My favorite historical time period is Ancients. More than half the miniatures I own are 15mm Ancients (15mm is the nominal distance from the model's feet to his eyes). My very first army was Roman, from the time period of the Punic Wars against Carthage. And like the Republican Romans, I was drubbed early on by a veteran general in my first games. That was back in the 1970s. One of the great things about historical miniatures is that once you've invested the time to paint an army and get it ready to go, you can use them for years, decades even. Those very first Romans I painted up were the nucleus of one of my favorite campaigns, "Friends, Romans, Countrymen", which we played in the 1990s.
Today, I own many other Ancient armies, as well. And those first Romans with my fledging paint job have since been replaced by the ones you see above in this website's banner photo. And yes, the shield patterns on those Old Glory 15mm Romans are hand painted! If you go to the Gallery section, you can read a list of my armies, plus see some pictures. This site is a work in progress, so I will be adding new pages showcasing my other armies regularly.
De Bellis
AntiquitatisMy favorite set of rules for Ancients is De Bellis Antiquitatis, 2.2, from Wargames Research Group. These are simple, fast-play rules that -- like chess -- take a short time to learn the basics. Mastering tactics in DBA, though, is a long, enjoyable journey. The game has a way of humbling you when you are feeling high and mighty, but also rewarding you when you deploy your troops properly and send the opponent's forces fleeing from the table in defeat.
In basic DBA, each army has 12 stands of troops. These stands are rectangular bases (size dictated in the rules) upon which you affix your painted miniatures. Depending on the troops represented (DBA has 16 different types), each stand usually has from two to four miniatures. So, to field an army in DBA, you typically need not much more than a few dozen painted miniatures, sometimes less. This makes it easy for newcomers to get started, and also allows you to own a whole range of armies without great expenditures of time or money.
It is also possible to play "Big Battle DBA" with these rules, with 24, 36 or even more stands per side. Whereas a 12-on-12 game will last perhaps an hour, a Big Battle DBA game takes a nice, two to three hours to finish. My local DBA group -- the Great Lakes Area DBA Gamers, runs a number of tournaments at conventions throughout the year. Check out our web page to see where our next one will be and join us and get started on the fun addiction that is DBA!