How did you decide which army to play?

Probert · Post by **Probert** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 5:22 pm

Just a question, how did you decide which army to play/model?

After I got the rules, read them and liked them I decided to embark on a sort of stupid scheme.

I will purchase each new rule book. I will assign each army list a number and then pull nembers out of a hat. I will build and paint the randomly generated army for each book. Each new army will begin with the minimum required core troops. After I have completed an army from one of the books I will randomly draw another army from that book as an opposition force and I will paint up that one too.

I have already started to paint up the Later Carthaginian Army from Rise of Rome. The randomness gave me a great army to start with.

Awaiting paint on my table is a Medieval Swedish Army from Storm of Arrows. Interesting because I know nothing about Med. Swedish Armies, so I will have fun learning about the subject while I paint them up.

whitehorses · Post by **whitehorses** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 6:50 pm

Initial idea was something Roman, 100YW English or Feudal English.
Trouble is, 100YW is hard but titchy, am waiting until the Imperial Roman lists come out in June, & Feudal English won't be out until this time next year.
So took another long look at the Storm of Arrows & liked the look of the Conquest of Grenada Spanish army. Pity there's a dearth of quality late Spanish figs about though, the only really decent ones are from Venexia. V. few books on Spanish heraldry either

NealSmith · Post by **NealSmith** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 7:10 pm

Everyone else had Romans already...

MadBanker · Post by **MadBanker** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 8:25 pm

I am a huge fan of the Hellenistic period and of the post 166BC Seleucids in particular for the sheer flair of the troops (come on... Phalanx glittering of gold and silver in the sun, cataphracts with gold trappings, armoured elephants as richly adorned as the cavalry! What's not to like?

) . So I decided to start a Late Seleucid army and as I like playing solo or initiating friends I will also do some historical opponents for them (I have already Late Ptolemaics, Mid Republican Romans and the Parthians will soon be on their way!)

KingHassan · Post by **KingHassan** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:07 pm

I always try to build armies with as many historical opponents and research sources as possible.

babyshark · Post by **babyshark** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 9:41 pm

I picked Later Seleucids because they were my first DBM army (first miniatures army of any type, in fact) and it seemed appropriate that they should start off this rules set as well. I need some more figures to make the army what it needs to be (or, more accurately, to match my present understanding of what it needs to be) in FoG, so I have commissioned those.

For future armies, I will will pick whatever strikes my fancy at the time. Usually this means that I will find an army that fits my current notion of either strong or interesting tactics.

Marc

rbodleyscott · Post by **rbodleyscott** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:34 pm

Play them all. Obviously.

Phaze_of_the_Moon · Post by **Phaze_of_the_Moon** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 10:48 pm

My criteria were:

- Competitive
- Morphable/Reusable
- Colourful

I picked Khurasanians. I made the decision under DBM 3.0 with 3.1 on the horizon, so they're semi-competive under 3.0, and (I guessed correctly) they are competitive under 3.1 (though they'd need a full Dailami ally to be top tier). They have Arab light horse, Dailami infantry, and Indian bow, all very reusable, and the Turko-Iranian cavalry and spearmen fit a number of armies. There are no uniforms here, bright colours abound, and there are even a couple of ellies.

I suspect they'll do okay under FoG when a list comes out.

RyanDG · Post by **RyanDG** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:42 pm

rbodleyscott wrote:Play them all. Obviously.

Very sound advice. Its part of the reason why I have so many 15mm DBA armies. I never could decide on just one and the number of figures needed for armies were perfect for building up a small fortune in lead miniatures before you even knew what you were doing.

For FOG I've been a bit more 'strategic' about it all. I currently took a couple of my favorite DBA armies and have begun to expand their ranks. Fortunately, I've found that some of them are even more capable in FOG than they were in DBA (and DBM respectively). This is especially true about my LH bow armed ranks (Parthians in particular) who now have the ability to perform some impressive feats of valor and serve very close to how I would imagine they would historically perform (much to the chagrin of my easily annoyed opponent).

I'm only a handful of Cataphracts and Horse archers away from being done with the 15mm all horse army at a couple of different point values, so I can't wait to get it on the field for the first time when they are all painted. Currently my side has looked fairly shallow with only sporadic miniatures and the rest being empty bases.

Draka · Post by **Draka** » Tue Apr 22, 2008 11:44 pm

While in the US Army I was stationed on Taiwan. During that time, I became highly interested in the entire (at that time rarely taught) history of the Chinese people, and especially the beginnings of their culture during the Han Dynasty. I was a boardgame wargamer in my youth - during that same period in Taiwan I was introduced to ancient miniature wargaming. I bought a lot of Han/Hsiung-nu figures and was painting/mounting them for WRG 6th/7th when a combination of moving and D&D hitting the market caused a lack of opponents. I am now digging out and re-painting/mounting that army for FoG - in 25mm. Unfortunately, all my local opponents are 16mm, so ......

Brainsnaffler · Post by **Brainsnaffler** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:10 am

Well, having only very lightly dabbled in DBA (with a crusades army), I was well out of the ancients scene until I caught wind of FOG. It looked amazing and as all newby people will probably be want to do, I looked forward to making an imperial roman army.

When rise to rome came out and I did more research, I realised I liked the look of the Carthaginians instead - this worked out good as my friend was frantic to do a roman army - imperial or republic. So, my mind was in a way made up for me - Carthaginians all the way.

Now I have made this decision, I am very happy with the army and look forward to playing my first game this Sunday. Hopefully, from watching / taking part - more of my friends will become interested. I would love to set up a rise of rome campaign.

Future armies I would like would probably be either Scythians, Macedonians, Persians or Spartans.

I like the look of a lot of the lists, but some of the less famous ones would be a nightmare to research I think!

meledward23 · Post by **meledward23** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 11:55 am

I read the books and drool over my options. I then decide on one. As I locate the lead for it, I start to think one of the one's I didn't choose might be better. I go back to the books and drool some more. As I make my second selection and start to research the lead again. After a few months of this process, I usually find someone who wants to quit and I buy their army.

(Whilst almost entirely true, I do typically end up buying unpainted lead at some point in that dialogue).

NicktheLemming · Post by **NicktheLemming** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 2:46 pm

I toyed with the idea of a Yorkist WOTR army (I'm from Yorkshire), but settled on an English HYW army (I'm a PhD student of medieval studies, centred on the Angevin / Plantagenet 'empire', though not a military historian, I hasten to add).

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 3:56 pm

NicktheLemming wrote:I toyed with the idea of a Yorkist WOTR army (I'm from Yorkshire), but settled on an English HYW army (I'm a PhD student of medieval studies, centred on the Angevin / Plantagenet 'empire', though not a military historian, I hasten to add).

You may know that the Lancastrian cause was particularly strong in Yorkshire.

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 5:25 pm

Indeed it was far more of a north/south divide than Lancashire/Yorkshire, although Yorkshire around York became quite pro-Yorkist when Richard of Gloucester was up there for Edward IV.

NicktheLemming · Post by **NicktheLemming** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 10:21 pm

Quintus wrote:
NicktheLemming wrote:I toyed with the idea of a Yorkist WOTR army (I'm from Yorkshire), but settled on an English HYW army (I'm a PhD student of medieval studies, centred on the Angevin / Plantagenet 'empire', though not a military historian, I hasten to add).
You may know that the Lancastrian cause was particularly strong in Yorkshire.

Oh, I know, but no true Yorkshireman would ever have a Lancastrian army.

Brainsnaffler · Post by **Brainsnaffler** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:38 am

Yay! Yorkshire! I'm from South Yorkshire myself. I agree, definately no Lancastrian forces for us Yorkshire wargamers

Scrumpy · Post by **Scrumpy** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 11:50 am

I went for the old maxim of 'pick an army you can love even when it keeps on loosing', one that has kept me sane for years.

MarkSieber · Post by **MarkSieber** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:42 pm

I went for the old maxim of 'pick an army you can love even when it keeps on loosing', one that has kept me sane for years.

I started this way, too! ...and I'm still losing. I now (after several decades) have four or five armies, which morph and are added to with each rules change. If a particular army doesn't 'grab' you, I suggest trying out various armies with paper counters, lest you end up painting one that doesn't fit your personality or historical bent.

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 1:07 pm

In my time playing DBM I started with a few armies I bought many years ago and gradually added to them as I saw things on Bring and Buys or mates sold old armies. I also had a few tings painted to order and painted a little stuff myself.

My sequence now goes:

Look through the lists and see what tickles my fancy
See if I can reasonably field it from what I have
Try it at the club
If I like it try it at a comp
If I still like it keep my eye out for new stuff to improve the presentation of the army.

Another alternative is:

Play against an army at a comp and think "hmm, that seems interesting"
Develop my own list from the army in question
See if I can reasonably field it from what I have
Try it at the club
If I like it try it at a comp
If I still like it keep my eye out for new stuff to improve the presentation of the army.

Many of my more successful DBM armies came from the second method although in the case of the two most effective the list I ended up with was very different to the list I fought against.