BACCUS 6mm

I wanted to write a bit about a miniature manufacturer I have been doing business with for the past couple of years, that is Peter Berry who owns and operates Baccus 6mm.

Peter and I have been collaborating on World War One. He with miniatures and me with Rules and Scenario book (with a huge hand from Robert Dunlop). This partnership, to my way of thinking, has been tremendous and it speaks to the collaboration that seems to permeate the wargaming community at large.

Peter is located in the UK, while I am on the west coast of Canada but the distance is easily closed these day with the help of the interweb, email and so on.

I just want to speak for a moment about the fantastic relationship I have with Peter in the development of the miniatures he produced for WWI as well as his making ready made Divisional and Corps Packs for my own Great War Spearhead II rules set.

We have from the beginning discussed the need for infantry, cavalry, cavalry dismounts, artillery, engineers and headquarters. All of this was a very interesting blend of what the rules had, what was really necessary to depict on the table and what made sense from a design perspective for his model making. Lets face it, you just cannot do every single figure type and expect to make good on it. If, for example, you did a body armour wearing grenadier, how many of these do you need in a rules set or look right for an army of xxxx year and month? Might be very cool to have a figure like that but it might well be a draw down on resources to produce the more important Alpino or Evzone!

This was an interesting process for me, I have no artistic talent for figure design nor the know how or room to produce my own figures. So Peter had to rein me in on a number of occasions when I was saying we needed too many of a figure type (meaning asking for British infantry in Glengary, Tam O Shanter, Brodie Helmet, Cor' Blimey hat and Sun helmet, when the Brodie, Cor' Blimey and Sun helmet was likely more than enough). But he was aggressive in his breeching such subject and most times he would say something like, well we can look at that down the road if we need to fill in a spot, but we need to get the core done first. Makes complete sense!

He relied a lot on my thoughts on the guns required. Anyone who has studied WWI in even a small way can quickly realize that the amount and variety of artillery pieces is simply mind blowing. Some are extremely cool looking but don't really have a place on the battlefield because historically they were never used or only 1 of a type ever made it to combat. A good example here might be some of the modified naval guns the Germans used. There are three different 30cm guns that I can think of that were removed from battleships or were never mounted on them. Instead they were placed in fortification or on rail carriages. These guns were often deployed singly or perhaps 3 at a time. But were never really engaged in close combat where the enemy would have the opportunity to over run them. So why would a model maker choose to add that to the list of models when they are trying to build armies for the entire period? That sort of thing in my mind, now that I know better, is best left to a place like Shapeways, where you can ask one of the designers to custom build one for you.

Looking at the ranges Peter has completed for WWI so far (early and late war British, French and Germans, ANZACs, British Desert/Mesopotamia, Turks and Indians), one can not help but be impressed by the decisions made by Peter to cover the period in an effective manner. He has more coming to be sure - the Russians and Austrians will soon hit the tables and he has designs on more vehicles as well. If you are unsure about the quality of the vehicles or have never seen them, in the Desert Mounted Corps pack you get 8 Rolls Royce Armoured Cars and for me, they are the best 6mm Armoured Cars I have seen and or painted! Fantastic models. So I look forward to more of this type of addition as well.

For a fellow who has such a diverse selection of miniatures that you can buy, I am always very impressed with both his general and specific knowledge regardless of the period you may be discussing with him.

For my money and look on the gaming table BACCUS 6MM is the best range of miniatures you will find when doing World War One. I must caveat, range meaning those he has produced thus far, he plans to cover everything, but each range he has started to produce is complete as is. You can get everything you need. You want an Indian division or corps, everything you need is available now from Baccus. You want a Turkish Corps with a heavy Irregular Arab presence, you have it all available.

Given the increased scrutiny of WWI and the ancillary conflicts either side of the 1914-1918 period, it is magnificent to see someone as dedicated as Peter take on the job of ensuring we as gamers can muster the right troops to fight the battles we all want to see from this incredible time period.

Thanks Peter for your great work and look forward to more in the future!