Are you looking for the best fantasy miniature war games?
Last month, my son got a gift from his friend. It was a miniature war game set and was a unique gift for my son as he wasn’t much into board games. It was our first delve into the world of miniatures wargaming. The rules are a bit frustrated to understand as we are a newbie. It seemed fun to play, but the rules were difficult to understand. Therefore, I looked for more games with a basic starter kit and easy to understand systems. However, during my research, I bought some more war games that are easy to play. Some of them are reviewed below for your ease.
Table of Contents
What Is Fantasy Miniature War Games?
Fantasy Miniature war games give you a complete board gaming experience in a box. Miniatures games have ruled the industry for the past few decades. Initially, they were introduced among the military officers as battlefield simulators. With time miniature war games gained popularity among the common people, and it has been taken as a hobby. These war games with miniatures have exploded the industry over the years and became the most common board games.
Many fantasy miniatures war games have been introduced in the market that gives its players a whole world to stimulate the imaginations. But only a few of them succeeded in the industry and made a big move like Warhammer 40000 made its mark in the industry, and we are not going to challenge that statement. But the philosophy of more is better roamed in the past year 2020, and many other miniature war games plunge into the market.
Comparison Table for Best Fantasy Miniature War Games
Let’s explore these best fantasy miniature war games which have become the market leaders in the industry.
6 Best Fantasy Miniature War Games Product Review, Features
01- Star Wars Legion-Core Set
You and your kids must be fans of The Star Wars. It has made a relatively big name in the industry of miniature games. Star Wars has previously introduced many games, but Legion has been marked as a bigger contestant among the best fantasy miniature war games. It came into the market in the year 2018. It’s a game set in a galaxy. Players are allowed to fight across land, sea, and space.
A newbie can play this game easily as the core rules are elementary.
Features
- It is not a complicated game, and a newbie can learn it easily.
- Thrilling battle combat for 2 players
- Innovative mechanics and easy to build models
- High-Quality miniatures
- Enter the world of ground battles as well the space combat.
- Provides combat canvas to build your army, make battle strategies, take command and conquer the enemies.
- The game is broken down into 6 rounds.
- Easy to assemble
- Offers 1 to 2 hours of gameplay
- The players above the age of 14 can play as a gaming hobby.
Easy to Assemble
The assembly steps are elementary, especially for a newbie. This game set includes everything from a playbook to custom dice to cards of different sizes.
High-Quality Miniatures
Star-wars Legion comes with figures with a great look. The miniatures are of high quality and boast decent paintwork.
Innovative Mechanics
Star-wars Legion offers innovative mechanics so the players can bring their battle imaginations to life in the form of a tabletop war game with three-inch tall action figures.
- Excellent looking miniatures
- Easy to learn the playbook
- Ready to assemble
- The complexity level is excellent for repeat playing
- Custom dice.
- Setup process can take a whole day.
Why should you buy this?
You should opt for this game if your kid is a Star Wars fandom. It’s worth playing with easy to learn rules. It stirs up your ground combat imaginations in a new and interesting way. This is the best edition after Star Wars X Wing.
02- Frostgrave: Second Edition: Fantasy War-games in the Frozen City
Is your kid fond of wizard battles? Frostgrave offers great models. In this game, the players control the wizard and his troops. This game’s primary goal is to enter the ruins of the frozen city and loot its treasure. The player who takes the treasure wins. Also, it offers different schools of magic and ways, and players can form raiding parties to attack each other using their customized forces. Frostgrave can be an excellent choice for kids and collectors. The entire game is based on d20 dice rolls, thus giving you an enjoyable experience. There are around eight to ten schools of magic to choose from regulars like Elementalists, Witches, Necromancers, and Summoners.
Features
- Simple game mechanics
- Effectively add an extra player in each game.
- Easy to learn and play
- Extremely affordable game to buy
- Offers various schools of magic
- Offers eight spells
- Features wandering monsters
- Offers a terrain game that is players can go for a campaign play.
- d20 dice offers a huge range of results
- Comes with extra 10 scenarios
Affordable
Frostgrave is incredibly a cheap game with quite affordable miniatures.
Campaigns
Frostgrave provides long term campaigns where the players can increase in strength to the infinity, find magical treasure, and are forced to evaluate the risk/reward a bit more.
Easy to play
It has a low level of complexity. It offers a casual play with easy to learn rules that the payers can remember throughout the game.
- Huge range of spells.
- Simple mechanics
- Streamlined rules
- Immersive gaming experience
- Low complexity
- D20 dice can give a range of random results.
Why should you buy this?
Frostgrave game offers great affordability with fair suite campaign play. It comes with a simple rulebook with customized models. This game is a skirmish campaign game, and the Wizards and their spells are with less complexity.
03- The Walking Dead: All Out War Miniatures Game-Core Set
This game was based on the original Walking Dead comic book series. The Walking Dead- All Out War exhibits the human survivors collide in a zombie-infested world. It offers you a pretty fun platform to explore the zombie apocalypse scenario. It comes with plenty of known famous characters with well-built miniatures. Pretty simple rules are designed for attracting or avoiding the dead. You can build strategies noise to redirect the zombies’ attacks, sneaking and galloping in the intense scenarios, and hunt for the scraps.
Features
- Comes with highly detailed 12 miniatures.
- Miniatures are pre-assembled.
- Solo or up to 2 players can play this game.
- Packed in a stylish box
- Some action figures are with a noise feature
- Comes with a free gaming mat and miniatures.
- Quick start guide
- Easy to learn
- Well-presented characters to work with.
- A tactical head to head game.
Element of noise
The element of noise in some action figures attracts the attention of zombies during the collection of supplies. It causes the overall threat level to rise.
Fully Assembled Miniatures
It comes with high-quality pre-assembled miniatures but is unpainted. The miniatures have in-depth details.
A Simple Rule Book
There is a simple Getting Started guide to make it easy for the players to start playing the game right out of the box. In the book, the rules for the game are exhibited for an easy understanding.
- Easy rules
- Fun to play
- Fast-moving
- Challenging and tactical
- Attractive packaging
- Choking hazard for children due to small parts
Why should you buy this?
The Walking Dead: All Out War is the best fantasy miniature war game adapted from the comic book series. The game includes rules for running simple campaigns and basic guidelines for designing your characters. It comes with everything you need to get right into the action, including pre-assembled, detailed plastic miniatures, multi dice, tokens, quick-start rules, and terrain, including burnt-out cars and barricades.
04- Mantic M101- DreadBall 2nd Edition-Futuristic Sports Sci-Fi Strategy Tabletop Game
Dreadball is a fast, fun, and tactical miniature sports board game for two players created by Mantic Games. In this game, two team coaches compete with each other. The teams are comprised of beautiful miniatures on startling sci-fi arenas. The game is easy to play and understand but comes with lots of challenges to deal with. In the box, you will get everything you need to play Dreadball and army compositions.
Features
- Hex-based system rulers and templates
- It comes with fully assembled teams
- Create your customized team
- Two players game
- Sci-Fi sports game.
- Fast-moving tactical game
- Full coloured rulebook
- A quick start guide
- It comes with a deck of almost 54 cards
- Includes a range of colourful dice with the smart base system
Sci-Fi sports game
Dreadball is an impressive sport where two teams of six players each (or seven) fight against each other on a very high-tech playing field. You can throw a metal ball at 200 miles per hour.
Customized Mutant Team
It comes with the feature of creating a customized mutant team. The players can do this by combining different body parts from other action-figures.
Tactical Game
Use your analytics to engage in the tactical depth and intellectual complexity of the game. You can do this by combining a huge range of tactical options with relatively predictable dice results.
- A quick game
- Assembled miniatures
- Lightweight
- Simulation of a fantasy game
- Sci-fi setting
- Lengthy and descriptive rules
Why should you buy this?
DreadBall isn’t just a sports game, but it’s an exceptional fun game. It excels the boundaries found in other sports games. A fast-moving game and will keep you engaged throughout the game with fast mechanics. The pre-assembled miniatures are pretty cool. It can be your next obsession as a hobby.
05- Malifaux Core Rulebook 3rd Edition
Malifaux game comes with distinct visual styles with elements of the Wild West and Victorian gothic. A single master leads forces of seven or ten models supporting the fight for valuable soul stones control. Every action figure exhibits individual power. It is based on a card system instead of dice. Players can use these decks to decide battling strategies. Malifaux is a combat game with a small model count. You’ll only need to assemble a 10 model team rather than a mega army of 200.
Features
- It uses card mechanics
- A low-cost game
- Each team with unique models
- Engage yourself in a dynamic and atmospheric fight
- Each figure with individual power
- Easy to find models
- High quality and great artwork.
- Offers alternating activations.
- Skirmish level game
- Fun to play
Fun to Play
It is fun to play as it is based on the dark Victorian steampunk setting infused with many elements like kung Fu monks, samurai, supernatural, goblins, monsters, and Wild West bandits.
Card-Based Game
It uses card-based mechanics instead of dice like other board games. Players use decks of fate cards to decide the outcome of attacks, spells, and more.
Skirmish Level Game
Malifaux is a skirmish game of two players combating each other over towns, attaining power and settlements.
- 54 cards deck
- Quick and simple
- Free online rulebook
- Stat cards for each character
- Skirmish game
- Small models are challenging to assemble.
Why should you buy this?
Malifaux is an incredible game. It offers some interesting new turn on the miniature war gaming formula based on a deck of cards that determines conflicts, damage, and defense.
Buyer’s Guide for the Best Fantasy Miniature War Games
In this article, we have reviewed the six best fantasy miniatures war games, and in this guide, we will discuss a few points you should consider while buying any miniature war game. These games are so fun and entertaining and provide an immersive gaming experience. If you or your kids love combats and strategy-based games, these are the ones you should get without wasting any time. Since you are a newbie and don’t know where to start? There are thousands of games from different creators and publishers available in the market. Each war-games come with different mechanics, features, and gaming tactics. However, we have highlighted some crucial factors you must keep in mind.
The material of Miniatures
All the miniature war games should have high quality, easy to assemble, or pre-assembled with finely detailed miniatures. Look for online unboxing videos to see the quality of these units or action figures. You cannot play well with easily breakable components. Based on the research, experts suggest that miniatures’ material can make a big difference in terms of their assembling, damaging, and cut fingers by almost 100 per cent.
The number of Game Players
Different games have a different range when it comes to the number of players that can play the game. If you want to play with your friends for a whole day, there are games that up to2 players can play. If you want to play it solo, games for one player will be great. However, if you want to give it to someone or want to purchase it for your kids, games with a 2-4 players limit will work for you. So, look at what you need, then for it.
Tools
Many war games come with unpainted miniatures. You must find the best tools to paint them so that you get a real-life model of your favourite characters. Like Army painter, quick shades, along with the high-quality primer, will let you paint the miniatures easily so that you can get your army ready on the table in a short time. Have a look for the Best Miniature Board Games.
Age Limit
Although there is not much of a difference between different wargames and their age limits, you still better understand how old the kid is buying the game. Almost all the games are for teenagers and older people, but most are not recommended for kids younger than 14 years old.
Campaign
All of the miniature war games are based on different campaigns. This is great because you can choose a game based on your favorite campaign and have unlimited fun with your friends.
Handful of units
Start with small investment games that require a handful of units, as your tactics will change as you learn more about the game. Avoid expensive ones like A Song of Ice & Fire starter’s set (you are most likely to spend $100), and if you expand your army, you can easily increase the investment to the point that you may need a loan from Iron Bank of Braavos.
Our Recommendation for the Best Fantasy Miniature War Games
We have thoroughly reviewed the six best fantasy miniature war games. All of these games come with exceptional features and promise a great engaging gaming experience for you and your kids. Our favorite and highly recommended is Star Wars Legion. 2 players can play it, and it is one session that lasts for more than 60 minutes. It is an exciting game that ensures the players have fun. It keeps you engaged and is highly competitive.
- ENTER THE STAR WARS GALAXY: Epic warfare is an inescapable part of the Star Wars universe. Star Wars: Legion invites you to enter the ground battles of the Galactic Civil War as the commander of a unique army of miniatures filled with troopers, powerful ground or repulsor vehicles, and iconic characters like Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker.
- THRILLING INFANTRY BATTLES: Lead your troops to victory! Innovative mechanics for command and control simulate the fog of war and the chaos of battle - whether you fight for the monolithic, oppressive Galactic Empire or the ragtag Rebel Alliance.
- BEAUTIFULLY SCULPTED MINIATURES: Thirty-three easily assembled figures invite you to play as the Galactic Empire or the Rebel Alliance. The unpainted, easily assembled minis give you a canvas to create the Star Wars army you’ve always wanted to lead into battle.
- INCLUDES LUKE SKYWALKER AND DARTH VADER: Each of these iconic Star Wars characters pose with lightsabers drawn, ready to duel each other or anyone unlucky enough to cross their path. These miniatures are found exclusively in the Core Set.
- NUMBER OF PLAYERS AND AVERAGE PLAYTIME: This action-packed battle game is designed for two players and is suitable for ages 14 and older. Average playing time is about 3 hours.
Last Words
These games can be your most favourite hobby. Most war games come with common conventions and standard rules to apply across all the war games. The more you play, the more you will learn. Before buying your best war game, watch the movie related to the game you are going to play, related books, and attend games workshops.
Veronica is a Green Bay-based freelance writer and editor with extensive experience with board games. When not busy scribbling her thoughts, you might find her in her garden, hiking out in the woods, or exploring new food joints.
Veronica is a die-hard board game and chess hobbyist by night. She likes to try out new games and is always on the lookout to recruit new players for her game night (so beware!). When not playing board games or throwing darts, she is usually busy painting miniatures (or doing other nerdy stuff).
She is the CEO & Content Writer of Indoor Games Zone. She shares her expertise from years of playing chess, board games, and darts.
Last update on 2022-05-12 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
