Newbie questions

[brummie76]

Hello,

Ok. I am a total newbie to wargaming and have no minatures whatsoever as yet.

My friends from the Durham Pals Living History group have recommended and suggested i look on this site and say that 10mm is the way to go....

So after looking about a little i came up with a few questions:-

First of all i quite like the look of the Napoleonic ranges particularly the British (i used to be a member of a Napoleonic living history group so i have a bit of an idea of the period) but the website suggests that the British napoleonic range is "old" does this mean there will be a new range coming along soon, if so what is planned may i ask?

I am thinking of buying my first miniatures after christmas with so are napoleonics ok for a beginner?, how do i work out what i should look at buying?, what would be a good starting point as regarding army size? can you put any number of miniatures on a base?, should i paint myself or get them done?, which rules should i look at as a newbie?

Finally any other helpful newbie advice please?

Thanks in advance,

Ant information / advice will be greatly appreciated.

Paul

[Leon]

We will be working on a new Napoleonic British range, with the first figures being done by the designer this month.  I'd expect to have some kind of release ready towards the middle of next year hopefully.

From entirely my own point of view, I always think that the Napoleonic period is very detail heavy for someone starting out, and could be either very interesting / very draining, depending on your own level of interest in that era.  With you already having some knowledge of that period, it might not be too bad though.  There's always the WW1 ranges as well, just in time for the centenary?

[Steve J]

Hi Paul,
a few suggestions:

- Try and play some wargames first of all to what sort of game you enjoy and what sort of period. Nothing too large or fancy to start with so that you are not overwhelmed by the whole thing.
- Napoleonics are a bit too much to start with IMHO as Leon suggests. Such a varied period for the wargamer starting out in the hobby.
- Pop down to WH Smith and buy a few wargames magazines (or borrow some) so that you can get an idea of what it's all about. I'd suggest Miniature Wargames & Wargames Illustrated as a good starting point. There are a few others but their names escape me at present.
- I'd suggest getting a few sample miniatures from Leon so that you can see them in the flesh so to speak and see whether you would want to paint them or not. I'd recommend some from the American War of Independence, Napoleonic, American Civil War and say WWI ranges. That way you can get a quick flavour of what is involved and the sculpts are rather lovely which makes painting so much easier.

Anyway, I hope this helps a bit and I'm sure others will pop along with their suggestions as well.

[fsn]

Might I recommend the ACW? The ranges were resculpted this year and are little crackers. The uniforms can be relatively simple, and you can quite realistically just use horse, foot and artillery.

Once you've got the basics, you can add variety and complexity - add Zouaves and sharpshooters; differentiate between a Parrot and a Napoleon. 

[brummie76]

cheers both!

I will be playing a few games with my mates soon from different periods. I know they have recently bought and now play with Vietnam sets.

I understand what you are saying but Napoleonics still "float my boat" as i have a fair bit of knowledge thanks to my living history and i find the period really interesting and i just love the tactics, uniforms / style etc

Paul

[fsn]

I totally and utterly sympathise. My second love was the 1st Empire. I'm waiting for the release of the new Brits before I plunge in.

Good luck.

Post some pics, unless you're really, really good at painting, in which case I shall cease to communicate with you out of pure infantile jealousy.    

[Womble67]

Hi there Paul I would suggest joining a wargames club in your local area and playing as many periods and rules as possible before deciding. However I would like to welcome you to the forum and the wonderful world of wargaming

take care

Andy

[brummie76]

Womble

I thought about that but the Durham wargames club want £80 a year fee. I cant justify that just yet...but i think i will be round my mates house quite a lot. They have several periods so i can give them all a go...


How do you go about choosing what to buy? Does this depend upon the ruleset chosen mainly or just personal choice?

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I go with:
A) what are my mates playing and what is missing from that set.
what am I interested in.
C) ohhhh shiny!

[petercooman]

HEllo and welcome to the forum!!

How do you go about choosing what to buy? Does this depend upon the ruleset chosen mainly or just personal choice?

I usually buy what i like the most, and make that work 

Off course I mainly buy WW2 stuff so that's a bit easier. If you want to go napoleonics it might be a lot more complicated. You're best bet is your mates. IF they say that 10mm is the way to go, then they must have some themselves. Look at what they have, how their army is based and what ruleset they are using. As a beginner it might be easier to just build a force without having to worry about a second one to play against 

If your force goes well with that of your mates, you can get some games in and you will start to 'feel' wich route you can go. If you like it stick to that,  if you don't, experiment yourself, trying other rules, changeing base sizes/figures per base etc...

Off course that's when you have to buy 2 forces to get games in 


edit: Lemmey beat me to it! Sneaky git

[brummie76]

Some good points. Thanks!

I cant wait to have a go.

Dare i sneak in that AWI Brits take my fancy a little too 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Anything sculpted by Clib is amazing!

[fsn]

What they said.

The one thing I would counsel is to avoid overloading on the the pretty units. I know they're boring, but those line infantry are needed. If I were to start a French army now, I'd go for a strong backbone of line infantry, with a couple of light for variety, some dragoons or chevaux legere and a couple of foot artillery batteries.

Once you've done that, you can add horse artillery, hussars, Vistula lancers, and red-coated Swiss infantry and, if you really must, the bloody Garde.

I use historical Orders of Battle to get the right balance, but then again I'm a miserable old git who plays with himself. I think Mr Coonan is right in most things and his advice is well founded.

[petercooman]

I'm a miserable old git who plays with himself.

I think Mr Coonan is right in most things and his advice is well founded.

[Ithoriel]

My advice on choosing armies remains what it has always been ... pick one you'll love even when it's losing