Since the negatve thread got shut down, how about one that accentuates the positive?

What periods do get you salivating to play? If you had to get rid of all your figures except for one period, what would it be? Are you a specialist for one period, or do you cast your wargaming net as wide as possible?

What periods are you into?

Please, stick to talking about what you like. No negativity in this thread, or else I'll ask Leon to stop production on the Aztec line*

*substitute your favourite line here if you don't like Aztecs.


I'll get the ball rolling:

My favourite period is probably Napoleonics, if I were forced to play only one period, it;d probably be that. Large scale warfare too, rather than Skirmish. Rules of choice are Bluecher, for which I use 6mm figures, though I also have a load of 15mm.

Other periods I like a lot - in order of era, not in order of preference:

Ancients: Successor wars. In my case, mostly Graeco-Bactrians. Lots of different unit types, from lights all the way to heavies. I like armies with a nice mix. Sword and Spear for me, 15mm mostly.

Ancients: Punic Wars. There's something about the Rome vs Carthage thing that I like a lot. I have both armies (15mm) for S&S, and like that I can use a lot of allies for both sides and expand them to create entirely new armies (ie Celts or Gauls, or Numidians).

Ancients: 3rd C CE Romans vs Achaemenid Persians. Similar to the above, but Aurelian as rules of choice. It's the last blast of the Romans before things start to go seriously wrong for them in the 4th C CE.

Early Medieval: Often inaccurately referred to as Dark Ages (they weren't). Normans, Vikings, Saxons, First Crusade (can use a lot of those Normans again), and the early Spanish Reconquista. Lovely stuff.

High-Late Medieval: early (14th C CE) Hundred Years War for me, with a sidetrip into early Communal Italian Wars. As a separate and later fascination, War of the Roses (mostly using the incredibly atmospheric Perfect Captain rules), and Italian Wars.

Renaissance / Horse and Musket: Italian Wars creeps into this period too, though I prefer the early Italian wars stuff just on the cusp on the Renaissance. As the period ages English Civil War stuff (Mostly, though I've dabbled in the (geographical) margins of the period such as Montrose, Scots Covenant etc) and Thirty Years war stuff. I like Eastern European stuff too, though my Swedes can fight in either east or west quite happily.

18th C: Seven Years War and Imagi-Nations for me, using Maurice rules. I'm good with other similar 18th C wars (Spanish Succession, Marlborough etc), but for some reason it's the 7YW that enthralls me. Also like Muskets and Tomahawks for a Northern American scene change, though I go for 15mm skirmish for that one.

Napoleonics: Mostly all about the Austrians (I have them in several scales now, and pre/post 1809 uniforms). Favourite parts are the Italy theatre, 1809 campaign, and 1812 Moscow campaign. I'd like to get into the Revolutionary period too, but there aren't enough figures out there for my liking.

19th C: ACW (10mm, mostly Pendraken and Good Ground). Using Longstreet rules mostly. I have a very large Union force (one of the periods in which I don't have armies for both sides), since I'm not a fan of the Confederacy (similarly I don't play SS in WW2). One day I'll probably grit my teeth and get an opposing force for them though so I can provide both sides.

19th C: Sudan. The only real Colonial period theatre that I'm interested in to any large degree. I wrote some house rules based on Peter Gilder's old rules a while back, with players each in charge of a few British units, and with me umpiring, though lately I've been considering approaching it from the other side, with several British companies on the march or scouting, and each player in charge of a rub trying to stop them (so that players should co-operate to win, but will be vying for honours by doing the best against the Imperial menace).

20th C: SCW / RCW / VBCW. Kinda similar if you squint, though the former two more ideological and serious and the latter more comedic in places. Again, I would supply both sides but wouldn't play the fascists in any of those theatres.

20th C: WW2. I have some old FoW armies (British armour, US Paras) for late war in 15mm, and some much smaller scale (3mm) early Desert War stuff. More interested in the early stuff these days. Rommel are my rules of choice at the moment.

20th C: 1984 Cold War Gone Hot. I have a sizable 3mm BAOR force that we initially used for CWC before we decided that game wasn't for us. Still a nice period though, and as a what-if, there's no real life political contentions as you can find with ultra-modern stuff.

i think that's just about it. As you can tell, I'm a generalist rather than a specialist. Sometimes I get stuck into a particular period for a while, but I'll usually end up wandering over to another after a while to scratch some itch or another.     

No surprise if I say that if I were forced to play in one period it would be Ancients, specifically the Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia, Egypt and the Indus Valley regions in 6mm.

5 years ago I'd have said Kursk Era WW2 Eastern Front in 10mm.

5 years before that, probably Late Romans in 15mm.

15 years ago, I'd have said Wild West Skirmish in 28mm.

Before that it too long ago to remember!!

I am obsessed with roughly 1450 to roughly 1700. Basically if it has bits and pieces of body armor, pikes greater than six feet, slow loading fire arms, and officers with sashes and/or feathers, I'm all in!  Oh yeah -  and anything contrived by humans that sails upon the water in the same period. I like that too!

1880 - 1918 Naval - could get into this, but haven't yet.

Sci-fi / Fantasy - have dabbled and will continue to do so.

Korea 1950 - 51 - Also maybe.

Finally - I  work occasionally on FPW - Summer/Fall 1870. Should I live so long hope to be able to game it  by the 150th aniversery.

I read histories from all periods and have projects (none of which are anywhere near being finished) for many. At the moment though it's any period that has a form of centurion that floats my boat -
Punic wars
Trajans dacian wars
Conquest of Gauls

And the other Centurions 
Korea
Vietnam
Arab isreali October war

I'm big on tanks at present with 100+ 10mm tanks and other afv's assembled ready to be painted.

The favoured time period is usually ECW up to Seven Years War.   However, I've recently
looked at moving backwards to Henry VIII's army (inspired by an article in Wargames
Illustrated).   This period seems to be extremely niche (1513 to 1640) but still has
lots of potential.

If required to pick one, then it would have to be the Wars of Louis XIV (LOA leading
to Spanish Succession).

As well as time periods, you might also find that choice of rules plays a big part.   I
enjoy Black Powder so would be happy to try anything that used the underlying
principles.   I also appreciate the mechanics in the Epic : Armageddon ruleset and
would like to see them ported into other (historical) eras.


Phil

Generally anything I can actually get to play

In anything from semi-RPG skirmish to very high level operational games.

Scale from maps & arrows to 2mm to 28mm (I'd play bigger as well, if it was on!).

Errr...

Only real preference in gaming terms is for a set of rules that cracks along, and gets the end result feeling right for the period without modelling every bloody subset of intricate detail only to end up even less accurate than the former

My favourite is whatever I'm interested in at the moment. (Currently US vs Japanese Pacific - both Pendraken and 1:600 aircraft).

I do come back to the WWII, Napoleonics and Ancients constantly; they would be my 1st line.

2nd line would be ACW, Medieval and Dark Age. My Medieval button was pushed many years ago by a skirmish game written up in a Military Modelling Annual.

3rd level would be the Wars of Marlborough, Sci Fi, Arab-Israeli 1973 and various little bits and bobs: 1920s French vs Brits, Suez, Air warfare, WWII coastal warfare.

This list gets added to constantly. I know I'm going to do US-Spanish War or 1:3000 Mediterranean Naval, 1940 this month.  After I've bought a Centurion bridgelayer. Waiting for Korea to hit the shop too.

A butterfly - but if pushed, I would go with tactical WWII.

Butterfly.
At the moment it's ancients and Renaissance and fantasy and sci-fi spaceships but  Modern are about to hove onto the horizon, again.

I think for me, the most enjoyable period/setting I've played in the last few years has been AVBCW.  Its wonderful "local colour" engagement, fantasy elements that gives to a lot of freedom, the eccentric character of the setting, coupled with the chance to field those interwar vehicles and you own bizarre portees and other adhoc constructions is just an all round joy.

In a similar vein, i must say that "Victorian sci fi", the sort of steampunk type games, has always been tremendous fun, for the same reasons as AVBCW.  The Imperial and Colonial historical period is highly enjoyable too, but the chance to engage in speculative actions between the greatest Imperial powers of the era is great fun.

WWII has so much potential, possibility, flexibility, scope and scale that its just a period i can't get away from.  Its global in scope and works at every scale from skirmishing to divisional actions.  Although everything's basically green or brown, that for me doesn't detract from the look and feel of the games either.

ACW is something i always enjoy.  The grinding attritional nature of the battles make for frictions and tactics that i've always enjoyed.

"Fantasy" has always been something i've enjoyed.  There are some amazing miniatures out there and its always fun to paint up the weird and the wacky.  Fantasy games also have all sorts of tactical challenges that you just don't get from historical games.  Oddly, I've always been less interested in sci fi, although it offers much the same freedom (although X-Wing is a great game).

Ancients is just unavoidable as a "period" for me.  There are so many different armies and such interesting game challenges that its endlessly fun and fascinating.  That said for me its really only full army gaming i like in the period.  Skirmishing in this pre-gunpowder period doesn't seem as fun as it is in WWII.

Although I've not played as much as i'd like (except Dystopian Wars VSF), naval gaming has always appealed to me, from Age of Sail to WWII. I like the "geometric chase" aspects of the battles.

Nick - don't you mean Sassanid Persians?

SYW is the top single war for me: excellent match-up, with most armies having similar abilities, and a really good balance of the three main arms, perhaps for the only time in history. Add that it might be the war that has done the most to shape the world that we live in, and the colourful characters....

Ancients have always stirred my pulse. Even sticking mainly to the middle period, the colour, the variety, what you can do with shields, tartans, patterned cloaks, embroidered tunics...and you get to use jumboes and chariots too.

Crusades appeal; partly because my militant atheism enjoys the spectacle of religious fanatics ignoring the few good teachings in their holy books and ripping creation apart to glorify the Creator, but also because I'm a sucker for horses in footcloths, levies in turbans, crossbows, and the Romans maintaining a precarious balancing act for centuries.

Pike and shot: more variety than anywhere else. Love it.

Colonials: I don't take these too seriously, but we end up playing a lot anyway. 19th century appeals for the adventure movie element, I suppose.

Please don't be offended if I've left your ewe-lambs off the list. As I mentioned in the locked thread, I'll join you on the barricades defending your right to play what you choose.

I can't make me mind up

Quote from: FierceKitty on 16 March 2017, 11:08:02 PM
Nick - don't you mean Sassanid Persians?

I do.

I have some Achaemenids too, that's probably why I typed the wrong ones.

I flit back and fore to whatever takes my fancy but push come to shove I would plump for the SYW.