Why do we choose the armies/sides we do?

[grant]

Heck of a story Correus!

[Deadmanwade]

Wow, having read some of the reasoning behind why people have picked up their armies, I feel somewhat ashamed.

For nearly everything I have bought it has been for one reason. The minis look cool.
Unfortunately, there are a LOT of nice looking minis out there, which causes me massive problems as I have very poor impulse control. I am currently sitting on a mountain of plastic sprues and a gaming room fit to burst. In the past couple of years I have bought 7 armies worth of figures from Warlord alone but I have only got 3 of them assembled.

Maybe it is time to rethink my purchasing strategies.

[Big Al]

Nowt wrong with that reason. It's as good as any other. Don't change just because of what people have said on here. Another good reason for choosing your army is because your mates at your local club have chosen a particular period/genre and you want to join in.

In fact, I think that my last example is the best of them all. Why else do you play games if not to spend an enjoyable few hours with your friends? That's the main reason I like playing Warlord's rules. They promote that more than anything else. Just go out and play.
There doesn't have to be a life experience that brings you to using a particular army.

[westwaller]

ECW- I saw some reenactments as a kid and was fairly excited by this but my interest was really sparked by my 'A' Level history essay into whether Cromwell was a hero or tyrant (I will let you decide ) At the time I was really into the band 'The Levellers' and their fan club magazine had an article on Lillburne and the real Levellers. So I chose to write an essay on this and read books such as 'The World Turned Upside Down' and God's Englishman' by Christopher Hill among others I cannot remember...

I was a painter of GW stuff when I was younger and over the past few years I had had my intial interest in the ECW by being given a Perry Musketeer miniature and I decided I wanted to know how to paint it. So I bought the Osprey NMA book. Then I realised I wanted to know more about the period and bought Diane Purkiss's excellent ' A Peoples History of the English Civil War'. I have always been interested in history so decided it would be fun to know a lot about this one fascinating period so living in the West Country (arrrr) I Then started to look in the local history of the Civil War, buying John Barrat's 'Civil War in the South West' by then I had decided to paint that Perry mini and that I wanted more ECW minis! I drooled over lots of company's stuff and eventually excited by the Warlord website's stuff, bought a book of ECW Infantry. Since then I have been buying more ECW books and Warlord stuff (with a few TAG and Perrys for variety) and slowly painting some greencoats and getting side tracked by the idea of yellowcoats...and tawny coats... and. For me it has to be early to mid Parliament stuff. Although I will be painting some Royalists too.

I like to read about other periods in history and have a few books on WW2 and might be tempted to get some American and or British in the near future although I do get distracted from historicals by painting my old GW stuff...sorry

[mikeland]

Some really fascinating reasons on here, I echo BigAl there is no valid or non vaild reasons for why we collect, paint and play specific ideas... Minis do look really cool, I have had plenty of people with no interest in gaming who love to look at my minis and terrain. I have bought plenty of one off sprues or packs of minis with no intention of building an army, because they look cool.

@Correus.. "The last one is the one that stymies me the most - the ECW. " It is amazing how some historical eras can just capture the imagination, sometimes even with no real obvious reason. I have always had quite a fascination with the German wars of unification (Franco Prussian war, Seven Weeks' War) and the Russian civil war... no idea why!

@ Westwaller... The Levellers were a much underrated band. Did you ever have Rev Hammers Freeborn John album?
I am desperate for WG to make a Lillburn character figure.

[westwaller]

@ Mikeland- alas no but I have just You tubed it and I might have to get hold of it!! Have you heard Billy Bragg's rendition of the song 'The World Turned Upside Down?' I have never been able to find any good recordings of actual Civil War songs though. I would like to as listening to them while I paint might make the troops muster faster...

Mikeland, you could always use a dragoon for lillburne while you wait. The plastic Officer/ Pikeman with the little beard (cut the beard off) looks a bit like this picturehttp://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/lilburne.htm too.

[Eumerin]

The last one is the one that stymies me the most - the ECW. I have no idea why I'm drawn to it over our own CW, I just am. Perhaps it's the uniforms, perhaps it's the perceived gallantry and chivalry, perhaps it's my ancestral roots; whatever it is that draws me remains a mystery.

I think the Ben Hur incident in grade school more or less counts in the US Civil War pile.



(for those unaware, the man who wrote the original story, Lew Wallace, was a Union General in the US Civil War)

[Correus]

I think the Ben Hur incident in grade school more or less counts in the US Civil War pile.



(for those unaware, the man who wrote the original story, Lew Wallace, was a Union General in the US Civil War)

Dang - I forgot about that!

I really don't know why I can't get into the US CW - I have tried. I've had several ancestors who fought in the war (most on the Southern side), one was even killed on the 2nd day of Gettysburg. He was the family patriarch. He was in the 3rd Georgia Regiment and part of Wright's Brigade. On the 2nd day they advanced from Seminary Ridge across a mile of open ground to attack the enemy at the Codori Farm on the Emmitsburg Road and then at the stone wall on Cemetery Ridge. He is listed as "missing" and is buried somewhere out there.

[sas_mike]

Always a hard decision, and as a long standing wargamer I do tend to have armies on both sides of the conflict for many periods, that doesn't stop me having my favourites though....

ACW It all started here,Airfix 20mm with both Union, Confederate and a good smattering of cowboys, Indians, High Chaperal and French Foreign Legion zouaves. Later converted to 15mm and have both sides represented. I still can't decide my favourite my heart says Rebels my head says Union, if push comes to shove it'd be Union.

Fantasy & Sci-Fi you can't beat Orcs & Goblins here, started way to long ago with GW range and have updated and expanded over the years. I do have a secret hankering for the Ultramarines, it breaks out once in a while with a squad here and there, but it's only right that they are outnumbered at least 10:1....

Napoleonic Has to be British here, no-one else in our club has gone British 15mm, all preferring cheaty French or dull Prussians or Russians. I must admit a liking for Austrians but never got round to doing anything about it! Prefer adding a few Portuguese and Spanish to ally to my Brits!

Maximilian Mexico started this as a suppliment to my ACW interests, new opponents etc in wacky campaigns. Again have both Maxillian / French army and Republican In 15mm - this time it is easy - much prefer the Republicans

SCW Another easy choice, Rebublicans in 15mm, too many others have the fancy uniformed Facists...

Scottish Jacobite Wars Has to be the Jacobites in 15m here, others have Government forces. I love the mix of Lowand, Highland and the smattering of French, Irish, Spanish etc regulars you can field between 1689 -1745. Going against the grain here as the family were on the Goverment side..... ah the romance of it all! Downside is painting all that tartan.

ECW Just getting back into this period, the club has huge armies already but I love the WG figures, Scots Covenanters are my choice, look good painted - I love grey plastic when dipped! Also the ancestors were there so have to follow the family tradition this time!

WW2 Anything in the Western Desert! Obviously prefer the Allies due to the huge variation in types - Brits, ANZACs, Free French, Indian etc All in 15mm. I do love the Italian uniforms though.

WW1 Ironically I want to do the British, but I seem to have raised French and German armies instead, that kind of snuck up on me....

Wars of the Roses Has to be in 28mm, love the colour and splendour, doesn't really matter which army you have, by raising different noble's retinues you can mix and match for each battle, after all everyone kept changing sides back in the day....

[King Tiger]

Including things I do not yet do but want to, or wish to in the future, or have done but forced to sell

Awi: Americans, the uniforms for some of the earlier units and militia are fantastic, full of colour
Acw: union, just Cus I like the uniforms for marines, the veteran reserve, engineers and I like blue
Ecw: royalists, I like the royals, and the huge variation of colours
Zulu wars: British, just Cus its red, with some rifle green
Ww2: Germans Cus I love tiger tanks, and the uniform, though mine are painted as hungarians
Sci-fi: I would like to do a mordian army, but playing 40k and that pathetic file system turns me off
Napoleonics: I wanna do my swiss, french and Italians again, maybe Russians and prussians, and dutch/belgians, when warlord release there plastics for them..........