Starting out in ww2 28mm

[HothJim]

Hello,
Apologies for the newb question. I'm finally getting started with ww2 in 28mm. I'll be using chain of command and bolt action rules. Not quite sure on the minis yet, Warlord most likely due to price and some nice army deals. However, I don't want to buy into one of these deals and find I'm limited when it comes to opponents, or options for expansion.
Not sure which army or units to go with. Early war, late war? Desert rats, winter clothing? Axis, Allies? I appreciate there is no one size fits all model, but I would welcome a few thoughts from those who have gone through the same decision making process.
Cheers,
Jim.

[Morgan]

An unusual answer, perhaps, and I'm not well-educated in what is available in 28mm (I do Chain of Command in 1/72 myself) but picking Italians might be an interesting choice. Simply because there are occasions of them fighting everyone: British, Americans, French, Germans, Greeks, Russians ...

[HothJim]

An unusual answer, perhaps, and I'm not well-educated in what is available in 28mm (I do Chain of Command in 1/72 myself) but picking Italians might be an interesting choice. Simply because there are occasions of them fighting everyone: British, Americans, French, Germans, Greeks, Russians ...

An interesting shout, Morgan! I know little about the Italian force so would be a learning curve. I imagine they have desert troops, and everyone else, would need to research this.
Cheers.
Iim.

[Truscott Trotter]

I too made the leap from 15mm FOW to 28mm CoC and BA last year
I went with Soviets and Germans on the basis that I could use the core troops and equipment of all 3 periods of the war - giving me the most bang for my buck. Now both armies are near capacity I am doing my indulgence army Brit Paras
I think you could do soemthing similar with Brits  as well

[Rob_bresnen]

I did German paratroopers (Fallschirmjaggers) as they fought everywhere. You can use FJ in crete, Africa, Normandy, the battle of the bulge, Russia, Italy. And even in fictional what if campaigns like Operation Sealion

[HothJim]

I was keen on FJ too, Rob, but my mate beat me to it!

Soviets looking like a good fit. Thanks for the pointers guys- this is exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for. Off to my local gaming store tomorrow to see what is available.

Cheers,
Jim.

[Gunner Dunbar]

If your looking force something a little more exotic try Romanians, they fought the Russians early, then the Germans later, I use them in CoC, and they do fairly well, big squads that can take and give out damage, and fun to paint, I prefer 1/72 myself, and endless amount of figs and vehicle in this scale and ranges fell better.

[Kelgtar]

Hey Jim

I started out buying 28mm ww2 mini's when I even had no opponents, no network and no experience. But I loved the models so much ...

Since I was interested in Operation Barbarossa, I decided to make myself 2 armies, one Soviet and one German. I bought the first minis from Black Tree Design. Now things have changed ... I've bought rulesets and found me some opponents to play against. The fact that I have two armies who started out on a cheap budget but have now expanded, I have the opportunity to have a quick game at home against friends not interested in the hobby or just myself or my son. At all depends offcourse if you are keen on playing tournaments or not (I'm not)

Just think what period and what campaign interests you the most of world war 2. Build your force(s) around that. I started out with 1941 Operation Barbarossa, which makes my German army an early war one (so no cats as tanks). But I can use my German army for the invasion of Poland and France also.

Now I have expanded to late war (battle of the bulge).

I would say welcome to the hobby, just research, think and maybe just buy the models you think are cool looking and work your way around that.

[HothJim]

Hey Jim

I started out buying 28mm ww2 mini's when I even had no opponents, no network and no experience. But I loved the models so much ...

Since I was interested in Operation Barbarossa, I decided to make myself 2 armies, one Soviet and one German. I bought the first minis from Black Tree Design. Now things have changed ... I've bought rulesets and found me some opponents to play against. The fact that I have two armies who started out on a cheap budget but have now expanded, I have the opportunity to have a quick game at home against friends not interested in the hobby or just myself or my son. At all depends offcourse if you are keen on playing tournaments or not (I'm not)

Just think what period and what campaign interests you the most of world war 2. Build your force(s) around that. I started out with 1941 Operation Barbarossa, which makes my German army an early war one (so no cats as tanks). But I can use my German army for the invasion of Poland and France also.

Now I have expanded to late war (battle of the bulge).

I would say welcome to the hobby, just research, think and maybe just buy the models you think are cool looking and work your way around that.

Some sound advice, thanks. Your approach is very much along the same lines of how I wargame in general. My fantasy armies have been what I have liked the look of and what I thought would be good fun. My historical stuff, SAGA and Dead Man's Hand, are down to a love of the period. I can see now that it would make sense to break ww2 down into manageable chunks and go with a particular operation, and/or set of figures that I like the look of. I have some fantasy bits from Black Tree Design, pleasing on the eye.

Cheers,
Jim.

[Sir_Theo]

Spund advice from Kelgtar. I've collected a couple of small 28mm ww2 armies, mostly with nothing more than a vague "these will be north west europ based, late war"

However after a trip to Belgium/Holland I decided to collect a Canadian force specifically from he Scheldt campaign.  Having that focus really helped wih model choice.

Then again it's handy to have some more generic forces. My Germans were specifically meant to be able to be used in most European campaigns post D Day (maybe not the Ardennes)

[Kelgtar]

Thanks ... glad to help.

What I forgot to mention was, you can base your choice on your painting skill also. I mean, painting blitzkrieg infantry is far easier then going for a late war force with splinter camo and ss with pea dot. As your painting skill progresses you could venture forth into the camo schemes, like I did. A week ago I made my first attempt at splinter camo for my winter force.

Same with vehicles, painting plain panzer grey isn't so hard in comparrison with all the late war camo schemes.

All in all ... making a ww2 force is alot of fun and especially the research around it. What started out as just painting germans with standard fieldgrey expanded to researching the right tunic colors and so on ... it's nerdy I know, but it's a hell of alot of fun.

Money wise, I think it's best to start out with miniatures from BTD and then work your way into the other, but it depends if you like plastic or metal minis.

[jon_1066]

I was keen on FJ too, Rob, but my mate beat me to it!

Soviets looking like a good fit. Thanks for the pointers guys- this is exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for. Off to my local gaming store tomorrow to see what is available.

Cheers,
Jim.

If your mate has FJ then what about ANZACS?  You could do a campaign based upon Crete.  They can be also be used for N Africa and then Italy at Monte Casino.

[Truscott Trotter]

Kelgtar makes some good points. (0% of both my armies are BTD for two reasons. One they are nice sculpts  and two when they have a 40-50% off sale they are cheaper than plastic

[Morgan]

Kelgtar makes some good points. (0% of both my armies are BTD for two reasons. One they are nice sculpts  and two when they have a 40-50% off sale they are cheaper than plastic

"90%", perhaps?

[HothJim]

If your mate has FJ then what about ANZACS?  You could do a campaign based upon Crete.  They can be also be used for N Africa and then Italy at Monte Casino.

Anzacs would be interesting, nobody down the club has any as far as I know. Be good to add some variety, but at the same time I'm glad people are bringing up model options and painting. I'll see whats in the shop tomorrow, hopefully be a bit of everything in the flesh.

Cheers
Jim.