What period to choose?

[MiSiO]

Hi there,

I am not a new lad to wargaming but after many years I would like to get back to 28mm. I need Your help finding best period/army for me. I an not really familiar with black powder conflicts. I want my army to be diverse (different unit types) and more in the middle of black powder period rather then beggining. I was thinking about ACW and Confederacy (so inspired by Jacksons' flank attacks ) but they base mosotly areound 1 type of infantry.

Maby Red Coats? I do not have anyone to play with so no bother - no limits in army selection

Please help

Regards,
Michal

[mikeland]

Hi welcome to the forums.
You have come to the right place for advice, im sure the folk here will soon inundate you with years of sage wargaming wisdom. but for now, my two pennies: Confederates sounds good to me for a start, lots of chance to make em ragged and varied. You can use the Perry plastic ACW as a base for your army and then even throw in some Zouaves for a bit of colour. Also perry have announced a box of late war confederates that look great.

Picture at the bottom of this link:
http://theminiaturespage.com/news/622364/

[Big Al]

Napoleonics probably have the most variety of units. The main thing, though, is where your personal interest lies. ACW is hardly the middle of the period, rather it is closer to the end! Seven Years War would probably cover your time period best. This can include the wars in America including the French Indian Wars.

[MiSiO]

When considering ACW I was thinking about Perrys' (well, I hope I can use them no matter what army I choose - I remember the days when I was using their Mordheim Mercenaries). I was even thinking of Zouaves as You said for a bit of colour and some cavalry.

Napoleon era - no. Not a big fan I suppose. Black powder era period... hm... between 1800-1900. Black powder full bloom :D

New idea is to collect Crimean WarI like the armies in the rulebook and I could use a free miniature that cames with a book

[Big Al]

Now, you see? You didn't specify the time period when you said mid period and the rules cover the full Black Powder era, which is, technically, from 17th century to the end of the 19th. For you, it is just the 19th, which makes it difficult to give you the suggestions you are after.
Going on the period you have chosen, Crimea will most likely give you the diversity that you have said you fancy.

[MiSiO]

... and what about models? Perry do not make miniatures from that period? I know qiute a few 15mm manufacturers but hardly any 28mm.

[mikeland]

Warlord do a limited but fine looking Crimea range.
http://store.warlordgames.co.uk/28mm-crimean-406-c.asp
They are a bit more expensive because they are all metals. They bought the range from another company who were about to close down I think, What they intend to do with this range in the future is anyones guess as we have had no clue from the gods on mount warlord.

[MiSiO]

I saw them. All models look almost the same Hard to convert. Few can be used no problem but in large numbers the army looks have copy-paste syndrome. They are still very fine models at a good price. How about a cavalry and artillery?

[mikeland]

Hmmm. I know what you mean about being hard to convert. Prefer plastics for this reason myself.

Great war do a range available from Northstar:

http://www.northstarfigures.com/list.ph ... 175&page=1

but not sure if they do Cavalry either.

Might be worth going back to the original ACW plan, then waiting to see which way it goes on the Crimea, and doing them at a later date.

Don't know if Colonial period is your thing, or is that too late in your time period? Perry are doing Mahdist uprising figures and Warlord have promised Zulu wars figures soon.

[MiSiO]

I will not be able to paint 2 armies in reasonable future so I want to choose one and Crimean is winning the race . I am painting 2 Impetus armies at the moment so no more than 3 things at once

North Star has few very nice models. I like the highlanders (1-2 poses) Still - no cavalry (does anyone know what cavalry models were used in a BP rulebook in a battle report section?). I think I get a highlander unit Anyway... I should start making a list of miniatures available, those I like and make a target army list to start with.