My Favorite Wargaming Armies, Fantasy And Imagi-Nations And Future Directions

Every once and a while I like to have a bit of an overview of my collection and wargame habits.

Just as a reminder, to anyone who is not a regular reader, most of my toy soldiers are 54mm or 60mm.

 My largest wargame armies are my ACW ones and they have seen many battles. After that my medieval armies would be my most used. I have also played Mexican War games by adapting my ACW Confederates with slouch hats. My Mexican armies also run the gamut from Napoelonic types through to Mexican Adventure and Mexican Revolution.I have played WW2 games, although they aren't my favorites probably because there are just so many types of tanks and weapons to keep track of and also because they are less pretty. I have played SF games, just because I like the bizarre.

However, my favorite games have become fantasy and imagi-nations. The reasons are, firstly for fantasy, I can easily adapt not only my medieval troops but ancients and Renaissance, not to mention hordes of skeleton warriors and assorted monsters, the last which can be picked up easily from op shops and Sunday markets. A number of human and non-human nations inhabit my medieval-Renaiisance world.

The other thing is I enjoy creating countries. Whilst I haven't gone into too much detail about culture and economics I create enough to have a vibe for each nation. I can also create my own 'history'. Although I had some strange combinations of figures in my childhood games I didn't actually make up nations for them. That was a bit unusual as I certainly did so, eventually, in my creative writing at school. 

In my childhood games a handful of British ceremonial troops (plastic and metal) did participate in ACW and WW2 games. I didn't delve into a rationale too deeply. On the other hand there was a period of history when those ceremonial uniforms were combat ones. The Crimean War (of which I knew nothing when a boy) is the obvious one, although the coats were also then tailed. After that, the red tunics were being worn in colonial conflicts like the Zulu War. That was with pith helmets but if there had been a European War in the late 19th century then British bearskins, pill boxes and spiked dark blue helmets could have been worn when fighting Germany, France, Russia etc.

So I now have large British (Redian), Prussian (Herman), Blusian (French) armies that are a selection of late 19th century and early 20th century figures. In addition, I have the Gerolsteiners and Ruritanians as well as 'Trans Balkan', 'Fezian' (Turkish/Egyptian), 'Crussian' (Russian) troops. In addition, across the pond 'Ameriga' has a largely 1900 era army. There is also Nippon from the same era. Then there are the less developed 'Lionia' (Abyssinia) and Zoohoo (Zulus and Dervishes). I even have armies from off planet, notably Barsoom's.

The thing with this fantasy divergence is I can 'borrow' from historical armies such as WW1 and ACW to make up the imaginary armies. I also make completely fictitious units and flags just to show it is an imaginary army! My English Civil War armies have grown by leaps and bounds and have been fighting in the fantasy armies of Bogavania and Beerstein.

The fantasy element has also taken another direction as I borrow from literature. The Land of Oz, which has become Ozz in the commercial wargame and Ozzz in my world, has 'little people' among its armies. That means I have also used some 40mm,45mm and even 30mm figures to serve as Munchkins and Gillikins.

WHERE TO GO NEXT

There are some armies I did not really quite get off the ground. I have the nucleus of a Boxer army which will eventually be expanded and also branched out into early 20th century. My Army Purple (Belgium) is another one I didn't quite get off the ground and it presently supplements Army Light Blue Blusia or France).

Meanwhile I am occasionally painting more Napoleonics and American Revolution figures; the last has grown large enough for me to play a modestly sized game. However Napoleonic troops have mostly been appearing in my Ozzz armies. 

A Texan army and increased Mexican army are among my goals. The good thing about the Texans I'll make from buckskinned figures is they can also be used in my American revolution game.

I am very interested in other wargamers favorite periods and any imagi-nation type projects you have.

BELOW:

The great Ozzz, himself (converted from hard plastic Churchill). Semi round metal 45mm 18th century guards are his Munchkin guard,

                               Amerigan general and staff. (Flag from the Virtual Armchair general)

                 (I like to have a few civilians around, especially the more rambunctious). The one having a drink was cut from a drink stirrer. The detail figures in Dusters had head changes.