Favorite Armies

[Lagartija Mike]

Myself, I’ll take a pungent, oddball crew any day: “Impious Phokians” rather than Spartans; the Latin Empire of Constantinople rather than the chevauchees of the Hundred Years War; the mustily eccentric armies of the Confederation of the Rhine over Napoleon’s peacock juggernaut.

[kyoteblue]

I loved running Mongols in DBA/M.

[Etranger]

I have an odd affinity for the losing cause, so 1940 French, WWII Italians, Austrians etc. They’re  expected to lose, but if they win then ….

[Alvin Molethrottler]

I lost my wargaming virginity to the Red Army in WW2 (6mm of course) and that collection remains my favourite to this day.

[Nick the Lemming]

Austrians, no idea why, but I have them in 15mm and 6mm for Napoleonics, 6mm for SYW, and my Gebirgsjaeger have a distinctly Austrian tone (at least in my head).

 

Other than that, Graeco-Bactrians.

Glory Eagles de l'Empereur! blog

[Angel Barracks]

I don’t think I have a favourite army.
When playing historicals and offered a choice of armies, I will tend to gravitate toward British ones, but no real favourite.
Most likely due to ignorance.

[willz]

Any 18th century army.

[Otto Schmidt]

I do Imagi-Nations .  It allows for lots of silliness and burlesque in a silly hobby by nature, and drives away the Osprey Nazi’s. My primary interest is in the 18th Century where I have five. The Princessipate of Saxe Burlap und Schleswig Beerstein,  The Kingdom of Bad Zu Wurst, Gulagia (with it’s capitol at Gulaggins Island ) , Flounce, and the Grand Duchy of the Grand Duke of Gorgonzola, and the Empire of Ikea (you know, Ottomans, Divans, Wet Bars). Oh wait, that’s six.

Once one us unconstained the imagination can truly soar.  Revently for my Empire of Ikea I completed my three Bennenjerry regiments (Janissary figures painted in sherbert colors and for them I created one-man bands for the front rank.  Drums on their back, symbols between their knees, a brace of horns and harmonica on a ring around the head, and an accordion in front, with a mast with gongs and bells rising above them.  For my Army of the princess I am working on her personal cavalry regiment, a unit of female figures riding “en hussard”. The musician on that figure I made out of an old Unicorn a friend gave me, and she’s another one-man band figure, drum on the back, but is carrying a huge pole with a large rack of 24 cow bells on rungs above. (Damn! those things are hard to carve out of basswood). and a keyboard on the right.  I call the unit “The Hells Belles”.

 

 

[Mr. Average]

Historically, I like democratic armies. Athenians, Delian League, Venetians, American Colonials, Allies, NATO. In my far more common sci fi games, I like Mercenaries, especially ones who are more the honorable type, like my own Earthlight Division and Kraków Winged Hussars.

[Not Connard Sage]

Angel Barracks wrote:

I don’t think I have a favourite army. When playing historicals and offered a choice of armies, I will tend to gravitate toward British ones, but no real favourite. Most likely due to ignorance.

 

Moi aussi.

 

Mostly due to jingoism in my case

 

Yrs

Col. Blimp ret. 😉

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Iain Fuller]

Napoleonic Wurttembergers are my absolute favourite with Saxons second, but any of the other Rhinebund units will do at a pinch!

Finns in WW2.

Cold War Austrians are right up there too now that I’ve played them a few times.

[MartinR]

I would hesitate to pick a ‘favourite’, but if forced to, WW2 British in NWE ideally with some Churchills in attendance. I seem to have spent my entire wargaming life painting those, and in a somewhat sad state of affairs, I even have the same units in three different scales…. all the better to give the Hun a biffing.

I am also rather fond of my 20mm late WW1 British, Germans and French, in all their muddy glory.

Cheers

Martin

 

 

 

 

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Steve Johnson]

Vikings for Ancients due to loving the film ‘The Vikings’ as a kid.

Parliamentarians for ECW, due to a variety of factors.

Austrians for Black Powder due to having friends from Linz.

Fallschirmjager and British Paras for WWII.

[Lagartija Mike]

Despite wanting to do a Jomsviking or Great Heathen Army for years I’ve never found a range I liked. Footsore has some truly charismatic figures, I’m hoping they’ll produce a full range of Vikings, both east and west.

[grizzlymc]

Napoleonic Brunswickers

Anything British – more pure jingoism a la sage

[Sane Max]

I rather liked using slightly unusual armies as it gave me an excuse to buy books and stuff I didn’t already own. Mithridatic Pontus. Spanish Caesarian exiles. I also tend to prefer the underdog or loser – it dovetails neatly with my own gaming skills. When your Macedonians get whupped by Persians, it’s kinda hard to blame the tool. So WWII French, ACW union (yes I know, but they made a hell of a mess of things until they won) etc.

But I have never felt the slightest urge to use any of the really odd armies that are in the DBM lists for example – Pacific Islanders? Who would want to do that? and all those silly Chinese lists ‘Kingdom Of p’ong – lunchtime 275bc – Dinner Time 275bc . This list covers the P’ong kingdom from their adoption of the cardboard sword, and lasts up until the next door neighbours borrowed their only Chariot for a barbecue’

[Earther]

Mike, have you seen these?

http://saxonminiatures.com/product-category/vikings/

[Lagartija Mike]

The WRG lists for the Chinese dynasties are notoriously dim. It’s not entirely their fault, to cover the military of the Tang (T’ang) dynasty (for example) properly would require at least six distinct lists for the governmental armies alone, and it would fail to even touch the potent armies of the often  autonomous regional governors, usurpers like An Lushan and Huang Chao, or puppet states like the Late Tang. Other dynasties present equally difficult problems of reduction: the Ming can vary in the space of 30 years between dismal, topnotch and back again.

@Earther: no! They look great. I wasn’t aware of the line.

[Nick the Lemming]

There are some Gripping Beast Jomsvikings too I believe, though not many of them.

 

(edit: gripping, not griping)

Glory Eagles de l'Empereur! blog

[Nick the Lemming]

Huh, more GB Joms than I remembered: http://www.grippingbeast.co.uk/Jomsvikings–category–42.html

Glory Eagles de l'Empereur! blog

[paintpig]

Once again no favourites, but… the but.  Most of my war gaming efforts have been directed towards 18thC however they are now in cryosleep while I spread my gaming wings. I have no real interest in collecting ancients or medieval but I have always found the “Dark Age” fascinating and with rules such as SAGA and Impetus I have found myself slowly buying and painting figures for Saxons, Vikings, Carolingians, Normans and Romano British. My Vikings are destined for the Great Heathen army, or gang, or loose confederation of thugs with the Normans (the other confederation of thugs) being angled towards the South and the Kingdom of Sicily. I seems my preferred armies have a leaning towards the thuggish … weird?

BTW Saxon miniatures is operated by the original GB sculptor

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel
Slowly Over A Low Flame

[Lagartija Mike]

@Paintpig: Excellent choice! The Normans in Sicily are fantastic eye candy with a deep mix of Northern, Italian, Maghrebi, Byzantine and Egyptian armor, heraldry and ornament.

[Lagartija Mike]

At the moment I’m taking a break from welding and doing a little research into the military of the Tulunid dynasty of Egypt and Syria. Essentially autonomous from the imploding Abbasid Caliphate, they’re the precursors to the more famous Ikhshidid Walis and  the Fatimids.

An exotic, volatile and clearly effective mix of Turkic, Sudanese and Greek ghulams, with Bedouin and Mahribi auxiliaries, I think they’ll make a great addition to my lists and, eventually, my tabletop.

[Mike Harrop]

I’m a big fan of the look and playing style of WW2 Soviets, I’ve got a force in 1:35 for Normandy Firefight, 28mm for Bolt Action and again for Secrets of the Third Reich, 20mm and 6mm for Battlegroup and BKC. When I played 40K I had Ice Warriors of Valhalla – which is pretty much the same thing too.

Mike

"This lighthouse is under attack, and by morning we may all be dead!" The 4th Doctor - Horror of Fang Rock

[Rod Robertson]

Ancient Armies:

Hittite and New Kingdom Egyptian.

Neo Assyrian and Elamite.

Classical Armies:

Thracian and Early Imperial Roman.

Dark Ages and Medieval:

Early Crusader and Mongol Empire.

Renaissance and Early Modern:

Lithuanian and Hussites.

FIW and 7YW:

Nothing really.

Napoleonic:

Nothing really.

ACW and Franco-Prussian War:

French.

20th Century:

Soviets and British Commonwealth.

21st Century:

Taliban and Coalition.

If I had to narrow it down to just one army then British Commonwealth 1943-1945, Europe.

The one army which I would love to try is a Burmese Army, I have one in 15mm but I am too intimidated by the insane painting needed to tackle it!

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson.

 

[Lagartija Mike]

“Burmese” covers a wide range of states and peoples, some with significantly different militaries. I’ve never seen a list (or a range) that did their potential justice. One truly great, and slightly horrific, use for them is their ambush of the dwindling army of a refugee Ming prince on the run from Wu Sangui and the Manchu banners. Somewhere between ye olde Apocalypse Now and Deliverance.

[paintpig]

….with just a drop of Southern Comfort for Cajun warmth.

Now why would I own all three?

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel
Slowly Over A Low Flame

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