Starting 6mm Napoleonics - help needed

[Ranthony]

Hi guys,

Let me start by saying I'm not a gamer, I have painted for maybe 14 months and prior to that have studied military history for over 30 years.
I have always been fascinated by the Napoleonic era, in particular the 100 days campaign, I can tell you what happened but I have no idea of how to structure/paint an army for 6mm gaming (I want to field large armies).

I want to go for the French, I'm tiring of painting scarlet red and I love the look of the imperial guard, or just the French in general.
I might be persuaded to go for Napoleon's allies ie - wurttemberg etc.

There are some rules that I will try, probably black powder first as I am a beginner, hoping eventually to join a London club after the pandemic and game regularly.

What I need help with is this.....

French uniforms (god help me )
Basing, including ratios of line/light/grenadiers etc
Differences in unit sizes (were all battalions the same?)
Also, if you can help, an idiot's guide to starting out in wargames.

Any help is much appreciated, thank you!

Ryan

[Aaron]

When I was dipping my toe in 6mm I found the Baccus painting guides were a great starting place. It looks like they have expanded and improved them since I last looked. https://www.baccus6mm.com/PaintingGuides/NAP/

[vtsaogames]

Basing... you want to find your set of rules first. I suggest playing games with cardboard units. You don't want to paint up and mount a whole bunch of figures and then find the rules don't scratch your itch. Many sets of rules are basing agnostic these days, and many aren't. Or find out what the folks near you play. A prefect set of rules won't be worth much if no one else will play them.

Proportions? IF you are using battaions as your basic unit, French (and most of their subjects) from 1809 on had 6 companies, 4 were center companies (fusiliers), one was grenadiers (right flank when in line) and one was voltigeurs (left flank on parade, otherwise usually deployed skrimishing ahead). But if your basic unit is larger then you can ignore this, Before 1809 7 fusilier companies, 1 grenadier, 1 voltigeur.

Do you want to play parts of the battles or the whole thing? Most rules allow perhaps a division per side. If you want the whole battle you need a set of grand tactical rules like Blucher or Bloody Big Battles. I'm sure folks will be around soon with other suggestions. With 6mm figures you might want to go down that path.

Really basic uniform? Just like Britsh coats are red, French coats are blue. White crossbelts, collar, trousers and turnbacks, red cuffs. Grenadiers red pompoms, plumes, epaulettes and collar, voltigeurs yellow or yellow green plume, yellow collar, yellow green epaulettes.

Edit: in theory all battalions started the same size. Factor in disease, desertion, combat losses and the story is different. Sizes could vary quite a bit. Ditto with higher formations.

[Ranthony]

Thank you, this gives me some things to think on and plan around.

[LazyStudent]

Hi Ranthony,

Welcome to the hobby!! I am sad to say I am no longer living in London, otherwise I would have happily gamed in person (once it would be allowed). I can highly recommend the Central London Wargames Club (https://sites.google.com/site/epicarmageddonlondon/clubs/central-london-war-games-club)

For uniforms I find this site is brilliant: http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/organigrammeBR.php

For figures there are a few manufacturers out there. Baccus (https://www.baccus6mm.com/catalogue/Napoleonics/)  is very good (I have used them in my 100days armies). Otherwise, there is Heroic and Ross (http://www.heroicsandros.co.uk/), but these are quite old figures. There is also a new manufacturer on the market Grumbler Minis (https://grumblerminiatures.com/).

On the rules front, there are many a thread covering this. But I would suggest you either use one that is used locally, or one that has reasonably generic basing requirements. Otherwise starting out in wargames advice, I would suggest finding some you tube videos and blogs like this one ().

I hope this helps!

Best,
Ed

[Ranthony]

Excellent, thank you Ed.

I'll check out that club and the sites/blog you've posted.

[Rusty72]

Hi, there is a new company making 6mm 100 days napoleonic minis, "Grumbler MInis", look really good.
Link   https://grumblerminiatures.com/

[jon_1066]

I'll shamelessly point you in the direction of my thread for 6 mm Napoleonics.

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=106763.0

Mainly to show you that what you imagine you will do will not end up being what you will do.  ie the more you learn the more you'll change your mind as to what exactly you want!

For you the key thing is what is a unit for your game?  You mentioned black powder but you won't be able to fight Quatre Bras with each unit as a battalion.  Typically a game will have 5-20 manouevre elements per side.  So if you go with a battalion as that element then you are talking battles in the 3-12,000 per side range.

The next step up would be regiment.  But that gets wooly as not all sides fielded regiments together.  For the French though if you said a unit was a regiment then you are talking 9-36,000

Brigade would be next and where I would suggest for a rule set for big battles.  With a brigade as the manouevre element that gives you up to 100,000 so almost anything except Wagram and Leipzig.

So next question would be how to make up your brigade?  The most common for 6 mm would be to use a 60 by 30 mm base.  You can put a little vignette on the base so it should look good and you can fit quite a few troops so it doesn't look like a few men taking a flag for a walk.  For your biggest battles a single base would be a brigade.  Next down a single base is a regiment.  Next down each base could be a battalion.  You can therefore use the same bases for the different battle scales.  60 by 30 mm is also quite common and compatible with a number of different rule sets.

As far as painting 6 mm figures many people swear by a black undercoat then just picking out colours on top leaving the black as a liner between and therefore automatic shading.  It does have the advantage of not having to paint the shoes and shako so is quick.  Personally I think this makes 6 mm figures too dark and "bitty" so use grey as an undercoat. 

Good luck and don't forget to post some pictures!

[Easy E]

I strongly recommend finding out what other people play locally rules wise, and build for that.  Unless you are going to be a solo gamer?   


Other than that, I do not know anything about this period.

[wrgmr1]

Uniforms of the 100 Days campaign are here.

http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/unites.php

[Ranthony]

Uniforms of the 100 Days campaign are here.

http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/unites.php

This was recommended to me very recently, that you have also recommended it on this thread, suggests it is worth the time I'm already investing there.

It is a wonderful resource.

Thank you.

[LazyStudent]

Having just reminded myself of Jon's excellent blog, I thought to add it here for some inspiration for you Ranthony. Don't be daunted, but it shows what can be done with 6mm Napoleonics. As before, starting with a small achievable goal in mind is the key. You can grow from there. http://grymauch.blogspot.com/ 

[Ranthony]

Thank you for another fine resource!

This scale is really exciting, I will enjoy reading his blog.

Cheers