Likely the most popular scale for wargaming, I first bumped into figures this size in the 70s. Shifting to this scale was a big jump at the time resulting from the discovery of half price stock of 15mm Napoleonic figures at a local hobby shop. Escalating costs for larger figures made the transition easier.
A large grouping of Assyrian soldiers in 15mm by Essex painted about as brightly as I could. Chariots are a pain in the neck to paint, even worse than cavalry but what would an ancient army be without chariots? All figures are mounted for Empire which seems to use a narrow depth for its base. Likely these will all be rebased at some point for DBM.
Here, I am leaning heavily on acrylics with enamels only in evidence in the metallic parts. Because I am trying to paint quickly, some faces are a bit askew but the overall effect from a distance is good. Time for painting is limited so I must get as many as is reasonable done in a relatively short time. One might also notice my annoying tendency to give everyone blue eyes. I had no desire to focus on any historical information here but rather painted an army I thought would look interesting, using both pure and mixed colors with a limited palette leaning heavily on green, red, brown, and blue.
15mm Essex Late Middle Ages figures. Fair warning that I no longer try for historical accuracy in painting. I am less than convinced by the standards often used to make a determination. Frankly, I just like to know which side is which.
After a few years, a larger army. It grows when the time is available. Still, mostly Essex. Tents are Baueda.Continue reading →
Book 1 of Napoleon’s Battles offers some generic formations for the main combatants. Shown above is a Russian corps with two brigades of infantry and a separate artillery force. Commanding officers’ ranks are indicated by the number of figures per base as well as the size of the base. Each regimental group includes a command unit with ensign, commanding officers, and musician. I have used larger bases for artillery than shown in the rules as it was difficult to cram all those pieces on the base size the rules specified.
The total number of figures here is 124 which gives some indication of just how many of these little guys is necessary for a game. A corps sized formation would likely be as small a force as one would field using these rules. Also worth considering is, that for infantry, the scale is 1 figure = 120 men. To recreate any reasonable size battle from the Napoleonic era would likely require hundreds of figures on either side.
Most of the figures shown above are Heritage/Empire, the artillery and crews and most of the mounted officers are Battle Honors, and the figures on the regimental command bases are by Stan Johansen.
The quickest way for me to tell which figures are Battle Honors and which are Heritage is to see which ones fall off their horses. Battle Honors cast horses separately while Heritage present a single piece. One thing about miniatures rules is that as time went on, the rules provided roles for every kind of figure. Napoleon’s Battles demanded a command unit in every regiment, a command figure for every battalion, 2 command figures for each corps and 3 for an army.
These first were released sometime in the 70s and include hussars, dragoons, and cuirassiers. Based for Napoleon’s Battles which uses a high proportion of men per figure, the number of figures needed for a respectable army is large. The figures are well proportioned though a bit toy-like. Produced after the merger of Heritage and Custom Cast, they continued to be distributed under the Empire label for several years but are now difficult to find.
Smaller in stature than Old Glory, AB Miniatures, Battle Honors and others, the figures do best by themselves. Mores the pity that they are no longer manufactured.
A side by side view of Prussian Landwehr in 15mm by Essex on the right and Battle Honors on the left. The Battle Honors figures appear more delicate, more carefully proportioned while the Essex figures which one reviewer described as ‘gnomish’ are a little more toy soldierish. Figures are primed white, painted with acrylics and metallic enamels.
Old Glory with its rather tall figures and exaggerated poses provide a range of Napoleonics. The Austrians are reputed to be their best. These are primed white, washed black, and then detail picked out. Flags are commercial but I do not recall the maker.
From a huge set of Napoleonic figures, these appear to be Battle Honors figures representing a Hungarian unit in the Austrian army. These were painted with a white base coat, a heavy black wash on top of that, and then, everything else in acrylics except for enamels on the weapons.
The figures are based for Napoleon’s Battles, probably the only attempt by the venerable Avalon Hill company to produce a set of miniature rules. The rules offer a hefty figure scale of 1 infantry figure equals 120 actual men. Even so, most people would find the enormous number of figures required to stage even one of the smaller historical scenarios a bit off putting.
Hard to believe but there was a range of SF miniatures in 15mm that were not designed for use with Traveller. Instead, they were designed for use with with a set of rules called Laserburn written by Bryan Ansell. There was also a 25mm range which I have not seen.
The 15mm figures are interesting and well detailed with a nice unique quality. They provide an effective range that works well with the RAFM Traveller range. The set includes a variety of figure types and vehicles. The entire range is still available either through the Alternative Armies website in England or the Noble Knights E-bay store in the US. Another instance where an attractive set of 15mm figures has remained available years after their initial release. If only all miniatures were handled in this manner.
Martian Metals for a time had the license for Traveller miniatures which, in contrast to most RPGs, required 15mm figures. Martian metals are well detailed with a flat appearance likely due to the two-piece molds used. The range offered was fairly comprehensive and interesting but the license for 15mm Traveller ultimately went to Citadel. The figures shown above closely mirror illustrations used in GDW Traveller literature.
The figures above show the standard EVA set plus a few spacesuited figures from other sets in the background. All figures were painted with a primer coat of white enamel. EVA figures were then brushed with a wash of black enamel followed by cleanup with white enamel.
In the 80s, Citadel released an extensive range of figures for Traveller. Shown above are the Tech 3 military. the figures were produced and are still available from RAFM. The figures above use a black undercoat with a layer of pthalo blue acrylic paint and some Testors gold paint on the visors.
The temptation is to refer to these as Traveller miniatures but some are part of the Laserburn range which had its own unique set of rules. The figures shown are by a variety of companies including Citadel, Laserburn, Martian Metals, and Asgard. There may be others tucked in there but I am not really sure. The figures are over 30 years old give or take a year. These are my only award winning figures having taking first place for SF/Fantasy group at some in the distant past Origins convention. Most of the painting was done with enamels.
15mm had seemed an odd scale for an RPG. RPGs usually relied on larger 25mm and 28mm figures. It did make Traveller unique for its time and facilitated the introduction of the Striker rules for mass combat replacing the earlier simplistic rules found in the original RPG. There were also rules like Snapshot and a later more streamlined version of the Snapshot rules in the Azhanti High Lightning game set that allowed battles using individual figures rather than using multiple based figures. With the Snapshot type rules, figures could use maps of spaceships, outdoor areas, and buildings as handy battlefields. Eventually, Traveller began using 25mm figures with several companies licensed to manufacture them. Licensing really would seem unimportant as any figure could function in a Traveller game but the alien races were pretty unique.
All the figures are nice though I prefer the Laserburn and Citadel (now RAFM) figures. Vehicles have never quite kept up with the range of figures. There are more manufacturers offering vehicles these days but all seem grounded in 20th century technology.
A group of 15mm Traveller figures. These were originally produced under The Citadel logo, the label that distributed figures for Games Workshop. The figures were sold either bagged or boxed with a nice brochure describing the military formation represented. Now the figures are produced under the RAFM label, a Canadian company, who according to their website, originally produced the figures for Citadel. For years, I lamented the lack of a source for these figures but they are currently being sold by RAFM.
I painted the figures with bright blue helmets to emulate those worn by the UN and red helmets to emulate the Red Devils of WWII. The dress, a khaki uniform with dark grey body armor, was deliberately kept drab. Figures on the left are newer. The ones on the right are painted with Humbrol enamels and mounted on matboard (now delaminating with age), the ones on the left were painted with Liquitex acrylics and mounted on wooden bases. The enamels are sturdier but not as bright. The figures represent a Tech 2 army for use with GDW’s original Striker rules. RAFM offered low tech troops resembling American infantry from the 50s, mid tech such as those shown and high tech where figures are dressed in battle armor. Figures to the right represent security troops and are painted with an olive drab base overlaid with paint dabs of light green and tan to offer the appearance of camouflage.
The figures are pleasant, easy to paint, and offer a nice range of support for 15mm SF military support.
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