Slitherine

Possum - Thank you for the tip but I think I will stick with Alexandrian Macs for now. I just have more of an interest in that period and I think thats going to help when putting the army together and doing some more background reading.

For figures have a look at Essex Miniatures. Plenty to choose from and easy to paint.

Mark

Well weavil, You are now as confused as I am.

I have been absent from Wargaming for 15 years or so and coming back gives you such a massive amount of decisions it becomes mind-boggling.

I am fortunate enough to have kept most of my 15mm figures so am setting about re-structuring and re-basing as needed.

I would say take these points into consideration by order.

1----Pick an Army that you have some interest or affinity with.

2----Take into account your personal painting ability.

3---If amount of cheap troops involved in said Army is high then take the depth of your pockets into account.

4---Don`t be put off by Armies that are "Hard to use" Your proficiency will improve, Just expect to loose a few games.

5---Always remember you are in it for fun.

All the best mate.

Terry.

Spartacus - I agree picking an army your interested in is pretty key. I'm just getting back into gaming again to, I've picked up a warhammer army but found it doesn't have the appeal it did in my youth. Looking forward to getting a historical army going.

Painting wise I'm no wiz but I'm not going to let that stop me. I would prefer not to be painting hordes of figures though so might stick to smaller armies for that reason.

Tiswas - The Essex miniatures seem to be a bit less stylised than the xyston minis. I still prefer the xyston ones though. I would be interested to know if they mix well together?

Another question:
Are there any armies that lend themselves to using a wide range of troops and have a number of successful builds?

weavil wrote: Another question:
Are there any armies that lend themselves to using a wide range of troops and have a number of successful builds?

There are lots of armies that have a wide range of troops. I was pleasantly surprised by how well the Nikephorian Byzantines worked in Usk at the weekend and am now keen to buy a Byzantine army of some type.

You might want to check out the http://www.ancient-modern.co.uk website as they are in the process of uploading pictures of their entire range and will have them all there in the next week or two.

Spartacus wrote:Well weavil, You are now as confused as I am.

I have been absent from Wargaming for 15 years or so and coming back gives you such a massive amount of decisions it becomes mind-boggling.

I am fortunate enough to have kept most of my 15mm figures so am setting about re-structuring and re-basing as needed.

I would say take these points into consideration by order.

1----Pick an Army that you have some interest or affinity with.

2----Take into account your personal painting ability.

3---If amount of cheap troops involved in said Army is high then take the depth of your pockets into account.

4---Don`t be put off by Armies that are "Hard to use" Your proficiency will improve, Just expect to loose a few games.

5---Always remember you are in it for fun.

All the best mate.

Terry.

Starting again after 15 years has got to be easier than starting from scratch for the first time, which is where I find myself. And not being able to find any FoG players any closer than 100 miles away doesn't help. But I'm doing it anyway!

It's just a slow process, and being a total beginner in a hobby where the level of assumed knowledge is very high makes it all the more difficult.

Well I have more questions, thanks all who have offered up advice so far it's been very useful and much appreciated.

The 'Immortal Fire' book arrived to day and I have been looking at the Macedonian starter army as a launching point. However I can't quite figure out which figures to use for the Agema, I thought they were infantry but they are listed as cavalry so I guess I must be wrong there. Should I be using companion cavalry figures for these?

Also what sort of points level is usual for freindly club games?

Possum - I know how you feel it's a step learning curve but worth it I think. Just trying to get my head round all the troop names is a challenge let alone the rules. I feel I need a history degree but it's all very interesting.

weavil wrote:Well I have more questions, thanks all who have offered up advice so far it's been very useful and much appreciated.

The 'Immortal Fire' book arrived to day and I have been looking at the Macedonian starter army as a launching point. However I can't quite figure out which figures to use for the Agema, I thought they were infantry but they are listed as cavalry so I guess I must be wrong there. Should I be using companion cavalry figures for these?

Also what sort of points level is usual for freindly club games?

For Agema in a Macedonian army I would use companions and perhaps paint them a bit more brightly with more purple in their clothes.

You are right though that the Agema are infantry in some armies. IIRC Agema is the Greek term for what we would know as guards.

Starting with just a starter army is not a bad plan. If you do I would play on a 5 by 3 table rather than 6 by 4 but it makes for a good game.

At my club most games are 800 or 900 points depending on what the next tournament is going to be.

We started learning with starter armies, and now play 650 point games, still on small table (5x3 or even 4x3 for armies that aren't mostly mounted.) It takes a while to get the games finished in three or four hours, but the rules are definitely worth taking the time to get to know.