If you are one of the many 40k players wondering what is going on with the old guys playing napoleonics in the corner of the comic shop, I’ve got some reasons you should join them. It’s a lot cooler than you think it is, and you should join us sometime. I know it isn’t always quite like that, but you get the picture I’m trying to paint. If you’re totally unfamiliar with historicals check out this article First, if not let’s jump right in. First, I’ll explain some reasons you love 40k and how historicals have you covered for those same reasons. Second, I’ll talk about some things you probably hate about 40k that historicals can fix for you.
I Love Painting the Beautiful Models
Games Workshop does make truly beautiful models, but historicals could scratch your itch. https://www.perry-miniatures.com/ ,Sculpted by former Games Workshop employees, Perry miniatures makes masterpieces.https://www.victrixlimited.com/en-us, Victrix miniatures come in huge boxes of as many as 60 miniatures for 45$ US Dollars, but they do not sacrifice quality.
Warlord Games is probably the most popular historical miniature manufacture https://store.warlordgames.com/collections/bolt-action, they are known for their distinct, heroic style miniatures. If you’re looking for something in a smaller scale like 15mm check out https://eurekaminusa.com/collections/napoleonic-ab-figures. There are lots of truly excellent models for you to paint, whether they be World War 2 germans, Vikings, British Redcoats, or Ancient Greeks.
I Love the Competition
If you love that tournament environment, games like Bolt action and Flames of war have you covered for WW2, or you could try something with a little different time period like, https://www.artdelaguerre.fr/adlg/v3/?/en/. These among many others are solid options to get your tournament fix in with historicals.
I Love the Lore
History is the ultimate lore, period. All interesting settings are inspired by what really happened on this Earth, and believe it or not, history is not the boring dates and people they teach you in school. There are countless instances of unbelievable heroism throughout history. There’s more to read about history than you ever could in a lifetime. You should check it out.
40k Models are too Expensive
Trust me, I hear that. The cost of Games Workshop’s models has kept me from getting into multiple of their games. A space marine is like 10$ US Dollars!! Even the most expensive historical miniatures are a fraction of the price. In the same scale as 40k, 28mm, high end metal figures can be bought for 2-3$ US Dollars a piece, while plastic figures can be found for a Dollar or less. Moving to smaller scales, are even cheaper, though that’s not there only advantage. Companies can only charge but so much, because you can’t copyright history.
I Hate Power Creep and my Army Being Steamrolled in the New Edition
A Napoleonic French soldier will always be better than a Russian, no codex can change that. Historical wargaming solves this problem by the fact that the people writing the rules aren’t usually selling you miniatures. It’s no secret Games Workshop makes most of their money from selling miniatures. So therefor a good business strategy is to make the new models they want to sell the best units in the game. But this is impossible for historical rules writing companies, as when you’re seeking to recreate history, there are no new overpowered units to make up.
I’m not saying that historical games are always balanced, as that is not how things typically played out in history. Things are a little more nuanced, with games often having asymmetric victory conditions. Games are often played with scenarios, which give players a challenge not necessarily balance, and I personally think this leads to a better game.
Conclusion
I hope this article helps to convince you to give historical wargaming a try, it’s a lot of fun and I truly believe you will love it. Make sure to check out some of my other articles while you’re here.
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Until next time- Joshua, The Napoleon of the West
