MY HISTORY - PROPORTION ISSUES: 1:1 vs 1:5 vs 1:10

One of the main result of papersoldiers is their low cost and possibility to put one next to the other.

For this reason I started firstly with a 1:20 proportion (1 papersoldier represents 20 real men), but it seemed to me really very limited as proportion (imagine that 1 battalion of 600 men would be represented by 30 soldiers. This can well happen with normal plastic/lmetal soldiers but the effect - let me say - is that of a little re-anactement of some friends from the same block.

Here below a little idea: very well painted and great. But a battalion is about 20 models!

So I moved on to the 1:10 proportion. I stuck to this proportion for a long period, considering it the best compromise between numbers, playability and visual impact.

Here below a picture of time ago with papersoldiers still little brimmed out.

Very funny to play with (this was the battle of Abensberg 1809), but still....

Then my - at the time - fiancée "suggested" me to downscale the proportion to 1:5; firstly I was totally against, because of the need of space required for this and the new job to be done.

Then I tried, even reducing the size of the soldiers (from 25mm to 15 mm), and I started with the Battle of Blennheim (1704)

Total vision of the troops attacking the Village of Blenheim at 1:5 ratio

Above the Hessian Brigade. Bottom the British brigade attacking the village of Blenheim.

Well the 1:5 proportion was a real good compromise: the number increased as the vision of the battle, even though it was quite easy to use on the tables.
Then, I told myself: "Why not to try to increase the numbers, glueing the papersoldiers quite close.

So I passed to a 1:1 proportion with battalions increasing the width to 70 cm each! Bottom

 

Top: Battle of Lund December 1676 The Lvregiment of the Danish Army at 1:1 ratio 

Bottom: Battle of Leuthen - Decmber 1757 Prussian Hussars: Zieten Regiment

 

Bottom: close fighting between Swedes and Danish at the Battle of Halmstad 1676. 1:1 Ratio.

Bottom: Major commanding a coloumn of the Novgorod Regiment the morning of the Battle of Austerlitz - December 1805. 1:1 Ratio

Bottom: the night at the village of Leuthen. 1:1 Ratio

You have to admit that the effect is quite different!

So followint this path I started to project battles with 1:1 ratio, and writing rules for wargaming without dice.
But lately, I realized how huge is my project as dimensions: tableboard at least 10 meter X 3 meter and so on.
So I tried to come back and using the tight space that I am already using for glueing the papersoldiers at 1:1 ratio, I did 1 battalion at 1:5 and 1:10
Here the pictures:
1) here at 1:10 ratio: about 58 papersoldiers i.2. 580 real men.
I preferred to array them in 2 rows, trying to give the real idea of a battalion of the epoch

 Top; as you can see the papersoldiers are very close one to the other.

 Bottom: here a battalion at ratio 1:5. About 120 papersoldiers in 2 rowsi.e. 600 real men

 Top: The effect is quite good and manageble
Bottom: I tried also to array in 3 rows but I think in this way it lacks of reality.

 So I came back to the 2 rows battalion

 My dream would be to recreate the - just as a start - the battle of Leuthen at 1:5 ratio!

PARADE FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF LEUTHEN 1757 - 2016

As promised, I show here some pictures of the parade celebrating the anniversary of the battle of Leuthen

 They are 9 full Prussian battalions at 1:1 ratio plus about 200 Prussian Hussars of the Regiment Zieten in front of them

Top: the detail of the Prussian hussars. On the background the infantry regiments

 Top: here the infantry regiments are more visible with their uniforms.

 Top: a good view on the parade

 Top: detail. The officers on the front of the squadrons

 Top and bottom: quite impressive view of the marchin infantry.

CELEBRATING THE 259th ANNIVERSARY OF LEUTHEN

Like every year, also this one, the anniversary of the Battle of Leuthen is coming.

As every year, I am late with the cutting of my papersoldiers, preparing them, finishing the wargame rules and all that stuff that makes so great some other blog in the net (like for example the fantastic Der Alte Fritz Journal).
I really would like to recreate this battle with all its circumstances, but still there is a lot of work to do and moreover a lot of papersoldiers to be cut.
Other problem is also the fact that I wander through other projects, like the Battle of Austerlitz 1805, the Battle of Turin 1706 or the Battle of Halmstad 1676.
I was wondering what could I do to celebrate this year the battle (postponing a huge diorama for next year for the 260th anniversary)
Obviously I could just recreate the attack on the Catholic Church.... well too used (see picture below)

Or simply the attack on the village of Leuthen in general as pictures above.

But I wanted something different. 

Actually the idea would be the defense of the bridge at Lissa, north of Leuthen the evening of the Battle with some Austrian Regiments. Let's see if I am able at least to do that, otherwise, I will make just a huge parade of papersoldiers.