God's Own Scale

The arrival of the Strength and Honour ancient rules has led me toward 2mm wargaming, 'God's Own Scale'. You may ask, why bother? Why not play a board game instead? The scale loses much of the grandeur of the larger scales, and you cannot distinguish between the 5th foot and the 38th or identify the various shield designs of an ancient army. Indeed, the scale is probably not for you if you enjoy fielding immaculately painted armies. However, the impact of these blocks can be stunning as you can field armies of 30,000 plus men on a 6-foot by 4’ table.

Armies in a Shoe Box

One of the advantages of the scale is its limited storage requirements. Two armies in a shoe box. This is a godsend for a wargamer like myself who always needs more storage space.

The Other Benefits of 2mm.

That leads nicely into the benefits of 2mm gaming.

The scale allows you to recreate massive, army-sized clashes on a 6 x 4' table. In 28mm, a 6 x 4' table equates to roughly 110 x 75 yards - a snapshot of any battle except a skirmish. In 2mm, a 2 x 4' board works out at about 2 x 4 miles. You can recreate much larger conflicts with much less space. Minor battles, for example, the Napoleonic battle of Vimero (1808), will easily fit on a four-foot square table. Despite 17 divisions potentially being involved.

The regiments marching across these small spaces look like regiments, divisions and corps on the move. One of the changes in painting and modelling at this scale is that you are conscious of the tactical formations employed. Taking an ECW example, you can show a cavalry unit in Swedish and Dutch formation and vary their appearance differently. These alternative designs will probably not impact play, but they make your battlefield look realistic.

Battles are easy to set up and play. The armies are tiny, and a base can represent anything from a Roman legion to a whole Germanic tribe. For later periods, a division or event corp. Therefore most battles can be played with under 24 bases per side. This makes set-up quick, and labels attached to the base help identify the unit and speeds up gameplay.

God's Land

Of course, then there's the terrain. Little terrain is produced for this scale, although some manufacturers now make some buildings. With a few bases of buildings placed side by side, you soon get the impression of a large town or city. See below for some links.

This means that roads, rivers and forests are usually handmade. Forests are just clumps of bath mats, sprayed and placed on a textured base, and they look the part; rivers and roads are just painted strips of card or other cheap basing material. I use self-adhesive floor tiles obtained from pound shops. If you are like me and want to get a game to the table asap, this terrain-making process takes only a little bit of time. Also, because the terrain is cheap and quick to make, you can spend time mimicking the landscape for the battle you are refighting.

Economy Wargaming

Finally, the venture is low-cost. Breaking into a new period in 28mm gaming can be expensive. Irregular Miniatures sell army packs with a staggering quantity of troops (tens of thousands) for £12.50. I recently decided to start an English Civil War campaign (more on that soon), and I fielded two sizable armies for an initial investment of about £30 each.

Current Projects Using God's Scale

I am currently using 2mm on several projects where I want to recreate full scale conflicts or where I want to try a period out without a massive investment in time (painting) and money.

The current projects of the workbench are;

Ancients 

I currently have an imperial Roman army and Gallic/Germanic tribes.  I am now working on phalanx-based armies in anticipation of refighting Rome's expansion into the Greek East.

English Civil War

The objective here is twofold. First, a desire to refight the Sheraton, 1644. Second, test out the Twilight rules for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Period I have in the past ignored. Therefore, this little project could expand into the Thirty Years War or Wars of the Spanish Succession. 

Napoleonic and the Peninsula Campaign.

This is a classic wargaming period, which I have not played for years or decades. I have always been turned off by needing to understand the tactics of the era and the complex painting demands. However, recently reading about these conflicts led to a desire to refight the battles of Wellington's Peninsula Campaign. The 2mm scale has enabled me to build two armies fairly cheaply and quickly. 

Just a Little Bit More

Recently, 3mm has started appearing, and I have seen some fantastic 3mm American Civil War miniatures. At the moment, I am holding off launching yet another project, but they do look good. 

Some Links

Irregular Miniatures - a wide selection of 2mm miniatures, including terrain.

Warbases - 2mm Ancients cast in white metal.

Korhyl Minatures - 2mm Ancients in resin blocks.

Forward March Miniatures - STL files for all periods for 3d Printing.

Magister Militium - for 3mm.

Lastly, a Facebook Group is dedicated to 2mm Wargaming and other small scales.