"How anachronistic do you allow your armies in a battle?" Topic

I have used SYW British in AWI battles and vice versa.
I will be using SYW British in the '45.
Etc.

Don't even ask me about what I used for Huns, Skythisns, Tartars…
Why, the same things!

How far are you willing to stray from Complete and total realism to get figures on the table?
Would you do Waterloo in 1808 uniforms?
My goodness, I use 1767 Warrant uniforms at Guilford Courthouse!

A. They must be as accurate as possible.
B. Same guys, same war? I'm not made of money!
C. I'm ok +/- one war.
D. Hey. If they're dressed in red, they're British.

Damn apostrophe abuse!
I blame my cell phone and ….

Preference is at least close…I don't begrudge Belgic vs Stovepipes but I get irritated seeing Aztecs fighting NK Egyptians.

I'm with Mick.

Mick +1

This is my Early Libyan line. These Libyans here are the warbands. Those orcs over there are the skirmishers. This salt shaker here is the elephant. Yeah, I know Early Libyans didn't use elephants, bit these ones are special. Don't worry about it. Oh, and the 3" tall Venus de Milo is ny chariot general.

D

C.

Though, for one-off tryouts of new rules, all bets are off.

A…Only once did I use British Artillerymen from the AWI as Artillerymen in the FIW. I felt bad afterwords. I repented and cried myself to sleep vowing never to do that again.

B, C, and D. It depends on how much reuse I think I am going to get out of the force. Actually, that's not true. I think it depends on either whim or a complex interplay of different, shifting motivations.

F'r'ex, I had SWMBO do a research project for me to find out the color of the horses for ACW generals, so I could get them (as close to) right (as possible). 'Course I could use the figures for general cavalry instead of characters or even US Army in the Old West from after the war. Or various mid to late 19th century peeps.

BTW, you'd be surprised (well, at least I was) how many cavalry men had their old mounts, well, mounted. Several still exist as taxidermy in museums.

Also, my Brits are in khaki.

E. It's all fantasy anyway close to the correct equipment is good enough.

x42

I'm kinda mostly in C.

Napoleonic French? My 1809 uniforms happily time travel from 1796 to 1815.

A Panzer IVs gun may magically mutate from a 50 to a 75. But I never use a PzIII as a PzIV.

It also depends on scale. In 6mm my Soviet infantry may be rifles, SMGs, or recon. But in 15mm I like to have teh right weapons.

B, C. Heck, cardboard counters to test rules for a new period. I've used SYW for Marlburian. (ducks)

I'd rather fight painted Zulu figures in the dark ages than the correct castings but unpainted. Lord I hate to play against those things.

depends on the changes between wars. It seems the later in history, the more obvious the differences between wars i.e. the rate of change is not linear. Certainly I would let any pre Napoleonic 18th century army fight any other (Marlburian – SYW/AWI). My ignorance of everything post Nap means all their red panted uniforms look the same to me, so I'd probably have no problem there either if I ever got interested in that time period. Pretty clearly everything from WW1 forward (with the possible exception of SCW) is NOT allowed to be mixed and matched.

E) The hat/helmet is close enough. Any shako is a shako, but never a bicorne.

I'm with Extra Crispy.

But then again, I'm hungry, so anything "extra crispy" sounds about right.

B for most. C for the Victorian era.

Mix of a, b and c depending upon how much I'm into the era and how much money I have to spend.

Extra Crispy and Mick express things nicely

B.. though I have much less stringent standards for ancients. My army is what it is, and pretty accurate. Can't speak for what my opponent puts on the table.

Mostly D although I draw the line at using tricornes in the Penninsula

Within 15 years is ok, but first thought you ment do I allow my Napoleoic troops to use cell phones to communicate

Within 15 years is ok, but first thought you ment do I allow my Napoleoic troops to use cell phones to communicate

Let 'em have their stupid cell phones! So, how do you say, "Dammit! I got no bars!" in French?

One of my friends used 1940 British for a D Day game, I haven't spoke to him since, doesn't he know the Blanco on the webbing was 2 shades too light. Only joking, close enough is good enough.

Units are accurate to the limits--sometimes severe--of my ability, with a slight leaning toward intent rather than field expedient--no soldiers in wooden shoes or bare feet, for instance, and very few overcoats.

Armies are accurate to the war. I've got no problem with having Scott's Brigade in 1814 uniform in the fields while the woods are held by the 1st Rifle Regiment in 1812 summer hunting shirts. Priorities are appearance and easy identification.

Battles are fought with what I have, and fringe battles just have to use what's available. I am not building a specific 1798 British army to match my 1798 Irish, for instance: I've got Am Rev British, a few French Revolution and a few early Napoleonic, and the Irish are just going to have to settle. The 1745 Jacobites will have to deal with SYW Brits. Even in the main periods, if I wind up short a battery, battalion or squadron, I'm more inclined to use something in the right colors but a later (or earlier) cut than to build a unit I might never need again.

Of course, in the Generic H&M Armies, coat color is about what there is.

Mostly B however, for my Pirates campaign, I've got a fair number of folks running around in morion's and the Royal Navy uniforms are probably closer to mid-18th century.

Are you building a diorama (A), or
are you playing a game (D).

after many years of futile attempts to picture everything historically correct at 100%..and of course loosing many opportunities to play with completed armies..i decided recently to open to anachronism and proxies..so:
FPW French, together with Neapolitans and Pontificals struggled all together in the Volturno Battle as a Kingdom of 2 Sicily Army
my huge Dervish Army can know field proper Ansars plus Foundry Arab slavers , Asakari and Redoubt Tuaregs/Berbers and , in case of need, also some Abissinians..they can also be used for Warlords West African /Tchadian Armies to field vs French Colonials..as a whole i called and labelled them the "bad boys army"
Lastly..with the additions of Trent Miniatures Italian "banditti" and some Front Rank Spanish Napoleonic guerillas ..my augmented Vendéan Touller and Foundry Army can be fielded every were my beloved conservative forces are call to defend the basic human valours vs Garibaldini, French Republicans or Piedmontese Free Masson invaders :-)))

If it looks OK use them and claim its an alt history battle.

I have used figures meant for a 40th century universe in a 25th universe setting.

Shakoes nappies for bicorne period.
+\- 30years around mid17th century
7yw for Was
And of course in the last century I played " ancients"
Might have ( secretly) shocked once Chinese ambassador as using some taipings for boxers. ( even zulus maybe if I rmember as one player had a fit and withdrew his horde.- I made some sort of joke about wrong suburb..)

I only do 6mm Sci-fi now. So I don't know if the term "anachronistic" is applicable ?

I blame my cell phone

My buddy was in Rome at the Coliseum. Took a pic of a reenactor there in full Rome garb. The "Roman Legionnaire" was talking on his cell phone.

But if I had to pick an era for anachronisms. I like the GHQ Wehrmacht '47 period. Where some of the forces would be using many AFVs that didn't get off the drawing board. Or only a few prototypes were made. link E-100s vs. T95s …

There are some on Shapeways as well. Like a Panzer VII "Lowe", or the dreaded RATTE !

Anything pre-gunpowder can face off against anything else pre-gunpowder. I use Robert E. Howard as my authority: the Hyborian world of Conan is crammed with armies B.C. through A.D. willy nilly. It works for me. Besides, anachronistic face-offs are fun……….

If I use Orc Warg riders to proxy Scots Grey I'm gaming Waterloo right?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kinda B, kinda C.

My Jacobite British Army are also mainly SYW, too, because that's all that was available in 25mm back when I bought that army -- no one much made 1745 figures in the 1980s. So no way I'm gonna swap them all out after all that buying and painting. I'll use some newer figures (Front rank, Foundry) for some specialists, Commanders, personalities, and the 1st Foot Guards. And some old Dixon "melon head" grenadiers for some Fusilier battalions. Similarly, I still use some ECW Scots in my Jacobite ranks for the same reasons.

And I can't afford to buy, store, or paint separate armies for all those Islamic colonial types, so sad to admit my late Victorian French and British might be fighting Arabs, Bedouins, Tuareg, Riffians, Pathans, or Afghans indiscriminately, all mixed up into a pan-Muslim army. The Ruga Ruga and Zanzibaris might even turn up one day. No Fuzzy-Wuzzies, tho!

I've got only one Imperial Roman army, too, that will have to stand in for over 200 years of conflicts with Celts, Germans, or each other.

It depends on the period. Ancients are pretty specific as I buy the figures needed and paint them up. Greek hoplites do not stand in for Egyptians.
Napoleonics are another matter, the French caused us gamers no end of botheration with uniform changes, thus the ones I have stand in for the entire period. My Prussians are definitely late war.
Again WW2, a Sherman is a Sherman. Early war infantry stand in for late war or vice versa.

B or C depending on my mood.

The big anachronism in my armies from before the mid 20th century is that everyone in the same force has very near the same color uniform.

Whatever the people at the table agree on.

Every figure exact and accurate or space marines at waterloo, s'all good

I do Imagi-Nations so I get a lot of mileage.

Primary interest is in the 18th Century so in this period I use the following anachronisms of time and place.

These are almost all 30mm Surens and staddens

Napoleonic Russian Kalmucks for the Magnolian Cavalry of one army.
Napoleonic Chaswseurs a Cheval of the Guard for the Lord Blackenbloo's Horse (in light blue and black) for one army.
American Revolution Tarleton Legion and British Light Dragoons for another.
Seven Years War and War of the Austrian Succession French for one army.
Surens Guarde Francaise for the infantry of another Germanic state.
Spanish Guerilla cavalry for the light cavalry of one army.
Prussian Seven Years War cuirassiers for another Russian styled country.
Several regiments of scratch built figures of Prussian Cuirassiers of the Seven years War for the Heavy Horse of the Country of Bad-Zu-Wurwst.
British Foot Guard Grenadiers of the War of the Spanish Succession.
Polish Winged Hussars of the Siege of Vienna and before for one sides heavy cavalry guard regiment
Hurons and Mohawks for the "Mackattack" Indians.
19th Century British Hussars from the Crimea and Lancers from the same era.

Turkish Jannisaries for the "Bennenjerries" of the Army of Ikea of the domain of Sha-Na-Na, the Nattering Nabob of Negativism.

Indian Lancers of the 19th Century in the above army as well.

Der Kriegspielers "Harradrim" from their Lord of the Rings for the milita of the Ikean army.

Mameluks and Seljuk Turks for light cavalry and so forth. These do double duty from the ancient world to the 19th century. Oriental scum is oriental scum throughout the ages.

Saurian Behemoths as war Elephants.

Russian Pavlovsky Grenadiers as Guard Light Infantry for my mid 18th century Grand Duchy of the Grand Duke of Gorgonzola.

19th century Indian Elephants to haul the siege guns around in one army. In peacetime they are leased out to the various circus' to pay for their upkeep and to give the kiddies rides at the country fairs at two pfennigs a pfiece. We had a camel corps for baggage but no one wanted a ride on a camel, they stink and spit, and so we gave them to the Magnolian Cavalry and the Mackattacks, who ate them.

I'm with weasel. If someone wanted to get his space marines in a game of Agincourt, so long as they operated like English Longbowmen and under those rules they are in.

There is only ONE way to get special advantages in my game. They have to be funny or like Jack in the boxes.

Da dum de dum de daddadum
De dum de dum de dum dum

Da dum… de dum…

De…dah..da…

de dum…

And then the disaster strikes.

I;m driven bu an an interest in History before gaming.

I would never dream of using the 'wrong'figures.

Yesterday I took deliver of an Artizan mountain gun for the North West Frontier and then discovered it was only in service in 1879 and my force is for 1878. So I have had to buy another mountain gun from Perry to be correct.

Mongol cavalry in my 54mm Boxer army
21st Lancers in my 25mm 1880s Anglo-Egyptian army

weird one.
I have no trouble using 1812 Napoleonic french infantry from 1796 to 1815, but I'd have an infarction at the idea of using 1944 Germans in 1940
wargamers are odd

(It MIGHT have something to do with having several thousand French and only needing a fraction of that many Germans)

I think our club is mostly B. I do my best to have the correct figures. But I have no problem with using figures from the same war. The AWI is particularly tricky to have the right uniform at the right time in the right campaign. Compromises are often necessary.

I only allow 1 disruptor cannon per French Napoleonic division. That's my limit.