Thoroughbred Miniatures and Books

Marching to the Front

by Brad Butturff

I've been a wargamer most of my adult life. I can still remember picking up my first Avalon Hill boardgame when I was fifteen years old. I had no idea then that this would lead to a life long addiction. As time passed I gradually started working my way into naval miniatures wargaming, I still have my first 2400 scale WWI ships in a tackle box in one of my closets. This naval gaming soon became a passion in my college years. One of my papers in school was a report on the British development of the HMS Dreadnought in 1906. This was all just the beginning of my involvement with this hobby of collecting little metal ships and playing at war.

The American Civil War is one of my fascinations in naval gaming. The war between the North and the South saw a lot of firsts in naval warfare. Though armor plate, steam power and rifled artillery had been around and used in other conflicts before this the American Civil War was the first war to see all of these technologies united to create the warships we call the Ironclads. The war also saw the use of other new technologies that would eventually have tremendous influence over naval warfare, particularly the mine and the submarine.

For the miniatures gamer starting out to do the American Civil War there are some real challenges. One thing is the availability of ships. This is a lot easier today than it once was. There are now several companies that produce miniatures in a variety of wargaming scales. I'll be writing about each of these companies in the future but I'm going to start with one company right now.

Thoroughbred Figures

This is their website, http://www.thoroughbredmodels.com/, I have to say they probably produce the best sculpted, most finely crafted 600 and 10mm scale warship miniatures available for the American Civil War. I've seen these used for dioramas as well the game table. Each ship is carefully researched and assembly is relatively simple. Now some people have a hard time with the 600 scale because they think it's too large a scale for the game table. This is all a matter of individual taste and how you scale your games. The 10mm ships, a new but growing line for Thoroughbred, is perfect for the 10mm scale of Civil War gaming. Now these are not the cheapest miniatures on the market but they are a perfect case for the old saying that you get what you pay for.

Books

I've done a lot of thinking about this one. Do you know what I think the largest investment a historical miniatures wargamer has? Not their figures unless they own Armageddon scale armies, like playing Gettysburg on a 1:1 scale. In my own case and that of several of the gamers I play with the biggest investment is in their wargaming library. Wargaming is an intellectual hobby and many gamers do as much historical research as painting and playing. There are some wonderful historical sources for gamers on a budget, such as Osprey Publishing; http://www.ospreypublishing.com/, but the average gamer accumulates a lot of costly published materials over time.

Now if I had to recommend just a few books for the American Civil War naval gamer I would start with this title; Civil War Navies, 1855-1883 by Paul H. Silverstone. This book is a definitive list and guide to all the ships that participated in the Civil War. Now I'll tell you right here this book isn't cheap at $49.95 retail but I seriously doubt if you will find a better book. I'll also clue you in on a way to get this book and other naval titles for a lot less than you would pay retail. This book is published by the United States Naval Institute, they refer to themselves as the independent forum of the sea services but I personally think of them as a sort of publishing house for the United States Navy. Their books are well made, wonderfully written and often have the most definitive information on any particular naval topic. If you set up a membership with them you get a substantial mark down on any books or other items you purchase through them. The membership is $39.95 a year but think of this, the member price for Civil War Navies is then $29.95 and not the regular retail price of $49.95. If you start buying any number of books from them the membership pays for itself!

Their website is; http://www.usni.org/usni.html. Okay, enough for now. I need to start painting a bunch of 2400 scale ships sitting on the coffee table before my wife decides to sink the whole fleet!

Marching to the Front ACW Reviews

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© Copyright 2004 by Marc Shefelton.
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