"Starting from scratch?" Topic

Im a new member here. I'm new to the world of miniatures all together, other than games workshop.

I have been looking at 1/72 dacians and Romans all week, and bought the hail Caesar rulebook and army books, as that is what people around me play.

How do I even start to build an army? How should I start my collection?

Also, I hear 1/72s are hard to paint… any pointers?

Thanks so much

Speak to the people around you.

Take a look on the web for plasticsoldierreview. May give you some ideas to start a collection on the cheap to see if it's for you.

I would go for 28mm hard plastic such as Victrix and Warlord. If you are used to painting GW figures, these are the same scale and materials.

It depends on your painting style and how detailed you want to be.
However, I agree with Mick, go with 28mm figs.
Start small, a few units on each side.

Agree on 28mm. 1/72 is not a very popular wargaming scale, which tends to be dominated by 28mm and 15mm (with regards to ancients).

Rather than build "an army" build one unit from each side. The army lists will guide you. Mounted individually you can always skirmish against each toehr as you build up your collection…

There are a number of methods used to keep paint on plastics. I'm sure you'll get some here. Mine is to undercoat them first with Hob-e-Tac,the glue Woodland Scenics makes for attaching foliage to their trees. The friend who turned me on to this uses it straight,but as it's very thick, I prefer to thin it with water. After it dries to a tacky state, I spray-prime (I happen to like black). Paint doesn't come off,and there's no need for a varnish.

I'm talking about the soft plastic 1/72 you mentioned,not the hard 28mm. If you can/want to shell out for those,then you can go with your normal methods. Since you can afford GW, I assume that the prices for historical wargame miniatures are coming as pleasant surprise,but your mention of 1/72 leads me to guess that you don't want to make a major investment before finding out if you like the rules/games. There's nothing wrong with that--you can dip your toes for a small outlay,as parrrskool said.

One other thought on saving money: if you're not sure how you'll ultimately decide on basing,you can start with matboard,which can be had cheaply. Go to the frame department of one of the craft chains,and ask if you can buy matboard offcuts. I've gotten some fairly large ones for a quarter a piece. You have to be careful about terraining though, as it tends to warp.

Good luck,and have fun!

This is what I do for prepping and painting 1/72 scale figures: link

If you are supplying both armies or your friends are going to play with 1/72 scale figures too, then this is a fine, cost saving way to go. If you have deeper pockets or your opponents can supply armies in 28mm or 15mm, then maybe you should consider one of those scales.

I think 1/72 is pretty popular for WW2, but as Crispy said, for ancients it's mostly 28mm and 15mm. But go with the scale that the people playing Hail Caesar around *you* use. Painting Dacians will probably be a fair bit of work at whatever scale. Shield transfers will help. I see that LBMS makes some transfers in 1/72 for HaT figures, but does not list Dacians.

The most important thing is to build an army that interests you. That may seem rather elementary, but it's true.
Don't listen to any experts who say things like " For this rule set, Early Moghul with Hindu matchlock men gives you an ideal mix of blah blah blah."

Go with an army you will love, win or lose, and that you have actually heard of.
If you think the Romans were tyrants who should be wiped out, go with Carthaginians. And vice versa.

Go with 1/72 to start out. They're cheap and quick. Once you've painted a couple of small armies and decided what rules and basing you like, you may want to change, but you won't have such an investment you'll think you just can't.

Herr von Schlockenberg has the right general idea about painting, by the way. There is also spray primer for plastics, and I tend to prime with a mix of a dilute white glue, water and paint. It's also worth giving them a flexible sealer coat--dilute white glue, dilute Future floor polish, or Woodland Scenics terrain cement all work.

Important thing is to get started, and not to commit yourself to serious money until you've done some experimenting.

I wouldn't go for 1/72 either – imo, of course, but if you do the aforementioned Plastic Soldier Review site should be your first visit. Actually, that Wargaming Compendium by Henry Hyde might be useful, and has a extensive chapter on collecting, prep and painting plastic 1/72 minis too.

I have been buying and painting 1/72 figs for 35 years. Wish figs in warm soapy water. Prime with Rustoleom plastic spray primer. Paint. Seal with sealer. I use Future magic wash. Don't let anyone tell you they are difficult to paint. They aren't. I use clear plasti-dip which is a rubberized sealer. The paint will NEVER peel or chip.

48 to 96 1/72 figs run 5 bucks to 15.00. Even 28mm will run you 2-8 Times as much, since plastics don't cover all you need. You may need to paint both sides. I don't know your situation. But 1/72 is viable and has a very low entry cost.

Have fun. Any questions, just ask.

Thanks,

John

I've got lots of 1/72 and I love them but my advice is don't, its too much a minority interest. Go 15mm – cheap, readily available and you're 1000's of times more likely to meet other players with armies than 1/72.

An army list is a guide to the figures you will need for your army. So start with that.

But personally I would play a few games to find out the armies you like, then start building your own

I also have tons of 20mm Ancients. Cheap, easy to paint, don't require tons of assembly…

Just make sure you wash them and undercoat in PVA.

Start with an army list in your rules.

I have 1/72 armies for the Trojan War, colonial NWF, and for Late Romans. I also have a start on El Cid armies. I game a lot of solo games and these allow me to collect both sides cheaply. There is also some 20mm metals at Newline Design that fit in nicely to fill any holes or just to add variety. I think that 1/72 is perfectly acceptable for a beginner especially. That being said, I also have 25/28mm Saga armies and 15mm fantasy, so there you go.

With a name like Decabalus you're apt to do the Dacian Wars.

Given the outlay already done on rules 1/72 is a great way to go. 3 boxes of Strelets infantry and 2 of cavalry will give you 144 foot & 24 horse and cost just £2.00 GBP more than 42 figures from Warlord Games.

Both sides done for the price of 2 boxes of 28mm plastic. Makes perfect sense to me.

If I was starting from scratch – and no other issues (such as what other players used) applied – I certainly wouldn't follow the 28mm advice … Certainly not for ancients.

For ancients, 15mm is way ahead in popularity – but if compatibility is not important then 1/72 soft(er) plastics are a solid choice … a much better choice than 28mm plastics …

Phil

John- you going to historicon?

If you only want to play big battle games then I would also recommend 15mm. If you want to play skirmish games as well, then go for 28mm, especially if you choose an army which you can get plastic figures for. I would avoid 1/72 unless you plan on providing all the armies, and are not hoping to play against other peoples armies.

Hey Clay. No, I won't be there. Haven't been back in almost 16 years, IIRC.

Thanks for all the info guys!

When I said hail Caesar, I meant field of glory- I was watching stuff about hail Caesar when i made my post.

Plenty of people around me also play DBA, so I may start by building a small DBA army, that evolves over time.

I was able to play a game of field of glory today, and enjoyed it quite a bit. Very different from what I'm used to, but a lot of fun.

I think I actually want a Camillan or polybian Roman army first, to learn the rules before getting into the warband armies… the guys at the shop said barbarian armies are very hard to use, and even harder to win with (as you have more CMTs and your troops are generally poor)

I have been looking at the Viking forge, which has some neat retro models (I played with a polybian Roman army made up from viking forge models today, and liked what they look like)
I was discouraged at the shop from using 1/72 models because of scale issues

All of the info has been great

Thanks so much, keep it up

I am starting currently from scratch with 15mm for DBA. Hope that helps.

I have decided on old glory 15s, they have the best deals and I have read nothing but good things about them.

I also have an Essex DBA army in the mail

Thanks