What is a large army for you
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doodstormer
- Bailiff
- Posts: 305
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2007 6:38 pm
- Location: The castle of Leon
- Contact:
I usually use my figs for comics and such where large quantities aren't necessary. I have around 10-20 factions of varying eras, with anywhere from 4-10 soldiers for each faction. Then i have several faction-less troops and mercs, totaling at around 120 at most. Of course, they're all Terra themed. I haven't counted my figs...
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lego fanatic
- Peasant
- Posts: 61
- Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 4:30 pm
- Location: Ontario
For me my army judging(can't think of better word) goes something like this.
Huge Army=+100 Minifigs
Large Army=50 Minifigs(thats all i have
.
Medium Army=30 Minifigs
Small Army=20 Minifigs
Puny Army=6 Minifigs
So those are my ways of army judging and yes i know it's sad how many Minifigs i have but at least the numbers are increasing and not decreasing
. Now off to plot a scene for the battle contest with my small amount of minifigs.
Huge Army=+100 Minifigs
Large Army=50 Minifigs(thats all i have
.Medium Army=30 Minifigs
Small Army=20 Minifigs
Puny Army=6 Minifigs
So those are my ways of army judging and yes i know it's sad how many Minifigs i have but at least the numbers are increasing and not decreasing
. Now off to plot a scene for the battle contest with my small amount of minifigs.-
Lewa Rocks
- Steward
- Posts: 558
- Joined: Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:15 pm
- Location: Portland OR
Large armies do tend to impress. However, I agree that it is all relative. to a young child those first 10 to 20 figures is a massive army. As you collect more and more your factions with fewer figures seem weak and become side factions to larger armies. I have about 30 wolfpack figures and I consider them to be a band of robber nuissances and not an army at all.
It is all a matter of finances. He with the most money can field the largest armies. Then again isn't that how it worked in medieval times.
When I stopped collecting in the late 90's I had about 450 to 500 figs. 175 of which were black knights/ dragonmaster alliance, 50 black falcon 75 crusader, 50 forestmen, and some other smaller groups. I just came out of my black age and spent 4 thousand dollars to buy just about all of the sets that I missed over the past 10 years. I wasted a lot of money on ebay too (because) I didn't know about bricklink until recently. (doh!)
I'm just glad that I don't have to pay wages to my lego armies now.
I have 18 different factions. The least number of figs in a faction is about 20 and I have 8 factions of 100 to 200 figures each. I am guessing my total is about 1600 figures at this time. My current lego table is 12 ft by 12 ft and I am working on setting all of my stuff up at once. Before my dark age I set up castles put together by instructions and concentrated on cool battle scenes. Now I am trying to make castles for all of my factions by MOC. It is taking quite some time. Hopefully I will have photos for you all soon.
I have to say I am truly inspired by the efforts of all the people at classic castle. So many pictures of MOC's and armies. I have been very impressed by the people on this site. I think that many of the most impressive battles and castle scenes have been the smaller ones with a close attention to detail and scenery. Size can impress but people have shown me how you can do alot with few legos and alot of imagination! I just hope I can build some nice MOCs to compliment my large army.
It is all a matter of finances. He with the most money can field the largest armies. Then again isn't that how it worked in medieval times.
When I stopped collecting in the late 90's I had about 450 to 500 figs. 175 of which were black knights/ dragonmaster alliance, 50 black falcon 75 crusader, 50 forestmen, and some other smaller groups. I just came out of my black age and spent 4 thousand dollars to buy just about all of the sets that I missed over the past 10 years. I wasted a lot of money on ebay too (because) I didn't know about bricklink until recently. (doh!)
I'm just glad that I don't have to pay wages to my lego armies now.
I have 18 different factions. The least number of figs in a faction is about 20 and I have 8 factions of 100 to 200 figures each. I am guessing my total is about 1600 figures at this time. My current lego table is 12 ft by 12 ft and I am working on setting all of my stuff up at once. Before my dark age I set up castles put together by instructions and concentrated on cool battle scenes. Now I am trying to make castles for all of my factions by MOC. It is taking quite some time. Hopefully I will have photos for you all soon. I have to say I am truly inspired by the efforts of all the people at classic castle. So many pictures of MOC's and armies. I have been very impressed by the people on this site. I think that many of the most impressive battles and castle scenes have been the smaller ones with a close attention to detail and scenery. Size can impress but people have shown me how you can do alot with few legos and alot of imagination! I just hope I can build some nice MOCs to compliment my large army.
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HeartOfDarkness
- Reeve
- Posts: 478
- Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 5:26 pm
- Location: Fortress of Insufficient Light
It brings me a deep joy to count and arrange my minifigs. By my last tally, I have (exactly) 273 Castle-themed figs arranged loosely into three sides, each with multiple factions.
When I mobilize an army it's usually for a Brikwars game, or a display (hopefully) preluding a Brikwars game. A large-scale game will usually have 80-100 soldiers on each side. These armies obviousy take a long time to destroy, and the game will often stretch on for a week. Such battles are pretty uncommon. More often, the armies are anywhere from 20 to 40 men, which I consider pretty small. These games, while not memorable in the long term, still provide a decent amount of carnage in a relatively short time.
[Skip this part if you aren't interested in the details of my armies.]
Each side is pretty fragmented, with several factions struggling to further their own agendas. The loosest one is undoubtedly Parvaeri, a collection of minor nobles and free cities. When they decide to go a-battlin', representatives from each city-state gather in an important, centralized building (usually a tavern). In a combination of patriotic fervor and drunken stupor, they elect their leader on a basis of who will look the coolest leading their army. They also specify exactly who they're planning to fight, as there have been unfortunate mistakes in this department in the past.
They have four main factions: the barons Azuria and Sanguinia, every random peasant who decided to come along, and a gang of pirate-mercenaries who have nothing better to do. All told, they total about 80 men, and are usually used as allies of whatever side needs extra manpower.
The second of the three armies hails from Silvanumbra, a land made up largely of forest. Scattered throughout this arboreal country are severalbiggish castles, each housing a noble in command of the surrounding province. These four noblemen, though occasionally levying peasants for extra manpower, maintain small, proffessional armies. Three of the four nobles have dabbled in nekromancy (being somewhat evil) and employ only dead soldiers for the intimidation factor. The fourth, not to be put off, dresses his men entirely in black and insists on a uniform expression of bland contentment; freaked out enemies are even easier to fight than intimidated ones.
The Silvanumbrian lords don't shy away from warfare; it only makes the skeletons more plentiful. Were it not for their internal feuds, they would have long ago conquered the world. They have no time for extended campaigns; they're too busy making sure nobody siezes power while their collective backs are turned.
Basically, these guys are black skeletons, whtie skeletons, chainmail-clad minifigs with skeleton heads, and blank black-clad men with smiley faces. They number about 90, and rely heavily on their large cavalry. They are almost always the antagonists of...
The Imperium Regalis! A large, feudal kingdom, their army is composed of four Knights, their respective men-at-arms, and the King's household troops. The King is said to have ties with the semi-religious order of the Paladins, who act as a police force for the kingdom. This keeps everything in good order, so when war arrives, the army can be mobilized pretty quickly.
The Knights maintain border garrisons to keep out marauding riffraff, and as a result, the country is quite prosperous, with most of the population being skilled craftsmen and tradesmen. The lower class usually act as apprentices or join the military, where they are taught a trade after eight years of service, and given a pension after twenty. Unfortunately, this leaves nobody to do the cheap labor, so most big construction projects employ hordes of bored peasants from Parvaeri. As a result, the two countries are generally on pretty good terms.
The Imperium Regalis has 100 soldiers (80 crown knights, 20 stormtroopers with silver armor), though they rarely need to be mobilized all at once. Its cavalry and archers are negligible, as it relies instead on large numbers of disciplined spearmen.
[Okay, stop skipping]
So there you have it. Sorry for digressing slightly; I tend to get kind of long-whinded when talking about armies of little plastic men. You know how it is.
Back to the topic at hand, my perception of 'small' and 'big' is completely dependent on how many I have to begin with. To my minifigs, and army of 100 is huge. An army of 500 is insane. An army of 1,000 is simply inconcievable.
When I mobilize an army it's usually for a Brikwars game, or a display (hopefully) preluding a Brikwars game. A large-scale game will usually have 80-100 soldiers on each side. These armies obviousy take a long time to destroy, and the game will often stretch on for a week. Such battles are pretty uncommon. More often, the armies are anywhere from 20 to 40 men, which I consider pretty small. These games, while not memorable in the long term, still provide a decent amount of carnage in a relatively short time.
[Skip this part if you aren't interested in the details of my armies.]
Each side is pretty fragmented, with several factions struggling to further their own agendas. The loosest one is undoubtedly Parvaeri, a collection of minor nobles and free cities. When they decide to go a-battlin', representatives from each city-state gather in an important, centralized building (usually a tavern). In a combination of patriotic fervor and drunken stupor, they elect their leader on a basis of who will look the coolest leading their army. They also specify exactly who they're planning to fight, as there have been unfortunate mistakes in this department in the past.
They have four main factions: the barons Azuria and Sanguinia, every random peasant who decided to come along, and a gang of pirate-mercenaries who have nothing better to do. All told, they total about 80 men, and are usually used as allies of whatever side needs extra manpower.
The second of the three armies hails from Silvanumbra, a land made up largely of forest. Scattered throughout this arboreal country are severalbiggish castles, each housing a noble in command of the surrounding province. These four noblemen, though occasionally levying peasants for extra manpower, maintain small, proffessional armies. Three of the four nobles have dabbled in nekromancy (being somewhat evil) and employ only dead soldiers for the intimidation factor. The fourth, not to be put off, dresses his men entirely in black and insists on a uniform expression of bland contentment; freaked out enemies are even easier to fight than intimidated ones.
The Silvanumbrian lords don't shy away from warfare; it only makes the skeletons more plentiful. Were it not for their internal feuds, they would have long ago conquered the world. They have no time for extended campaigns; they're too busy making sure nobody siezes power while their collective backs are turned.
Basically, these guys are black skeletons, whtie skeletons, chainmail-clad minifigs with skeleton heads, and blank black-clad men with smiley faces. They number about 90, and rely heavily on their large cavalry. They are almost always the antagonists of...
The Imperium Regalis! A large, feudal kingdom, their army is composed of four Knights, their respective men-at-arms, and the King's household troops. The King is said to have ties with the semi-religious order of the Paladins, who act as a police force for the kingdom. This keeps everything in good order, so when war arrives, the army can be mobilized pretty quickly.
The Knights maintain border garrisons to keep out marauding riffraff, and as a result, the country is quite prosperous, with most of the population being skilled craftsmen and tradesmen. The lower class usually act as apprentices or join the military, where they are taught a trade after eight years of service, and given a pension after twenty. Unfortunately, this leaves nobody to do the cheap labor, so most big construction projects employ hordes of bored peasants from Parvaeri. As a result, the two countries are generally on pretty good terms.
The Imperium Regalis has 100 soldiers (80 crown knights, 20 stormtroopers with silver armor), though they rarely need to be mobilized all at once. Its cavalry and archers are negligible, as it relies instead on large numbers of disciplined spearmen.
[Okay, stop skipping]
So there you have it. Sorry for digressing slightly; I tend to get kind of long-whinded when talking about armies of little plastic men. You know how it is.
Back to the topic at hand, my perception of 'small' and 'big' is completely dependent on how many I have to begin with. To my minifigs, and army of 100 is huge. An army of 500 is insane. An army of 1,000 is simply inconcievable.