Review: Napoleon at War - French Infantry Brigade

So I picked the Napoleon at War French Infantry Brigade a while ago and have finally gotten around to working on them and I thought you might like some feedback. I will update this post as I work on the models. However, some first impressions: the sculpting is nice, a tad stocky but I like the look of them; the detail is likewise pretty good; the variation in poses is limited but acceptable, for instance there are two officer sculpts, plus the mounted officers, there are four voltigeur sculpts and I think three grenadier sculpts. There is minimal flash, I just clipped some off the bayonets. The metal is fairly soft and pliable, so it bends easily but does not break. Always a compromise I guess.

In my opinion I give them an A-/B+, I really like them actually so far. I will see how they paint up. In comparison I would say they are up there with the AB and CGM, but not quite as good. Still, they look a nice fit if you want to mix and match.

What do you actually get? The box says 4 infantry battalions, 2 mounted officers, unit bases for a total of 114 foot figures, 2 mounted figures. which is incorrect. You actually get 4 battalions of 29 foot each (116) plus the 2 mounted officers. They mix of figures was good and it was obvious they had packed to give the maximum number of variations. The box is really set up as a brigade with two regiments. That is there are only two eagles with the alternate battalions having a standard bearer. Each battalion is made up of 18 line infantry, 4 grenadiers, 4 voltigeurs, officer, drummer, standard bearer (29x4) and one mounted officer for each regiment (1x2) and accompanying horses (1x2).

Some photos out of the box before cleaning them up:

15/18mm Napoleonic basing (rules)

So I am getting back into modelling, I have lots of models to paint, lots of units, but how should I base them? I buy AB, Campaign Game Miniatures, Warmodelling, Eureka and Napoleon at War. All of which are closer to 18mm than the old 15mm standard model. On top of that, even though I live in a regional part of the country of Australia, which is already a regional part of the world, I still hold out hopes of having some wargames. What to do?

So the next question is what set of rules should I base towards? I did a survey of what rule sets are the most popular and came up with some suggestions. Lasalle, Black Powder, Napoleon at War, Field of Glory and General de Brigade are the most obvious rule sets I have found.

So back in the day I started wargaming with my dad. First in 25mm and later in 15mm. he got interested in 6mm but that was too small for me. I like the new 18mm/15mm maxis, I like the combination of quality, price and detail. I have been tempted by the 28mm model available now, there are some very nice models. But for now I am sticking to 15mm/18mm. We also used 12 men to a unit and roughly a 50/1 ratio.

Many systems rely upon the length of a unit along its face for gameplay.

Lasalle
What is nice about Lasalle is that you can buy Lasalle battalions packs from from AB, WarModelling and Campaign Game Miniatures make varied size battalion packs.

Lasalle units are broken into Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery. Infantry and Cavalry can be either Small or Large units. Large units have six bases and Small units have four bases. Each of these bases can be of varied size and numbers of figures but there are some recommended base sizes (although not dimensions). These are:

Infantry: 4x2 (40mm x 25mm) (Small unit is 4 bases ~ 24 figures, Large unit is 6 bases ~ 40 figures)
Cavalry: 1x3 (40mm x 25mm) (Small unit is 4 bases ~ 12 figures, Large unit is 6 bases ~ 18 figures)
Artillery: (40mm x c 25mm) (circa 4 figures plus 1 gun)

Figure 1 Lasalle basing guide from Sam Mustafa's rule book (link)

Black Powder (BP)
Reviews
From what I can tell this rule set is very popular, it is also quite flexible when it comes to base sizes. They do have a guide to unit sizes with Standard Size being what most units should be, with Large Small and Tiny being exceptional. Units can also vary slightly from these in number.

Infantry: 24-30 (Standard), 36-40 (large), 12-16 (small), 5-6 (tiny)
Cavalry: 12-16 (standard), 18 (large),  6-8 (small), 3-4 (tiny)
Artillery: 1 gun and crew

There is no set size for bases or even recommended for 15mm figures. The 25mm recommendations are Infantry (2x2, 40mm x 40mm) and Cavalry (2x1, 50mm x 50mm).
http://www.warlordgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=907

Napoleon at War (NaW)
I like this system because it is all done for you, unit size and bases already sorted out. Also what I don't like, combined with the odd sized bases making it hard to work with other systems. Also, why the four skirmishers separate from the rest of each battalion? Which countries actually had skirmishers that acted like skirmishes and kept them attached to each battalion?

Infantry battalion - approximately 28 figures: 6 infantry stands (2x2, 26mm x 32mm), 2 skirmish stands (2x1, 30mm x 15mm)
Cavalry regiment - approximately 12 figures: 4 cavalry stands (1x3, 45mm x 40mm)
Artillery battery - 4 figures, 1 gun (45mm x 40mm)
Commander - 1 figure (26mm x 32)

Figure 2 Napoleon at War basing guide by FleetfootMike @ troubleatthemill.blogspot.com.au/

Field of Glory (FoG)
Very good review by John de Terre Neuve. They also have a quick start version so you can try before you can buy.  As John points out there is a nice compatibility between Lasalle and Black powder. The major difference in approach is that as opposed to a ratio of 20-25/1 the units represent higher order formations with one base in theory equalling Infantry (300-500 men), Cavalry (125-200 mounts) (that is roughly 40-60/1), Artillery (6-9 guns) and in practice even greater variation.

Infantry: 4x2 (40mm x 30mm)
Cavalry: 3x1 (40mm x 30mm)
Artillery: 4/4 figures, 1 gun (40mm x 30+mm/whatever fits)
Skirmishers & Irregular: less figures per base.

General de Brigade
I don't know much about GdB rules but there are plenty of discussions, reviews and an General de Brigade blogspot to check out. The most obvious place to start is Deep Fried Happy Mice, awesome as is usual. The rules have a 20/1 ratio for figure to troops making it compatible with most of the other rules.

General de Division: 40mm x 40 mm – two to four figures.
General de Brigade: 30mm wide x 35mm deep – one or two figures.
Infantry: 12mm-15mm per figure. Single rank.
Cavalry: 10mm-12mm per figure mounted in pairs, threes or even fours.
Single rank.
Artillery: 30mm-40mm per model gun. One gun per base crewed by
four figures

An example of basing from JCMiniatures Blogspot called The Waterloo Campaign in Miniature has multiple plates suggesting basing for the Battle of Quatre-Bras.

Overview
What is clear from this review is that all basing systems are similar and although the ratio for units varies (20-25/1 for most to FoGs roughly 40-60/1). However, the sizes do vary slightly with 40mm x 30/25mm for FoG and Lasalle. Black Powder is flexible, but is compatible with any of the other systems in base size. NaW is the odd one out and I really dislike the odd size of their infantry bases because they would appear to have done this just to make it harder to use other model brands. Having said that I actually like the larger bases of NaW.

I think the main issue is that basing systems beside NaW are for 15mm models, whereas NaW, AB and Campaign Game Miniatures are all closer to 18mm. I know this is all just rough but that is a 20% increase in size (one of the reasons I love the maxi 15mm models, I wish 20mm were the norm, hence my temptation by 28mm). The 40mm x 25mm bases look far too small and cramped to my eye for 4x2 infantry or 3 cavalry. 40mm x 30mm is little better. 50mm x 30mm, very close to NaW looks much better aesthetically.

There is a further issue and that is what do you use to base your models. In the past I have used think cardboard. It is easy to use and lasts quite well. When I was a kid we used plywood, way too think, but lasts great! Today you can buy plastic, metal, wood, magnetic all pre-cut. But these come in many sizes from what I have been able to find but normally in 10mm increments. You can also buy NaW bases so you can theoretically use them with any models, but again the times I have checked the NaW webstore and a reseller I found on the web from England they have never been in stock.

there is really no way to have your basing all compatible with each system, unless of course everyone simply uses the same basing system. However, it would seem that 40mm x 30mm as a standard basing size for infantry and cavalry with more depth for artillery would give the most versatile system (it is easier to pretend your line is longer, say with a marker, than if it is shorter). The odd sizes of NaW bases are a pain, especially if it becomes popular. I suspect it was a conscious choice to make their system incompatible and force you to buy models and bases. I like to be able to pick and chose my models from different companies based upon what I am looking to put together. 52mm x 32mm (2x 26mm x 32mm) for infantry and 45mm x 40mm for cavalry are just a pain to replicate. I do have a box of NaW, but I think I will base them to match my other models.

Having put this together I am not sure of what to do. I am very tempted to follow the 40mm x 30mm standard to make sure I am the same as most others. But as I said it looks cramped to me with the 15mm maxies on them.

Infantry: 40x30 or 50x30?
Cavalry: 40x30 or 50x40

PS my next post is on Cossacks! Get a peek at the prints I have collected together here :)


Last updated 5/14

Rules, bases and ordering

So I have been slightly baffled by trying to work out how I can base my models so I can play Black Powder, Lasalle and Napoleon at War rule systems. I looked at the rules themselves and then looked at some message boards.

Napoleon at War

Looks fun, has standard basing and unit numbers.

Lasalle

Has instead a more flexible system regarding ratio but instead has standard numbers of bases for each unit.

"There are three basic types of units: Infantry, Cavalry, and Artillery. Infantry and cavalry units may be depicted in one of two sizes: Small or Large. Large units have six bases each, and Small units have four. Artillery units have a varying number of bases, between three and five, as described in their army lists."

So theoretically you can have as many or as few per base as you wish.

Black Powder

I have the rules but I have not read through the tome properly so I am relying on the wisdom of others:

"Base sizes don't matter at all - just play with what you already have. The whole premise of BP was to be able to play with our respective collections whether they were based for different systems or not.

On the size of units thats flexible too - you pick the size of a 'standard' unit and then tiny, small and large units are decided based on a ratio of the standard Sounds a bit mathematical but it really isn't! So, again it's very flexible and aims to allow players to just play games with their armies rather than having to rebase or to have to standardise their armies compared to their mates." (Paul @ Warlord Games) 

Campaign Game Miniatures

Just to complicate matters just that little bit more Dermot Quigley at Campaign Game Miniatures is also working on a new rules set. I can't wait to learn more and I asked him about the rules as I would like my new armies to be compatible. Link to Campaign Game Miniatures.

Thoughts

So from my perspective I am thinking of rebasing my models to NaW bases. I am also thinking of bringing my regiments upto Lasalle size battalions. Having said that NaW has the skirmishers separately, you can do the same with Lasalle. But the different ratios means that having each of these look 'right' regarding the number of voltigeur and grenadier companies might be a bit hard. Hmmm, tough life!

Does anyone have any thoughts on basing for different rule systems? I have been reading blogs and message boards but any thoughts are welcome! 

Irresistible Force Miniature Games & Hobbies

I have been researching different Napoleonic wargame rule sets for my next project. I have been looking at Napoleon at War, their models, blogs and chat pages. It seems interesting. That led me to look at Hovel buildings (I need to have some scenery to kick it up a notch!). Looking at distributors for Australia I came up with Essex miniatures (wasn't impressed with their website) and Irresistible Force Miniature Games & Hobbies (very impressed, huge range!). Then I noticed they were in Brisbane, only about 120km from home on the Sunshine Coast. Three of the kids were keen so we jumped in the car to go check it out. Boy was I happy I went there!

There was some drama on the highway (came to a dead stop 10km from the joint). But we took a back road and bam, we were there! 

View Larger Map

Gavin Clarke runs the shop (@IrresistibleF) and he was fantastic. He answered all my questions, had everything I wanted, and assured me that although they can't carry everything in the store as there are simply too many lines these days, they have a quick turnaround even when they have to order in from overseas. I will be putting him to the test very soon! Some pics of the shop:

I was very impressed that Gavin took the time to answer my questions, helped find what I was interested in, gave useful advice and was generally very approachable. He even took the time to answer my questions about what games and systems were most popular. He was also very knowledgeable about Napoleon at War and had obviously spent the time to learn about the line and had played a couple of games using the rules. All in all I was very happy I made the effort to go down. Always nice to put a face to an email and website!

So here is what I got:

• The Napoleon at War rules.
• A French 100 days line brigade.
• Army Painter dip.
• Vallejo wash pot.
• Mininatur grass tufts
• Gale Force Nine basing kit
• Hovel large bridge (15mm)
• Citadel gaming grass (I actually got this from Games Workshop down the road but just wanted to chuck it in cause I love it!)

I was keen to have a look at the Napoleon at War models and read the rules. So I will keep you posted :)

I have been looking at the AP dip because I was interested in how well it would work for me. But I forgot to get a can of matt topcoat! First thing on my order. I saw Glenn Lamprecht painting some Victrix for Vallejo using their pot of wash and wanted to try it out as well. So I will post some pick of my next painting project.