Hi there, I am a novice wargamer and would be grateful if anyone could advise me on which figures I would need to buy to put together 2 forces (Prussian & French) to refight Plancenoit 1815 in 6mm.  I would also be grateful for advice on which rules you guys would suggest to replay this action?  I am particularly confused when it comes to the figure to man ratios.  Thanks for any assistance.

Kind Regards

Midge

These days  I tend to ignore figure to man ratios. A unit is made up of so many bases: dependant on the rules being used that unit may be a division, brigade, regiment, company. The number of figures on the base then becomes a matter of personal choice, so a skirmish unit will have fewer more dispersed figures than a line unit. Similarly a base using 6mm figures will have more figures than one using 28mm, eg. in DBA I have 10mm figures, but use the 60mm wide basing convention of the 28mm game. Consequently my units actually look like units. This is even more noticeable if 6mm figures are used. Similarly in Bloody Big Battles (C19th rules) I use 6mm figures on a 30mm square (about 12 figures in two ranks), some people play the same rules with the same base size with only four 15mm figures on the base - in both cases the base represents 1000 actual men. Unless you are playing an old style game, which uses single figure casualty removal, then figure to man ratio is not very important.

Hello Midge!

As a novice you will probably need a lot of help as you move along depending of course on what resources you actually have. I'll be glad to help out as much as I can.

I would recommend you purchase the Napoleonic - Boxed Starter Set Prussian v French 1815 from Baccus. Some of the figures in this set you won't need for Plancenoit, but they will come in handy for future battles. Also depending on how you actually want to scale the game you will probably need even more figures. The set also includes the rules and bases, flags and a couple of buildings. There is a bit of a learning curve to the rules, but there are a number of people on this forum to help you with any questions. There is also a Yahoo site to help you out as well that is often attended by the author.

The Polemos series of rules have a basing system that is pretty much the standard today in 6mm. A base in the Divisional rules represents 400-800 infantry or two or three squadrons of cavalry. The entire format is explained in the rules. There is no actual figure to man ratio.

If you need any help specifically about Plancenoit or a better explaination of what I've said, just ask. We fought the battle in 2015.

Best regards,

Glenn

Thanks for your replies guys, very much appreciated.  Interested to read that you had fought Plancenoit Glenn, I visited the village for the first time this summer and got the idea it really hadnt changed that much over the years.  I'm planning to have these forces together when we go to Waterloo again next year and hope to also have the TBM plancenoit mat and buildings to accompany them?

Thanks again

Midge