"How many different figures do you need" Topic

for an irregular unit?

I'm currently working on a 15 mm ratmen army for my and my son's fantasy Britain game. I consider the ratmen as irregular type troops. As I was working on various units it got me to thinking…how many figures do you need to make an irregular unit look 'right'?

I'm using three different manufacturers in the army; Chariot, Splintered Light, and Battle Valor. I don't mix within a unit due to size differences. Chariot have one figure pose per pack, Splintered Light 2 poses in some packs, (like the guard in plate armor), and Battle Valor five poses plus three command figures.

With Chariot I mixed all the melee packs together to form units. With Splintered Light's guard I couldn't do that, and Battle Valor I used as is.

I've come to the conclusion that I need a minimum of three different figures to make an irregular unit so that it looks right, but the more the better!

Please note that this is NOT a complaint about Splintered Light. I have painted a lot of their figures lately and love them, their highland cat-men are what started the fantasy Britain project.

So how many figures do you need for an irregular unit? (BTW, I started gaming in the 70s when whole units in a single pose were the norm.)

1
2
3
4
5+
Every figure has to be different

Depends what you mean by different, two poses can be enough with variety added in painting… but like all these sort of questions, it's all in the eye of the beholder. If you and your son are content you're sorted.

I am a heavy mixer for these type of units and might well mixe all three manufacturers. Three sounds good but would say excludes standards and musicians that may be in the unit.

x42

Experience in 25/28mm suggests five. But they can't be too individual. No matter how large the unit is, you can only use one of the figures with bandaged head, and one of the figures who's lost his headgear for instance.

3-4 is about right.

I've got some 32 figure units of Gauls that have close to 20 different poses. They look less irregular, and more untidy.

There is a point at which variety is distracting.

As many as you want and/or get.

As many as I can get.

I have yet to serve in, or even see a regular military unit where everyone was the same height or build.

I also believe in the Infinite Spectrum of Khaki. Even if two uniform parts were cut at the same time from adjacent pieces of the same cloth and underwent the same processing, they are still slightly different shades of khaki.

The answer is unit and era specific.

According to the map colouring theorum you need a minimum of 4 figures so that no two together are in the same pose.

Then colour them differently.

Personally, I would like each figure to be individual, all 150 of'em. Haven't quite managed it, yet.

For irregulars I suppose 6 or so

For regulars 5 – trooper, officer, musician, standard bearer

It depends on how many figures you'll be mounting on each base. I always aim for at least every figure on a base to be different from each other.

If the figure allows, using some pliers to adjust the pose can add some variety… ;-)

I'm also in the as many as I can get club.

This can include head swaps and arm bends.

When I rebuilt my ACW collection, I used two different manufacturers and multiple poses. I created three basic configurations in regiments: marching, firing line, and advancing. The troops were mounted 4 to a stand and I attempted to not repeat a figure on a stand. For some, like marching, this was not possible. In every case I attempted to insure that duplicate poses were in different positions on the 5 stands of the regiment.

"If the figure allows, using some pliers to adjust the pose can add some variety…"

One of the very cool things about Battle Valor cavalry. The mount and the lower half of the rider are a single casting. The rider from the waist up is a separate casting. All sorts of variation is possible with this way of casting, not to mention the separate shields!

There's variety and there's variety. I don't think you can have too many different poses, but you might get "untidy" if equipment and dress is too variable.

In all the photos of people's amazing armies that I've seen here and elsewhere, or in all the actual tabletop collections I've seen, I have yet to think, "What a shame, they used too many variations." With irregulars, I would say that extends to equipment as well. Who would ever say, "No, I have enough different helmets already in this batch of Gallic cavalry. I'll duplicate this figure instead of using that unique one with the boar helmet"? I wouldn't mix manufacturers with significantly different sculpting styles. With irregulars it's more about whether the equipment looks in scale with other figures. Figure size itself isn't such a problem (within reason). But if things like shields start to vary too much, it looks wrong. For example my son got some OG 15mm Spartans (OK, regular but the point remains) and it was shield size that prevented them mixing with other manufacturers' products.

Cheers,
John

A 10-12 man unit, as many poses as possible. Preferably 4.

A 24 man unit, minimum 4 poses +3 command figures if possible.

Simple things like head swaps add variety.

With metal figures if you bend the arm VERY slowly you can reposition them to add even more variety.

You can even drill some hands out and put in different weapons (I replace 15mm figures' Spears with wire javelins, you can cut off a sword, bend the arm and put in a spear, for instance).

Painting only goes so far.

As mentioned before, depends on the type of unit.

I think we've come a long way since the days that wargaming offered one pose for a troop type whether it was French Old Guard or Ancient barbarians. I think deep in the "wants and desires" of wargamers was the concept of having pose variety

Having said that, sometimes one pose for regulars works well. A few poses, maybe up to 4 can also look nice.

How many poses does one need to create an attractive look? At one point does variety become a distraction? Does paint job offset a lack of variety?

Ask yourself, do you want a lousy paint job on multiple pose units or a terrific paint job on a single pose unit?

Other concerns are "Is the unit wargame-able? Can the stands be handled and stored easily without concerns over damaging bits and parts sticking in all different directions?

Has the Internet made us all voyeurs, picking apart paint jobs and examining each different figure on a base? How does that translate to the wargame's table? When one is playing a game, do they really care if their units are all one pose?

When one is playing a game, do they really care if their units are all one pose?

I have had lots of fun playing John Brown and his 22 Identical Brothers' Raid on Harper's Ferry.

I prefer 3, but more is better. Cheers!