Almost unheralded, and hardly mentioned in the Newsletter, the last eighteen months has seen developments in the field of figure design which have consequences of the greatest significance for wargaming. I refer of course to the production of 15mm figures by Miniature Figurines and Laing. Although such a scale combines all the advantages of cheapness and portability that are attendant on their smallness they are at the same time large enough to be easily painted (more so than 25mm figures) and easily recognised; but there has been virtually no informed comment on their use or the effects that their introduction might be expected to have. From the socio-economic point of view, wargaming becomes possible for the occupant of the bedsitter or the maisonnette or for the impoverished student perpetually in transit. Although the height of a 15mm man is only a reduction of two-fifth on that of a 25mm figure, the area occupied by the former is two-thirds less than the latter, while its weight is reduced by more than three quarters compared with the 20mm model. What I ask in my best Marxist-Leninist manner, do we deduce from this? Firstly the proletariat and petty bourgeoisie, who do not have large houses, only need a table the size of that needed to fight battles with the same number of 25mm figures. Secondly, if they need to transport their forces elsewhere, without motor transport, the whole enterprise becomes possible. After all it is now possible to Put a complete Division of Napoleonic infantry, ten battalions each of 30 figures, into two cigar boxes, which also contain the divisional artillery and a detachment of the Corps cavalry. YOU try putting 100 infantry and two dozen cavalry into a couple of cigar boxes, if your army is composed of 3 range or Hinchliffe figures. Thirdly the creation of the mass army becomes feasible for the person of limited means. bittalion of 30 figures as above costs 60p while a cavalry unit of 12 figures costs a mere 40P. The same number of 3 range cavalry would cost something like two pounds. Another incentive to the growth of mass armies is the fact that the 15mm figure is more easily painted, than a 25mm, since a single movement of the brush will accomplish what requires several in the case of the larger models. From the tactical viewpoint, yet more revolutionary consequences flow from this adventure into the microcosm. Through economies of scale achieved by using 15mm figures it becomes possible to represent corps sized actions on a table of reasonable dimensions. The infantry brigade becomes the standard operational unit, as it should be for 19th century actions; the power of resistance of the individual tactical unit of the army is thus enhanced, lending some point to the retention of a reserve, without resorting to any complex rules systems as seems to be envisaged by some of the Newsletter's recent correspondents. The type of battle tactics described by Hamley in his "Operations of War" become a practical possibility once the number of forces engaged attain the divisional scale as opposed to the stunted brigades employed in most 25mm scale actions. The supporting arms probably benefit even more than does the infantry. In the case of cavalry, it becomes possible to employ large masses of horsemen, bringing out the differences between the different types and allowing the use of a strong cavalry reserve to act as a "masse de rupture", bursting through the enemy's centre. Clausewitz and Napoleon were right, cavalry are wasted on out-fanking moves; the rupture of the centre can be easier and is always more decisive. On the small scale of most Napoleonic wargames, it makes little difference whether the troops are ridden over from the front or flank. Where the battle front includes many battalions however, the loss of a few at one end of the line generally matters little, while the destruction of the centre of the line should be fatal. Guns also benefit. Where a battery is represented by 3 models instead of one and there are four batteries a side. Napoleonic artillery tactics, massing batteries to blest a hole in the enemy lines, can become a table-top reality. At the same time, being strung out in a line, the battery is less flexible and so does not dominate the field so totally as can be the case with fewer and larger models. The implications for ranges, movement and unit sizes are also beneficial. Although the frontage of the individual figures can be halved, as compared with that of the 25mm figure, it does not follow that all other distances should be halved. When the rules used by our group in Southampton were adapted to 15mm figures the moves and ranges were reduced by about 1/3. The result is a more rapid game with greater tactical flexibility, the smaller units (in terms of frontage though not numbers) having greater potential both of movement and fire. Although our unit sizes were not changed, being already quite generous, if the size of your battalions and squadrons of 25mm troops is small (say 20 figures for an infantry battalion) it is possible to increase this on conversion, without being hampered by grotesquely huge units. Since 15mm figures can be formed two ranks deep, without the depth of the line being any more out of scale than is a single line of 25mm figures, it is possible to improve the visual appearance of the troops while reducing the number of men represented per figure.. In this way the disproportionately heavy casualties represented by the loss of 1 figure are reduced, thus removing some of the incentive to adopt a system of fractional figure losses. Such systems, as exemplified by the Wargames Research Group rules, may provide a more precisely graduated rate of attrition but they are very tedious to operate and given the inaccuracies inherent in all wargames rules, provide a very slight increase in their realism. Also they assume that wargamers are literate and numerate, two highly questionable assumptions. We therefore return to the original point of this article, that the advent of the new small scale is an event of as much revolutionary significance for wargaming as the French Revolution was for the art of war. Like that revolution, it makes possible the mass battle, with all there is to be learned from it. The 15mm figure is so much easier to procure and put into the field, and so much more satisfactory once he is there, it is difficult to believe anyone will want to return to the tiresome rigidity and expense of a pre-revolutionary army once they have sampled the delights of liberation. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 154 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1975 by Donald Featherstone. 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