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There's a big split in historical wargaming between heroic proportions and more realistically sculpted models. Neither way is right or wrong, it's just a preference thing. Personally, I like heroic proportions better because they're easier to paint and are less likely to break when I inevitably drop them. When viewing them from 5 feet away on the actual tabletop the differences aren't really visible.
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May 21, 2021 01:21
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No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:Yessss I've been looking for ACW STLs for a while that look decent at small scales. That's awesome. Now I just need to find a ruleset that I can play on a 3x4 table. He also sells his Blender files for customization. Who's 100YW pack was it. I mean, I want the archers too, but I'll take a look at least. My 30 year old Essex 15mm need some company.
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May 21, 2021 01:23
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mllaneza posted:He also sells his Blender files for customization. This is the pack I got: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/medieval-hundred-years-war-army Its pretty solid for what it is, definitely.
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May 21, 2021 01:31
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Yes, I generally come down on the side of more realistic proportions in 28mm figs, but a lot of the details on the Victrix Republicans are simply crude. Here's an example of what I mean: Victrix Republican legionary:  The mail cuirass looks terrible all-round, with massive loops and huge, ahistorical shoulder attachments. The pilum and shield are very thick, the shield much moreso than is visible from this picture, and they only loosely resemble actual Republican arms. The bodily proportions of this figure are OK but others, especially those without mail, are really off, with short, stumpy tree-trunk legs. Agema Republican legionary (unfortunately without good paint job or lighting, but the best picture I could find):  The detail and proportions are overall much better. Mail much finer and the design of the cuirass is more historically accurate. The shields and pila (the latter not visible here) are much more proportional and closer to historical evidence for Republican arms. Again, this is just the Republican infantry kit -- Victrix's later ancient kits (such as their Republican cavalry) are excellent, in terms of proportions, dynamism, and historical accuracy.
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May 21, 2021 09:49
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MeinPanzer posted:
Victrix took a big leap quality-wise like, 2-3 years ago. Comparing the kits I have, the Viking kit and the French Napoleonic infantry ones, you could not tell that it is the same brand.
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May 21, 2021 09:58
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Yeah, they've improved dramatically, and they continue to pump out kits at a pretty rapid clip. I do hope that someday they wheel back to their older kits and re-do them, since their Ancient and Napoleonic lines now vary dramatically in quality.
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May 21, 2021 13:47
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Aventine (metal), for comparison:
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May 21, 2021 16:37
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I picked up a 3d-printable 6mm French Line Infantry from Wargaming3D to print out as a test, and wow I'm in love. I've never painted 6mm before, and I was really not expecting much from home-printed tiny dudes for sure, but the detail is awesome. Very visible crossbelts, good backpack definition, even the shako plate would be easy enough to pick out in the right light. This is the one I got - https://www.wargaming3d.com/product/french-napoleonic-line-inf/ - and the maker has every other possible Napoleonics 6mm strip you could want too. I think I've found my supplier of choice!   I think I'm going to base them in 2 ranks on 60x30 bases. I think that would give me a huge variety of rules I could play with, though I'm mostly interested in DBN. edit-- nooooo this guy doesn't make 6mm British Napoleonics, only French/Austrian/Bavarian/Polish. The hunt continues... Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 20:56 on May 21, 2021 |
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May 21, 2021 20:52
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Those teeny Frenchmen are adorable with their big hats
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May 22, 2021 00:52
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Things I discovered that I'm bollocks at today. 1) painting 6mm scale figures  I mean, at least it looks like French ligne troops from a distance, I guess that's all that matters at this scale. 
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May 22, 2021 21:00
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No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:Things I discovered that I'm bollocks at today. That’s the secret of 6mm! You don’t look at them individually. Never judge your 6mm painting until you have a few units done, based and placed on the table. The appeal of small scale minis comes when you can form up entire divisions and have it look like a battle, not a skirmish. They’ll look great, don’t second guess yourself.
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May 22, 2021 21:03
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No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:Things I discovered that I'm bollocks at today. Paint up 2 more rows, give one of them a flag, put them all in a block, and look at them from 1 metre away. They'll look brilliant
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May 23, 2021 00:06
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That raises an interesting question. It seems like the french deployed in 2 or 3 ranks in various battles through the Napoleonic wars. I already have another strip with a flag on it, but... Is 2 ranks or 3 ranks more "historically" accurate? Either would fit on my 30x60 base I think. Edit-- part of the reason I ask is because most of the time I see French Nappy units based two deep, but that might just be more a limited of larger scale minis. Count Thrashula fucked around with this message at 00:34 on May 23, 2021 |
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May 23, 2021 00:27
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No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:edit-- nooooo this guy doesn't make 6mm British Napoleonics, only French/Austrian/Bavarian/Polish. The hunt continues... Keep an eye on that Kickstarter link I posted, Brits will be a stretch goal, but there's a good chance it makes it that far.
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May 23, 2021 00:39
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No. 1 Juicy Boi posted:That raises an interesting question. It seems like the french deployed in 2 or 3 ranks in various battles through the Napoleonic wars. I already have another strip with a flag on it, but... Is 2 ranks or 3 ranks more "historically" accurate? Either would fit on my 30x60 base I think. Three is more historical, mostly. But almost everyone do two lines as it’s 50% more painting for very little effect. The longer answer: the French knew about pros and cons of two rank lines, and drilled for two ranks as well as it was used to maintain width if suffering heavy casualties on campaign. By 1813 some, but not all, started to deploy in two rsnks on order of NApoleon, but the preference for three ranks never really went away. So both are ok!
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May 23, 2021 07:06
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Echoing Jonas, British doctrine was also 3 ranks. But with the caveat that a battalion had to maintain a minimum width, and considering everyone seems to have hovered around 600 bayonets 2 ranks became the standard. At Waterloo they formed up mostly in squares or even four ranks deep iirc, because angry French dudes on horses shouting at you are hella scary. That is until the Royal Horse Artillery arrives and turn them all into hamburger. Your 6mm dudes look great, base them up and put them on a table and you’ll see that they look awesome!
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May 23, 2021 08:18
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is there a historical wargame that's more about just putting unholy legions of minis on the board.like just stupid amounts
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May 23, 2021 09:29
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TheDiceMustRoll posted:is there a historical wargame that's more about just putting unholy legions of minis on the board.like just stupid amounts Honestly a lot of historical wargames are relatively easy to scale up, though some are easier to do so than others. I've seen stupidly big games of both Black Powder and General de Armée. Blucher is made specifically for corps and army scale battles, though the number of minis does not have to be as huge. For earlier periods, check this 6mm 1:1 battle of Towton. 18 000 minis of madness. https://towton-2011.blogspot.com/ (yes it becomes just two solid lines walking into each other, which is why bigger games are not always better games)
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May 23, 2021 09:47
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Just finished my first mission in a Vietnam War campaign using "The 'Nam: The Way it Was" by Wayne Bollands. The rules let you use a campaign system and take a platoon through a series of missions with the soldiers surviving from one mission to the next. Here's the platoon roster:  Each soldier is numbered to randomize any hits while playing. 3rd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1/503rd Infantry:  (Not pictured, Forward Observer team and Dog Team) MISSION UH-1D call sign "Lancer 11" was shot down vic An Loc Dong. 3rd Platoon, B Company will secure the crash site and rescue any survivors. Intel reports minimal VC / NVA presence in the area.    US Forces deploy - negative enemy contact.  From left to right, front row: 3rd Squad, M60 Team B, 2nd Squad, M60 team A, 1st Squad. Second row: PSG, Medic, Tiger, Dog Team, FO, PL The rules as written use a card deck for activation where each side has an assigned suite and each unit an assigned card (ex: 1st Squad, A Team is a 4 of hearts). I instead made a token for each unit from extra 28mm round bases with a national flag on one side and the specific unit on the other.  The first pull:   drat. Using a random number generator (1-47) I rolled a 44. SGT Currie and the dog team tripped a booby trap! (What kind of terrible nose does this dog have?!)  It was right now that I realized I clumped my platoon headquarters VERY closely, with the dog team, PL, and FO caught in the blast zone. (Within 3")  Rolling for hits, the dog gets knocked down and will miss its next turn (maybe it will get its head in the game now), SGT Currie is uninjured, the Lieutenant and his RTO are unscathed. Sadly, the good luck ends there and the FO team takes the brunt of the blast. SGT Jones and PFC Ciesielski are both killed. The next few turns are uneventful, with the US forces advancing across the rice paddies with negative contact.    Once 2nd Squad starts to cross the final rice paddy, the NVA make an appearance (of course Army Intel was wrong!).  A fireteam and MMG open up on 1st Squad from a paddy dyke and a log bunker.  PV2 Bracewell is wounded and out of the fight!  Luckily, the next token was for a US Mortar barrage. The platoon leader called it in and dropped some steel on target.    This killed 2 NVA and suppressed both teams. On the next token one of the US M60 teams sprays the jungle and inflicts a lucky hit on the MMG gun team.   With the only NVA on the field suppressed. 2nd Squad advances into the paddy field towards Lancer 11's crash site.  But quickly trigger more of the ambush with 2 additional NVA fireteams deploying.   The incoming fire fails to cause any US casualties, but 2nd Squad is pinned down in the mud. The next turn sees another US Mortar token pulled, and 2LT Shull adjusts fire on to the NVA fireteam occupying Lancer 11's crash site.  This kills one of the NVA infantrymen and suppresses the team (I would also assume this destroys Lancer 11 ... so mission failed?).  Just when 2nd Squad thinks they are safe, an NVA MMG bunker opens up from their left flank hitting the RTO, SPC Hodges, in the neck, inflicting a severe wound.   (Interestingly, SPC Hodges was the only out-of-uniform soldier in the squad, being shirtless under his flak jacket. He probably was wearing white socks and had his hands in his pockets too.) On the US right flank, M60 Team A opens up on the original NVA MMG Bunker, gets another lucky hit, and takes the team out of action.  Trying to flank the bunker hammering away at 2nd Squad, 3rd Squad advances towards the jungle, and promptly triggers another NVA fireteam.   Things are looking grim for 2nd Squad - pinned down in a rice paddy with 3 fireteams and an MMG bunker firing at them, casualties are about to mount. Luckily, the next token pulled is for the A4-B Skyhawk.  The Skyhawk is on target, and drops a load of napalm on the bunker.  The napalm also catches 3 of the NVA infantrymen in the fireteam along the paddy dike. Napalm in this game is lethal, if you get hit you are dead. At this point, the surviving NVA infantrymen decide enough is enough and bug out to Cambodia.  No longer pinned down, 2nd Squad advances by fire towards Lancer 11's crash site.  They inflict a casualty on the NVA fireteam, but it is not enough to suppress the NVA. The NVA's return fire sees SPC Novak take an RPK burst in the neck, killing him and pinning 2nd Squad's Bravo Team.   However, after this exchange of fire the remaining NVA decide to call it a day and retreat into the jungle.   The final tally is: US: 3 KIA (Jones, Ciesielski, Novak) 2 WIA (Bracewell, Hodges) - Bracewell's wound is severe enough to be sent back to the States, but Hodges will return after the next mission. NVA: 10 KIA (5 to the Napalm strike!) 6 WIA Naturally, the US forces report a body count of 10, with 276 probables. (Westmoreland math at its best) Being the first mission, 3rd Platoon isn't eligible for any replacements. "Luckily", the FO team are not organic to the platoon and will be replaced by battalion, but we are down 2 permanently from the organic platoon structure, with 1 missing the next mission.  The new, reorganized platoon looks like this:  The PSG's RTO (Maxwell) will replace Hodges while he is recovering, while Allen and Ruiz from the Weapons Squad will fill in as riflemen. Overall, this was a fun game and a great introduction to the rules. I would recommend the ruleset to anyone interested in a persistent Vietnam wargame, at least until Warwick Kinrade's 'Nam 68 comes out.
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May 23, 2021 17:10
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That's a really interesting report. Looks like you could easily spin it as both sides declaring victory there too. How many NVA total showed up on the field?
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May 23, 2021 18:27
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Thanks! There were a total of 25 NVA Infantrymen with assorted small arms and 2 MMG teams. The token activation system saw a very staggered NVA ambush deployment. That combined with some abysmal NVA dice rolling saw the US forces come out better than I expected. Still, any US casualties will play towards an NVA victory, and as long as they can retreat and fight another day I'd call it a win in their book.
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May 23, 2021 18:42
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Luftwaffles posted:Just finished my first mission in a Vietnam War campaign using "The 'Nam: The Way it Was" by Wayne Bollands. Thanks for the cool AAR. Did you play this game solo, or was there someone else controlling the NVA?
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May 23, 2021 18:43
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It was just me vs myself. My son did come down to roll a few dice, but then disappeared once he grabbed his fortnite RPG
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May 23, 2021 18:49
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Does the game have built-in solo rules, or did you just control both sides? I've been getting more into solo gaming since the lockdown. I've always kind of brushed it off, but after trying a couple test games I found it more fun than I'd anticipated.
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May 23, 2021 19:14
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Thanks for the battle report! Cool table as well
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May 23, 2021 19:17
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Waddup pandemic solo gamer buddy. I've found random unit activation works way better for solo play than i-go-you-go. I've had games where lucky rolling for one side resulted in turn 1 victories which is pretty boring. Also makes it easier to avoid counterplaying yourself because the flow is always up in the air, so you can still make meaningful choices. Nice Nam writeup as well.
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May 23, 2021 19:44
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Luftwaffles posted:Thanks!
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May 23, 2021 19:54
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Does anyone have suggestions on how to base/flock 6mm or 10mm bases? The static grass and fine sand I have for 28mm stuff would look very wrong at the smaller scale. I think I have "normal" green flock but it's generally pretty boring by itself.
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May 23, 2021 20:10
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BaronVanAwesome posted:Does anyone have suggestions on how to base/flock 6mm or 10mm bases? The static grass and fine sand I have for 28mm stuff would look very wrong at the smaller scale. I have this, and also another couple colors, and I love it for 15mm and smaller. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006NARQ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's just texturey enough to look like terrain but doesn''t look like they're wandering through shin-high grass.
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May 23, 2021 20:53
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Class Warcraft posted:Does the game have built-in solo rules, or did you just control both sides? Unfortunately no solo rules. You just have to play both sides.
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May 23, 2021 21:20
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Y'all were right, these 6mm guys look a lot better based up. I'm happy with this. Now just... A ton more. I'm gonna use these to dive into Blücher, those rules look good. And while I'm in the printing mood, I thought I'd try my hand at printing and mounting a flag. It's super easy! I dunno why I haven't been doing this. Printing and painting some ACW to either play They Couldn't Hit An Elephant or Regimental Fire and Fury. 
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May 25, 2021 02:14
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Good choice with Blücher, it's my favorite big Napoleonics because you can actually play the drat thing in a decent amount of time and not get bogged down in minutia. In more 3d print historical news 3dBreed, the guys who did March to Hell are about to launch another kickstarter if anyone is interested. Seems they are focusing on the Normandy landings this time.
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May 25, 2021 14:05
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3d printing is definitely the way. Henry Turner launched his Napoleonic Kickstarter this morning, looks like $63 US for everything. It's already funded and getting into stretch goals. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ageofadmirals/europe-asunder-3d-printable-6-10mm-napoleonic-stl-files
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May 27, 2021 16:10
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mllaneza posted:3d printing is definitely the way. Henry Turner launched his Napoleonic Kickstarter this morning, looks like $63 US for everything. It's already funded and getting into stretch goals. The 60 mm figure is quite cute.
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May 27, 2021 16:20
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i wish i had the motivation to paint miniatures because those look pretty drat good actually, and my experimentation with 3d printing has been very fruitful. it's the way of the future for miniature wargaming imo. i won't make the mistake of buying these tho because i hate painting miniatures (i only found that out after painting thousands of 6mms lol)
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May 27, 2021 17:30
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Looking at dipping our toes into 10mm Napoleonics. Best easy rule set?
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May 28, 2021 18:58
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Beerdeer posted:Looking at dipping our toes into 10mm Napoleonics. Best easy rule set? I thought Lasalle was pretty easy. Lasalle 2 released recently and seems to be a pretty big restructuring of the rules, yet got good reviews. I haven't had the chance to try it yet. Black Powder is a bit more generic but seems to be easy to pick up if you've played classic warhammer style games.
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May 28, 2021 21:03
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The latest articles about it on Goonhammer got me fired up to play ACW in SP2, so I printed, painted, and based up two groups today, since I had the day off. Going from nothing to 52 minis is a heck of a job for a single day but I'm mostly happy with it even if the basing paste got a little out of hand. Oh well, war is dirty.  Each base is 25mm square so it represents one "unit" in SP2 even though it has three figured on it. That way I can interchange with other 15mm games.
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May 28, 2021 22:05
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I like the mixed poses. Does anyone else get antsy with line infantry-era models about whether they should be marching or firing?
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May 29, 2021 16:39
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Firing poses for 15 mm and up, strictly line poses for 15 mm and down. 15 mm discretional depending on the sculpts. Infantry spent most of their time marching in combat anyway  lilljonas posted:I thought Lasalle was pretty easy. Lasalle 2 released recently and seems to be a pretty big restructuring of the rules, yet got good reviews. I haven't had the chance to try it yet. I played loads of Lasalle and it's definitely the best compromise between game and sim for Napoleonic battalion level warfare I've played. I recommend it to everyone
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May 29, 2021 16:48
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