Hello from Stockton on Tees

[Wez]

Hello all. Complete newbie here looking at ww2 armies. Any help would be welcomed.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Well I suppose someone has to live in Stockton. Welcome. WWII armies, first pick a period and theatre. Then collect a 1-1 Battalion (not full strenght for infantry, 1 base per section) for Germans and chosen enemies. There are several sources for organisation but please ask on here for help. Enjoy.

[Big Insect]

Welcome Wez

I think a lot depends upon the scale of your aspirations.

It is very tempting to go for something like Northern Europe post D-Day - as it has all the kit and is often the focus of a lot of films & books etc. However, I find it can be overwhelming initially.

Starting small might not be a bad thing - France in 1940 or Poland (for example) are often a good way to cut your teeth on WW2. The kit is not 'overwhelming' and you have interesting aspects such as cavalry formations, infantry, horse-drawn artillery and the armour is not (yet) all powerful (NB: I also have a 'love' of tankettes - so please bare with me on that    ).

10mm scale also gives you a number of options around how you depict your formations.
Are you going for a 1:1 depiction or scaling down - with a single vehicle representing a platoon etc.

I'd recommend looking at some of Steve J's blog games. He is a 'master' at the small force game. It will show you the value to you of buying and painting up some small forces initially, and playing some scenarios.
I like very early war personally - Winter War (Finns v Russians) and Russo-Japanese wars in Manchuria myself - but that is a big ask in 10mm as the figures are not that available (yet), but Poland or France offers some very interesting scenarios. North Africa or the conquest of Sicily/Italy are also very good for smaller action - combined arms games, that can grow into bigger forces and larger games.

If I have one word of critical advice it is - pick a campaign/period and stick to it. It is very easy to get dragged into other arenas or eras by a tempting bit of 'kit' and that way lays expensive madness 

Happy gaming
Mark

[Ithoriel]

Welcome Wez!

So, first question - is this for gaming or just collecting?

Assuming it's for gaming, do you have a set of rules in mind?

If not, let me recommend Pendraken's own Blitzkreig Commander (aka BKC) rules. They can be somewhat counter-intuitive if you've played other wargames but I feel they give a good, realistic result even if sometimes for what feels like the wrong reasons!

I'll second  the suggestion to start small, though I'm not so sold on "start early war." Find a period and theatre that fascinates you.

I play BKC at one stand is a platoon level. So a company is three stands, a battalion is 9 infantry stands a couple of MG stands and a mortar stand plus command and any attached odds & sods. I do imaginary combats between fictional forces rather than actual historical recreations so my limits are on the possibles rather than strict adherence to what appeared in real life battles. Strict history or not is very much your choice.

I have mid-war Eastern Front in 10mm and D-Day+ in 3mm because Stalingrad to Kursk and D-Day to the Rhine were my periods of interest and the focus of my library for the WW2 era.

Whatever you choose, have fun and feel free to ask questions here. Weird and wonderful though threads often become here the forumites are a friendly, knowledgeable and helpful bunch. You will get the in jokes eventually, I promise

[paulr]

Welcome Wez

All the above is good advice.

You don't have to use Germans, you can use Italians, Hungarians, Romanians or Japanese for your Axis forces. Although they do limit the Allied opponents a bit.

I'd suggest starting with some infantry with some MGs and/or mortars in support and slowly adding more supporting weapons as you get familiar with your chosen rules. One option to consider is the BKC-IV Starter Packs https://www.pendraken.co.uk/bkc-iv-starter-packs-750-c.asp Two of those give you a pair of reasonable initial forces.

We are all happy to help as you have more questions on your journey.

[Orcs]

Pick a theatre and a time period initially. This helps keep you being overwhelmed and buying loads of stuff.

In 10mm I do early WW2 up to 1940 on the western front and up to 1941 on the Eastern front. Lots of choice and interesting kit.

So I have:
Polish - Can fight Germans or Russians
Belgian. Fight German
BEF. Fight German   
German
Russian - Fight Polish or Germans
Japanese - Fight Russians

I would start with a small German force 9 stands infantry, MGs. Mortars, and Anti tank gun with tow and 3 tanks. then pick an opponent. You can put as many or as few figures on the infantry stands as you like.

We use 30x 30 bases for infantry with 3 figures. Single mortars or MGs on the same size. all other vehicles have a 30mm frontage and depth to suit.

So a force like I suggested based this way is about £20 and will give a good game.   

 

[Leon]

Welcome to the Forum!

[Steve J]

Welcome on board! Lots of good advice already and Mark is too kind about my small battles with BKC, but it shows you can get some fun games in with relatively few bases etc.

To start with I'd go for core British and German forces, which allow you to fight from France 1940, Italy '43 and of course North West Europe into '45. Naturally you can divert into North Africa, but then you bump into the terrain and basing looking different.

What sort of battle scale are you after? Skirmish level, Company or Battalion plus? This will help you decide upon the rules that might work for you and then of course force size.

Anyway I look forward to seeing how this progresses for you .

[FierceKitty]

I've gone for Western Desert 1942 myself, partly because my grandfather was there and when the South Africans are shot up I enjoy the tension about whether I'm about to be paradoxically wiped out decades before my conception, and partly because it's where I started wargaming, so there's a spot of nostalgia involved. If it weren't for these considerations, I'd go for Russian front battles, since you get to use cavalry, which is fun against tread-heads who ignore them until they find out that if you are outflanked and cut up it hurts as much in 1944 as in 1744.

[Techno 3]

Welcome !

[fsn]

Hi.

Depends on a number of things. In no particular order:

Period (These are very rough):
Early war - Blitzkrieg: British have Matildas, A9, A10 and A13, 2pdr AT gun; Germans gave Pz I, II, and early versions of the Pz III and IV, as well as Czech tanks; 37mm AT gun. You also have the French and The Poles and the Italians.
Mid War 1942-43: Valentines, Churchills, Crusaders, Grants, 6pdr AT gun; mid war PzIII and PzIV, 50mm AT gun; Italians still there, but we can now play the Soviets with T35s, KV1's and early T34s; the Japanese and the Americans. 
Late War 1944-45 Churchills, Shermans, Fireflies, Crowells, 17pdrs; Panthers, Tigers, late war PzIV, 88mm AT; Americans pretty much the same, but add 76mm Shermans; Soviets have T34/85 and IS tanks. 

The Italians, Americans and Japanese are fairly constant throughout the war - depending upon how many rivets you want to count on your Shermans.

Location
Do you have a theatre in mind? Are you up for the desert with it's wide open spaces or do you prefer the claustrophobia of the Kokoda trail in the Pacific? Do you want the grind of the Italian Campaign or the sweep of Operation Barbarossa? Are you content with Western Europe in which case you may contemplate the Normandy bocage.

You location choice may well define your choice of army. If you want the Western Desert you are limited to British (Commonwealth), Italian and German. Not many T34s at El Alamein.

Arms of Service
I'm assuming you are looking to a armour/infantry blend. Perhaps you'd prefer a German rifle platoon with trucks (if they're lucky) and horse drawn artillery and (if they're very lucky) a StuG or two.

Then there are paratroopers or commandos, marines or cavalry.

Level
Are you looking to command a division or a section? A platoon or a battalion?

Budget
How much do you want to pay?

Painting
If you're not a confident or experienced painter the British, Early German, American and Soviets tended to use single colour vehicle cammo schemes. Later war Germans used a 3 colour and the Italians and Japanese 3 or 4 colours. Then there's the French.   

Later war German infantry and British paratroops wore cammo outfits. Most other forces didn't.   

Lastly (and I say this with great regret) the ruleset.
What set of rules are you going to use, and what does that say about basing and blah, blah, blah. 


Personally, I'd start with a platoon of infantry with a troop of tanks; You can add armoured cars, artillery etc to taste. Frankly, Pendraken's army packs would be worth investigating.

I either go for a company of infantry plus a squadron of tanks (plus support) or a platoon plus a troop. In all cases 1 figure = 1 man and the rule sets are my own.  TBH sometimes I may have to have more than one squadron. My 1944 British can come with Cromwells, Shermans or Churchills, or Funnies

I have company level Early War Poles, BEF, Panzer, German paratrooper, French, 1941 Soviet;  Mid War Italians, addons to German and British (i.e. Valentines); Late War British Guards Armoured, British Airborne, Panzer Lehr, German Paratroopers, US Armored. At platoon level I have Japanese and US Marines. I also have too much time on my hands.     

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Hello and welcone