WARGAMING >> Beginners

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"He who is afraid to shake the dice will never roll a six."

Wargaming for our purposes is having a battle, historical or otherwise, with figures, painted or not, using a set of rules with the objective of having fun.

How do I Start?

Answer the question: What battles or periods interest me?

Ancients, Medieval, Marlborough, The Seven Years War, American War of Independence, Napoleonics, American Civil War, Crimean War, WWI + WWII, Fantasy.

Just a "tiny" sample! A battle you've read or heard about is a good starting point.

1) Now you need:

• some metal figures
• a set of rules, dice, a table (or floor!) and a measuring tape.
• some paints, brushes and bases.
• As an optional to make it look good; some scale buildings, terrain, or game mat. Bunkers, trenches, fences, rivers and roads with hedges and trees will greatly add to the excellence and pleasure of the game and provide cover. Click here for image.

2) Figure Scales.

You need to choose a scale from 2mm figures (micro) 6mm, 15mm, 20mm or 25/28mm (depending on manufacturer) The Most common scales for wargaming are 15mm, 25/28mm and 6mm which is getting more and more popular and 20mm usually but not exclusivley for WWII. Other scales: 10mm and 12mm though rarer are coming into their own, then 54mm and above which you can battle with but are usually used in Dioramas nowadays. (see examples under Dioramas.)

3) What size table area?

Although 6ft X 4ft or 5ft x 3ft is a recommended norm it really depends on the size of the battle. Even 2 1/2ft x 3 is enough. For 25mm figures you really need 4 feet by 4 feet as a minimum or more. Some gamers recommend 6 ft by 8ft! Click here for image.

"Where can I find all this?"

"Apart from the tables, right here on our catalogue pages."

4) Clubs.

It is a good idea to join a wargames club as there you will get advice on all aspects of wargaming. There is usually someone who will look after new members and get you participating in games. This is where you will learn fastest.

5) Number of Figures.

The nitty gritty question. Here I will disregard rule sets for the moment and give you the basics.

For WWII almost as few or as many as the action needs. Ancients and Medievals about: 72 or 64 infantry and 24 or 36 cavalry and an elephant and chariot or two. For Horse and Musket about 64 infantry and 24 to 36 cavalry and two guns is fine for starters. This could euphemistically represent one army. This leads us to its Organisation which you will eventually need to understand to plan its expansion. Almost all armies have had an organised grouping of soldiers called a Formation. Whether it was a Greek phalanx or a Roman line or tortoise (seen Gladiator?) or to Wellington's lines and squares at Waterloo against Napoleon's attack columns and waves of cavalry.

Very Generally the actual Organisation as opposed to just a Formation was: Army, then Corps made from Divisions and these from Brigades made up of Regiments which in turn were made up from Battalions. Click here for diagram.

Get the picture?

6) Ratio.

In the film Gladiator, Russell Crowe, oops! I mean Maximus, had what, two legions totalling 10,000 men? A lot of figures to buy and paint in a hurry! So wargamers choose a Ratio to fit their pocket, figure scale (25mm etc) and their kitchen, or even "gaming table!" If we say that 1 figure can represent 100 men then we are doing what wargamers do: finding a ratio between the historical Organisation and the wargaming counterpart. Remember Army Organisation? Maximus's Legions of 10,000 men would be..erm...erm...Yeah that's right. Now add a couple of catapolts and bolt shooters to your 76 legionaires and 24 cavalry and you're away! Except if you also need to get the equivalent number of Germanic barbarians.

Popular Ratios: 1:100 1:60 1:50 1:40 1:33 1:20 1:10

But there's a catch. Cavalry units tended to be smaller. 24 cavalry would represent 2,400 men on horses. Maximus didn't have that many, it's historically incorrect. However, it would look odd having only 2 or 3. If you choose a Ratio choose carefully or consider another possibility.

7) Unit Ratio.

Never heard of it? I just made it up. But it works well especially when basing your figures and organising your units for battle. "4" is the key number to remember when organising your units especially for Horse and Musket and often for Ancients and Medievals. WWII and after are very different and you may need to rely on the rules you choose. I will use Napoleonics as my example here as everyone has heard of it even if only through ABBA. Name that tune! The smallest manouevrable unit here is the Battalion. 2 to 4 would make a Brigade. Now with figure Ratio you would have a terrible problem trying to refight Waterloo. You will anyway whether you use this alternative system or not! But if we take the combat for the farmhouse chateau of Hougemont we have a battle in itself which was quite separate from the rest of the fighting.

2 French Divisions from II Corps numbering about 15,400 men attacked Hougemont against about 6,300 British plus a little support later on. Broken down into units it reads: French, 2 Divisions (6th & 9th) of 2 Brigades each of 8 Regiments making a total of 24 bns. + 2 Brigades of Cavalry of 4 Regiments. The British had units from 4 separate Divisions from 5 Brigades from 6 Regiments but some were only a single battalion and that's why the numbers don't make sense when compared to the French organisation. The British could be represented by 7 or 8 Bns or Rgts but with a few to come on later in the game as happened + 1 regiment of Cavalry.

Now counting units is a lot easier than counting men. It should be obvious from this example that for beginners using Battalions as a unit measure is impossible. But using Regimental or Brigade level an historical refight IS possible. It's all a question of arithmetic. Now to that NUMBER 4! Click here to Guess Why? Notice how a square has 4 sides? And how 4 bases can make all the formations possible in Musket warfare? The dots on the bases could be the figures themselves. How many dots to a base? You counted already! Thought you'd need to click on the pic again. I did!

Now this is good for the Horse and Musket period, but is not strictly true for the Ancient as there may be only two elements of a type of troop.

8) Basing Your Figures.

In the picture of Formations there are eight figures to a base in two rows of 4. Now Check this Example of Basing (Macedonians from chariot miniatures).

There are more elements in this group. These figures were used in a competition in Barcelona in December of DBA and DBM. DBA stands for De Bellis Antiquitatis that's why it's commonly abbreviated! The other; DBM is De Bellis Multitudinis. According to these rules there are also 3 figures to a base depending on the type of unit, for example light cavalry or psiloi have two whereas Ancient heavy cavalry have 3 or 4.

"So How Many Figures Would I Need To Play DBM/A?"

Count them in this picture.

Or here...

There were over 60 Alain Touller 15mm Spanish knights and the same number of infantry in this battle. So we are talking of between 120 to 160 figures though we will want some alternative units as in these rules you make your army from a total points list and you might need more archers or more light cavlary for speed of movement depending on the opposition you are facing though in a serious competition you have chosen before knowing. When a unit is destroyed the whole base is removed from play with the four or eight figures it contains.

For other periods and rules like the many Napoleonics rules you would need to base your figures like this That's because single or two figures may become casualties and be removed from play. However, some rules like "In the Name of Glory" for Napoleonics don't remove units as it is based on a gradual reduction of the Morale of a unit. When it reaches zero they run and keep running but may disorganise other units on their way back to camp. In some ways this is more realistic as very rarely did a unit become annihilated before routing. Again we are talking about Formations and large groups of troops and the problem of representing this in a wargame. And this brings us to the variety of base sizes stipulated by different rule sets.

9) Base Sizes

Now you are wondering why you have to base figures at all. Well if you don't they'll fall over. They are made of metal and the bases tend to be small and to move your figures with ease around the games table you need to have them in neat little groups. Many rules don't demand you to use their size bases but suggest you do. So if you need to choose here are some different possibilities by scale and by "element", that base with four figures according to "In the Name of Glory":

• Infantry 6mm - 2 lines of four figs 25mm width x 15/20mm deep.
• Cavalry 1 line of three figures 25mm x 20mm
• Artillery (Deployed) 25 x 30.
• Commander in Chief or Corps Commander (3 figures) 30mm x 25mm. Div Command of 2 figs 25 x 20. Brigade Commander 1 fig 20 x 25 (he should be on a horse!)

Or According to DBA Rules:

10) Painting.

Look at our Painting Guide for just about everything you need to know.

We hope this article has been of some help and encourage you to look at our other Wargaming pages for more tips and ideas. You can also use our Forum for questions or e-mail us directly.

Happy gaming!