Pen and paper DnD. Which one to choose?

Yes, you are right (I happen to own the latest IG Codex), however conscripts under Commander Chenkov may disagree with you.

Sure, but there is that Vancian magic crap and that deters me from going that way, unless our group chooses it. But at least it is better than older editions, which IIRC had AC, where the lower is better, THAC0 or other, at least IMO, superfluous mechanics.

 

Which is why it was the very first thing we changed with house rules when we were playing DnD. I don't remember the exact specifics, but we did change it so that spells didn't have to be prepared in advance but required an additional roll instead, with it becoming more difficult to get a success if you cast a lot of spells in a short time (we could do that because our munchkin has some self-control).

 

Other posibilities that are good for just starting out with RPGs are Castles and Crusades (similar theme to D&D, but simpler), or Dragon Age: RPG, a fairly simple system (designed for starting out to an extent too) by Green Ronin that uses a magic point spell system as opposed to D&Ds vancian system, set in the world of the Dragon Age computer games.

As to using figures, our group just use dice, typically d4s for PCs and d6s for enemies (typically because you can get them in large quantity packs and use the numbers for different individuals or counts).