|
|
Starting an ArmyBy Gary LyonThis type of article has been done before, but with new club members there are some bits worth repeating. So, you've been coming along on Friday nights for a few weeks now and thought it was about time to get your own army. First off all decide on your period - there's no point in taking a liking to a French army of the Franco-Prussian period if there is nobody else to game against. You could go the whole hog and buy both sides but it makes a lot more sense to stick with a popular period that loads of other club members are already playing. Next decide on a scale - if all the club are using 15mm for gaming World War 2 then 25mm figures would be a waste unless you wanted to get two armies and the terrain to go with them. So having decided on a period and scale, the next big decision to make is to choose an army. Sometimes this can be determined by what is easily available - for ancients and medieval there are a great deal of armies available - for the Crimean war or the civil wars (English & American) there is less of a decision to make. Especially for a first army, it is worth considering an army that can be changed into others later on - for instance an AK47 of generic militia with pick up trucks & landrovers can be made to represent virtually any breakaway African state. There are now many sources of figures, many manufacturers now having very good websites with pictures of their ranges. A visit to a good trade show such as Triples (Sheffield in March), Salute (London in April) or more locally Salvo (Colchester in October) is a real help as you can see many ranges and compare them on the day. Another bonus of shows is the presence of bring-and-buys where armies can be bought at reduced rates and (for the lazy and incompetent out there like myself) which might even be painted and ready to play. Lastly these are an easy method of disposing of that first army that you have grown to hate, generating more cash to spend on the new super army that has just been released …. |