"Warhammer Historical: Great War" Topic

I was thinking about picking up The Great War book from Warhammer Historicals, but had a few questions. I was hoping someone here could help me out.

First, I understand that the game is intended to be played with 28mm miniatures using the Warhammer 40K sized round bases. But I also read that each figure is meant to represent 3 actual men. Would it be feasible to keep the same size base and not change the rules at all, but put three figures on each base so that I'm playing at a 1:1 figure to man ratio? If so, what size figures would work the best? 15mm? 10mm? I'm thinking that three 15mm figures on that sized base might look a little crowded. Also, how far apart are the bases typically going to be from each other? It might look strange to have groups of three guys bunched up tightly, then a lot of empty space, then another three bunched up guys.

So, I guess my question is, what's the best way to play this with a 1:1 scale? And can it be easily done without changing any rules? And if so, where is a good place to order 10mm or 15mm WW1 figures (or whatever size you recommend) from in the US?

For our games we are using 15mm figures. They are based 3 to a stand. I started off with 1" stands, but those were just too crowded, so I switched us to 1 1/4" x 1" (same as FOW small bases) – not a lot of difference in size, but much less crowded.

I've heard of folks using 3 x 10mm figures on 1" rounds…

We play with no modifications to the rules due to our basing scheme.

As for figures, there should be plenty to choose from – we are using the Bloodaxe figures that we produce. We are doing 1914 Germans vs. 1914 Russians (since those the figures produce) – we've had to make our own lists for the Russians since there are none yet.

"First, I understand that the game is intended to be played with 28mm miniatures using the Warhammer 40K sized round bases."

Not necessarily. I'd go with whatever base size I felt would comfortably take three 15mm or 10mm figs.

As to unit coherency, typically 1" between models for 1914 troops that aren't considered specialist light infantry, 2" for jagers etc. Later war troops all use 2" for unit coherency. Seems to me that 3-man knots of 15mm troops would look quite nice – you could have some mini-dioramas on each base, if that's your thing.

No expert on 15mm or 10mm, but Peter Pig has a very extensive 15mm "Square Bashing" range:

peterpig.co.uk/range16.htm

I think Brookhurst Hobbies sells them in the US.

Thanks guys. So, using square bases instead of round, or using slightly different sized bases from those suggested, won't be a problem with the rules? Also, how does the game sugguest you base non-infantry things, like cavalry or artillery? And would the same thing work of using similar bases but with several 10mm or 15mm miniatures?

I figured my bases using a combination of:
Average base size for a single 28mm figure & what looked/felt right for 3 x 15mm figures…

For cavalry, I'm not yet set on a base size, but I'm leaning towards only 2 figures per stand (three just looks wrong to me) and maybe a 1 1/4" square stand – might be "ok with 1" x 1 1/2" (1" frontage) stand.

I'd say use what looks/feels right for the figures you decide to use – 10's or small 15's will work on smaller bases than larger 15's or 18's – just be sure both side have similar sized bases.

"just be sure both side have similar sized bases."

For game play this is the most important factor.

Locally, I have suggested using 3 N scale figs per base. That looks ok in the scale, and playing with the same ranges and move distances. Feels better, to me.

1 1/4" square bases for 15mm figs should not be out of line, either.

Plug: GFI/Minifigs has an expanding and extensive range of 15mm WWI offerings in our line-up. We just added more arty and armored cars. Next up will be a French Charron A/c for both 15 and N scale ranges.

Tom Dye
GFI

I have done early war with the 28mm figs but might go back and do later war stuff with 15s, simply because I think it will look neater with tanks and so forth.

link

These are pics of a 15mm Great War game in progress. The figures are based as singles.

I guess I am confused by doing early WWI at 1:1 scale. The Platoons ARE huge. The lowest manuever unit was the Company. I don't understand.

Thanks,

John

John: It does seem strange, but I just look at it as zooming in on a single Company and focusing on what it is doing – or at least that's how I'm looking at it…

Does anyone know a place I could order Pendraken miniatures from in the US?

Also, to those that have the Great War book, about how much would I need minimum for two small but playable armies?

For a side as a minimum you will need :
Battalion HQ (3 to 6 figures)
2 Companies consisting of:
2 Company Commands (3 to 5 figures per command)
4 Platoons (8 to 12 figures per platoon)

Then you get special choices such as LMGs, Assault Platoons, Bombers, HMGs, AT Rifles, tanks etc etc. You really need the book to tailor make your Battalions. And remember the above numbers are for 28mm figures. Each representing about 3 actual soldiers.

I have the book and intend using my existing 15mm's on single bases (H/Weapons excepted). From my reading of it and what I am planning aim for about 100 figures per side to start with.

I have 68 28mm Brits and one Whippet tank for a 1000 pt army.

For what it's worth – I've had a few games of Great War using the 1914 lists. We started with about 1800 points per side, but a 4'x6' table gets pretty crowded with that many models on it, and since we've shifted to 600 to 700 points per side the games have become more interesting.

I haven't played with the 1918 lists yet, but I'm painting up some armies and am looking forward to see how things are different when you add Lewis guns and tanks!

The Warhammer Historical wargames site has the reference sheets for the game available to download:

link

If you're familiar with 40K that should give you a rough idea of how the game plays.

To see a home-made army list, take a look at this thread on the Great War section of the WAB forum:

link

Points costs and stats for the BEF, German and French troops in the book obviously vary, but this Russian list is pretty consistent with the way the army lists in the rulebook are structured and ought to give you an indication of what a force might look like. The thing to remember with the BS score is that for WH:TGW, that score or higher is the number the firing figure needs to roll to hit.

As to the smallest force you need to field to give a playable game, I'd say about 500 points per side minimum. That said, bouncing two platoons per side against each other in a meeting engagement-type setup wouldn't be a bad place to start.

Thank you, rat of tobruk. That gives me a pretty good idea of the number of models I'd need to get started. Looks like it won't be too expensive to at least get a start.

Thanks for the links, Gallowglass. I'm surprised by the weapon chart. Most guns are strenght 3. So that means there's only a 50% chance to wound someone shot with a rifle. It seems unlikely to me that anyone shot with one of those weapons would keep fighting. But I guess it's meant to be someone abstract, and only a relative strength compared to other weapons. Especially since one wounded "model" actually represents three men.

The difference between Str3 and Str4 weapons really shows when you bring in heavier weapons. Rifle fire can be a nuisance, but a machine gun or field gun is devastating.

I'm curently painting 10mm Pendraken for the eastern front which I intend to base on 15mm Litko round bases 1:1 ratio. This will allow me to interchange between WHGW and Contemtible little armies. I use warmaster bases and 3 figures per base for my late 19th century armies for ever victorious armies treating each base as a single figure. I have to say that I'm tempted to retro fit WHGW to the FPW. I'll post some pics if it works

I had been thinking about retrofitting WHGW for a few other periods as well, such as the Boxer Rebellion and the Second Anglo-Boer War.

Okay, I got the book and read it. Aside from the fact that it seems like nobody proofread the thing before it went to the printers, I like it. There are lots of typos or things that are just really poorly worded or confusing. But it seems like a lot of fun and the missions look interesting. But I have a few other questions.

So we've established that each model in the rules represents 3 or 4 men. My question is, when you replace a model's weapon with say a light machine gun, does that figure with the light machine gun represent 3-4 men all with light machine guns, or does it represent one guy with a light machine gun and 2-3 other guys with rifles? Since I'm going to use 10mm figures on a 1 to 1 scale, I need to know.

Also, do any of you have ideas of ways to differentiate different platoons in a company, especially with such small scale miniatures? It would be nice to be able to quickly tell them apart, so that if two platoons were cose together, you would get confused about which bases belonged with which platoon. In the book, they differentiate different companies by color, with colored patches or trim somewhere on the uniform. Is this historically accurate? I assume there was nothing that would be visible in 10mm scale to tell different platoons apart, so how can it be done? Pendraken does have figures wearing gas masks, in great coats, and wearing backpacks, so I could have one platoon with gas masks, one with backpacks, etc. But that might look pretty strange.

I'm pretty sure that the model represents one weapon with supporting models (ammunition carriers, etc).

Real troops had distinguishing marks (colour patches on the sleeve, specially coloured bayonet knots, etc), but these usually were not more specific than the battalion. Within a battalion, nothing about the uniform would distinguish the members of one platoon or company from another. For my armies, I mark the bases. It is fairly subtle, and it works.

w