"anyone using 54mm for wargaming" Topic

I have around 2500 25mm Napoleonic figures but now that I'm in my 60s I find them harder to paint such a small figure well so started to paint up some 54mm. I now have around 80 French inf, 88 Prussian inf and some 8 cav for each side also one art each.
tried a few battles with them, French in 5 reg of 14 men 12 inf + drummer and officer, 12 figs to a battalion 2 per company, worked out not to bad. 6 reg of Prussians 10 men + officer.
have put them on a bass 70mm by 50mm two men to a base.
anyone who can offer some advice would be very welcome.

Yes, people do game in that scale, and there's a whole 900+ member yahoogroup dedicated to it:

link

And here's a blog with lots of 54mm gaming goodness:

gameofmonth.blogspot.com

All of my figures are mounted individually but I'm playing around with the idea of four infantry figs (staggered in 2 ranks) on a 80mm x 60mm stand.

I'm doing Pig Wars with 54s. GMing a game at NJCON.

Bill- what rules are you using for your 54mm Naps?

Not currently, but we used to play DBA in 54mm with each figure = 1 element. There was some distortion but it gave a fine game.

The first game of Volley and Bayonet ever played used 54mm figures. 4 infantry or two cavalry to a base.

Lots of 54mm wargaming here:
link

Hi Pan
I'm using Empire III but have used General.de Brigade, have just got "Fields of glory Nap" but not used them yet.
Hi Chris
thanks for the links.

Yes, since I was about five when my older brother taught me how.

We had a very simple set of rules and I still use them with my son.

They're more HG Wells rules than the more 'sophisticated' ones around today, but they are very satisfying and a lot of fun.

For me, 54mm is the best scale to work with and play with and to paint.

B

Any large-scale rules set will work. I game 54mm with Volley & Bayonet [3" stands], Grande Armee, and the Battle Cry Variants, particularly the Napoleonics.

But there are a number of rules that will work, and several listed with the Little Wars and Toy Soldier lists.

You should google "All the King's Men" and see their website.

It's luv'er'ly.

Eric

link

They even have a set of rules just for 54mm…

I painted a few 54mm ACW last year and really enjoyed it. I can actually see these guys!

For Napoleonic I do individually based figures (the old school way). Haven't done any games with more 100 figures per side. Lots of ways to setup your units, really depends on how much space your have and size of engagement you want to to. Anyhow, very do-able and more fun that smaller figures if you ask me.

I play the C&C system games with 54mm. Perfect scale and rules for conventions.

Not currently, although, I have… in '00 my cousin and I played 54mm WWII skirmish using a modified set of free rules called Warhammer Panzer Battles. We based our figs singly on round bases. It was great lot of fun and, actually, I've been collecting the Airfix hard-plastic 54mm WWII re-issues with a view of once again gaming in a larger scale, although, I'm not entirely certain what rules ill use this time around? I was thinking about Nuts? Oh, and I really enjoyed painting 54s and, in addition, we were using 54mm plastic kits, so, there was/is a ton of choices available for figs…

Old School Wargaming group on Yahoo Groups too….

Actually, I think if you look around, the old green Army Men were close to this scale. You certainly could buy Atlantic figures back in the day…

Have thought of doing this myself. There are quite a few brands out there in the scale. Ever since the spray primers for plastic came out, I think them much easier to paint and stay that way. Pricing is cheaper than 28mm metals too….

Old School Wargaming group on Yahoo Groups too….

Actually, I think if you look around, the old green Army Men were close to this scale. You certainly could buy Atlantic figures back in the day…

Have thought of doing this myself. There are quite a few brands out there in the scale. Ever since the spray primers for plastic came out, I think them much easier to paint and stay that way. Pricing is cheaper than 28mm metals too….

Hi,
There was a very nice 54mm AWI demo game at the Carronade wargames show on Saturday. It looked great and the table being used, although adequate, wasn't as big as you might think and something you could have in a good sized club venue. The figures were very eye-catching and had good visual impact.
All the best,
George.

I have collections of 54mm (mostly) plastic figures that I use for wargaming – Napoleonics, WW2 and medievals…

I have been remiss in keeping up with TMP! We at All the King's Men do 54s exclusively, for wargaming and collecting.We have a Naps line underway that will be growing considerably in the near future. We also offer our rules for the scale as a free pdf download. You can see it all here:

link

For the number of figures, TFL's Sharp Practice would give you an enjoyable game.

I play AWI in 54mm. I use All the King's Men figures by Ken Cliffe. Use his rules too. Love the figures, Love the pricing. I'm hittin' the ole 60 too. I've become quite bored painting 15mm and 28mm for a while. Took a break…it was well worth the time!

Steve Miller
DFW Irregulars

I used to do WW2 skirmish back in the 1970s with 54mm figures and Tamiya etc vehicles. These days my 54mm stuff is primarily late nineteeth century stuff for Funny Little Wars.

Nice figures, fun to paint, huge ranges available these days, but you need lots of storage space and you will get through an unbelievable amount of paint.