Choosing Armies

[DanJ]

How do you choose your amies?

Personally I go for ones which capture my imagination rather than ones which fight well under a certain set of rules but sometime armies which should be a hit I find I just can't be bothered with, for instance Indians.  Its got elephants and chariots which I normally love and lots of nice archers which I enjoy playing with but as a whole the army completely fails to inspire me.

[Arsenus]

The good looking or the history of the army.

When I saw the Samurai Apes...
Damn!
Sooooo coooolll!!

[Nosher]

I can honestly say I dont beleive that I have ever bought an army because it was an Uber army, and even if I did I would be highly likely to lose as heavily with it as I do with just about any other army

I generally dont have much choice over the army I choose as I largely game solo, but I am drawn to underdog armies so that I have lots of excuses for getting weel and truly done over!

[Kassad]

The "aspect" and the feeling of the moment for SF and Fantasy armies or single miniatures. The history of specific army for historical periods. Then, I often, choose an historical opponent army for my solo games or introduce some friends. In fact my first historical army was a DBA "Polibian Roman Republic" followed by Carthaginian army.

[Hertsblue]

I have always painted armies in pairs, just so they have the correct opponents. As for inspiration, it usually comes from reading books on specific periods. Wargames magazine illustrations also get my imagination going. And of course, playing against friends and fellow club-members also stirs the juices.

My advice - just pick something you're intested in.

[commission]

Cavalry!!!! 

Damned spiffing, wot.

Mounted troops are what inspire me.   

Parthians, Mongols, French Napoleonic and s**t loads of Orc Boar Boyz. Oh and I do include armour in this group - Waffen SS 9th Hohensauffen to be precise!

Still need the foot sloggers of course.

Its not the winning.... Its the taking part, or so I am told 

[GordonY]

Sadly my choices are made by the ...............Ooooh, Shiney........... decision making process, its whatever is there on the (show) day and attracts my butterfly minds attention. So much so that there are 24 25 armies in the process of getting done on my painting table.

[nikharwood]

Yep - all kinds of things, but mostly what I think will look coolio...I do get influenced by films, books, internet to a huge extent...I also do everything in pairs as the overwhelming majority of my gaming is solo.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Historical/peer pressure/shiney/latest obsession (not in that order)

[Maenoferren]

Yep - all kinds of things, but mostly what I think will look coolio...I do get influenced by films, books, internet to a huge extent...I

must agree with this eg the last samurai on the tv the other night ooooooohhhhhhhh... so considering this period now

[FierceKitty]

must agree with this eg the last samurai on the tv the other night ooooooohhhhhhhh... so considering this period now

If samurai turn you on, go for the REAL period, not the much later and very one-sided rebellion the movie was set in.

[Maenoferren]

Meant mid samurai period as opposed to the end of them.

[Luddite]

How do you choose your amies?

Personally I go for ones which capture my imagination rather than ones which fight well under a certain set of rules but sometime armies which should be a hit I find I just can't be bothered with, for instance Indians.  Its got elephants and chariots which I normally love and lots of nice archers which I enjoy playing with but as a whole the army completely fails to inspire me.

Always the army that 'feels' right to me, or as you say DanJ, one that 'inspires' me.

Of course, playability has to come into it to a certain extent.  There's no fun in having an army that is essentially 'dogmeat', unless you enjoy consistently losing on the tabletop!

For example, the first army i collected for DBM was a Mongol Horde.  I chose it because we decided to do 'Oriantal' armies. the Other players took armies like the Sung Chinese, Indian and Burmese armies, and i took the Mongols because their history has always fascinated me.  Turns out the army in DBM is pretty much unplayable, given the way the DBM rules work.  Over dozens of battles i tried many different tactics, army compositions, etc. all without much effect.  Without a solid infantry core and within the confines of DBM, the Mongols are at best an average army, and it became no fun to play with or against them.  My next force was Macedonian - lots of lovely heavy infantry...

Interestingly, i think most systems seem to get the Mongols wrong; either too 'poor' (DBM) or too 'good' (WAB - with its insane horse archer rules).


So, inspiration and some element of playability is important.

There are other considerations also. 

Are there figures available for it?
For a long while now i've wanted to do Napoleonics, but i want to do it in 10mm, so i'm waiting for Pendraken to complete its ranges before i dive into Age of Eagles!
Actually figure availability (say a nice new range like the Perry 28mm plastic Wars of the Roses figures) can often be a key prompt to get into something new.  If only i could find a supplier for 10mm Star Wars or 'notStar Wars' figures...

How much is it going to cost?
When we were playing solid DBM (3-4 years ago now) i really facied an Early Nubian army since you could theoretically field an army 4x the size of the average army (masses of skirmishing dross)...but that would mean something like 4x the cost too...just couldn't justify it.

Are they wierd and interesting or are they 'representative of the period'?
So we're currently looking at Field of Glory Rennaissance, and have cheson to do the Thirty Years War as this is a period we've long looked at but never done.  We've each picked our forces and i went for Swedish as the represented a norther European way of fighting in the period, as opposed to the southern European 'tercio' formations.  Incidentally, we've gone with 15mm on this, although if the figures had been available we'd have probably done the 30YW in 10mm (Pendraken's 30YW range doesn't even have pikes!  ).

Does it suit my 'temperament?
I tend to play quite aggressively, preferring 'go get 'em' armies, so i'll gravitate towards offensive armies, rather than defensive ones.  So in a period, any army with an attacking stance will tend to get my attention.  That said, i do tend to find myself favouring 'left wing' armies too so i like the Russians in many conflicts (Nap, WWII, etc.), and i have taken the Communists in our AVBCW games!

The flip side of that is that there are armies i will never take, mostly due to my own prejudices of course. 

[FierceKitty]

Do they wear little flags on their backs? I can never resist that; thus have two Japanese, a Chinese, a Muscovite, and a Polish army, and I'll get those Aztecs and Tlaxcalans when they come out this July.

[Leon]

...and I'll get those Aztecs and Tlaxcalans when they come out this July.