Hello All,
It was a nice early-spring day here, so I thought I would take the opportunity to snap some photos of the first steps of my Commands & Colors: Napoleonics miniatures project.
A little background:
I began the planning process for this project about 3 years ago, while in the midst of procrastinating on a term paper for an
Introduction to International Relations class (at the time, I was a college sophomore). The planning process took quite a while. On reviewing how other people had done their miniature "conversions," it became clear that there were several viable options. I will share with you my reasoning for my decisions here:
Scale: 6mm (Adler Miniatures)
I went with 6mm because it allows the armies to "feel" more like large forces. I experimented with 15mm and even 3mm troops, but once I painted up some 6mm troops from Adler miniatures, I knew it was the way for me to go. I tested some Baccus miniatures here, and they are alright, but I personally proffered Adler. I think they are a bit slower to paint than Baccus, especially if you go for the little details, but I think the effort is worth it.
Adler Miniatures:
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Baccus 6mm:
link
Unit Format: Single Stand
Plenty of people use multiple bases per unit, each base representing a block. Makes perfect sense. However, I noticed (through playing with friend who has his armies based this way) that it puts wear on the figures, and that it can be a little slow to neatly setup/breakdown. Of course, it is also easier to move units around when they are on a single base. I do rather like the visual impression of a depleted unit, down to only 1 or 2 blocks, but I think the trade-off is worth it. I use dice in dice frames to count the strength. After all, when playing on vassal, we are only presented with the numbers!
The dice and dice frames are the 7mm size from Minibits:
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Base Size: Various
The bases are actually of 3 piece construction out of 2mm MDF. On close study of the attached photos, I am sure it will be clear how I did it. The end result is a 4mm thick base (easy to handle) with a 10mm square tab at the back-right, onto which the die frame is mounted. That way, the die will "travel" with the unit. The actual size of the base is dependent on the unit type, how many blocks the unit has at full strength, and the "drill" of the unit (2 or 3 ranks in line).
The bases are from Warbases:
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Starting Army: Dutch-Belgian
I decided to start with the Dutch Belgian army of 1815. It is a cool army with an interesting history. In 6mm, it is really a matter of getting creative with French, British, and Austrian troops. Adler helps with this, since in their catalog they list the proper sculpts to use for the various units. That being said, I wanted to start with them because I figured that if I screwed something up - I wouldn't mind so much, since its an army I won't be using much. Although, I am personally very happy with how they came out!
Overall view:
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