Hi all,

Looking for some advice on *what* WW2 german army to buy for starter games..... hope this isn't one of the 'stupid' questions....
Was invited to a wargames night after years out of gaming (previously a D&D/Warhammer/rolemaster player) and..... got me wanting
to play again, a night of 'Kiss me hardy' concluding in a gentlemanly draw seems to have fired up a missing part of my life
My co-admiral and opponent recommended me to this site but there's so much choice I don't know where to start??

Do I need to 'buy' to the rules I'm likely to be playing or just buy and fit the units to the rules as I learn?

:?

advice gladly received.......

IB

Depends on what size a battles you are looking for.  For big battles  I really like Blitzkrieg Commander 2 - http://www.blitzkrieg-commander.com/default.aspx
For skirmish we use Battleground and Disposable Heroes.

Are your gaming group already playing a WW2 game or have one in mind? This can have a great bearing on what you need to buy. If they are already playing a game then it's not essential to get the rulebook straight away but you will end up buying it eventually. Borrow the rulebook if you can (or army lists if they come seperatley) to get some idea of the units you need. The chances are the ruleset will have its own website and forum the example of BKC is a very good one. Questions like this are often asked, so many ideas can be obtained by searching the forum. Pendraken produce army packs specifically for BKC but are suitable for other sets too;

http://www.pendraken.co.uk/World-War-II-c19/BKC-Army-Packs-sc134/

These could be a good place to start but it would be best to find out what ruleset you are going to be using first. BKC will mean using 100 or so infantry and dozens of vehicles (although you can start smaller) a skirmish game could mean about 30 figures and a handful of vehicles.

All good advice - I'd check out what's popular, play it - and if you don't like it, think about why - and then look for a ruleset that offsets that...

The other approach - which is one I often find myself taking - is the aesthetic one: which 'look' or 'feel' makes you want the army: think about what you think looks good & go from there - eg tankettes or King Tigers? Desert, Europe, snow?

For a starter army, I'd always look for some balance - WW2 is best gamed IMHO with combined arms - so factor in your infantry, armour, artillery, air etc...

Oh - and welcome back to gaming BTW! 

IB, is this Ian the chef from the King's Head?

Graham

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply

Hi Graham... Yes it's me....

Looking forward to starting again...... soooooo much choice though!

OK Ian, just to give you some ideas, I play Blitzkrieg Commander for 10mm WW2 and I've for the following....

German and BEF for France 1940
German, Italian and British for North Africa 1940/41
German and British for Italy 1943/44
I've also got Russians for 1943 unpainted, still trying to decide whether to paint them or sell them

Ian's got British and German for NW Europe 1944/45, although most of his vehicles are Skytrex 1/200th teenie-tinies 

So unless you have a particular desire for early war tanks or really fancy Western Desert I'd have said to go for a general 1944'ish German force would be your best bet.
The BKC packs are a good deal. It depends how much you want to spend at first. Pack 15 would give a small but usable starting force, which you could build on. It would be easy to add some recce, anti-tank and a unit of Panthers or Tigers later on.

Cheers,
Graham

Quote from: sunjester on 30 January 2011, 11:35:16 PM
OK Ian, just to give you some ideas, I play Blitzkrieg Commander for 10mm WW2 and I've for the following....

Ian's got British and German for NW Europe 1944/45, although most of his vehicles are Skytrex 1/200th teenie-tinies 

Part of Speer's drive to save steel...

I do have a few 10mm tanks, and keep promising to add to them (Ha, wargamer’s lament!)

Most of my infantry are Pendraken, plus I have Russians.  I can put on a Mid to Late war battle on either front in Europe for infantry, plus the aforementioned bijou tanks for France 44.

Depends on what you want to do.  If you are a frustrated Panzer General then the rules you want are not those like "I Ain't been Shot Mum", which is Infantry with a bit of armour support.

Give me a call and I’ll arrange a game or two so you can try stuff out.  (Because our club needs more people called Ian)
Do I have to lie to Karen?

I'll come along and have a look, then I can see what I'm buying before I go ahead.
Karen will be happy to get me out of the way I'm sure 

I am fairly new to miniature WW2 as well, and I started by picking a war theatre, after watching Band of Brothers it became D-Day, and I started by looking up all I could about the 101st and their enemies at the beaches and the weeks after that, and worked from there.

I now have one platoon of airborne ready, some tanks and ordnance, and I am working on a platoon of volksgrenadier to oppose them.  That keeps it nice and small.  Although I already bought the German Late Paras and the US Army to make for a bit more variety.  From here I'm just gonna follow the 101st through Holland and Bastogne, that'll keep me busy for a while.

After that everything goes: Pacific (again inspired by the brilliant HBO series) or Early Blitzkrieg in order to use some of the fine new miniatures in the Early range.  Or Barbarossa, of course. 

The problem is not what to play, it's what not to play.

I agree with Nik, what German army do you like the most; Blitzkreig '39-'40, Afrika Korps, Fallschirmjager etc? I find that I have to 'like' the army/battlegroup I'm playing with and then win or lose, I still have fun with them, if that makes sense?