Peter is the owner of BACCUS 6mm, a company producing quality 6mm figures and terrain for a number of historical periods. 6mm has, within MWAN, been attracting more attention and I thought it would be interesting for us to find out more about this figure scale and Peter as well.
MWAN: Can you give us some background information on yourself. Peter?
PETER: Where to start? I am 42. married with two children, two hamsters and a mortgage. I work full time as an educational resource manager at a University in the North of England. I've been a wargamer for so long that I can still remember when there were on1y Minifigs and Hinchliffe figures and no one had ever heard of Games Workshop. My formative years as a wargamer were spent at the Halifax Wargames Society and I played Ancients to the exclusion of all else. As I grew older I moved into other periods, but generally nothing where warfare got more complicated than the flintlock musket and smoothbore cannon.
MWAN: You have published several rules sets for the English Civil War. You must have a love for this period as it is one of the 6mm periods you offer in your range. What attracted You to the ECW and can you tell us about the ECW rules as well as other rules N on have put out? What do you try to accomplish re "level" of warfare (regimental/brigade/division/armv)and has your focus changed over the years (and if so. why).
PETER: You are right, I do have a strong sense for the ECW. I have always viewed it as a fascinating period of history in its own right and studied it at school and at University. I progressed(?) to re-enactment and have been a member of the English Civil War Society since 1981. As a reenactor and a historian I soon realised that there were huge deficiencies in the ways that Wargamers portrayed the war. In the mid 1980s gamers used either the WRG Renaissance rules or Tercio. Neither to me gave the flavour of the period, and Tercio in particular was incredibly SLOW! SO, I started to write what became 'Forlorn Hope'. They are a set of regimental scale rules that allowed people to fight the larger actions of the war. One innovation I included was a set of lists for the regional armies that fought in the wars and a random element for deciding army compositions. As is turned out, these latter two points have proved to be the most successful part of the project and have been expanded on in later editions. While this was going on I was roped into an ECW skirmish game. The rules were incredibly complex and over detailed. The result was me dashing off a set of quick of playable man to man rules called 'Once Upon A Time in the West Country'. The aim was to have quick clean games without overloading on irrelevant information. They were soon added to my printed rule sets and sold, indeed sell quite well. However, this left a gap in the middle. I had an idea for producing a set that would enable me to fight troop and company actions - you know, a scrap that involved say 400 men a side. Too small for Forlorn Hope and too big for OUATITWC. A figure scale of 1: 10, a very simple set of mechanisms, command and control rules and some dubious officer incidents and 'File Leader' was born! This meant that I now had a full suite of rules covering ECW action at 1:1, 1:10 and 1:33. Time to move on! My publisher, Dave Ryan at Partizan Press, told me that both OUATITWC and File Leader had received such good receptions that he wanted me to expand the systems. This I did, with File Leader converting to both French Indian Wars and AWl variants, and a Swashbuckling/Pirate add-on called 'Once Upon a Time in the West Indies' and a Napoleonic version. An ancients version was written but eaten by Dave Ryan's filing and lack of retrieval systems.... After that what I have done has remained unpublished. mainly due to the lack of playtesting time. but if anyone is familiar with the UK Pike and Shot Society's 'Breakfast in the Bastion' game, that was one of mine - right down to the cream crackers I
MWAN: Most of us, at one time or another, daydream about starting a figures compan~. What was your motivation for doing so and how did You go about it'? What made you select 6mm as a scale as opposed to other scales?
PETER: It all started by accident really! In about 1990 I wanted to reproduce a WSS siege and had been inspired by the section in Chandler's book on Warfare in the Age of Marlborough. I wanted to convert the process of building approach saps, parallels. batteries etc. At that stage I had bucket loads of 25mm figures. So I did in sums and realised that I would need a gym floor to plan on in this scale. A basic hexagonal trace would have measured 24 feet across! 15mm offered little better, and then I picked up on 6mm as a working scale. My first contact! It would have ended there, but having made the model balls and trenches. I kept on being asked for copies. I made a few moulds, sold a few models, started Baccus Buildings and eventually entered an agreement with a now-defunct 6mm, company called 'Minuteman Miniatures' to share a trade stand with them at Wargames shows in the UK. However the quality of the Minuteman figures was terrible and people began to associate my scenics with the figures and I started getting the complaints, I had a go at figure design myself, came to an arrangement, took over the management of the Minuteman ranges and the rest, as they say, is history... I think I didn't choose 6mm as a scale - it chose me, and in answer to the main question, I just drifted into it all really.
MWAN: Along the same lines, can you give us some idea of what "day-to-day" life is like for the operator of a figures company? Has it interfered with your original hobby of wargaming?
PETER: Well, my day is really pretty much like any one else's. I have a 'proper' job and set off for work after breakfast and come at teatime. When I get home, it is time to check the mail for orders and correspondence and bills, and then check my email. Most contact with customers is for orders, but increasingly I am answering questions about ranges, or explaining for the nth time that I have no immediate plans to do a Great Guano range war etc. I also try and find some time to tend to my web site. I generally cast in the evenings maybe for an hour or two, and pack and invoice orders. Some weeks are busier than others. Oh. and in between I sculpt figures, paint a bit and took in on my long suffering family.. Has it interfered with my hobby? Not really. The birth of my children effectively put paid to wargaming a while ago. In fact it has kept in touch with the hobby, and my son is now old enough to play games with me and I'm getting back into the gaming side. which is why I am now building my own collection up.
MWAN: Why did you select the periods that you did for BACCUS 6mm?
PETER: Good question! If you ask my customers they will tell you that it is by finding out what people REALLY want and doing something else! My original ranges were decided for me. I just replaced the old Minuteman designs with my figures, so Ancients, ECW, WSS, Napoleonics and ACW became the backbone. I'm afraid that I am not motivated necessarily by what will sell, but by what I want to design. I added Egyptians and Hittites to my ranges not because they would be good sellers, but because I wanted to see chariot units containing fifty models, The Great North War range was a pure 'Vanity' range. After ECW it has always been a favourite and I wanted some armies for myself I do listen to some requests however and I am producing Napoleonic Austrians because SO many people demanded them. Another new factor in the equation is Chris, my son. He wants fantasy figures and was threatening to spend vast amounts of my money at GW. Guess who's doing Goblins and Elves now!
MWAN: Can vou give us some thoughts on where 6mm fits into the various wargaming scales'? What can it do that other scales can't do'?
PETER The great thing about 6mm is flexibility and ease of use, In terms of wargames, no other scale can be used in as wide range of periods and to depict different levels of action. The only thing that 6mm cannot do better than larger scale figures is skirmishes, where 25mm and upwards is the best option. This may sound a bit controversial, but let me expand a bit. Let us take Ancients as an example and DBA as a rules set I question. You can choose to use 6mm as a means of buying very cheap armies, playing the game in compact space. Great for those with limited budgets, limited storage or who want 'travel games'. For those who want a little more spectacle you can use the 15mm ground scale, double up on the umber of figures used and have nice big units playing on a standard sized table. You may even wish to push this to using 25mm ground scale - believe me, Roman legionary elements consisting of 48 figures looks spectacular! Another approach is to take advantage of the small 'footprint' of the figures and fight games whereby you can have flanks that are not defend by a table edge, and where keeping reserves really does matter. I think we've all seen games where both sides put lots of figures on to a table and their combined surface area means that both have secured flanks (the table edges) and no depth of deployment. It may be wargaming, but its not generalship! Now if you are into figure painting, 6mm may not appeal.
Fine, but if you are assuming just because your Old Guard have got gold earrings, individually painted Gray moustache hairs and working flintlock mechanisms they are going to look better on the wargames table, you are sadly mistaken. Look at you unit of twelve magnificent 25mm guardsmen next to a unit occupying the same area of say 150 6mm equivalents, and you will see exactly the same amount of detail on both units - bearskins, crossbelts and white trousers - and then ask yourself - which looks like a battalion" Then ask yourself 'Am I a Wargamer, or a Military Modeller"? A final point touches an earlier answer. While I admit that 6mm are useless for 1:1 actions and groundscale, the reverse is equally true, The larger the action you wish to game. the harder it becomes in either 25mm or 15mm. I think my earlier comments about sieges illustrates that.
MWAN: Have you developed any "generalisations" about what "type" of gamer does 6mm vs other scales?
PETER: Mmmm. I suppose 'the more intelligent ones' isn't an acceptable answer! I think the answer reflects something of my previous answer. There is no real bias in favour of particular age groups, period, rules set or of experience. Perhaps the main way I could try and define hem is by how they use their figures. The minimalists buy small armies to play in big games. There are those who like the spectacle of LOTS of toy soldiers. For example I have one customer who bought lots of Biblical Ancient figures because he wanted to deploy 50 model strong chariot units! Most fall somewhere in between these extremes. I suppose what characterises a lot of my customers is disillusionment with high priced single figures and the cult of overdetailing. 6mm scale gives them a chance to look at the 'Big Picture.'
MWAN: The older I get, the more I have trouble seeing Detail. For awhile, I thought I would have to stick to 25mm figures for that reason. However, I have recently been painting some 15mm and although I have more trouble than I used to (especially putting lace on tricorns), I am doing better than I thought. I have heard man) gainers state that they feel strongly that because our hobby is "greying", more gamers will be moving toward 25mm and away from the smaller scales. You must often hear "Oh, I can't paint figures that small." What's your response?
PETER: Hal, you must know that's a Red rag to a Bull! Yes, I do get that a lot. It started the day I first took a trade stand to a show and it continues to this day. In fact I now have a pre printed painting guide for 6mm figures that starts off with, 'I couldn't possibly paint anything so small!' in very big black letters. I give these out at shows just to save my voice from going over the points again and again and again! It really is a myth that my tiny figures are difficult to paint, even for the optically challenged. The common error is for someone used to big soldiers looking at 6mm and contemplating how he could get buttons and lace patterns on to such a small area. Own up. How many of you reading this tried painting 15mms and got fed up because you were taking just as long to paint them as 25mm because you were trying to produce figures to the same standards as the larger scale'? I thought so! 6mm is all about impression and effect, not about detail. Bear these facts in mind and you will have no problem, Worry about gaiter buttons and you really need some urgent treatment! I have a full explanation of my quick 'n dirty technique on my web site and a version of it has just appeared in the latest Wargames illustrated, and if you want I'll write it up for MWAN. Trust me compensating for poor eyesight by getting bigger and bigger figures is a poor strategy. As I can see that by 2015 Foundry will be releasing 85mm castings!
MWAN: Although I have tried not to, I have a number of figure scales for the same period - for the Seven Years War, which is one of my favourite periods, I have armies in 6mm, 20mm, and 25mm, and am sorely tempted by 15mm. I must add that 10mm attracts my attention sometimes as well, though this might be carrying it a bit too far. I used to have trouble justifying multiple figure scales within the same period due to cost constraints, However, it is just so difficult to resist new "toy soldiers" and my buying power is greater than it was thirty years ago. Do you do this yourself? What do you tell people when they tell on this?
PETER: My gut reaction is 'each to their own!' I know I have customers who do have duplicates in scale, and good luck to them. It is a personal decision. Personally I have some 25mm figures I use for skirmish games and the rest of my collection is 6mm. I'm sure that comes as a surprise to nobody! Perhaps I am victim of my own propaganda but I personally cannot see any valid reason for wargaming the periods and the types of action that I do in any other scale. I can admire good design work. I have spent some time over at Dixons recently, and the standard of sculpting that Trevor gets into his figures is breathtaking, but I just cannot see me using his scale of figures for real wargaming.
MWAN: As I mentioned in the introduction, 6mm seems to be growing in popularity, at least from what I hear from MWANers. Do you notice this as well'? If so, what do you think are the reasons for it'?
PETER: Why is 6mm growing in popularity'? I don't think that there is any one single cause. Certainly the increase in prices of both l5rnm and especially 25mm is a factor, It is only someone with a lot of disposable income and a lot of time to paint who can really field big armies. Another factor is the change in attitude amongst some recent rulesets moving away from individual figures as the building blocks of the game, and shifting on to a base or element system, housing varying numbers of different scale figures.
This has really allowed the use of massed blocks of 6mm figures to come to the fore. It is also because there is a small backlash against the superdetailing and overpainting that dogs the Culture of big figures. This mirrors the trend of rules of late to move their focus out to the 'big Picture' of actions. It may also be that there are more manufacturers. Not that I admit, but for many years the alternative was Heroics and Ros...or Heroics and Ros. Now, there is Adler, Irregular and of course, Bacchus. So customers have a bit of choice and more coverage. Perhaps it is just an idea whose time has come. To be fair- if I could answer questions like this defiinitely, I would be a rich man!
MWAN: Peter Laing came out with his 15mm figures followed shortly by MINIFIGS in about 1973 or so. At that time I recall the reason for it was to allow more figures to be placed on. for example. a 2-5mm or 30mm figure base However, this seemed to change quickly as people put the same number - or fewer, 15mm figures on a 25mm/30mm base because, I assume, it reduced painting time. The VOLLEY & BAYONET proponents seem to do this for the most part. On the other hand, I would prefer to place "lots" of 6mm figures on a base to represent a "Unit" because I am in this hobby because I love to see soldiers on the tabletop much more than the gaming aspect. Is it as simple as saying that people who are "gamers" first and 'hobbyists" second "size-down" their units even , with the smaller scale(s) "hobbyists" go more for the larger units and the visual aspect of our hobby. ` What are your own personal armies like in this regard?
PETER: I think that there is some truth in your argumengt, but I think the division is subtler. I have many customers who use the 'downsized' units for legitimate reasons of cost or space. YOU can buy basic DBA armies for less than £ 10 (US $17) and store them in a box measuring five inches square and two high. Because no tournaments are played in 6mm scale, I therefore have little demand from 'gamers.' I would say that the vast majority of customers now buy to make large units. It's certainly the system that I advocate. Not surprisingly, I do have lots of figures on my bases. I started this with my ECW collection. I sold off 25mm and replaced them with 6mm. Where I had one 25mm infantryman on a 20mm square base I nov have 12 6mm figures -- a 30-strong regiment replaced by a 360 strong unit in the same ground areal The VnB system lends itself well to this system. I'm painting up some Napoleonic bases. I use 80mm square bases and each of these contains two battalions each 49 strong and some skirmishers out front. There are 100 figures per base. Put corps out on the table it looks like a Corps! At the risk of throwing another plug in here, each of these bases contains 2 strips of figures and takes me about an evening to paint. The cost of these are £ 3.50 (US$6). With Foundry figures at $1 each, I ask the question, which better represents a regiment? Six figures or one hundred?
MWAN: In the 70's I recall reading about the MINIFIGS in "blocks" of' Napoleonic figures and day-dreamed about building huge armies in this scale though I never did ger around to seeing them. If my memory serves me correctly (which it does less and less), they were in more than one rank. Your foot figures come in one rank as do many 5/6mm mftrs. HEROICS & ROS and ADLER come in strips one behind the other. What are the advantages for the manufacturer and the gamer (ranks vs strips)?
PETER: I think the main difference is that all 6mm mftrs today design and cast individual figures no matter how we actually present them. The old Minifigs 'blocks' were just that blocks with little detail, animation, or design. Today's customers prefer more of these and so you get them on strips. As to how they arrive - in rank or in file- is determined by a numbcr of things. When I started the ranges off, I wanted everything to come in ranks- so that they could be painted and used with minimal fuss. I have had to change this as I found that this method for cavalry casting started tearing holes in the moulds. It made them harder to paint and actually lost a lot of detail. Similarly light infantry were fragile and awkward with large metal bases. As a result, I have gone over to a 'file' system for mounted and skirmish troops and retained a 'rank' system for close order infantry. This means that a gamer can still knock out vast amounts of line/light infantry nice and easy, but that mounted and skirmish troops are a bit more fiddly to base.
MWAN: Do you notice a difference in 6mm gamer interest in the UK vs. the US? Is there any major difference in philosophy as far as this is concerned between the gamers in the two countries'.)
PETER: Strangely enough, there is little to choose from. I meet similar attitudes from both sides of the Atlantic. The main difference lies in choice of rules. For example in the UK the DBx family of rules predominates and dictate the pattern of buying, while in the US, there is a more eclectic selection and I find myself supporting Armati and even WAB gamers.
MWAN: What about rules for 6mm? Certainly you are looking at a different scale of' recreating historical battles. Instead of being regimental or brigade commanders - we can easily be army commanders with the smaller scales. I know that IRREGULAR MINIATURES has a variety of rules sets available for their 2mm and 6mm scales. Peter Dennis years ago published rules sets for Napoleonics and the American Civil War in 2mm and 6mm. VOLLEY & BAYONET lends itself perfectly to 6mm. What rules set(s) do you use?
PETER: I think it is a fallacy to talk about 6mm or 15mm or 25mm rules. What we are using are COUNTERS. These may be better shaped than those in the average Monopoly set, the look better than those in one of those boardgames about the battle of the Bulge, but they are Counters nevertheless. This is why I think VnB have impressed me so much. Frank Chadwick's pedigree is as a designer of some excellent board games and he has used this philosophy and applied it to toy solders. There are some sets that deliberately set out to exploit the advantages of 6mm by using lots of small units to get the feeling of big games. You can get away with eight 6mm figures on a 20mm square base and call it a battalion. Put one 25mm in the same space and it looks a bit daft! Nowadays my gaming is severely curtailed, but for the record, I play Hordes of the Things against Chris my son. I use Forlorn Hope and especially File Leader for ECW. I use an amended VnB for Great Northern War and WSS and am looking to see how the new version pans out. So I call get these Napoleonic figures fighting I have played Fire and Fury and found them playable and fun, but if I were to revisit the period again, I would probably tend towards the VnB approach because I prefer the big bases to the little ones.
MWAN: Do have any thoughts on where you might see the 6mm figure scale going in the future?
PETER: Crystal ball time. Every survey that I have seen puts 6mm at about 10% of the total wargame market. I think that we'll see that figure increase, but how far, I wouldn't guess. Probably it has another 5 to 10 % to go. The way I see things panning out in the next few years is as follows:
25/28/30/35mm (or whatever size these figures are!) will continue to hold market share. Despite the price increases people will continue to buy, driven by the factors of increasing affluence and decaying eyesight mentioned earlier. This scale has also got the advantages of having the slickest marketing in the hobby, and of being the staple fodder for the glossy magazines and therefore receives more market exposure than any other.
20mm will retain its current level. It has a nice grip on the 20th/20thC gamers I cannot see it challenging beyond this except in plastics where HaT industries is showing ambition. Still too much 'plastic snobbery' around to really impact I think.
15mm. Huge numbers of existing gamers. Huge support from manufacturers- but I suspect this scale is most vulnerable. There is in emigration upwards to the bigger end of the scale- and one downwards. I have always considered to be a sort of compromise half way house scale - but there again I am often wrong!
10mm wll show good growth. Almost as flexible as 6mm in potential. Its great strength is that it retains enough size so that those downsizing. Will not be completely put out of sorts. As 15mms get more expensive, 10mm will increasing offer a 'value for money' option.
6mm will benefit from increased exposure - If I have anything to do with it, and with generations of rules that cater for area basing rather than individual figures.
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