Musings On Size

 Hi all,

Well, I have battened down the hatches as the weather is grey and miserable today. Saturday was lovely, and apart from a truck driver in the employ of Lomas Distribution of Buxton (motto: All your road death needs covered) attempting to kill us as we descended into Ashbourne in Derbyshire, we had a leasant sunny day in the country with a wonderful fish and chip lunch on the Square in Ashbourne.

Apropos of the many synchronisities in my gaming life, having being considering the Jacobite Rebellions as my next project, then relenting and going with Marlburians (due to Roger's raised eyebrow threatening to turn inside out in wonderment) I was surprised to see this plaque on the front of a shop in the square:

 

Much good it did him...

Anyway, I was mulling over the subject of game sizes, and whilst I am unabashed in my love of the large game, I am starting to think that perhaps setting a false 'benchmark' with regard to the size of games is a bit limiting.

Roger and I, both have some very nice collections. Indeed he 'opened the batting' on his 7YW project with 700 28mm models only yesterday, and the first of my 900 Marlburians caused my postman to use rude words on Friday.

I am of a mind that whilst big is indeed better, it may be rather fun to grab a set of traditional army lists from those we were indoctrinated with in our youth, and agree on a point size for games, with say a 20% overspill to allow swapping in and out of units.

I do prefer just bringing what I have to the table (all properly researched and proportioned of course) and having at the varlets forthwith, but at the same time, I don't think every game we play needs to be like this.

As I have said before, we used to play anything, in any scale or way, as kids. Perhaps (and particularly as our offspring get into the hobby) we should sometimes revert to that methodology. Manys the time we've bought a pair of Essex Army packs and put them together to create nice looking armies of around 300 pieces. 300 pieces these days is a MASSIVE army for most people but an advance guard for those of us for whom size matters.

I was reminiscing this morning as I hummed - yes, hummed b'god! - 'Anarchy In The U.K' (surety that I am now old) on the pleasure of having a Mike's Models or Jacobite Miniatures army pack drop on the doorstep, opening it and sorting the contents into a new tabletop army. I don't get that buzz anymore. 

I merely walk up to say Mr Thomas, ask him how many boxes or packs of this or that he has, give hime the money and myself a hernia, as I dump it unceremoniously in the back of the trusty Volvo.

I mechanically sort it into units based on the size of basing I feel like using, then it's off to the painter with them.

It would be fun perhaps to play say, Ancients in the old way, but I need to convince Roger that it's a 'goer'.

I think it has legs and would give his neophyte gamer son, a taste of the way 'Joe Average' used to approach the hobby.