Just take another look at the AB miniatures website again (it’s 20mm), costs about the same as buying those 28mm plastics from Warlord…but they are SOOOOOO much better.

When playing a skirmish level game in WW2 (like Chain of Command), then tanks are a minor worry as you should only be using one or two of them (or ideally armoured cars or APCs instead). BUT the ranges on those tank guns should be basically across the table for medium range (Warlord artificially truncated the ranges so you could fit MOAR tanks on the table in Bolt action). But even with Chain of Command the ranges are artificially truncated for 28mm figures. Ideally the smaller the figures, then the better the game will look (keeping those 28mm ranges in the rules). I’ve even seen 6mm figures used for Chain of Command games (Adler do a fine range in 6mm) while keeping the 28mm ranges (you just base multiple figures on a 2 pence piece) and it looks epic (and the tanks now start to look “right” on the table).

Warlord is easy to find and buy, but those AB figures (if in the UK you’re better off buying them from the Eureka UK site as it’s not silly postage from the AB site) are just the best figures you’ll find in ANY scale and well worth the wait for them to arrive in the post (rather than a few days if buying the Warlord minis). 20mm is also handy as you’ll have access to more vehicles and companies producing kits in plastic, resin and metal than Warlord could ever hope to produce.

On starting out in WW2 it’s pretty hard to do armies that cover everything across all theatres and throughout the whole war (as nearly every army changes uniforms and equipment during the war). So you’re probably best in just finding the one theatre and campaign to start out. Mid war is probably the best period to start out in as you’ve haven’t got the “silly” late war stuff arriving, and the equipment is mostly  comparable (perhaps the Allied push up through Italy?), and for on the Eastern Front again mid war is probably your best bet.

Early War (battle for France etc) has the British in a slightly different uniform (same with the Germans), and the French troops well don’t appear again in that uniform (instead it’s Free French in British and later US equipment) again. Plus all the tanks and tankettes go out of service by 1942.

So even if you don’t feel that the AB figures are AWESOME, the best thing to do is try and sort out what theatre and year you want to start out with and just build up two side to begin with (there’s SOO much out there).