Small Scale Comparison 2: Cavalry

A quick look now at the mounted figures available from the three manufacturers mentioned in my previous post, with some comparison shots of the various types. Below we see Irregular Miniatures' BG11, Loose Order Sabre Cavalry in the front, then Peter Pig's Pack 40, Cavalry Blocks, and bringing up the rear a strip from Tumbling Dice's ISL910 Mounted Cavalry in Shako:

Remember, all photos on this Blog should be 'clickable' for a larger, and often somewhat unflattering Macro view. What is immediately clear on close examination is that the cavalry block from Peter P, has little to offer over the more familiar 2mm one from Irregular, and is little more than being a larger version.

The camera has been somewhat unkind, particularly in the photo below, where for some reason it looks as if the horses sport some form of skeleton eye sockets, but I assure you that in the flesh these do not seem as exaggerated, and are merely the beast's ears!

The block's footprint, of course comes in at 25 x 6mm as opposed to the 15 x 4mm of it's smaller cousin, but I think I just expected more from the proportionately heftier block.

Of course, you're looking at twelve horsemen with a large, clearly visible flag, eight blocks per UK £2.30 pack for a total of some 96 horsemen. As you can see below, there are visible straps/sashes, although this is balanced by the disappointing headgear, but then again, of course this is meant to be an ACW unit, so I suppose is more in the line of a kepi rather than anything more substantial.

Finally we have the two types available from Tumbling D, namely the shako wearing cavalry and their counterparts, ISL910a Mounted Cavalry in Helmet. As you can see, the shako-wearers are lovely little sculpts, if a little passive, with four riders on a strip 30mm long by 3mm wide; they put me very much in mind of similar types available from Navwar/Heroics and Ros in 6mm.

Saddlecloths, a weapon valise, reins and headgear are all nicely sculpted, and had me wondering about a possible use for troops from the Crimean or Franco-Prussian Wars - mini hussars at a bargain price; 32 of these little guys at UK1.80 as opposed to 21 at £2.50 from the 6mm Heroics and Ros Range.

The helmet-wearers hold the same static pose, however this time with a domed head rather than discernible headgear - less coal-scuttle or Tommy Atkins type and rather more conformal, modern, or even sci-fi in shape - so to my mind miss the mark a little:

I guess that some conversion work would be possible here, although whether you would wish to get into something as complicated as that at this scale, notionaly 1/600th, although actually closer to 1/450th, as with the infantry - I'm not sure - headswaps on 4mm figures....hmmm....

even I balk at that!

As I concluded in the previous post, you simply can't beat the range of types available from Irregular in 2mm, although even with them, there are some problems with a lack of obvious headgear, but I certainly think that the Tumbling D minis are excellent given their size compared with 6mm ones, if too passive in pose.

I can't help thinking though, that at some point that they might end up getting a lick of paint as Cardigan's 11th Hussars... wouldn't be too bad either for Colonial/VSF era armies to accompany larger scale Land Ironclads....oh no, sounds like a whole new project........

Next post: teeny artillery!

Small Scale Figure Comparison: 2/3/4mm

I thought I'd take a look at some of the less well known ranges available down at the teeny-tiny end of things, and do a comparison of the various types. Most of you will be aware of 1/300th and 1/285th, i.e. 5 or 6mm figures made by various manufacturers, and of course the 2mm range from Irregular, but how about 3 or even 4mm figures?

To be exact, I'm talking about what are ostensibly 1/600th miniatures available here in the UK, but I think, in visual terms at least, fall somewhere around those sizes. As you will see in the photo above, the 2mm infantry from Irregular are at the front, those in the middle are by Peter Pig, and at the rear from Tumbling Dice.

(Remember, the squares on the backing surface in the photos are 10mm in size.)

First up, from Peter Pig's Range 7, "Hammerin' Iron", we have the Number 39 pack, 'Infantry Blocks', which are made to accompany and complement their 1/600th ACW naval; these are cast in a block form similar to the 2mm ones available from Irregular Miniatures, and similarly have cast-on flags:

http://www.peterpig.co.uk/range7.htm

(Scroll down to bottom of the page)

Crucially, however, these flags are depicted in pairs, which of course is perhaps more historically accurate for most 18th and 19th century troops at the Battalion scale and above.

This block measures some 26mm long by 6mm wide, and has nicely delineated individual figures, with a level of detail that allows a suggestion of muskets, belts and shoulder belts/sashes to be visible:

The troops are depicted in a close formation of four ranks, with the standard bearers quite properly placed in the middle to the rear of the front rank. There are 20 figures in each rank, for a total of 80 men. I'm not particularly familiar with formations used during the American Civil War, but to my mind at least, these deep blocks might stand well for Napoleonic French in attack columns, or perhaps early Seven Year's War European troops.

The pack contains eight of these blocks, at a cost of Uk £2.30 for a total of 640 men - not bad!

I would characterise these as 3mm, when compared visually to the 2mm miniatures made by Irregular, whose BG33 52 man two rank block seen in the first photo above, retails at UK 0.25 pence each.

Next up, we have an example of another 1/600th range, this time from Tumbling Dice, which is available to complement their excellent Aircraft.

It can be found in the 'Land, Tanks, Trucks and Guns' section of the post-1950 page of their PDF catalogue, although the minis are meant for use as WWI or II troops:

http://tumblingdiceuk.com/aircraftpost1950.html

(scroll down to bottom of the page)

Here we see ISL902 Close Order Infantry from the front, which has eight figures on a 20 x 3mm base:

The detail on these, perhaps is somewhat obscure, there are certainly no weapons discernible to my eye, and the headgear is similarly, rather generic, the kepi of early WWI French infantry perhaps?

The reverse depicts a clearly defined pack where even the straps are visible, although being somewhat exaggerated, put me in mind more of Sci-Fi troopers with 'techno' packs rather than their historical counterparts.

Although advertised as 1/600th, they seem to perhaps be closer to 1/450th, or at least nearer to a visual height of 4mm from feet to top of head.

Next, let's move on to the 'Skirmish' Infantry types available from the three manufacturers, seen below in a comparison shot:

First up, the ever-hard to photograph BG23 Loose Order Infantry Block from Irregular, depicting 10 troops; I've given the blocks from this manufacturer a light Ink Wash in order to make the detail a bit more visible in the pics:

This is matched by the Range 7, Pack 41 from Peter Pig, which has 10 men spaced across a 26 x 5mm base:

The reverse shows that these are perhaps as 'blobby' as their Irregular Miniatures counterparts, with clutches of men together making it hard to differentiate what is going on; perhaps a base with all of the figures prone like the one on the far right would have been better?

This is matched by the ISL901 from Tumbling Dice: 'Infantry in Open Order', a pack which contains 8 bases of eight troops, spaced out over 30 x 3mm:

These are twins of the close order troops seen above, again with the backpacks and kepi-like headgear:

Perhaps they would better depict the open line/extended order of WWI-era soldiers, but I think would struggle to be seen as those of WWII or later:

If anything, these minis would find it hard to compete with their larger 6mm cousins, although at 64 figures for Uk £1.80 are pretty cheap.

Not to denigrate this range, however, as we shall see in my next post, which will be looking at the Cavalry and Mounted figures available from all three manufacturers, you'll see that those of Tumbling Dice more than come into their own.

It is perhaps unfair to directly compare the more familiar 2mm minis with the 3 or 4mm ones, in that the ranges from Peter P and Tumbling D are really only designed as 'add ons' to the ships or planes that are the heart of the range; but if you find 2mm just too small to cope with, they do at least provide an alternative to consider.....

Next Post: Tiny Cavalry!

1/3000th Naval from War Times Journal

Unable to leave well enough alone following the conclusion of the collecting and painting phase of the '55 Days at Sea' Boxer Rebellion Naval project, I have found myself hankering after ways of expanding the scope of my use of 1/3000th pre-dreadnought minis.

Jim over at War Times Journal was kind enough to send me some samples of his always excellent output, and so this post will see me looking in some detail at these example vessels with a view to pinning down which direction I might take in the future, and most importantly, what minis I might employ.

http://www.wtj.com/store/gameshop/shop1/

Broadly speaking, I suppose things would break down into three main areas:

Firstly, of course, the Russo-Japanese War: everybody, of course, does this, and for quite understandable reasons - who could resist wanting to re-create the gallant last stand of the Varyag and Korietz, or the clash of monsters at the Battle of Tsushima?

Next could be a foray somewhat back in time for the Spanish-American War, this time with a 'what-if aspect' involving the Hapsburg allies of the Spanish, namely Austro-Hungary (might level the playing field somewhat....).

Finally another possibility would be a fictional war between the greatest of historical rivals, to whit the English and the French; a titanic struggle between ironclad dreadnought turret-ship types with all the bells and whistles from an even earlier epoch.....decisions, decisions!

With these ideas in mind then, let's turn to look at the samples so kindly provided by WTJ. First up, that incomparable example of turret 'en echelon' design, HMS Inflexible:

(All minis appearing in this post are in their natural state, no clearing up of flash, etc, - straight from the packet.)

This is WTJ0055117, a very nicely proportioned sculpt which captures in great detail the layout of the amidship turrets, as well as displaying some nicely engraved ships boats; the floating bridge so clearly delineated across the top of the turrets being a particular high point, of what is more in the way of a scale model, rather than a mere playing piece.

Clocking in at just shy of 33mm, she reflects accurately the 320ft of the original. Launched in 1876 and completed in 1881, she was the first battleship to have submerged torpedo tubes and compound armour, and took part in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882; an excellent summary of her exploits can be found here:

http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/hms_inflexible.htm

The WTJ sculpt is equipped with their customary mast attachment points/holes, so 'rigging' her out would be a relatively easy undertaking, and the satin texture on the deck surfaces should paint up well to represent decking planks, again a charcteristic of these premier sculpts. Certainly the lure of a seascape full of these turreted monsters exchanging blows mid-Channel would be hard to resist....

Next we have the sleek lines of the five-funnelled protected cruiser, WTJ0022210 Askold, or the "Packet of Woodbines" as she was known to British sailors. This mini goes even further in the direction of scale-model, with brilliant attention to historical detail including the foremost funnel being more slender than the other four, the upward sweep of the bow-section, and some beautifully delineated turrets and ship's boats.

The offerings from WTJ are to a UK based gamer somewhat on the expensive side, but this vessel in particular is a tempting lure to move away from the safe and familiar represented by the characterful sculpts available from Navwar; its detail, finesse, and overall appearance far outdistancing the best that the UK firm has to offer.

To quote "quantity over quality" would be perhaps be a bit too harsh, particularly from someone, like me, who is a big fan of the output of latter company, but what would normally be put down to the necessary limitations of sculpting something as small as 1/3000th, is here effectivley undermined by this superlative model from WTJ.

A somewhat unfair comparison, but it is the only unpainted multi-funnelled Cruiser I had to hand: Navwar's HMS Powerful lies beside the WTJ Askold:

This is where the quality of the WTJ sculpting really hits home - the all too-visible central mould line on the Powerful, the lack of visible deck planking, and the slightly lop-sided proportions versus complete balance, and some detailed touches.

I suppose the reality is that I can't really praise the WTJ minis too highly, yet if you do a direct price comparison for a UK consumer, this is expensive territory; 2 x Powerful class from Navwar for £1.60, whereas a single one from WTJ is $3.75, perhaps £2.28 at today's exchange rates.

The Askold herself would be $3.25 from WTJ, her Navwar equivalent only £1.20 in the company of the Varyag. Yet to be clear, I don't think that in a paper exercise to work out the likely expense, you're really comparing like-for-like, so depending on the scale of the future project, a compromise might have to be made; a flotilla or so, and I could spoil myself with the Rolls-Royces from WTJ, opposing fleets and it's the Vauxhall Vectras from Navwar.

If further proof were needed for my typically indecisive mind, we move on to the WTJ0078210 Kaiser Franz Josef, again a masterful representation of proportion, with obvious detailing, as before:

Again, perhaps somewhat unkindly, next to an erstwhile ally from Navwar, namely the Almirante Oquendo/Vizcaya/Infanta M. Theresa sculpt; the bravura of one matching the finesse of the other:

All these ships would make an excellent addition to any collection, and give many opportunities to enhance the scope of any tabletop conflict, and yes, you've guessed it, I'm no nearer to deciding on which era to go with - I suppose the real proof of the pudding will be when I've put a coat of paint on the above, and see if this makes things any clearer - my only concern is that the Navwar sculpts will be more fun to paint, whilst I shall fret that I won't be doing the WTJ ones justice - more to come on all this I fear......!

Hougoumont in 2mm

As regular readers of this Blog will know, when it comes to the 2mm output of Irregular Miniatures, there isn't a lot that hasn't already crossed the surface of my workbench, nor are there many periods of history that I haven't dipped into using these diminutive minis.

The one that got away, as it were, and perhaps the most glaring omission, is without a doubt the Napoleonic Era.

I have to warn all here assembled, however, that my resolve is weakening, and with 2015 not so far away, have been playing around with some ideas on paper. Characteristically, perhaps, this led to the customary itch to put brush to mini, yet I did not want to rush headlong into battalions of redcoats or grognards just yet.

It was the competition to paint the Irregular Miniatures' 6mm sized Hougoumont that is now drawing to a close over at the Angel Barracks Forum, however, that gave me an idea for a quick Napoleonic inspired task:

http://angelbarracks.forumup.com/about79-0-asc-15-angelbarracks.html

See Michael's own brilliant effort here:

http://angelbarracks.co.uk/html/angel_barracks_gallery.html#Hougoumont

Being typically contrary, I did not want to paint this 'giant' version, but rather had in mind the hidden gem amongst Irregular's 2mm Terrain pieces: namely the BG138 Hougoumont Farm.

This is a truly amazing small scale version, the only thing lacking being the large formal gardens that were positioned to the East of the Chateau complex; some research here:

http://hougoumont.wordpress.com/1-an-introduction/

gave me a template to work with so that I could sketch these out on some 1.6mm thick Artist's card:

Roughly drawing out the various tracks and the edge of the orchards and wood was done, leaving a gap for the Irregular model itself:

Next I needed an idea of how the Chateau and farm would have actually looked, and there are a number of good models and depictions available online, although in terms of the actual colours to use, one of the best I found is the short guide over at Hovels -

See here: (Warning will download as a PDF)

http://www.hovelsltd.co.uk/Painting%20Guide%20for%20Hougo.pdf

The Irregular model itself measures 50mm x 38mm, and is very nicely proportioned, its scaling being somewhat larger than the normal building groups in the 2mm range, which allows some nice details in terms of doors, windows and the various gates.

The formal gardens, appearing at roughly twice the width of the Hougoumont complex, gave me a base of some 100 x 80mm, which is pretty hefty, but would not be out of place against the battalion sized 80x40mm bases I used in the 2mm FIW project.

A quick turn around the model itself , now, starting with the North side, and the famous gate which saw the intrusion of the French at the height of the battle:

The range to the left of the gate was made up of stabling and cow sheds, to the right was the Great Barn, which was burnt down late in the day. The centre of the courtyard had a well covered at the top by a Dovecot.

The northern and southern courtyards were connected by an archway and door to the left of the Chateau itself, which at the time of the battle was unoccupied and unfurnished. There was a small door in the Western wall which gave out upon the kitchen garden and lane beyond.

The Southern courtyard held the Chapel, which still survives today, and terminated in the Southern range made up of the Gardener's House and offices. The exit here was an arched passageway with doors at both ends.

To the East, a gate penetrated the wall and led out into the formal gardens, these were surrounded by a 7 foot high wall on their East and South sides.

The mini in place, then, on the scenic base, now in better shape with some flock standing in for the trees of orchard and the wood which screened the Chateau from the French lines.

A view from the West:

As I have yet to invest in hordes of Hanoverians, Nassauers and Coldstream Guards, Her Majesty the Queen stands guard in their stead, giving a good idea of the overall size of the mini and base:

I've deliberately left the gardens flat and without trees or bushes, so that unit bases could fit into the space, either two 40x20mm, or a single 40x40mm.

There's a bit to do yet to pull the whole together, but not looking bad so far; if you're interested in how the Chateau looks today, the charity project to preserve the remains for posterity has lots of good information, definitely worth a look:

http://www.projecthougoumont.com/index.html

1/4800th Naval: Painted Examples

A look now at some painted examples of the 1/4800th Napoleonic Naval vessels from Tumbling Dice, after some amateurish daubings applied by yours truly.

A little short on time in the past week or so, I've had a go at a number of representative vessels from the selection provided by pack 48N.MSP1, rather than attempt the whole lot!

First off, I found when removing the small pieces of flash, as well as filing down the mould line visible on the bottom of the bases, that the metal/pewter used in these models is particularly hard; either that or I need some new needle files! Luckily the very small amount of flash present made this not too onerous a task, and the minis accepted a coat of PanzerGrau as an undercoat without further complaint.

Once putting brush to mini, you become aware of the excellent the job the sculptor has done in representing the various parts of the ship, and even at this tiny size, there are clear areas of detail which pop out here and there on the models; stern-castles, figureheads, ratlines, sail seams and even some deck gratings. Some of the sculpts are 'heeling over' slightly, and there is a sense of some wind filling the foresails which gives a sensation of movement, rather than being merely at anchor. The masts are somewhat caricatured, perhaps, but given the limitations of a scale this small, hold up very well.

Painting progressed with some attention to the decks and hulls, and this is where for me at least, some of the problems started. The minis are so compact, that particularly with the shorter two deckers and frigates, it is really tough to maneuver the brush to get at the detail; you really have to let the undercoat do the talking, and line or block out with colours to leave some dark areas, to hint at the detail rather than try to paint it.

This is re-inforced when you come to the sails, in that these too can be very close together, so are quite fiddly to be consistent with.

Finally the depiction of colour strokes and gunport hatches to the hull sides need a very steady hand, certainly one better than mine, as although in the larger sculpts there are definite indentations showing gun ports, these aren't always easy to paint in.

As a whole however, once you've gone through these various stages of slight frustration and compromise, the whole comes up pretty well being greater than the sum of its parts, and looks good; a better painter than myself could probably produce a better finished article.

First up, two Three Deck 1st raters from the 48N1 pack:

(I must correct an omission from my previous post in that I suggested that only the 2 decker and frigate packs had different sizes of vessel; this pack also contains two differently sized sculpts, one longer hulled, and two slightly shorter ones...)

The longer hull, which would make a nice 120 gunner, perhaps, and has the easiest gun ports to paint:

and one of the shorter hulls, nicely delineated sense of being a three decker:

The longer hulled example from the 48N2 2 decker pack:

and her smaller sister ship; this one was pretty frustrating to work on with those close-together sail sets!

The larger frigate hull from 48N3:

and the smaller:

Finally, the Sloop from 48N4; the photos of the Brig and Cutter didn't come out, too small really for even Macro to pick out, but very nice nevertheless:

Overall, I'm quite pleased with how things have gone so far; I've decided on a 'generic' ship approach, with individuality being added by perhaps removable name-plates on the bases, enabling a wide range of ships to be depicted, although just what shape these bases will take has yet to be decided....

If I was feeling churlish, I might say that the results obtained involve quite a lot of work for a mini this small in size, in that having to paint each side of numerous sets of sails doesn't produce the effect you might obtain from a larger miniature, say 1/2400th or even 1/1200th, in that there is quite a lot of time spent for perhaps an average outcome, with a small visual impact.

Then again, once finished, there is something really quite charming about the 'cut of their jib', and the more I painted, the fonder I became of them; anyway, they certainly provide plenty of possibilities for those working on a budget, or just wanting to tackle something a bit different as a weekend project.

I think mine probably need some more attention, and I neglected to apply an ink wash before photographing them, which should serve to bring the look together somewhat better overall, I think.

So perhaps 7 out of 10 then, although a better painter/modeller could probably do a lot more with them than I could, and probably quicker, too!