"New Member Looking for Advice" Topic

Hello everybody,
I'm new on this board. I'm a fantasy Wargamer/roleplayer looking to get into Napoleonic historical miniature collecting and historical battles. But I'm not sure where to start, particularly the scale which I am going to collect. I suppose it also largely depends on the armies and collections of potential opponents to pit my collection against. So my question, to Napoleonic wargamers in the Netherlands (particularly Gelderland and Brabant), is:

What armies do you collect and which scale (28mm, 15mm, 10mm, 6mm)?

Been collecting Napoleonic armies and only them for 40 years.
Find a scale that fits your budget, might suggest though have none, the plastics 1/72 impress me with what's available.( I have 15 -18mm metal only)
Rules are next, look at suggestions here, but think are you looking for fast play, realistic, solo or group.
Next think of what armies and theater, many to pick from, and last you might not want to do what I have done with having only 4 different countries and no French to speak of.
Good luck and if you have other questions, here is the place to ask.

Ask yourself which is more important to you, the figures or the rules. Which ever way you answer that is where you should start your search.

Wow, jumping into the deep end of historicals right off the bat.

It really depends upon what the folks around you like to play (unless you are going to do everything). 15mm is a common scale for many rule sets and look good for large battles. I suggest painting the French first then expanding from there depending upon you interest. That is when you get sucked down the rabbit hole as there is always one more country that you want /need 😀

Welcome to Napoleonics, its a well documented period of history supported by the wargaming hobby industry with a huge range of options.

My suggestion would be to visit the Napoleonics Message Boards here and spend some time reading through the threads on the "Getting started with Napoleonics" board. Lots of great money and time saving tips.

Welcome and good luck, Borgondian!
I'm in the USA myself, so I can't help directly.
I have or have had 2mm, 5mm, 6mm. 10mm. N-gauge, 15mm, 20mm, 1/72, 25mm, 28mm, 30mm and 54mm. There is no one right scale.

You are quite right to ask first what are your friends and potential opponents playing.

Other factors to consider:
What do you have by way of terrain?
What's your budget like?
How much space do you have to game in?
And most important
What most interests you about the period?

Limited space and/or budget or a fascination with big battles moves you toward the smallest scales. Interest in color and tactics pushes you toward larger scales. No law says you can't do both--a 28mm "tactical" force of a few hundred castings and a huge 6mm army suitable for Waterloo or Borodino, say--but I would strongly recommend you build two small armies in one scale before you attempt a second scale.

I think the key is what ever it was that made you decide on Napoleonics. Was it a book, painting, film, others' games, etc. For example if it was pictures of the uniforms you probably want a larger scale, if it's a game you saw then try and match that. As you will see from the comments above there are almost as many different perspectives on this as there are players. I use 6mm for reasons of space and size of battle but have recently got into vintage 20mm for the nostalgia.
Jdpintex is right about what others around you use as starting an army can be a slog so having others who can encourage you and reduce the number of figures required for a game is really helpful.

Taking up one of Robert's points, if you are a swords and spells sort of fantasy gamer, you may already have some terrain suitable for historical gaming. This could be the start point from which to make the leap a suggest the scale to go for. This may also help decide the armies you want to collect. Storing terrain takes up a lot of space and as someone who has features for Russia, central Germany and Spain I can testify to that. So if you have classic 'medieval' style buildings, you might look to central Europe to start with French, Prussians, Austrians etc.

Just a thought. Otherwise, welcome to the madness!

For 6mm:

6mm wargaming

for inspiration:

Styles' tribute site

I have been gaming 25/28mm Napoleonics for years. If I were to do it all over again, it would be in the same scale but I wouldn't start with the French and Austrians like I did. Go with a smaller army like Bavarians or Brunswick. Any of the Confederation of the Rhine. Those armies are useful all over Europe. Good luck and good gaming.

Thanks everyone for the kind advice.
What fascinates me about the Napoleonic period is the massive scale of battles and the grand tactical maneuvers this implies. I've come across the rules set of Et Sans Resultat and that game seems to scratch that particular itch. But I must say the basing scheme of ESR seems somewhat forced. Somehow the ten 10mm soldiers on a larger stand seems a bit off to me.

ESR is kind of cool as battalions and squadrons are still represented, and combat is very simple. The decision when to deploy and where is the real magic of the game.

"Volley & Bayonet" uses a 3" x 3" base to represent a brigade of troops. This allows true grand tactical scale gaming. You can also group several smaller stands together to represent the brigade. Do some web searches to find out more about the game.
"DBN" is another good option.
See if you have any other gamers in your area first and see what scales they are using and what rules.

Horse and musket armies look good in most scales, but best in 10mm; 6mm can't do enough detail, and over 15mm you need a tenniscourt to play on.

I've googled Volley & Bayonet and have found the publisher's website. I can't seem to download the rules but they look exactly like what I'm looking for.
As for scale, it seems either 10mm or 15mm is best suited to my tastes.
Are there any Dutch wargamers around here? What rules and scale do you use?

I am going to mess around with Napoleonics using Black Powder 2nd ed. Simple rules, really. I have some 28mm now, getting a nice paint job at Fernando in Sri Lanka. I plan on getting a larger bunch of figures probably in 10mm and done at wargamer standard (fits my budget!) for BP2e. My 28mm stuff will involve 125 figs as a starting core set, and I hope to scale on up to around 500 figs. For smaller actions, I'll try Sharp Practice (which touts itself as for "large skirmishes" -- and many love the rules).

Yes I am strange… I like both scales for what I'll be doing.

@Borgndian I have found a few other European wargamers use different forums as well as this one, Lead Adventure forum is one example.

also in dutch link