YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 8:33 a.m. PST |
For a long time now I have wanted to start a Napoleonic project. My interest has really been in playing games at the divisional or small corps level. My first problem was finding a set of rules to fit my needs. My other problem is that although I have a dedicated wargames room (a converted outbuilding) with its painting desk and storage etc it can only house a 6x4 table. This means that playing at 15/18mm scale is a push and as monty python would have it 28mm "is right out!". I enjoy painting and converting as part of the hobby so although I like the look of the 6mm battalions wheeling around the table they do not meet my needs either. My wife ruled out an extension in the early stages of planning. The answer to both my problems showed itself at the same Salute show. I happened upon both the rules system, General d'Armee being demonstrated by its author Dave Brown, and Pendraken miniatures for the figures and thus my new 10mm project was born. I decided to have my standard sized infantry units on three stands with 10 figures a stand (with slightly less on the colour party stand for aesthetic reasons). I wanted the ability to represent units in either column or line while maintaining the massed ranks feel. I chose as a base the small flames of war stands as I like the bevelled edge that reduces the clunky base look of some mdf bases at this scale. Although it is hard to make a square with three stands at the price cost of 10mm figures I decided to make ‘unit in square markers' out of figures that the colour party could sit inside. I think a mistake that can be made at 10mm is to use the same base sizes as 15mm. This misses the trick of reducing the footprint of the unit that allows much bigger battles to be fought. Having found rules and figures and purchased both I have finally come around to painting and modelling the project. Below are the test brigade of my British Infantry. url=https://postimg.org/image/gou7jkptl/]
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YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 8:36 a.m. PST |
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YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 8:36 a.m. PST |
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YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 8:37 a.m. PST |
Plan to paint bases once army is complete |
Dave Jackson | 08 Nov 2017 8:42 a.m. PST |
Do you have a blog etc where one can follow your progress? |
YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 8:42 a.m. PST |
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YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 8:49 a.m. PST |
I do plan to start a blog Dave ….just as soon as I work out how 🤔 The phone camera quality these days mean that it is easy to take a couple of snaps of work as you go along so there is no excuse not to |
YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 9:11 a.m. PST |
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von Winterfeldt | 08 Nov 2017 9:20 a.m. PST |
very nice – looking forward to see more |
marshalGreg | 08 Nov 2017 9:58 a.m. PST |
@ YoungDave Very Nice! You look to put the paint effort of 15/18 in to these wee 10s! Result is very good. I am not familiar with the GdD rule set and with your table size constraint you are having a battalion foot print of 3bases at ~25 or 30mm x 20?mm with 10 per. A good compromise of foot print to max figure, for visual effect accomplished with the 10s. I recently went with 10s for ACW and with 25mm basing per the rule set so… understand the elegance to what this scale can bring. Here is a must see blog to assist you on your planning and issues along the way: link For me to really capture the "thin red line" of the British lines would be to squeeze the front and back rank together ( yes that blocks the front of the second rank from most of the view but…)so at 2 feet away the battalion looks much more like its historical actual and less of a doubled line. I was still able to get sufficient flocking in between for OK photo shoots in my ACW 2 rank units. [I have changed since I do not have the same constraint as you, to go to a single rank, with more stands per unit ( smaller ground scale/more table required)]. If you can set-up a test unit on the next one, you may like the look better before becoming too far committed with current plan. 30 by 20 troop depth at 3 = 90/20 or 4.5:1 frontage to depth. 30 by (~15 troop depth) at 3 = 90/15 or 6:1 So a significant impact to the visual look of linearity desired. That is minimum ratio my collections now have, for the better visual effect of a line. Most being 9:1 for my ACW. What is your plan for the (3 rank deployed) French and Spanish? Curious….looking forward to more! MG |
YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 10:29 a.m. PST |
Many thanks for your input And thanks for the link to 1809. I had seen this previously and is a benchmark for blog creation! My plan for French is to put 3 lines of figs on the base creating the desired comparative line and column feel of the Brit and French tactics I had tried a unit tester of the brit squashed line and felt that is just what it looked squashed. I felt I needed a basing that could more aesthetically rep the move to column when employed Yes ACW is on the cards as I had a small input into the creation and play testing of Picketts Charge and you are right this scale lends itself perfectly to 10mm too |
jwebster | 08 Nov 2017 11:36 a.m. PST |
Hi Young Dave Looks really good – I presume you used a black primer ? How large are the bases you used ? I think you are right to consider the size of table you have, and the size of action you want to play, letting that drive the figure size John |
YoungDave | 08 Nov 2017 12:19 p.m. PST |
Thanks John Yes black primer for max contrast at playing distance The bases are 25mm x 32mm |
Sobieski | 08 Nov 2017 4:25 p.m. PST |
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Bandolier | 09 Nov 2017 4:04 a.m. PST |
They look great. Well done! |
YoungDave | 09 Nov 2017 4:28 a.m. PST |
Thank you Bandolier I am as interested in painting the piles of shiny metal I purchase as I am gaming with them and I think 10mm figs these days, with the likes of pendraken in the game, allow for this aspect of the hobby very well indeed. I have to say that I think pendraken's 10mm are a "painter's" figure. The crisp detail (and sturdy design) allow for some reasonably easily obtained results. It's a way of playing serious napoleonic battles or a reasonable budget too! |
Fried Flintstone | 09 Nov 2017 3:54 p.m. PST |
Hi Young Dave Your idea looks great to me and your execution first class. The units look really nice. As a member of the same club as Dave Brown I am lucky enough to play GdA regularly and it occurred to me that one thing you will need to have is a plan for managing unit size – assuming you will be adjusting your OOB appropriately for the scenarios you recreate. We have a mechanism to achieve this using a paper template we stick to the underneath of the command base. This shows the number of casualties a unit can take before is disbands and these can be easily marked off with a felt tip pen. Just mention it in case it may be of interest to you. You can see them pretty clearly here
Not sure where you are based but we have an occasional "open day" game at the club if you fancy a little GdA action (although it will be 15mm I am afraid 😀) LoughtonStrikeForce.co.uk |
Leon Pendraken | 09 Nov 2017 8:09 p.m. PST |
Looking good and good to hear you're enjoying painting them! |
YoungDave | 10 Nov 2017 3:17 a.m. PST |
Teppsta thanks for the casualties idea. I would certainly like to come along and see it in action..even in 15s!😀 Casualty removal ( or lack there of) in General d'armee suits the 10mm scale very well. My plan is to make up a series of casualty tokens numbered 1-3. As the unit takes its first three casualties they will be placed with the battalion. On a fourth casualty(the point at which the negatives start to bite in the rules I replace a stand from the battalion with a casualty half stand( probably 5 figs firing and some dead bodies on the same size base) and removing the previous accrued 1-3 counters, as unit takes more casualties I will use the numbered counters again until the next casualty breakpoint( if I have made enough casualty half stands I will replace the other stand with a wounded stand) if not just remove the wounded stand. This process should cut clutter down on the table and give the units a beat up look as they take their licks. Should the unit hold their nerve obviously the next casualty level will see them disperse and be removed. I plan to make a few massacred unit mini diorama markers to show the where units meet their demise |
YoungDave | 10 Nov 2017 3:21 a.m. PST |
As to unit size I have decided on simplicity Standard unit 3 bases large unit 4 bases and small unit 2 bases. With each of the stands representing 200-250 men this feels about right. |
YoungDave | 10 Nov 2017 3:24 a.m. PST |
Leon Thank you for your comment. I enjoy your 10mm figs very much. And would like to say how helpful I have found you all at pendraken to be. The figures cope with the rigours of the gaming table very well and are a joy to paint Oh and some dedicated Nap casualties now please!🙄 |
Fried Flintstone | 10 Nov 2017 4:21 a.m. PST |
My plan is to make up a series of casualty tokens numbered 1-3. As the unit takes its first three casualties they will be placed with the battalion. On a fourth casualty(the point at which the negatives start to bite in the rules I replace a stand from the battalion with a casualty half stand( probably 5 figs firing and some dead bodies on the same size base) and removing the previous accrued 1-3 counters, as unit takes more casualties I will use the numbered counters again until the next casualty breakpoint( if I have made enough casualty half stands I will replace the other stand with a wounded stand) if not just remove the wounded stand. This process should cut clutter down on the table and give the units a beat up look as they take their licks. Should the unit hold their nerve obviously the next casualty level will see them disperse and be removed. I plan to make a few massacred unit mini diorama markers to show the where units meet their demise I like that idea a lot – the tabletop "look" is important to me and great to hear you have thought it through. The only thing to consider is how to cope with scenario's where you have small battalions at the outset (peninsula war scenarios for example). |
YoungDave | 10 Nov 2017 6:12 p.m. PST |
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Leon Pendraken | 11 Nov 2017 2:15 p.m. PST |
We do need some casualties, something to get sorted at some stage. For your casualty markers, have you seen our dice frames, allowing you to add a dice to each marker and adjust it as you accrue casualties?
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Littlearmies | 12 Nov 2017 1:54 p.m. PST |
YoungDave – the 10mm figures look great. I'm waiting on my copy of GdA – sometime in the next week or so. I'm heavily committed to 15/18mm for this period but I'm sorely tempted to re-do ACW in 10mm. How do you plan to base the opposition? I find basing French for GdeB to be quite starightforward but basing the British infantry always puts me in two minds (or more) about how to do it. |
YoungDave | 13 Nov 2017 3:34 a.m. PST |
ACW works very well in 10mm. The scale and period served very well by picketts charge rules and pendraken figs. With regards the French in napoleonic . You will see when you get your rules that GdA is less about figure counting and more about the battalion as a unit. As such there are only three sizes of battalion small standard and large. Most units fit the standard size with only very well supplied and maintained units such as foot guard being counted as large. As such most French line units will be standard. Three bases. My intention is to have 12-15 figs in three lines (merely a visual attempt at highlighting the difference between the French and thin red line idea) |
YoungDave | 13 Nov 2017 3:35 a.m. PST |
Leon. My next order with you may find dice frames added!😁 |
YoungDave | 13 Nov 2017 8:21 a.m. PST |
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