Due to a bug in the code for the sorting methodology, this is actually the Highest Ranked Game that meets your criteria.

Maybe you could add something in the description to each of the entries above like this:

UNRANKED - See below for #1 Game

I know others have posted Bug reports to Aldie, but I'm sure he has a pretty full plate already.

I'll add a note about this sorting quirk to the header.

Actually, I found it remarkably interesting to see the unranked entries.
I was amazed to recognize so many of them and also amazed that they were unranked.

I understand why this is number 1, since it is what Warhammer should have been (mechanics and gameplay). However, I have never understood the 'cheaper than WH' argument, since you get only 3-5 miniatures for the price of a GW boxed set.

(Yes, I know it's plastic.. but you can't even play the game with just one Warmachine starter.)

As the astute reader has no doubt already surmised, the sorting issue in question has been fixed.

And compatible with Warmachine. You can play Hordes armies against Warmachine armies.

Given that compability, I'm not entirely sure how it qualifies as a separate game, but I added Hordes anyway because that seems to be the consensus view.

It can be played on its own or against Warmachine, so hard to work out if it is an expansion or a stand alone. The mechanics are similar but with a few key changes.

It is regarded by many as probably a touch superior to its brother due to them being able to fix a few of the flaws in balance (game wise and army composition). Only rated lower here due to less people rating it.

Dear "neighbour",
I find the lack of motivation in this game not to my satisfaction. But the figures ended up in my Blood Bowl mess anyway.

Necromunda is better!

What do you mean by motivation?

(Our Mordheim campaign of many years ago died from boredom with just about every game degenerating to a big melee. This game could use a better "missions" system.)

Still like to break it out form time to time....I play Necromunda more but this is a fun one with the kids.

And there's the Western version of this by Warhammer Historical: Legends of the Old West.



Or as I like to call it, "Tombstone-munda"

legends of the old west has as much in common with GW's lord of the rings as it does with necromunda, core stats and rules are the same.

Separate entry for LotOW added.

I literally lived Necromunda for some years, until my girlfriend threw me out. There's a lot of material on the net, to keep this game interesting for decades. It's a big 9 for me, just superseeded by the mighty Blood Bowl.

Which makes this #2.

If this game was available I would really like to play it, it is too bad that Games Workshop has no plans for it. I guess it didn't make them enough money...

Derek...

Rules can still be found online. Ebay and web stores usually have various bits. With a little bit of effort, the game can still be acquired, though some fleets (Chaos Dwarves, Bretonnians) are much harder to find than others (although even these can be proxied with minimum effort).

My recommendation: if you enjoy the game, and want to play it, buy more than one fleet. Odds are your opponents will be willing, but they may not be able to provide their own miniatures. If they're particularly enthused, they'll do the leg work and eventually get their own.

Certainly among my favorite non-Historical games. Ranks right up there with Epic 2.0, BFG, and Necromunda.

#1 in my heart!

It's now fallen to third place, causing me to further question the wisdom of having separate entries for Warmachine and Hordes.

I'm with you pal! Love that game (and its little brother DBN)

Huge fan of DBA too. I play socially and in several comps about the place every year.

I also like the small armies so you can collect a wide range lot of forces.

www.fanaticus.org is a good resource too.

Another big fan here!! I love both the simple rules and the small armies, and the Big Battle DBA rules allow you to play with bigger forces if you feel like it, and it works great.

Used to really enjoy it, but I grew weary of Barker's constant fiddling with the rules. I'm now looking for a new set of rules for ancients--so far Impetus is the leading contender.

oh yeah Flames of war is real popular melding the basic's of warhammer and 40k to WWII was a great move. historical folks that i know do not like the whole save thing, but i love the fact i've seen kids playing it

skinsfan

I'm sure there are players at LinCon for example. There's always some at GothCon.

It's popular in Australia too.

Cancon (Canberra) & MOAB (Sydney) both have big competitions. At Canberra Gamers there may be up to four tables (of 12 or 14) all playing FoW on any given evening.

More than a few German Civil War battles as well....

I indeed saw some folks playing it at LinCon.

I don;t play tis for its historical value....it looks good on a table and is a great hang around and have fn game!

I should mention that the rules are available for free on GZG's website.

Note that there is a stock setting, with minimal information.

The setting recieves more detail in the supplements Full Thrust Fleet Book: Volume 1 (Warships of the Major Powers: 2183) and Full Thrust Fleet Book: Volume 2 (The Xeno Files).

The setting is shared with Dirtside II and Stargrunt II.

this game is fantastic

No. And I'll stand by that prediction, regardless of the quality of the minis or the game. The 40K universe just has too much weight of flavor and the game line has too much momentum.

my current fave...love the rules
as a side note, the box says ages 14+ but my 8 year old seems to enjoy it and is easier for him than 40k or WFB...

I dont know, if you take a pole of my local area, I'd say that 75% of the hard-core 40k players from 5 years ago have given it up, they are sick of new and confusing rules that seem to be made for the sake of selling new books and minis and the cost increases over the last few years, the hobby has become too expensive.

Don't get my comments wrong if you are a fan... I am a long time 40k player, and have several fully painted (by me) armies, but I haven't bought anything new from Games Workshop in about 2 years now... first reason is the price... I can't justify $50 for some more guys to build and paint when that could be a new boardgame, and second because my personal life is so much differnet now (much older, four children, no free time to paint).

I recently bought AT-43's starter box and my oldest son and myself have had an absolute blast... all the fun of 40k with easier rules and pre-painted minis... So Games Workshop better watch out!

Derek...

Here too most of the WH40k players appear to have switched to AT-43.

I got the box. While I enjoy the prepainted laziness, I am still more into WH40k's fluff. In fact, GW's fluff is probably the main reason why they will never be dethroned. AT43, in my opinion, suffers from the same fluff boredom VOID and the other contenders did.

Very different (and much better) than Warhammer, IMO.

In my opinion, the best thing GW has done. This is a top-down miniatures ruleset, with the focus on the problems and strategy of C&C, rather than a ground-up ruleset (which would start with a fixed ground and time scale, and figure the rules based on that).

Ah....my EPIC version of warhammer.....can't go wrong with that....but of course...it died like every other nicely designed GW game!

...oh...excuse me....its a 'specialty' game now!

I used to love this game! I wish there were some local players or local interest in it... I have two full fleets and nobdy to play with!

Derek...

I love the miniatures for this one but damn! rules for RAMMING in space? At the scale they have on the table top, a typical ship would be about the size of a red blood cell! RAMMING!?!

Preprepredecessor: Adeptus Titanicus

Added.

Just behind Man O War in my list of favorite minatures games.

Confrontation: The Age of the Rag'Narok merges this with Rag'narok for a larger scale game. I'm not sure how the relationship between these three should be categorized; should I add separate entries for each?

I wouldn't, since they're all Confrontation.

There has been, however, a huge loss of support when this went plastic in my area.

ALSO;

I have in my posession a huge collection of Confrontation miniatures, but never played the game. The symbols on the cards (and my lack of proper French) have always stopped me from actually playing this.

I'm quite sure that Confrontation ranks so highly because this game has the best miniatures (I've ever seen for a commercial fig game).

Fantasy, and better.

(Well, in my opinion anyway. Certainly the rules are clearer!)

Because of the generic nature of the rules,with some thought/imagination, HOTT can be used for just about any period of warfare.Go to thestronghold.com to see what some people have done with the rules.

the stronghold: http://www.btinternet.com/~alan.catherine/wargames/strong.ht...

The rules are certainly clearer, but I miss the light troops from DBA and I 'm not entirely happy about how heroic individuals are handled in HOTT.

i'm a fan of HOTT as it's so easy to get into, using 6mm figures you can get up and running for about £15 for 2 players.

The ability to use any figures of your choice lets you get really creative with army bulding.

Also found this really fun using the rules for double sized armies and having 2 generals per side.

This is a great skirmish-level game. All figures are single individuals, with good or bad heroes having great influence on the out come of the battle. Beautiful figures by Game Workshop, but other lines are available.

Which makes one wonder why it's called a "Strategy Battle Game". If any qualifier is called for, surely it's Tactical?

It's Strategy - not strategical - but yes tactical would seem more appropriate.

The entry says this is "hex-and-counter", which appears to be wrong - the images has it played on square grids or ungridded boards. Perhaps someone who actually knows the game should submit a correction?

Same thing goes for the recent addition for a separate entry of FFG's cosmic encounter reprint. Doesn't make sense and I suspect there might be commercial interests involved.

Anyway. This (2nd ed) was my first miniature wargame and I must say: we had lots of fun with those extremely unrealistic viking close-combat situations, where two special characters would end up in the middle of the battlefield, locked into melee, for hours, while everything else blew up around them. The fluff is probably the main thing that keeps this going and 2nd ed's cheap hero rules actually did a good job at capturing the story's spirit.

It remains, however, one of the undying cashcows of the GW monopoly and deserves to be hated for it.

Warhammer 40,000 is an atmospheric game of fantasy combats set in a far-distant dark future.

The rules are a bit obtuse. Even so, I was able to figure out the rules accurately with a couple of friends and no one to teach us. It still took a few games to get the hang of it.

The game requires the purchase and construction of little plastic soldiers. If this is not appealing to you, the game will not be either.

Personally, I have built an army of Space Marines over the last two years: For me, Warhammer 40,000 (or simply 40k) is a very relaxing, very enjoyable hobby that encourages artistic experimentation: there's something immensely entertaining about seeing your friends' paint a plastic monstrosity and refer to it as "Gorgator the Destroyer" with a straight face!

Understand that to play 40k requires a bit of cash, a willingness to slog through a rulebook which is, generally, quite friendly, but also fairly thick, and a few friends who are willing to spend their time and money on the same.

You may be surprised at the creativity this game engenders!