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What to Get a Wargamer for Christmas
I have been excited to create a gift guide for wargamers. Often for our loved ones, it’s hard to know what to get a wargamer. There’s so much, and our interests are so narrow. Christmas gifts for wargamers are hit and miss, and it’s not uncommon for the wargamer in your life to return to the store after the holiday and exchange it for something that they’d like better.
So what I’ve done is to break this down into three categories: Boxed Sets for Wargamer, Stocking Stuffers for Wargamers, and Odds and Ends for Wargamers. Hopefully this way you’ll be able to figure out what you want to get that special someone in your life (or find something you want for yourself).
What This Gift Guide for Wargamers Is–and Isn’t
This is by no means an all-encompassing list of the games, gifts and odds and ends that any wargamer would love, but this is a start. If you’re looking for a present for a wargamer, might I suggest starting with one of these starter sets. The only bias that this list has is that everything I’ve included is easy to find on Amazon, in order to make it as useful to as many people as I can.
This list will be ever-evolving as I find new and interesting wargaming gifts to add to it. Whether you’re looking for wargaming gifts from Christmas, birthdays, graduations, firings, retirements, bar mitzvahs, or whatever other reason you could need a reason to celebrate, I hope to have something here in this list for you.
If you have things to add to this list, by all means leave a comment and let me know. This list is supposed to grow over time, and I don’t expect it to be complete right now. All of us are smarter than only me by myself.
Starter Sets
Games Workshop Warhammer 40k Combat Patrols
Games Workshop is shifting away from their long-held Start Collecting boxes and moving to Combat Patrols. This is in accordance with the new rules push for smaller games (which seems like almost a necessity in Warhammer 40k 9th edition, but YMMV).
A Combat Patrol box is typically retailing for around $140 USD, which means on Amazon they’re about $119 USD, and they are (very loosely) meant to represent somewhere in the 500 to 750 point range for units. Some boxes are more balanced than others, but regardless, they’re a good way to get started in a new army. If you’re going to start a Space Marine army, then you’d be well served to start with a Combat Patrol as a base.
If you’re interested, for Games Workshop gifts I have broken down all of the Start Collecting boxes and Combat Patrol boxes to determine what are the Top Five Best Values (based on if you purchased all of the models separately) and the Bottom Five Worst Values. Read that article here. (I mean, they’re all *value*, but some are a better deal than others.)
Not sure which Warhammer 40k army you want to start? We have an article that breaks them down in detail by lore and best units, and another article that breaks them down by playstyle.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Wargamers interested in science fiction gaming who have a specific interest, be it super soldiers, space orks, chaotic demons, or even space nuns.
Warhammer 40k Starter Sets
All three of these are starter sets that give you some Space Marines and some Necrons. (I would say “good guys and bad guys”, but in the grim darkness of the 41st Millennium there are no good guys.)
The Command Edition is the largest (and therefore most expensive, with the Elite, and then Recruit going down the line. They’re good starters if you’ve never gotten into Warhammer 40k before. They have a good mix of Space Marines (who are the poster boys of Warhammer 40k) and Necrons (who are the current poster boys for Xenos –aliens). They each come with enough rules to play the game, some dice, some tokens, and everything that you need to play a small skirmish game.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Someone who loves grimdark science fiction who wants to dive in with both feet, plus have two armies–one for you and one for a friend.
Age of Sigmar Start Collecting Boxes
Warhammer Age of Sigmar is in the very early stages of starting to phase out the Start Collecting boxes in favor of something more similar to the Warhammer 40k Combat Patrols, but it’s VERY early still, and it will be a while before you see these boxes out of circulation. And, best yet, they’re not getting rid of any of these models, so even if you buy these (for a considerable price discount than to what you’d get for the larger Combat Patrol-sized boxes) you can use all of these models for a long time.
In fact, it’s worth noting that the most recent Start Collecting Age of Sigmar box is the Soulblight Gravelords, the brand-new army. So they’re investing enough time in their brand new army to make a Start Collecting box. Basically, I don’t see Start Collecting disappearing anytime soon. (And you’ll get some great deals on models this way).
If you don’t know which Age of Sigmar army you want to start to collect, we have a full article outlining all of the Age of Sigmar Factions and Age of Sigmar Races, plus a fun flowchart to help you make the choice.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Anyone who is interested in fantasy and has a particular love–demons, goblins, dwarves, dragons.
Age of Sigmar Starter Boxes
Dominion was the big launch of Age of Sigmar 3rd Edition, pitting some really amazing looking Stormcast Eternals (that very much get away from the statue, clunky aesthetic of the previous Stormcast) against the Kruleboyz, a clan of the Orruks who are swamp dwellers and known for being nasty and cunning. All of the models in this box are gorgeous, and if you want the full rulebook then Dominion is the way to go. (And, as of time of writing, it’s REALLY cheap.)
The other boxes: Extremis, Harbinger, and Warrior, are all smaller versions of the Dominion set, with some of the same models but wrapped up into easy-to-access starter sets. They have basic rules rather than the full book, and fewer models (fewer still as the boxes get smaller) but they have everything you need to give you a taste of what Age of Sigmar is.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Someone who loves fantasy and wants to dive in with both feet, preferably with two armies so you can play with a friend.
Bolt Action Starter Sets
Miniature wargaming gifts don’t need to be science fiction and fantasy. There’s LOADS of historicals as well, and if the wargamer in your life loves World War Two, then Bolt Action is for them.
Bolt Action is a game that is near and dear to my heart. It was my first real deep dive into historical gaming–but don’t let that scare you away. If you’re coming to Bolt Action from something like Warhammer you’ll find that the rules aren’t all that hard to figure out, and that’s for a reason. Rick Priestly, one of the original writers of Warhammer 40k was the writer of Bolt Action.
The games are basically platoon-level games, with three or four squads, a mortar or two, some anti-tank guns, and then usually one vehicle on each side. If you’d like a full explanation of how to play Bolt Action, click here. If you’d like to see some of the terrain boards that I’ve made for Bolt Action, check out my Normandy board and my North Africa board.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: World War Two buffs who want to get stuck into a great historical with one of the best rule sets around.
Bolt Action: Tank War
For more Warlord Games gifts, and more World War Two action, try out Bolt Action: Tank War. Bolt Action is a fantastic game, but it’s on around the platoon level and you’ll rarely have a game with even one tank let alone more than one. But Bolt Action: Tank War is a tank-centric game that is for those of us who want to see Shermans hunting Panzers.
Tank War makes a fantastic Christmas gift for wargamers. One of the beauties of the game is that your force might only contain five or six tanks. Tanks are, admittedly, a little harder to assemble than infantry, but you can really get them all painted up much faster than a Bolt Action platoon and be playing in no time.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: World War Two fans who are more interested in tanks than in infantry.
Hail Caesar Starter Sets
And if you’re looking for a Christmas gift for wargamers who like their wargaming ancient, then Hail Caesar is my game of choice. There’s something that I absolutely love about this game, and a lot of it has to do with the look of a shield wall of well-decalled shields all in a row. Whether you’re playing the Romans or the Spartans or the Celts, there is something for any ancients player, and the wargamer in your life would love to see Hail Caesar when they unwrap their present.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Ancients lovers who want to see epic battles played out, shieldwall to shieldwall.
SPQR: A Clash of Heroes
Love ancients, but want a more intimate game? SPQR takes all of the good things of Hail Caesar (it’s made by the same company–Warlord Games–and takes it to a smaller scale. While Hail Caesar is rank-and-flank, SPQR isn’t–and SPQR lets you name your heroes and follow them through their career, gaining skills and injuries.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Someone who loves ancients, but who wants a smaller scale and getting to know their characters.
Black Powder
Black Powder is a rule set that is really open to a ton of options. You can play anything from the American Revolution to Waterloo, and you can do it on any scale. This is why some of my favorites in the Black Powder range are (first and foremost) the 28mm American War of Independence but also the 13mm (so-called Epic Scale) American Civil War. They also released a massive Waterloo set that has everything you could possibly want, also in Epic Scale.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Perfect for someone who wants to play massive battles but can’t invest in a thousand 28mm models. Play on a small scale!
Kings of War
Kings of War is doing their best to get a piece of Games Workshop’s action, trying to be the rank-and-flank medieval fantasy game that Warhammer Fantasy was before Warhammer Fantasy disappeared. I’ve written a review of the game here, and while it wasn’t for me, it really scratches the fantasy itch for a lot of wargamers.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Perfect for someone who yearns for Warhammer Fantasy (or anyone who wants their fantasy straight: straight dwarves, straight goblins, not specialized to be trademarkable by Games Workshop.)
Kings of War: Armada
I also wrote a review of Kings of War: Armada, and I loved the gameplay. The rules to this game are great, and the opportunities for modeling are extensive–if you have patience. It’s got all the races that come from Kings of War, puts them in boats, and lets you sail the seas firing cannons–and attacking each other with a ton of special fantasy weapons.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Anyone who loves fantasy, but also really wants to play a seafaring game with good rules.
Black Seas
Speaking of good rules for seafaring. This is a game made by Warlord Games (the guys who make Black Powder and Bolt Action and Hail Caesar) and has, in my opinion, the best set of rules around for seafaring battles. As the name suggests it is set in the age of the Spanish, English, and French armadas battling against each other. Plus some pirates to make things fun.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Anyone who is looking for the best seafaring rules in the Age of Sail.
Star Wars Legion
Star Wars Legion is a game that you’re either going to love or hate based on your opinion of the IP. If you love Stormtroopers or TaunTauns or Dewbacks or AT-STs, then getting the chance to play a wargame with this iconic units will be a dream come true. I have played a lot of Star Wars Legion, enough to know that the game is not just a Star Wars vehicle, but actually has good rules, too.
They’ve got loads of models from the prequels, loads from the original trilogy, a good Rogue One force, they’re dabbling in some of the Extended Universe, but they haven’t gotten into the sequels yet (for good or ill).
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Anyone who loves Star Wars. Honestly, even if you never play the game, it’s a ton of fun to paint Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
A Song of Ice and Fire Miniatures Game
This is the game that came out of left field and surprised me. I wasn’t a fan of Game of Thrones, but I dabbled in this and found it to be my favorite rank-and-flank game that is currently being mass-produced. There’s also a lot of great mechanics for political intrigue in a wargame, which is rare, so you have non-combatants making influential moves off the board.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Anyone who loves Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, or just loves a good fantasy rank-and-flank game.
Blood Bowl: Second Season Edition
Blood Bowl is nothing if it’s not silly. Part rugby, part American football, part fantasy battle game, Blood Bowl has you and your fantasy force trying to score touchdowns against the other fantasy force. Tackle, block, pass and fumble your way from end zone to end zone.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Perfect for someone who wants a game with minimal investment (you’re not collecting more than 15 models) and to be able to play a game in an hour. And definitely for someone who wants something to smile about while drinking a pint.
Konflikt '47
Konflikt ‘47 is if you took World War Two, introduced almost every single science fiction idea to it, and let it loose. There are zombies. There are automatons. There is power armor. There are tanks with laser guns. There are mechs. It’s Weird War Two, and it’s bizarre and fun.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Someone who loves World War Two AND science fiction, and wants to play with Bolt Action rules (which are, as I said, some of the best available).
Malifaux
Malifaux is a little bit of everything, but that’s what makes it so great. It’s kinda steampunk and it’s kinda Old West, and it’s kinda New Orleans voodoo, and all of it is over-the-top and different. It’s got big benefits in that the rules are free (and pretty easy) and you don’t need a lot of models–but there are a ton of models to choose from. Any crazy idea you have, there’s a team you can assemble.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Someone who wants something off the beaten path, but accessible enough that it’s not hard to engage with.
Stocking Stuffers for Wargamers
In this gift guide for wargamers, this is the mix of things that every wargamer needs, and that generally cost less than $25. So in this section we have things for assembly, painting, and gameplay. No models here, just tools that every wargamer will find handy.
Stocking Stuffer Tools
Here we’ve got all the tools that everyone will need at some point to assemble their models and scenery. I’ve included a few different options of everything, but here is where you’re going to find clippers, hobby knives, 1-2-3 blocks, Green Stuff, and glues.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Someone you know plays wargames but you have no idea what they like. They all need these things.
Stocking Stuffer Paints
Every wargamer has their favorite type of paint, but the good news is that almost all paints can be used interchangeably. Here are some of the best sets that you’ll find. I’ve tried to pick either the comprehensive sets or the theme-specific sets. I’ve also included brushes, wet palettes, and water pots.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: A wargamer who takes their painting seriously, who are always licking their brush.
Stocking Stuffer Basing Materials
There are so many different kinds of basing materials that wargamers use. From special sand you buy to be sent across the ocean to the dirt you dig up in your back garden, everyone has something they like. I’ve included grass tufts–you can never have too many, plus basing pastes, cork, barbed wire, bricks, and all manner of doo-dads that look good on a base.
Christmas Wargaming Gift For: Any wargamer who ever paints models is going to need basing materials. You can’t get enough.
Gift Guide for Wargamers: Odds and Ends
Here I’ve tried to round up all of the extra stuff that wargamers use and enjoy, but which don’t fit perfectly into a box. Some of these things are rulesets, some of them are books, some of them are clothes, and some of them are… just odds and ends. Take a look. I’ll be adding to this as I find more.
