Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Maurice, three ways.

A dilemma, gentlemen. After reading Maurice, I'm definitely in. Doesn't require a lot of miniatures as it is really a two player game. Long term, a mulit-player campaign would be nice but that's a ways off. The other nice thing is basing. The game uses "base-widths" as measurement, so what scale and number of minis you use, is really up to you. More for your own aesthetics, really. Thus, my predicament.
I officially have Marlburian or War of Spanish Succession miniatures in 4 scales, 6mm, 10mm, 15mm and 28mm. I'm throwing out 10mm as I already do it for Might and Reason in the Unkerlant Campaign.  Yes, I could double up the bases to make the square base sizes needed for Maurice, but I think they'd look weird (too many flags).

From a pure economic stand point?
28mm x 24 men to an infantry unit: $23 a unit (With my Old Glory discount)
15mm x 24 men to an infantry unit: $7.20 a unit (again, discount on Blue Moon), $9.60 for a 32 man unit. I also have a sh!t ton of Dixon 15s (seen above) too.
6mm at 16 strips to a unit: $7

From a time and effort standpoint? 6mm or 15mm is going to win.

From an artistic or tabletop view? God's own scale, 28mm wins (plus double use for Black Powder).
Oh great minds of the Blogosphere guide me in my hour of need.....

12 comments:

Martin said...

Hi Baron,

That's a chin-scratcher to be sure! I'd go with the 28mm. As time and tide wear on, and you eyes start to go, you'll still be able to use them, while the smaller scales gather dust on the shelves.

Martin

Lead Addict said...

10mm. They just look good for that period. then 15mm. and if the Blue Moon MArlborough is as good as the Nappy French you are good.

Ubique Matt said...

If time, space and money are not issues then 28mm (but I'm biased as I like big 'uns).

Regards,
Matt

BaronVonJ said...

Blue Moon are as nice, plus I have a ton of Dixon 15s (some of the nicest around but not many pose variation).
As for tens, you saw my post.

El Grego said...

As you already have a lot of 15mm, that seems to be the choice. But I have been known to throw common sense out the window... and choose 28mm :)

Bluebear Jeff said...

Jaye,

What size of actions will you want to game? And how many units do you want for each side?

Now what will that cost in terms of painting time as well as dollars?

Personally, with my poor eyes, I'd go for 28s . . . but the 15s would be faster to paint and you already have a lot of them, so that might be the way to go.

Also, you might want to take a look at Steve-the-Wargamer's WSS Project Pages:

http://steve-the-wargamer-wss.blogspot.ca/

Of particular interest are the background posts he has on the UNITs that he's painted:

http://steve-the-wargamer-wss.blogspot.ca/p/side-country-unit-type-unit-name-notes.html

He uses a different set of rules but I think that the basing is similar.

Of course, while he's using 15mm figures, the information would work just as well for larger figures too.


-- Jeff

BaronVonJ said...

Jeff, thanks for the replies.
My eyes are still good, so not a problem there.
I like the work Steve has done. He's basing almost exactly as I'm thinking, if I did 15s.
Maurice is geared for around 10-12 units a side, two player. Four player is pushing it.
For larger battles I've got Might & Reason I am completely sold on my 10mm.

Fitz-Badger said...

aging eyesight is the reason I stick with 28mm, but I can definitely see (ha ha) the advantages of the smaller scales, in terms of costs, time to get armies up and running, space for gaming and for storage. And the look of them, for units, is something to consider, too. I definitely wouldn't go with anything smaller than 25/28mm for games where individuals are the thing (speaking for myself), but to represent groups of guys, possibly yes.

Scottswargaming said...

I'd always go 28mm ! It just looks the bees knees and how can you possibly beat the term 'Gods own'

Cluck Amok said...

I'll weigh in - completely subjectively, of course. I just can't make 28s "feel" like a unit "in my mind's eye." "But Cluck, you play F&IW in units with 54mm?!" you say. True, but even in units, 54mm still feels like a skirmish. And looks like one. I have huge unpainted armies of Hellenistic-era Ancients in "God's Own" as well as "God's Abandoned" (15mm) scales and though I regularly line up both on bases and compare and try to talk myself into committing to the 28s, they just don't look like proper armies to me. And when I see photos of big beautiful 28mm ancient armies om the web. . . at that distance and resolution they have the look of 15mm anyway. I really like the look of well-sculpted 28s on their own, so I want to collect and paint them still, but they seem more suited to skirmish or smaller army-level (Dark Age?) actions to me now.

Oh, advice? Trust your gut. YOU paint them and YOU play with them. What looks "right" to you? That's all that really matters. And economics be damned - just don't sell anything off before you've actually painted and based it's replacement in the "other scale."

Cluck Amok said...

I stand corrected: sometimes 28mm does look like a proper army : )

http://bigredbat.blogspot.com/2013/01/chalkaspides.html

A Heart Pumping Nitro said...

I say 6mm. They are cheaper. They paint wicked fast. The colorful armies of the day will also look nice when massed.
I personally don't like 28mm scale. To expensive to buy and store. Take to long to paint and they all seem to have that chunkiness so common amongst 28s. 1/72 is as big as I go typically with 15mm as my favorite.