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Wargaming with 1/72nd
Is there a ‘best scale’ for wargaming? Mr Kinch thinks so and talks... sausages!
Way, way back in the mists of time – before COVID and if you’re reading this in 2022 before the Robot War – in the dark and mysterious era known only to sages as two thousand and fifteen, I wrote a piece about why settling on one scale was a good idea.
The thinking behind it was that if you have a wargames collection there are distinct advantages to having all your troops in one scale. Now bear in mind, I don’t say that you should, as was famously said by JP Lawford and Peter Young in Charge!, only collect one period. That is obviously nonsense and would require a level of near saintly self control and heroic focus. That’s not to say it’s not a noble goal. I just don’t think it’s a realistic one. I’ll paraphrase Saint Augustine and say “Lord, help me collect Napoleonics only – but not yet!”
But as I said, there are advantages, even if you collect multiple periods, to collecting all your lads in one scale. To be fair – even at the time I wrote it – this was a bit of a crock as I had Little Wars armies in 1/32, American Civil War, Second World War kit in 1/300 and a small collection of Rogue Trader era Space Marines. But I knew that I definitely wasn’t going to start any new scales...
Six years on and time makes liars of us all. I’ve started a 28mm fantasy collection having taken an interest in Rangers of Shadowdeep (damn you Joseph McCullough!) and I appear to be enlarging my 28mm science fiction collection now that Stargrave is on the horizon ( double damn you McCullough!), but – other than that – I’ve stuck rigidly to one scale. To be clear, except on those occasions when I’ve broken my own rule, I have been absolutely faithful to it.
So why should you wargame in 1/72?
CHEAP & CHEERFUL
1/72 plastics are extremely affordable. Most boxes of infantry will have about 50 figures in them and retail for less than a tenner. Cavalry typically have between 12-17 figures in them. Artillery are more of a moveable feast, but depending on the manufacturer will have between two to four guns and possibly a limber or two. Depending on how you divide up your boxes, this will generally mean that your average squaddie will cost you fifteen to twenty pence a go with cavalry about twice that. For those of you doing sums on the back of an envelope, that’s about half the price of equivalent 28mm plastics and they don’t have to be assembled.
There are plenty of metal manufacturers, but two that I’ve found particularly useful are Newline Designs and Elheim Miniatures. Newline do a wide range of packs in metal, including bargain packs for £35 for a hundred figures. Depending on how you buy, them Newline range between 35-50 pence per figure. Elheim are more expensive at £1 per infantry figure, but they are lovely.
MASS PLUS DETAIL
I’m no great shakes as a painter, but I can churn out 1/72 figures in relatively short order. At about inch high, they don’t demand the kind of detailed painting that you can put into their larger brothers. My current 1/72 painting project at the moment is a collection of Airfix Prussians, for use in a massive Waterloo diorama at the National Army Museum in London. These figures are small
and simple enough to be painted in simple block colours and will look excellent en masse. But 1/72 figures are still big enough that – if you pick a manufacturer like Elheim, Zvesda or Strelets
– you can easily put a lot of time and effort into a single figure and make the paint work really sing. While you can use the base, wash, highlight approach with 1/72 scale figures, I’ve found that they are very context dependent. More complex uniforms like Napoleonics actually benefit from a simpler block colours approach as otherwise the result is a bit too “busy” for the eye. Simpler and more monotone figures like Great War infantrymen for example, can benefit from a wash and highlight because otherwise the figure is just a mass of just one colour without any tonal variation.
If you are starting painting 1/72 scale figures, I recommend taking a look at the RePriMo Wargame Terrain channel on YouTube. This is the only channel I know of that works specifically with 1/72 and uses techniques aimed at achieving good results fast. The channel is devoted to painting tutorials for 1/72 figures (specifically Great War and Second World War), tanks and terrain. Having watched the terrain tutorials in particular, I think I will be using these as my own Stalingrad project comes together. If you’re only starting out painting in this scale it is definitely with a look.
At an inch high, 1/72 figures are large enough that they can have enough individuality to look good in skirmish games, but small enough that they also allow for mass formations to be deployed on the battlefield without having to build a new extension onto your house. One of the ideas I’ve really had to struggle with since I’ve started a (small) 28mm collection is just how much space those troops take up. The footprint of a 1/72 figure is much smaller than his 28mm compatriot. I base my chaps magnetically, so that they can stick in an A4 document box with some steel sheet in it. I can fit about 200 1/72 figures in one of these, compared to about hundred 28mm figures. My skirmish collection for Rangers of Shadowdeep has grown to three boxes, while by Very British Civil War skirmish collection fits in one.
The reduced footprint means that I can portray larger engagements on my 9 by 5 table without too much trouble, while still using figures large enough that I can appreciate the uniforms – which is to be fair, a not insubstantial part of the attraction of Napoleonics.
EXPANSIVE RANGE
Back in the days of Donald Featherstone there were about a dozen different Airfix sets and wargamers set to with hot paperclips and banana oil to make what they wanted.
The range of 1/72 figures available currently is absolutely staggering by comparison.
I won’t go into detail about the sheer variety, but off the cuff I can think of a variety of unusual periods covered by contemporary manufacturers; the Boxer Rebellion ( Redbox), Sikh Wars ( Newline), Russo-Turkish War of 1877 ( Strelets), Crimean War ( Strelets), Sudan ( Waterloo 1815 and HAT), Ukrainian Cossack Revolt ( Zvesda, Orion, Mars and Redbox) and Garibaldini ( Irregular). And that’s not counting the usual suspects of Napoleonics, Second World War, Great War, American Civil War, Ancients, Colonials, Medievals, etc.
Before I go any further, any discussion of 1/72 figures is redundant without first mentioning The Plastic Soldier Review website: the bible for the 1/72 wargamer. This is a huge review site, which breaks down both by period and by manufacturer. It is an absolute gold mine and if you can browse its pages without idly thinking of
new projects, you’re a better man than I am.
WHAT’S AVAILABLE?
Strelets: based in the Ukraine, Strelets produce a huge number of wargamer friendly figures and are releasing new material on a monthly basis. Their website has a lengthy list of their wares, a lively forum and painted examples.
Zvesda: based in Russia, Zvesda are the gold standard of 1/72 plastics to my mind, but they’ve switched to mainly producing figures for their own board games. These are produced in a brittle and not particularly wargamer friendly hard plastic and are almost as expensive as metals. They still produce their old big box sets (the Macedonian phalanx in particular is a joy and their samurai are delightful), but they aren’t doing anything new.
HaT: based in the US, HAT are excellent. They produce a huge range, though they aren’t quite as prolific as Strelets. They use a softer plastic than other manufacturers, which needs a little special treatment to get paint to stick, but an undercoat of PVA sorts that right out. The sheer breadth of their range is impressive, including substantial coverage of ancients, a near complete Zulu war range and a huge variety of Napoleonics including exotics like Swedish cavalry.
Italeri: these are a mixed bag of 1/72 kits and figures, Italeri mostly do 1/72 scale tanks, aircraft and vehicles. Their figures are pretty good, but new sets are rare – I can’t remember the last time they produced a new 1/72 infantry set. Their battle sets represent good value for money, including figures, terrain and (depending on the period) tanks in one box. Not as dependable as the trinity of HAT, Strelets and Zvesda.
Newline: they do lovely, gem like metal figures that are a little smaller than standard, but do very well in their own units. The figures themselves are clean, well cast with very little flash and the discounts for bulk are substantial. There are bargains to be had in the army deals. Ranges covered include the ‘45, Samurai, a smorgasbord of Ancients, Colonials, Sikh War, American Civil War, French Indian War, Plains Wars, Napoleonics and Napoleon in Egypt.
Plastic Soldier Company: PSC are hard plastic 1/72 figures aimed at the wargamer rather than the modeller. Catering exclusively to the Second World War, their infantry boxes are a bit expensive, but their vehicle kits have not been bettered. Very solidly constructed and easily customisable.
Elheim: Matt at Elhiem is a machine and is so far as I can tell on some sort of mission to cover the entire Cold War and 21st century wars in 1/72. If you want it, he’s got it and he doesn’t have it, he’s probably working on it. If you’re interested in doing the US/UK deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, he has figures correct in every detail. But there are also figures for the Irish in Congo, should you wish to refight the Siege at Jadotville and any number of Cold War figures (both NATO and WARPAC) for the North German plain in every decade from the 1950s to the 1980s. Pricey, but absolutely worth it.
Irregular: service from Irregular is second to none. The 1/72 figures are a trifle small, but are a good fit with Newline. They can be a bit flashy and some of the sculpting isn’t up to their competitors, but you can’t argue with the price and the range is substantial.
All the usual suspects are there along with some unusual subjects like the Indian Mutiny and the Risorgimento.
But hang on a second? Any veteran of the wargaming hobby knows that half the figures in a box of plastics are useless because of some really weird poses like man-bayoneting-his-feet or manjumping-on-one-leg. And twenty years ago this would have been a fair criticism: I think my favourite of all the useless poses was an Airfix Second World War US Airborne trooper waving an entrenching tool. But a lot has changed since then.
Firstly, manufacturers seem to be less likely to put those very odd poses in, I presume due to improvements in moulding technology. But secondly and more importantly, manufacturers have identified wargamers as a market and are designing figures specifically for us. The leader of the pack in this regard is HAT, who have for the last few years been producing boxes of figures aimed at Napoleonic wargamer in three configurations, Marching, Action and Command. The Marching figures are fairly self explanatory. The Action sets include figures advancing, charging and firing, while the Command sets are made up of officers, standard bears, sergeants and so on. This means that it is very easy to rapidly and cost effectively raise a regiment of figures that are marching, rank up nicely and look well.
Strelets have followed suit and have if anything outstripped HaT. They are producing marching sets of figures for the War of Spanish Succession, American Civil War and Napoleonics.
TERRAIN
One of the advantages of wargaming in one scale is
that you can use re-use a lot of your terrain across periods, which is true of any scale. But the added advantage 1/72 wargamers have is the sheer wealth of material available and it’s relative cheapness. Because 1/72 is very close to HO/OO scale, there is a galaxy of model rail roading terrain available – much of it in paper or already pre-painted – which is just made for the wargamer. In fact, if you do want to build a mid-20th century setup quickly, you could do a lot worse than keeping an eye on ebay to pick up a job lot of building from model railroad enthusiasts who are upgrading their setups. I did this a couple of years ago and managed to fill my table with some beautiful kit for about fifty quid.
VEHICLES
As 1/72 is probably the most popular modelling scale for military vehicles and aircraft, the 1/72 wargamer is spoilt for choice. Practically anything you can think of is available, usually from multiple manufacturers and in multiple variants. I won’t go into detail on what’s available, as that would require a book, but I would like to draw your attention to some kits specifically designed with the wargamer in mind.
The Armourfast range of tanks from HaT and the Quick Build range from Italeri are excellent, robust models made from small numbers of pieces. They build quickly and they will stand a lot of handling at the table. While the usual suspects of Airfix, Revell and Tamiya all do excellent kits – it is worth looking out for S-Model, who hail from China, and produce quick built wargamer friendly kits that are very competitively priced. What makes S-Model stand out is that their range covers a lot of early Second World War and Cold War subjects – so raising that BDRM or Panzer II company just got a lot more affordable.
While not every wargamer has more money than time, it is a truism of the hobby that the pile of shame is larger than the time needed to build and paint it. In which case there is a surprisingly affordable avenue open to the 1/72 wargamer. There has been a flood of high quality diecast 1/72 scale tanks and planes onto the market in recent years (I have a cabinet full of ‘em! Ed.). While high detail and quite expensive models from Forces of Valor have been available for ages, these are much more easy on the pocket. A simple browse of eBay or your local model shop should turn up some tanks and vehicles from IXO, Atlaya, Atlas and Amercom. These are tough models, already assembled and painted priced between five and fifteen quid for the most part. While obviously they can be repainted and have detail added, for the wargamer who is willing to spend a little more (though most Italeri kits will cost you at least as much) and have at least part of his force ready to go straight out of the box, the diecast route is well worth pursuing. The growth of the hobby in Eastern Europe has also resulted in the production of a lot of diecast Russian and Soviet kit suitable for the Second World War and the Cold War. I recommend eBay or dedicated sellers – like Clive’s Diecasts – to find some of this excellent Russian stuff.
CONCLUSION
So there dear reader, is the case for 1/72. It is an excellent scale and well suited to wargaming. And as for only wargaming in one scale, I have come up with one counter argument against the charge of hypocrisy.
I call it “The Lincolnshire Sausage Defence”. I have it on good authority (by which I mean a drunk pork butcher in a pub told me) that there is such a thing as a Lincolnshire sausage. Why he was telling me this in Warwickshire is a question for another day, but he assured me that the Lincolnshire sausage was a prince amongst the breed of sausages. Far superior to the humble banger, the Cumberland or the Bratwurst, for the Lincolnshire sausage must be three quarters pork to be considered such. What makes up the rest of the sausage history does not record, but once you’ve reached three quarters pork, you are a pure Lincolnshire sausage and no-one can gainsay you.
So on that basis, given that the majority of my collection (and certainly more than three quarters) is in 1/72 – I could certainly argue that I only wargame in 1/72 and that I may also actually be a Lincolnshire sausage. ■
LINKS
RePriMo Wargame Terrain channel: youtube.com/channel/ UCsVAf6aIixoABQKCj9pAfKg/ featured
The Plastic Soldier review website plasticsoldierreview.com
Strelets: .strelets-r.com
Zvesda: zvezda.org.ru
HaT: hat.com
Italeri: italeri.com/en
Newline: newlinedesigns.co.uk
Plastic Soldier Company: theplasticsoldiercompany.co.uk
Elheim: elhiem.co.uk
Irregular: irregularminiatures.co.uk
Clive’s Diecasts: clivesdiecasts.co.uk