GWP3

All scales have their fans.

My preference is for 15mm with plenty of choice of figure manufacturer and mine are a mix of virtually everybody's from first generation minifigs in the mid 1970's on.

For character and variation in the casting the starting point has to be Old Glory 15s although I've nt been too impressed with their mounted troops.
Essex offer a fairly comprehensive range. Perhaps a bit chunky but the detail is easy to get your brush to.

Other ranges I've used include Lancashire Games (largish) and the generic 18th century figures by Warrior whose 18thC army pack is good value for money. And in terms of making a basic army quickly then you might also consider Irregular (menu on bottom then left hand menu) who do a 100 figure army pack for £25.

If your hankering is for painting to a high standard then you might want to consider 28mm but at present you's have to rely on metal figures. There are no 28mm plastics as yet.

On the other hand, if you want the feel of a very big 18thC battle then you could go for 10mm. If I was starting the period from scratch I'd be tempted by them. Pendraken are really your only option.

As for rules, again there's a wide choice. Black Powder is currently very popular especially if you use the Last Argument of Kings supplement which amplifies what it has to say for the 1700-1780 period. You'll find a few bages in the parlour discussing them. The beauty about them is that they are not dogmatic about basing or figures per unit.

For me this is such a colourful period it begs ro be done in the larger 28mm scale. Frontrank have a very wide range and wargames foundry cover the Prussioans Russsians very well, I think it is crusader who do some very nice Austrians and Old glory do a range to I think so plenty of choice.

Incidentally, yu can access a considerable amount of background information through links in GWP's "Bletchley Park Gardens"

You can find uniform details etc on "Shelf Three" of the Uniforms thread, especially the Seven Years War Project fourth link down

Although I do not personally own any SYW figures, one of the chaps in my club has a lovely, large collection of 10mm SYW armies (mostly Pendraken), which we use with Black Powder rules. This scale and rules combination allow for very enjoyable and entertaining 'large' scale battles with sweeping actions, capable of being fought to a satisfying conclusion within the limits of a 'club night' (3-4 hours).

Most of the miniatures I find are 28 mm. Is this the mos common size? I like the deatiled style of it, however won`t there be difficulties when you want to play large scale battles? When you use 28 mm, how many men does one miniature represent?

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/SYW.htm

What do you think of this set of rules?

Just to support the post from Greystreak, I'm in the same position, I don't have any figures myself but the chaps at the club have all gone for Pendraken 10mm and have tried different sets of rules for them. Black Powder seems to work well with the 18th Century amendments.

I have built a collection of 7yw figs this year and elected for 15mm. I have a large table at home (10'x6') and recently did a couple of battles using about 60 units a side. Using black powder the games were completed by 2 people in about 3-4 hours. The 15mm scale gives you an ability to use the movement and tactical options in the rules.

A previous project was AWI in 28mm and I built up about 900 figs to cover both sides. I must admit I enjoyed painting the detail on the uniforms and am pleased with the final results. I have used black powder ( along with other sets of rules) with this set up and the scope of the games is more limited.

As the saying goes you pays your money and takes your choice. If your bent is more to the visual and modeling 28mm if you like big battles 15mm

A couple of shots from one of Ian's big games here

thanks for your help. are there any buildings, bridges etc for 10 mm?

About your Die Kriegskunst query...

We've played about a dozen games of this. It helps if you've already played General de Brigade or some other member of the rules family.

On the plus side, these rules have a really good command and control system, and the combat/morale results seem likely for the period. However, they do have a fair number of charts and are not fast-play - if that's what you're looking for.

The big problem with Die Kriegskunst specifically is that it is rddled with typos and has a number of omissions. Despite promises, the authors have never produced any errata. So, I could only recommend them if you want to play detailed games with each player commanding a brigade or so, and at least one player is familiar with the GdB system. That said, we've enjoyed the games we've played.

Figure size - we went for 10mm because I saw a painted Pendraken Austrian battalion at a show some years ago, and thought they were beautiful. With big battles, the long lines of troops look just right.

As to other rules, we play Age of Honor, the F&F offspring for big historical battles, and mostly Rank & File for battalion stuff. We tried Black Powder - gave it a good go, 5 games - and decided not to. It was described as a toolbox - but the box was coverd in sequins, the screwdrivers were silver-plated tin, and they didn't bother to include a hammer. I suspect that the success of this set is mostly down to the fame of the authors and a really good marketing scheme.

10mm buildings - try Time Cast, Hovels and Magister Militum.

thanks for helping me! think I will start with the 10 mm scale! Pendraken offers no pictures of their miniatures, is there a catalog? How many miniatures do you would on one base? How many miniatures for one battailon?

However I will paint some 28mm, because I love the details

You'll get some idea about Pendraken figures from its Facebook Page although none are of 7YW.

Basing, basing, basing?

Again, you pays your mney and you takes your choice.

A lot depends on the rules you use and whether or not you are providing both armies (in which case it's up to what pleases you, most rule can be tweaked to fit how you have based)

I think I'd be inclined to be looking at four stands per unit.

When I did my FPW stuff in 10mm I wasnted to get the feel of mass so I went for 6 or 7 figures on a 30mm x 15mm bases. This is the first unit I painted and based



And this is troops so based en-masse on the tabletop



Joep however has gone for a different approach which you can see in this thread and which I now feel would be better for that period.

If I was doing 7YW in 10mm (and I still toy with doing WSS) then I'd be inclined to look at using a 40mm base and probably with 4 figures across. However I'd be inclined to go for two ranks on the base so I'd be looking at 8 figures on a 40 x 20.

And a thought about painting 10mm, especially if you also want to enjoy the luxury of painting the occasional 28mm figure.

It's a different world. It's the difference between the pre-Raphaeites and the Impressionists.

With 28mm you are looking at the figure. In 10mm you are looking at the unit. most Pendrken castings have incredible detail for the scale and a light touch can bring it out, especially if you have a dark undercoat.

Oops - I was napping after a strenuous night in the harem and missed this thread

I used to have a large collection of 7YW Prussians, Russians and French in 15mm made up of Essex, OG/Essex and Lancashire games respectively.

These were based up for Volley and Bayonet 1st Ed which IMHO was a wonderful set of rules for playing fairly large battles in an evening or afternoon. It certainly captured the linear tactics of the period well. The number of figures per unit can be fairly low, making them ecomomical, but the effect of the single base units made it look "right".

Anyway - just a thought!

One set of rules we i used for a while, before finding Black Powder, was Minden Rose which is now out of print but can be downloaded free if you use the link.

In that case I'd be on 40x25 or 40x30 bases.

If I was doing it for BP with 4 stands = Standard unit it would add 50% to the cost.