"French Revolutionary Wars 15mm figures suggestions" Topic

Hello
I currently having painted 15mm French, Austrian and Russian armies using 15mm Battle Honours figures. I would like to also build other forces. I'm thinking forces for some of all of Britain, Hanover, Hessen-Kassel, Hessen-Darmstadt, the Netherlands, French emigres and Prussia. Can anyone please suggest where I would find figures for these (or reasonable proxies) that would be compatible with my existing Battle Honours figures?

I am aware of the Sho Boki figures, but, as they seem to be sculpted to match the size of AB figures, they may be too big. The range also seems to lack cavalry at present.

We are planning to use Age of Eagles rules. I figure that, if an infantry base represents about 360 men, I will need about 28 bases and a hill to model the Duke of York's army.

Thank you

Minifigs? And creativity😋

Thank you for the suggestion, but, from what I've seen of Minifigs, I'm not too keen. I'm hoping for alternatives.

Lancashire Games, perhaps.

Peter Pig AWI range for Germanic types but these may be too small. Stonewall Figures perhaps might have what you need.

Blue Moon, but those might be larger as well:

link

Magister Militum:

link

try out some Sho Boki miniatures – like the Prussians, and see if they look like when you place two units confronting themselves.

Thank you. Most of the manufacturers listed cover French and Austrians, which I already have covered with Battle Honours. However, it is probably a good idea to try Sho Boki and see if they'll work with Battle Honours.

Any other suggestions?

Irregular has a range. The figs appear pretty generic, so I don't know if they will be of any use to you.

I happily have Battle Honors, Minifig, AB, and BOKI all in the same French army. BOKI has gaps, but that's semi-on purpose. He's making the line infantry that is missing in other ranges. Especially at the early date lots of countries' cavalry uniforms were of similar cut, artillery too. Everybody's lights are weird and in small numbers. Find a similar substitute or convert not very many figures.

Your problem is you want smaller figs. The already limited choice is worse.

Chariot or Campaign out of Britain had some that was cast by Stone Mountain in the States.
The Paris Mob was the best pack.

When we brought back (remolded) the 15mm Minifigs range, Todd Fisher sent us specific army lists using Minifigs. They were the only 15mm ranges that were historically correct for the units within the named brigades, on the market. Be sure your minds eye image of what units looked like is congruent with the historical record first. It's definately not what French Units looked like later on. French rev period is amongst the worst selling ranges in any scale because, well, the customers don't like the uniforms and the units can ramge from 6 to 30 minis a regiment! (depending on how such a divergence of unit sizes are handled in the rules). I found that it was the most interesting since the French are not the steamrollers they became later and for me, the closest to a fair fight with any of the opposition. Viva l' France!

Nag Khurasan to release the 1798 Irish Rebellion Range he previewed a couple of years ago – that would give you British, some French and Irish for the period!

That's your suggestion that NK should do that, isn't it?

In the absence of specific figures, conversion. The earlier suggestion of Minifigs is in my view not to be dismissed because the style is very distinctive and "softer" in modelling than the crisp definition of, say, Old Glory 15s. The metal used is quite easily pared/carved, and it is possible to sharpen the definition by drawing a modelling blade along certain areas (cross belts, junction between hands and musket, items of equipment and so on) if you wish, and have the patience. Be prepared to renew blades frequently. The current Minifigs are often too energetic for my taste; the previous style was more restrained. Artillery figures always offer a good variety of Poses with Potential. Good Luck.

OG15s is doing the revolutionary era now, including Suvorov's Russians.

I use OG15 figures with BH and Minifigs (although not necessarily in the same battalion-level unit) and a few AB figures, and have been reasonably happy with the results. You would get a lot of variety out of those ranges.

link

That's a link to their 1798 range.

Thank you for the suggestions.

I have come to the conclusion that my best option is to wait and see whether Old Glory 15s, Khurasan or Blue Moon eventually comes up with suitable figures. I can work on another project (with better miniatures options) in the meantime (probably Peninsula War). I'll still have Russian, French and Austrian Revolutionary Wars with which to game while I wait.

Regards

Blue Moon 18s do have a French Revolutionary range out already. I've purchased them and like them a lot.

Yes Blue Moon does, but only French, Austrians and Vendeans so far. As indicated, I already have Battle Honours French and Austrians. They are not the problem. I am, however, hoping that BM will expand its range to cover other nations.

Andy,

some size comparison pictures here :
link

I plan to paint some of the troops you mentioned. My favorite options are Boki and Minifigs in different units.

Questions :
What books/internet sources would you recommand about the Duke of York's army uniforms ?

Can we see pictures of your armies somewhere ?

Merci Franck, very usefull, I see no Old Glory infantry, in case how do they fit in.

The cavalry of Old Glory look quite good from the size to fit in.

VW,

I don't have any OG infantry at the moment. I think some of their French tricornes are so "bicorned" but I like the Austrians.

Their French (heavy) cavalry are also good. They are on the painting list but I'm not in the Revolution for now.

By the way great job with your Boki paintings !

"and a hill to model the Duke of York's army."

More the odd fold in the ground, really.

Don't believe everything they sing in the taverns…

^}:~)

What about Warrior Miniatures?

warriorminiatures.com

They have some Napoleonic figures in Bicorns (mainly French or Spanish though) and some generic 18th Century chaps in tricorns or mitre hats.

Cheap as chips and decent sculpts for the money, I just can't really use them (opposite reason to you) because they are too small for my 18mm figures.

Strangely enough the guns are the perfect size though for me and at 62p a gun they are a bargain. So i'll be buying a lot more.

Regards

J

Thank you all.

Franck, I am wondering whether, in the fifth picture from the top, the two groups of figures on the right are mis-labelled, as I would have thought that the Essex figures would be smaller than the Lancashire figures. Otherwise, that is very helpful. The differences between ranges are most striking in the cavalry comparisons.

I haven't looked for uniform sources in a systematic way at this stage. Philip Haythornwaite's Uniforms of the French Revolutionary Wars looks useful. I've also got various relevant Osprey books, such as those on the Hanoverian army and the French emigrees in British service. There are also various Nafziger booklets on the German states which begin their coverage in 1792 or so. On line, there are, of course, the Knotel prints and I'm sure that there is a ton of other stuff.

visit also the

Uniformenportal at

napoleon-online.de

link

and browse through tons of very interesting picture reference.

There is for example the Thieme – showing all Prussian regiments of 1792 including drummers and tumpeters.

Pinterest is useful as well

Sorry to be late :)

Andie,
Nope, the tall guys are Essex. It's weird to see such big size differences within ranges.
The grenadiers stand comes from Lancashire 7YW French range and the musketiers from AWI French. Note the later seems bigger than the grenadiers…

I've used Essex and Lancashire for Sardinians because I could not find any dedicated figures and these ones were left from another painting project.

Ferg981,
I think I didn't know Warrior Minis at the moment I made the review. That's a pity because I like their figures even if they are real 15mm and I think they won't match very well with mine.
Thanks for the gun info.

And thanks to all for the uniform references.

The Haythornthwaite book on the French Revolution is not definitive, but it's a good starting point, and a lot of the uniforms in it (e.g, 90th Lt Infantry) are made by Minifigs.

The Prussian and Austrian Armies, as well as the French are very well covered just by using the internet, aside from napoleon-online.de check the ASK Brown collection.