"How can I know what to buy?" Topic

I've read a "decent" amount about the various scales, and I want to have big battles. I know a guy that owns Bolt Action 28mm, and it's a fun game, but the men a big for battles. Skirmishes yes.

I wanted to invest in a larger set. Either Civil War or Napoleonic. Not opposed to anything really.

But, what I don't want to do is buy the wrong thing. I see all manner of different tanks, trucks, infantry, and so on. How do know what to buy?

If I keep is "simple," and I want to do Napoleonic. Do I buy a DBA ruleset and decide from there? Even if I use Bolt Action rules with 10,15,or 20mm (or 1/285), I don't know what to get.

Where (generally) do you live?

Get Neil Thomas's Introduction to Wargaming and start there…. It will help you decide which historical period.

What opponents do you have?

DBA is for Ancients, not Napoleonic, and you won't be needing tanks and trucks for civil war or Napoleonic games.
I suggest you talk to people in your area who play, and buy a few sets of rules for the scale of battle you are interested in and see what they recommend with regards to scales and basing

No Right or Wrong Answer.

It depends on many things. How much space you have available to play on. A 1mt x 1mt board is great for 25mm skirmish but not for big battles but 6mm figures then ok.

How much do you want to spend, as rules of thumb bigger figures bigger budget. Is not just figures is terrain as well.

To help, if you like Bolt Action take a look Black Powder, Divional size battles. I believe is on kindle so you can down load a free sample

Here would be my suggestion.

First, settle on a battle you want to game. Gettysburg, Waterloo or the Battle of the Bulge.

Then decide what you want your units to be. Do you want to be Wellington and command brigades and divisions? Or do you want to be Armistead commanding a few regiments?

Next, decide on what size figure you want. Generally small figures for big battles, big figures for small battles.

Then find a retailer who sells those. For example, I sell 15mm Civil War. I am happy to help you build a "shopping list" and get what you need.

If you decide on 28mm Napoleonics, find a good retailer who can do the same.

But you need to decide on a period and scale before you can really answee the other questions.

Ahhh! But which rules you choose are also important when assembling units of figures (?)

True but they don't really vary all that much. If you want to do ACW with individual regiments you can start with units of 24 and adjust.

Do what interests you. Even if what you do is locally out of fashion at the moment, it's only a matter of time before things go full circle – especially with historicals.

pjm

If there is a club or even a good hobby shop in your area that sells miniatures and does some games, check them out. Find out what is popular there, and then act accordingly. You may need to initially get into a period that doesn't ring your bell but play with it for a while, once you get into the group you may find out that some of them want to try something different too, something that is more to your liking.

+1 von Schwartz