How historically accurate do you need to be

[Sharur]

Small scales are your friend....

Go 2 mm 

[Martin Smith]

Small scales are your friend....

Go 2 mm 

I already did...and absolutely NONE of my WW2, Napoleonics, ACW or ECW forces in that scale are in any way inaccurate (or 'as far as I can tell....') 🙂

[Sharur]

Small scales are your friend....

Go 2 mm 

I already did...and absolutely NONE of my WW2, Napoleonics, ACW or ECW forces in that scale are in any way inaccurate (or 'as far as I can tell....') 🙂

And I think you'll find those will work just as flawlessly for fantasy and science-fiction gaming, should you choose 

[Keraunos]

I have enjoyed playing with 2/3mm armies but have felt no temptation to going that way for my own troops.  I like being able to paint individual figures and find 10mm the smallest that gives me satisfaction.  It is not a matter of being as accurate as possible in the painting, but the sense of giving each lead or plastic man an individual touch that sets him apart from his fellows.

[Jim Webster]

Small scales are your friend....

Go 2 mm 

I already did...and absolutely NONE of my WW2, Napoleonics, ACW or ECW forces in that scale are in any way inaccurate (or 'as far as I can tell....') 🙂

And I think you'll find those will work just as flawlessly for fantasy and science-fiction gaming, should you choose 

I have used them for various Science Fiction campaigns before now 

[skb777]

I did play a tournament were a chap pointed out that that my Alans weren't blonde enough.

[dwkay57]

I'm quite happy with Byzantines v Aztecs, providing both armies are organised along their historical basis (as far as we know or can guess)

[John GL]

I remember a splendid cartoon, probably in Miniature Wargaming, of a splendid hoplite figure with a critic complaining "The dust under the toenails is the wrong colour for Thermopylae".

[Erpingham]

I remember a splendid cartoon, probably in Miniature Wargaming, of a splendid hoplite figure with a critic complaining "The dust under the toenails is the wrong colour for Thermopylae".

Military Modelling. I have always remembered it too. The critical chap was perhaps the judge in a figure painting competition?

[Andreas Johansson]

The only time I recall someone criticizing me for painting something wrong it was Thomas Årnfelt pointing out I'd painted the lower legs of bay horses brown instead of black, and that's of course more an issue of zoological accuracy than of historical. (And he was polite about it.)

But having established that being criticized, let alone shunned, for painting something wrong is too rare to worry much about, how common is it that historicals players, or would-be historicals players, actually do worry about it, however unnecessarily? I have a suspicion that not merely the risk of censure, but also the worry about it, is a bit of a myth.

[stevenneate]

The good thing about the dark ages is you have quite a lot of laissez faire

Only if you're a Frank!

[Cantabrigian]

I have enjoyed playing with 2/3mm armies but have felt no temptation to going that way for my own troops.  I like being able to paint individual figures and find 10mm the smallest that gives me satisfaction.  It is not a matter of being as accurate as possible in the painting, but the sense of giving each lead or plastic man an individual touch that sets him apart from his fellows.

And if you can't do that because the figures are so small, why not just use counters?

[Cantabrigian]

Personally I grind my teeth whenever I see a Macedonian phalanx equipped with shields with the wrong shield patterns on them, because the right shield patterns are really really well known, and it's so easy to get this right, it's almost more trouble doing it wrong.

I'm going to share a moment of shame, in the hope that it will at least cause some merriment to others...

My wife had to dress as a Spartan soldier once.  Don't worry about why, but large amounts of alcohol were involved.  She requested my help in improving her costume, and I managed to dig out a 12" foam kite shield that our daughters had bought at Legoland.  I was feeling that this wasn't perhaps Spartan enough, but inspiration struck when I remembered reading that Spartans had a lambda on their shields, so I painted one on for her which she was very happy with.

It was only shortly before the party that I discovered my error.  My experience of Greek letters was from Maths, and it had slipped my mind that there were both upper and lower case Greek letters.  So now she was the only Spartan warrior ever with a lower case lambda on her shield. 

I took the only possible course of action at this stage, and kept quiet, but every time I saw her shield I cringed inside. No-one noticed.

I've never told anyone about this before.  This is the first audience that I thought would understand!

[RichT]

I've never told anyone about this before.  This is the first audience that I thought would understand!

I am shocked. But you have taken the first step on the long road to redemption.

[Keraunos]

I've never told anyone about this before.  This is the first audience that I thought would understand!

I am shocked. But you have taken the first step on the long road to redemption.

Indeed, by joining the forum you have joined alalaholics anonymous!