A little bit of 6mm

A good while ago I was gifted a huge stash of 6mm Napoleonics in varying degrees of readiness.  It has been a very slow, back burner project, but I completed another base this month.

While I am still to settle on what rules to use, could be Blucher or a cut down version of Napoleon's Battles or Snappy Nappy, the base is meant to represent a French infantry brigade of four battalions.

With these figures I was trying out a new painting technique that I came across on YouTube that focussed on painting the figures black and then just picking out the prominent features.  The important thing is they look good from a distance, i.e. on the table top, if I ever progress the project that far.

Stocktake of Unpainted 6mm Napoleonic Figures

This is a follow on to this post from 2015.

Here is a list of all the unpainted 6mm Napoleonic figures I have.

Packet ID	Code	Content	Description
001	BN25	54 figs inc cmd	Highlanders
002	BN20	21 figs inc cmd	LC Tarleton
003	BN12	2 models	Gun teams
004	BN4	79 figs inc cmd	Riflemen skirmishing
005	BN20	22 figs inc cmd	LC Tarleton
006	BN3	25 figs 6 guns	Foot artillery
007	BN9	30 figs 6 guns	RHA
008	BN20	21 figs	LC Tarleton
009	SN4	21 figs inc cmd	Dragoons bicorns
010	SN4	21 figs inc cmd	Dragoons bicorns
011	AN14	53 figs inc cmd	Musketeers adv helmets
012	AN13	93 figs inc cmd	Musketeers adv shakos
013	AN11	158 figs inc cmd	Landwher
014	PN11	51 figs inc cmd	Musketeers advancing
015	PN2	50 figs inc cmd	Jaegers skirmishing
016	PN11	51 figs inc cmd	Musketeers advancing
017	PN13	54 figs inc cmd	1806 Musketeers advancing
018	BN4	51 figs inc cmd	Riflemen skirmishing
019	FN27	33 figs	Grenadier attacking
020	FN4	71 figs	Voltigeur skirmishing
021	FN21	52 figs inc cmd	Light infantry marching
022	FN27	52 figs inc cmd	Grenadiers attacking
023	FN26	51 figs inc cmd	Fusiliers advancing
024	FN6	63 figs inc cmd	Chasseurs a Cheval
025	FN33	52 figs inc cmd	Grenadiers in greatcoats
026	FN28	52 figs inc cmd	Fusiliers in greatcoats
027	FN12	42 figs in cmd	Hussards
028	FN13	21 figs inc cmd	Line lancers
029	FN2	21 figs inc cmd	Guard Polish Lancers
030	FN19	42 figs in cmd	Line Dragoons
031	FN19	42 figs in cmd	Line Dragoons
032	FN26	104 figs inc cmd	Fusiliers advancing
033	FN28	104 figs inc cmd	Fusiliers in greatcoats
034	FN14	104 figs inc cmd	Fusiliers
035	FN1	52 figs inc cmd	Grenadiers
036	FN33	52 figs inc cmd	Grenadiers in greatcoats
037	FN4	52 figs inc cmd	Voltigeur skirmishing
038	FN8	36 figs 6 guns	Guard Foot Artillery
039	FN11	21 figs inc cmd	Guard Chasseurs a Cheval
040	FN9	42 figs 6 guns	Guard Horse Artillery
041	FN7	21 figs inc cmd	Guard Horse Grenadiers
042	FN32	37 figs inc cmd	Guard Engineers & Tartars
043	FN24	36 figs inc cmd	Guard Marines & Mameluks
044	FN20	51 figs inc cmd	Guard Chasseurs a Pied
045	FN2	21 figs inc cmd	Guard Polish Lancers
046	BN15	48 figs inc cmd	Light infantry skirmishing
047	BN21	58 figs inc cmd	Infantry Stovepipe Shako
048	BN1	58 figs inc cmd	Infantry Belgic Shako
049	BN21	50 figs inc cmd	Infantry Stovepipe Shako
050	BN21	110 figs inc cmd	Infantry Stovepipe Shako
051	BN21	90 figs inc cmd	Infantry Stovepipe Shako
052	BN21	55 figs inc cmd	Infantry Stovepipe Shako
053	BN19	110 figs inc cmd	Infantry Stovepipe attacking
054	AN4	42 figs inc cmd	Cuirassiers
055	AN7	42 figs inc cmd	Hussars
056	AN4	49 figs inc cmd	Cuirassiers
057	AN5	105 figs 20 guns	Artillery
058	AN10	4 models	Gun teams
059	AN8	29 figs	Staff
060	AN2	52 figs inc cmd	Grenadiers
061	AN15	103 figs inc cmd	Grenadiers attacking
062	AN6	39 figs inc cmd	Musketeers helmets
063	BN11	26 figs inc cmd	Light Dragoons
064	AN3	37 figs inc cmd	Jaegers skirmishing
065	Irregular	11 bases
066	BN16	13 figs	Officers
067	FN23	56 figures	Engineers
068	FN15	9 models	Limbers, caissons and teams
069	FN3	85 figs 17 guns	Line artillery, 6x6pdrs, 11x12pdrs
070	FN25	84 crew 17 guns	Line horse artillery
071	FN18	3 models	Wagons and teams
072	FN2	18 figs	Guard Polish Lancers
073	FN25	30 crew 6 guns	Line horse artillery
074	FN17	35 figs	Napoleon and Marshalls
075	FN3	30 crew 6 guns	Line artillery
076	FN14	47 figs inc cmd	Line Fusiliers
077	FN4	21 figs	Voltigeur skirmishing
078	FN27	15 figs	Grenadiers advancing

6mm Cuirassiers

One day Mark Woods decided he wanted to try painting some 6mm French Cuirassiers.  He did a magnificent job, but said something like "never again" and passed them on to me.  I just had to base them.  Of course I couldn't help but fit them out with some new all red plumes and dark blue portmanteaux.

Empress Dragoons - 6mm

Using Heroics and Ros pack FN22 I've created this Blucher style base for the Empress Dragoons, or, to give them their formal title: Dragons de la Garde Impériale.

I'm still working my way through doing a stocktake of the 6mm lead mountain, but when I started doing this regiment in 15mm I thought I'd knock up the same unit in 6mm.

Here they are.

Brunswickers for Blucher

After lots of angst I took the plunge and (I know it's cheating) "painted" up some 6mm Heroics and Ros figures for the three Brunswick brigades that took part in the Waterloo campaign.

The angst was not in the painting but in the basing and positioning (unit representation) of figures as well as deciding to go with a three by two inch base.  One of the reasons for that size base is that it works in well with the Napoleon's Battles rules.

The basing compound is plaster and then over painted with a few different shades of green.  I ended up going lighter and brighter as I think the 6mm figures need it.

As for representation, 12 infantry equal a battalion and 3 cavalry a squadron and one gun a battery.

I think 6mm look good from a distance.

One squadron of Uhlans and four of Hussars.

The man himself.  

It will do as the divisional commander for Napoleon's Battles as well as the Hero base for Blucher.

 (I'm not sure how heroes work in Blucher, but easily doing the stand is the beauty of 6mm).

Buttlar's Brigade incorporating Lieb Battalion, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Light and Heinemann's Horse Artillery battery

Specht's brigade incorporating the Avantgarde, 1st, 2nd and 3rd Line and Moll's Foot Artillery.

I had fun doing the flags and collars which is the only distinction at this scale.

The view from the rear.

The 6mm bases shown with the Blucher unit cards.

If these bases ever get used I will probably either make up a roster or attach a label.

Visually it should be obvious that the infantry brigades have attached artillery (and maybe I shouldn't have done so many skirmishers) and that the cavalry is under strength as per the Blucher rules.

I'm thinking of doing future French and British units on one inch square bases to provide flexibility for Napoleon's Battle rules and also to allow for different configurations for Blucher.  It is also possible I might do a bit more diorama work on the bases, but time will tell.  As it is I'm surprisingly happy with these.

Minor Update 3 April 2017

The base sizes are 3 inches by 2 inches.

A little bit of progress on my 6mm project

Well, I've just about settled on 30x30mm and multiples of tha as the basing size.  This will work for Blucher and Napoleon's Battles (more or less).  60x30 also seems to be a standard in the 6mm world based on my research.

Also want the thin look to the bases, possibly with just painted texture and minimal or no flock.  I'm yet to try basing techniques.  With the guys I've just done, if I was to cover the individual figure bases the result would be a substantial (a mm) and if I was using 1mm plasticard and then magnetic paper it would be over 2mm by the time I'd finished.

My first attempt at painting 6mm Napoleonics in 25 years.  They were already undercoated white and grouped as four figure on little bases. I should have washed them as my black undercoated had a few problems taking.

The basing is just temporary, with the little strips held on by blu-tack.  I'm happy how the figures look from the distance, but they do need a flag.  This base could have an officer along side or other single figure, and of course bigger bases allow even more innovation/styling.

In my 6mm bonanza are a good number of painted figures and I've assembled these to see how they look (just placed on the base, not even blu-tacked). 60x30mm base.

Flags help immeasurably.  All I've done to these figures is over paint the base in a matching green (which is Tamiya Olive Green - the older, brighter green can be seen peaking out in places).

What is the collective noun for 6mm figures?

I don't know, but this is what it looks like:

A  mess of guns and some cavalry.

Sorted out some of the infantry on this tray.

More troops - mix of French, British, Austrians, Spanish, Portuguese and ?.

I like these guys - British rifles by Irregular (my guess). 

More troops.

And still more.

But wait, there is more.

Even sprayed out they are two layers here and each layer is of multiple bags.

James of the ANF was the source of this bonanza and at least some of these belonged to his dad and Tony (I won't say any more on their source as I don'y know the details - perhaps James might contribute via the comments).

I have a soft spot for Heroics and Ros having used them to build a 6mm army in the early 1990s.

What to do with them?  With my first army I based them for Napoleon's Battles using 15mm basing, but my current thinking is to go for big bases for Blucher.  At 3.5 inches wide and 2.5 inches deep a big base provides an opportunity to host a good number of 6mm figures in an attempt to represent the brigade formation used in Blucher (at least I hope it does).

So, here are some potential configurations: 

I'm currently reviewing blogs and forums and anything else I can find to get ideas.  There is a lot of inspiring and informative stuff out there.

One of my first decisions will be do I build for a specific Order of Battle (the 100 Days being an obvious one) or do I go generic (and if I go generic do I need to be flexible or do I have enough just to create bases in a good variety of configurations).

Whatever I do I want to avoid anything that is fiddly, mounting troops on plinth like bases and overpowering the resultant bases with labels.

5mm Samples

Can an old dog relearn his tricks?

Mark provided me with these 5mm strips and a few hours later I produced the following.  Most time went on researching uniforms and deciding what paints to use.

The ACW came up best and for my purposes are what I am looking for - they look great enmass on big bases.  The knights and hoplites in my opinion really deserve larger figures so the livery and shield designs can be fully revealed.

I can't recall which brand the ACW strip is (the others are Heroics and Ros), but they have character even if their hats are a bit big.  The magnification provided by the digital photos is a bit scary.

The Last 5mm Stand

As I have already said in some related posts I used to have a 5mm Napoleonic Russian army using Heroics and Ros figures and based on the forces comprising the Russian Right Wing at Borodino.  It is the only army I have ever sold and I did so to move into 15mm Napoleonics.

These pictures are of the only stand I kept from that army, a division commander.  It was painted over 20 years ago and I am just amazed - I even did the eyes, I couldn't even do that recently on the Airfix Napoleonic figures I painted recently.