"Review of two of Peter Dennis' paper soldier books" Topic

I've decided to try something different – paper armies! For the last couple of years I've been keeping my eye on the rapidly growing range of books that Peter Dennis has been pumping out, each one covering a different campaign using 2D paper soldiers and scenery.

After having enjoyed so much making some Dutch houses out of cardboard recently, I finally decided to give Peter's paper figures a go. So I ordered two books to try out, covering a couple of periods I've always fancied, but couldn't face starting to collect and paint from scratch: the Jacobite '45 Rebellion, and the American Revolution.

I've posted a review of the two books on my blog here: link

I am very tempted by these as well. Keep us posted on your project.

Peter's books are true treasures. I have the ECW book. Every gamer needs to own one.

Joe Collins

very interesting !
i hope you'll do a follow up to tell us how you like the rules and if there's any historical background in the books .

I have a few of these books. They consist of the paper soldiers, the instructions for making them and the rules set. You'll have to get your background info elsewhere.

There's a page with a brief background of the armies themselves. Another page gives an annotated list of further reading sources that the author recommends.

I have five of them. I am waiting for the War of the Spanish Succession on. I have wanted to do that period for years, but did not want to paint.

An update to my blog: I've now completed my first ever paper regiment. 112 figures under four hours go to whoa!

More info here: link

I now have highlanders too. Only two two-hour sessions of work from start to finish! More pics here: link

Pic of large battle set up with Seven Years War figures (I think – sorry, not my period) at Salute this year.

link

The author himself was there and is a splendid chap :)

Very impressive, Alphis99! Even at the slight angle your pic was taken, they look great.

These must be figures from Peter's forthcoming 'War of the Spanish Succession' book. Zooming in on your photo brings up a wealth of detail of this exquisite Franco-Bavarian army.

I started this new unit only a couple of hours before the Royal Wedding so I could work on it while watching the event on TV … but I had finished the 100+ figures before even the bridal party arrived at the chapel! So I had to watch the whole wedding without anything else to do (luckily it was pretty impressive to watch, anyway!).

PS: This is the way they look if you don't flock the bases. These will be all flocked later today. The officer on the right was a late addition – I simply glued a little base to the main base.

Another update: link

I have the Wars of the Roses. I find it useful as a painting guide for my three d figures. And the rules are clear and relatively simple.

How do you find the cutting. I did my own a few years back,but the cutting round the top of muskets annoyed me

Any suggestions on the best way photo copy the pages in the books?A home printer,the local library or somewhere like Ryman's?The best printer/copier settings to use and the best type of card?

Cutting round the muskets is a snip (ha ha!). I cut down one side of every musket before I start doing the rest of the cutting. This makes it easy to cut down the other side of the musket as you complete cutting around each figure.

The weapons I DO find difficult to cut are halberds. Lots of tricky little bits and angles, plus the skinny handle.

As for printing, I just take the book to the local stationery shop, and get them to copy the pages I want, using exactly the weight of paper recommended in the book. Their printing machine has great quality reproduction, and it still works out at only 4 or 5 bucks a regiment!

Anyway, I've been making lots more progress with my paper armies for the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion, and have now even made up one of the buildings:

great article thanks.

I just purchased the ACW book. i plan on using them with Richord Borgs first C&C game Battle Cry.

Northstar Miniatures has 5 of these on sale for £5.00 GBP each. I ordered them as I've been interested in these for a while.

I would recommend using a black Sharpie pen, on the white edges of both men, and buildings. It creates an optical illusion wherein the edges seem to disappear. That white edging is visually obvious; once lined with a black Sharpie, they disappear, making the whole that much more impressive, IMO. Cheers!

Excellent suggestion, Sgt Slag. You could go one step further and get a set of brush pens or calligraphy pens in various colors:

link

Doing the edges in a matching color (coat color around the shoulders and arms, brown around the musket and halbers) would not only hide the white cut edges, but enhance the colored print as well. The points also make it easier to get ink into tight spaces.

Flocking the bases is a great idea!

Great books. I have the Castle Assault and 1066 ones.

Another good series, if you can ever find them reasonably priced, were the Usborne Make This range. The Medieval Village and Town books, plus the Viking Settlement one, provide plenty of dark age urban scenery to fight through and can be enhanced with bases, extra texturing etc.

As my nickname says, I am a lover of papersoldiers and other stuff in paper. My personal problem with these superb figures is the width of the army and the fact that cavalry is too… smashed.

Here my 100% side vision papersoldiers:

I was curious about these and tried a book to try a new period. Now I'm hooked!

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