"Davout's Corps at Wagram in 2mm" Topic

link

45 battalions, detached division is not shown here.

At what point is it more cost-effective to own a 3D printer myself vs. sending the files to a third party printing service?

I'd say at about $300 USD worth of prints.

I don't own a printer myself. I designed my figs to be printed off on a hub, which means they need to be robust enough to handle different machines that have various settings, using different materials. I also print test runs of my figs so that I know they'll print up.

That said, I've been told that my figures, when printed at home, use only a few pennies of material each.

The models here cost under $10 USD to print. At home they would probably cost under $5 USD, and maybe less than that.

Though I support all attempts at gaming different scales and periods, what baffles me is the minimalist approach. I understand this scale is cheap and easy to churn out, but why then use so few figures?

My primary scale is 15mm, in which I normally have 32 figures per battalion. I also have 6mm French, but even at 24 figures per stand, I feel I could do better. Are your battalions only 8 figures each?

This is a great question, which I shall answer when I am not at the bar.

I understand what PeninsularWar is saying.I've no interest in anything over 6mm figures, so very much a small scale guy (2mm,3mm, and 6mm).

For me the whole point is to have much larger units that have more of a resemblance to the real thing. So many people in the smaller scales still seem to have a 28mm mindset, and create miniature versions of a 28mm game.

I do understand that it's often required, though, when there's a lack of space, table size, and financial considerations, when people have little choice.

By the way, forwardmarchstudios, none of the above is a reference to you – love the stuff you're doing – but just my feelings on small scale figures in general, prompted by PeninsularWar's comments.

Ok – back.

The models linked to have 12-figure "normal" battalions, and 24 figure large battalions. Cavalry bases are 12 figures, representing two squadrons each. The units are essential shrunk-down versions of a 28mm wargame… model of a model, if you like.

The idea behind this new sub-range is that they can be used to bridge the gap between the scope of hex-and-marker wargames and model wargames. These figures are more interesting visually than cardboard markers, and also lend themselves better to playing different battles. The models are so cheap, and so fast to paint, that a gamer can easily and quickly collect entire historic armies – which are often so large that even a small Grande Armee army in a larger scale might takes months or even years to get ready.

I think gaming with large, historic orders of battle creates a unique wargame experience. Also, I think having large armies is particularly important to capturing the unique characteristics of Napoleonic warfare. Just thinking in terms of how many battalions, squadrons, and batteries one will commit to an attack gets you closer to the reality of army-level generalship than commanding a few dozens units (tops) on the table top.

I'm working on some rules that work with this sub-range, which allow players to game out just the kind of very large battles I'm describing. I think once those are done the advantages of these particular figures will be more apparent. That said, these are only about one half dozen of the nearly 300 files in the range. So if you are looking for 1:1 scale model battalions with all the NCOs, officers, musicians and engineers accounted for, those are also available. I'm always looking for new directions to take the range in, and this is just the most recent one.

I hope that answers your question!