By Len Brewer - Studio 33 Productions: Available from The Virtual Armchair General. Their web site is www.thevirtualarmchairgeneral.com. Phone number is 1-405752-2420. They are producing two 15mm Colonial-style ships; the first kit is a 15mm Medium nrahu KATF--#1. This is a resin model ship. The hull is a one (1)-piece model. There are seven (7) small pieces of dowel rod that will be used as the masts for the model. The sails are preprinted on paper. These will need to be folded and glued onto the masts. There are five (5) preprinted flags and banners that can be cut out and applied to the masts. A gamer will have to use a hobby drill to drill out the mast holes. The holes that are in the deck of the model are two small for them to fit in. Small Side-wheel Steamer KATF--#2 is another welcomed addition for the colonial gamer. This model consists of a one (1)-piece hull, the two (2) side wheels, two (2) masts and funnel. All of the pieces goes together very nice. The only small problem is that the hull on this model was a little uneven when made. A little sanding is necessary for this piece to sit level. The gamer has a choice of the three (3) British flags that are available. Chris Ferree designed both of these kits and they are priced at $15.00 each. If you are interested in Colonial gaming these models should be given seriously considered! They would be perfect for small native ships for the Sudan period! Highly recommended! By Hal Thinglum - NEW RELEASES FROM LANCASHIRE GAMES Lancashire Games, 20 Platting Road, Oldham, OL4 4DL, UK (Phone/Fax: 01457-872212), is a wargames figure manufacturer that I've always wanted to know more about. They recently sent some of their new releases for their 15mm Crimean War and Marlburian period ranges. I don't have a listing for the Crimean War and the figures were not individually identified; however, the Marlburian range looks quite extensive. There are British (13 packs: infantry advancing/firing/marching/command; grenadiers firing/advancing in mitre and felt hat, artillery crew, dragoons and dismounted dragoons, horse, and horse grenadiers). The French (11 packs) have the same listing minus the two types of grenadier headgear. The Dutch (9 packs) have infantry and grenadiers, artillery crew, horse, and dragoons (no dismounted), while the Austrians have infantry, grenadiers, artillery crew, Cuirassier in lobster/hat, dragoons, and hussars. Packs are 1.50 pounds (command packs are 1.20 pounds) with ten infantry, four mounted, eight artillery crew, or six foot command. They also offer 15mm "Battle Packs" (14.50 pounds for one pack of 100 foot/40 mounted) and if you order two or three packs, the price drops to 13.50 pds, and four or more, it decreases to 12.50 pounds. I might add they also have released a War of the Grand Alliance range though I don't have samples yet for this range. At present it consists of British (13 packs) and French (13 packs). The samples from the Marlburian Range are interesting: First of all, the Dutch. When I first opened them up, I thought they were 20mm figures! Well, if I place them next to my 20mm figures (which are actually small 25mm, I guess), they aren't 20mm; however, if I measure them from top of the base to eye level, they are 19mm high, so I guess I wasn't far off. Of course, my 25mm figures are actually 30mm, while the 30mm are 35mm Anyway, the cavalry are cast to the horse and from the top of the base to the rider's eye level, I measure 24mm high. The bases are a little thick but small enough so mounting them four or six to a base wouldn't be any problem. They aren't going to mix with other "15mm" Marlburian lines (i.e., Essex), but from the looks of the listings, you could obtain what armies you need from one company, so this won't be a problem; especially if you like the "larger" 15mm figure. I wouldn't go so far as to say they are "chunky" in appearance, but these soldiers have not missed many meals (perhaps "stocky" would be a better description)! Personally, I like them! The foot standard bearer has a cast-on flag pole; there do not appear to be any cavalry command; the horses appear, to my untrained eye, to be a little on the "slight" side; detail is fairly good; bayonets are "healthy" and you won't suffer from broken bayonets! As to the Austrians, there appear to be three differently posed Hussars (firing pistol, holding sword to shoulder, and sword overhead); other cavalry poses, by the way, are rather "stately", which is what I would prefer for this period. The artillery crew has figures with a rammer, ball, trail spike, and firing "stick" (I don't know what you call that!). The drummer appears to be a young boy. The British pack has an excellently done grenadier and officer figure. Again, the cavalry appear "smallish" against the foot figures; the British drummer is a little boy. The French samples are similar to the other three countries. The Crimean War samples retain the "stocky" look though they may be a millimeter or two smaller, at least for the infantry. In this range, I like the cavalry more than the infantry. The infantry weapons are not as thickly cast as for the Marlburian range and could be susceptible to breakage, I would think. If you are interested in these lines, I'd order some samples to make sure you like the style. They are also releasing a 15mm Boxer Rebellion line as well as 20mm IT MINIATURES East Africa line. By Hal Thinglum - ROBIN L. MILLER MINIATURES PAINTING SERVICE Robin Miller, PO Box 45, Black River, MI 48721 (Phone: 989-724-7567; e-mail: itybtyrob@alaccess.net) is a painter of wargames figures whom I used some years ago to paint up a 6mm Prussian SYW regiment and he did a very outstanding job. He sent some painted samples for mention in this column. First of all 6mm from H&R Greek Phalanx (prices are as follows with the first price being if you provide the figure and second, if Robin provides it: foot .50/.55; mounted 1.00/1.10; artillery .60/.90; foot guards/Highlanders .60/ .65). These are mounted five to a strip and are beautifully done! Spear points are done, there are clearly definable shield markings, foot wear, etc. Excellently done! In 10mm, Robin offers AIM and Minifigs ACW, Napoleonics and WWII at the following prices (foot .75/.90; mounted 1.40/1.70; artillery 1.60/1.70; most AFV's 6.50 and AT w/crew 6.00). He included a 10mm Roman from Minifigs (didn't know they made 10mm figures!) which is, again, excellently painted in the "block" painting style. He included 12mm Minifigs WWII Japanese infantry (but no 12mm painting prices) which are simply outstandingly done! Great job, Robin! Even in this scale, the painting detail stands out. Lastly, he sent a 15mm Minifig Brunswick Uhlan (foot $1.75/2.00, mounted 3.60/4.00, and artillery 3.50/4.50). Very vibrant colors on this painted sample. Very nice work indeed! By Hal Thinglum - KENNINGTON MINIATURES 20MM NAPOLEONIC LINE Kennington Miniatures, The Granary, Burley Lane, Ashe, Basingstoke, Hants, RG25 3AG UK (Phone: 01256-773100; FAX: 01256-773362; e-mail: newhopedesign@,hotmail.com) has an extensive 20mm Napoleonic line consisting of French, British (including the Peninsula), Austrians, Russians, Nassau, Brunswick, Belgians, Netherlands, Prussians, Portugese, and a growing listing of Spanish. In addition, they have 20mm lines for the War of 1812, Boxer Rebellion, Romans & Barbarians, a huge ACW line, and Crusaders. To start with, I can highly vouch for their 20mm ACW line as 80% of my ACW figures are Kennington and they are outstanding! I recently obtained a large number of their Napoleonics for my Peninsular War Project and was very pleased with them. First of all, the French. Kennington offers mutliple infantry poses (usually march attack, porte arms, and advancing, with light infantry poses usually in the above poses along with some firing and loading poses. In addition, they many times offer figure variants with an individual pose, thus, there are a number of different poses available from them. I obtained only Grenadiers for the Old Guard, but they also have Chasseurs and a pioneer. The Old Guard Grenadier command has two officers, a standard bearer with separate pole, and a drummer. There are three variants in a four-figure pack of grenadier at march attack and two each of porte arms and advancing. The Line Infantry in full dress has, of course, fusliers, grenadiers, and voltiguers, as well as a pioneer and a mounted officer. They are in early or late shakos. The Light infantry are in full dress with the command pack consisting of two officers and two hornists. There are two more listings for Line Infantry - with covered shakos and trousers, and in greatcoat. Each has command and the greatcoat listings come in either early or late shako. Although I didn't get it, they offer bandsmen: Guard Drum Major Dutch Grenadier. The French cavalry consist of Grenadier A-Cheval, Chasseur-A-Cheval, Guard Lancers, Carabiniers, Cuirassiers, Dragoons, Line Lancers, and Hussars. All of the troopers come in either charging or at rest poses while the command is in only pose. I wanted charging and was a little worried that the command horse poses would be drastically different than the charging trooper's horses, but that is not a problem. Command usually includes an officer, standard bearer and bugler. The British I obtained were for the Peninsular War (of course) and there are fifteen listings for this period and another 17 for the 1815 period for the infantry. Again, the available infantry poses mirror the French although there are not as many variants within individual poses as for the French. The Highlander command set has an officer, piper, standard bearer and drummer while the Line Infantry command has an officer, standard bearer, drummer, and sergeant with separate pike. Both the Peninsular and 1815 ranges have a mounted officer. There are more than adequate poses of centre and flank company enlisted men. I don't plan on having individual skirmishers but if you do, the flank company listings have loading and firing poses. The British also feature kneeling at ready, kneeling firing, and preparing to fire poses! There are four types of British cavalry - Scots Grey, Heavy Dragoons, Light Dragoons, and Hussars. The Hussars do not have command, however, I was able to obtain them from QUALITICAST and they match up well although QUALITICAST may be just a little larger. Again, trooper poses consist of charging or at rest. There are nine listings for the Portuguese line infantry (post 1810) including a mounted officer and command group (two officers, drummer, and standard bearer. All of the listings are for line infantry and there are no flank company figures available at this time. Again, I reached into the QUALITICAST line for flank figures and they are a good match. The Spanish are very interesting! First of all, there are five poses of Spanish Guerillas: standing firing pistol w/sword, advancing with carbine and pistol, kneeling firing carbine, advancing with musket, and standing with musket. They wear a variety of clothing, headgear, and equipment. I do not intend on having guerillas, however, I will have quite a few units of Spanish militia, thus, the guerilla figures will come in very handy. I am using the figure standing firing pistol w/sword as an officer and will mix him in with Spanish Line Infantry command figures for the militia. I will also use the other guerilla figures along with some Spanish Line Infantry and Grenadier figures for the militia. From what I have read, they wore a variety of uniforms and there were probably lots of "regular" Spanish Army infantry whose regiments had been destroyed as a unit. The Spanish Line Infantry has nine listings with two different command sets (standing and advancing; they can be easily mixed). Enlisted poses include firing, loading, at ready, kneeling at ready, porte arms, march attack, and advancing. Only the march attack and advancing poses have variants (two each). They also have Spanish Grenadiers (seven poses; identical to the Line Infantry selections) but no command. I will add grenadiers to the line and have a few battalions of Spanish Grenadiers using the Line Infantry command figures. Lastly, the Spanish have Hussars with comand and again, charging and at rest troopers. The Hussar command stand has an officer, standard bearer, and bugler. Artillery selections are pretty extensive with two French guns (#12, and 8#) and two British (#6 and #9). Also offered are Prussian, Russian, and Austrian guns. There are only two limbers available at this time (British and French). However, I plan on using British limbers for the Portuguese and French for the Spanish. The same is true for limber horse riders with only French/British available. There are artillery crews for the French (Guard Foot/Horse and Line Foot/Horse), British (foot and RHA), Austrian/Prussian/Bavarian foot, and Portuguese and Spanish foot artillery crews. Kennington also offers seven mounted personalities: Wellington, Napoleon, Picton, Prince of Orange, Ney, Blucher, and Lord Uxbridge). Although QUALITICAST doesn't have personality figures, they have mounted officers so they will provide some variety amongst the mounted officers for my collection. Infantry come four to a pack (two pounds) while cavalry come three to a pack (three pounds). Guns are 1.50 pds as are mounted personalities and limbers while four artillery crew are two pounds as are two limber horses with a rider. Postage is 15% for overseas (airmail) which is reasonable, I think. You can purchase battalion or Army Packs at a considerable discount and you can also select your figures within an army. I was very pleased with this as the savings is very significant over purchasing figure packs! Figures are about 22mm high from the top of the stand to eye-level, detail and animation is, in my opinion, very good! Saddles are cast to the horses. If you like 20mm metal Napoleonics, this would be perhaps the best line to go with as it would seem to be the most complete with the highest quality. As mentioned, you can use Qualiticast to fill in some holes and I am hopeful Peter Edwards of Kennington will expand this line even further. He does have Spanish Dragoons in the works. I can highly recommend Kennington's Napoleonic 20mm line! By Hal Thinglum - CHARGE! The Official Newsletter of the Johnny Reb Gaming Society Scott Mingus, JRGS, 1383 Sterling Drive, York, PA 17404 (e-mail: jrgsnl@aol.com) has released an ACW newsletter devoted to Johnny Reb. Issue #1 looks very good ($5 per issue; $15 for subscription payable to Deborah Mingus); 19 pages of scenarios (Shepherdstown, Kernstown, and Fairfield Road; articles including the Johnny Reb 3 Cheat Sheet, The Effectiveness of the Rifle-Musket, Fences and ACW Combat, and Buford's Cavalry at the Battle of Gettysburg. Very nicely done and highly recommended! I wish Scott all of the luck in producing this fine publication! BY Hal Thinglum - SIKH WAR FLAGS FROM THE VIRTUAL ARMCHAIR GENERAL MWANer Patrick Wilson (www.thevirtualarmchairgeneral.com; Phone: 405752-2420; e-mail: TVAG(@worldnet.att.net) has tons of interesting "stuff' - check out his website and you'll have some surprises. Also, check out his ad in this issue. Patrick kindly sent me copies of his SIKH War flag sets (available in 15mm, 20mm, and 25/28mm; prices unknown). First of all (these are in 25/28mm), there are two pages of British Infantry (26 dfifferent flags) for the 15t and 2nd Sikh Wars; three pages for the Bengal Native Infantry (54 different flags!) of the 1st Sikh War and an additional three pages for the 2"d Sikh War (46 flags). The Sikhs are not forgotten with two pages of iinfantry (33 infantry and 12 cavalry flags). Colors are very good, and as you can tell, the selection is just amazing! First of all, I don't think you can get Sikh flags anywhere, much less Bengal Native Infantry! For my 25mm Sikh War Project, I used British Napoleonic flags but will go back and redo them (thanks a lot, Patrick!) and made my own for the Skihs. They will, I am sure, fight much better, with the correct flags. I think its great to have Bengal Native Infantry flags available; there were so many Bengal infantry units. I understand Patrick will be releasing a line of Sikh War figures; I wonder if this is Chris Ferree's 25mm line which came out some years ago? Lots of stuff here for the Colonial wargamer! Highly recommended! BY Hal Thinglum - BRITISH GRENADIER! Warciame Rules Partizan Press, 816818 London Road, Leigh-on-sea, Essex, SS9 3NH UK (e-mail: ask(&,caliverbooks.com; website: www.caliverbooks.com) has released BRITISH GRENADIER! Gaming the Wars for America 1775-1783 by "Eclaireur." This is a glossy 78-page effort with the rules "adapted from General de Brigade." Price is 12.50 pounds. Game distances are shown in 25mm and 15mm; figure scale is 1 figure = 20 men with one artillery piece = two; time scale is one turn equals "several minutes." Basing is provided for 15mm and 25mm figures with number of figures per base being left to the gamer/reader. The rules use six-sided dice as well as average dice (don't see those much anymore, do we!). There is a chapter on troop types and formations - good information for the beginner gamer - one on the role of senior officers and organization (I like this type of approach). There are nine phases to a turn (initiative, command, compulsory moves, charge declarations and charges, normal moves, firing, melees, morale and pursuit tests, and rally disruption points. The system uses a combination of simultaneous and alternative phases for the nine turn phases. There is a chapter on command and control which is very well written - actually, this rules set is well written, in my opinion, and enjoyable to read! Commanding officers (CinC and Brigade CO) are rated excellent, average, or poor) and, of course, can influence the units under their control. There are many examples of play throughout the rules. Movement is variable with either an average die or regular die being added to a base movement rate. I like approaches like this as you never know how far your units can move. There is a four-page playsheet in the center of the ruleset as well as three pages of 25mm/15mm/6mm color flags which can be photocopied and used for your troops. Nicely done flags! There is an extensive chapter on skirmishers. "Disruption Points" are "earned" and if you accumulate enough of them, they can start resulting in casualties (an interesting concept) and represent disordered formations, confusions, apprehension, and low-level casualties. They limit what a unit can do during the game. There are special/optional rules covering flank marches, landing parties and boats, regular approaches and siegecraft, storming parties, ammo supply, weather, wing/divisional commanders, orders, initiative, loss of nerve, and satisfaction of honour! There are three scenarios: Bunker Hill, Freeman's Farm, and Guilford Courthouse. There's a section on building your armies and a roster sheet as well as order markers. There are many black/white historical drawings and some color pictures of Perry Miniatures 28mm AWI figures. A well-done effort which would be very helpful to the newcomer to the AWI! Highly recommended! By Hal Thindlum - ATTACK WITH TORPEDOES - Coastal Warfare Rules 1939-45 MWANer Dillon Brown, Shiralee, New Inn Lane, Gawcott, Buckingham, MK18 4HP, UK (e-mail: dillonna clara.co.uk) wrote this set of rules which are available from Caliver Books (see address above) for six pounds. Dillon's purpose was "I felt that all the rules I had used for this type of warfare had been too slow to use. From the reading that I have done on this period it seemed to me that the actions, once the firing had started, could be fast and furious and the rules that I had used so far became too bogged down in the game mechanics and detail." Ground scale is 1/1000 with 1cm = 10 meters; one move is 18-20 seconds(!); model scale is 1/600; and one knot of speed = 1cm per move. Of the twenty page rulebook, there are 14 pages of rules. There is a brief introduction to coastal warfare and some suggested readings. There are three classes of vessels with merchant ships being a fourth. Class 1, for example, includes MTB's, MGB's, etc., Class 2 has large trawlers, corvettes, frigates, minesweepers, etc., while Class 3 has large minesweepers, destroyers, larger merchantmen, etc. There are six phases in a turn (damage control, writing down of movement, carrying out movement, torpedo hits, gunnery and launching of torpedoes, and checking for ship sightings. The section on damage control is concerned with boat crews' attempts to make repairs. The colonial gamer could steal some ideas from this section for his gunboat combats! Orders for ship movement must be written out two moves in advance of them being carried out (I never do well at these types of games!) if no enemy ships can be seen; otherwise, they are written every turn. Firing is conducted using all of the ship's firepower instead of individual guns of a ship. There are rules for illumating targets and concealed movement. Lastly, Dillon has examples of ship playsheets. The rules appear top be very straight forward and stay away from a lot of detail. Nice job, Dillon! Back to MWAN # 127 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com