So, You want to Wargame?

What Period & What Scale?

The average beginner is seduced by a particular army, heroic character etc in a particular period – traditionally Ancients, Napoleonics, World War 2, though today many are being introduced from Warhammer fantasy /  Warhammer 40k science fiction gaming.

Despite what you want to play, the key issue for any Lazy Gamer who wishes to play with other people is "What periods do those others all play?” This is followed closely by "What scale do they use"? Not a problem if you play in a Games Workshop, but more of an issue if you play in a club. Most clubs play a variety of games and scales, but you usually find a few periods/scales played more extensively than others, both in the club and in the clubs throughout the country. Here is my Irreverent but Practical Guide for the Lazy Gamer.

A Brief Note on what Rule set to Use?

A closely allied issue to "what period do they play" is "what ruleset do they play?” Some rulesets (and more critically therefore how your figures are based) are far more popular and will guarantee a much bigger opponent user-base, so use these unless totally useless. I have a very simple Rule One for Good Rules - can one finish a good game in an evening? Other good tests are "how much paperwork does it take" and "Do I need an Aspirin to play". Most more recent sets are "top down" i.e. they tend to approximate groups of like weapons, troops etc and go for mechanisms that speed up and simplify play. This really gets up the noses of the pedants, but in the long run you have more fun as it’s less tiring, and can play to conclusion in about 3-4 hours.

What Scale?

The main dependency is what scale the people you want to play with use, of course! For most pre World War 2 land based periods this means "25mm or 15mm" lead figures. 15mm is the most common, but is less visually spectacular than 25mm. I predict that as 25mm manufacturers make better figures (spurred on by the standard of Games Workshop in part) we will see a resurgence of the "traditional" scale - 25mm. In my opinion 25mm is best for those periods of maximum colour - the Medieval/Early Renaissance, and the Lace Wars (I think the sheer size of Napoleonic battles lends itself to smaller scales), Sci Fi and Fantasy. Despite its practicality of size, cost and visual spectacle, 20mm has not really caught on apart from World War 2 (which has a big 20mm/1:72/HO:OO plastic model following), but there are a lot of Ancient 20mm sets now available and in fact you can play 20mm armies fairly easily vs. 25mm opponents. Many "moderns" players use 6mm/1:300 scale and it has a few earlier adherents in other periods, mainly for "big battle" Napoleonics. 10mm and 1:200 also have their fans, but are mainly found in World War 2. Naval is usually 1:600, 1:1200 or 1:2400 - the ships get smaller as the fighting ranges get larger.

OK, OK, Get on with it - what Period?

Not counting Fantasy / Sci Fi gaming, the most popular 3 periods are Ancients/Medievals (in 15mm), Napoleonics (in 15mm) and World War 2 ( 20mm/HO:OO). Other well loved periods are the American Civil War, the Renaissance (mainly the English Civil War/Thirty Years War period), the "Lace Wars" (Wars of the Spanish & Austrian Succession and Seven Years War) and Modern. Of these, Ancients/ Medieval and Warhammer alone have a critical benefit - nearly everyone around the world plays the same rules. In Ancients, De Bellis Multitudinus (DBM) is global, and nearly all the other ancient rulesets use the same basing convention. Warhammer Ancient Battles (WHAB) is also gaining a following now. Renaissance was moving the same way with "De Bellis Renationis" (DBR) but seems to have moved into a variety of sets again like the later periods, where there is a huge range of rules, basing conventions etc. I have listed below my view on each period and the rules I like most.

Historical Gaming

·         Ancients/Medievals - to the purists this is 2 or more periods in itself, but in general this is the pre-gunpowder firearm period. The great benefit in this period is the huge range and tactical variety of the armies' troops and weaponry, the great colour and uniform (if any) variety. This is augmented by the adoption of a worldwide ruleset (DBM), complete with many countries playing national tournaments, and is the only wargaming period with a genuine World championship. The emergence of a WHAB based ancients set may change this, but that is essentially for smaller actions so a strong co-existence is likely. Biggest criticism is that the real historical sources are sparse, and some people find it off-putting that many Ancients players will gleefully pit Ramesses' Egyptians against Teutonic Knights. However, you don't have to do this and most people who do venture into Ancients get totally hooked, many never bother with other periods after that. Regimental History buffs should go for the later Roman armies, as each unit's shield pattern is known c 400 AD and thus this is the one army you can field where you know the name of each unit on the table

·         Renaissance - This period is usually roughly defined as the period of "pike and shot", from the armies of the Italian wars up to the War of the Spanish Succession. Purists feel there are 2-3 periods here, but its advantages are similar to ancients - range, colour and some standardising of world base size, if not ruleset (DBR). In some ways the ideal period, blending sufficient army detail with lots of variety, I am always surprised it isn't more popular.

·         The Age of Reason or "Lace Wars" - an interim period, the "tricorne hat" period boasted the first “World War” with 3 main wars and quite a few big secondary ones like the American War of Independence - thus more variety, and the numbers of colonial exotica like India, America and the Caribbean, giving a larger range of options for enemies than many later periods have,. It also includes the main attraction of later periods - far more detail on armies, uniforms characters etc. However, from here on in the divergence of rules sets in as all this detail spawns a huge range of variety in interpretations. My favourite in this period is Volley and Bayonet, but Age of Reason is quite common too. Main drawback of this period is the fairly limited standard linear tactics of the European armies, but the colourful armies (Jacobites, Ottomans, Moghuls, Injuns, Red Injuns) are still good enough to give them a rough time.

·         "Napoleonics" – until Warhammer, more newcomers were seduced into wargaming by Napoleon & Co than any other period. The upside is glorious uniforms, loads of information on armies, characters, battles et al. This is also its downfall as this spawns a huge range of rulesets, and sadly this period is also heavily populated with those sorts who are more interested in the colour of the buttons on the 51st foot at Albuera than actually finishing a game, and many rulesets reflect this pedantry. It also suffers, when all is said and done, in having essentially only 5 main opponents with very similar weapons and tactics (compared to previous periods). Most British rulesets rate France and Britain far too highly compared to the other participants, the more balanced (and faster playing) US Volley & Bayonet rules are in my opinion the best around today. Napoleonic Principles of War are a more dated game concept but very popular in the UK.

  • "Nineteenth Century Wars" - the rise of the rifled musket, accurate artillery, the machine gun - and the boring uniform. The American Civil War (ACW) is by far the most popular. Most wars in this period have at most 2 or 3 opponents, leading to limited tactical options, but loads of detail. From this period on individual weapons start to make a difference in tactical play and drive most of the differentiation in armies. My favourite ACW set is Fire n' Fury. I am more neutral on the other wars ' rulesets (Franco-Austrian, Crimea, Austro-Prussian, Franco-Prussian), and I wish there was one good easy-to-play ruleset for the whole period. Volley & Bayonet, and Principles of War both try but in my opinion don't quite capture it.
  • "Colonial Wars" - Mainly the European armies of the later19th century and their colonial opponents - the first time since the renaissance that you get a huge variety of opponents, troop types, uniforms etc. The Colonial Principles of War rules have done a great deal to help this period by providing a common ruleset across many interesting small wars. My own interest is in Victorian Science Fiction, essentially colonial wars in fantasy settings (see below)
  • World War One - The war in Palestine is tactically interesting and quite colourful, as are the campaigns in Africa and the aerial war (see below), but the Western Front is pretty dire apart from the very early war. I think all those 20's and 30's little wars are far more interesting, and I still like the WRG 1925 - 1950 and Rapid Fire rules for this (see below) but I am also modifying our own Fields of War for this period.
  • World War Two - Most people made model tanks in their youth and want to be a German Panzer Leader. There are only 5 or so major participants, the real tactical high is from the multitude of weapons types (including aircraft). This is a period for Weapons Junkies ( similar to Napoleonic Button Bores) and some of the rulesets get horrendously complex. You also have to watch out for Tankies who don't like to admit that any other type of weapon existed (especially the Panzerphile variety who only field Panthers and Tigers, despite their relative rarity). Most British rulesets over-rate the British, most US ones ditto the Americans. My favourite is the US Rapid Fire set, and the older UK Wargames Research Group set is still pretty good. My own favourite periods are the early war when weapons are much less powerful than later, or c 1943/4 when everyone has pretty equal kit. I like it best in 20mm/HO:OO scale so the modelling stands out. 15mm and 25mm World War Two is also gaining in popularity.
  • "Modern" - a big period, from African guerillas to World War 3. Most guerilla type games look like skirmish (see below) games to me, . The "Big Picture" games are like World War 2 with missiles and choppers in essence, except that today there are far more tin-pot nations with various weapons combinations to use - and I'm sure we've all tried out our own "ideal armies". Because of the distances/ranges involved, this period is usually played in 1:300 scale in all except skirmish games, so is not really a modellers period as it is populated with green dots that get lost in the lichen.
  • Skirmish Games - whether its Vietnam, Dodge City or Mutant Galactic Ninja Turtles these games all have very similar mechanisms and the buzz comes from the individual figure identification and characterisation. Taken to an extreme, and usually played as a campaign these become Role Playing Games.
  • Naval Warfare - Generally an overlooked period. Ancients, Napoleonic, Pre- and Dreadnought, World War One and Two and Modern all have their adherents, though I find the advent of aircraft removes the pleasure for me.. My favourite is that on the cusp of the Dreadnought era, with a few modern ships and a whole bunch of older ironclads and fascinating "experiments" in each navy.
  • Aerial Warfare - In my view the only one worth playing is WW1, with gorgeously painted aircraft. The rest are only of interest as additions to my tankbusting forces. Maybe it’s my failure of imagination, maybe it’s the rulesets, but somehow it hard to capture the dogfighting.

Fantasy Gaming

I haven’t included this as a type of Wargaming per se, as Fantasy gaming is a whole subject in itself, but fantasy "tabletop wargaming" really divides into Games Workshop rulesets such as Warhammer (the market leader) and everyone else. Warmaster seems to be gaining popularity as well. If you are a fan of the DBM/DBR ruleset mechanism the try Hordes of The Things (HoTT) or De Bellis Fantasticus (DBF) which use the same mechanisms.

Science Fiction Gaming

Warhammer 40K is by far the market leader in figure/ troop games, but there are other rules such as our clubs’ (South London Warlords) Hammer’s Slammers, and so on – at any rate there is a lot of non Games Workshop kit you can buy too. I have seen many spaceship games but I don’t know of any one very popular set, but there are lots of models available. I’ve had a go at writing my own based on Phil Barker’s pre-dreadnought Damn Battleships Again – needs a bit of testing then I’ll put them up on this site. We played Warhammer 40k initially because most kids who game play 40k, but it also has a very coherent and rich backstory (the fluff) and is a pretty decent set of rules.

Victorian Science Fiction (VSF) and Pulp Sci Fi

Halfway between Fantasy and Science fiction are the Victorian / Between the Wars periods. VSF is all based (loosely) on the works of Verne, Wells, Burroughs, Rider Haggard et al and often interleaved with the real world – often colonial – milieu of the day, but with Improbable Inventions (especially steam based), Dastardly Villains and Adventurous Ladies . I loved rulesets such as Space 1889 when it came out 20 years ago, and for some reason there seems to be a resurgence these days. Rules such as G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T,  and Aeronef seem to be played around the world.  The more “fantasy” / role playing side is often called “Steampunk”.  Pulp Sci Fi is “between the wars” VSF – usually set in the “back of beyond” – with more Improbable Inventions etc etc - think movies such as Indiana Jones, Sky Captain etc.  

Campaigning Games

Campaigning is a good way to reproduce new battle scenarios where the outcome is strategically important and differs for each side, and ensures that lining up two armies on a table and slogging away is not the only game rationale. Campaigns are fun to play and a bugger to organise, umpire and run. Two basic rules - keep the logistics and move rules very, very simple, and never volunteer to be umpire. One good way of running a campaign is to use a Boardgame for the campaign (usually the logistics are structured & simple) and resolve battles on table. I've played in 3 Internet campaigns, and they do make life a lot easier. Diplomacy is quite a popular game system for high level campaigns over the ‘net.

Choosing an Army

I have put some generic advice on this subject in the sections on choosing and using Ancient and Renaissance armies - click Here to go direct, or Return to the Main Page