"New to 6mm, need advice on rules." Topic

Hello guys, i'm 35 and from Belgium (Ciney/Namur area).

I've been playing miniature games for 23 years and my first game was "Les Aigles" which i've played for a couple of years with my

Russians in 20mm soft plastics. From what i can remember the rules where kind of heavy with about 16 individual miniatures for a battalion.

After a few years, most of the guys i knew played fantasy (28mm) so that was my main focus aswell for the next 15 years or so.

I've been back to historical for a couple of years now mostly Ancients and WW2, but my first love is calling me back and i just impulse bought a big H&R miniature lot at a convention.

So after playing 20/28mm for so long i'm now diving in the smaller scales which i've wanted to try for quite a while for the mass battle feeling and my son has an interest in the napoleonic wars so that was the perfect opportunity!

The problem is i have about zero experience playing/painting at those scales. I've been reading this forum for a while now but i still have plenty of doubts about what rules i might buy first.

The previous owner of the armies used Black Powder but after reading a few threads about rules on TMP and a few reviews i'm not sure that's best for me.
My son is 13 and an easy ruleset might be nice tho, i remember struggling a bit with "Les Aigles" in my youth.

So i'm a little lost atm, from what it's worth, here is the basing system the previous owner used, i've read that basing doesn't matter all that much quite a few times on TMP so i'm not all that worried.

Infantry
bases of 40x9mm for skirmishing infantry
2 bases of 40x18mm for a batallion of musketeers

Cavalry
2 bases of 40x35mm for a cavalry regiment

Artillery
80x40mm base for 4 guns
60x40mm base for 3 guns
40x40mm base for 2 guns

Command
25mm round base for Corps commander
20mm round base for division commander
16mm round base for brigade commander

The basing looks ok, the gun bases are kinda big and for the french are mixed 3 heavy guns and a small one which looks weird to me, might have to research that.
The cavalry are also big (could cut those in half if needed to match the infantry basing).

2 bases for an infantry battalion sounds nice and convenient, i can show formations if i choose to use rules where that matters (might be better looking with four bases but i'll live with it)

So regarding rules, i'm not sure what is adequate for what i have. If i use the 2 bases for a battalion, i can easily field a corps

for the Russians/French, a division of English, a brigade of Hesse all fully painted. The lot included Austrians but they're unpainted so they don't matter atm ;)

So for rules i guess i'm looking at something that can handle a corps with the smallest unit as a battalion.
My son can't handle the hardest rulesets right now so that is a factor and a game should be able to be resolved in 4 or 5 hours at the very most.

I guess a lot of rulesets might be out but if anything comes to mind i'll gladly hear what you guys have to say to help me !

A few pictures of the French i bought if anyone is interested. (H&R aren't as pretty as the baccus/adler we usually see here but they look good enough for me)
link

Thanks for your time, i look forward to hear what you guys have to say !

Those are really nice figures!

I played Grande Armee and did it with 6mm figures. It uses 3"x3" bases for infantry/cavalry and 1.5"x3" bases for batteries.

I *think* (no picture) this is the current seller of the rules: link

I'm guess that as long as your basing is consistent, then it probably won't matter too much.

There is also a free version called fast play grand armee at
link along with a lot of battle scenarios.

another rule set at the same level is volley and bayonet, road to glory from test of battle games. Both are set at one unit equals one brigade. As such you can either use two of the 40mm bases in place of a three inch base or a single base by doubling the ground scale. Both methods have been used.

There are a lot of different rule sets at different levels of command available. My own preference is for the level of grand armee or volley and bayonet as they allow an entire battle to be fought without having to have an overly large area.

Welcome back! Lots of options on rules. The Wessencraft "Army Corps Game" in his "Practical Wargaming" is another one to look at--simple and no book keeping. One stand would be a battalion. No reason you have to stick to any one, and you might want to vary with the size of the engagement.

"Blucher" is also a good set for 6mm. Sort of an updated Grande Armee by the same author. Allows for large battles with brigade sized units on larger bases.

sammustafa.comsubheading Whirlwind 

So for rules i guess i'm looking at something that can handle a corps with the smallest unit as a battalion.

March Attack link uses two bases per battalion for corps-sized actions.

Shako is old but good for this size of battle.

Polemos General de Division, Et Sans Resultat and Napoleonic Field of Glory are allpitched at this kind of level.

They aren't my cup of tea, but Black Powder should work fine too.

Here is my web page with a bunch of rules summaries describing mechanics in detail, might be of some help:

link

(Be sure to also check the 19th century section, some rules there cover all of the Black Powder era).

I am the current publisher of Grande Armee as linked above. Overseas I suggest buying the PDF from my other web site FlagshipGames.com

Not on the summary page but worth a look is Et Sans Resultat. Very interesting game with some novel ideas, and relatively allows you to adjust ground scale to your basing.

I use H&R figures and Volley & Bayonet. I have been using these rules for years and in my view they provide an excellent game while allowing you to relight historical actions or fictional encounters with multiple Corps per side.

There are a number of photos and descriptions on my blog. However, this overview may be useful.

link

There are a couple of modern rules sets only released recently which I think might meet your needs. Sounds like you want something simple enough for a 13 year old to grasp (I have one too :)) and yet enough meat to keep your interest. Moving individual battalions and set at about a Corp or so per side.

I would suggest looking at General d'Armee to meet those needs. With Over The Hills as an option B.

And welcome back :)

Over the Hills is certainly a good option and my personal favourite for Napoleonic games, although it does use several different formation options ( line, attack columns, column of companies, column of march), which your basing might make a bit awkward to represent. I imagine you do not want to rebase 😄
I think I might be tempted to go with Blucher, it uses bases to represent higher level formations, so no need to concern yourself with line/square/ column etc. There Is, I believe, a free trial version on Sam Mustafas site, so you could see if it works for you and your son before spending some cash.

We use Age of Eagles with 6mm H&R
The rules are derived from Fire & Fury and the unit size is a brigade

here are some pictures from atypical game
link

Well first of all thanks to everyone for their ideas and advices.

I've taken some time to answer as I was reading reviews on all the games you suggested ;)

After taking the time to digest all that information i just ordered Over the Hills which seemd to press all the right buttons for my situation. (playing with a corps, not too hard for my son)

I've ordered General d'Armee aswell for my reading pleasure, the reviews i've read made me fear it might be too hard for my son atm, but it looks great so we'll see !

I'll keep you updated when we play a first game ;)