about by the increase in the number of plastic ranges. Warlord do the best ones but there is room for more and better still. Shatterpoint has a good starter set but the price point was also quite a lot given the low model count.
What I’d like to see is manufacturers providing better ‘follow-on’ or ‘next steps’ sets. It would be helpful for new players not to be left wondering about the confusing array of options and units to expand each starter army. Give them a one-stop set to buy that isn’t just more of the same and provides some interesting additional forces to allow them to practice some different rules and game situations as well as expanding their army in a logical and interesting way. Too many manufacturers miss a trick with this. You get decent starter options for most factions but no bulk buy for the more interesting units or army options.
Three really good GBs again this week. Congrats to the winners.
I think the most legendary starter boxes was the original Hawk wargames Drop zone Commander starter. 2 forces, a city …. literally, paper playmat, all tokens and rulebook. omg. it was so good.
I think the Halo spartan starter from Mantic is pretty good on a more modern game. It covers terrain and pieces.
The book in the background of the Smash Bash pics is The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts.
good man yourself
I think some of the GF9 IP games like Away Team and Aliens are pretty good as you get everything need for the game then can play them again using other rulesets. The Red Alert rules which are free can then be used with the Away Team box just need some extra dice.
So I think there’s the element of sometimes a starter box can be more usable for another wargame system, the Dr Who game Exterminate for instance could also have the minis used for older Dr Who games which exist on the internet.
Also a bit surprised didn’t reference the Halo Flashpoint and Deadzone.