A decade ago, I had over 10,000 Napoleonic figures in 15mm. Oh, happy days. Those armies represented about five years of collecting and painting. After several re-basings, I finally settled on Napoleon's Battles. Then, scraping up money to go back to grad school, I sold them all - every one - to Mr. GAJO. He gave me good money for them, but I'll always regret doing it. Steve Dake once called Napoleonics "the black hole of wargaming." No matter how many Napoleonic figures you have, it will never be enough. There will always be another gorgeous army to collect, another scale or rules set to try. (Hey... how about the Westphalians in 1:30 scale!) I've painted dozens of different periods of miniatures, but Napoleonics will always be my favorite. And so... I find myself drawn back to them. But the thought of starting from scratch makes my blood run cold. All those intricate uniforms... all those different unit-types... all those different armies! Oh my God, did I really paint ten thousand shako cords!? So recently I've been trying to find a (relatively) painless way to ease myself back into my all-time favorite miniatures period. I've always liked big-scale battles, which usually means lots of figures, but I'm also the kind of guy who doesn't mind a simplified game and aggregated units. (I won't miss skirmish stands - gimme those big brigades.) So for the moment my brain has settled on Volley and Bayonet, with its three-inch squares. A blank canvass, if you will. Virgin territory. It really is very exciting to be contemplating an entirely new period, even if it's not new. Back "in the day," my Napoleonics collection grew by fits and starts. Some of the figures were very early renditions, and had terrible paint jobs. It was a huge hodge-podge. Now I can think in terms of a deliberate collection. "A project," as Hal likes to say. But then I look at the number of figures needed, even to do a relatively modest battle, even at the scale I'm thinking of And my blood runs cold again. So what I've been considering is this: given that I've decided to use the 3" square bases, what scale figures should I put on them? My decision has three components: 1) Aesthetics: the way they'll look, which is a function of the paint-job and the number of figures on a base. 2) Cost: the amount of money required to fill up all those stands with figures, given that each figure scale represents an increase in expense, but a reduction in the number of figures needed. 3) Time: How long will it take me to paint all the little bastards! I'm 35 now. Will I finish this before I retire? I'm trying to decide whether to use 6mm, 15mm, or 25mm figures for my 3" bases. Each has its pros and cons. For the sake of comparison, I chose a medium-sized Napoleonic battle, Salamanca, since its O.B. is included in the Volley and Bayonet rulebook. That battle had about 40,000 French infantry engaged, and in V&13 the French infantry are represented by 16 Brigades (bases.) So my calculations are based on what it would take to paint up a French army (really, only the infantry) for this battle, in any of these scales. Here's what I've figured: 6mm I've never really liked the itty-bitty figures. I play miniatures mainly because of the beauty of the figures, and I pride myself on my paintjobs. Whenever I saw 6min games at conventions, they just looked like a bunch of little blue blobs charging over the hill toward little red blobs. But a lot of people have been talking about this scale lately, so I ordered some samples from Peter Berry at Baccus, and from Adler/Stone Mountain. (Peter is a real gent, by the way: great service, even across the ocean.) It seems that no matter the manufacturer, about a third of the infantry arrive with broken bayonets. The cavalry is in much better shape. On the pro side: they are absurdly easy to paint. Just imagine: no more collars, cuffs, epaulettes, or turnbacks! These blasted little guys still have shako cords, though! They're also cheap. A bag of about 60 costs around $5-7, depending on the manufacturer. On the con side: you'd need a boatload of them just to fill up even one 3" stand. I've experimented with different arrangements, and in order to get the "big brigades" look (which is the justification for using 6mm, anyway), you need to mount about sixty figures on a single base. That means, for my Salamanca game, I would need something on the order of one thousand figures, just for the French infantry. 15mm I'm well acquainted with this scale, having done it in about ten different periods over the years. It's a nice compromise, in many ways, and figures are still cheap. On the 3" square bases, the ideal arrangement would be 2024 15mm figures. On the pro side: twenty-four figures is a nice diorama, and looks like a brigade to me. The scale has a good "feel" when you're standing over the table looking down. They're also pretty cheap. If you pay $22 for 100 figures, and get four brigades out of it, then you're paying even less than in 6mm: about $5.25 per brigade. (Although if you use command figures, then the 6mm are still cheaper, since they always come with several per bag, whereas that's usually a special purchase in 15mm.) On the con side: good l5mm figures are actually quite detailed, and those blasted Napoleonic uniforms can take a while to paint, even at this scale. Old Glory, for instance, will sell you a sack of a hundred figures nice and cheap, but try painting them quickly and still being proud of it! (Especially since everybody is into different castings and poses nowadays - I prefer identical drones when I'm trying to speed-paint.) Different poses slow everything down, and the scale doesn't really justify it. Standing over the table, one doesn't really see individual 15mm figures; one sees only units. 25mm I've done plenty of fantasy figures in the 25-30mm scale, but only one historical period: the American Revolution. I sold those armies years ago, but this is what I remember: they were some of my best paint-jobs ever, and they took forever to paint, even those relatively small armies. (In all fairness, that was because I was doing a lot of different figures and poses for the American militia, to make them all individuals.) On the pro side: Oh, they're so beautiful. There are some heart-stoppingly gorgeous 25mm Napoleonic figures out there. In my guts I'm thinking that if I'm going to re-do my Nappies from scratch, I really ought to do it right. On the con side: well, just about everything. They're way more expensive than other sizes, especially for cavalry and artillery. Even infantry, though, will cost you at least a dollar per figure. On the 3" bases, I found that about twelve figures look good. That's at least twelve bucks per brigade: double the cost of the other two scales. And of course, there's the issue of detail. At 25mm scale, you really are looking at individual figures, not just units. So if you're going to do this scale, you have to do it well. That means painting eyeballs and lips and gaiter buttons, and the folds of clothing, and wrinkles, etc, etc, etc... It's a labor of love, to be sure. Painting Speed Here's an interesting thought. Which takes the longest time to paint? A) Sixty 6mm figures? B) Twenty-four 15mm figures? C) Twelve 25mm figures? I really don't know. I haven't sat down and done an apples-to-apples comparison. Assuming they're all the same pose, they probably take about the same amount of time. That's the funny thing: in terms of speed, all three scales come out about the same, because as you get more details and size, you also keep reducing the number of figures. Maybe all you professional figure-painters out there can answer that one for me... Could somebody write in and say how long it would take to do these? Is there indeed a "fastest scale," or is it always a personal thing, depending on your painting style? (Drop me a line at smustafa@dycon.com, and let me know!) Summary (in which Sam decides not to decide for now)... Here's my (rough) calculation, still looking just at the French infantry for Salamanca: 6mm @1000 figures @ $100 15mm @390 figures @ $120 25mm @ 180 figures @ $200 What will he do, folks??? Will he go with efficiency, cost-effectiveness, or high art? Only time will tell. Stay tuned! Of course, if I were a "real wargamer" like Hal, I'd never be having this trauma. I'd do ALL THREE scales simultaneously, and throw in some 20mm boys for fun... Back to MWAN #110 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum 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