"SYW - opinions on best lines in 15/18mm" Topic

Hello everyone,

I am keen to get into battles of the SYW. Its a new period for me, one with lots of lace and colour.

In my younger years, Minifigs were all the rage, as well as old Glory 15's. Are they still good figures? My general preference is for figures with proportional human anatomy.

I would like your sage advice on the best 15/18mm lines currently available, and your reasons why or why not.

Thank you all!

Warm regards,

Kerry

Vancouver, Canada

Thank you in advance

I'm a Minifigs fan so the answer from me is always Minifigs. I think the SYW range is one of their best. The basic anatomy of the figures is, as always, very good (and the marching figures are in much better poses than for their Napoleonic and ACW ranges).

I also like the cavalry. The riders look elegant and the horses have a nice 18th century look about them.

I like Minifigs as well, but I'm also partial to Essex. They don't mix very well, but I like them both. I have some Old Glory as well, but they don't capture my imagination the way the Minifis especially seem to.

All my SYW British, French, Prussian, Spanish and Austrian are OG15s and photos of painting projects, battles, etc. can be found at my blog, 18th Century Sojourn.

18thcenturysojourn.blogspot.nl

Click on the "List of Articles and Projects" at the right and you will see that we have been busy.

All the armies are complete, so I am thinking about collecting some of the lesser known kingdoms.

The site also covers the armies (painted) of Africa, India, China and South America.

Sage advice?

Find a set of rules you and others can be happy with.

Purchase in quantities (a mix of horse, foot and guns) that you can see your armies grow quickly.

Not every battle is Mollwitz, so devote as much energy to your terrain as you would toward your army.

Cheers,

TMP link
Previous posting that could help.
Btw, i have minifigs.

Eureka do some very nice ones too.

I third Minifigs – a rather comprehensive range, and neat figures, well sculpted, easy to paint. The American line (by the now defunct GFI) had some excellent additional poses that you will not find in the UK list, but the UK list is all what is available these days.

I also have several units made of Essex – proportions are, well, Essex-like, but as long as you do not mix Minifigs and Essex in the same unit, they are compatible on the battle field. And you will find a few interesting items to complement Minifigs.

Then there is Old Glory 15. I have many of these, because, quite frankly, you can't beat the price, and the range is rather comprehensive, too. My problem with OG 15 is the excess of animation in the figure – Id call them "oversculpted." Miniatures tend to be in dramatic positions, and in my eyes this is more appropriate of a Napoleonic or American Civil War range. I'd rather have my SYW armies in a more martial, less dynamic pose. Also, OG 15 figures are overloaded with bags, backpacks, pouches and what not. I doubt men would deploy on the battlefield with all that jazz.

Then there is Eureka. These are 18mm. I find that Minifigs, Essex and Olg Glory mix roughly OK with each other, but with Eureka you are beginning to stretch. I have one infantry unit of tall men, and I am OK with it: but cavalry will be simply too large to mix with the other ranges. Many people are enthusiastic about the quality of Eureka SYW; to me, they are nice – but just nice: not exceptionally so. On the positive side, OG are the one less out of proprotion with the Eureka 18mm, IMHO.

Good luck with your project!

No contest-Eureka and Blue Moon FIW.

I have an additional problem with the OG French – the Officers appear to be reworked Austrians rather than actual French. Some of the Officers look to have sashes – I thought the French did not wear them. That said – the majority of my French are OG.

I have a fairly large 15mm SHE set up with useable forces for French, Austrian, Prussians, Russians and British. They are an eclectic mix of figures from a comprehensive range of manufacturers. At 15mm and with mass on the table top differences between ranges aren't to apparent.

If I'd have stuck to one range then for infantry it would have been OG. I liked the variation in the figures. I wasn't too struck by Minifig. I found the crossovers Tec hard to get at. Essex on the other hand allow you to get at that sort of detail. The one bugbear with Essex are the middle-class on the standard bearers.

In terms of cavalry I was less struck by OG and the Minifig horses have over large rumps.

If I was doing 15mm I would use Minifigs as the sculpting is first rate and the poses are realistic. These are the old 15mm's from 20 years ago. They can be based close together which adds to the appearance. SYW troops fought shoulder to shoulder and in multiple ranks. I used to play "big battalions" of 60 or 72 figures and the Minifigs are well suited to that. If you want the Grant / Young / Lawford look in 15mm, these are the figures to use.
However I prefer 28mm using RSM95 figures from Dayton Painting Consortium. Figures cost less than some 15/18mm figures and poses are similar to Minifigs. Value for money is excellent. I think I once worked out cost per 12" unit and the 28mm came out in front.

Thank you all for the advice. Sounds like Minifigs and Essex are the ticket.

I visited my local gaming store this afternoon and found a few lonely packs of Minifigs (under the GFI label) and snatched them up. They certainly have that "old school" look and feel I remember as a teenager.

I will order some Essex samples to see how I like those.

The shop also carried a lot of Old Glory 15's ("Age of Reason") bags. Price was certainly good but the sculpts looked a bit chunky. May get a bag later to experiment with.

Thank you again,

Kerry

Vancouver, Canada

I agonised over the same decision. I had a couple of armies for the WAOR rules and they are made up of Essex figures, however I was put off by the cavalry. All the dragoons and line cavalry hold carbines. Call me old fashioned, but I want my cavalry holding swords!

So, when I came to raising some more armies, this time using Minden Rose or Maurice as the rules of choice I looked around at what else was available. Now I had some (French infantry)Minifigs from about 25 years ago that I had painted up and left to one side. So, for the French I finished them off using Minifigs and really enjoyed painting them. I think they look the part.

However, for the next army (Prussians)I tried Old Glory, Esssex and Eureka. I was put off the OG figures by the animation and those legs. The legs just seem to be in a weird position, they don't look like marching soldiers, they look like they will just fall over, plus their horses aren't very good, too under-fed..

Essex, ok, but I wanted my cavalry holding swords, so no thanks..However, if I couldn't find anything better, these would be my default choice as I am only half hour from their factory…

Eureka, well, everyone raves over these, so I expected great things…. I was underwhelmed… To me they looked carved out of balsa. Badly carved at that. I really don't see why people say these are so good. Sorry, I wanted to like these, but I didn't and with the exchange rate with the UK, they were overpriced…

That left Minifigs. I had enjoyed painting the French, they look good and although people say about their horses, I prefer them to OG. Plus, the poses fit with my idea of the SYW, the cavalry hold swords, it is an extensive range and I like dealing with Dave Ryan. So, I bought a Minifig Prussian army. Do I regret it? No. Will I buy the next army from Minifigs, a definite yes. I might buy a unit from another range (Russians are probably next and Minifigs don't do the Observation Corp), but as far as the SYW go, Minifigs are the way to go!

Thank you all again for your input!

I just ordered several battalions worth of Minifigs infantry. I started to clean up the ones I had found at the local model shop and they really do look nice even in bare metal.

I also ordered some Old Glory 15s to have a look at. I know they are animated compared to Minifigs but I figured you never know. The price with discount made the decision to try them out. My 28mm Napoleonics armies are a wide mix of major makes and I keep them all in separate units so they mixed well enough. I'll do the same with these so long as the makes are close in size.

I am pretty set to do the armies in Minifigs, with smattering a of other makes to try out. I looked long and hard at the Essex website and the figs there looked too squat. The Minifigs have the best proportions to my eyes and we'll see about the Old Glory in the flesh. The bags of Old Glory are large so I figured I could get a large enough battalion out of the bag by only using the best poses and not using the more animated ones ( or saving those for skirmishers?). The price per bag after discount makes it economical to pick the best poses.

It's exciting to be starting a new period! Thanks again!

Kerry
Vancouver, Canada

Hey Tim/Bindon, when did you start doing 7YW?

Another vote for Minifigs – much under-rated but still worth looking at many of their ranges, and not just for nostalgic reasons.