‘War Game’: cheap modern wargaming

A running joke in the Warhammer 40,000 community is that “it’s named that way because that’s how much it will cost you.” To play 40k you need units—which fetch around $10 or up for a box of five and take time to paint since they come plain—maybe some good-looking terrain boards, and the playing manual.

It’s fine if you’ve got a lot of time and money to spare, and why not? But if you don’t you should still be able to play a game that’s inexpensive to begin, quick to learn and easy to play. That's War Game.

War Game is a tabletop game like 40k: your units are represented by figures that you move around the game world and use to attack the figures of your opponent. The difference between 40k and War Game is that War Game has a shallower learning curve and costs next-to-nothing if you live near a good store.

The toughest components of the game to get are the toy soldiers, and you can get them at most dollar stores and department stores, and definitely at dedicated toy stores like Toys R Us.

The other bits are easy to get. You’ll need a goodly length of cord to measure distances, two dice, a coin for flipping and a copy of one of the manuals above if you’re not familiar with the rules.

The manuals progressively extend on the rules in the last manual, so you should start with the Basic manual to learn how the game works, then to the Intermediate manual to get a more tactical game, and finally to the Advanced manual where the better, more fun rules are introduced.

You can grab
the Basic manual (7th ed.)
or
the Intermediate manual (3rd ed.)
or
the Advanced manual (2nd ed.)

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