Hi Guys
I got the rulebook yesterday, havent had a proper read-through yet. This is my first venture into Napoleonics, and I intend to do LaSalle in 15mm. Will probably start with an Empire French army and then pick an opponent army to build. So far, Battle Honours seem to be the right balance of quality & price. What manufacturers are other 15mm players using, just so I can get an idea of what other people think of the ranges out there.
thanks
Phil
My friends and I went with Eureka (15/18mm). I have no regrets-- A little pricey, but when you factor in the ammount of time invested in painting them, still well worth it.
You can always find figures that are less expensive but I honestly don't think you can beat AB (Eureka) for quality and accuracy. As greenmountainboy says painting an army is very time consuming so why not pay a bit more and get the best?
Battle Honours are fine figures (they were originally sculpted by Anthony Barton i.e. AB) for the most part but the molds haven't been kept up that well and the muskets can be pretty spindly on some figures. In addition some of the items listed are actually just other figures that happen to look fairly similar - the Spanish Lancers are actually French line lancers!
Go with AB - you won't be disappointed!
Regards, Mark
Do you guys order AB from Eureka or fighting 15's ? I am in Ireland.
Phil
AB
1) Ability to order exact number and type of figures vs bags of 50, 12, 8, or whatever.
2) Convenience of Lasalle battalion packs.
3) Little to no clean up from mold lines or flash.
4) Great casting detail that paints easily.
5) Great customer service from EurekaUSA
All together makes AB a better "total value" solution than the rest for me.
I agree with everything that's been said but i'm going to put out a shout for Old Glory.
Both my Russians & Bavarians are a mix of AB/OG. AB is superior but OG is more than adequate IMHO
I am a 28 mm gamer, so I have no idea what 15 mm figures are out there.
I agree though that is is best to buy the best figures out there, as their cost is nothing in comparison to the time you are going to put in painting them. I also agree that good figures are the easiest to paint.
Good luck,
John
My armies are made up of lots of different makes as I have acquired most of them second hand. The ABs are my favourites.
I agree with John that the cost of figures is nothing compared with the time you might put into painting them. Also ABs always seem to fetch a premium price on eBay so your investment probably won't be wasted if you sell later.
In my view for 15mm the basing matters more than the quality of the figures or the paint job. At normal game playing view distance its hard to tell a good figure from a bad one. You do notice the base. Theres many a good figure/paint job ruined by a bad base. Conversely a poor figure will look good on a nice base.
All my figures have the same basing scheme. It ties the collection together and its very hard to tell the good ones from the bad ones. Better to spend a lot of time on your bases rather than figures if you have to make any compromises.
None of the forgoing applies in larger scales where of course you do see the figures!
Hi
I too have just started into Napoleonic period because of Lasalle and am building a 15mm Prussian force for 1813/14
After a bit of research (mainly at Warfare show in Nov) I plumbed for using Black Hat Miniatures (I think ex Gladiator Minis ?) as I found them to be a nice balance of price and quality but they only do late French & Prussian. A couple of Essex figures included (standard bearers/cmd types) their Prussians being one of their better ranges..
My mate has several armies using the VERY nice AB range.
I thought Old Glory were good too (the figs per bag size are ok for Inf not so good for other types). Older Battle Honours (AB designed) are also good.
Another nice (but tad expensive) range is Fantassin well worth a look.
Cheers
Over the years... okay, decades, I have been slowly buying and painting 15mm (and 25mm) Napoleonic miniatures. As a result, my Napoleonic miniature armies are made up of lots of different makes.
I remember a time when Heritage Figures (Napoleonettes) were some of the best Napoleonic miniatures you could get, and they were true 15mm figures! These days, people are saying the AB Figures, which are true 18/19mm figures, are some of the best you can get. I tend to agree, but to be honest, beautify is in the eye of the beholder. I highly recommend getting figures you like best. Everyone's taste is slightly different.
Also, how you paint figures should influence the choice of figures you finally pick.
Thanks guys
what are peoples thoughts on the War modelling ranges ?
phil
Hi
I have a mix of ABs and OG.
If you're a good painter, without a doubt, AB are the way to go. They are expensive, but you can buy them individually, and it's fun to assemble a battalion with a big variation in pose / stance. IMHO, AB Miniatures are the best Napoleonics you can get!
If you're only 'SO SO' with the brush, go with the inexpensive Old Glory or Fantassin Miniatures option.
AB Miniatures are the best you can get, and really reward the good artist, but are about twice the price of the OLD GLORY miniatures, (which are rather nice).
So, with that in mind, why buy AB's if your painting doesn't bring out the awesome detail in the figure?
OR
Do what I do, and dress many of my AB guys in greatcoats! They are dead easy to paint!
AB have a decent range of troops in Greatcoat, (including OLD GUARD, Russians and most of the other French).
I have a swag of Eye candy on my blog that you can look at to get a good idea of what floats your boat:
http://trailape.blogspot.com/search/label/18mm%20Napoeonics
As for War Modelling (Fantassin); they are OK and I use them to 'fill out' my AB miniatures Battalions, as they are nice and cheap. You can see them mixed in well here:
http://trailape.blogspot.com/2010/01/more-18mm-bavarians.html
I hope that helps
Cheers
http://trailape.blogspot.com
Hi Phil,
You might also base your purchasing decision on which armies/period you want to recreate. With some exceptions AB has early to mid-period armies. Eureka fills in some of the later period gaps. I think a lot of Old Glory's strongest figures are the later Austrians and Prussians and I really like their Campaign French for a `Spanish Theatre' army.
I agree with Trailape about War Modelling/Fantassin. They do have some very useful Peninsular figures but can be roughly cast with some blurred out detail. The horses can be pretty goofy looking too!
If you are interested in the Waterloo campaign then you have a pretty good one-stop manufacturer: Campaign Games Miniatures.
http://www.campaign-game-miniatures.com/index.php?page=page/Inicio.php
I have some of these figures. Much nicer to work with than Fantassin but not as nice as AB!
Regards, Mark
Mark
Hadn't come across these figures before. Look very interesting for the Belgians/Nassau etc. But not quite a one stop shop for Waterloo as there seem to be no Prussians yet (maybe a future release). Anyway a Waterloo campaign with no Prussians is my preferred alternative history :-)
Hi Alan,
Oops, you're absolutely right. I'd forgotten all about the Prussians - just like the Duke himself on occasion! I'm sure they're on their way though it's a bit odd they've done their 1809 Austrians first.
They are nice figures and blend quite well with 18mm figures from other manufacturers. I have the stovepipe shako British as well as some French fusiliers who will wind up as Westphalians. If the 100 Days is your thing then I'd suggest checking these figures out!
Regards, Mark
AB's are great. Second to none IMHO. That said I have a good mix of figures, mostly Old Glory, some Battle Honors, Essex, Minifigs 3rd gen., and AB's off course. When you back 3 or 4 feet from the table they all kind of blend in together.
Bruce
I also agree that AB are the nicest. But also the most expensive.
For me Battle Honors hits the sweet spot between cost and quality.
I also agree that AB are the nicest. But also the most expensive.
For me Battle Honors hits the sweet spot between cost and quality.
I can confirm this as I also have a lot of Battle Honor figures (amongst other brands), but for those that do not know this, the same person that made the masters for AB also did the ACW and Napoleonic range for Battle Honors. Yep, Anthony Barton originally made the figures for Battle Honors (a long time ago)... or at least this is what I was told. There was a falling out however, and this could be one of the reasons why Battle Honors has not refreshed their molds as they do not have the masters.
I have quite a lot of the original Battle Honours figures that were cast in the 1980's and so were very crisp. Barton's original figures were not quite as big as the current ABs and so fit in better with a wider range of other manufacturers.
Barton's original figures were not quite as big as the current ABs and so fit in better with a wider range of other manufacturers.
Oops! Thanks Alan. This was a simple little fact I left out [pun intended]. Even though some of the Battle Honors and AB figures look almost exactly the same, they are not the same, with the newer AB figures being a bit larger.
I also have some of the Battle Honor figures from the 1980's and early 1990's. Comparing these older Battle Honor figures with some I just received recently last year, I can see a small decline in the detail. Still good figures though, and a good value - especially when they are on sale.
Hi Guys
thank you for all the input. AB are lovely ( the Xyston of napoleonics ?) but too pricey for me for the quantities I will need to buy. Campaign Minis look very nice but wanted to do 1812-1814, continental rather than penninsular or 100 days. Warmodelling infabtry looked good, but the horses seem goofey. I have dealt with Timecast before for OG ancients 15mm, so I think my first purchase will be a few infantry packs from him from the battlehonours range and see how it goes.
Thanks
Phil
hi
this site has size comparisions of Napoeleonic 15mm
Its getting old now but I found it really usefull with all the major manufacturers
http://www.deepfriedhappymice.com/html/nap_15_fre_inf_sbs.html
Just 15mm world for the other nations
cheers
Hi Phil,
If you like drop me a line at: m.igglesdenATshaw.ca
I have some Battle Honours stuff to part with - cheap!
Regards, Mark
Hi Phil
A good choice,..
Best of luck!
I have OG15s for the bulk of my infantry and cavalry. Artillery is AB as they have Austrian howitzers. I note they also do Austrian gun crews riding the sausage seat so I may add guns to my limber bases at some point.
I have Warmodeling command and pioneer figures. These are the biggest of the lot, but not horribly so.
I find all three makes to mix well.
From the replies above, it ought to be evident that you need to pick which army you want to do and what year. From there I would pick the "best".
Personally, I have Battle Honours and Old Glory (no, I won't be mixing figures on the same stand). I am in the United States and these figure lines are the least expensive blending quality (generally) with low cost.
CGM and AB are very top notch but are limited in their ranges. Not a problem if they cover the army and period that you want though :-)
Blue Moon Manufacturing (based in the U.S.) will be releasing "The most complete line ever done in any scale" should say it all? Very large portions of this line should be complete by the end of 2011 --- this will enable all of us to be able to enjoy them for the better half of 2012 until the world comes to an end? Regards, Russ Dunaway"
Being that you are in Ireland, I don't know if they will be a good value to you. Their existing French and Indian War figures are priced at 50 to 60 U.S. cents per figure depending on the size pack you get. What I don't like is that there figure packs are in 15 or 30 foot figures, which is somewhat strange but probably has to do with mold capacities. I would prefer in packs of 16 and 32. I am excited to see what they will come up with this year. They are distributed by Old Glory 25mm Company (hence the new name so as not to confuse with Old Glory 15s)
Being that you are in the UK, this link may be of interest: http://isaanmini.wordpress.com/ scroll down to see the casting "greens". They are touting compatability with AB. They will be sold through:
http://www.timeline-miniatures.co.uk/
Fantasin/Warmodeling is an interesting range too. Pity that they seem to have small packs on their backs according to Mark Severin of Scale Creep in his comparison in the link provided by another poster above.
Anyway, pick your first army and see which of the above has your army and year available. Then you can decide how much you want to spend. I agree on the comments about AB by the way. But for rank and file, I would lean towards a more cost effective alternative. Being that I am in the U.S., AB is more than 2X as expensive. Eureka USA does sell them over here and they do have an extra discount for $300 purchases and greater (possibly even more of a discount with even larger orders according to the distributor and what he posted on the Miniatures Page)
I will be buying from other manufacturers including CGM, AB, Eureka (they have some compatable figures they make) and Blue Moon. I may look into the other figure line I gave a link too in the future. But I am not looking at doing French right now.
Chris
San Antonio
Are most people playing the "recommneded" basing.
Meaning 15mm 1 base is 8 figures 2 deep four wide for foot?
How about for 25mm?
For 15mm, we are playing 40X20mm stands with 3 or 4 figures. I like the look of more figures but most have their figures based this way. Probably because of DBN and other rules that have the 40mm wide stands. I think this will remain a trend as FoGN has this basing scheme too.
Are most people playing the "recommended" basing.
Meaning 15mm 1 base is 8 figures 2 deep four wide for foot?
How about for 25mm?
+
I can't speak for everyone, but it seems that other players and/or groups have adjusted their basing to their liking. My gaming group has also done this, but for different reasons than most others.
The basing can be whatever your gaming group would like it to be. For 15mm figures, the Lasalle book recommends eight infantry figures on a base with a base width (BW) of 1-1/2" or 40mm. Keep in mind though that 1-1/2" actually equals 38.1mm. This base width (BW) is used for the infantry (8xfigs), cavalry (3xfigs), and artillery (1xgun+figs).
As long as everyone uses the same BW for their armies, it doesn't matter what that BW is. It could be 1", 1-1/8", 1-1/4", 1-1/2", 2" 3", 20mm, 30mm, 40mm, 50mm, whatever.
My gaming group for example uses bases that are 30mm-BW x 24mm-Depth, and we mount six 15mm infantry figures per base. Why? A lot of our collections have figures that are on 1-1/8" (about 28mm) bases, so we do not have to re-base everything right away. For ranges (firing and movement), we just use 30mm BW. Some of the older bases are 28mm (until re-base) and we found that the 2mm doesn't really effect the game all that much. And if a situation ever does come up that it will, we take this into account.
So, I would say go with what works for you and your gaming group. "The most important criterion is that you and your opponent use the same system for basing figures. The second most important criterion is that you like the way your figures look!" (Page 5, Lassale rules)
The other reason, and the main reason for the six infantry figures per base is that most of our miniature collections are based for 1:30 ratio gaming, so 24 figure units are the norm. Sure, we can just paint 8 more figures per unit, but when you have 100+ units - meaning 800+ more figs to paint - and a lot of the figures are no longer produced - it makes it very difficult.
Don't get me wrong, those 32 figure "Lasalle" units look great. Heck, I even think 40 figure units (10 per base) would look even better. But most of our collections are based for 1:30 ratio games, and so forming 24 figure units is easy-peasy, and 24 figure units still look good.
So what happens when we are faced with a new opponent who has based their figures for the 40mm "Recommended" BW? Easy, we had made some 10mm decorative extenders that turns a 30mm base into a 40mm base. Bingo, we are ready to play with groups that use 40mm BW, making our Napoleonic armies are more flexible.
"...So what happens when we are faced with a new opponent who has based their figures for the 40mm "Recommended" BW? Easy, we had made some 10mm decorative extenders that turns a 30mm base into a 40mm base. Bingo, we are ready to play with groups that use 40mm BW, making our Napoleonic armies are more flexible"
Exactly what i've done with my Russians which are based 6 x 15mm figures per 30x30mm base.
My Bavarians i'm rebasing to 8 figures on 40x30mm. Our guys are doing 40mmBW with either 6 or 8 figures per base
You must log in to post.