The Arms Length Brigade

Affiliated to the League of the Two Foot Wargamers

Is it me, or have we become too obsessed with the individual, and forgotten about the whole? Now I’m not talking about society here, but rather the trend for focussing upon the amazing painted detail of a figure, rather than the impact of the army as a whole? With the advent of digital cameras and cameras on our phones there are close up pictures of figures, or parts of a unit, posted up everywhere. It is rare to see the full beauty of a brigade of units in their natural habitat, or an entire army striding across the game table. Instead we have snapshots of little corners of games to highlight the amazing pant job of the individual figure.

It is unlikely that my figures will grace many peoples internet bookmarks, but hopefully my armies might. It is rare for me to get so up close and personal that I can enjoy the same perspective of the studio miniature photo shots of figures on the game table, but for the majority of the game I will be seeing them at arms length or further, so I think that my paint style reflects that. I think that my style sits more in the impressionist style of wargames painting, with the figure looking OK, though the unit looks good as a whole, and everything blending into satisfactory magnificent with the whole army on display. The irony is that most of the amazing paint jobs are barely discernible from my satisfactory standard at 3 foot.

So all of you barely competent and adequate painters out there, I invite you into the Two Foot Wargamers community under the banner of the Arms Length Brigade. Let us celebrate our painted armies in their entirety and appreciate the delight of simply getting it onto the table with the simple knowledge that painted ones do fight better, even if they aren’t painted amazingly. In this day and age we should just celebrate everyones accomplishments, and the fact that there is another army to play against.

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