Which nation next?

[Thuseld]

Afternoon, all. I currently have a fair sized late war US army and late war Wehrmacht army in my 6mm collection. I was looking for input or a sounding board about where I will go now.

I am playing with buying up enough British to be able to field both late war and France 1940 armies. This will leave me needing to buy up some early German armour should I wish to do France 1940. It would be nice, but I don’t really want to spend so much. However, I am a little tired of D-Day+ battles.

I could buy a much smaller list of French stuff and some early German armour, in order to play France 1940, which would be nice, but…limited to that period.

I could buy up a bunch of Soviets, in order to play 1941-1945 Eastern Front. I could also use it for some made up post-war fighting should I feel like it.

I don’t really know. What are your favourite theatres to play in?

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Mike]

As long as you have Churchills and M3 Grants you need nothing else, except moar of them.
Desert Grants are the bomb.

Sorry that did not answer the question.

[Alex]

There’s too many interesting theatres – so I went with fairly small forces for lots of them… that doesn’t help narrow down your choices I’m afraid though!

Alex (Does Hobby Stuff)
practising hobby eclecticism

[Mike Headden]

Soviets.

Why mess about with sideshows like NWE when you can fight actions from the main theatre. 🙂

Only The Great Patriotic War has experimental flying tanks (well, gliding tanks) or a tank park that includes British, American, German and Soviet vehicles, or battalions of anti-tank riflemen.

Besides, Soviet armour is so easy to paint. No complicated paint jobs like early French or late war Germans.

Вперед!На запад! 🙂

Alternatively, go for whatever fires your enthusiasm!

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[Sane Max]

what Nation???? don’t you mean what Faction? 🙂

 

It’s a hard one, everyone will suggest their own favorites – – I don’t actually know why I like the armies I have –   I love my French, all those weird little tanks . I am also very fond of very early Russians – all those weird little tanks! Also the Japanese miss a lot of love, and they have such weird little tanks. In fact, I do know why I love the armies I have – I like Weird Tanks especially little ones.

If you are looking for utility, Yanks and Russians are probably a safe bet. You just change the armour to go with the period. Chaffees! Those are great, and they are small.

I am not helping much am I? Why not be sensible and buy both sides for the desert? Fun to paint, different looking, and a Theatre that is generally uncontroversial, with very little Atrocity. The tanks are disappointingly unweird and large, but some of them are moderately kooky – Grants, Lees, Italian stuff (another army that gets nowhere near as much attention as it should.)

 

[Darkest Star Games]

If you want a faction useable with some of your current forces, then as above the Soviets would be the right choice.  If you want hard fights that are mostly uphill slogs then collect for the Italian front (which has the advantage of you probably only needing Rangers for the US you already have and some Italian troops).  If you want a wider variety of missions then I’d say North Africa stuff as above.  I think there are plenty of opportunities there for interesting battles both long and close range as well as small skirmish style missions, raids, and sneakery from both sides.  A friend recently finished a small campaign he made up where small raids (like by the LRDG) from both sides as well as air missions had an effect on the bigger battles and support which kept things variable and interesting as well as allowing him to have different game types.  But, that is a lot of desert tan to paint….

Or, hear me out on this… maybe you collect the cool stuff you like and make a WW2-esque imaginarium of your own where you can set the factions and their equipment and theaters of war?  Can still use the same rules and statistics but makes the forces fresh without having to do all of the book work.

Or maybe collect for a what-if theater, like if the Brits had confronted the Italians in Ethiopia with a comparable force, or the Russians and Japanese went at it for real across the varied landscape of Asia.

Or even more perhaps, why not collect some Swedes for a what-if Germany invades Sweden after Norway gig?

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Sane Max]

Darkest Star Games wrote:

or the Russians and Japanese went at it for real across the varied landscape of Asia.

I have always wondered about that – were the Japanese ever serious about attacking the Soviets? after Khalkhin Gol, and the slogging match in China? In my humble opinion the Soviets would have eaten them alive in a ‘Russia V Japan’ imagination game. Yes, if they were also fighting Germany, much much harder – but before that – really?

[Andrew Beasley]

Japan, China, Australian and New Zealand

Go island hopping in a fictional campaign – gives you the fun of new scenery, storming beaches and hidden jungle movement.

You can than add the U.S. into the mix if you want and maybe the U.K. (not sure about then using the units for Europe – too many years gone since I did this period).

[willz]

Early war German, British, French and Italian are always a winner for me.  With a little imagination they could be use for Spanish civil war Italian / German or how about civil war between English V Scottish supported by Germans or German V German supported by Italian / British  / French.  Civil war will game well with small armies.

[Jemima Fawr]

Sane Max wrote:

what Nation???? don’t you mean what Faction?

I shall have to cut you dead at my club, Sir!

My wargames blog: http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/

[Rod Robertson]

Thuseld:

To leverage what you already have, think about getting some German Paratroopers and some Mid/Late War Brits. Then you can do battles in Scicily, the Italian Peninsula, and Anglo/Canadian/Polish battles in NWE. For tanks you’ll just need some M4 Fireflies, some Chirchills and maybe a squadron or two of Cromwells. You’ll need some universal carriers, some Commonwealth trucks and a few Daimler/Humber armoured cars and some Daimler Dingo scout cars. Some 6Pdr. and 17 Pdr. AT guns and some 25 pdr. field artillery plus some prime movers for these and you’re ready to go. Bing, bang, boom; Bob’s your uncle. Two theatres and new variations on old themes for a small additional investment of $/£ and time.

For a complete change of pace you could switch to the Early War period with Brits, French, German and Italian forces squaring off against one another, but that would be more expensive. Then you could branch off into either North Africa or Barbarossa (with some Soviet purchases – more expensive but good for big battles!).

Or how about leaving WWII behind altogether and doing the Korean Conflict with your US kit and some new Koreans and Chinese plus some T-34/85s?

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson

[Thuseld]

This has helped. I have a feeling I will delay and squirrel away money until I have enough to do one giant purchase of all of the armies.

Your input has been very welcome. I love this community.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[deephorse]

Thuseld wrote:

This has helped. I have a feeling I will delay and squirrel away money until I have enough to do one giant purchase of all of the armies. Your input has been very welcome. I love this community.

Until I got to this post of yours, my thoughts had become “buy everything”.  I’m glad to see that you have come to the same conclusion!

Play is what makes life bearable - Michael Rosen

[Andrew Beasley]

Thuseld wrote:

This has helped. I have a feeling I will delay and squirrel away money until I have enough to do one giant purchase of all of the armies. …

Watch the poles reverse and the Earth to tilt to the right as the lead mountain arrives by post!

Good luck holding out and enjoy the fun of army / shopping list planning.

[Darkest Star Games]

What manufactures have you been primarily collecting from?

"I saw this in a cartoon once, but I'm pretty sure I can do it..."

[Levi the Ox]

Depending on the size of the armies you build, it can help to start expanding by picking something that can already play against one of your existing armies.  Your late-war Germans can be opposed in NWE or Italy by Commonwealth troops, or those of other nations equipped by the major Allies (Poles, French, Brazilians, Italian co-belligerents, etc.).  Soviets are the obvious option in the East, but the defection of the Finns and Romanians mean they aren’t the only possible foe there late-war.  Your US troops could be pitted against Japanese in the Pacific, DAK and Italians in Tunisia, or even jump forward to the Korean War.

[Thuseld]

I buy my miniatures from Heroics and Ros. I find GHQ prohibitively expensive, but they are beautiful. I would buy from Baccus also, but their figures are noticeably larger than H&R. For the sake of consistency, I will be sticking to H&R for the time being and branching out sooner or later.

Opening up my eventual order will be very lovely, unless I break down and get some sooner. I will see.

Experiments here: http://inexperiencedmodelmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Tranquil Stars updates: https://tranquilstars.wordpress.com

[Stephen Holmes]

Do you want to build on what you have?

If so: Late War Russians to fight your late war Germans. Or Late-ish Italians to resist your Americans coming ashore in Sicily and Salerno.

You could add Late war British to fight the Germans, but they may deliver a similar experience to the Americans (Bigger guns on some of the Shermans, and swap out your Bazookas for PIATs) – so may not add much.

 

A whole different theatre (Pacific or North Africa) will require 2 new armies, and new terrain. So more effort and investment.

[ian pillay]

In 6mm – North Africa. Not many goofy tanks but you can have lots of ‘em.
Does require a certain amount new scenery but pretty versatile once you do have it.
Failing that, I think Russians to fight on the Eastern front.

Tally-Ho! Check out my blog at…..
http://steelcitywargaming.wordpress.com/

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