How making things tiny can often be the best way to start something big.
I love big battles. There isn’t much that can beat the sight of a huge table, heaving at the weight of thousands of models. However, like most of us (in the UK, anyway), I don’t really have the room to put on this type of game – and don’t fancy having to bring a huge amount of stuff to a club to do so. That’s where 2mm games come in.
Strength and Honour, the 2mm wargames ruleset from Mark Backhouse and Toofatlardies, is what got me into the idea of really tiny miniatures. I’d never considered anything below about 15mm, if I’m honest. However, seeing the blocks and ranks of tiny models people were putting together for those rules really inspired me and brought back memories of a childhood favourite videogame – Rome Total War.
Strength and Honour is a fantastic game – perfect for representing the massive battles of the ancient world, and I truly encourage anyone to check it out. However, it requires more models, time and space than I can manage all the time. I also want to be able to play wargames in a small space, over a lunch break and it still have some of the epic sweep of the ancient world.
This is where small boards and rules ideas come in. I have recently started exploring making 60cm square boards that can represent a part of the ancient Mediterranean. On these boards – a few more to come – I plan to try out a set of 2mm wargames rules I’ve been considering. I think there’s plenty of room in the wargames world for new rulesets that approach old ideas.
My intention is to try and fulfill some of the same concepts as a very old fashioned set of wargames rules, De Bellis Antiquatis (DBA), while minimising some of that game’s particular… foibles. DBA is a very popular set of rules that enables players to fight a battle on a small table, with a few models over a maximum of about an hour. Now, there are two parts of that I like, and two I don’t. A small table, and a quick run-time are essential. However, I always feel like DBA games look like a skirmish, not a battle. Ruleswise, they are also very simple and mathematical. All armies are the same size, and there isn’t a great deal of historical flavour to them.
As a result, I’ve settled upon trying to write rules of my own, with a much narrower historical timeframe – from the absolute earliest being the Persian Wars, and the latest being the Crisis of the Third Century. I plan to allow for battles that look like battles (hence the 2mm), but play quickly in a small space, and allow for some historical depth. This may all prove impossible, but we’ll see.
For now, if you’re reading this, take a look at my historical miniature painting commissions, and see whether there’s anything I can help you with.
