Slitherine

Something that i do not understand, where do you get units, is it a game in which you have pieces?
where can you get these pieces

Those are just some questions that i would like to have answered please, thanks

If I understand this right you are asking questions as someone new to wargaming...excuse m therefore if I have got that wrong and stated something obvious.

The "pieces" in msot wargames are bases with a few metal military figures on it from the period in question painted in historical colours. A "unit" is a group of these. We term this a BG in AOW becuase a single block in the game represents several historical units under a single junior general. Check out www.BHGS.co.uk for a number of links to figure manufacturers and pictures of games in action.

Simon

Try this url. It links to the files page on a wargaming site on which lots of people have posted pics. In effect you buy lead soldiers and use them, after painting, in the game. On average my armies are about 280 figures, some are a lot bigger, some a great deal smaller. So it can take a fair amount of time and effort, or cash if someone else paints, to get your army on the gaming table.

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/dbmlist/files/

Even better go to the "How does it look? Find out" post on page 2 of this forum to see a game and the units deployed

phil

Trying for a longer answer than the others.

Art of War is a set of miniature wargame rules. It is intended to be played with scale miniatures representing the various troops of antiquity. The game can be played with just card bases and no figures but it looses a lot of the visual appeal of a wargame and this would not be allowed in a competitive arena, as a means to learn the game though it is fine.

Miniatures are available in various sizes (essentially height in mm) and there are dozens of manufacturers to choose from. Most of these figures are cast in lead alloys and sold unpainted

The largest comonly used size is 28mm (the same size as Games Workshop fantasy figures),
The next smaller scale is 25mm, this used to be the most common scale and most 25mm figures are older models
In the last 5 or so years there has been a huge growth in the availability of 20mm plastic figures. These are like the old Airfix or Revell figures you may remember but there are hundreds of different set available (www.plasticsoldierreview.com) lists and reviews all the known sets.
The most popular scale is 15mm and there are thousands of different figures to choose from. Major manufacturers include Essex miniatures, Old Glory and Xyston.
If you want smaller figures there are companies that make 10mm, 6mm and even 2mm miniatures. Massed smaller figures on the same base sizes as 15 or 25mm figures look very good.

Price wise the cheapest are the 20mm plastics, then 15mm and 25/28mm.

If you are looking to get into miniature wargaming there are often people selling second hand painted figures either on ebay or at bring and buys sales at wargames shows.

An army will be made up of perhaps 2-300 figures. Some players have just one army, other (like me) have dozens...

Hope that helps

Hammy

On a related issue, I have terminology suggestion. From reading the sample army lists, it appears that AoW has continued the DBA/DBM practice of referring to a single base of figures as an "element." In those rules systems, each individual base is treated as a discrete tactical unit, so referring to it as an "element" makes a certain amount of sense, although I personally always found it a bit "arch." Now, AoW has reintroduced the practice of grouping several bases into multi-base units (BGs) - for which I am eternally grateful. Given that, wouldn't it make sense to take the next logical step by dropping the potentially confusing term "element," and simply referring to "bases" (or "stands") in the rules?

I realize that the sample army lists may be a bit out of date, so I apologize for my redundancy if this change has already been made for more recent versions of AoW.

Cheers,
Scott K.

I am pretty sure that the rules and lists now only refer to bases and not elements. When you read reports and such you need to bear in mind that a lot of the testers are DBM players so terms like element and bound creep in to the posts.

ars_belli wrote:I realize that the sample army lists may be a bit out of date.

They are. The term "element" is no longer used in the rules or lists - "base" is used instead.

rbodleyscott wrote:The term "element" is no longer used in the rules or lists - "base" is used instead.

Ahhh... that is excellent news!