One's Own Army

5mm Armies

by Ralph Henderson, Brazil

There are few surer ways of making friends than getting someone you have just met to talk about what they do. Intelligent and sympathetic interest has its own reward in an increase in not always-useless knowledge. One can always dine out on someone else's story! By the same token, nothing is more agreeable, than talking about one's own interest. In the following paragraphs I propose to expound on the virtues of 5mm and some of the tricks I use to overcome some of their shortcomings. As a diplomat, condemned to wander the world on miserly removal allowances, 1:300 came as a godsend. Price aside, their small size, relative robustness and light weight make them ideal for away games and, in these days of small flats, they will fit in a toolbox. Though they will never in themselves be collectors pieces, given enough patience, a very good paint job is possible in this scale. On the table, however, and in mass, the details blur and you can get away with a lot less than perfection. They are not meant to be pieces in themselves, but groups, and must be so regarded. I use standard "production line" techniques, a brigade ( 3 bns, 1 rgt and 1 battery) for each side at a time. Quite a lot of figures, but once done there is a balanced battle available. The twist is that I glue the stands on plastic rulers with white glue (a most versatile, non-permanent fixative), which makes handling very easy. Naturally 1:300 are unthinkable without bases, but these do not have to be of beer-mat thickness. Being very light, thin cardboard or thick paper will do fine. This also applies to scenery. Heroics, with their 50 figure packs are very handy. I use a 1:10 scale and a roster system for casualties, with 1mm:1m as a ground scale. Using this system, companies and squadrons are represented, and can operate independently. Since my troops are on campaign and will have suffered attrition the standard strengths are: 10 coys x 6 figures for British, in 2 ranks; 6 coys x 9 figures for French, in 3 ranks. Standards etc are included on one of the company stands as a separate stand would over represent these and muddle up columns. The only problem is representing squares, which look a bit odd with the colours being in one of the faces. If one really feels strongly about this, use odd figures and make up a standard company base, 1 or 2 rear ranks as may be. There is no need to produce additional standards as here another trick can be used. This is valid also for skirmishers if you feel that the detached 2 or 3 rank companies do not look well. Make 2 sets of bases (mine are 1.5 x 1cm or 1.5 x 1.5 cm), separate one into 1 rank strips (1 or 2 standards, musician and, for French an officer for the command stand). Put double-sided scotch tape on the big base and you can use the single rank bases alone or together on the big base. This can get quite fiddly in multi-player games, but gives you lots of flexibility, you can make up a separate command stand for the square and spread your skirmishers all over the table. Mounted officers are detached and can indicate the activities of the units by their placement. Squadrons are 12 figures strong in 4 bases of 3. This allows 2 rank deep lines, with regiments composed of as many squadrons as historically occurred. Again one stand has the command. I represent batteries by 2 guns and crews, one on each base, with 2 limbers and one caisson each on its own base. The lengths of these are the same and on the extra space of the limber base you can place (without gluing) a towed cannon when the battery is in movement. Every battery has a mounted officer, on his own stand, and measurement is from this officer who stands between guns "in battery". These 2 guns are used for convenience due to Heroics packaging ( 1 gun and 3 limber packets produce 3 batteries), but you can use more to represent larger batteries such as Russian ones. Brigade, Division, Corps and Army staffs have their own stands with 2, 3, 4 and 5 figures each and horse batteries have a stand with 2 mounted figures per gun. Wagons and pontoon carts are each mounted on their own stand. Since plume colours on the British flank companies are difficult to see, I mount 1 officer and 5 figures on each stand, with the officer on the right for grenadiers and on the left for lights. These form the ends of the line. The French are slightly more visible with their epaulets and this is not necessary. My rules are of the simple variety, specially as players know the tactics, or a separate tactical manual can be used. They take up one sheet of A4 paper. They are based on an article in Miniature Wargames some years ago about "hair roller armies", and, use a roster system with standard deductions for casualties according to the strength of the firing unit, modified by formation, cover etc. Each unit has an initial strength based on 1 point per 3 figures for infantry and 1.5 for 3 cavalry; thus the French battalion has 18 points and the British line 20, squadrons have 6. Each type of gun is given its own points value multiplied by the number of guns in the real battery (in this case the actual number of models is less important). These initial values are modified by a secret dice throw that may increase or decrease them by up to 2 points. Each brigade's units are noted on a separate filing card and losses deducted. I have finally managed to introduce, to my satisfaction, a use for wagons in the tactical game. Once each game a unit is allowed to resupply by 1/2 its strength, up to its original value, by being near a wagon and out of rifle range for 1 move. This system allows 2 different effects. The standard size of units is no indication to the opponent of its strength and tactical dispositions must be very careful, with use of reserves to allow the resupply of units engaged. This also allows for some bluffing as an imposing unit may turn out to be very weak but this only becomes apparent when it fights. Units which use up all their points are removed from the board. Remember that 50% losses in one action were exceptional (see the "diehards" at Albuera), at which point the unit was normally no longer tactically useful, and companies remained as distinct entities until their dissolution. Another aspect of 5mm on a cluttered table introduces an element of the "fog of war". There is a natural tendency for players to remain on their side of the table. This makes details on the other side a bit hazy as the figures are very small and trees, houses and hills clutter things up. Enforce this tendency and after 10 moves you will feel the effect, specially in multi-player games. Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire #11 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1992 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com