At the ripe old age of 30 I can legitimately claim to have wargamed for 20 years. Like most fledgling gamers, I started with Airfix plastics with my friend Mel Grahams, who poisoned me with this disease by giving me a little book called An Introduction to Battle Gaming. Even at this early stage, Napoleonics became an interest and with the first purchase of metal figures, I was hooked. In the years that I have collected Napoleonics the quality and diversity of the figures has grown immensely, as has their size! In the following paragraphs I will outline the ranges of Napoleonic figures available in 25mm and comment on their design. The list is not comprehensive and readers should look to other publications for specific reviews and photos.

I have had the good fortune of being able to visit Britain on several occasions, which has offered me the opportunity to talk with some of the more notable designers in the hobby. My most memorable encounter was with the late Peter Gilder. While talking to him it became evident that the design community Was small, and influences amongst the designers make some figures more compatible with certain ranges than they are with others. With this in mind we will start with the Gilder school of design.

Peter Gilder has had a tremendous impact on figure design, being responsible for the many generations of Hinchliffe figures. These figures are now somewhat dated now, but still have a flare about them, especially those with higher number codes. Some of the best ranges from Hinchliffe were those that were done after the mandatory French and British ranges were completed, such as the Prussians, Bavarians, Confederation of the Rhine, and the Peninsula range.

The best from Hinchliffe, and the range that made Gilder's figures exceptional for their 'movement', was the Foremost range. These are still superb figures that mix in well with later and larger figures, particularly those done by Gilder himself.

Gilder's relationship with Hinchliffe ended in the early 1980's, and after a short rest he started production of new designs for his Connoisseur Figures. These figures set a new standard of design, having all the movement of his previous work, but with better detail and weapons that were more durably designed for wargame use. The range of Napoleonics is exhaustive and excellent overall. In the later years of his life Peter could no longer design figures, and the responsibility fell on others such as Doug Mason, Peter Morbey (Elite Miniatures) and Peter's son Chris, who now runs the company in Florida. All of these designers seem to have caught Peter's flare, and while their own marks are certainly on their figures, the range remains cohesive.

A range that is drawing more and more attention is Peter Morbey's Elite Miniatures. Influenced and initially helped by Peter Gilder, Morbey's figures are excellent. They have all the 'movement' and details of Connoisseur, but tend to be a bit bigger in all dimensions, and are durably designed. Furthermore, the range has numerous variants in many of its codes, especially the early French. Another plus for Elite is that old designs are constantly being up-dated. This is something I wish more companies would do. In balance, Elite has become my favorite producer of Napoleonic figures.

The late Dave Alsop of Old Glory also produced a small number of Gilderesque figures which are still available.

Only Austrians and Russians are being cast and these are incomplete ranges. Nevertheless, the variety and value in each pack are of the usual Old Glory standard, and they match the flair of the Connoisseur and Elite figures.

Front Rank, better known for their eighteenth century ranges, produces a high quality range of Napoleonics that includes French, British and Russians. I imagine that it will only be a matter of time before the other powers are included as well. Overall, I am impressed with the Front Rank figures. The detail is beautifully cut and the size corresponds well with many of the other 'larger' ranges, although they are more stout than the aforementioned figures.. Unfortunately I find that they lack flair. While the positions are quite good, they seem somewhat wooden and heavy. My bias for Connoisseur and Elite is showing through! Nevertheless, I can still highly recommend these figures.

What figure review would be complete without mention of Wargames Foundry? As is their custom, W.F. has stormed onto the scene with a huge and growing, range of high-quality Napoleonics. I must confess that my knowledge of this range (with the exception of a few British figures) is limited, alas, to the magazine pictures and ads. . But it is clear that the 'twins' have produced a well-designed range again. I am not the biggest fan of W.F., despite the obvious quality of their sculpting and casting. Until recently I couldn't put my finger on why I felt ambivalent towards their ranges. After speaking with Peter Morbey and Chris Gilder, I have discovered why.

Both Connoisseur and Elite figures have exaggerated collars: according to their designers, such exaggeration is crucial on Napoleonic figures. Although many may not agree, I like the look of the large collars, and this is precisely what the W.F. figures lack. Consequently I find them somewhat stiff in posture. One other problem with W.F. is that they are a fraction smaller than some of the other ranges thus far mentioned, although this is not significant.

There are of course several other ranges of Napoleonic Dixon, Britannia, Warrior, Minifigs, Essex, Bicorne - and some of these deserve consideration. Unfortunately some are very limited, such as Dixon and Britannia.

Others are rather dated designs such as those of Warrior and Minifigs. Essex has a nice range of French, British and Austrians of their usual high quality if somewhat uninspired poses.

Unfortunately the Essex range seems to be stagnant with no new releases for several years now. Bicome Miniatures, now available from a US production facility in Arizona at reasonable cost, is a company to look out for. Many of their early figures were not the best, although they do belong to the Gilder school of design. Their latest releases, principally ACW, are very good and so the future for their Napoleonics might be interesting. Their latest Napoleonic designs look excellent, however, their horses need improving.

This review is incomplete, and of course represents only my opinions about the various ranges of 25mm Napoleonics. I know that 25mm is perceived as too expensive or too cumbersome, but I would suggest that, depending on the rules being used, it the unit sizes are tailored to your budget you will derive considerable enjoyment from painting, collecting and playing with 25mm figures. I hope that more people find this scale and period of wargaming interesting. Few periods in history offer the wargamer such fertile ground for research, collecting, painting and gaming.