Question regarding figures/minis for Napoleonic skirmish games

[Goshawk]

Howdy!

I recently acquired Song of Drums and Shakos, but have zero Nappy figs.  I'm also looking hard at Sharp Practice from the Lardies.  Anyone care to give me their thoughts on a good line of minis that have lots of character for skirmish level gaming (in 28mm)?  Seems like most of the boxed sets consist largely of marching troops.

Many thanks!

Robert

[nathan]

First thing I'd suggest is to go with metal for your Songs skirmishing.  You can stick to rifles and voltigeurs and jagers and some light cav and action poses for line infantry and get them in small quantities.

Some Perry metals:



I think they're £7 for 6 miniatures.  They seem to have quite a few packs of action, skirmishing and charging poses.

Front Rank sells figures individually for £1.20 each for foot.
http://www.frontrank.com/product-category/napoleonic/





Don't worry about ordering from the UK if you haven't before.  It takes an extra week, but that's about it.

As for plastics what about if a box set contains a bunch of marching poses but has enough variation to make a few figures work for Song of Drums & Shakos?  Sharp Practice actually does support formed up soldiers acting as a platoon if you want (see the example videos on youtube).  For example, on the infantry sprue in Victrix Austrians, 4 out of 6 miniatures are in static marching poses, but two can be given different arms and are more easily customized:



You'll have to search for reviews and sprue pictures for each set you're considering though as different makers and even kits are going to have different sprue layouts.

I ended up doing 54mm in the end, and you've got so many more options for both metal and plastic in 28mm, so you should be able to find figures that look right to you for your game.

[Goshawk]

Nathan,

Thank you for the fantastic information and recommendations. I'll certainly be taking a good look at Perry and Victrix offerings.

Napoleonics has to be the slipperiest slope I've ever tread upon!

[RC_Robert]

I'm new to  historical gaming myself and from Mississippi.    From my experience Perry and Victrix plastic boxes are very easy to mail order or special order to your local game store.   Ordering from the US or UK  usually ends up with the shipping costs.  Some are very reasonable.  Warlord for a while was free and now its $5.  Also the pound to dollar rate is pretty good now at 1 pound = 1.52 dollars.

Here's a list of some US web stores that I collected when I look for French and Indian War to Napoleonic period stuff
*Brigade Games - http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/  They have their own line of minis and a good selection of rules.
*The War Store - http://www.thewarstore.com/    
Conquest Miniatures - http://www.conquestminiatures.com/   They make the same Indians and FIW Brits and French from Warlord
*Warlord Games - http://www.warlordgames.com/  (UK, has that cheap shipping)
Loyalhanna Outpost - http://www.loyalhannaoutpost.com/  Galloping Major FIW stuff
Knuckle Duster - http://www.knuckleduster.com/
Architects of War http://www.architectsofwar.com/ -  
Triangle Miniatures - http://www.triangleminiatures.com/
Age of Glory - http://ageofglory.com/
Kings Mountain Miniatures - http://www.kingsmtminis.com/

The ones with * I've ordered from.  

[nathan]

Yeah, I'm sure you'll be able to get some stuff domestically without too much trouble.  I'm not that familiar with US based resellers as it's often (strangely enough given that there's an ocean involved) cheaper and faster for me to order from the UK than the US.  I know The War Store carries some Perry and Victrix stuff as regular stock.

I seem to recall seeing pictures of Perry plastic sprues and them being all march poses, so definitely double check by searching out sprue images if avoiding those kits that don't have enough variety is your goal.

The key to Napoleonics is to keep things simple and focused.  I ended up choosing 1813-1815 because the popularity of Waterloo means I have the widest selection of figures possible.  I then took a simple breakdown of troop types (infantry, cavalry, artillery) and got a bit of each.  If you're planning on starting with a skirmish game like Songs, then getting skirmishers as your first infantry is a straightforward way to go.

Did you figure out what nations you might start with?

[Goshawk]

I forgot about Brigade Games...they will most likely have some small packs of skirmishers from which to choose. Thanks for the reminder.

I picked up some Colonial Rangers from Conquest Miniatures (at Historicon) several years ago but never got around to painting them.  (Imagine that! )  They're actually now in progress, as we also acquired Song of Drums and Tomahawks. More will be added to the pile in the near future - they're quite nice.

Here's a list of some US web stores that I collected when I look for French and Indian War to Napoleonic period stuff
*Brigade Games - http://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/  They have their own line of minis and a good selection of rules.
*The War Store - http://www.thewarstore.com/    
Conquest Miniatures - http://www.conquestminiatures.com/   They make the same Indians and FIW Brits and French from Warlord
*Warlord Games - http://www.warlordgames.com/  (UK, has that cheap shipping)
Loyalhanna Outpost - http://www.loyalhannaoutpost.com/  Galloping Major FIW stuff
Knuckle Duster - http://www.knuckleduster.com/
Architects of War http://www.architectsofwar.com/ -  
Triangle Miniatures - http://www.triangleminiatures.com/
Age of Glory - http://ageofglory.com/
Kings Mountain Miniatures - http://www.kingsmtminis.com/

[Goshawk]

Yeah, the Perry stuff, while nice, looks to formal for skirmish duty. The Victrix box sets have the most potential at this point as they have more poses in their offering.

I will most likely start with British, but I'm not 100% committed at this point in the process. Russians are also a potential target.

Yeah, I'm sure you'll be able to get some stuff domestically without too much trouble.  I'm not that familiar with US based resellers as it's often (strangely enough given that there's an ocean involved) cheaper and faster for me to order from the UK than the US.  I know The War Store carries some Perry and Victrix stuff as regular stock.

I seem to recall seeing pictures of Perry plastic sprues and them being all march poses, so definitely double check by searching out sprue images if avoiding those kits that don't have enough variety is your goal.

The key to Napoleonics is to keep things simple and focused.  I ended up choosing 1813-1815 because the popularity of Waterloo means I have the widest selection of figures possible.  I then took a simple breakdown of troop types (infantry, cavalry, artillery) and got a bit of each.  If you're planning on starting with a skirmish game like Songs, then getting skirmishers as your first infantry is a straightforward way to go.

Did you figure out what nations you might start with?

[Malamute]

If you are going to use Songs of Drums and Shakos, what about  going for the Perrys 40mm Napoleonic figures they are perfect for skirmish games. I believe you only use a handful for SoDaS?
If you go with Sharp Practice you will need 60-100 figures, so maybe plastics for the line infantry with some metals for the rifles/Voltigeurs.
Personally for 28s I love the Front Rank figures, they are nice and chunky and very characterful and as said you can buy them individually.

[matakishi]

Most of my Napoleonic skirmishers are from Front Rank. I went with Perry for my rifles and got a few Cavalry and French Dragoons from Brigade (lovely Paul Hicks sculpts).
Personally I want the heft of metal for individually based miniatures and, anyway, I can't be bothered with assembling plastics.

I'm going to post these (again) because my Napoleonic skirmish project has resurfaced again and will likely be my BLAM game this year and I like looking at them (they're Front Rank).

[NurgleHH]

I'm going to post these (again) because my Napoleonic skirmish project has resurfaced again and will likely be my BLAM game this year and I like looking at them (they're Front Rank).

This is a wonderful news for me, hope to play it. My Napo-Stuff is waiting since years, but I never found the right rules for me to enjoy gaming it.

[nathan]

If you are going to use Songs of Drums and Shakos, what about  going for the Perrys 40mm Napoleonic figures they are perfect for skirmish games. I believe you only use a handful for SoDaS?

As someone doing 54mm, I barely resisted mentioning larger scales since Goshawk already indicated the scale he was looking for.  I used to see 28mm as the biggest you'd want for any sort of gaming.  It wasn't until I saw a 42mm old school type Horse & Musket game at a local con that the larger scales clicked with me.  I went over and talked to the guys putting it on and one of them pulled out some 54mm stuff for a game they were running later and I was hooked.

One thing I'm find though is that there's an endless stream of awesome stuff in 28mm compared to 40/42mm and 54mm.  There's just more.  More nations, more units, more cavalry, more artillery, more wagons, more everything.  The Perry 40mm miniatures though, do look incredible.

[Goshawk]

Those are simply fantastic! Brilliant work, sir!

Most of my Napoleonic skirmishers are from Front Rank. I went with Perry for my rifles and got a few Cavalry and French Dragoons from Brigade (lovely Paul Hicks sculpts).
Personally I want the heft of metal for individually based miniatures and, anyway, I can't be bothered with assembling plastics.

I'm going to post these (again) because my Napoleonic skirmish project has resurfaced again and will likely be my BLAM game this year and I like looking at them (they're Front Rank).

[Goshawk]

The 40s are beautiful, but too much for me to paint.  My skills are...lacking...at best.

I'm thinking like you and believe a mix of metal and plastic will be best.

With Napoleonics being so new to me, I'm reluctant to commit beyond 50 or so pieces, and I can certainly get into SoDaS with 10-15.

I'll go check out Front Rank figures now.

Thanks!

If you are going to use Songs of Drums and Shakos, what about  going for the Perrys 40mm Napoleonic figures they are perfect for skirmish games. I believe you only use a handful for SoDaS?
If you go with Sharp Practice you will need 60-100 figures, so maybe plastics for the line infantry with some metals for the rifles/Voltigeurs.
Personally for 28s I love the Front Rank figures, they are nice and chunky and very characterful and as said you can buy them individually.

[matakishi]

I'm using a set of rules from Foundry that are a variation of what became their Wild West rules, the rules with no name. I've changed bits but originally we used them 'as is' in the mid 90s to play Flintloque with (I never liked the Flintloque rules but the orks and elves got loads of kids who frequented my shop playing Napoleonics).

The rules support a player controlling 6-10 miniatures tops. More players bring more factions or units into play. We regularly had 8-10 player games running.

If you message me your email I'll send you the pdf if you like. It was available free for years on the Foundry site so you won't be breaking any laws

[Goshawk]

As for plastics what about if a box set contains a bunch of marching poses but has enough variation to make a few figures work for Song of Drums & Shakos?  Sharp Practice actually does support formed up soldiers acting as a platoon if you want (see the example videos on youtube).  For example, on the infantry sprue in Victrix Austrians, 4 out of 6 miniatures are in static marching poses, but two can be given different arms and are more easily customized:

I finally succumbed while at Historicon this year.  I couldn't resist the deals I found in Wally's basement (the con's "flea market") and picked up a box of British and French from Victrix.  Later, I found another Victrix "steal" in the form of a box of cannons.  And even later, a box of Perry light cavalry.  I should be well set for Sharp Practice (or SP2) and SoDaS.  Now, to paint them someday...