Good Morph Guide
Introduction
Morphing is the noble art of getting as many armies as you possibly can from any one buildout, an essential skill for the Lazy Wargamer. Why am I qualified to talk on this topic? Mainly because I wrote it, but also because I have 2 small children, so time is very limited and you get pretty darned good at finding all the shortcuts.
Here are the periods that are best for "Morphing", ie maximising the number of armies you can use your figures for. Basically, start with an army, preferabaly a reasonably good one, that has elements of all the major morphing troops in it. Build that army with an eye always on its morph-out when you select figures etc - ie if the choice is between the generic or the specific, go generic. In a few cases I have written a "Buildout Guide" showing how to start with a particular (usually quite good) army, and add a minimum components to morph out into a range of armies:
Hellenic/Hellenistic - Greek Hoplites and/or Pikemen are the mainstay, and all the support troops are largely interchangeable over about 20 armies. Sarmatian types are usable in a number of their own armies, eastern Hellenistics, as well as many Dark Age armies. The best morphing "starter army" in my view is Alexandrian Macedonian, as it is an army that, while having all the troops that will exist in the emerging Hellenistic period (pikes, peltasts, companions) they also have a large number of the hoplites and javelin armed cavalry of the earlier era. There is a photo-guide in the Hellenistic photo section, though as you will see I started with Pyrrhus of Epirus
Dark Age armies - Similar Hairy Europeans appear in a large number of armies from c 300 to 800 AD, all the Later Roman and Early Byzantine armies use a lot of them, and similarly these ex-regular troops appear as militias in many of the barbarian conquerer's armies. Similarly, Steppe armies are largely interchangeable, and there is is lot of interchange between the hairy Europeans and the hairy Steppe armies with Slavs in Magyar armies, Sarmatians in Lombard armies etc etc. A few pedants grumble about when spurs are introduced but (i) thats as unceratin as anything else, there are pictures of 10th century Carolingians sans spurs, and (ii) who the hell can see a spur on 15mm figures at 2 feet away. In my view the best "starter army" is Patrician Roman, since it has all the components of a Dark Age hairy army, and the Roman regulars can be used in early Byzantines and also existed in later Sub-Roman, Frankish and Gothic armies. Check out the buildout guide in the Merovingian Chronicles or pictorially in the Dark Ages Photos section
Steppe Armies - these do change in looks slowly over time, but generally look much the same in 500 year or so tranches. From a morphing point of view the Alans & Sarmatians appear in small numbers in many other armies from the Hellenistic to the Dark Ages, so about 6 elements of these are always useful. In my view the best Steppe "start-morphing" army is Magyar, as the Slav foot can look quite generic European "dark age" and apparently a lot of the horse did too.
Feudal & Medieval Westerners - A nasal helm, a kite shield, and you are set up for a large number of Feudal armies, as well as forming sizable contingents in many Byzantine and Eastern European armies. The same is true with all later Medieval Westerners, though unfortunately armour does change so there are big differences between say 10th, 13th and 15th century armies, but all contemporary armies are roughly interchangeable.
Feudal & Medieval Arab Armies c 800- 1100 AD - all are a very similar mix of figures, with almond shields and Ghulams becoming more prevalent as the time passes. The same is true of Medieval Arab/Muslim armies overall a for Feudal/Medieval Westerners with the extra benefit that there is a lot less difference between an 11th and a 14th century Muslim Ghulam/Mamluk/Sipahi than between similar Knights (in 15mm anyway). I have provided a quick discussion on the subject in the section on Sheikh Yerbodhi
East/West Crossovers - between "Eastern" Western armies and "Western" Asiatic armies - so for eg there is a lot of similarity between "Christian" Poles, Russians and Georgians and "Muslim" Turks, Persians and Arabs. Similarly, the figures for a Hungarian, Venice in Greece, Byzantine, Bulgar and Ottoman army in any period are very interchangeable. For eg Komnenan Byzantine is an excellent morph army either as a build-in or build-out. To build-in it can be easily formed from parts of a Norman army and Steppe army with the addition of just a few Byzantines. Conversely, Komnenan as a starting army is an ideal build-out off point into Italians, Normans and Steppe armies)
DBM/DBR Crossovers - Any late DBM/early DBR army qualifies. If you play Crossover types, this is a double morph, in that as mentioned above most later Medieval Muslim and Christian forces are already morphable, and you get a double whammy for forces of the 1480 - 1530 period as they can be played as DBM or DBR armies. Ottomans, Hungarians & Venetians are really good for this. There are also some armies that look much the same for 1,000 years so can be DBM/DBR easily (eg many African and some Asian armies)
17th Century Pike and Shot - they all look much the same, just change the flags and Presto! Royalist becomes 30YW French. Only exception is if uniforms become used eg New Model Army or if there is some specific national dress.
The Lousy Morph Guide
Lousy ancient morphs are most Chariot armies (there is a bit of Assyrian-influence morphing across some armies though), and most of the Great Civilisations are very specific in looks and also most inconveniently changed over time - Japanese, Chinese, East Asian and Roman/Byzantine armies are very period specific in looks - so morphing potential is limited and you risk looking silly turning up with Caesar's Romans in a Constantinian army!. Best Roman morphs are the late Republic/Early Empire - thats about 3 armies in the lists - and the Late Roman style usable in late Middle Imperial, Late Imperial, Patrician and Early Byzantine armies as well as various Sub-Roman or Germanic overlord armies. I am far less clear on Chinese or East Asian morphing, it appears the best Chinese morphing period is that between late Chou and early Han - the "Terracotta army" period, and the early T'ang, where large numbers of generic Steppe Turks are used.
In general, for armies wearing uniforms the morph possibility drops off dramatically - so as well as those mentioned above, nearly every army from 1700 onwards is a bad morph! All is not lost, as it is far faster to paint uniformed troops, and some like ACW Unions you can do with a spray can.For Napoleonics, a good idea is the tin-pot German states as they can be in anyone's army really (also a lot are in white so its spray-can time...).
Return to Home Page
Lazy Man's Morphing Buildout Guidelines
Here are the 400ap first cuts
1. Hellenic/Hellenistic Armies
The basic question is, "D'you want Hoplites or Pikes first?". You can frame this in a more erudite way such as are you more interested in Alexander and the Diadochi or the Pelopponesian Wars, but it amounts to the same thing. A darn good starting point is the Alexandrian Macedonian, as it is a collection of nearly every seriously morphable Hellenic/Hellenistic troop type.
So, to start for c 420ap:
This is the basic Alexandrian Macedonian outfit, extremely morphable in any direction and a pretty good army too! You have a pike army now, so perhaps spending another 150 ap on getting an entire Hoplite army is a reasonable investment. Let us assume you build that most formidable of foes, the Spartan army of Aegesilaos:
The other "Big Morph" is to go East, so assume you spend another 250 ap on a Graeco Bactrian outfit (sounds like a big project, but 150 of the ap are in very expensive cataphracts and elephants so its not a lot of work).
So, thats about 930 ap, but its got 3 x 400ap armies at the minimum, as this force can now be used to build a number of the other armies - Alexander's Imperial army, Seleucid, Asiatic Early Successor, Ptolemaic, Pyrrhic, Pergamene. Adding in a few more Thureophoroi and light troops for a round 1000ap allows you to field pretty much any Hellenic/Hellenistic army.