First samples

I ordered a first small batch of Oddzial Osmy samples from Magister Militum to see what they looked like. Just a few different packs.

• NAP601  Infantry in shako
• NAP602  Infantry in shako with plume
• NAP604  Infantry in shako with command
• NAP635  Chasseurs a cheval
• NAP636  Chasseurs a cheval with command

For a price of GBP 3,50 per pack (EUR 3,75) they are very affordable.

The order was shipped to me (from Great Britain to the Netherlands) within 2 days and arrived 6 days after shipping.

My first reaction when I saw the 3mm's was "they are indeed small !", but I also noticed the large amount of detail.

The infantry comes in 15 strips of 10 man each per pack, for the command packs 3 different strips (5 each) with different amount of man. The cavalry comes in 15 strips of 3 man, where the command pack has 5 command strips and 10 regular strips. So that's 150 infantry or 45 cavalry per pack !

Most of the strips have a bit of "flash" (leftovers from the molding process) but that can easily be removed with a good pair of scissors or a small wire cutter.

Painting

In the meantime I had already read some other blogs and forums about 3 mm's and took some important tips from them.

• Use a primer.
• Use bright colors.
• Paint units, not individual figures so don't bother about every detail.

So I bought some supplies for the paint job. As primer I bought a small spray can of grey Tamiya modelling primer. Next on the list were some brushes and a few bottles of Vallejo paint. I decided to buy only the basic colors and blend them as required. I choose a total of 10 colors:

• black
• white
• flesh
• blue
• green
• yellow
• red
• brown
• silver
• gold

I was ready to start.

At first I thought of painting only the basic uniform colors. For the French infantry that would be a blue coat, white trousers and black shako with a dot of flesh and a stripe of brown and silver for the muskets. The chasseurs would get a brown horse, green coat and trousers, black shako and silver sword. All along the way the temptation to add some more details grew and I tried to add a hint of the reverse colors for the uniforms. Applying them on the right place was however a challenge. I always say that inspite of my 55 years of age, my eyes are still okay but my arms are getting too short. But even my reading glasses couldn't help me doing the job as I desired.
So I ordered a magnifying lamp to assist me and it prooved to be very helpfull.

In the end the result was satisfying, although I realised that with time I would get more experienced and could achieve better results.

Unit organisation

After a lot of reading, both online and offline, I decided on the following unit scales.

French Infantry

One company consists of 3 ranks of 10 man (3 strips).

A battallion has 4 fusilier companies, one grenadier company and one voltigeur company, making a total of 180 man per batallion. This would mean a 1:3 ratio (compared to actual strength). For the fusiliers I will use the regular infantry in shako and for the grenadiers and voltigeurs I use the infantry in shako with plumes. One of the fusilier companies will carry a flag. With 4 x NAP601, 2 x NAP602 and 1 x NAP 604 packs, I can make 5 complete battallions and I will have some command figures left for the regimental command group and a group of sappeurs.

French cavalry

One squadron consists of 4 strips of 3 man. The regiment will have 4 squadrons (most of the time, depending on the order of battle and losses during the campaign) where 1 squadron will have a (regimental) command strip. Total of 48 man per regiment would mean  a 1:8 ratio. I'm still in doubt of the squadron size and comtemplating if I should double them  to 8 strips of 3 man, making the ratio 1:4 and thus closing to the infantry ratio.

Basing

The final thing to think about is basing. I have seen bases containing complete batallions of regiments, but although they look great, I prefer to have more flexibility in unit formations. I want to be able to use a march column, column by platoon, column by division, line, square and using skirmishers or not. That leads to a standard base of 10 x 10 mm with 3 ranks of 5 infantry or 3 cavalry on them. I use thin cardboard (cereal packs) and apply a piece of sheet magnet at the bottom. Because moving all the bases individually is not realistic, I will make movement trays from 0,75 mm steel plate where the magnets will stick to. The trays will have different dimensions, based on the unit type and formation used. I still have to make my first trays so I will report later more about them.

That's it for now.

I've ordered a second batch from Magister Militum consisting of 20 packs including some artilery, line lancers and more infantry.

Adventures in 3 mm

Welcome

This is a blog that tells the story of my adventures in building a miniature version of the Battle of Waterloo in scale 1:600 or 3mm.

The French cavalry charge at Waterloo

How I started

During the summer of 2018 I was enjoying a vacation under the Greek sun. While browsing away on my phone, I came across some sites that sell Napoleonic miniatures. As I did some 25 mm 30 years ago, and still remain interested in the Napoleonic area and wargaming, I started reading.

I saw the immense variety of scales that are available nowadays and was thrilled by the range from Warlordgames, especially the bigger packs with complete brigades or divisions. Drawback was that they are 28 mm with about 28 man to a battallion. I really like bigger units. Then I saw the smaller scales like 15 mm's and Baccus's 6 mm's and my enthousiasm increased. I started thinking about picking up that phantastic hobby of collecting miniatures, studying historical books and uniform descriptions, painting, modelling and enjoying the end result.

I almost had decided to go for the 6 mm's when I came across the even smaller scale of 3 mm's. They looked stunning: enough detail to recognize the different troop types, the low costs and the possibility to create real huge looking armies.

Of course I also saw 2 mm miniatures but they were almost inrecognisable as Napoleonic troops, so I skipped them right away.

The 3 mm's got my attention and in my mind I was already forming my armies. Back home I decided to order a few packs as sample to see what they looked like and how they handled.

That was the start of it all.

What my goals are

At work we say: "think big, start small" (very agile ;-) 

Small not only applies to the scale of the miniatures but also in what you do, small steps. Of course the ultimate wet dream would be a representation of the complete Battle of Waterloo, but even in 3 mm that would still be a huge challenge. Therefore I start with the western part of the field (west of the Charleroi-Bruxelles road, including Hougoumont, so no Prussians yet). First step is for the French side the 6th Infantry Division under Jerome Bonaparte and the 2nd Cavalry Division under Piré. Second step will be some allied troops like Nassau and British Guards.

I also plan on making a model of Hougoumont.

As far as wargaming is concerned, I have no intention yet to use the models for that, but might do so in the future. I might try to work out a ruleset for myself and make a neat Excel application (programming in VBA) to support that. But first things first.


My next post will report my first experience with the 3mm's.