"WWI 1915-18 What Scale? Which Rule Set? Which Company?" Topic

I'm interested in Western Front WWI, especially trench warfare. I'm having some difficulty deciding on scale. I know, typical woman, huh. What is the perfect scale for the period? Best rule set? Best minis?

Thanks!

I'd suggest 6mm, or even 2mm; Irregular makes WWI minis in those scales, and many companies' WWII or Russian Civil War minis would work just fine as well.

As for rules, there's a ruleset called Spearhead that sounds pretty popular; I haven't tried it, but there is a very active Yahoo group dedicated to it:

link

If you want to do real over the top stuff you'd probably better go 15mm scale or smaller. If you want to do trench raids and skirmish games then 28mm has some great choices. I personally prefer 28mm with a mixture of Brigade Games, Old Glory, and Great War Minis. I'd use Contemptible Little Armies for big games and maybe Arc of Fire or BGWWII for skirmishes…

Ax

15mm Minifigs and "Battles With Brusolov" (It like Fire and Fury for WWI).

Tom Dye
GFI

I am doing WWi with Old Glory 25mm right now. There is a Yahoo group you can join that has helpful info:
link

Warning- unashamed plug coming:
We sell trenches in 20mm and they're the only authentic WWI trench models out there. If you want to take a look:

auction

Trenchwars?

If you are able to attend the Historicon convention in July, there will be at least eight WWI events using the Trench Wars system. It's always good to see the game being played. There should be western front scenarios as well as the East Africa theme games.

I am the author of Great War Spearhead and it is a good game for playing games from Division level and up. You can do brigade level games but some of the flavour isn't there. I like over the top but found it too fiddly with the mechanics and so developed GWSH off of Arty Conliffes Spearhead rules set. Join our web group even if you don't play the rules, very active and great bunch of fellows.

I'm having great fun with 1914-1915 Western Front battles using Contemptible Little Armies and 28mm figures, and am painting up troops for Gallipoli & Palestine. There is an absolutely amazing amount of choice for WWI figures in 28mm, including Battle Honours, Rengade, Great War Miniatures, Foundry, Brigade Games, Eureka Miniatures and more (all very good quality figures).

CLA is very simple, but brutally bloody. In fact, we just fought a fall 1914 battle this arvo. Went back and forth, with an initial German success wasted when they overreached and were slaughtered by the British reserves.

I would recommend 10mm Pendraken stuff, its cheep, a battle pack costs £17.00 GBP in british money which is enough for a small game. They have a large range the figures are very good although they do lack variation in poses but in 10mm who cares. Just order more stuff as you go along

As for rules it has to be picquet in my opinion, it is strange and difficult to start with but after a few games you'll wonder why all wargames aren't like it. You could order that from caliver books

Me and My mate mainly play early war eastern front but I can't see their being any problems with western front. Just swap russians for french or british get some trench scenery, tanks trench raiders etc. and away you go

I found 6mm too small and fiidly and seemed to miss the point of the western front. I use 15mm and the rules Kaiserbosch. These are loosely based on the Squad Leader board game and have an interesting deployment method which starts from just after the main attack has gone in. For Mesopotamia/Palestine where it was just too big to have trenches everywhere then I use Pendraken 10mm and the beautiful rule set "If the Lord spares us" by Two Fat Lardies. If I was going to do an open 1914 game or a trench raid then the Renegade figurs are superb. I have played Contemptible Little Armies and liked them but they are really bloody.

If starting WW1 from scratch I'd do the whole thing in 15mm, best compromise between cost, storage, availability of stuff & looks. (I have 6mm, 15mm & 20mm WW1 stuff).

My 15s are mostly Peter Pig with some Irregular & Minifigs thrown in.

Favourite WW1 rules are Great War Spearhead, ideal for the division/corps sized actions which are typical of WW1. You can use the same stuff for other high level sets of course, like Square Bashing or Over the Top. GWSH works very well indeed for trench warfare and has a very elegant preparatory bombardment mechanism.

i'd go with 15mm as well, peter pig's figures are nice and eaxy to paint. for rules i'd definitely say Square Bashing. Simple, easy and readily available.
patrice

Don't use spuarebashing it is the worst of ww1 wargames rules that I have ever come across. I would rather be than have to play a single game of square bashing. Only people with would even conceive playing a game as ty as that.

Gee that is a really helpful statement Ogden! How many rule sets have you got on the market right now? Be interesting to see how you work.

I find SB to be a fun set, it is beer and pretzels to me (I wouldn't play it to have a serious game – but fun none the less), as you would imagine I like my own set, but also enjoyed played OTT, trench and am always will to try other sets.
Shawn

Personally I dont like square based games but my wargameing friends tell me that Sq B gives a superb feel for mid war trench war games.

Alice,

try 20mm scale IRREGULAR MINIATURES (York, UK) Great War minis with their fast-play battalion-level rules "THE DEVIL IS HERE!" TDIH! is a spin-off of their highly enjoyable one-page rules for the Spanish Civil War ("Que?"). They make some nice figures, 20mm scale is also know to us model builders as *1/72 scale,* so there's all sorts of white metal, plastic, and resin model kits out there as well for the period, ranging from aircraft to artillery to tanks to armoured cars and even a train!

Many figure manufacturers make 20mm scale WW1 figures, including IT FIGURES and TUMBLING DICE, both of which are simply excellent for variety and detail. TD even makes US doughboys in Adrian helmets and French kit and weapons for the all-black 367th US infantry regiment (aka "Harlem Hellfighters"). REVIRESCO (Washington, USA) makes a sizeable range of civilian and military and civilian vehicles, troops, artillery, and AFVs in 1/72 scale white metal for the period as well.

As WW1 troops and equipment can also be easily adapted to some of the later inter-war conflicts, the versatility of the scale and period is consderable to say the least!

Hope this all helps! :D

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

I've gone with 10mm as I find 15mm looks a bit 'Napoleonic' for WW1 while 6mm is a bit too small for me to see what they are. I have a division a side based for Square Bashing with the option of switching to GWSH. I've retained the fullsize bases (i.e. intended for 15mm figures).

I'm hoping to finish off my armies today so I haven't actually used them yet, but I have played a RCW game using SB and it works well as a game, especially if you expect to play against people who don't have any particular familiarity with a particular set of rules.

Richard

There was a really cool article in one of the latest WI with some fairly simple yet brutal trench raiding rules for 28mm which even had templates of trenches to color copy. The figures in the article looked so nice that I am looking at getting some 28mm figures & building some 3D modular trenches. Having said that, there are some really nice 20mm ranges out there and a whole swag of resin & metal vehicles to drain the bank account, but that, I believe is a whole new thread…..

Hi All

Just moving into this period my self. I have chosed 10mm [I have some of the very nice Magister Militum] for very large scale action and 20mm for the rest. 28mm just seams too large and are quite costly for anything beyond a basic squad trench raid and 15mm seamed to give little advantage over 10mm for what I wanted to do.

Not decided on rules yet but as I am looking mostly at early war and also 1850 to 1900 European gaming I am thinking of adapting the General De Brigade based sets "Warfare in the Age of Steam" and the 19 Century version of the Gattlings Jammed when it comes out later this year.

Kelvin

Oh forgot, the 20mm figures are Tumbling Dice. I got several of their starter packs this weekend. Nice selection of figures and enough to get you started for a particular side/toop type.

Kelvin

Well, it depends on what size battle you want to play. I prefer 20-28mm myself, as they are easier for me to paint. I currently have 2 WW1 rulesets: Trench Wars (explicitly billed as Western Front 1916-1918). It is designed for 25/28mm, where one mini represents one soldier, and they are "fast play". The included scenarios are pretty troop heavy, but the Old Glory Army Card helps take some of the bite out of the cost The game is typically played at company level, or above in really large games.

The other set I own is Iron Ivan's Price of Glory rules. These rules play pretty much like their other rule systems, but the scale is more platoon based, and the rules are a bit more complicated/sophisticated than Trench Wars. You can also use either ruleset with 15mm figures, and guidelines are included in both, I believe.

So, it comes down to what level of troops you want to play, and how many of the little s you want to paint! Some of the above named rules are bigger in scope (battalions/division/corps), and use one mini/stand to represent several troops. If you can, you should attend Cold Wars and watch, or join in on one of the several games going on, as it's always better to see how a ruleset plays IRL. Hope that helps!

Oh, and for minis, you could look at Old Glory, Renegade (which has some really nice minis), Great War, Brigade Games, & Foundry (which are insaely expensive). Everybody has an opinion on the "best" minis for the game, but my suggsetion is to go surfing to the different manufacturers, and see which ones you like the look of, and who has the most complete line for what you need, and most importantly, cost, and availibility in your area.