"Early WW1 in 28mm: best rules/minis?" Topic

Hello folks,
I'm interested in gaming early WW1 in 28mm.
To start with, I'd prefer to stick with fast playing rules, using individually based miniatures. Games would hopefully feature between platoon – company sized forces per side.
Could anyone recommend a set of rules for such a game?
Second – years ago I had been a fan of Renegade Miniatures early war range, but these now seem to be defunct. Could you also give some pointers to good value and decent quality 28mm minis?
Thanks very much,
Alex

There is a list of your choices here…

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For rules, I greatly enjoy TooFatLardies "Through the Mud and Blood", which also have a couple of great supplements, including one for the Eastern front, featuring Austrians and Russians. It's refreshing to see something other than Western Front!

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They also have a fantastic WW2 platoon set, Chain of Command, but have a WW1 variant for CoC in one of their specials. The special also includes a campaign for the Kaiserschlacht offensive.

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For easy, fast-playing rules with 28mm figures, individually based, you could look at "Contemptible Little Armies" by Chris Peers, I see that it's now in its third edition link (US) or link (UK)

If you are familiar with Warhammer 40k, then you could easily get going with Warhammer Historical Wargames The Great War, now out of print, but you still might find a copy available.

I'll second the recommendation for Chain of Command with the WWI variant from the Christmas Special.

I agree that Chris Peers Contemptible Little Armies rules work well if you want easy, fast, and bloody.

For very small games (a few squads per side) I'd recommend Trench Hammer and October Hammer by Nordic Weasel Games. They are only sold as pdf files and are quite cheap.

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They are quite simple and fast play but offer some good tactical decisions to manage the damage inflicted on your squads.

I second the recommendation of Through the Mud and the Blood from Two Fat Lardies. I'm currently running a campaign with individually based 15mm figures, set at Verdun.

The rules are a lot of fun, and play quickly and smoothly with some nice mechanics. It's simple enough that I've been adding additional mechanics in for greater nuance without slowing things down much.

As for miniatures, recommendations will depend on which theatre interests you the most. Cerdic's list is quite comprehensive. Note that not all of the figures will look right when placed together on the tabletop. Old Glory 'Trench Wars' figures are positively tiny compared to most of the others on the list, and Foundry are also pretty small.

Cerdic – please add 'Askari Miniatures' to your list of French figures! I use their Zouaves in my 1914 French army for the Western Front, and some of their other figures would also fit in quite nicely either in France, Gallipoli, Salonika or Africa.

If you are looking for 1914 French Zouaves these are available (separate heads with a wide variety of 12 individual heads supplied at random):

stevebarbermodels.com/world-war-one-french/606-french-infantry-zouaves-charging-x-4.htmlhttp://theminiaturespage.com/

The Mud and the Blood for ww1 skirmish to 2 platoon size is the best by far.