Getting Started In the Age of Sigmar Part 1

My Warhammer career began with D&D. Now I know what you may be thinking. “Of course, every nerd’s journey to self-realization and self-immersion in the realm of true fantasy gaming starts with D&D.”

D&D is definitely the gateway drug for many gamers, but maybe you’re not thinking that, maybe you’ve been playing Warhammer since you could articulate sentences, maybe I’m crazy. Point is, my Warhammer career began with D&D.

I was looking for a mini to use in the game when I stumbled upon an old dwarf army book in a Half Price Books store (my home away from home). I read the lore and fell in love with the grouchy, grudge-bearing, brutal, waist high warriors and decided I would use one of their models for D&D. I googled Games Workshop, found the one in my area, and on a gray, snowy day in November my fiance and I went to check it out. I don't know if I’m the only one who felt this way, but the prices shocked and stopped me at first. Also, you can’t just buy one dwarf warrior, you got to buy a box of them, and that turned me off as well because $30-$60 was a lot to spend on one D&D mini.

However, I had come to GW with the mind to buy something, and so I kept looking around. I saw the Warhammer 40K stuff and was not interested since I was pretty into fantasy stuff at the time and not Sci-Fi. I eventually wandered over to the nearly brand new Age of Sigmar wall. That's where I found the Storm of Sigmar mini-box set.

Clocking in at 30 bucks, it came stocked with three Liberators, two Retributors, five Bloodreavers, and Three blood warriors. Just enough to get your feet wet in AOS, and so I did.

Hailey, my beautiful fiance, bought me my first paints as well as a “Getting Started in the Age of Sigmar” magazine, which came with a free liberator model, pulling my count up to 4 of the little dudes. Still not enough for a unit, but enough to start assembling, painting, and playing.

This is where I suggest you start if you’re unsure if you want to dabble in the dark magics of AOS. Games Workshop has smaller boxes, but you can get all the contents of those smaller boxes in the Storm of Sigmar box and you will save quite a bit of money. Also, this set comes with a small rule book that has several battle reports in the back for the models that come in the box. There are also Stormcast paint box sets and Khorne Bloodbound paint box sets, each a good deal financially in and of themselves.

So that's where I began. It took me a little while to acquire some of the tools I needed. For instance, clippers and an exacto knife are much better for getting your models out of sprues than a Vietnam era service knife. Yeah. make sure you think ahead on what to use to cut out your plastics because...I did...not…

I did not have the right cutting tools. I did not use the right glue. I was clumsy and messy. But let me tell you this! Once I started painting, oh my goodness, I discovered something that I loved to do. The world vanished, my focus narrowed, my stress in life began to leak away, and I found joy in creating pieces of beauty. Those first few Stormcast and Khorne Bloodbound were definitely not what you would call professional, but they were so much fun to paint! That’s one thing I know about this game that, no matter how good (or bad) you are at it, you will always be encouraged to have fun doing what it is you love to do, and people who ridicule you do not understand the point of the hobby itself! I played a friend in our club last night, his name is Brent (this dude is great!), and he painted his army "sprue gray"..in other words he did not paint them at all, but he loves to play nonetheless and no one gives him any grief about it. Okay, some grief, but good grief.

Point is, It doesn't matter what part of the hobby you love; assembling the models, taking pieces from several different models and putting together a brand new model of your own design, painting, strategizing, memorizing all the stats and special effects, or just getting really deep in the fluff. For me, the models and their backstories are so compelling I wanted to write my own stories about them, and here I am doing just that. I consider that hobby, and I love doing it. Hobby is about doing something that relaxes you, that brings out your creativity, whether that is modifications, paint schemes, or battle strategies! Let go and create your world!

I’ll continue this story later for sure, but that is part 1 on how I got started in the Age of Sigmar. Next entry I’ll tell you about the next product I bought from Games Workshop, along with some of the mistakes I made and lessons I learned, along with some of my favorite podcasts I discovered that helped me get immersed in the gaming community (whispers creepily "I love you Dave Witek").

Until then, Keep on Rollin’!

*Ending Note: I never did find a mini for D&D.