So this isn’t going to be as in depth of a review as some of the others that you might have seen here before, but I think that’s fitting given the size of the game I’m going to discuss. I got my start in Warhammer by splitting up large expensive rulesets, like the one released for Warhammer Fantasy in the 90’s for 5th Edition. That featured softback versions of the rules, 2 small armies (Bretonnians and Lizardmen), some cardboard tokens, cardboard terrain, dice, and some weird plastic rulers. These kits were expensive at the time and were usually the kind of thing that you’d want to split with a friend so each of you could start one of those two armies. This practice still hasn’t changed, Games Workshop is still going strong, just check out eBay and you’ll see the current sets split into two on there, some even split it by unit.
What this box set is, is the opposite of that. It’s a few small units for two factions, totaling 13 miniatures. Rules cards, a few dice, and the basic rules and scenarios in a small pamphlet. All in one single box along with some miniatures that couldn’t be easier to assemble unless they were like the old static pose plastic miniatures you just needed to glue to a base. I picked up this box set because I wanted to have something to spend time with my daughter, not cause I think she needs exposure to “Chaos” and “Stormcast Eternals” but because dads “guys” are not for playing with. She’s young, but has learned this already but we spent the time together putting together the “Good Guys” so that she had a few on the shelves that were hers versus “Dad’s” toys.
The pictures on this post show all the miniatures together and we have spent the time building them one by one and spending time together without having to constantly tell her to not touch something in the “Dad Cave”. She takes pride that she helped put cork rocks on there and is pretty excited that she has something of her own in the vast sea of miniatures in my collection. Over the next few years my plan is to let her play with them and slowly introduce “games” to her in that fashion. She’s already familiar with a few board games, but getting a child to sit for any length of time is challenging. Short term, there will be some wild painting sessions with her favorite colors, currently pink, purple, and brown.
While that anecdote about this box set doesn’t lend much to what it is, I wanted to mention it so that you can understand where I’m coming from in this review. This box set is cheap by Games Workshop standards at $30USD and comes with way more than I would have ever expected given the trends the company has had over the last decade. The box set is the perfect size and price for someone to pick up and not go, “starting this game costs HOW much?!”. This is a great option for someone to try out fantasy wargaming without putting in tons of effort. The kit has all the rules and stats for each unit on a handy card, this is a throwback to the 5th Edition starter set from my early days of Warhammer Fantasy. The inclusion of this is great, no need for another book, no need for an army book/codex, no need to do anything but open this and put it together. Again, no mention of needing a hobby knife or clippers, but they do mention glue and being careful with it. They also don’t mention needing a ruler or tape measure, but there are worst things that can be done. Hopefully a helpful store employee makes mention of this kind of thing.
My overall impression of this is really good, this set is by no means perfect, but it’s a huge improvement over the past expensive box sets they’ve been continuously releasing for each edition of Warhammer Fantasy (now, Age of Sigmar) and Warhammer 40k. This is a pretty complete tabletop game written with main scenarios and even a few pages of story written in the front. It’s a great starting point that isn’t super over priced or expensive for you and a friend to get started, or in my case, a way to spend 1 on 1 time with my oldest daughter. I look forward to painting the miniatures with her and letting her do her thing and feel included in something rather than the usual “No” that seems to come out of my mouth constantly. I’d recommend this to anyone wanting to try a miniatures game assuming you want to try out the hobby side of assembling and painting!
