Home Forums Horse and Musket Napoleonic 6mm MDF Napoleonics

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  • #33598
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    ….from Commission Figurines. Curlerman convinced me to take the plunge because, at two pounds for a pack of 96, they are cheaper than even O8’s 3mm stuff.

    They are great!

    My packs have just arrived and here are some things I have learned already.

    The eight man long infantry strips are just a teeny bit above 40mm in lenght.

    That said, you can cut these suckers apart with sharp craft blade in no time flat. I cut mine into individual pieces in order to make my units look more tightly packed and not perfectly regimented.

    Take Curlerman’s advice and strengthen the connection between figure and base with a dab of superglue — on the back for the front rankes and in the front foe the back ranks.

    Ditto the bayonets on the marching infantry. These are very fragle (but when have bayonets ever not been?)

    I am building 32 figure infantry units and 12 figure horse units. This gives you three units per pack.

    The only clunky sculpts so far are the wheels on the cannon, which are about twice as thick as they should be. Nevertheless, they still look quite good. And the caissons! You get enough bits to make pretty much any artillery vehicle you want, including Austrian “Wurst Wagons”. And, if anything, you get too many horses.

    These figures are the shizz! I will defintiely be buying more. Walt has a winner, here.

    I am planning on building an Old School wooden soldiers set up. A question, though: would it be wrong to flock my old school bases?

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

    #33601
    Avatar photoAlvin Molethrottler
    Participant

    Thaddeus, any chance of some pictures? I’m quite intrigued by this.

    #33602
    Avatar photoSteve Johnson
    Participant

    I’ve bought some sample figures and agree that they are brilliant. I’ve based my for Black Powder on 30mm x 15mm bases, with two rows of four figures. I’ll try and put some pics up later, once I’ve found the camera!

    As for basing, I flocked mine so that they fit in with my gaming mat and scenery. I did consider going ‘old school’, but then I’d want to have terrain that looked ‘old school’ as well. Time and space preclude that option at present. The only thing I would say is that for me ‘old school’ looks right when based in nice regimented rank and file. Personally I would keep them in neat strips.

    #33604
    Avatar photoAlvin Molethrottler
    Participant

    I know this is going to sound like a daft question but, perhaps if sealed with PVA first, could these figures be coloured in with, say, felt tip pens?

    #33610
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    null

    Molly the Cat in 1800 scale provided as a reference.

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

    #33618
    Avatar photoGuy Farrish
    Participant

    Think the cat was too many pixels :^l

    #33632
    Avatar photocurlerman
    Participant

    The only clunky sculpts so far are the wheels on the cannon, which are about twice as thick as they should be. Nevertheless, they still look quite good.  would it be wrong to flock my old school bases?

    The wheels are thick because they are cut from 2mm MDF but the wheels are easily fixed. Stand them on edge and cut straight down with a sharp knife. they split on a natural straight line. I flock to match my terrain boards. To get the toy soldier effect you need to do it across all the product. Terrain boards too

    wheels

    Winning is not important but losing i just can't handle..
    blog http://flownlegions.blogspot.com.es
    web http://www.angelfire.com/games4/bobsgames/hair_curlers.htm

    #33634
    Avatar photoLagartija Mike
    Spectator

    These would make great March of the Wooden Soldier grenadiers. All you’d need would be some Foundry Africans flocked with black fuzz to a retro-racist polish for the Boogeymen and a molting, leering anthropomorphic rat in a toy zeppelin.

    #33635
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Curlerman, I am worried that standard Woodlands Scenics medium green flocking is too dark for these guys.

    What flocking do you use?

    I discovered the fix for the wheels myself this morning. As you say, a quick downward slice with a sharp knife at the halfway mark and Bob’s yer uncle!

    Steve, I am basing as you do: eight infantry per 20×15 stand, four saptands per unit. Cavalry is six figs per 40 x 15 stand, two stands per unit.

    I like the slight variantipn caused by individual basing. Even though in theory old school games were more regulamented, in practice the units showed much variation, the figures being individually mounted.

    I will try to get some better pics up tomorrow. Not sure why the one pic I posted isn’t showing. :/

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

    #33636
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    One thing is for sure: Imdefinitelyndo not have the patience to mod these guys out like you do, Curlerman. MDF is a bitch to work withh as it splinters quite easily.

    I am prepping the figs by dabbing their legs with superglue, as you suggest. I am also painting the bayonets of the marching infantry with wood glue.

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

    #33647
    Avatar photoNot Connard Sage
    Participant

    Curlerman, I am worried that standard Woodlands Scenics medium green flocking is too dark for these guys.

     

    Use Woodland Scenics light green flocking then 😉

    Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

    #33651
    Avatar photocurlerman
    Participant

    Curlerman, I am worried that standard Woodlands Scenics medium green flocking is too dark for these guys. What flocking do you use?

    This one

    http://totalsystemscenic.com/product/tssf01-verdant-green-flock/

     

    Winning is not important but losing i just can't handle..
    blog http://flownlegions.blogspot.com.es
    web http://www.angelfire.com/games4/bobsgames/hair_curlers.htm

    #33738
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

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

    #33739
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

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

    #33740
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    There we go!

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

    #33744
    Avatar photoSteve Johnson
    Participant

    Oh my are those nice! Excellent job Thaddeus. The single basing works out far better than I thought it would. I know my hands are too shaky for that these days.

    #33800
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Thanks, Steve! Yeah, I think that basing them closer together and just a tad irregularly really helps here. Still don’t know what I should do re: flocking or even if I should flock.

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

    #33811
    Avatar photoSteve Johnson
    Participant

    You have two options IMHO:

    Go properly ‘old school’ and leave them as they are. That then raises the issue of do they work with th rest of your terrain? Somehow I think this actually works really well with the figures.

    Go ‘modern basing’ with grit and flock. This is the route I will choose simply as I then don’t have to make any different terrain!

    #33812
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    I think I will go Old School for now. I can always flock later, right? I wish I could make some abstract wooden trees, but I think I will have to use clump flock for that. Buildings are going to be in three mm scale, made out of card. White with red roofs.

    I want to find this green, however:

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

    #33816
    Avatar photoSteve Johnson
    Participant

    In the UK we can go to a DIY store and get emulsion paint mixed to pretty much any colour you want. Not sure if you have that option in Brazil?

    Re: old school trees, I vaguely remember someone making some simple 2D profile trees that actually looked pretty good, as they matched the rest of the terrain in visual terms.

    You’ve now given me food for thought on this Thaddeus, as ‘old school’ is becoming rather tempting…

    #33830
    Avatar photowillz
    Participant

    Thaddeus They are Mark Dudley’s gaming boards.  Who used Dulux Tarragon Glory no 2 to achieve a retro look. It’s a vivid green, he suggest trying a testor pot first.

    #33831
    Avatar photoLagartija Mike
    Spectator

    Exactly what is “Old School”?

    #33832
    Avatar photoNot Connard Sage
    Participant

    Exactly what is “Old School”?

     

    The painting style, rules, terrain, and massed figures of Featherstone/Grant/Young/Wise.

     

    Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

    #33833
    Avatar photoGuy Farrish
    Participant

    Henry Hyde championed it for a long time (probably still does) but there was something of a ‘split ‘ for a while as ‘Old School’ obviously means different things to different people depending when they started gaming. Generally as NCS said but some later dragged Bruce Quarrie and Phil Barker and even Newbury rules into the term which is not what the progenitors of the term had in mind I think.

    For a start in further research try the Yahoo Group

    Old School Wargaming

    You may need to register for a good trawl through the files (it seems a lot quieter over the last year) but you’ll get the flavour.

    #33834
    Avatar photoNot Connard Sage
    Participant

    Generally as NCS said but some later dragged Bruce Quarrie and Phil Barker and even Newbury rules into the term which is not what the progenitors of the term had in mind I think.

     

    Barker, well WRG back then, were the antithesis of Old School. They were all about ‘realistic’, ‘historical’, and ‘accurate’.

    Quarrie and others added layers of complexity to periods other than Ancients, and don’t even get me started about the Newbury bollox.

    Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

    #33835
    Avatar photoLagartija Mike
    Spectator

    Other than Barker most of that means nothing to me. I need to complete my rules library, especially the old stuff (to me anything back beyond the mid80s).

    #33842
    Avatar photoNot Connard Sage
    Participant

    We’re talking the 1960s through to the mid 1970s here, youngster…

     

    Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

    #33858
    Avatar photoGuy Farrish
    Participant

    Barker, well WRG back then, were the antithesis of Old School. They were all about ‘realistic’, ‘historical’, and ‘accurate’. Quarrie and others added layers of complexity to periods other than Ancients, and don’t even get me started about the Newbury bollox.

    Oh I concur, wholeheartedly. It amused me no end when I first heard the term ‘Old School’ used about them (by people who hadn’t started gaming until the late 80s/90s I suppose) until I remembered trying to make Tercio and Newbury Renaissance (Constantinople to Vienna?) work and then the laughter stopped.

    #33863
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    “Tarragon Glory”…?

    I’m not going to have to wear a tie and cardigan though, right?

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

    #33866
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    I wonder what Charles Grant would have thought if he’d lived to see this…?

    http://www.cafepress.com/cp/moredetails.aspx?showBleed=false&ProductNo=31215448&colorNo=1&pr=F&subFront=&subBack=

    You’d’ve thunk TMP would’ve come up with it first….

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

    #33898
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Almost makes me want to send a pair to Henry Hyde as a lark. “Old School Wargaming: Be a pretentious c**t.”

    (Sorry, Henry…. 😉 )

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

    #34009
    Avatar photoGlenn Pearce
    Spectator

    Hello Lagartija Mike!

    As has been said “Old School” means different things to different people. The common explanation I’ve heard is that it refers to any rule set where your figures are mounted on small bases so that you can change formation with your battalions. “New School” is any rule set where your figures are mounted on a single base for your battalions, regiments, brigades or Divisions.

    Best regards,

    Glenn

    #34010
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Hmmm. Well, I played Old School straight out of “Charge” and I always had my figures mounted on trays, as the rules suggested.

    That said, Old School tends to have the following charateristics, in my opinion (note that word “tends”: it’s there for a reason):

    1) No flocking: bases and table painted or draped with an intense green.
    2) Big figures: 20mm at least.
    3) Few figure poses.
    4) ImagiNations.
    5) simple rules that make for a quick and easy game, as opposed to a simulation.
    6) Big battalions of individuallynposed figures.

    Obviously, my 6mm set-up will be to Old School as hipsters are to hippies: there’s a decided resemblance and ancestry, but the new stuff is different.

    Foind my green today, by the way. A big jar of what is called “Light English Green”. If it isn’t “Tarragon Glory 2”, it is a close cousin.

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

    #34014
    Avatar photoGlenn Pearce
    Spectator

    Hello Thaddeus!

    Keep in mind that from birth “Old School” pretty much only had your six points. There was very little else to choose from. Even today perhaps only a couple of them have changed and or have more options.

    The intense green was not really that popular. Most of the games I played in and saw were all dark green, as the most common cloth used was a dark green felt.

    It is, however, nice that you have these images in your mind and are working on a project to bring it to life. I’m certainly looking forward to seeing it all when your finished.

    Best regards,

    Glenn

    #34026
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    Painted the first baseboard with my green. Nice but too electric. So I stippled it with khaki and very small ammounts of light green and now it looks right. I have kept the stands’ bases brilliant green, however, to direct light upwards and highlight the figures. So far, it looks pretty good. ‘

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

    #34033
    Avatar photoSteve Williams
    Participant

    They look great . Do they have any raised detail on them or do you have to paint them like flats and figure  the hightlights and shades yourself?

    #34034
    Avatar photoSteve Williams
    Participant

    OK I’m interested. Where do you buy them?

    #34072
    Avatar photoSteve Williams
    Participant

    Apologies for bumping this but I looked at the website that was mentioned by the op but couldn’t see any way if buying the figures

    Anyone know the best way?

     

    #34073
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    I just sent Commission Figurines an e-mail. Walt is a dear and worked with me through a long, drawn out purchasing process. He was very attentive and easy to order from.

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

    #34074
    Avatar photoThaddeus Blanchette
    Participant

    The figures do have significant ammounts of raised detail, Steve. Not as much as metal figures, obviously, but still.

    Backpacks, shakos, horse bridles are all raised as are, surprisingly, faces.

    Other details – rifles, straps, pants etc. – are line engraved into the figures.

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

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