"Best Scale for Crusades Gaming?" Topic

In your opinion, which is the optimum figure scale for miniature wargaming with Crusades armies?

15mm on massed bases (like double the figures on 25mm-ish sized bases). Second choice 25/28mm.

I'm partial to 25/28mm myself, but I'm intrigued by the concept of 15mm for larger battles and/or sieges.

1/72 Plastic figures: affordable, great variety of decent figures available. Cheers!

The scale you like.

Agree with one you like

I like 28mm

10.99mm. Because Jerusalem fell in 1099.

As good a reason for a scale as any.

1 – 1 for LARPING…

Definately 28mm for me. Most battles were generally quite small, many being fought by combined armies of 10,000 or less. Even some of the bigger battles are doable in 28mm at a reasonable troop scale.

Two versions of my Harran 1104 scenario (the one set on green is probably more accurate because it was fought in early May), where there were probably in the region of 22,000 men in total, army scale set at about 1 figure = 40 men:

Currently working on 28mm with a bunch of mates, so 28mm it has to be.

I'm old and I can see the 28's so, it is 28's for me also.

Given the quality of what is available in 28s these days I would go for that unless mass is what you are after than go 6s. I am embarking on a Reconquista project right now in 28s.

Of course that is pretty much my answer for everything these days.

6mm for massed battles. You can have tons of troops on a reasonably sized table.

Everything you need here: link

10mm. Extensive armies but detailed painting.

Oli has the gist of it: crusades battles are almost all small, especially on the side of the Franks. Larger scale figures are just more enjoyable to paint and look at. "Massed ranks" is for epic sized battles. There are only a handful of those in the entire crusades.

I'll stay with my usual two-way split. Ambushes, foraging and suchlike should be in a large scale--usually 28mm--and individually mounted. Massed battles should have smaller castings on multiple-casting bases, but which castings on which bases is a matter of budget, board, dexterity and eyesight. Only thing I'll say is you should generally not pick the absolutely smallest base you can see and handle, as eyes and hands seldom improve over time.

And how many different armies would you need to create for "the crusades" anyway? Even leaving out Iberia and the Baltic crusades, the struggle for the Holy Land went on for centuries of changing weapons and costume, with participants entering and dropping out.

Lovely toys Olicana!