Hi,

A little background first. I've been toying with the idea of gettibg into ancients for a while, and some time ago dipped my toe in with a 6mm DBA classical Indian army, but could never really go whole hog. Existing rule sets didn't really cut it for me. DBA, while fun, lacked the "big battle" look I wanted, while mass games like warmaster took too long to paint before I could play.

Then I discovered Impetus. The basic game is quick and dirty, often requires less painting that DBA, and is cheap. The game readily scales, so that by the time you are playing full Impetus at 500p, you get impressive numbers on the table. Friends who've played it recommend it, and I've been getting increasingly exited.

But I'm a bit stumped on what to play. I tend to like armies with a variety of troops, as it keeps the painting fresh. Successors (either Graeco-Bactrians or Pyrrhos), Carthaginians and Late Romans all appeal for this reason. I do have some concerns however.

I'd like the army I go with to have the following characteristics:

a) Tactical flexibility. I like being able to put down a force that can readily adapt to any set of terrain or conditions. Sometimes this means generalist troops, sometime it means a wide collection of specialists. Both is even better.

b) Mobility and offensive potential. I like armies that move well and hit hard. Sometimes this translates to raw speed, but it also means the ability to handle terrain (cav heavy armies, for eg., can move fast, but often struggle with terrain). Durability is nice, but is a secondary consideration. For the same reason, I tend to favour armies with good command. I want to be able to choose the conditions of battle, and drive home an attack where and when I choose. I don't mind being outnumbered.

b) Robust figs - I'd like to be able to pack them, transport them, and unpack them without employing a surgical degree of caution. Pikes are a concern here - a while back, I put together a couple units of 6mm DBA pike. I found them a bit of a pain to store, however, as the pikes kept breaking off from the figures. If I go with ""projecting" units like pike, can anyone recommend a way to store them that won't end in tears?

c) Visual "badassedness". The appeal of Impetus with 6mm is that while I can get playing quickly, the game is designed to scale up (as opposed to DBA, where the big battle rules seem a tad clunky). There is something rather appealing about putting down a dense, half meter block of phalangites or elephants. Even wider with warband or legion.

d) Variety in painting. I can knock out 6mm fairly quickly, and enjoy the process, as long as I can mix things up. While I would enjoy painting Romans, and did enjoy painting pike, the thought of grinding out dozens of dense bases makes me a bit itchy. I'd need to be able to break it up with something else.

Given these factors, what would people recommend? As I noted, current front runners include Graeco-Indians ( or some other successor list with a wide range of choice), Carthaginians, or Late Romans (possibly Romano-Brits), but I'm open to other suggestions people might have.

FMB

not easy to answer

It seems that you are intereste in the ancients so I don't take in consideration the medieval armies.

I think that Ellenistic armies are the right proportion of steady troops (the pikes), impact troops (the cavalry) and terrain troops.
But yes the pikes are a mightmare if you want a "solid" army oustide the battlefield.

Cartaginians and Romans are probably one answer.
Carthaginian is an average army in BI and a very strong one in Impetus, thanks to upgrades. Also you have a great possibility to differentiate the painting job.

Legionaries are the more reilable troops for the ancients, but unless for the later period roman armies are less vary, I mean they are foot oriented. But wherever you place your legionaries they will do the job.

Yeah, I realize it's a big question, and thanks for taking a stab at it. Anyone else?

FMB

As I was reading your question Carthaginians kept coming to mind. You get the African spearmen, Gallic warbands, elephants, light horse, etc. Lots of good variety and both open field and terrain troops . . . and definitely enough variation in terms of painting interest.

As for storing troops, have you thought of magnetized bases? Either mount your troops on steel bases and have a sheet magnet in your troop box . . . or the other way around (those magnetic sheets are easily cut with scissors.

Also figure out what your "tallest" troop type is . . . then go to your local "office supply" store and look for those folding boxes that have enough depth for your figures.

I hope that this helps.


-- Jeff