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| My 10mm WW2 armies may yet get an outing. |
Eisenhower is such a high level game that model playing pieces are token in the extreme. But toys do add a bit of atmosphere and attract other players.
Discounting my 28mm Ardennes and 15mm Stalingrad armies (which have few AFVs), I have two potential sets of toys.
I have painted (but never used) 10mm Normandy armies, and I have the 3mm Battle of France armies I bought for Sam Mustafa's Rommel but which are still in their packets.
The 10mm Normandy vehicles are on 30mm x 60mm bases and the infantry on 30mm x 30mm bases which will fit 3-abreast in 4" squares.
If I get round to the 3mm armies, I'll put the AFVs 3-up on 40mm x 30mm bases, which will also fit 4" squares (2-up and 1-back). I thought about mounting them singly and using even smaller squares, but 3mm doesn't have a lot going for it unless based dioramically.
As regards scenery, I'll take a similar approach to what I did for Blucher. That is very flat scenery which the bases can sit on. It will be more-or-less in scale for 3mm but not for 10mm!
Not being a great hardware expert or rivet counter, I have to say it's very refreshing to be sorting out 'basic' armour and infantry without having to go into too much organizational detail.
Painting 3mm gear will also be quicker and easier than larger scales, and probably my preferred way forward were I to expand into other campaigns.
I have to say I was extremely disappointed in Eisenhower; even more than Rommel!
ReplyDeleteNot only are they somewhat "bland", I think some of the decisions are poorly thought out.
While there's an argument for abstracting artillery, at this scale I think they can and should be represented on the table. The decision that recce and engineers are just "assumed to be getting on with it" is simply ludicrous.
Where are things like engineering more likely to be important than in an operational game? Surely the ability to bridge that river or demolish the bridge is crucial to model?
Then there's the odd nod to Normandy (bocage) but clearly little research; my reading suggests German Aufklarungs battalions were used as ad hoc fire brigade - as they are not represented how is it possible? Likewise Arnhem with it's cobbled together German forces - but no Grabner - he's " just getting on with it... "
It may be co-incidence, but one of the playtest groups regularly play FoW tank fests - wall to wall armour, sometimes no infantry, with all the super heavy sexy German LW tanks v LW Soviets with IS whatever. Perhaps the feedback was more "game" than history?
People can kid themselves they are refighting Market Garden not playing waves of Shermans v handfuls of Tigers......
And then there's the dismissal of the entire Far East as "not really suitable for Eisenhower" which I think says a lot....were there no multi-divisional actions? The ability to fight for an entire island, not just a part of it?
I suspect it will be the diehard SM fanboys who play it; how often do you see Rommel being played these days?
Neil