Let me just this out of the way at the beginning.
My miniature painting skills are sub-par at the best of times, anyway, but I feel like I’m experiencing a distinct, new level of suck in getting used to 15mm.
6mm is so small that I feel I can get away with block painting and slapping on a wash.
28mm gives me enough room to add some very basic detail that doesn’t blow out the lines.
15mm is the worst of both worlds – at the same time that the size of the minis are a nice compromise middle ground.
That is to say that I’m not pleased at how these figures look under the harsh, high-resolution glare of the photos here, but they look pretty cool on the table in the midst of terrain. And that’s enough to keep me moving forward.
New Units
The rules I’m working on are multibased, using three figures per 1.5 inch base. It’s informed by SAGA insomuch as “standard” units come with two bases, “elite” or specialist units a single base, and lower-quality units with three bases.
Using a single base size is a choice based on consistency, purely. The 1.5 inch base size lets me fit, barely, three mounted figures and include small cannon. For infantry (and the dogs!), I can add bits of terrain, which I like.
Here we have a unit of pistol-wielding reiters (working unit title of “Shooting Horse”) that are a single base troop type.
Then there are the pack horses, which are a two base troop type.
Scenes From the Table
When the figures are placed on the table, I think they look pretty good. Once I get the other two units (a pair of lance-armed gendarme bases) complete, I’ll take some better – hopefully, more evocative – shots from the table.
Next up will be an attempt at the gendarmes this weekend, but there’s fair odds I might see if a more experienced and skilled painter wants to take those six figures on.
At that point I’ll have eight units total – enough to do playtesting with real figures, but I’d like to get an example unit for all troop types completed, just so I can offer that to my friends who I’ll be playing with on the other side of Covid-19.