DBA(or HotT) yes or no?

[Barry S]

A mate and myself have played DBA for years and really enjoy it. I also own HotT and even though I’ve only recently played my first game, which was great, I have built several HotT armies over the years.

I tend to collect and game using historical match-ups. I’ve also built up a few armies using the various DBA period variants such as armies for the F&IW and the Zulu War. With the exception of my HotT Stone and Ant armies, I tend to base my HotT armies around my Historical DBA armies adding elements such as the red dragon of Uther and a Merlin (magician element) to my Sub-Roman British DBA army.

I quite like DBA and HotT as I tend to get board painting large armies and I am also on a limited budget so the small size of the armies and elements need suit me fine. I also lean more to the painting and terrain aspect of the hobby rather than the gaming side.

[grubman]

OK, I ordered HotT (again ).  This time I'll give it more of a chance, paint up 2 or 4 armies and start hitting people up to give it a try. 

Question:  Are there any recomendations of mini sellers that sell HotT army "packages".  In other words, complete armies for various forces, without having to pick and poke around and buy everything individually?  Hopefully these include the bases for the various elements.  I also would LIKE a USA distributor, but I know how difficut that is.  I also need to pay by paypal.

Thanks

[grubman]

Of course now I'm having the same internal debate as the last time I considered this game...15mm or 28mm.  I personally like the idea of 15mm, but if I ever want to get other people to play armies that THEY have put together and painted,28mm is probably a better bet.  Of course, if I go 28mm then there is going to be a direct comparison to Warhammer Fantasy Battles, where a HotT army might not look so impressive on the table side by side. *sigh*

[Luthaaren Von Tegale]

You've probably already thought of this but just in case - when I got DBA and HOTT soon after they first came out  I didn't know what armies to go for.
My solution was to cut out the bases from card, write the unit type on it and then try out several different armies using just the card bases and no figures. It doesn't look too good, but to check you like the rules before investing in the figures I think it's worth it.
The problem I had was that I ended up with dozens of card "armies" and never bought any figures for the game.

You could try this as an intro game to get other players interested - maybe use some paper figures on the bases to make more visual game?

vT

[Matakakea]

Grubman.
15mm.co.uk (a division of Alternative Armies) do some nice packs of ready made HoTT armies, complete with pre-cut plastic bases. I have their two Dogmen armies and am quite pleased with how they turned out.

Matakakea.

[matakishi]

Of course now I'm having the same internal debate as the last time I considered this game...15mm or 28mm.  I personally like the idea of 15mm, but if I ever want to get other people to play armies that THEY have put together and painted,28mm is probably a better bet.  Of course, if I go 28mm then there is going to be a direct comparison to Warhammer Fantasy Battles, where a HotT army might not look so impressive on the table side by side. *sigh*

You are at liberty to have huge armies so long as you have a sub general for each 24 points.
Anyway, it plays a lot better than Warhammer whichever option you choose.

[grubman]

Grubman.
15mm.co.uk (a division of Alternative Armies) do some nice packs of ready made HoTT armies, complete with pre-cut plastic bases. I have their two Dogmen armies and am quite pleased with how they turned out.

Matakakea.

I just discovered that site this morning, but didn't poke around too much.  Now that I have I'm excited about picking up some of those armies.

I also saw a bunch of other interesting things I didn't know existed.  Are the Age of Might and Steel rules any good?  How about the Alien Squad Leader ones?

[grubman]

pre-cut plastic bases

Are those bases as thin and flimsy as they look?  I sort of like bases with a little meat (thickness) on them that lie flat.

[Overlord]

A couple of Yahoo Groups that may be of interest:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/HOTT/ 
A very busy, friendly group of players with endless advice, if required.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aliensquadleader/
A smaller but nontheless friendly group, moderated by the rules author who is more than happy to answer any queries.

ASQL might well be viewed as a Sci-Fi half-brother of HotT.  A similar basing sytem and rules structure to HotT/DBx, using a number of generic army lists that allow you to create (if you desire) tabletop armies from TV, film and literature.  The second edition of the rules has been out for about a year.

I have just 2 armies so far, a generic Mechanoid army and a Stargate Systemlord army.  An enjoyable set of rules, but I dont get to play it very often, with just one local opponent.