"Which scale and why?" Topic

Which scale do you game the AWI in and why? Which figure lines do you use and why do you like them?

Wrestled with for a time

I have 15mm to do larger battles and now starting to add 40mm for smaller actions/skirmishing

For 40mm – Trident – love the variety and poses

For 15mm – have a mix of Frontier, Polly Oliver, Minifigs and Lancashire – adding some Peter Pig to fill in a few units – each line fills in certain uniforms, or units

28mm Perry, i am an unashamed fanboy.

15mm because I like larger engagements, not skirmishes.

Peter Pig because the castings are clean, well sculpted, accurate, take my painting style well (wash) and PP can provide heads to allow for greater variety.

When I started AWI back in the 70s, the Bicentennial was in bloom. I started with Hinchliffe figures and 1776 rules. I didn't care for either 15mm or Minifigs or Scruby. I dabbled in Der Kriegspielers and Stone Mountain.
Then I dropped out of The Hobby for 10 years. When I got back in, there were a bunch of new manufacturers I didn't bother with because I was set.
However, an old friend dumped hundreds of figures in another friend who gave them to me. That kickstarted me into new AWI again.
I gave away my "smaller 25mm" lines to concentrate on the newer figures.

It's a point if pride with me to field as many different manufacturers as possible in a game. Hinchliffe still hold up quite well. They're still the backbone of my British, with 8 regiments and battalions.
I also field:
Foundry
Old Glory
Perry
King's Mountain
Eureka
Firing Line
Fife and Drum
Sash and Saber
Dixon
Scruby
Wall
Front Rank
Conquest
RSM
RAFM
And a bunch I can't remember.
I play with Age of Reason for brigade or larger scale games, and The Sword and the Flame for smaller quasi skirmish actions.

I think it's very stupid to confine yourself to one manufacturer. No line is complete. And there are still gaping holes in what is needed. All that I mentioned are more or less compatible, and excellent figures.
Do I have favorites? Yes. All of them.

I have also been gifted some very nice 40mm figures from Trident. I think it's time to break out my WRG Fire and Steel rules!

Btw I totally reject the notion of getting rid of old regiments simply because something newer and shinier has come along.
My "terrible old men" (to borrow a splendid phrase from Mary Renault) have served me too well in the past to be swept into the garbage can, simply something new has come along. I will gladly buy new figures, but they become additional regiments. Not replacements.

I game the AWI in 15 mm because I can fit a larger battle onto a given table size (and they paint 'easier' both in simple reality and because I ain't the best painter – only average, maybe; but what matters is painted figures in a game). For foot my main source is (was) Musket Miniatures, for mounted my source is Freikorps including many adapted SYW figures for both cavalry and generals. However, like Winston, I'll buy whatever works and have lots of Peter Pig, some Minifigs and a variety of others including Stone Mountain and Polly Oliver.

Oh, and this matters, 15 mm gives a vastly larger bang for your buck. Imagine the cost increase to have achieved 5,000 plus AWI figures in 32 mm (or whatever 25 mm is being called these days) instead of 15 mm? [Blue Moon hadn't made their appearance until I was finishing up my collection but I'd probably have not travelled that road because I prefer the more regimented look – though I have many other Blue Moon figures where variety improves the look for my tastes.]

Where you cannot go wrong is diving into the AWI, it is a colorful and diverse period to game a bit of history that very truly shaped the world we live in today.

As to rules for the era in 15 mm, I am a big fan of Eric Burgess' Guns of Liberty which has a 3rd edition due out perhaps as early as this year (hoping). Rules, of course, are rarely 'scale' specific but these were designed to this size figure.

If I were do do some other size, I'd go the 40 mm route – when I get older and vision gets more challenging, that seems the way to go. Until then, just make sure there is plenty of light on the table (gaming or painting).

The variables are probably space, money and others.
Space for me is limited to about 6x 4 maximum. This allows me to travel to other locations for games too. Money would allow more figures to be bought the smaller the figure size. 2mm will be cheap! By others is meant my opponents and proposed players. If i have an army it will meet at least 30 different opponents. All of whom i would like to own their own armies and scenery. I enjoy a game more when all are contributing in terms of scenario, scenery and troops. Not a fan of "turn up at my place and I will prepare the scenario, forces and scenery, no decisions for you to trouble yourself with". Of course alot of this is based on UK circumstances but I have fought many wargames in the US and Europe over many years.

I use PP 15mm for my AWI army, but then maybe I am stupid?

I don't game, but I have collections in 28,40 and 54/60 mm.

My 28's are like John's list, with every maker known to man but mainly Perry/Foundry/OG and even some new plastics.

My favorites though are Kings Mountain Miniatures.
I love the War in the South and these fabulous figures were sculpted specifically for that Campaign.
It certainly has nothing to do with me owning the company.
Well, maybe a little.
OK, you got me.

I'm a Perry fan also and have way more Perry figures than KMM.

My 40's are Trident and Front Rank with a smattering of Indians by S&S. I've been loading up on FR since the Pound tanked and figures fell to under 3 bucks each.
I got a super deal from Doug at MSC on my Tridents and a second great deal from Day of Battle, when they dropped the line.

My 54/60 mm are Britains and Conte painted metal sets.
I really enjoy these, but they take up so much room that they rarely get taken out and set up. I'll have to work on that.

And then there are the plastics……

Marx, Accurate, CTA, AIP and right on down the line.
I have 'em all, including several original Marx playsets.
Yup, even Johnny Tremain.

And metal kits from Imrie Risley, Old Guard, Bussler, Scheid
and several others. Some painted, most not.

I am fortunate enough to have room to store it all.
I'm working on getting the display room set up.
Hopefully this summer!

My usual. I have 15mm for big battles/small tables, 28's for when things aren't so cramped, and 54's salted away for eye troubles. But generally, you want one large and one small scale.

I game in 28mm because the figures give just enough detail to look good and allow a fair number to fit on the table but mostly because 40mm wasn't around when I started and I'm too invested to switch.

I use OG, FR, Perry, RSM95, and Foundry. I have some KMM but haven't painted them yet. I need to buy some Fife & Drum.

Perry/Front Rank/RSM95 are tied closely for favorites.
Perry- huge variety, anatomically correct, lot's of equipment.
FR – decent variety, a little chunky, great faces, fair amount of equipment.
RSM95 – little variety, great proportions, little amount of equipment, easy to paint.

I haven't painted the Kings Mountain figures but would say they have the best traits of all of the above.

No one so far does 6mm or 10mm. Interesting.

Starting in 2000 my collection is all 25mm. I love the size as it is big enough to see the details and quite frankly most engagements (in the South at least) were smallish affairs. I am about finished the lead pile (purchased from a dear friend from my last club that needed to downsize)
Then again up till 3 years ago I had a 5x14 gaming table. We have moved into a smaller house and I use the floor with the kids if we play.

28mm because you can SEE them when you get older!

Amen Skipper. Did I see that name correctly?

54mm, go big or go home!

I use All the King's Men rules and plastic figures because I wanted a relatively cheap entrance into the period.

1:72 because you have plenty of cheap plastic types to convert

28mm- Not too big, not too small. Given the size of most AWI battles, I don't think I need smaller.

My stuff is mostly Perry (metal and plastic), Foundry (which is Perry) and Warlord plastics. I like Perry scuplts, as they look like how real people move, and again because they are
midway between "chunky" and absolute real proportions.

The Warlord because they mix OK with Perrys, look OK and lets face it-are cheaper than metal.

Fife & Drum for me, the best figures around in my opinion.

28mm. Perry, WGF/Warlord, Kings Mountain and Fife & Drum miniatures. In fact they ARE the reason why I got back into AWI wargames.

I have about 1100 painted AWI 28mm figures with a mix of the manufacturers already listed. I can put on almost any battle I like. This is one period ideally suited for 28mm.

I have a 15mm collection, composed of the amalgamated 15mm collections of several people getting out of the period. I haven't painted a single AWI figure myself (yet). I was only willing to start this period because I got a complete, painted collection in one purchase, and already had plenty of 15mm-sized "early America" terrain to put them in, from years of ACW gaming.

I honestly don't find the 15mm figures to be all that inspiring. I am much more impressed by the superior sculpting & casting quality of 1/72 and 28mm figures. If I were to start from scratch and paint/build everything, I would prefer 1/72 scale, because I prefer the proportions, the figures are simultaneously big enough for skirmishing and small enough for mass battles, and if using plastics, the figures are really cheap (though the limited selections lead one down an endless rabbithole of conversions). Fortunately, I'm just rational enough to recognize that as an eternally-unfinished project, and I've never started it.

- Ix

15mm, for reasons others have stated.

Hello jeeves!

I think the pecking order in most periods is 25/28mm, followed by 15/18mm with 6mm holding down third place.

I game in 6mm as you can game on pretty much any size table, play any size of battle and build your units to any size that fits your fancy. Game any period you want. So no restrictions.

I only use Baccus figures as they look amazing, have more then enough detail, are fast and easy to paint. Have a complete line, along with basing, flags, brushes, etc. The complete one stop shop.

The rules "Ruse de Guerre", cover not only the AWI but also the F&IW and War of 1812. You can start gaming within a month or two with some small armies. Later build them up to any size you want and still use the same rules!

Baccus also has it's own forum that fully supports everything it sells. What could be better?

Best regards,

Glenn

As I said above, I started in 25mm almost by default. There were no decent 15mm ranges around back then.

I game on a ping pong table. At a 1:20 or so figure scale, there are very few battles I cannot play on my table. Who would want to do Long Island anyway?
I can go up one level and call a regiment a brigade. Brandywine. I think 25mm is the perfect scale for AWI.

So far I have 1,900 40mm figures in my AWI armies and 600 40mm figures in my FIW armies. Many to add to my AWI yet, especially when we get to the Spanish armies and many more to add to my FIW armies to come.

I'm very much a fan of the look of 6mm for AWI. There is something to be said for 28s and their detailed uniforms, but for me I love seeing the mass of men on the table. I also like having less distortion in the ground scale – I've mostly been playing at 1:1 with them using a set of rules I'm tinkering with.

Done with 15's. Almost complete, to my liking, 28's. Moving to 40's for skirmish; Trident and Front Rank.

6mm Baccus, 12mm Kallistra, 28mm Warlord and Perry, and why not!

Years ago, I started out with 15mm, mostly Stone Mountain and Frontier. Had about 20 units each side. But I was never satisfied with the small figures--I didn't get to see the varieties of colors and styles. Sooooo, I sold 'em all at a Historicon one year. After some years passed, my hobby business led me to get into 28s. I now have about 1,600 figs and counting. Mostly Old Glory--always thought Russ' figures were excellent. But also have some Perry, Fife and Drum, and Eureka. Like them all.

It's one of those periods that is perfect for 28mm. Smaller battles so you don't really need to buy a lot of figures. The uniforms are interesting and the figures available are the best. Foundry, Perry and Fife and Drum.

40mm Front Rank and Trident. I'm working on both sides, the figures mix really well, sculpting and detail is great on both lines and they are great to paint!

BB

I collect 54mm overall and the bulk of the collection is old Britains, mainly from the 1950s and 60s as well as their Herald and Eyes Right and Swoppets series.

I also collect Imrie/Risley, Stadden, Lasset, Historex and some King and Country and Elastolin Normans and Romans as well.

I have five cases of them, mostly Britains, around the house-three in the den, one in the living room, and one in the library and that's half the collection. The other half is in the upstarirs workroom. I do paint, and I restore and convert old damaged metal Britains. The collection is probably running around 10,000 pieces which also include tanks and armored vehicles as well as artillery pieces.

For the War of the Revolution I much prefer Imrie/Risley as they are realistic well done and have infantry, cavalry, and artillery. I have about 250 of them organized as a two-company infantry battalion, a light infantry company, a light dragoon company and a two-gun artillery company-all Continentals in uniform coats and hunting shirts.

I prefer 54mm because the size is perfect for playing on the floor and also the castings are realistic and proportional.

Had a lot of 15 mm which I sold.
Then now back new ones for skirmish, or big skirmish. Eying towards creeping to battles, I wonder if need to.
Why 15? Well it was to unify terrain and as hills look better with smaller figs, at least pretending to be hills.
Space, still constricted as aWi needs a small ratio of men per fig as units were so small, so ground scale is small which means hardly any rear space which is ridiculous esp in AWi where they are rarely constricted by terrain.

Eying towards 10mm for big battles as a 32 fig small unit looks better than a 16 fig one. It will all boil down to other gamers here, and can I really use the stuff. pendraken has all and well done, obviously older eyes lose a bit of pageant there.
28mm costs too,much and needs huge space to be more than small engagements just frontal line ups. But there are so many beautiful minis in that scale, tis a pity.