2mm figures. Now what?

[Ivan Sorensen]

So i bought a few packs of 2mm troops and terrain (from Irregular) and I am pleasantly surprised, but now I don’t know what to do with them.

They’re 19th century types in ranks so they could be napoleonic, acw, fpw, early ww1 even.

tell me why any one of those is completely amazing and I’ll do a cack-handed attempt at painting them for that.

Nordic Weasel Games
https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/5701/Nordic-Weasel-Games?src=browse5701

[kyoteblue]

The Horror….

[Chris Pringle]

Take a look at what Franz Decker and his friends in Munster have done with 2mm for 19th century battles: Montebello (1859), Langensalza (1866), Coulmiers (1870).

http://muenster-wargaming-english.blogspot.co.uk/

Absolutely beautiful work. Hope it inspires you!

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!

https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info

http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[Chris Pringle]

PS to answer your actual question of why (I think) FPW and other late C19 wars are “completely amazing”:

“Why is this period so interesting? To answer that, consider the Napoleonic era which precedes it. By 1815, after 25 years of continuous continental warfare, broadly the same weapons and tactics are common to all European armies (albeit some are better at using them than others). The ‘holy trinity’ of protection, mobility, and firepower, as embodied by the three arms of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, is in perfect balance, making battle a kind of complex exercise of rock-scissors-paper between very similar forces.

But as the century wears on, disruptive technologies appear: breech-loading rifles in the 1840s, breech-loading rifled artillery in the 1850s, machine-guns and repeating rifles in the 1860s. And not only weaponry, but also railroads, steamships, ironclads, the telegraph, observation balloons …
And while technology develops apace, most nations spend most of the time at peace. Consequently, each time a war breaks out, the protection-mobility-firepower equation has been modified, and each time, the armies engaged have to learn new lessons the hard way – in some cases, the wrong lessons, which then cost them dearly in their next conflict.

The bad news for the troops is that constant improvements in weaponry mean that maneuver under fire becomes more and more difficult, and battle gradually reduces to a contest between firepower and protection. This eventually reaches its apex in the static trench warfare of the First World War, with mobility squeezed out almost entirely.

But the good news for wargamers is that, for the few decades we are interested in, tactical maneuver persists. War continues to be decided not by long weeks or months of attrition across hundreds of miles, but by decisive clashes between whole armies lasting usually no more than a day or two. These are fought on battlefields just a few miles across, making it possible to capture an entire battle in one tabletop miniatures game.

Furthermore, the evolution of weapons and tactics means that many of these conflicts pit opponents of very different character against each other, making for some fascinating interactions at the tactical level.”

Chris

Bloody Big BATTLES!

https://uk.groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/BBB_wargames/info

http://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk/

[Thaddeus Blanchette]

They aren’t hard to paint at all, Ivan. Here’s what you do…

Basecoat white.

Paint top half uniform coat color. One swipe is all you need.

Paint bottom half pants color. One swipe is all you need.

Paint backpack brown or medium grey.

Paint heads medium grey.

Give light grey or light brown wash. “Light” is the key here.

Go back and retouch pants and coats with the brightest tone of the appropriate color you can find.

Paint the bases your base color. I suggest a tan or bright green.

Prostep: dot a small bit of fleshtone where the face is. This is not at all necessary, but I like to do it.

The two keys here are: paint the figure block impressionisticly and paint BRIGHT. You need the maximum amount of light possible.

 

 

 

We get slapped around, but we have a good time!

[MartinR]

I always do the faces on my 2mm stuff, often the hands too.

Wrt periods, frankly if you paint up a bunch of generic Austrians (white), Prussians (dark blue), French (blue), British, Hanoverians, Garibaldini (red) and Russians (green) you can do the entire period from 1792 to 1870 and beyond.

 

One of my pals just has generic grey and blue 2mm armies.

Personally I’m a huge fan of the Austro Prussian War, but that may just be me.

Cheers

Martin

 

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[MartinR]

My original 2mm stuff was for the WSS, but I’ve added more elements now (mainly pike and fully armoured horse) so I’ve been committing dreadful sins like using the Foot Guards as shot elements for ECW battles.

My Napoleonic and nineteenth century stuff is all 6mm, much of it decades old.

I have found with 2mm you need to mark the rear base edges as it is very easy to get elements turned around. Colour coding helps with identification, particularly if everyone is wearing blue or white uniforms.

"Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified" - Helmuth von Moltke

[Ivan Sorensen]

Yeah, I was thinking of painting the back edge of the base.
The wood bases I use are very thick, so it’d be easily visible but from the other players perspective, it won’t look distracting.

I guess you can get pretty generic with the uniforms too.
Could you really tell apart 1864 Danes from 1864 Union infantry from 1870 Prussians at this scale?
Maybe a bit.

Nordic Weasel Games
https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/5701/Nordic-Weasel-Games?src=browse5701

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