I attended the Little Wars Convention very briefly last Saturday; just enough time to take a quick walk around the vendor's area and pick up some pre-arranged figures. My wife kindly drove me and it wouldn't have been good form to make her wait for more than an hour or so. Attendance seemed good and there were lots of vendors. There appeared to be a lot of games going so it seemed successful. Perhaps we'll get a report from someone on how it went. My congratulations to convention director Michael Cosentino and the staff who assisted him!
My retirement has been postponed for six months - the end of September. It was to start a week ago today; however, six months will go by quickly and I'll the fall - my favorite time of year - to play with my toys!
What is your favorite aspect of a wargaming project? Mine, I've come to find out, has to be doing the preparation for the project: determining the organization of the armies involved, where and how I'll get the figures, how will I get them painted, etc. I always have at least two or three planned projects going on at the same time; some only in the back of my mind. However, even when they aren't active, I am still picking up figures and accessories for that project whenever the opportunity presents itself. This results in one of two things: Having a good head start on a project (figure wise) by the time I decide to actually start it, and/or, Ending up with a number of figures for a project I've changed my mind on.
The Seven Years War in 15mm is a project which, as it looks now, will come to fruition. Many years ago at a Little Wars Convention, Johnson Hood of Wargames gave me some 15mm Essex SYW samples - Prussian Cuirassier, Grenadiers, and Musketeers. Well, I was quite taken with the Essex figures and remain so at present. I find them to be a very consistently well produced line as regards size and anatomy.
You know how sometimes you just "like the way a figure looks?" That's how I feel about Essex. I set them aside and made an attempt about five years ago to actually initiate the period in 15mm when I had the chance to pick up a number of unpainted Essex and Old Glory SYW figures second hand at very reasonable prices. During one of my many "downsizing" moods, I decided not to do the SYW in 15mm and sold or traded off many of the figures but kept a good number for myself. Now I find myself glad that I did save them and have been utilizing Bartertown to obtain additional figures. Just in the last week I obtained over 1,000 figures via this process. Again, I would recommend that you check them out occasionally for items you are looking for or wish to get rid of.
Anyway, having all of these figures now put me in my very favorite part of a project: organizing and counting the figures for each unit and determining what I still need to acquire to complete an army! "A one, A two, A three, A four."
You know how when you are doing this, you find you need three Prussian Musketeer drummers, one officer, and six enlisted men to complete a unit? You don't want to purchase a pack of command figures to get three drummers; nor do you wish to buy a full pack of Musketeers when you only need six. Some years ago, I mentioned this problem in MWAN and lamented that there must be some way for us to communicate our needs to others who may be able to assist us in filling up units. An MWANer wrote in and suggested using Bartertown to this purpose and although I have acquired, and sold/traded, many items via this method, it doesn't solve all of my .problems" although it works better than any other method I know of. It used to be that you sent your "needs" into a wargaming publication (i.e., MWAN) and waited till it came out and notified others. They wrote you a letter telling you what they had; you wrote back with an offer; they wrote again with their response; etc. Very time consuming! Bartertown reduces the time factor to the amount of time it takes to send and receive an e-mail. Very helpful indeed.
I've decided to concentrate on Prussian, Austrian and Russian armies for my 15mm SYW project. The foot are from Essex and Old Glory; cavalry from Essex but mostly from Frei Korps 15, artillery from Essex/Old Glory, and limbers from Irregular Miniatures. One of the nice things about being in the hobby for so long is that you pretty much know what you want/like as regards the type of figure/accessory. You know who makes what and what it looks like. Who is the only producer of mounted Austrian Treks Pandours, for example - Essex! We all like these special units in our armies!
As to army organization, I've pondered over this for a long time. I seem to be satisfied this time with using standard 12-figure foot (battalion in two ranks) and horse (regiment in a single rank) units each mounted on three stands. I've done this for several reasons:
- Ease of movement for large games; three stands for a unit are faster to move than six or eight per unit
- I can use the armies for a variety of SYW rules which I like: Koenig Kreig, Age of Reason, and the Fire and Fury variant for SYW My 15mm ECW armies are mounted in this fashion and I really like the way they look. Twelve cavalry "look" fine to represent a regiment; two 12 figure battalions of foot "look" right to me to represent a regiment.
I would like to eventually add British, Hanovarian, and French armies to this project; however, that might be a bit ambitious. However, that doesn't stop me from picking up such figures when they are available!
Britannia Miniatures, 77 Church Street, Runcorn, Cheshire, WA7 1LG, UK (www.britanniaminis.com) has released 28mm British infantry in Belgic shako to add to their Napoleonic line (14 packs of figures). It has been a great many years since they initially came out with this line and I am surprised to see them adding to it at this time. These are "large" figures and fit in great with the old 30mm Napoleonic figure manufacturers. Available in the USA from Combined Arms Inc., PO Box 2057, Warminister, PA 18974 (www.combinedarmsinc.com).
West Wind Productions (www.westwindproductions.co.uk) has a 28mm Vietnam range (available from Old Glory here in the states; www.oldgloryminiatures.com) which looks to be quite extensive. They produce an excellent figure in my opinion!
Old Glory USA has added 25mm Han Chinese, British for Napoleon in Egypt, Belisarian Byzantines, and Lost African Tribes as well as 15mm Vietnam to their already extensive lines.
You may already know that 19th Century Miniatures, 300 Watson Street, Coopersville, MI (phone: 616-837-7045) has a 25mm Great War (WWI) line via Battle Honors.
The popular Ian Weekley models are again available via Trevor Holland, Coritani Miniatures, 6 Lumley Crescent, Skegness, Lincs., PE25 2TL (phone: 01754-761383).
Artizan Designs, 5 Springwells, Mardy, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 6NW UK (www.artizandesigns.com) is a company I've not heard of before. They are offering a 28mm WWII line; thus far they have British and Commonwealth forces and Germans and Italians. They report they are adding Americans.
Essex, available from WARGAMES here in the states (see mailing/web site information on the last two pages of MWAN) has released a number of very attractive 15mm Arab campsites including tents, palm trees, pack camels, and Arab civilians. I've always searched out items such as this for my projects and these look very good!
Amazon Miniatures, 200 Monton Road, Monton, Eccies, Manchester, M30 9PY, UK (www.amazonminiatures.com) has a small 28mm WWII line for Stalingrad. What caught my attention are two Russian monks firing PPSH's!
Everyone always says how much they enjoy the "Letters" column in MWAN. What I'd like to see us do is to fill up, say, fifty pages of the next MWAN with letters from MWANers. What could you write about? Everyone always enjoys reading about how we approach our hobby; how we approach a certain favorite period or our current period; what rules are we going to use and why; what type of organization; what size/type of figures; where are the accessories coming from; etc. Actually, you can write about anything at all and people seem to find it of interest. I issue you a challenge: sit down at your computer and send me an attachment via e-mail for the next "Letters" column - let's see how many pages we can get!
Scruby figures are apparently available again through Mike Taber of "Historifigs", POB 69, Cotati, CA 94931-0069 (info(fhistorifias.com).
What attracts your interest in a new rules set? I ask this because I have been wanting to obtain a copy of Warhammer English Civil War and finally did last night via an e-bay deal. I know the first qualification has to be that one has an interest in the period; however, how about after that? There are lots of rules sets on the market and although some wargamers like to purchase them all, most of us don't do this. I've been in this hobby long enough so as not to be so naive as to think that I will find the "perfect" set of rules that will meet all of my needs. Not going to happen. There are perhaps three sets I can think of that come very close to accomplishing this, by the way. Tod Kershner and Dale Wood's AGE OF REASON, Barry Edwards PLAYABLE NAPOLEONIC RULES, and Rich Hasenhaur's FIRE AND FURY, although I would probably add a fourth, Howard Whitehouse's English Civil War rules.
Warhammer ECW is published by GAMES WORKSHOP and I am well aware that they do a great job of making a product very visually appealing to the audience and this was certainly the case with the ECW rules. Full color covers with many color pages in the middle and glossy pages. We all like color pictures of our soldiers, don't we.
In addition to the rules, they offer a lot of information on how to collect/build your armies, how to paint them, army lists, scenarios, a campaign, buildings, etc. Not that anything they present is "exhaustive", but they do try to cover the subject in as many areas as possible. I guess what stands out to me is that they consider the "newcomer" to the hobby while putting their rules books together. This is something that historical gaming does not do a good job of, in my opinion. Does it help in attracting newcomers? I don't know. What do you think? When you get right down to it, the rules are pretty basically done, as is the case with most wargames rules, and what they are offering, in my opinion, is a "total package" that is visually appealing. In other words, a quality product Oh well, it impresses me anyway! I did note that there were several Warhammer ECW games in the game listings for LITTLE WARS.
TOMMY GUNNER, 1402 Henry, Normal, IL 61761 (309-454-2015; www.knuckleduster.com/TommvGunner/Home.html) has expanded their 15mm painted WWII figures and vehicles to include 25mm Battle Honors WWII. Check them out on the website!
HINDS FIGURES LTD, 99 Birchover Way, Allestree, Derby DE22 2QH (e mail: hindsfigsltd@btconnect.com; website: www.HindsFiguresLtd.co.uk) offers second-hand figures, games and books.
LANCASHIRE GAMES (run a search on them; e-mail: lancgames@lineone.net) has released a 25mm 100 Years War line as well as 15mm Crimean (Russian, French and British). They are available in the USA from Battle Barn, 203 Locust Place, Williamsburg, VA 23188. What was interesting to me is that they carry the 20mm IT MINIATURES line and are now offering 20mm Indian troops (Sikhs, Punjabis, and Indian cavalry). I'd love to see these figures! In addition, they have a 20mm Sanussi line and two packs of 20mm Arab civilians (men, women and children). They have a pretty extensive line of 20mm WWI figures for the Western Front and Middle Eastern Front as well as a Russian Civil War line. I've never seen these figures and would like to see some samples sometime. I get very tempted by the Russian Civil War - Peter Pig (available via BROOKHURST HOBBIES in the US) offers this line in 15mm, B&B Miniatures (again from Brookhurst) in 20mm, and The HONOURABLE LEAD BOILER SUIT Company has a line in 25mm (available from Bob Bowling of RLBPS).
Mark Copplestone's new line of 25mm figures for 20th Century Asia would be a welcome, though expensive, addition for this period. I have heard the IT figures are taller than the 20mm B&B figures but don't know for sure. I know MWANer Michael Huskey is doing the Russian Civil War; not sure what scale he does it in. I'd like to hear some details about this, Michael. I would think one of the advantages would be that you can reach into the WWI line and use many of the figures for Russian Civil War. By the way, both Peter Pig (15mm) and B&B (20mm) make an armored train - wouldn't that be fun to see on the tabletop!
As long as we are on the Russian Civil War, this is one period which has long been on my "wish list" to do. I have a number of Russian OSPREY-like booklets on the subject and have been keeping a file for many years of articles appearing in wargaming publications on the subject. I've read a little bit about it, however, I've never been able to figure out how it could be best represented on the table top. I mean, it doesn't seem like a period where you mount three to six figures on a stand and go at each other in line; I assume we are talking about "open-order/skirmish" type approaches here. Am I correct? I've only seen one set of rules - those produced by B&B MINIATURES - and, if I remember, they recommended multiple figures to a stand. With the great Russian buildings available in 15mm and 20mm from HOVELS and MUSKET MINIATURES as well as the 15mm TCS buildings, it would look great on the tabletop. However, how do you do it?
OUTLAND GAMES (e-mail: outland(a)erinet.com; or run search for Outland Games) is now producing the fine 20mm Seven Years War BATAILLENFEUR line (Prussians and Austrians) originally done by Hap Jordan. Chris von Fahnestock has informed me that he is slowly adding to the line and I was glad to hear that as they are very good figures in the 20mm size.
Joel Gregory of J&T MINIATURES, 31216 Country R #112, Pequot Lakes, MN 56472) will longer be producing Peter Gilder's Connisseur line. BICORNE in the UK has taken it over and Joel informed me that they will be working the CONNISSEUR figures into their own Napoleonic line. I want to congratulate Joel because he made CONNISSEUR available in the US at very inexpensive prices. In my opinion, the CONNISSEUR figures still hold up well against today's works of art. I saw Joel at LITTLE WARS and he showed me some beautiful 25mm European-type buildings he had just finished - I believe they come in both damaged and undamaged though I might be wrong. They were simply outstanding! Separate floors/roofs, debris inside of damaged buildings. He also had a number of 25mm Wild West buildings and reported that OLD GLORY will be producing these buildings and making them available to the public.
Chris J. Hahn, who produces a regular column for MWAN, wrote me an interesting letter pertaining to his approach to the hobby and sent along some color photos of his games. These dealt with his recent SHILOH replay. I thought I'd share it with you as you may find it of interest. I've wondered how Chris can write such detailed accounts of extremely large battles. Chris does not use miniatures, rather, he sets up his playing surface with what would appear to be a cloth cover set off in squares which seem to consist of string going from one side of the playing surface to the other. Over this cover, he places cloth rivers, road systems, fields of various colors, and wooded sections. It actually looks quite visually attractive!
He then represents the various units in the game via what seem to be perhaps colored cardstock pieces and labels them as to type of unit and the unit's name. What you end up with is a "boardgame" type of approach on a simulated miniatures tabletop.
Chris writes '
- "I would guess this might seem rather geometric, and so unappealing, as there are no mounted figures, painted to a high-degree, with blackwash and shading used on the horses and artillery limbers. I have not attempted to pursue any kind of lead miniatures collection (I did toy with Ail-fix way back in 'the day' - no pun intended). So, I do what I can. To be certain, it's nothing that will make the pages of WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED. However, for me, it's more the mechanics of the wargame that appeal. I do not require gorgeous' 25mm troops to wonder if my wargame battle plan will succeed, or to consider how to accurately reflect the effect of musketry on green troops"
I don't think Chris has to feel his efforts are "second-rate" - I would enjoy hearing more about his approach and specifically how he develops it. Let us know, Chris!
John Younghaus of HOMEGROWN MINIATURES, 1252 Center Ave., Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 offers a new line of 25mm buildings. The first type are of an "adobe" type with a walled ranch, gate and wall sections, and a main house. He reports they can be used for Central America (to accompany his 25mm US Marines and Central American Rebels), Napoleonics, WWII, Mexican-American, and the Wild West. The second type consist of "Skirmish" buildings with removable roofs. Check out www.angelfire.com/biz6/homearownfigs for details.
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© Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum
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