"10mm Napoleonics - What are our options?" Topic

So, the GF and I have picked up the Black Powder rules(and special thanks to all those who participated in the "What rules should we look at?" discussion here a few weeks ago) and now we are looking to start building our first armies.

Would the assembled TMP Brain Trust be so kind as offer their opinions, pro/con/otherwise, on the various 10mm Napoleonic figure lines? I'm willing to spend a bit more for better quality figures and/or greater selection so price is a secondary consideration. French and British armies are a given, but at length I'd like to work up a collection of Spanish and Russian forces as well.

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Mark

Here are some comments from another board:

Pendraken Peninsular Shoulders Slim
Pendraken 1812 Line Chin Medium build
GHQ Chin Slim
Bend Sinister Eyes Medium build
AIM Eyes Stocky
Magister Eyes Very stocky
Old Glory no comparison photo – 5 man strips

i would prefer the Old Glory strips. With the army deal you get 40% off and they come in strips of five figures. It makes basing them easier to do.

I don't own any yet as I am going through research of my own before I purchase.

You are fortunate in your choice of scale; most 10mm Napoleonic figure lines are fairly compatible with each other (with the exception of the GHQ figures, which, while very nice sculpts are noticeably slimmer and shorter than the others). The differences in sculpting styles between lines are much less noticeable in 10mm than in larger figures. I field units of Old Glory, AIM, Pendraken, and Magister Militum figures without any perceptible "style clash". I even occasionally mix figures from these manufacturers in the same unit.

Jeff

That's useful Jeff, thanks. I am planning on starting a collection next year.

Not quite 10mm, but not really 15mm either – have you considered the Naismith 15mm Napoleonics? 13mm to the eye. If you are in the UK they are a good price (£1.25 for 3 cav or 6 inf)if overseas then there is a nasty postage sting I'm afraid. So far I haven't had a duff figure – and I've got about 800 of them.

As an aside I wouldn't mind knowing if 10mm size suffers from the same scale creep as 15mm; Naismiths figures are now Hobbits in comparison to modern 15mm (which are often nearer 20mm to top of the head). Large 10mm could be a good match for my Heritage/Naismith armies.

Mark,

I am a 10mm Convert and now paint and game little else.

Ignore all the trolls who'll say play in 28mm. You are interested in a specific scale and I'll do the best to answer the question.

You have a number of manufacturers out there and they ahve pros and cons:

GHQ

Pros, nicely sculped figures.
Cons, limited range 1815 campaign with some late Austrians and Russians thrown in.
Bigest cons:
Bendy muskets – one game and the unit looks stupid with guns pointing in odd angels.
Very flimsy swords.
Horse bases very deep – 30mm+ can look odd.

ghqmodels.com

Old Glory 10mm

Pros Wide range, nicely rugged figures. Wide range of equipment, probaly the best out there
40% army card make the the most affordable figures.
Cons Infanty comes in strips of 5 figures frontage about 30mm. If you use a differnet frontage you'll need to trim/remove figures.
Not all riders fit onto horses, the file is your friend.

oldglory25s.com

Irregular Miniatures

Cons, Limited to 1812 French & Russians. Crude castings. Per figure costs the most expensive out there.

irregularminiatures.co.uk

Magister Militum

Pros, Nice clean castings, well proprtioned, expanding range, only source of the Spanish including the top hatted infantry
Cons, Some odd castings, the British hussars in busby lack the bag. The artillery is hard to assemble because of the small axels. OG's are a much better fit.

magistermilitum.com

HistoriFigs

Cons, slightly larger at N guage rather than 10mm. Very crude old school casts. Lack detail and character. Range limited and you miss some important figures.

historifigs.com/index.htm

Bend Sinster

Pro, nicely cast figures, some unigue like British infantry in greatcoast.
Cons, slightly smaller than the other ranges, mix in the army not in the same unit. Some figures a little delicate, I've lost some horse tails.

bendsinister.co.uk

Pendraken

Pros Great range of figures, the new 1809 figures are wonderful, look at some of their other ranges for extra euipment like coaches, gabions etc. Fit well with MM figures
Cons, the Peninsular British are old figures from another manufacter. This range needs brining upto the standard of the current Pendrakens.

pendraken.co.uk

AIM/GFI

These were nice figures currently out of production. Tom Dyer someone comes to this board and he maybe able to give you some view of the future of the figures. Gent the if you get a change. Limited to British, Austrians and French. I didn't like their equipment.

Check out this site for some of the figures in action:

link

link

link

Hope this helps.

Elliott

Mark,

Since you are in the US I'd point out that MM, Bend Sinister and Pendraken all have excellent mail order services.

US ditributor for Irregular is here:

silvereaglewargames.com

10 MM is the best scale for Naps I think. I did a 1500 man army for French and British/Spanish about 8 years ago and all that was available at that time was AIM and Old Glory. I like both, and the OGs are real easy to paint, I would do a strip of five in about 15 min after priming was done. There are many more options today, and if I had all the money in the world and someone else to paint them I would go with GHQ, but their range is limited. I think to date OG has flushed out their range of Naps and you could probably get every thing you need from them.

I've had great luck with Old Glory providing the bulk of my troops and Pendraken, Magister Militum and a scattering of others the balance. I've swung between 6mm and 15mm and settled on 10's as the best balance between figure detail and mass on the table.

I think chick of battle theatre will choose manufacturer for you. I don't think any of those mentioned covers the entire 1790 – 1815 range, everyone has gaps. It is also worth looking at where the expansion is. Pendraken and Redline seem to be growing faster than others. I haven't seen any new releases for GHQ or Old Glory for a while. Not sure about the others.

My choice was the 1815 campaign and I went mainly with Redline, using others to fill in the gaps. I've really been impressed with Si at Bendsinister's service and support in undertaking my project. For a one man operation is does a great job.

10mm is a wonderful scale that is affordable, easy to store, spectacular when done well and fast to paint.

Some pictures to get you going of my progress so far

For more about my journey and the things I have learnt along the way, see my blog – 10mmnapoleonics.blogspot.com

Ironlegs
10mmnapoleonics.blogspot.com

Thanks for the pics Ironlegs, that is a visual appeal I am thinking about.

Very nice Ironlegs!

I wish 10mm had been around way earlier. Definitely would have gone that route for Nappies if I didn't already have so much painting already done on my 15's when 10's were invented!

Very nice figures, basing, and table Ironlegs!

Hi, All. Just back from a visit back home and took a look at the status of AIM ranges I have. Dan Levy (ex-Vac-U-Cast) has the molds and he and I are rethinking the ranges. Our families had a great BBQ at Dan's on Memorial Day while rechecking the ranges.

When it came to the Naps range, I was just about ready to release the Russians (1812 in Kiwier) when I left for Germany. While here, I have been checking out sculptors (with great help from Chris von Fahnenstock-Outland Games) who may be able to duplicate the style and heft of the original range. More on this as I "see" some examples. While the guns I loved most about the range, we need limbers and wagons. "I" have been waiting for some wagons from Old Glory for their WSS and SYW ranges, myself!

Dan will make an announcement soon regarding the comeback of GFI's 10mm AIM, N scale WWI and Moderns, soon. I saw some additional masters for the WWI range and that line will NOT suffer from availability of equipment!

With the price of metal being so high these days, we are looking at repackaging to help keep prices in the "reasonable" range. (The cost of metal has risen 5 times what we first started out paying for a pound back in '98!)

No matter who you decide to go with, I hope you enjoy this scale!

v/r
Tom Dye

I have included comparison pics of some Pendraken 1809 figures side by side with their Old Glory 10mm counterparts on my blog – post 24 (click the page tabs).
TMP link

That's the style ironlegs, beautiful pics there, great figures.

Lee.