One of the bits of feedback I’ve been getting about my Numidians is how difficult it would be to do an “alternative Empire” list using them.  All the figures are lightly armored, there’s no black powder, and of course no magic.

But I suppose I need to clarify something.  I really liked the miniatures by Wargames Factory and thought they’d make a fine looking army.  I thought they also had a lot of versatility and would be fairly easy to paint in a way that’d be attractive.  And, dare I say it, they were very affordable.

But there’s always part of me that says, “why?”  Why buy (or take valuable Christmas/birthday gift list space) a new army?  What would I do with it?  Well, I only play one wargame with any regularity–Warhammer Fantasy Battles.  So I could shoehorn a Numidian army into WHFB, with some tweaking.  Javelin throwers could, for example, become spearmen, despite the fact that Empire spearmen are more pikemen and can’t throw their weapons.  And maybe an elephant been ridden by Numidians could become a steam tank, etc.  It made it easier to talk myself into the plunge.

But now, maybe its my new, more laid-back attitude.  Maybe its because I have been enjoying painting more.  But the upshot is I’m not sweating the “how’s it going to become a WHFB army?” question.  I’m just assembling a painting an army composed of Numidians, or something that looks quasi-Numidian, since I’m sure they are not quite up-to-spec.  I’ll throw in a few Numidian cavalry by Warlord Games, and at some point I’ll say it’s done and take a nice big picture.

And yes, I’ll trot ’em out and use them in a battle sometime.  And they’ll probably get whipped because heavy cavalry and cannons help in an Empire list.  But I think I’m become more of an Army Collector.  Or I’m trying out the Army Collector identity.  Or maybe I’m just going fluff and appearance over playability.  I don’t know.  But I’m refusing to stress about it.