What Goes Around...
Sometimes, the thing you leave behind, is actually the right thing in the first place.
Take for example, ECW miniatures. I've played ECW in assorted scales for just short of 40 years. It was the first historical period that I got seriously interested in, along with the Renaissance, back when they were really quite nice. Yes, there were figures, but not may.
Mikes Models produced what are still today my favourite 15mm range and then there were Gallia which whilst not as good as MM, did mix well, and had the added bonus of being available every Monday night at the pop-up Dodo Publications wargames store, where you would find Roy Gunson and also Steve Royen (Hallmark Figures) who got a lot of us hooked on Dixon Samurai figures and the excellent Legends Of Nippon range.
Then, in the mid 80s, Wargames Foundry was launched and Games Workshop had their stuff in the display cabinets along with a list of the brand new 25mm ECW range, which blew away anything available at the time. Essex were nice, but all of the pikemen were left handed which was a sure sign of witchcraft as we had it...
Then we found the Corvus range which were very similar to Foundry, but a lot smaller in terms of the figures available.
We were building armies in the traditional sense, but we were playing 'Once Upon A Time In The West Country' by Pete Berry, a rather fast and fun set of ECW skirmish rules. Our 15mm stuff was being used to play WRG to 3000 on a 6x4 table. After all, if you own the whole of the New Model Army then you are obliged to use it as much as possible.
Over the years I started on other armies, but they were usually in 28mm. I'd get a playable force together, but I was stuck in a WRG rut, being part of SWS where the more competition oriented rules were always the norm until just a few years ago. I enjoyed the games as games, but they lacked narrative. Also, there was no place for all the little vignettes and camp scenes that I liked to put together. Also, the standard of painting of the opposing forces as well as the green painted tables did not inspire me.
Then I was in a sort of limbo for a while. I lost a lot of the drive I once had. I was painting wonderful (truly gorgeous) ECW armies for other people but not for myself.
And so I've not really been back there. I have dabbled and paddled in the shallows. But for me, to really, really get the most from the ECW, you need opponents with the same aesthetic and narrative ideas as yourself. Get those two things and of course, opponents who you enjoy spending time with, and you actually don't need thousands of figures for epic games.
I tried 40mm the other week, and whilst they have a gravitas, there's a very limited range to choose from, so you totally lose a lot of character that I think ECW gaming demands. Yes, you can spend your life cutting and converting but let me be frank: I don't want to spend my life in that drudgery when I could be actually playing games and having, you know - fun!
So, after a lot of consideration, 28mm is where we've collectively ended up again. Whilst I have ordered 9 regiments of foot, 12 of horse and a lot of stuff like artillery and baggage, and of course, the obligatory command groups, the main thrust is to first build two opposing forces (Parliamentarian for me and Royalist for Roger) which will evolve into the armies engaged in the South West under Hopton and Waller. Then we can be playing whilst our additional forces are painted and based.
I've gone with Bicorne which i am telling you, was a four figure shopping bill, but worth it because of the sheer variety of the models available. My artillery will be coming from Empress Miniatures as will the wagons - I like them, that's the only reason.
With 28mm you can get a lot of little fun bits which can be mixed and matched to have armies which will tell stories and make the whole gaming experience so much more than a figure pushing exercise.
Rules have been a bit of a bugbear for me. I want a sort of mythical rule set, which has no need for casualty removal, but traditional movement and formations, rather than grids. I also want streamlined play, a sense of period 'flavour' and no need for slavish and nit picking basing conventions which disallow me from creating interestingly posed units. I think it's down to 1644, The Kingdom Is Ours or my own Horse Foote & Faith, but I am not sure yet. TKIO seems a pretty good set, which I think can be tinkered with.
The only thing which I certainly do not want to come full circle to is WRG.
Stay safe,
M
Take for example, ECW miniatures. I've played ECW in assorted scales for just short of 40 years. It was the first historical period that I got seriously interested in, along with the Renaissance, back when they were really quite nice. Yes, there were figures, but not may.
Mikes Models produced what are still today my favourite 15mm range and then there were Gallia which whilst not as good as MM, did mix well, and had the added bonus of being available every Monday night at the pop-up Dodo Publications wargames store, where you would find Roy Gunson and also Steve Royen (Hallmark Figures) who got a lot of us hooked on Dixon Samurai figures and the excellent Legends Of Nippon range.
Then, in the mid 80s, Wargames Foundry was launched and Games Workshop had their stuff in the display cabinets along with a list of the brand new 25mm ECW range, which blew away anything available at the time. Essex were nice, but all of the pikemen were left handed which was a sure sign of witchcraft as we had it...
Then we found the Corvus range which were very similar to Foundry, but a lot smaller in terms of the figures available.
We were building armies in the traditional sense, but we were playing 'Once Upon A Time In The West Country' by Pete Berry, a rather fast and fun set of ECW skirmish rules. Our 15mm stuff was being used to play WRG to 3000 on a 6x4 table. After all, if you own the whole of the New Model Army then you are obliged to use it as much as possible.
Over the years I started on other armies, but they were usually in 28mm. I'd get a playable force together, but I was stuck in a WRG rut, being part of SWS where the more competition oriented rules were always the norm until just a few years ago. I enjoyed the games as games, but they lacked narrative. Also, there was no place for all the little vignettes and camp scenes that I liked to put together. Also, the standard of painting of the opposing forces as well as the green painted tables did not inspire me.
Then I was in a sort of limbo for a while. I lost a lot of the drive I once had. I was painting wonderful (truly gorgeous) ECW armies for other people but not for myself.
And so I've not really been back there. I have dabbled and paddled in the shallows. But for me, to really, really get the most from the ECW, you need opponents with the same aesthetic and narrative ideas as yourself. Get those two things and of course, opponents who you enjoy spending time with, and you actually don't need thousands of figures for epic games.
I tried 40mm the other week, and whilst they have a gravitas, there's a very limited range to choose from, so you totally lose a lot of character that I think ECW gaming demands. Yes, you can spend your life cutting and converting but let me be frank: I don't want to spend my life in that drudgery when I could be actually playing games and having, you know - fun!
So, after a lot of consideration, 28mm is where we've collectively ended up again. Whilst I have ordered 9 regiments of foot, 12 of horse and a lot of stuff like artillery and baggage, and of course, the obligatory command groups, the main thrust is to first build two opposing forces (Parliamentarian for me and Royalist for Roger) which will evolve into the armies engaged in the South West under Hopton and Waller. Then we can be playing whilst our additional forces are painted and based.
I've gone with Bicorne which i am telling you, was a four figure shopping bill, but worth it because of the sheer variety of the models available. My artillery will be coming from Empress Miniatures as will the wagons - I like them, that's the only reason.
With 28mm you can get a lot of little fun bits which can be mixed and matched to have armies which will tell stories and make the whole gaming experience so much more than a figure pushing exercise.
Rules have been a bit of a bugbear for me. I want a sort of mythical rule set, which has no need for casualty removal, but traditional movement and formations, rather than grids. I also want streamlined play, a sense of period 'flavour' and no need for slavish and nit picking basing conventions which disallow me from creating interestingly posed units. I think it's down to 1644, The Kingdom Is Ours or my own Horse Foote & Faith, but I am not sure yet. TKIO seems a pretty good set, which I think can be tinkered with.
The only thing which I certainly do not want to come full circle to is WRG.
Stay safe,
M
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