"Napoleonic 18mm Figures manufacturers? " Topic

hello,

if i understood well the favorite manufacturers (with different nation range) are:
1 AB
2 campaign-game-miniatures/ Blue Moon / capitangames,battlemodel,old WWarmodelling
3 OldGlory, BattleHonor, (smaller more like 16'/15'?)

i'll probably order some small "sample" packs to check myself the one i like better : AB, CGM and Lancashire.

What do u think?

Are campaign-game-miniatures(spain) capitangames,battlemodel,old WWarmodelling (UK) the same?

best
Thanks
Thomas

AB are more expensive but are the finest figures in ANY scale and period.

Campaign Game Miniatures is a separate company.

Capitan- Battle Models – Fantassin and Warmodelling are the same figures under different brand names.

This may help = comparisons of many/most figure ranges:

link

I have more than 10,000 15/18mm figures in my armies covering all of the major combatants from the Revolution to Waterloo; nearly 30 years to painstakingly assemble these forces so that I can play almost any battle from any campaign.

I have used a wide range of figures over that time, but now, looking back I would observe that AB are clearly the best. I also have OG in my collection for use when AB had no alternative. I've not used CGM or Fantassin, they look good. The Essex, the Roundway, the Minifigs, the Chariot, the Lancashire Games, etc figures I once used are now almost all replaced. AB & OG work well together on the battlefield though I don't intermix within a single unit. All my OG cavalry are remounted on AB horses, makes the world of difference to them.

My experience for what its worth to you.

We may take this as 1:100 scale, where 15mm represent 160cm tall men and 18mm represent 190cm tall men. Average was 170cm.

Xan miniatures are nice. I have only a very few but I mix them with AB and they look good. CGM are nice in separate units.

thanks a lot for those information.

i'll add Xan to my "sample" orders.

very happy to get back to 1st empire painting.
for polish & russian where can i find painting help like VERNET: link ?
Osprey for russian is light and i don't know of a polish one.

For some commanders you may look on my homepage too..
boki.ee

Atommmm: I suggest you get a pinterest account if you do not already have one. Do a search there of what you are looking for, be that Polish or Russian or any other nation, and you will most likely find what you are looking for.

I would like to add to the choir and say that I myself have used AB miniatures for as much as I can in my collection and as such hold them as the Gold Standard to all figures in 15/18mm. Even to the degree of doing conversions on figures to fill out any blank areas. Other makers I think match sizewise is:

-Xan(really nice sculpts! Match well in size with AB)
-Capitan(same sculptor as Xan, match well)
-Blue Moon(a little more chubby looking and not anatomically as elegant as AB, but nice figures and match well in size. Their Horses are a drawback, so I have mounted mine on AB light horses).
-Old Glory(huge range with loads of options, but they are more noticably smaler than the ones above. Same with the horses, I have used AB light horses for them).
-CGM(Match well in size, but also a bit on the chunky side. Horses are ok and I use them for their cavalry).
-Battle Honor(Also made by Anthony Barton, but to small to mix with AB or the others above. Very nice figures and a good choice if you go for 15mm).
-Lancashire( match well in size but cruder sculpts, perhaps not matching well in overall with the quality of the above ranges).
-Eureka(very nice sculpts and match well with AB)
-Khurasan(Large sculpts, do not match in the same units as any of the above, but nice sculpts).
-Magister Militum(a bit small, and does not match too well with any of the above)
-Essex/Minifigs are to small and true 15mm.

Well, thats my opinion..
You can see photos of most of the above makes on my flickr.
Follow the link from this post if you wish:
TMP link

Cheers!

Thanks a lot, nsolomon99, Dr Jeckyll, Ooh Rah, Extra Crispy, i will first order some samples from AB, CGM, Xan and Capitain.
+
A cheap prussian or russian army from Lancashire (cause they are tall as the others) to improve my painting skills before painting AB, CGM, Xan …

I'm back to miniatures painting only from a year ago with mostly 28mm Dark-age project for swordpoint or SAGA
or crazy 28mm plastic WWII warlord for Chain of Command, and now on a 18mm lancashire ACW painting project.

yes Mr Boki when my painting skill will be better, i'll order some of your very nice generals :)

i'll post my painting in the board

chears from Paris
my club: figurineetstrategie (on fb or web)

Depending on which nations/troops you buy don't be frightened of painting AB, in many ways they are easy as they are so well sculpted and cast. If you want an easy start go for Portuguese in Stove pipe shakos – they are very straightforward (and enjoyable) to paint.

daler240D has it – AB the best of all Napoleonic wargaming figures regardless of scale.

thanks Timmo, i'm interested in most of the nations but i have time…
i want to play quicky with tabletop painting level mins and also get time for a higher level painting and best scult mins amies.

i'll order my first AB in a few weeks ..
(and some CGM & Xan;)

Why 18mm? G-d wants people to do Napoleonics in true 15mm.

Hey Atommmm, I have some comparisons on my blog, plus some unusual Napoleonic armies from the early period…

link

Hope it helps and I'm looking forward to seeing what you do.

Colin

1968billsfan, for me it wasn't the scale or the quality, but the fact that most of the 18mm figures are multi-pose, whereas the tru-15's were usually single pose. I prefer the variety and character you can get in a regt.

thanks a lot for the link to your blog Eclipsing Binaries, it is good information. I'll tried to do a little work to feed back my purchases. :)