Hi All,
After much deliberation and research, I have embarked on creating a 6mm Rebel and Federal army for Fire and Fury ("F&F").
As there is precious little on the net in 6mm by way of information I thought I would record my experiences and provide a sort of information store on this area. I will post pictures on my web site in due course, (probably starting this weekend) to show progress etc.
BASING
I have chosen to keep the base size the same as for 15mm figures, which for infantry is 1" frontage x 7/8" (which for us more metric minded individuals is as near as damn it to 2.5cm x 2cm). Cavalry is 1" frontage x 1 1/8" and Artillery 1" frontage x 1 ½".
The main reason for keeping this base size was really the main reason why anyone would want to game in 6mm in the first place, and that is to do with the look and feel of the game. To clarify, 6mm allows you to put down more men than the larger scales and consequently the wargame looks more epic and more like large numbers of men are involved.
If you plump for 6mm and then scale down everything proportionally you end up with a fiddly pieces, (to play with and model), but on the positive side a much reduced playing area. Also with F&F you need to re-scale the rules if you alter the base size, using the 15mm size I need change nothing.
Just so you know I tried scaling down on 1cm sq bases but the effect was not great as the base had no room after fixing the soldiers to be "modelled". I know that a few people have mooted the idea of 2cm frontages. I thought about this but in the end thought that the ½ cm space saving per stand was not that beneficial and that the reduction would mean reduced numbers of figures on the stand when I was trying to get more on for asthetics.
I have chosen to base my infantry stands with 10 men in 2 ranks. I could have gone for 12 in 2 ranks of 6 which would have given more of a shoulder to shoulder look. I decided against this to make modelling easier. The extra room, (and it is only slight), gives you more space for modelling the base. Cavalry is 8 horses in 2 ranks and Artillery are 2 guns per stand.
There are other basing considerations with markers etc. but I won't go into them in any detail here as I haven't actually modelled any yet and may change my ideas later. First ideas are to use a 1p piece as a base for markers, put an appropriate model on top and paint the edge in a bright red or similar bright colour.
MODELING
I have chosen to go for Heroics & Ros figures mainly because I bought a stack of them years ago and painted them up. The pundits will say H&R are scaled correctly but have a basic quality. I fine they are fine for the job I need them for.
Infantry:
The rear rank is about 1mm away from the rear edge and the front rank in the middle making sure there is a reasonable gap in the middle for access to model and paint the base. This leaves a little room in the front of the stand which helps the model blend into the playing surface and gives an area for some unique features like a fallen soldier.
Currently I have adopted quite a uniform approach to the figures used, keeping all the figures in each rank the same, (although the front and rear ranks are different). I have only made a "combat ready" style of stand yet with the front row of soldiers advancing with rifles and bayonets in front and the rear row as shouldered arms. I intend to have a "firing stance" stand type as well with a front row of firing troops and a rear row of loaders.
The advantage of the uniform approach is speed, but the potential disadvantage is that the figures look unreal. I think in larger scales this can be a problem, but in 6mm there are slight variations in position that keep the look good. Notwithstanding that at a later point I may experiment with a more ragged approach.
Cavalry Mounted:
Considerations here are easy, as you can only get 4 figures on the base. I slip the bases of the models back as far as possible to give some room around the models.
Cavalry Dismounted:
Not decided yet, but they use the same base size as infantry so will probably do 8 figures in an irregular order. Horse holder markers are on a bigger base and I will probably put 2 groups of 1 holder and 4/5 horses on each base.
Artillery:
Again, easy considerations as the base size is more than enough or 2 guns and crew. There is also a fair amount of room to make the base have a unique look. I haven't decided how to model the gun limber and teams yet, but I think I can get 2 teams of 6 horses side by side. This might look odd on the battlefield having guns moved around side by side and an alternative might be to have a different model for limbered and unlimbered.
Painting:
Blue and Grey … Easy :-) OK well, I am using Games Workshop paints which have the colours I need and at the moment I am sticking to the basic blue and grey. The pictures of the models will speak more than words can. My only regret is that when I first painted the miniatures I used grey fro the Confederates. When I paint some more I might use a few other colours, butternut especially to create a better look.
Bases:
Painted in PVA glue and flocked in Games Workshop modelling sand, (with larger stones removed). I then paint over with a watered down Scorched Earth and dry brush in a tan colour. After that it's out with the PVA and create patches of glue for Games Workshop static grass.
CONCLUSION
Well done if you got this far!
I'm aiming to get enough troops together for a small scenario, but I haven't quite found a suitable one yet, (suggestions). Ideally one with 50 infantry stands aside a few guns and at a few cav.
Wish me luck!
