I was tired of Ancients. I wanted 25-30mm figures. I wanted uniformed troops. I wanted color. I wanted flags. I wanted Charles Grant's THE WAR GAME. But I had already done the Seven Year's War in 15mm - and there was just a bit more detail in the painting those troops than I wanted. So, what to do?

Then I came across some references to the Great Northern War. Sort of a cross between Marlborough and the SYW - with pikes added. The Swedes had turnbacks, but most countries didn't. Most troops had tricorns, but their were alternatives for the Russians, Swedes and Poles. Color'? Well, the Swedes were in blue: the Russians in green; the Danes in grey; and the Saxons and Poles in red. Well, sort of - there are lots of "odd regiments" that are in different colors - and there is a rainbow of facing colors.

The flags of the period are also very colorful - but generally less intricate than those of the Seven Years war. So, I had my period. Now, what rules set to play? I didn't (this was a number of years ago) have many choices. I read them and wasn't satisfied. Oh, the rules were fine - but they all seemed geared to "standard" unit sizes. I wanted something that allowed (even encouraged) units of varying sizes. Well, there weren't any rules that suited me - so I would write my own.

Great, that means I can make my units any size I want. So, what did I want? First, I'll be using 25mm figures (which take up more room), but I want to be able to put a lot of units on the table - so Grant's huge units are out of the question. I finally decided on a nominal scale of 1:65 (weird, huh?). This would give me battalions of 10- 1 2 figures for most nations, although 8 and 9 figure units would also work (as well as a few larger ones). And cavalry regiments would generally fall anywhere between 6 and 15 figures.

I tried this on for scale and found that I liked it. I read somewhere that during this period, a 600-man infantry unit and a 400 horse cav unit each took up about 150 yards of frontage. If I set a scale of 20-25 yards an inch, this would work!

Fine. Where do I get figures? There were some beautiful (and expensive) European figures - but they almost demand detailed painting; and I am a lazy painter.

25mm Great Northern War figs, hmmm? Fortunately Lance Runolfsson's BLOOD AXE MINIATURES combined the large size 25mm's and easy painting features I wanted - and Lance had variants with alternate headgear. Best of all, his prices were (at the time) the lowest in the hobby. Now Old Glory has some figures at a comparable price point, but then they didn't.

So, I picked the Blood Axe figures - and was happy I did. They paint very easily and look great. Anyway, that is how I decided how to approach the Great Northern War.