All In - Part 3: JG Pixel Art - Figures, Vehicles and More

Author :Knight Errant
Category :World Designing

Hopefully by now you have noticed that Junior General is centred around the creation and distribution of FREE pixel art soldiers and vehicles. The big positive about JG is that the majority of the figures are based around preset scales, meaning that there should always be a resource which you can either use within your universe or adapt to make your own figures and sets which are still compatible with other figure lines. For example, there are three main scales used to depict infantry on JG:



-"JG Scale": Also known as 1/72 due to the fact that some print settings make them the same size as 1/72 scale models, this is the original standard scale on Junior General, and the one which sports both the most figures on the site and the most pose sets to make them. A very good scale for depicting infantry and character figures, as a lot of detail can be added to individual soldiers. Vehicles and aircraft can be made to an exquisite level of detail at this scale, but will take up a lot of page space and printer ink.

-"15mm scale": Really more 10mm in size, this scale is roughly 58% the size of JG scale, and represents a good compromise between utility and detail. Infantry figures are a bit more basic, but the smaller size allowes for easier variation of pose and their bodies are slightly more in proportion compared to those of JG scale. Vehicles and helicopters can be quite detailed, however, and are also small enough for easy use in wargaming. The 15mm scale has only taken off within the past twelve months or so, but it is growing fast and there are many historical vehicles yet to be rendered in 15mm scale.

-"Micro scale": This scale is perfect if you like big armies and vast, expansive battlefields. At only 21% of JG scale, infantry figures are diminutive and have difficulties in depicting nation-specific equipment and weapons, but a whole squad can be fitted onto a single base, allowing battalion-level actions to take place. Vehicles are similarly diminished but are still recognisable in their various makes and models, plus are again small enough to easily facilitate large-scale engagements while using relatively little ink and paper.

There are also numerous other scales e.g 6mm scale, Ship scale, Shipbucket scale and several top-down variants, but these three are the main scales in use on Junior General.


For the purposes of our dieselpunk campaign, we'll be wanting to use JG scale because the expedition consists of relatively few people who we can therefore represent in greater detail. For the wider war, a choice of either JG scale or 15mm scale would be appropriate, with Micro scale being needed for airships and the like. Now, it just so happens (oh, what a coincidence!) that I have made a tutorial series detailing the process of making a JG-scale soldier, pre-basing it and then printing it and cutting it out for your convenience. The links are given below:

Making a figure with Windows 7 Paint

Backsides and Integrated Basing

Printing and Assembling Figures

Even if you don't think that you'll ever end up wargaming with them, figure sets can help you to both visualise your setting and enable others to either wargame/roleplay your setting or even just draw upon them for their own nonhistorical projects and games. Additionally, you can include extra information on these figure sets to immerse others in your setting and explain a few features which you might otherwise not be able to weave into your general narrative. Here, I have put together a (very) basic set of four figures (ideally you'll want around seven different figures per set to give your audience variety and have a decent-sized sheet for posterity (i.e not just putup small morsels for others to digest and want more). I have also included a brief history of the troops which doesn't fit anywhere else into my writings:



So now we have our first set of troops to illustrate and expand upon our setting. For the purposes of brevity this is the only set that I will make (I do want to get this article series finished in the forseeable future!), but you should have plenty of material in your setting by this point to build upon for more sets. For example, we have already established the presence of American and Russian armies, the Strela rangers, the various rail armour divisions, the airship corps, civilians and forts etc etc etc... if we were to make all of those then we would truly have a rich and expansive setting at hand. For now, though, let's just stick with what we've got and move on to the next step in this series: writing in-universe stories and RPs.