Post by bruce on Aug 16, 2018 2:09:29 GMT
In my travels between the US and the UK, where I spend about 6-8 weeks a year, I usually only take a carry on, as I have a small cottage in the Borders for holidays. That said, I have had some adventures with transporting 6mm armies back and forth, including damage and not much room for anything else once everything is packed properly. Besides, it’s just a pain.
So last year, I created my 3mm traveling armies which reduced the size of my containers greatly and travelled much better. I left some battle mats and scenics at the cottage, and these little guys travel quite well and without question from airport security. But recently, as I began testing some rule sets for which 3mm was just too small, I decided that it was time to have some permanent 6mm forces in Scotland.
Enter Commission Figurines. www.commission-figurines.co.uk/. Long time forum members will remember Bob aka Curlerman and his adoption of these laser cut MDF wooden figs as a special project – there are a lot of photos of his work here on the forum, with links to his website. He calls them “Woodentops”. I did not include pics because his are excellent and right here. I was always attracted to these for a couple of reasons – they look quite good, once painted up, and they are very well priced.
Packs of line infantry are a mere 2pds for 96 figs. All the packs are very reasonably priced. There are grenadiers as well, bicornes, cavalry, artillery, commanders – all adaptable to pretty much any nationality and easily converted, as Bob has shown in the past. These figs are very precisely cut, need little preparation, and have a surprising amount of detail. The infantry have packs, belts, cartridge boxes, very easy to paint. The muskets are much less defined than metal figs, having no real barrels or bayonets. But I found this to not be a factor for me at all, I never really thought about it as they mass up so nicely. They are very easy to mass paint in relatively short order, but you could spend time on more details than I did.
The cavalry horses are particularly well proportioned and with nice details. Lovely to look at.
The service is excellent. Walt was busy at Joy of Six but managed to process my order from here in the US and get it to Scotland before my arrival a few days later.
Commission Figs match up well on the table with Baccus and perhaps Adler. They are a tad too large for H&R. These figs have a lot of character. They are both modern and old school somehow. They capture that classic look and feel of earlier times without looking too stylized, and while still being compatible with other makers. You can make some very affordable large 6mm armies quickly and with relative ease. They also make 6mm building and various accessories.
So thanks Bob and Commission Figurines for this wonderful option. Great fun! Bruce