New to historicals, need advice on systems and figures

[vintagephreak]

Hi! After years of fantasy wargaming I would like to try the non-fantasy versions...
So I need advice on which system or set of rules to use for games set in the era of either:

The earlier crusades
The hundred years' war
The thirty years' war

28mm is the scale I'd prefer, and I also need advice on miniature ranges/companies
that best suit the respective eras. I have been pointed toward Pike&Shotte and Foundry/Perrys miniatures which all look good.

Any input appreciated.

Cheers,
Martin

[joroas]

Cheapest army at the moment are an ECW/TYW army from Warlord, Maelstrom will do a cheap army box of them, after that is Perry's Wars of the Roses with a third plastic box due soon.  Perrys also have a nice range for the HYW and Crusades.

Rules are a bit more personal and often expensive.   There are a lot of free sets to get your teeth into out there.  In terms of getting a game, is there a local club that you could watch?

Take a look through the threads on this site, lots of advice and ideas.

[Calimero]

Front Rank also have a nice selection of HYW figures

[traveller]

The earlier crusades - Perry Miniatures
The hundred years' war - Perry and Front Rank
The thirty years' war - Perry, Warlord and some of the Old Glory packs. If you like a bit bigger figures, Renegade and Redoubt have fine ranges

[Ragnar]

Rules; agreed that there are many choices out there.  I would though vote for at least a look at the Black Powder/Hail Caesar family, with the ECW supplement almost out and presumably other periods in the pipe, I think the system is reasonably easy to pick up yet fun and challenging.

[joroas]

I had thought of the BP sets, not just for the rules, but for the information and ideas.  They are available very cheaply from Amazon.

[H.M.Stanley]

Such a huge topic really [even confined to those three periods] and entirely subjective. Depends on your budget, time available, how much you like painting etc

My advice, for what its worth, is just pick the army that interests you the most and try to do both sides unless you have a gaming-buddy who is as keen as you are on the same period.

I've been through the WAB process (incl the ECW variant) and would now recommend BP. As i said, its very subjective as to what you want out of a game [Warning: unless you can combine figures with others, you'd need quite a lot of figures for BP unless you used very small looking units]

Have fun whatever you chose

[joroas]

It is quite easy to play BP with a smaller army, you just need to lower the unit sizes.

[vintagephreak]

Thanks for the advice! Btw, does BP gameplay and rules differ widely from Warhammer given its (GW) authors? And is it 100% playable with a smaller no. of models, or mainly meant for large-scale games?

[joroas]

They are very different games, but I have played BP with 6 or so 20 men units and they work well. 

[H.M.Stanley]

BP - i'd say you'd need 8 -12 units (per side) to have a decent game. Of course, the unit size is your choice while you're building up your armies. Its your game 

One of the nice things about BP imo is that you don't remove individual figures, unlike WAB and its spin offs

We're having a BP/Napoleonic bash at Maestrom tomo

[Ragnar]

I have played HC where 4 commanders had 4 units of 12 each plus skirmishers and I thought it still worked well and gave you some tactical challenges.

BP/HC do not count individual figures for combat, shooting or casualties, the unit is taken as a whole.  Movement is also more liberal.  Gameplay itself can be quite quick, I have played some BP games were a decision was reached surprisingly quickly.

[vintagephreak]

  In terms of getting a game, is there a local club that you could watch?

Local club is rubbish, just 40K players with no love for proper paint or scenery...

[joroas]

Martin,

Whereabouts are you, there is likely a member of the forum near who could give you a hand with rules, figures, uniforms, histories, etc.?

John

[vintagephreak]

Martin,

Whereabouts are you, there is likely a member of the forum near who could give you a hand with rules, figures, uniforms, histories, etc.?

John

Hi John,

I live in Trondheim, Norway. Is there a member location search function on the forum?

Martin