"The potential of 2mm scale Napoleonic wargaming?" Topic

As I am often inclined to do I have been messing about with small scales as an aside to my days spent painting the larger figures on commission. Last three weeks been painting up some Irregular Miniatures eye strain blocks. photos and a short video on my blog, I'm surprised how well they turned out so doing more. I can see a lot of potential for small space games.

Lee.
napoleonictherapy.blogspot.com

The look very nice.

I am doing the same thing for Franco Prussia. I have space and a lot of larger scale figs, but I am designing a relatively quick game I can set up on a desk and play in an evening.

You figs and bases look great!

I bought a few 3mm Naps to experiment with, but I am using 3 inch wide stands.

Your figures do look great.

Nicely done and well photographed. I'm using 30mm square basing myself, but the larger bases have some real advantages.

Very nice, Lee! Yes, 2mm Napoleonics works. I have a couple of 2mm Napoleonic armies myself (not as nice as yours) on 2"x2" bases. Used them to fight a lot of 1796 battles, eg here they are in action at Lodi:
link

Although it is obviously difficult to tell units apart by uniform distinctions, judicious use of different arrangements on the bases can serve the purpose. Eg, extra flags or more bases in depth to indicate Imperial Guard, etc.

I was wondering where my hair curlers went…..

Thank you for the comments chaps. If I have one issue with the scale it's that the time and effort spent painting may not be rewarded once you stand back a bit! BUT, they do look like proper armies I think.

ChrisBBB2 – thanks for the link, I can see that using larger bases with tons of figures on is an improvement on my basing style, I like it and can see it as a way forward.

robert piepenbrink – thank you. They are hard to photograph to their best advantage but these came out quite well I think.

JDchutt – Ah yes the old Andy Callen hair roller armies, but wait, they were close to 6mm, giants :)

Seriously though I have painted every scale over the years and when I was living in Spain a few years back built up a collection of over 600 4omm napoleonics. When I moved back to the UK I no longer had the space to enjoy them so sold them on, so 2mm is a bit of a contrast with those! I'm also painting some of the Epic Napoleonics, just a single sprue of course to see what I can do, but that's often how these things begin isn't it?

Cheers,
Lee.

These look great. There's definitely an appeal to these tiny troopers, they really do like deployed armies something that's rarely achieved (for many practical reasons of course)with nearly all scales.

I think 6mm is the smallest I would go.

I was wondering where my hair curlers went…..

Hair raising hair curler armies on TMP…

… and elsewhere.

Just in case you're tempted but lack hair curler:

Free 3d printable 2mm armies on Thingiverse

To be honest, I don't see any difference between the troop types, but that may be my eyesight.

Can't confirm without glasses and labeling, but he claims these are 'For King & Parliament' miniatures.

Of course, with 3d object/stl files you can rescale all models to whatever size you want.

The rewards of painting. I think it's more a point of diminishing returns. Flag, Coat, face, hat, pack musket and maybe leggings pay off. After that, not so much. But that's not a huge investment of time.

Arjuna, sitting at a tabletop, you can tell the arms apart, and skirmisher/loose order from close order. Beyond that, you really need either the arrangements of the stands on the base, or some more artificial system. I'm not altogether happy with my own yet.

Not being able to recognize one's own troops makes it more realistic.
After all it was what has made it such fun for a commander of that time.
So it should be for us as well to add some fog of war generously in form of near sightedness.

That real fog of war could also be 3d printed and painted, instead of using cotton balls, which would greatly add to the nonsense.

Curlerman! He also introduced me to Commision Figurines, the handiest figs a little money can buy for affordable, easy to paint masses.

Those look fabulous. For my WSS stuff I was a bit of a cheapskate and only went with two strips per bases, but I pair bases so there are four strips/battalions per brigade.

Basing the HQs with an infantry strip is a stroke of genius.

Grambo, something you said about never seeing them at conventions. I have, but they're really not a convention size. I started paying attention a few years ago at Lancaster. If you see a 28mm table, you know period and sometime battle, just walking by. You can tell what's happening on a 15mm table if you stop--maybe sit down--and look. Sometimes at 6mm--well, you can always figure out the period, but not always the armies, and 2mm looks more like an a nice mat than a game in progress. I love my 2mm armies, but they're not for spectators, and a lot of a convention is the spectacle.

You will be pleased to know that Andy Callan is still using his hair roller armies! I was gaming with him last week. We were playing a version of 'Victoria Cross' and re fighting Islandwana, with andy commanding the Zulu's . Here are some picture (not Great) to give you a flavour!

Great Steve! He is the godfather of this concept as I understand. Very clever horses!

I am sorely tempted by Romans and their foes in 3mm which I think are much easier to paint, but I couldn't paint these. How many bristles on your brush, 1 or 2?