Grand manner gaming means big armies. I know this is relative and I see collections on the web that make my collections look small, but compared to where it used to be my collections are getting quite large. Regarding my ancients to early modern collections, part of the motive here is a house set of rules that I am developing that requires much larger armies. I have about 20 armies that cover this very broad period and all of them need expansion. To give an example, whereas I used to have 16 stands of Marian Roman legionaries (each of 8-9 figures) which suited Armati, I now have 40. Not all of my collections needed doubling, but many have become significantly larger. I must say that this has really inspired renewed interest in all of these armies. While it is a lot of work that will take me years to fully complete (notwithstanding significant increases in my colonial, Napoleonic and WWII collections) it is all part of the fun.
One important point: I don't have to do this alone. While I have a solid collection of some 15,000 painted figures (and about 400 WWII 20mm vehicles), I am blessed with a group of fellow madmen who meet every week (these days in smaller groups with masks on...) who have massive collections too.
So,while I am chipping away at my expansion plans, they all have armies that can fill-in and provide opponents on a grand scale.
