Getting started with Warhammer: 40,000 or Age of Sigmar?

Walk into any games shop in the UK and you will see two walls of grey plastic: one covered in power armour and tanks, the other in knights, monsters and magic. Both are Warhammer, both are made by Games Workshop, and both are big hobbies in their own right. The good news is that you cannot really choose wrong, but a little thought at the start saves money and half-finished boxes.

Two settings, one hobby

Warhammer 40,000 is science fiction: a grim far future of armies with guns, vehicles and the occasional giant robot. Games tend to involve ranged firefights, objectives and lots of terrain to hide behind. Warhammer Age of Sigmar is fantasy: armies of humans, elves, undead and stranger things, with more emphasis on melee, monsters and spells. Both use the same core skills of building and painting, so whatever you learn on one carries over to the other.

The honest advice is to pick the models you like the look of. You will spend far more hours building and painting than playing, especially at first, so enthusiasm for the miniatures matters more than any rules comparison. If friends or a local club already play one game, that is a strong reason to join them.

How starter sets work

Each game is usually sold in starter sets of a few sizes. The smallest boxes give you a handful of models and a cut-down rulebook, while the larger ones add more miniatures, scenery, dice and measuring tools. They are designed to give two small opposing forces, so they suit couples, siblings or friends who want to split a box.

Both games also offer smaller army boxes aimed at quick games on a modest table: Combat Patrol for 40,000 and Spearhead for Age of Sigmar. These are a sensible second purchase once you know which faction you enjoy. If you prefer a very small game, skirmish titles such as Kill Team use only a few models each.

Rules change with each new edition. The core rules for both systems are typically published free online, so you can read them before you buy anything.

The tools you actually need

• Sprue clippers. Models come attached to plastic frames called sprues. Flush-cutting clippers remove parts cleanly. Twisting parts off leaves ugly marks.
• A hobby knife or mould line scraper. Used to tidy the small nub left by the clippers and the thin mould lines where the two halves of the mould met. Always cut away from your fingers.
• Plastic glue. Polystyrene cement slightly melts the surfaces so parts weld together. It does not work on resin or metal, so keep a small tube of superglue for those.
• Primer. A spray or brush-on undercoat that gives paint something to grip. Spray outdoors or in a well-ventilated space, on a dry day that is neither very cold nor very humid, with short passes from around 20 to 30 cm away.
• A few paints and two brushes. A medium brush for basecoats and a smaller one for detail. You do not need dozens of colours to begin.

A sensible first month

Build a few models, not the whole box. Prime them, paint one as a test, and learn from it before tackling the rest. Read the core rules, play a small game with the starter forces and only then think about expanding. Plenty of people buy three armies in their first year and paint none of them. Starting small is the most reliable way to finish what you start.

Ready for the next step? Our guide to painting miniatures for beginners takes you from primer to a finished model.

General information only. Product contents, rules and policies change, so check the current details with the manufacturer or seller. Brand names are trademarks of their owners; this guide is independent and sells nothing.