Today you find me with a familiar dilemma faced by many a wargamer. As you will know I currently have a large amount of 15mm Flames of War gear to paint up, and I've a load of 28mm Bolt Action minis steadily getting love from a paintbrush.
My dilemma is this:
Ordered sometime after Christmas and only recently dispatched and arrived. I've always had a soft spot for the Eastern front, mainly as it seems to be somewhat forgotten by the gaming community in the UK (well maybe just the battle of Stalingrad is a popular choice for re-enactment). This was the battle that turned the war in the East, and I've been more interested in masses of tanks and field guns over sweeping the streets of a ruined city. All boys love tanks and guns. Those who say they don't are fibbing to themselves!
First impressions are good:
Big, heavy book with lots of interesting pictures and broken down into logical chapters.
Nice layout, plenty of eye candy and content to match the weight/price tag.
Order of battle for both the Germans and Soviets present, there is also a historical break down of who fought where and when during the battle, which is great for beginners interested in keeping some historical accuracy while building their forces.
Some cheeky advertising near the rear of the book - if it's good enough for the market leaders in the miniature wargame world (I'm looking at GW and Battlefront here) then I suppose it's acceptable here too...
As I already have 2 WW2 systems on the go I'm kinda torn with starting BGK in a new scale. I have terrain and loads of minis for 15mm, but it's mainly Normandy related stuff (bocage, European houses etc...) so I would still need to buy Russian buildings. The roads/woods/rivers I have for 15mm are in scale for 20mm (the scale I'm looking at for BGK) so any additional outlay would be happening for BGK anyway. I'm not too much of a fan of painting 15's at the moment either...
28mm is too big for this system given my limited space for storage and game playing.
So on to 20mm: it's cheap (Plastic Soldier Company/Armourfast etc), there's a whole world of choice for kits/diecast/resin models/metal minis/terrain and I'm not restricted to one or two manufacturers - more choice usually means better offers and deals/cheaper products.
Given my original dilemma and the fact I may well have drunkenly bought a load of 20mm metals from CP miniatures it looks like there is no dilemma at all really!
15mm for Company/Divisional level engagements using FoW initially and then possibly the Battle Group ruleset when Battle Group Overlord is released. (FoW seems to be the WW2 tournament rules of of choice after all).
20mm for Platoon to Company level games using Battle Group Kursk.
28mm for Squad level games using Bolt Action.
Until next time...
