6mm - update 25 July

So, a lot has happened since the last couple of posts.

Where have I been?
Military Sims has exploded and has now doubled to 2 sessions per month. LzerStorm 08 came and went with an awesome turnout. I picked up a new job and ceased my own printing and design business. I took a week of leave off to spend in Sydney with my wife. I got sick for a couple of weeks.

Now what?
But now I am back. The 1st thing I did when I walked into my gaming room was to see how pathetic the paper miniatures really do look and feel. I pulled out the Irregular 6mm stuff and the Adler stuff and really knuckled down to check pricing and feel and accepted scaling. Especially now that I am back into well paid work.

Adler?
The Adler do work out the cheaper way to use lead but they deserve a better paint job and I would have to go 12 man battalions or 36 man battalions. 12 looks wrong and 24 gives the wrong base proportions. 36 is just way too large to paint and purchase.


Irregular?
Irregular look good if I cut the bases into 2 lots of 3 figures and join them 1 behind the other. They look really good. Pricing is not too good though. A lot a painting is required.


So what have I rested on?
Irregular. 1 single rank of 1/2 a stand looks okay and matches the base sizing I need and is still quite cheap and easy to paint. My long term project would be to double the depth of the basing out as per the previous paragraph but until then I will work on 6 x half stands of 3 men in 1 rank for a 720 strong French Infantry battalion. This costs around $0.61 AUD for each stand so totals $1.83 for a battalion.

6mm Paper Miniatures update – 28 Apr 2008

Okay, so I've been very busy with a number of projects of late. But I am working on new Artillery. 1 of the comments to the last update was that the artillery look a little lame with only 1 crew member in the image so I will try putting 4 crew on each gun but still having each gun representing 2 guns on the field.

Pics will follow when completed.

6mm Paper Miniatures update – 6 Apr 2008

Major milestone reached! All 4 French Infantry Divisions are completed with artillery and mounted commanders.

This morning I began work on a French light cavalry division to add to the nearly complete Corps. The 7th Hussars are the 1st regiment listed so I began on the art files for Hussars and printed a prototype because I had not created a prototype for the cavalry units yet.

Below is the resulting prototype after adjusting the gap in between the figures a few times.



I am pretty happy with that!

Now on to finish 1 regiment of Hussars, 1 of Chasseurs and 2 of Lancers with a horse artillery battery.

Hooah!

6mm Paper Miniatures update – 24 Mar 2008

Yay! I finally got some momentum happening. I finished a full 2 divisions of French Infantry both line and lights. Included are Brigade and Divisional Commanders and 1 Battery of 8 guns.


2 full divisions of French Infantry with mounted brigade and divisional officers and a battery of 8 field guns


A regiment of 2 battalions of Line Infantry in line formation


A regiment of 2 battalions of Light Infantry standing in line.

Okay now I'm off to print another 2 sheets and put together the remaing 2 divisions of infantry before I start on the light cavalry.

Let me know what you think.

Distractions

Hi all. I know another update is long overdue but had a couple of other projects lately taking up all of my time. Mostly been updating and planning for this years Military Sims program that I run here in Brisbane. Check out the blog for Military Sims. And in relation to that, I have been given the great honour to put together LazerStorm 08. LS08 is the largest and most advanced Laser Skirmish / Combat event in Australia. It runs for 48hrs over 3 days non-stop and attacts players from all over Australia. It is the pinnacle of the year for Laser Skirmish / Combat. Check out the blog for LazerStorm 08.

So. I will be getting back into my wargaming projects this week and hope to have some progress for you all to see.

Talk soon.

David

6mm Paper Miniatures update – 9 Feb 2008

Now that I have finished a whole 6 x 4 table of terrain tiles / squares / modules, and settled on a 6mm Paper image, I began building my 6mm French army for Waterloo.

According to my postings regarding battalion historical widths and lengths, and the Empire V rules ground scale, I should have a French Line Infantry battalion in a 3 rank line to be 60mm wide x 5mm deep. I doubled the depth of the base to enable better handling to 10mm deep.

Below is a brigade of 4 battalions based on the above:


I feel this is still not the mass I am looking for. The problem I now have is that if I double the width of the battalions to get 120mm wide I may be somewhat limited in my games on a 6 x 4 table

Below is a brigade of 4 battalions based on 120mm width:


I do like the 2nd option better. The pieces are so much easier to handle on the board. This would though I would probably have to double the width of the cavalry and artillery as well. So it doesn’t leave as much room on the board. And then what about the width of a battalion in relation to marching distances and shooting ranges in the rules. Will it make much of an impact?

Let me know what you think of both options.

I guess I need to complete division or 2 of French and then build a division or 2 of British and play head to head on the field using the rules to see whether the 120mm frontage ruins the rules in any way.

Stay tuned!

6mm Napoleonics Update - 13/1/08

Well now, it's been a little long since the last posting. In that time I have completed half of my cork terrain tiles. They look great so far.



So i put a brigade of finished 6mm Irregular French Infantry on the board with a brigade of 6mm paper French Infantry and took a few snaps. The lead definitely looks the part. Unfortunately the price to compile and the time to paint and base do not. So back the paper it is, permanently this time.



Now for the real decision. After playing around with the green background to the images I felt the white background works better. Here's why. The green makes the artwork look a little more like a set of miniatures on the table. Good. But. When you 1st walk into the room or sneak a peak at a photo, the green tends to really blend in to the artwork and it takes a while to seperate the image from the green. If the same is done with white background you can almost instantly see the blue and white for french and red and grey for english. And so the final decision was made for me.



Looks passible I think. At least enough to cover the expense of purchasing, painting and basing multiple armies of napoleonics anyway!

Hooray! The too and fro of decision making is over and I can now get on with the production of the armies.

On to the artwork I go. The image I used is from the Junior General forums and is shown on this blog previously but here it is again.


From which I extract:



and with a little refining result in:



Very acceptable I think. Now to create a brigade or 2. Stay tuned!

2007 Review and 2008 Goals

Happy New Year to all of you and a huge thank you for another year of websites and blogs that have inspired me along with others to doing bigger, better and greater things with their wargaming hobbies.

Paper Miniatures
2007 saw me confront my fear and most procrastination for miniature painting. In my effort to avoid painting, and spending money on huge amounts of figures, I discovered paper miniatures. While I am still struggling in how these can be utilised in my quest for large massed armies in small scales, I have been impressed with what people have done with these. In my articles detailing the evolution of this medium in my wargaming life, I have recieved some great comments. But I still ended up spending a lot of time and effort painting a collection of 6mm Irregular Napoleonics I had on hand from years ago. The result turned out a lot more favourable to me than I orriginally thought they would and certainly turned my eyes away from paper as well as building in me a sense of accomplishment and acceptance for my level of painting skill to date. I have always hated painting miniatures and still do. But I have learnt to appreciate the fact that in a few hours over 2 nights I can punch out a nice brigade of troops. This led to a massive slide away from my paper miniature testing which is only just now returning. What led to this return when all who viewed including myself would much rather see lead formations than paper? The cost! With 1 battalion of infantry costing $8 to purchase let alone the time and effort needed to paint and base, the overall cost to compile multiple large armies for my projects still seemed out of reach. No matter how good they looked or how bad the paper looked. 2008 will see a return to the drawn out process of finding a balance between the cost and painting of lead and the bad detail and on table affect of paper.

Other Periods
I have always had long term goals to expand my area of operations in wargaming from Napoleonics to Moderns and Sci fi. I have always had interests also in Ancient Rome, Crusades, Boer Wars, WWI, WWII and Vietnam. Late 2007 introduced me to the Seven Years War and the War of Spanish Succession. I read a book on the Battle of Blenhiem and participated in the local gaming store demo game of Konigkrieg rules for SYW in 15mm. And so another seed was planted - to join a group of gamers at my local gaming store in their current project to game SYW in 15mm. Even though I decreed a few years ago to concentrate on 1 scale to economise expendature and modelling efforts, 2008 might actually see me painting and compiling a mid 18th century French army in 15mm. Luckily I only need a brigade or 2.

15mm
Speaking of 15mm. 2007 saw some great activity in myself and a group of friends from my Military Sims program increase interest in tabletop gaming squad level moderns. This lead to a few terrain making nights with the guys and a set of quick play but relatively realistic rules to pitting current US forces against Iraqi and Afghan insurgents where each player controls 1 or 2 fireteams and the enemy is AI generated and controlled. Some of the combats and results were fantastic and impressed all those involved. Calls for continuation of that 1st Friday of the month session have been coming through to me over the past few weeks and so 2008 will probably see more of the same and a few extra terrain making nights thrown in.

Military Sims
What can I say about Military Sims? It has fulfilled all my wishes for 2007. In 2006 I began a passionate journey with a local Laser Skirmish company and met some great new friends in the process. As my skills increased I became aware of a shortfall of any laser skirmish company, business or local scene in the provision of advanced and simulation based combat experiences. My discussions with these company and business owners fell on deaf ears. Except for Chris at Logan Laser Skirmish. He confirmed that the idea I had was sound and was willing to hire out his equipment and attend as a player for anything I was to arrange. So I packaged it up under the name of Military Sims and launched in March 2007 to create 6 hour advanced gaming sessions with a focus on realistic squad based military and combat experiences rather than gaming emulation. A couple of months saw some small gatherings, but others including the last 2 saw a great group of people including a lot of new poeple who had not even use laser skirmish equipment prior. This was truly in line with my goal of increasing the size of the marketing pie instead of just worrying about your % of the pie. 2008 looks to be a great growth year for MilSims. I had hoped to start a business using this as a tool to train corporate groups but with my own business in Design and Printing not where I want it to be currently, I was advised to focus on 1 business at a time. 2008 I hope will be a growth year for my business in order to release me to work on my new business venture in time for 2009.

Movies & Books & YouTube
2007 has seen some great movies and books. Although a slow reader, I sometimes surprise myself in what I can get through when I regularly dedicate time to it. YouTube has become the source of some of the best TV, docos and movies this year. Some of the movies and books of note viewed or read in 2007:
* 9th Company - russian made movie about a company of young soldiers fighting in Afghanistan
* The Kingdom - US investigators sent to solve bombings in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia
* The Bourne Supremacy - another great episode in the story of spy Jason Bourne
* Transformers
* Combat Missions - TV Series pitting US Special Forces against each other in combat games
* Commando - TV series on British Royal Marines
* Taking on the Taliban - British Grenadier Guards in Afghanistan
* Above Enemy Lines - British Chinooks in Afghanistan
* Blenheim: Battle for Europe
* 1812 - Napoleon in Russia
* 18 Hours - book on Australia SAS assisting in Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan
* Sword of Allah - book on Islamic Fundamentalism today
* America's Secret War - backgroung on decision making by US foreign policy makers
* Task Force Dagger - book on ground operations in Afghanistan 2 weeks after 9/11

There are probably more but these are the most impacting that come to mind. Feel free to suggest some you have viewed or read this year on the comments.

Games
Porbably with biggest impact on my gaming time in 2007 would have to be Battlefield 2 and the mod called Project Reality. Although I prefer playing Armed Assault having played VBS1 for a number of years, PR actually runs better on my PC than Arma does. But through these 2 games and their associated forums, I have met some great people and some of them have come out to join in my Military Sims program.

So, 2007 is done and dusted. 2008 is what I want it to be.

I also want to thank you guys, the readers. When I started this blog earlier this year as a test I have had so much fantastic feedback and comments. I always wanted to document something in wargaming that could inspire others as other websites and gamers have inspired me over the years. It's good to know that what I have done has inspired and helped someone else out there so thanks to you all and I look forward to seeing you and hearing from you in 2008.

Stay safe!

Regards
David

Back to the Paper - 6mm Naps update 15/12/07

Back to the paper option for the 6mm Napoleonics project. After completing 1 full division of French infantry, I found the time it took to paint and base as well as the cost, $9 per battalion, was just too much to bear. Around the same time a few comments came through the blog from people who were either disappointed I have abandoned the idea of using paper or had ideas to take the concept further.

So below is a pic of the different options I have tried to date:



From the left:
* 2 stands of Irregular 6mm French infantry painted and based to represent 1 company- cost $1.40
* 3 ranks of 10mm paper figures on white background mounted on card - cost $0.01
* 3 ranks of 6mm paper figures on dark green background mounted on card - cost $0.01
* 3 ranks of 10mm paper figures on grass green background mounted on card - cost $0.01

Obviously I prefer to use the Irregular miniatures but the cost to put together multiple armies of multiple corps and the time it takes to paint and base is just too much.

So back to the paper!

Out of the paper prototypes I have produced, I prefer the last (right most) option. Although the images are 10mm they fit well into the position the lead miniatures leave on the table. I chose the grass green background so the uniform does not disappear as much with the background. It actually looks better on the table than it photographs.

Anyway, I need your opinions. Which do you prefer? Click on comments below to add your response.

Lead versus Paper Miniatures Discussion Continues

Here's a link to another discussion on Lead vs Paper miniatures currently on The Miniatures Page.

Some great ideas.

6mm Napoleonics Update - Oct 07

NOTE: I am in no way associated with any of the 6mm manufacturers mentioned in this article and advise that the amounts I calculated in this article are based on exchange rates as at 5/10/07 and delivery to my location here is Brisbane, Australia and could vary considerably for your own situation.

It is also based on using Empire V with mods rules which scales formations on a 1:60 ratio. I have expanded this to be a 1:30 ratio in order to create the Mass factor that I think is needed when creating 6mm and Napoleonic battles. This means a 12 figure battalion of 720 men becomes 24 figures.

The prices do not take into account obvious savings when purchasing any of the manufacturers Brigade, Division, Corps or Army packs.

Now where to begin?

Okay, the paper project is dropped altogether. While it was cheap and easy to create all the armies I would ever need, they just look sooooo bad! I even toyed with the idea of using balsa blocks like some of the new boardgame wargames coming out. Blue blocks for French, Red for British and so on.

So I went back to my 6mm miniatures collections. I have a few Adler, Baccus, Heroics & Ross, and Irregular.

What the factors to consider when evaluating the various manufacturers?

Rules: The men to figure ratio as required by the rules
Cost: Price per unit to purchase + Price per unit to paint if outsourcing
Time: Time and effort needed to prepare, paint and base the figures
Comfort: The Mass factor and overall 'feel' the armies make on the tabletop

RULES:

In the opening remarks I mentioned that I use a set of Empire V rules with a number of modifications made from years of exposure to other players, memoirs and historical writings. These rules require a ratio of 1 figure for every 60 men. This means an infantry battalion of 720 men would be represented by 12 figures. This may be okay for 15mm gaming but the whole idea of 6mm is to get huge armies in battle. I decided to double this to make the ratio 1:30.

COST & TIME:

Adler:
inf = $0.14 per; 1 x 24 figure battalion = $3.36
cav = $0.31 per; 1 x 16 figure regiment = $4.96
art = $1.69 per; 1 x 4 gun battery = $6.76

Baccus:
inf = $0.13 per; 1 x 24 figure battalion = $3.12
cav = $0.33 per; 1 x 16 figure regiment = $5.28
art = $1.54 per; 1 x 4 gun battery = $6.16

H&R:
inf = $0.17 per; 1 x 24 figure battalion = $4.08
cav = $0.41 per; 1 x 16 figure regiment = $6.56
art = $2.70 per; 1 x 4 gun battery = $10.80

Irregular:
inf = $0.12 per; 1 x 24 figure battalion = $2.88
cav = $0.35 per; 1 x 16 figure regiment = $5.60
art = $2.78 per; 1 x 4 gun battery = $11.12

So,

Cheapest Infantry is Irregular at $0.12 per man
Cheapest Cavalry is Adler at $0.31 per horse
Cheapest Artillery is Baccus at $1.54 per gun and team

Cheapest Infantry Battalion with 6 companies of 4 (24) is Irregular at $2.88
Cheapest Cavalry Regiment with 4 squadrons or 4 (16) is Adler at $4.96
Cheapest Artillery Battery with 4 guns, crew and limbers is Baccus at $6.16

Based on these pricings, I would build an army with Irregular Infantry, Adler Cavalry and Baccus Artillery. Anyone who has done any research at all into 6mm manufacturers knows all too well that while Adler and Baccus may gell together okay between arms, Irregular will stand out like a sore thumb. And anyhow, what about all the painting that needs to be done. And I don't just mean a quick once over with a few colours. Both Adler and Baccus deserve great paint jobs.

And I hate painting!

So. If we take another look at Irregular:

(purely because they make bigger battalions being 6 man stands, and they are already based quite well, thereby saving a lot of time. The cavalry are also prebased 4 to a stand.)

Infantry Battalions of 6 stands of 4 or 24 figures would be $2.88 with $0.12 per man. The best of the Infantry prices per man! However, they don't come per man. They come in stands cast with 6 men.

So Infantry Battalions of 6 stands of 6 men or 36 men are $4.20 where Adler would be $5.04, Baccus $4.68 and H&R $6.12.
Cavalry Regiments are $5.56
Artillery Batteries are $11.12

This is a major problem when looking at the cost of compiling such large armies.

COMFORT - THE MASS FACTOR:

Let's take a look at the actual figures:


Comparison of Adler and Irregular French Line Battalions

The basing in the above picture is based on the Empire V rules and compared with Mark Aikin's recent release "The Waterloo Companion". Immediately it becomes apparent that Irregular uses twice the figures to get the same unit widths. What does mean? A little bit of Mass!!!! Yay! An infantry battalion in line looks a little better. A cavalry regiment looks a little better. An artillery battery looks way better.

So now we have to balance out not only the Cost and the Time needed to prepare, paint and base, but also the Comfort factor - the Mass look and feel on the tabletop.

And mass is why we turned to 6mm anyway!

So, advantages are now starting to turn towards Irregular. Don't get me wrong. I love the Adler miniatures. I have thousands of them. They look fantastic. I also love the Baccus miniatures. I became aware of Baccus long after my Alder collection had begun and I have a lot of respect for Peter Berry and the 6mm fight he fights.

So what are the advantages Irregular are now showing?

1. They are quicker and easier to paint and based ready for battle

2. They actually look 6mm and are cast nice and close together enabling a better Mass factor

3. The basing used actually is very close to the basing I need for Empire V with a little tweaking

4. They end up to be cheaper than the others when using the 100 strips pack, and when compared to buying 36 figure battalions

Judging the Cost issue based on price alone will not work. Size and the Mass effect will force themselves into the assessment.

Conclusion:

So, based on fact that I can't use all 3, and that the Mass factor is a significant factor, I should lean towards Irregular for the lot! Wow! I was not expecting this. Thank the stars I didn't sell all that Irregular I collected during my earlier years of Napoleonic wargaming.

Well, that's it. All done.

Feel free to add any suggestions or comments to this posting. I'd love to hear of others' experiences for similar projects.

Stay tuned for the 6mm IRREGULAR Napoleonics Solo Campaign to come!

Regards
David - Ace

6mm Naps Paper Update - 27 Aug 2007

Okay. So now I have produced all the Allied Infantry at Waterloo. Hoorah!

I didn't actually produce every individual unit but each unit will be represented on the table for any historical scenarios. What I did was to compare the units involved with the different uniform information I have and the different infantry classes in Empire V. I split all the infantry into each Nation, then Light or Line or Guard, and then any class difference in Empire or any major uniform difference. For example, the English infantry is split into light, line and guard, and then added is any highlander infantry with kilts, and the 95th Rifles. Brunswick is split into light and line, with Avant Garde and Lieb added as individual units.



The main reason I did this was that I did not want to create whole sheets of images that would only be printed out once. Granted some sheets of individual units will be printed once. But most can be printed again and again to get the number of units needed. Especially at 6mm. If it was being done to a scale of 20mm then that would be different.

When I start my non-historical campaign I want to be able to raise up generic brigades when needed and in this case I would print off another generic sheet of English Line Infantry or French Legere.

Right then, off to continue the Artillery now.

Jul 07 Update to 6mm Paper Naps

A Change Yet Again!

Squared off 1 brigade of French Infantry against a brigade of British Infantry. It looked good.

Then I tried to apply the rules from Empire V for firing. Not working!

The reason this does not work is that Empire V is based on a per figure system - not a per company system - where each figure is worth 60 men on the field. Each figure is therefore allocated a set amount of space on a base depending on whether the unit worked in 3 ranks or 2 ranks.

Based on this I can now change my basing system to use the exact sizing Empire V recommends for 15mm figures and fill that base with 2 or 3 ranks of images printed onto paper labels as outlined above.

So when I use Empire V for a battle, each base of figures will be worth 60 men. Each based therefore will be 1.25cm long for 2 ranks and 1.0cm long for 3 ranks. Because these sizes are a little fiddly for cutting and folding, I will produce 2x the amount, ie a base of images 2.5cm long or 2.0cm long and then when all is done, cut it in half. I will still get the massed and ranked feel I am pursuing.

So, the new basing:

The 1st British Division (Guards) set to the new basing of 1 base per 60 men. Note: All 4 battalions of Guards started the Waterloo campaign with 1000+ men each. Therefore each battalion is represented with 17 stands. Normally an infantry battalion would field 8-12 stands.

Big units!




That looks much better.

And now the Artillery and Officers:

Each stand of Artillery represents 2 guns. 1 Officer is a Brigade Commander, 2 Officers is a Division Commander.

Here is the 1st British (Guards) Division from Waterloo complete with Artillery and Officers.

1st British Brigade - Maitland
2/1 Foot Guards - 781men
3/1 Foot Guards - 847men

2nd British Brigade - Byng
2nd Coldstream Guards - 1098men
2/3 Foot Guards - 1100men

Sandham RFA - 6guns
Kuhlmann KGL HA - 6guns

PAPER 6mm Naps Update

Breakthrough

Okay. Through the evolution of printing and reprinting and gluing and scoring and folding, I have come up with the perfect method for making paper miniatures - label sheets. Sheets of A4 paper labels from the local stationery shop. Print them out, score them, fold them, remove the backing, fold them to stick and then stick to card base. Hey presto!

The 1st British Division (Guards) from Waterloo:

More on Paper 6mm Naps

I researched the actual unit sizes for a battalion in line, column of attack and compared them to my Empire V rules for 15mm figures. I found I could easily find a happy medium between the 15mm basing and the historical measure by converting the actual number of metres to millimetres.

So a full French Infantry Division looks like:




And my 1st English battalion looks like this:

PAPER 6mm Napoleonics Project

Wargaming Napoleonics is my passion.

I love throwing 6000 Infantry against the right flank of an enemy position as a feint to the real attack by 20000 against his left.

I love seeing a brigade of 3000 Infantry disappear into the smoke thats enimating from a small village and listening for the victorious cheers that follow when carrying the position from the enemy.

I love the sound of 2000 glistening straight swords drawn by 2000 armoured Cuirassiers as they turn their massive mounts toward a column of unaware enemy infantry.

I love the sound of Imperial Guard 12 pounders blasting away at an enamy formation just prior to my commitment of 5000 of those intimidating 6 foot+ "old grumblers" of the Imperial Guard Grenadiers.

How does one achieve this feel or experience with 12 man lead battalions on a tabletop, while needing the required 300 or so battalions just to fight a battle such as Waterloo, while having to pay anywhere from 15c to 50c for each figure, then paint it or have it painted for another 50c - $1 each, and then store them, protected, safe, and then transport them, if the battle opportunity is anywhere other than at home?

How does the wallet stop itself from sticking its own head in the gas oven when you are not looking?

I looked for alternatives and found PAPER MINIATURES! That's right! PAPER!

I started with http://www.juniorgeneral.org/

I found some fantastic images that with a little bit of work can be awesome to use in massed 6mm Napoleonic battles.


Most of the imagery I chose to use were created by Pedro Pato such as:


With Pedro's images, I created this:


This new image then results in this:


and this: