I have been wargaming on and off (in my late teenage years, mostly off, football, alcohol and girls took preference ), for about forty years. My first foray was buying the Airfix soldiers and pitting them against each other. I have had a big interest of the Colonial, Napoleonic and American Civil war periods. Although WWII has been a big part of my wargaming past.
The first time I heard of the Battle of Waterloo was an advert outside of the Odeon Cinema on my way in to Saturday Morning Pictures as a young lad at the tender and impressionable age of twelve. After watching the film a week later I was well and truly hooked. Down to my local toy shop I hastened with the couple of pence to buy my first box of Napoleonic Infantry, the Highlanders. They had to fight my WWII Germans until I had saved enough for the French Infantry to fight them.
When I saw Zulu on the big screen, I was in awe of the brave British soldiers keeping the Zulu hords at bay, and although filled with a lot of inaccurate points, is still one of my favourite films.
What is wargaming
Some say wargaming is playing with toys soldiers, some will say refighting battles from history using accurate miniatures, or its like playing chess with lead figures. All the above are correct. Wargaming brings together people from all walks of life be they Accountants, Mechanics, bus drivers, whatever their chosen field wargaming brings opponents, who play to enjoy the challenge of pitting their chosen army against another and hopefully winning but above all "playing the game". Their are people who cheat and do their utmost to win, but eventually their opponents become fewer and fewer, but they are a minority (I must add). In general wargamers like talking, and boy can some talk. We will tell you about what rules we use , what periods we fight, how we paint our figures and make our terrain.
I wargame with painted figures and play on a table, hence tabletop wargaming. Seems a bit nerdy, but I enjoy it and each to their own as the saying goes. within each genre of gaming are various set of rules and different figure scales (height of figures).
The periods, scales and armies I wargame with:
Biblical to Medieval - 15mm - New Kingdom Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek(WIP), Roman, Germanic, Mongal, Hun, Indian, Viking, Saxon, Norman, War of the Roses.
Renaissance - 15mm - Henry VIIIs army (Still work in progress at the moment).
Ancient - 28mm -Imperial Rome, Viking, Norman.
English Civil War - 28mm - Royalist Army (doubles for both sides)
Napoleonic - 15mm - Austrian, Bavarian, British, French, Prussian, Russian, Spanish.
Napoleonic - 6mm - French.
Colonial - 28mm - Zulu war British and Zulu Armies.
Colonial - 6mm - Sudan Egyptian, British and Mahdists.
American Civil War - 15mm - Both Sides Union (North) and Confederate (South)
American Civil War - 1/600th - Naval (Ironclads, both sides)
World War II - 6mm - German (Huge Army, about 3 Armoured and 4 Infantry Corps).
World War II - 20mm - American, German (eearly & late), German Afrika Korps and Italian.
World War II - 28mm - American, German, Japanese, Burma British.
Fantasy - 28mm - Orc, Goblin, Night Goblin, Lizardmen, Bretonian, Ogre Kingdoms, Troll & Giant.
Fantasy - 15mm - Orc & Goblin, Arthurian Legend, Eastern Barbarians.
The rules I use:
Ancients - DBM, Warmaster Ancients.
Medieval - DBM, Tactica.
English Civil War - 1644
Napoleonic - Shako, Irregular
Colonial - Principle of War, Own house rules.
American Civil War - Johnny Reb II, Fire and Fury.
World War II - 6mm - Spearhead.
World War II - 20mm - Rapid Fire, Panzer Marsch, Operation WWII
World War II -28mm - Disposable Heroes, At the Sharp End.
Fantasy - 28mm - Kings of War, Wahammer Fantasy Battles, Armies of Arcana (just started)
Fantasy - 15mm - Hordes of the Things.
I also have a few boardgames:
Kingmaker.
Napoleon in Europe.
Risk.
