WHAT IS A MINIATURE WARGAME?

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Available Scales
Available Era's
Available Rules
Terrain
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FAQ From: rec.games.miniatures.historical News Group
1. birt mckendree wrote:
>Me & my son have just started getting into this hobby and have a question.
> Is there any advantage to using 22mm versus 15mm. It seems there is more variety in 15mm and costs are cheaper. The only advantage to 22mm that I see is ease of painting. Is this true? Also are there any FAQ's or word documents on the net that could provide more information on this hobby.

Hello, and welcome to the hobby!
You know, this is the third request for start-up information that we have ahd in three days--I clearly think that it's time for a periodic FAQ, and I would be happy to contribute to it, if someone else will handle posting and placement on a web site. (-:
Now, for the question at hand: Why choose one scale over another? The simple answer is that there is no great advantage one way or the other. As you note,15s are available in great variety, and the cost is not excessive. Most commercial rules have instructions and adaptations for use with multiple scales, so that isn't an issue. If you expect to join an established local group of players, you will probably find that they have a de facto standard scale, and if you conform you will have access to more troops and terrain, and won't have to do as much painting to get a good looking game together. Now, personally, I think 25s look better than 15s, and I find that I can paint them to my satisfaction more easily than 15s. If I choose to use figures for both skirmish and larger battle games, I find 15s a bit small and fussy to handle as individuals and prefer 25s. A lot of people will tell you that they like 15s because they can have larger battles, but I would personally prefer to reduce my representational scale and use 25s rather than go to 15s (e.g., I'd rather have units of 12 25s than 24 15s but 24 25s or 12 40s would be better yet (-:). All of this is opinion, of course.
So, in direct answer, yes the main advantage of the larger scale, in my opinion, is the ease of painting them nicely, and the look of it.
There are no formal FAQs that I know of, but you might want to have a look at The Miniatures Page http://www.eden.com/~tmp which has a lot of information on the whole miniatures hobby. The site owner, Bill Armintrout, has apparently been having problems with his sevice provider and there have been no new files uploaded in over a month, but there's a lot of stuff there that would be of use to a newcomer.
Rob Dean

A2. As for figures, "22mm" came about because Airfix plastic figures from 30 years ago were a shade too large for true 20mm. Very few manufacturers produce figures compatible with the old Airfix standard; the plastic figures now being produced are usually called "1/72", or 20mm, and that is the term now used by Qualiticast and other metal figure makers to complement the plastics.
You're right that there are many more 15mm figures around, although 20mm is becoming popular again because they are just enough larger to present a nicer visual effect.
Chris Johnson

Q2. I am a complete novice to miniatures gaming, but have been fascinated since childhood and would like to finally make the plunge (or at least check out the waters) . My interest is in medieval European gaming. How do I get started? Which rules? Which figures? What scale? What books? What painting services (no time to paint)? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

A1.Your best bet is to find a local club and visit a while with them. Thay way you should be able to see what ranges of figures are used, what rules are used, plus a valuable source of opponents.
If you tell us which city/state/country you live in, then this newsgroup may be able to help.
Paul

A2.One of these days we need to get a FAQ put together for this. (-:
Well, Frank, you've already made one of the more difficult choices--you've selected your period of interest.
The best way to get started (as someone else already posted) would be to visit a club or convention, and look to play some games using different sets of rules covering your period of interest. Are you more interested in small level individual combat or in large scale battles? Rules are fairly readily available for both.
For large scale:
DBM from Wargames Research Group--personally, I don't like these rules, but lots of people do. You'd want 100-150 figures per army.
DBA, also from WRG -- DBM is a larger more complicated version of DBA. I like DBA, but didn't think scaling it up did much for it. Small armies, inexpensive--probably worth a try even if you don't end up liking it.
Armati--a nice streamlined set of rules. I play it, but sometimes feel that has had a lot of flavor streamlined out..
Days of Knights from Chipco -- Haven't played these.
Day of Battle by Chris Parker -- one of my opponents likes these.

Small Scale:
Knights and Knaves -- I've played these at conventions. Good skirmish rules, with my only complaint being the need for keeping rosters of troops and their wounds. (Not uncommon skirmish game feature.)
Retinue from TTG -- Detailed, but reasonably smooth flowing. Needs a roster, and one player can't really be expected to handle more than a dozen men.
Knights and Magick from Heritage -- Out of print for 15+ years, but works well as a big skirmish game without the magic/fantasy elements. No rosters, figures are either dead or alive, and armor and weapons can be read off the figures. Suitable for up to 50 or more figures per player. One of my favorites but rather hard to find these days.
The scale of figures you should use depends on what you want to do with them. 6mm, 15mm, 25mm, and 54mm are all available for much of medieval Europe. (Did you have a century in mind?) 6mm are only good for large battles. 54mm are only good for man-to-man skirmish games. 15s and 25s represent various compromises between them. Personally, I find 15s a bit fiddly to use as individually based figures for skirmish games, and I don't like to paint them. However, 15mm is the most popular scale in wargaming, so extensive figure ranges are available from many manufacturers. 25mm is my scale of choice for most projects, and 25s are available to cover multiple segments of the middle ages, from Essex, Wargames Foundry, Old Glory and others. 6mm choice is more limited. I like Irregular Miniatures' block mounted 6s, and have several ancient period DBA armies, but no medievals. I suppose that Heroics and Ros has a medieval range. I won't bother to discuss 54s-- other 54 gamers are few and far between.
I don't use painting services, so I can't recommend any. Highly detailed heraldry and so forth is going to drive the price of painting way up.
As for books, there aren't any good recent books covering wargaming in the middle ages. Do you need suggestions on history books? You could do a lot worse than to start with Contamine's _War in the Middle Ages_.
Hope that helps somewhat...
Rob Dean

A3. I would suggest picking up DBA from Wargames Research Group which contains simple but reasonably realistic rules for ancient and medieval games with about 40-60 figures per side in 15mm or 25mm.
DBA plus a medieval army in 15mm will probably set you back about $40 and as it is popular, there are lots of opponents; for another $30 or so you can pick up a second army and either play solo (sort of fun) or bully someone else into it. DBA rules are short (less than a dozen pages) but more or less sensible, albeit in places written in a very sparse style which would benefit from more examples. Being a popular set, you can easily get clarifications and tips on the net. I have used DBA for medieval games for three years and found it fun and realistic, and you can teach a new player the rules in 30 minutes of playing the game.
Others have also recommended DAYS OF KNIGHTS from ChipCo which are oriented toward medieval. These sound a tad more complex and are not quite to my taste, but will also be a good quick start.
Painting services I don't know about.
A4. You could write a thesis in response to these questions, and many have. The points and suggestions made by Rob and Dave are excellant and speak for themselves. Additionally, I suggest that you pick up a copy or two of Miniature Wargames, Wargames Illustrated or Practical Wargamer (usually available from better newsagents) as there are numerous articles on painting figures, etc. and the adverts are most useful to help pick a range of figures. The pictures aren't bad either, particularly those in Wargames Illustrated. You might also consider joing the Society of Ancients, an international society of wargamers interested in ancient and medieval warfare.
With respect to painting services, again I suggest to check the classified ads in the aforementioned mags. I have used many painting services, most located in England and have never had a problem with postage. Keep in mind that you will get what you pay for. Don't expect to get a collector's standard painted figure for buttons. Prices range from about $.80 to $10.00 (U.S.) for 15mm, about double for 25mm. As an earlier writer noted, heraldry will drive the price up.
Kent Haryett
Edmonton, Canada

A5. First, find out if there is a local group in your area. If you are in almost any major city, somebody here will have a contact. Then, go and find what they are playing. That will guide you to answers to a lot of the questions below.
>Which rules?
There are two major and tow minor rules sets that seem to be popular:
DBM (DeBellis Multitudinus) and Wargames Research Group (WRG) 7th Edition.
Ancients rules are the most popular in the US. If tournament registrations are a guide, DBM is growing, 7th is slowly declining. IMHO, DBM is a better game - the rules are easier to learn and to play well and have less bookkeeping.
The minor rules are Armati, which has a niche following, and Chipco's Days of Knights, which is new. Again, if you live in a city with nothing but DBM players, you'll want to get DBM. Most groups are eager for new members and will allow you to play as a subgeneral in battles to get a feel for things.
>Which figures?
This is a matter of taste. With a few exceptions, most of the US has no stores that stock historical minis, so you'll need to mail order. Essex has a large line of medieval figures and has good mail order in the US via a company called Wargames.
>What scale?
Most gaming is in 15mm for DBM. Again, you may have a pocket of 25mm (or even 6mm) players in your area.
> What books?
WRG has a line of "Armies and Enemies of ...." books that are not bad.
Osprey has books on various medieval armies and campaigns.
>What painting services (no time to paint)?
There are armies available here on the net on occasion. There are some UK services available via mail order. I bought a orman army from two different sources and added a few troops I painted to get it up to the size I needed. Note that knights are expensive to have painted if they are from later periods with complicated shield designs. They do look impressive as all get out, though.>br> Glad to help.
Seems like half the gamers in North America have responded, but here are my two cents. I would second the suggestions to check out DBA, Armati, and Days of Knights. I would also recommend Grunt, a rule set designed specifically with the novice in mind. They are simple, cheap ($5!), and supported by very nice people in the frozen tundra (AKA Michigan).
With regard to figures, I'm somewhat of a maverick, I guess, because I suggest you check out plastics. Revell/Italieri/etc offer Normans v. Saxons (not so good), Hundred Years War (very good), and Crusades (also very good). I've heard that War of the Roses is about to appear, but haven't seen any yet. You'll hear various reasons why you shouldn't buy plastics, but they usually come down to "flaking paint". There is a lot of stuff on the web about how to cope with this, besides drinking heavily I mean, but the best advice is to avoid handling the figures--this means going for rules that use multi-figure stands, such as all 4 listed earlier.
Good luck.
Chris Johnson

Q3. I'm new at historical wargaming and need to know what will i need to begin? What costs are involved?Etc.Private e-mail preferred.Thank you.
Doug

A1. One of the classic cheap starts was described by Donald Featherstone in one of his early books. At that time Airfix produced plastic 1/76 scale figures of Union and Confederacy infantry, plus slightly more generic cavalry and artillery. So it was possible to buy four boxes of figures and have a balanced army. It was just about possible to do it with three boxes, but the infantry would include some strangely posed figures.
The only obvious difference between the Confederate and Union infantry was the headgear.
And, of course, some fairly simple rules for movement, firing, and melee were in the book.
These days you can do the same with the Napoleonic period, though the forces would be a rather unusual mixture of units, and the American Civil War is still the easiest option.
David G. Bell
A2. What you need to begin is a period, some figures, and a set of rules. Some scenery would be nice, too, but may be considered optional to start with. What costs are involved? Sets of rules may be had from the web for free, or may cost as much as $40. Figures may be had in a variety of scales, and different rules need different quantities. 6mm figures run as little as five cents apiece, 15mm 30-50 cents, 25mm 70 cents to $3.00...
>One of the classic cheap starts was described by Donald Featherstone in one of his early books. At that time Airfix produced plastic 1/76 scale figures of Union and Confederacy infantry, plus slightly more generic cavalry and artillery....
These days you can do the same with the Napoleonic period, though the forces would be a rather unusual mixture of units, and the American Civil War is still the easiest option.

To expand on David's comments--check your local library and see if they have Joseph Morschauser's _How to Play War Games in Miniature_,Featherstone's_War Games_ or _Battles with Model Soldiers_, Wise's _Introduction to Battle Gaming_, Grant's _The War Game_, Lawford and Young's _Charge! or How to Play War Games_, or Wesencraft's _Practical Wargaming_. All of these books are a bit old, but they each present a single volume overview of how to get started in the hobby, which stays pretty much the same.
Plastics are an excellent way to get started without spending a lot of money, and there are more possibilities now than there were back in the 60s and 70s. In addition to Napoleon's wars and the American Civil War, reasonable plastic selections can also be had for ancient Rome, the Hundred Year's War, the American Revolution, the Seven Years War, the American West, and World War II. Italeri has just come out with Crusaders and Arabs (which can be expanded with some Saxons and Normans, and possibly some of the Hundred Years War figures), and stocks of Revell's discontinued Thirty Years War and Aztec/Conquistador ranges aren't too hard to find in the US. (Check the Squadron mail order catalog). Esci's discontinued British colonials are a bit harder, and the ranges were a bit limited requiring more imaginative conversions.
Plastics are also nice in that they are better proportioned than many leads, and if it weren't for the fact that they don't hold paint well under any handling, and are somewhat harder to clean if they have flash or bad mold lines, they'd be a more popular alternative than they presently are.
You should also consider checking out a club or a convention if possible.
If you want more information Doug, it would be helpful to narrow down the scope of your question a bit.
Rob Dean
A3. First, and most important, *welcome to the hobby*!
If there's a gaming group in your area, you might contact them and ask if you can sit in for a game or two. Most groups welcome newcomers, and it'll give you a chance to get some hands on experience without having to spend any money or time on figures and terrain.
If there's no group in your area, or if you're simply not a group-type person, then you're looking at a longer entry curve before you actually get to the gaming table. You'll have to choose an era and a scale, find or create a rules set, collect figures, and buy or make some terrain.
I'll talk about each in turn:
* Choosing an Era -- Although many wargamers play several eras, it's best to start with just one. I suggest that you pick the era you most like to read about. There are rules sets and figures for just about every era of history, although some eras are more popular (and thus more accessible) than others.
* Choosing a Scale -- By this I mean a command scale: skirmish, tactical, or grand-tactical. This is an important choice, because along with your era it will determine which rules sets are ppropriate, and what kinds of figures you'll need. Again, I suggest that you pick the scale you most like to read about. If you like to read about individual soldiers and sergeants, you'll probably prefer skirmish games. If you like to read about the decisions of battalion, regiment, and brigade commanders, you'll probably like tactical games. If you're fascinated by army and corps commanders, you'll probably like grand-tactical games.
* Choosing a Rules Set -- Once you've selected an era and a scale, you can start looking at rules sets. I'm not going to start a debate about the ideal rules set, but you'll want to consider questions like: level of detail and complexity; whether you want a system which lets you micromanage your units, or imposes limitations on your actions; how many and what scale(s) of figures the system requires; whether customer support and/or supplements are available (or required); speed of play; and so on. Remember, this is a hobby ... so find a rules set you like and enjoy it.
* Collecting Figures -- There are literally hundreds of figure manufacturers, with varying scales, quality, and prices. Plastic is cheaper than lead, but it doesn't hold paint as well. Smaller figures are cheaper than larger figures, but they're not as visually impressive. (On the other hand, they don't require as much table space.) Your hobby shop or figure supplier should be able to help you choose paints and brushes; you can also find excellent painting tips and techniques in several articles and FAQs. Building an army will probably take you several weeks or months. Despite the dire threats of purists, the Hobby Police *will not* confiscate your table if you decide to use unpainted lead and/or homemade cardboard counters while you're getting your army ready for battle.
* Collecting Terrain -- The easiest terrain is simply a green army blanket tossed over a table, perhaps with books or upside down plates laid underneath to represent hills, and felt cutouts for trees, roads, towns, and the like. If you're feeling more ambitious, you can buy styrofoam --I recommend blue board insulating foam, as it's easier to cut and more durable -- and make interchangeable terrain pieces. If you're wealthy, you can buy ready-made terrain from a number of suppliers (Terrain Creations, GeoHex, etc.). If you're talented and have the right materials, you can make very impressive trees, rivers, buildings, bridges, and so on. Again, you can also buy these items at hobby, model, or craft stores. (Hint: Craft stores tend to be cheaper than hobby or model stores, so look there first.)

As for costs, that varies *widely*, depending on what you buy. But here's a reasonable mid-range estimate of typical start-up costs ($US):
Rules -- $5 to $40
Figures* -- $75 to $300
Terrain -- $50 to $400
(*The cost for figures includes paint, brushes, and basing materials for two armies of roughly 150 infantry, plus officers and supporting arms (cavalry, artillery, etc.). The number of figures required will vary with the rules set.)
With plastic figures, inexpensive or homegrown rules, and felt terrain, you could be up and running for under $150. With 25mm lead figures, expensive rules, and ready-made terrain, you can easily spend $750 or more. It varies that widely.
For what it's worth, I do primarily WW2 and a bit of Napoleonics, using the PIQUET rules (see below). These are fairly expensive, about $40 for a Master Set, and about $25 for each additional era supplement. (PIQUET covers every era from ancients to WW2.) PIQUET is designed for fairly small armies -- 150-250 figures a side -- but my 15mm WW2 collection is still going to run about $200 a side. (WW2 is a very expensive era to play, because of the vehicles.) I use homemade overhead silhouette counters for my Napoleonics. I'm building most of my own terrain; the total costs will probably run around $200 or so for foam boards, paint, flocking, foliage, glue, etc.
I hope this helps. Feel free to e-mail me (or respond on the newsgroup) if I can answer any questions.
Cris
Visit the PIQUET web site:
http://users.aol.com/IMAC100/piquet.htm

DeathSkulls Main Page. A great Place to start and see what is avaiable and what can be done . Just until I get links and more info up here.
Mail me if you have any suggestions,comments, questions, answers etc....
colsten@pcpartner.net
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