"28mm Napoleonic units" Topic

I'm just wondering what is the most popular number of figures in a unit….. (inf ,cav , artillery)

I like the idea of smaller units taking up less table space, but don't want to be too far from the mainstream. I'm thinking 18 figs per standard inf unit or posibly 24.

I like the old school look of 24 to 36 figures for infantry, 18 to 24 for cavalry and 2 or 3 guns per battery in 25mm.

A lot would depend on the ruleset you are considering using and also if you are supplying both sides.

If both sides and playing something like Black Powder then as long as you represent Tiny, Small, Standard and Large units consistently then it does not matter much.

Other rulesets look for 2 base, some 3 base, some 4 base units, sometimes with a fixed base size.

Smaller unit sizes also implies going downscale, 15mm or smaller.

What do the other guys in your playing community do?

Yeah, 24 figures for an average sized battalion, 32-36 (depending on basing) for large battalions. I use a 15mm frontage per figure for the shoulder to shoulder look and to keep the overall frontage to a minimum. I do 12 cavalry for 4 squadron units and 18 for 6 squadrons.

I've used 18 figures for Infantry and 8 for cavalry for the past 40 years – works well for me!

Being a Francophile it also works well for post 1807 French organization – 1 stand of infantry = 1 comnpany, so 4 of Fusiliers and one each of Grenadiers and Voltigeurs, and for the cavalry 1 stand = 1 squadron, thus 1 Elite co figure per unit.

Most likely you'll collect at least 2 armies yourself anyway…

For the black powder era I think 24 figure battalions look the best…of course, all subjective.

I'm working on 24 to 28 figures per unit (French 1805)for Black Powder. The guy who does Brits uses 24, and the guys with later French and Russians use up to 36 figures. With BP the unit size isn't so important, but you need a bigger table.

I'm currently getting my second 60 figure 28mm Hungarian Infantry Battalion done for a Grand Manner based (1:20) rules system.
Go Austrians! Go big battalions!! 20 odd figure units are just a bunch of skirmishers …

I play General de Brigade which also is 1:20 (same basing as Grand Manner), so basically anything from 18 to 50 figures. Some standardization occur, like mostly 32 inf for Russian and Prussian.

Line regiments are 60 and guards 70 Cavalry 24 all 25mm

Again, depends on the rule set. For big battles with something like Snappy Nappy, I have no problem with simply using 12 figure units. For smaller battles with a set like Black Powder I use 24 metal figures for an infantry bn, while using 36 figures if I have plastic figures. The light weight and portability of plastics is great, and a 36 figure bn really does look the business! (And using 15mm frontage, it is compatible with 24 figure metal figures using 20mm frontages.) Interestingly no one seems to have a problem mixing them both on the same battle field.

It all depends on the chosen nationality. I am glad that someone on here suggested I do my Austrian line infantry in 48s. Yes a lot of work but they somehow look right and big units for some reason look best IMO .

I use 36's but on the Perry footprint, 15mm frontage, so they don't take up too much space. The big units really look the biz!

1:20, 15mm frontage.

I go small: 16-24 figures for my infantry battalions, 8-12 figures for cavalry squadrons.

As a gamer in smaller scales, this is something that has always made me wonder, but especially now concerning Eureka's French Rev range.

It seems that the units I've seen all had 20mm per figure frontage (40x40mm blocks of 2x2 figures), which just seems terribly unwieldy. If you're playing with 6 of those as a battalion, then your ground scale is 1" = 20 yards?

Can most 28mm figures actually fit on a 15mm frontage? Does anyone have any experience with Eureka's French Rev range on this frontage?

Cheers,

Christopher

I know personally that at least Perry, Warlord and Victrix fits on a 15mm frontage (plastic and metal ranges). Cavalry is on a 20mm frontage by the way, according to Grand Manner.

I like the idea of smaller units taking up less table space, but don't want to be too far from the mainstream. I'm thinking 18 figs per standard inf unit or posibly 24.

Depends on the size of your playing area. I only have a small table and so I habitually use 12 figure units. Of course if you have room for a 12' by 8' (long arms a prerequisite!) then you could happily use 36 or even 48 figure units.

Actually it's all a question of scale. The frontage of an average unit should be roughly the same as effective musket range.

My club has inf units based in 18s, or 24s for big btns. Cavalry 12s, and 2 model guns per battery As a unit size it works well, and the table deployment is not wall to wall infantry. a 60x40 six figure base = 2 adjacent French companies.

The club uses Shako, which is my main bugbear. It's an OK game but the reason they use Shako has nothing to do with it being a good Napoleonic set, and everything to do with having rapid game which all the club can play, even the Tankie set!

Far too much relies on the luck of the dice, though. And the command and control rules are terrible. (so we use the Naps Battles rules for that bit).

And yes, I am doing both sides so fewer figures in a unit is better…..

Interesting to see the spread of unit sizes. 36 man units would definitely be too many for a 6x4 table though. At 15" per unit in line that's a total table width of about five units!

Compared with 9 or 10 for 18 man units.

It's the difference between fielding a Brigade, and fielding a Division.

We use standard units of 24 figs for Black Powder.

36 figs for large units, Nassau for example (who are near to 1000 men in reality!)

Cavalry are in units of 12.

Seems like Black Powder players use units of 18 or 24 figures but with a frontage of 20mm, which undoubtedly would make the "more table space" argument moot. I think that only with fewer figures AND a small frontage (15mm) would you truly gain more space on the table.
I play with a lot of 24 figure strong battalions(1:20) on 15mm frontage, so 18cm in total, a pretty small footprint in my opinion.

Interesting Skatey. It would never have occurred to me to try 15mm per fig. Most I have seen use 20mm per fig.

Come back Phil Barker, and standardised Ancients basing. All is forgiven. Except the Barkerspeak. That's not forgiven. That Barkerspeak will fry your brain.

G'Day Gents

We use Remembrance of Glory which is 1:60…and we use 25mm and 28mm figures.

On the average battalions are between 7 to 10 figures. At this scale battalions still have pelotons and the needed 3 or 4 divisions when in column, and we have plenty of figures and manoeuvring space on a small table.

We use historical formations which are not adhered to in Black Powder. I believe the last time I played a Napoleonic game with 54(?) figures to a battalion, was when I was a teenager using Charles Grants rules…

Best Regards
Art

As I am looking at the larger battles of The Greek War of Independence an immediate post Nap conflict I will use 8, 12, 16 and 20 man units based 40mm by 25mm in pairs and 40mm by 30mm for Irregulars Freedom or Death rules for the GWI an old style set now sadly out of print

I use 15mm frontage for infantry, 20mm for cavalry with 25mm figures.

Despite moving to BP, I've stuck with Grand Manner-esque 36-figure French battalions, but split the cavalry regiments and artillery batteries into two units of twelve or sixteen figures, or two guns respectively.

"I like the idea of smaller units taking up less table space"

Indeed -I started basing mine on 90mm bases for DBN with the idea of a quick Napoleonic fix having not gamed this period since the 70s. I couldn't face the thought of painting 36 figure units and wanted lots of variety (Ottomans anyone?). -This, needless to say got out of hand so I thought I'd put two bases together to use with Field of Battle/Black Powder. It also works with four together for a good looking column or line that is closer to the proportions of these formations than is possible with double ranked figures on 40mm squares etc.(well for units of 24 figs anyway!).
So pretty flexible units of 6/12/24 figures. You can use three bases with deeper columns for 18 figure units. No flags because that made it all to complicated -I'm doing separate standard bearers but only for use with the four base configuration.
Not having figures double ranked means I can base up and paint later as no one is getting any younger!!!
It works for any position or size of figure -if they are small you just put more on the base and no-one is getting a rear rank bayonet up the arse.
link
Scroll down to see the finished article in the FPW.

Less is more. So many well painted figures are lost in giant battalions. I used to think 36 and 48 figures were the biz but then I saw a 1 to 1 scale battalion and I thought "Why bother with 36 or 48? They still don't look right compared to the 'real' thing." I'm not a 28mm collector (wish I had started but too late now) but I think a standard unit of 24 on at least 4 bases is the way to go for BP (4 bases gives you the march column option as well as the other formations). But if anyone wants bigger, then go ahead, knock yourself out.