Help and recommendation needed

[Paratrooper 42]

Wow, that's a lot of information to take in.  Thanks for the contributions.

I will read and reply later if that's ok with everyone, still at work at present.

[Paratrooper 42]

Well that was an interesting read, full of information.

To be honest it's led me to the conclusion that Fantasy probably isn't for me.  It seems overly complicated and open to loads of enterpretation/opinion.

I think I prefer something with more 'boundaries', like my previous WW2 gaming where uniform information, orbats etc. are known and understood (mostly).

But thanks for the input from everyone - it got me to a decsion at least. 

[Hobgoblin]

Sorry that we've put you off! 

One last suggestion, though, if you were looking something more regimented: Hordes of the Things.

It's not a skirmish game but an element-based rank-and-flank one (essentially fantasy DBA). But it does use a similar number of figures to most 'large skirmish' games - typically 30 to 40 a side. And it is widely played and popular, despite the rules being almost unchanged over 30+ years.

It's played in many scales, but 15mm (40mm frontages) and 20-28mm (60mm frontages) are the most popular. The basing is pretty much a standard for many similar games.

What makes me think it might suit you is that it has a long list of armies at the back, inspired by various books and mythologies. These aren't prescriptive; you can make your armies in any way you like, as long as the 'special' types like heroes, wizards and giant monsters don't make up more than half the force. But they do give you a clear starting point and guidelines for assembling armies of dwarfs, goblins, elves or whatever.

Because the armies are small in figure count, you can put them together quite quickly (and cheaply, especially in 15mm, which is probably the most widespread scale). And the game itself is excellent; the fact that it's still widely played with negligible rule changes since its first edition is as close as you can get to proof of that.

Anyway, just a thought - and good luck with your future projects!

[has.been]

Hordes of the Things has some useful ideas.
Lurkers   allows you to have ambushes with little organizational hassle.
Sneakers  Lets a few Hobbits skip past masses of Orcs etc.
Hordes    Kill the first wave & it comes back as the second, third etc.
               Very useful if you don't want to paint thousands of undead,
               goblins, etc.

The magic (in my opinion) is the weak spot, as it is treated as if it was
a kind of artillery.