Scale!

  The most daunting decision I think when venturing into historical miniatures is scale.  The wealth of choices is staggering for sure, even when you have a narrow era such as I have chosen (Napoleonics).  Scouring the interwebs quickly you realize there are manufacturers for scales as broad as 2mm, 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, 18/20mm, 1/72, 25mm, 28mm, 40mm,  and even 54mm.  Well, what to pick, and why are largely going to be up to your group.

  My first Impression was quickly to get into 15mm, as this is a scale I have not really done before, and I want very large armies and wide battle lines as my aesthetic for sure.  I started buying some samples from various manufacturers (and a few searches through Ebay) and was pleased with many of the models I received, but not all.  The variation in actual dimensions of the different "15mm" models fairly quickly caught my eye.  many were similar in height from what few pictures I could gather, but in hand, they did not look very cohesive.  Some had much more "girth" or more cartoony features with exaggerated head size and hands/feet.

  I also had some 28mm Perry Bros. and Victrix models on hand from an earlier purchase (I'm called Ooh_Shiny for nothing) and took them to the guys I will be playing with and went over the advangaes and disadvantages of both scales.  Here is what it broke down to:

15mm:
- Can be cheaper.  There are alot of manufacturers, with a wide variety of pricing.  the cheapest, yet highest quality, models I found were 48 infantry/16 cavalry for around $16
- Variety.  Pure and simple, there are alot of options for forces at this scale, even small factions of a single duchy that fought semi-independently during the wars between 1805-1815.
- Faster to paint.  With less detail on the models, and pure amount of surface area, the models would paint up fairly quickly

28mm:
- Availability.  28mm manufacturers are carried by distributors around the world, I would not need to go to each individual manufacturer's website to purchase models.  I can even order these models from my local gaming store.
- Familiarity/Comfort Zone.  This may seem an odd one to add as a upside, but even though I love trying new things,  the scope of the visual of 28mm is one of the reasons I play these games.  The terrain we already have will work without looking out of place or being unwieldy on the tabletop.
- Hobby.  There are plastic multipart kits for this scale, assembling and painting is part of the fun of wargaming to me, I like painting at this scale with all the detail it provides.

  When it came down to it, we decided to give 28mm a go.  I will probably come back to 15mm at some point, it has alot of character to it, but this will be my first historical game and I want to make it a smooth transition from what I already play.

 Left to right: original Battle Honours minis(15mm), new Battle Honours Cav(15/18mm), Inifinity (true 28mm), Warmachine (Heroic 28mm), GW Necron (GW Heroic 28/30mm)

 Some Victirix (tan) and Perry Bros. (grey) 28mm next to the same Infinity and Warmachine models for scale.