Best minis at 15mm range

[NavySeal]

Hello guys.

I´m about to start my journey in Napoleonics, and i decided to make an army in 15mm scale.What are the best minis to this kind of projects?

Cheers

[Battle Brush Sigur]

Well, AB Minis are usually considered the nicest. They're rather tall, usually named 18mm (and rightly so), but really, really pretty.

Campaign Game Miniatures from Spain(?) are great as well.

[Firescale Whack]

AB minis are your best bet for quality and variety. They are also available in the UK, US and Australia so they should be fairly easy to get wherever you are based.

[SJWi]

NavySeal, I would agree that AB are viewed as the best....but at a premium price. In UK they are 80p per figure.  By comparison Essex are 54p per figure and Timecast/Old Glory ( sold in packs) work out at 40p per figure.  I guess your answer will depend on your budget, size of planned army and  timescale.  I know of people who have gone AB because they build their armies very slowly.

Regards. 

[olicana]

If money isn't a consideration - how many can you paint in the time it takes you to afford your next order? - then AB.

When looking at cost, that's how I'd view it. If you can afford to spend about £20 a month on figures, and you can only paint 20 figures a month, then no point saving money for the sake of it: Always buy the best you can afford.

On the other hand, if you can reliably paint 40 figures a month, but you can only afford to spend £20 a month then it might pay to look around for cheaper figures.

Another consideration, thankfully not one I need to make, is to ask yourself "how good a painter am I?" If you are a mediocre painter, then your painted AB or cheaper figures will look mediocre and the same (pretty much), because paintwork makes the figure, not the other way around. If you are a good painter, you'll make AB shine all the brighter: As seen here (link below) earlier this month:

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=135062.0

[SJWi]

Olicana, some excellent points. I wholeheartedly agree with your comment about “standard of painting”. Only last week I convinced a friend to purchase a cheaper range of figures rather than a more expensive, highly detailed range as I thought his painting style wouldn’t make the most of the super-detailed figures.

[mellis1644]

I went with Old Glory 15mm for exactly the same reason. Although I have some AB's and they are really nice, doing Nap's means a whole bunch of painting. The the old glory stuff is nearly as good but much better for the wallet and with my brush skill the difference is not worth it.

Here is a shot of my 12 units infantry units of 32 figures each so 384 infantry figures:

[Littlearmies]

If money isn't a consideration - how many can you paint in the time it takes you to afford your next order? - then AB.

When looking at cost, that's how I'd view it. If you can afford to spend about £20 a month on figures, and you can only paint 20 figures a month, then no point saving money for the sake of it: Always buy the best you can afford.

On the other hand, if you can reliably paint 40 figures a month, but you can only afford to spend £20 a month then it might pay to look around for cheaper figures.

Another consideration, thankfully not one I need to make, is to ask yourself "how good a painter am I?" If you are a mediocre painter, then your painted AB or cheaper figures will look mediocre and the same (pretty much), because paintwork makes the figure, not the other way around. If you are a good painter, you'll make AB shine all the brighter: As seen here (link below) earlier this month:

https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=135062.0

Apologies for being a bit late to the conversation - I think I both agree and disagree with you. I completely agree that you should buy the best figures that you can afford as you're likely to be living with them for the rest of your life. But personally I'm not a good painter - unlike some painters I can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear so me buying some Old Glory Austrians would be a complete waste of money. The OG Austrians are cheap (if you live in North America and are a member of the OG Club thingie) but, for me they are so rough that I couldn't do anything with them - and that would be after I'd removed the miscasts and the figures that are tripping over the grass.* Whereas the AB figures are cleanly sculpted and cast in my experience - which means it's easy for me to see the detail and paint what I can, in 28mm I share your preference for Front Rank for the same reason.

I'm sure there are lots of good 15mm Napoleonic makers out there but only three really fit into the cleanly sculpted, well cast and looking like humans club - for me, that's AB, Xan Miniatures, and CGM (although his persistence in only doing late Napoleonic figures is regrettable). And the AB horses look like horses - which you can't say of some sculptors. So for a mediocre painter like me - I'd say that whilst my AB's look mediocre, they look a lot less mediocre than if I'd painted some of the cheaper ranges out there where the details are muddy and the proportions are wrong.

*Once you've pulled out the dross from the bag of OG figures I'm not convinced that what you are left with actually works out cheaper than AB on a per figure basis....and the OG Napoleonic ranges differ hugely in quality between bags. The full dress French line infantry are very nice but a lot of their French colleagues not so much...and the Austrians in Raupenhelm were appallingly poorly cast and sculpted.

[vtsaogames]

AB are the best BUT they often have delicate flag poles and such. Old Glory and other lesser breeds stand more punishment.

[Littlearmies]

AB are the best BUT they often have delicate flag poles and such. Old Glory and other lesser breeds stand more punishment.

I replace the flagpoles with 0.8mm brass wire, and small drop of superglue fixes most weak points for musket failure when I see them. For all figures.

I tried the Blue Moon figures when they first came out - the British Peninsular line infantry had an issue with the right arm which was swinging freely - there was a big piece of slag on every figure between the right arm and the cartridge box. I politely informed the owner there was an issue with the sculpt that meant his casting was poor, and that it could be fixed with a re-sculpt that put the right arm at the side of the body (which was the regulation for British marching infantry at the time). I was briskly informed that there was nothing wrong with the sculpt, nothing wrong with his figures and to stop moaning. I still see people complaining about that piece of slag and the amount of time to clean it on Facebook today.

[Waffles_vs_Tacos]

Not exactly 15mm but the 13.5mm new Warlord Plastics look amazing, and the bulk infantry strips are cheap as chips. For about $200 with taxes you could get two starter sets, either french or British, and have a large army with most of what you might want. They are coming out with new stuff at a decent clip for it too.


I have 28mm Napoleonics that I am still working on, but am very interested in the Warlord Epic stuff myself.

[Littlearmies]

Not exactly 15mm but the 13.5mm new Warlord Plastics look amazing, and the bulk infantry strips are cheap as chips. For about $200 with taxes you could get two starter sets, either french or British, and have a large army with most of what you might want. They are coming out with new stuff at a decent clip for it too.


I have 28mm Napoleonics that I am still working on, but am very interested in the Warlord Epic stuff myself.

I don't really see it myself - think of the uniform variations. Their ACW range worked because everyone dressed pretty much the same and you didn't really need anything other than what was in the basic box - when Warlord added zouaves and other "specials" their prices weren't cheap as chips at all - I thought the basic figures looked quite good but, for me, they needed to have had a basing system compatible with established rulesets like Johnny Reb or Fire & Fury. Taking a hacksaw to every stand wasn't really for me. Napoleonic wargamers are already whinging about no Dutch Belgians for Waterloo - what are they going to be like when (if) Warlord extend the range to include other Napoleonic periods / theatres? I think you'd be better off with Pendraken if you want small figures - I think that what you lose on the "bread and butter" units with Pendraken (v Warlord) you'd gain on the price of the "non-standard" battalions" of which there are many.

[NickNascati]

I have a mix of Blue Moon and AB in my War of the Vendee forces.  The Blue Moon French Republicans are very nice, ever so slightly chunkier than the AB models.  I’m a purist about mixing, but I have no problem mixing these.

[carlos marighela]

AB if you want the best figures. Old Glory if your other hobbies are fishing or you like to cast your own reloads for shotguns.

[Ockius]

A second vote for Xan Miniatures as a viable AB alternative!

I have found them very good in terms of proportions, detail, quality etc.

From Old Glory I have painted up some French Dragoons, and they look quite nice with paint on them! Not the same as AB / Battle Honours, but certainly passable. I will be getting some more. The infantry I am more wary of as I don't think they'll fit alongside the AB I already have.