I have become a rules caddy. Life has prevented me from really getting any gaming in. I did almost finish painting a 6mm SumerIan DbA force. The car accident I was in messed up the pikemen's pikes. I fractured my right hand in two places and sustained a traumatic Brain injury. My wargaming hobby has been put on hold for the last month. The only thing I can do is read rules.
It has given me some perspective on gaming goals. Typically I have at leat three gaming ideas at once. One of them is always ww2. I have gone through several government sanctioned streamlining programs. I made a corporate decision to only deal in 6mm models. I gave myself some political breathing room by allowing some kick backs in the 15mm arena. But for the most part I am solely a 6mm man.
DbA is going to be a keeper for me. I was introduced to it by a really nice guy at a hobby town UsA. I loved the simplicity of the rules. I had plans for a Mongolian army in 20 mm but we parted wayS. The great thing about 6mm is that you can build a force for $20 - $60. My 6mm SumerIan army pack from irregular was about $35. It gave me enough models to make the SumerIan force and a good start on an Elam force and a Zagros highlander army.
I also have a baccus 6mm Greek army pack in the mail. That will hopefully give me a later hoplite Thessalian and an Athenian army. I have plans for a Theban and Spartan force. I want to eventually branch out into DbMM. That is a great set of rules.
Ww2 has several options. I have some 15mm plastic soldier company American infantry. I also have some ghq German DaK infantry, heavy weapons and a few half tracks. I could go the bolt action rules in 15mm or Crossfire in 6mm route. I have gotten into the close combat pc game model lately. I used to play close combat 3 all the time back in the day. Naturally I want to reflect that in my wargaming endeavors. The 1:1 scale is definitely what i am into. I saw someone do flames of war in 6mm. It looked really cool.
The more i consider this decision the more perplexed i becoMe. I like Crossfire but bolt action is a really nice system. All of the rules and the supplements are pretty cheap in the Amazon Kindle bookstore. I bought the Italy and Axis supplement. I consider myself a Italian ww2 history buff. The interest started when the original Flames of war italian army book came out. I am not sure what intrigued me but i have kept the fires burning. I do not know everything about Italy during the war. I just enjoy it aS a subject. The supplement has a infantry squad based on the Italian navy'S marines. I had no idea Italy had these San Marco marines.
I have to decide to do Crossfire or Bolt Action. My basING plans for 6mm are on the team level. One small FoW base would have 3 DaK infantry and one LmG gunner. 6 bases of these guys and three pennies with 2 models on them is a platoon. the penny bases are squad leaders. So two bases of 4 men and a penny base with two men make one squad of 10 men.
Bolt Action is based differently. One model would be mounted on one penny. The BaR team is a bigger 3 man base. My bazooka team is mounted on a team base too. My 2nd Lt is on a 25mm base. This is to set him apart on the table. The general rule is infantry men are on single bases. Weapons teamS are based together.
I wish I had photos. Given my injuries I am unable to do photos.
To be honest I like both rule sets for different reasons.
My next (and final) rules decision is Sci fi. I like epic Armageddon and dirtside 2. I am leaning more towards dirtside 2 because the basing is by team and a unit of infantry is a squad. Epic'S units become more brittle the smaller they are. I always wanted to leave a detachment behind to defend something. Anything separated from the main unit body is destroyed. You could house rule this but the fact is a four stand unit will be ripped to shreds. Dirtside 2 lets you leave a squad behind with no loss in combat power.
Epic has no system to make units. Dirtside lets you design every unit. One thing I look for in a Sci fi or fantasy game is the ability to create your own units.
I have created my own Sci fi universe. I based all the factions off of the epic army lists. I will say they have no comparison with their 40k brethren. I looked at the army lists and made up my own stories. I think it is fairly unique. That will be for another post.
There you have it. I really like ww2 and ancients as wargaming eras. Secondary eras include Sci fi, fantasy and black powder / horse and musket (30 years war, American War of Independence and the French and Indian wars). I am glad I came to terms with wargaming periods.
