Assuming miniatures games are dominated by the likes of Warhammer 40,000, Star Wars: Legion, its skirmish sister Shatterpoint, and the resurgent Heroscape, is both understandable and, with a little gumption, fixable. In this piece, we’ll look at some of the innovative miniature games waiting for you to jump into, either with a regular game night at your local store, or with a few buddies seeking to battle across space, history, and in the shadows.
Whether you have shelves displaying immaculate paint jobs or haven’t ever sprawled a miniatures army across a table, read on to find some great, newer games to dive into.
All Space Marines, All The Time
The Horus Heresy is to Warhammer: 40,000 as a classic Mustang is to the Mach-E . In the former, built around a rebellion against the more-or-less immortal Emperor of Man, you’re exploring the classic army-against-army, dice-chucking gameplay Warhammer is known for, but with gripping narrative trappings. You’ll play one of eighteen space marine factions, each either rising up or smacking down the others. The Horus Heresy is a tense setup, and one that reveals the depth both in lore and faction design that Games Workshop has perfected over its decades leading the tabletop miniatures space.
Gameplay, once you have your miniatures acquired and assembled, is based off of Warhammer 40k’s 7th edition, a bit of a throwback that’ll feel as warm as a
bolter’s grip for anyone who’s been playing in the dark sci-fi setting for a couple decades. We’re talking charts for hit effects, grittier ability resolutions, and so on, but this shouldn’t be any real barrier to vets or folks willing to throw down with more complicated board games. This isn’t, though, a hex-based title. You’ll be measuring, calculating cover, rolling dice by the bucketload, and plotting maneuvers across a table coated with terrain and traps. The Horus Heresy is sized for armies too, meaning you’ll be playing with a thousand points or more in full games, not a handful of figures. This means you have the room to craft an army you love, and maybe catch your opponent by surprise.
And, with a bevy of scenarios (depending on your starter set) and viable solo potential by playing each side, The Horus Heresy gives you ample opportunity to perfect your play before bringing your space marines out and about.
You’ll want to do that, too, as The Horus Heresy continues Warhammer’s expansion into multiple play modes. Even if you’re not interested in taking on another person in a brutal tournament game, embarking on narrative play missions, whole campaigns with experience and levels, or giant team-based battles offer something for just about anyone.
This is a great time to jump in, too, as the 3rd edition of The Horus Heresy is set to come out later this year, bringing new armies, campaigns, and adventure (Sisters of Battle, anyone?). Keep an eye out for pre-orders!
The best way to get started today? Dive in with The Age of Darkness starter set, either by yourself or splitting the cost with a friend (and, thus, guaranteeing a partner).
The Thirty Years War in Miniature
At risk of whiplash, we’re going to zip from future sci-fi to medieval past, where Pike and Shotte delivers a historical miniatures game suffused with muskets, knights on horseback, and, yes, pikes. Published by Warlord Games, Pike and Shotte sits between sister titles Black Powder and Hail Caesar, matching both with an approachable ruleset and an intriguing blend of modern gunfire and ancient blade and bow.
Pike and Shotte gives you unit scale – you generally won’t be moving an individual soldier around in these big battles, and you’ll assign those units to commanders. During games, those commanders will issue orders to their regiments, orders that, thanks to the chaos of battle and lack of, say, radios, can get a bit muddled. Die rolls and commander stats influence how much of an order a unit might carry out, and how fast they’ll get about doing it. A simple charge has a good chance of going off without a hitch, but if you’re planning a complicated wheeling flank, then you’d better have your best commander running that show.
Combat is an easy dice affair, but casualties are handled with a clever stamina system. You’re not tallying up direct losses, but rather reducing a formation’s ‘stamina points’, knocking out their willingness to stay in the fight. Eventually, they’ll break and flee, or your opponent will need to spend those precious commander actions rallying soldiers to stay (instead of giving orders). This both reduces the need to track individual hit points and assign damage, speeding up play, and keeps the game closer to the real world unit numbers without needing, say, hundreds of figures per regiment.
If, too, you’ve played either Black Powder or Hail Caesar, you’ll find these rules very similar and easy to jump into. Of course, the reverse goes as well, letting Pike and Shotte players transmute their skills to different eras without much effort.
That said, Pike and Shotte’s central conflicts are the English Civil War and the Thirty Years War, and within the core rules you’ll find campaign options, scenarios, and (naturally) the standard set for head-to-head play. This smaller scope makes Pike and Shotte approachable and historical – you won’t need to spend thousands to get two battle-ready forces, and the unique combined arms of the era will give you a fresh adventure.
The best way to get started with Pike and Shotte is its For King and Country starter set, which throws you right into the English Civil War.
Tank Battles on Your Table
That Flames of War, a World War Two historical miniatures game, comes from New Zealand is a fun little bonus. That it’s also a compelling system that’s been around since 2004 is a testament to its solid bones. Flames of War crosses the war’s entirety, with The Pacific Theatre launching this May. Moreover, it’s open to miniatures from anywhere, so if you have 15mm figures (or want to get some), you can build your army how you want.
Once you have your force—aligning with major WWII factions, like the Germans, USSR, etc.— you’ll notice fast that Flames of War scales up its scope. Battles are
larger with more focus on vehicles and large infantry groups than the squad-based focus of Bolt Action. This gives conflicts a more mobile feel, with lots of firepower blasting across and through terrain. The rules, particularly later editions, emphasize this, keeping overhead low and playtime speedy. You’ll maneuver your tanks and half-tracks, line up your shots, and chuck some dice with just enough grit to keep you honest. It’s not arcade-level, but Flames of War isn’t trying to be a meticulous simulation.
This is, though, still a miniatures war game. You’ll be measuring to move, checking line of sight, using cover, and rolling dice both to assign hits and make miraculous saves. You’ll build and paint your armies, lead them onto famous battlefields, and tell their stories as they clash with forces led by friends, family, and random rivals at your local game store.
Getting started here is simple – pick one of the starter sets that aligns with your faction of choice and expand as you’d like from there. Or grab a rulebook and a bunch of your own miniatures and get to waging plastic warfare.
Spies and Saboteurs on Your Tabletop
Ever want a side of stealth with your smash’em up miniatures gaming? 02 Hundred Hours, by Greyfox Games, puts opposing players in a historical miniatures game as special forces making nighttime raids during WW2. You’ll assemble a team of specialists, give them equipment, and seek to sneak in and sabotage objectives, assassinate targets, or snag vital intel. The other player will be doing everything to stop you through setting intercepting patrol routes, unleashing dogs, and more. Most stealth games are either cooperative (like V-Commandos or Metal Gear Solid) or full hidden movement (Sniper Elite), so 02 Hundred Hours making a 
skirmish style miniatures game here renders it a unique, compelling play.
How many other titles account for nightvision and stealth knockouts?
Even when things go wrong (or, in the case of an ambush attack, very right), 02 Hundred Hours flips fast into a cat-and-mouse game, with spotting key to delivering kill shots. The tension never leaves, and the theme is tight on every element.
Arguably the best part about 02 Hundred Hours is its reasonable pricing – this is a miniatures game you can dip into and enjoy without breaking the bank or requiring box after box to hold gigantic figures. Terrain can be scooped from just about anything, and the starter sets and additional force boxes are, for these types of games, well into impulse buy territory. Exactly what you want to see for a game striking its own chord, playing its own sneaky, dynamic tune.
Miniatures gaming remains a core tabletop hobby, one flourishing with creative systems ready to match your preferred play or expose you to something new. Whether that’s historical conflicts, stealth missions, or vast narrative campaigns across the stars, you can find it here. Just make sure to have your plastic glue and paint brush handy.
Check out our previous article here!
