I don't believe I have ever received so many wargaming samples than I have in the last few months. Thanks to those who sent them - I hope I can include them all in this column for this issue.
STONE MOUNTAIN MINIATURES, INC - 7130 W. 117th St 0-3, Broomfield, CO 80020: I have long been interested in seeing Stone MtdIs 15mm ACW line, even though I sold my 15mm ACW armies. The line is quite expansive encompassing some 72 packs of figures/guns. One could very well put together a l5mm ACW army with many differently posed figures utilizing only Stone Mtns fine line! Included for review for the ACW period were ACW 16 (Ragged Rebs), 17 (Negro Infantry), & 19 (Texans). Ragged Rebs included a great variety of poses with varying types of slouch hats, different lengths of beards(!), command stands with well done flags which have a groove for the flagpole to fit into (a good idea and it seems to work well!), bare-headed figures, and in general, just the type of figures I always like to buy for my armies - all different poses! Negro Infantry is the same in that some are bareheaded and there are a number of different poses. The Texans pack follows the same approach with some very nicely posed figures. These come 20 figures to a pack for $4.75 working out to just under .24 per figure! They also feature 15mm ACW naval artillery & figures as well as the Greenfield Garrison ACW ships to go with the figures. Included for review were ACW 180 (US Naval Landing Party), a pack of 18 crew with rifles & cutlasses & two officers. The officers were in different poses & the crew in the same advancing pose (well done figures). ACW 190 consisted of three crews (3 crewman & I officer) aiming and three firing. All are different poses and well posed at that. They would be very easy to paint. I don't know why, but I love artillery and I love the Naval guns included for review. Opps, should have mentioned prices for crew being at $4.75 per pack. There are 15 different naval artillery pieces including the Dahlgren (6.4", 9", 11" all with 4 wheel carriage) (9", 11" on Marsilly carriage) (9" 11" on pivot carriage) (15" on monitor carriage); Brooke (7" on 4 wheel carriage 7" on Marsilly, and 7" on pivot); Howitzer(12#) with US or CSA crewmen; Mortar 13" for gunboats; and Parrott 150# on Monitor carriage. Each, except for the Howitzers (2 to a pack) come 3 to a pack and cost $4.75. Very nicely done indeed! I would think that some naval actions or landing parties would be great fun indeed for this period and one could do it easily with these figures/guns!
Also included were Campaign's 25mm 16th Century range. This range encompasses 83 figures covering English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Imperial Infantry & Cavalry, Ottoman Turks & personality figures. Included for review were REN 106 (English Kern with spear), 117 (Musketeer loading), 173 (Musketeer Charging), 176 (pikeman charging), 219 (Ottoman Turk cavalryman Guard Spahis w/javelin), 121 (Dutch mounted arquebusier). Nice stuff! I love the musketeers & pikeman and mounted figures. The detail seems to vary slightly but on the whole is very good. The figures are large enough to fit in well with Hinchliffels 25mm line and very well cast - no flash.
Campaign seems to have corrected their horse problems (the SYW line had some horses that were not up to par for them).
Campaign also offers 25mm figures for Imperial Rome, it's Allies & Enemies which covers 53 figures including Late Imperial Romans, Franks & Goths, Dacians, Parthians, Sarmatians, Palmyrans, Sassanids, Jews & Armenians. Included for review were ANC 5 (Legionary crossbowman)4 6 (Legion staffslinger), 14( Auxilia palati a Javelinman), 1 (Legionarius), 85(Sassanid Cataphract), 40 (Dacian Javelinman), 5 ( oth/Vandal Heavy Cavalryman), 31 Frankish warrior w/francisca), 32 (Frank, Go h or Vandal archer), 2 (Legion Javelinman), 15 (Auxilia palatina in cloak), and 7 (logio signum) & 8 (Logio officer). Again, very nice figures fitting in well with Hinchliffe, having very good detail & character. I especially liked the Auxilia palatina in cloak and the poses of the infantry with spear/shield. All Campaign figures are priced at $3.95 per pack of 6 foot or 3 cavalry or .75 (foot) and $1.50 (mounted) individually.
Stone Mtn. also offers ECW (15mn), French Foreign Legion & Arabs (15mm), British Colonial (15mm), ACW (22mm), Am. Rev (25mm), and Hovels 05mm & 25rmn) which are buildings of the European & American type. I have heard good things of these buildings and would like to hear if anyone has any opinions on them. The Hovels range also has Samurai buildings and some figures. Campaign also has a very nice, extensive range of 25mm SYW figures for all nations and I have hundreds in my SYW armies and really enjoy them!
LYZARDIS GRIN PO Box 14522, Oklahoma City, OK 73113: (Submitted by George Grove): I recently sent for some of the Lyzard's Grin figures and artillery pieces and got the whole order back in six days. I liked the Maxim Nodenfelt 75mm gun (CL-2), Maxim 14G on tripod w/seat (CL-6), and the 9lber R.B.L. gun (CL-58) very much. The enlisted men sitting (CL-63) mule driver sitting (CL-65) make nice Maxim gunners for the CL-6 MG (use the mule driver as a Boer). I was also impressed by the fact that when I requested some special figure needs, Richard Houston, the owner, directed me to the new Falcon Boers, saying that they were very nice. (Editor's Note: For prices, please check Lyzard's Grin ad in this issue).
SAVAGE & SOLDIER MINIATURES 23902 SE 42nd St, Issaquah, WA, 98027: Several years ago, Lynn Bodin, publisher of SAVAGE and SOLDIER, decided to fill the gaps left by Colonial figure manufacturers by producing his own line of hard to find figures. He has 14 figures available in 11 packs (infantry 10/pack for $4.00; officers & gunners 5/Pack for $2.50; Chinese Gingelmen 5X2-man sets/pack=$4.00) and by Lynn's report, they are essentially home cast, thus quality is not to the high standards being seen in most sectors of the industry today. However, hard-core Colonialists will, I am sure, find them useful as many of the figures can not be obtained elsewhere. Submitted for review were the following:
1103 (Britian Royal Marine Light Infantry for Boxer Rebellion); 3001 (Boxers-4 poses/pack); 3002 (Kansu,,Brave Inf); 2604(Malagasy Officer); 2605 (Malagasy Irregular); 3004 (2-man Gingal crew); and 3005 (Chinese artilleryman). Others in the line include 1202 (France Foreign Legion, Tropical Kit, Madagascar, etc); 2601 (Malagasy Regular); 2602(Malagasy Queen's Guard); & 2603 (Malagasy
Artillery Cadet).
FRONTIER 7343 Branding Iron, Canutillo, TX 79835: Colonial gamers will be very pleased with this new release NF-6 British Heliograph and crew. Consisting of three British figures, one standing (officer?) and two seated, one on a rock with pad & pencil, the other kneeling operating the device, and two heliographs and a telescope (?) this makes a very nice set. The figures are up to the usual high standard for Frontier and the equipment is finely cast. Nice job! $4.00 per set.
ULSTER IMPORTS Box 1748, Champaign, Illinois, 61820: ACW gamers who have not yet purchased the ACW rules set JOHNNY REB by John Hill may wish to take advantage of Ulster Imports offer of a complete boxed rules set for $12.00. The low price is due to the fact they obtained a rather large number of boxed sets which were said to be "damaged". This consisted of slight damage to the box and everything inside is fine. Quite a price savings! About ten years ago, I obtained a prepublication copy of these rules and based my 15mm ACW armies re their organization. The rules give a good game as many would support. The price includes postage.
RAFM MINIATURES 19 Concession Street, Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, NIR 2G6: John Laing of RAFM recently provided MWAN with a group of British Highlanders from the SYW/French-Indian War period and has whetted my appetite for a unit of them! These are superb figures(!) and consist of an officer, drummer, flag-bearer, bag-piper, enlisted man advancing and highlander in bearskin. I do not have the price list but the packs are $4.00 for six figures. I have not seen better highlanders yet!
RSM MINIATURES 513 E. Maxwell St., Lexington, KY, 40502: Greg Principato from OF DICE & MEN (See ad) was kind enough to forward me S5-7 American Indians in 25mm from RSM. These are nice figures and welcome additions to my French-Indian War collection of which I still have not painted a single figure yet hundreds of castings lay waiting in cigar boxes. A number of years ago I built a log stockade out of fireplace matches from an article in THE COURIER and have been collecting figures when I see them. I've always thought this would be such a fun period to build armies mounted on single-figure based stands and use simple rules. Anyway, the figures are very nice with separate weapons (tomahawks & bows) and are all in advancing positions. RSM has a nice selection of figures for the French-Indian War in addition to this pack.
FALCON MINIATURES Suite 102, 1 High Street, Medford, MA 02155: Falcon has released IT-eir entire Sudan and Boer War line I do not have listings of them and have only three packs of Sudan figures (Fuzzie; and Dervish infantry) to discuss within this column. C-3076 (Dervish Infantry charging), C-3078 (Fuzzies charging) & C-3079 (Fuzzies advancing with swords) are all nice figures and I plan on adding them to my Sudan period armies. They are cast well, animated and have separate weapons & shields. The only thing I do not like about some of the figures is that they have a very long base (from front to back) and at times can be hard to fit onto bases. This is not a problem if mixed with figures that do not have the longer type bases. However, the figures are of such high quality that this should not be a drawback.
(Submitted by George Grove): BOER WAR HIGHLANDERS from FALCON & FRONTIER: For those of you interested in the later Boer War, both Falcon and Frontier make Highlanders with khaki aprons in front, as the kilts made nice targets for the Boer marksmen and nobody was in a big hurry to get shot in that location. This is a very nice historical touch, there is historical license taken in the fact that the sporran is still shown outside the khaki apron. The figures for Falcon are C-3005 (Highlander on Guard) and the Highlander officers are in the C-3001 Command Pack. The figures for Frontier are 25BS32 (Highlander Advancing 1898) and 25BS33 (Highlander officer 1898). All of these figures are very nice and up to both companies high standards. They belong in everyone's British forces for the Boer War period. The Frontier advancing Highlanders I think are especially nice. All are 25mm figures.
RAFM MINIATURES 19 Concession St. Cambridge, Ontario, Canada, N1R 2G6 Also from OF DICE & MEN came RAFM's new 25mm ACW range which is very good!!!! Again, I do not have a listing (Manufacturers, please send listings of your whole line when you send samples) but 6608 (Union Infantry in greatcoat), 6605 (Berdan Sharpshooters), 6626 (Artillery Caissons), 6624 (artillery limbers), 6625 (Artillery horse teams & crew) and 6609 (Character pack, Indian Scouts, Duelists, & Doctors) were included for review. As mentioned before, I love artillery and the limbers (2 to a pack), caissons (2), and horse teams (2 sets) are great as are the riders. The Sharpshooters are firing with scopes on their rifles. The character pack is a must for wargamers. The duelists are in tall top hats, one hand behind their back and taking aim. They possess a sword and military type coat and I plan on using them for ACW officers. The Doctors are wearing an apron and I plan on using one of them for my Rorke's Drift game while the Indian Scouts are wearing a cloak and Hardee type hat with feathers stuck in it. Good stuff. I'm anxious to see the rest of this fine line!
SPECIAL FORCES PO Box 814, Chicago, Illinois, 60690: (Submitted by Jim Torello): Hal has given me the pleasure of reviewing new releases from a company that is very new to me. But I must say that a company which should become known to all of us who wargame in 1/287th to 1/300th scale. Special Forces is offering hand-crafted terrain which is cast in plaster. However, they then do something magic to it and transform the cast plaster into the best ready made barbed wire, pillboxes, and gun emplacements that I have ever seen. They all come painted and with bits of scale foliage and no two are exactly alike. So far they have barbed wire at $2.75, tank traps ($3.50) pillboxes ($6), trenches ($5), hull downs ($1.50), gun emplacements ($1.50) and strong points ($6). They must be seen to really appreciate them! The good news is that they will be releasing more items to the line. They also have 1/1200th scale torpedo available. (Editor's Note: I must add that it would seem as though the barbed wire section would fit very well for 15mm WWI/WWII figures).
AHKETON USA RD 1, Box 125, Philadelphia, NY 13673): Ahketon has sent me ZC15 (Afghan Hill Fort Tower) in 25mm (no price listed) for review. This completes their Afgan hill fort and a complete set can be obtained for $37.00 and consists of walls, gates and towers, a very good buy. I have the whole set and can't wait to paint it up and paint up some troops for this period as well. I plan on using my Rorke's Drift/Zulu War/Sudan troops for the British side; paint some Afgans and Russians as well. Anyway, the tower is very good. Standing 5" high and 2.5" x 2.5" at the base and 31, X 311 at the top part, it is very nicely cast in plaster. I have never had a breakage in all of the plaster items sent to me by Ahketon over four or five mailings which speaks well for their product and packaging methods. The Afghan Hill Fort set is ZC18 by the way. Also included for review were New Orleans Grey figures (Tex 10,11,12) from their Texas War of Independence line. These are 25mm figures and are just great, possessing much character. I especially like Tex 11, loading rifle.
The Mexican line has 55 (!!!) figures while the Texan line has 23. Nice! They also included releases from their Spanish Civil War Line 1936-39). I believe these figures are billed as 20mm figures although in my opinion, they are closer to 25mm. The Republicans have 24 castings of which REP 1,2,3,4,5,6, & 18 were included for review. REP 1 (British International Brigade w/woolie had standing firing submachine gun); 2(as above but kneeling firing ); 3(as above but marching w/rifle); 4(as above but advancing w/bayonet); 5 (as above but throwing Soviet grenade); 6 (as above but officer firing pistol); 18 (Assault Guard Officer firing pistol). On the National side there are 32 castings and the following were included: Nat 14 (Legionaire standing firing rifle), 15(as above kneeling firing rifle); 17 (as above advancing with bayonet); 19 (as above but throwing German grenade); 21(as above with bugle). These are all well done figures. I especially liked the British Internation Brigade figures, especially the ones with the sub-machine guns. I would like to add that they have two 1/76th scale white metal kits; SCWI Camion Blindale 4 X 2 (#12) protected lorry and SCW2 Camion Blindale 4 X 2 (#10) protected lorry. They expec to produce more vehicles in the future.
For the Vietnam period in 20mm, they included VT4 (Circular sandbag Mortar pit); VT9 (55 gallon drum and sandbag wall section); VT12 (high sandbag corner wall section VT11 (high straight sandbag wall section ); and VT2 (straight low sandbag wall secti All are nicely done - don't know prices - and I would think some of the sandbag sections could be used for a Rorke's Drift type game. The Vietnam selection offers a total of 40 items thus far with most of them available at present.
RAFM 19 Concession St. Cambridge, Ontario, Canada MIR 2G6s (Submitted by Mike Adams)
RAFM has released their 25mm Armies of the Hellenistic Period and Armies of the Caesars. The Hellenistic Period encompasses Successors, Maccabe Jews and Thracians, while the Caesars features the Barbarians. Six foot figures are $4.00 as are three cavalry.
AH-37 Seleucid Phalangite Introubers; Excellent
AH-38 Babylonian Levy Archer: Very good
AH-39 Arab Archer: Good
AH-40L--Seleucid Med, Cavalry: Very good
AH-41 Macedonian Pikeman Quilted Armor: Excellent
AH-42 unarmored: Excellent
AH-43 Hypaspist in Leather Armor: Poor
AH-44 Heavy Cav in Scale Corslet: Good
AH-56 Jewish Heavy Cavalry: Average
AH-71 Thracian Heavy Cav: Excellent
AH-72 Thracian Light Cav: Good, but needs a different
AH-73 Getic Horse Archer: Very good
AH-74 Thracian Jav. Early Persian War. Excellent
AH-75 Thracian Spearman advancing, Excellent
AH-76 ThracianThureoporos w/Rho4hia: Excellent
AH-77 Thracian Peltast w/jav in Thracian cloak: Excellent
AH-78 ThracianKneeling Archer: Exceilent
RA-50 Barbarian Comniand: Excellent
RA-56 Dacian Throwing Jav: Excellent
I also received three books, two from the Osprey series, The first is from the Osprey Elite Series, THE ANCIENT GREEKS with color plates by Angus McBride -and this book is excellent. The second is from the Osprey Men at Arms series ($7.95), ROME'S ENEMIES (3) PARTHIANS AND SASSANID PERSIANS and again has excellent. color plates by famed Angus McBride; again excellent, CELTIC WARRIORS is; I believe put out by Blandford Press, don't know price but color illustrations are by Angus McBride and this is also an excellent book. Thanks to Charlie Prosek, Scott Newbury, and Greg Principato for the figures and books.
(Editor's Note; I neglected to mention it in MWAN NEWS, where it should have gone, but I attended a game at Mike's house several weeks ago and got a chance to see his ancients collection, encompassing some 10,000 25mm figures, all of which are extremely well painted. The game was most interesting with the Romans attacking a fortified Gaul stronghold although the Gauls hit them as they were coming through the woods in an ambush. The rules used were WAR CRY, I believe and although I had heard of them, I had never seen them, Would like to have an in-depth review on these rules for MWAN, if possible. The game turned out to be a slugging match with the Romans deploying into attack formation and they seemed to be slowly forcing the Gauls back, The terrain was very nice with Gallia buildings and fortifications and some very nice tree formations made by someone whose name I forget, however, they were made on sections of presswood perhaps six to eight inches wide and a foot long. On top of this was ground dirt and sawdust, I think, with tree twigs and Life-Like bushes added to the make the trees, I have not seen more realistic tree sections elsewhere and would love to have an article on how to make them, They seemed to be made so that they were cut from a common board in an irregular pattern and thus, will still fit together to form one large section of trees, Each section, there were four or So, had a road running through the middle and this was a nice touch.
BATTLE HONOURS AMERICA 17 Ridge Road Budd Lake, New Jersey, 07828, The famed Battle Honors figures are now available in the states through Tom DeVoe, a long time Napoleonics expert in wargaming and editor of EAGLES, EMPIRES AND LIONS, a very fine Napoleonics wargaming journal which has been going on for years, These figures are billed as the finest 15mm figures in the world and come pretty close to that, in my opinion. I am not an expert in Napoleonics, nor in any other wargaming period, actually, and I review figures only on how they look but these are very well done figures, At the present time, the line consists of Napoleonic Peninsula British (32), Waterloo British (11 foot and 2 cavalry), Napoleonic French (20 foot, 13-horse), Portuguese Infantry k9) and cavalry (1), Prussian Infantry 1812-15 (10 foot & 6 cavalry), Russian infantry 1812-15 (11 infantry), as well as special figures such as British officer with walking stick, casualties, etc. They also offer Spanish Guerrillas, baggage trains ($2.99) and pre-sorted battalions and regiments for all nationalities mentioned above. They just released a french 121b cannon and loading and firing crew and expect to-release French Grenadier A Cheval and Prussian Landwehr and standard bearers soon.
Infantry figures are .33 each as are cavalry figures while horses are .42 and artillery sets are $2.99. Pre-sorted units range from $6.60 (20 Rifle figures) to $17.90 (24 cavalry with horses), I found no flash on these figures and think they would be quite easy to paint as the detail appears to be raised and of course, there is a great deal of detail, The horses are well animated as are the infantry figures themselves. They also offer Napoleonic period card sheet buildings from the Peninsula period ($4.99). All good stuff for the 15mm Napoleonic wargamer and it appears as though they will be adding extensively to this line in the future.
GAMES, CRAFTS, HOBBIES and STUFF 9220 Lackland Road, Overland, Missouri, 6311 Kevin Fitzpatrick was kind enough to forward me a number of boardgames and other historical wargaming materials for mention in this issue. First of all, a number of small boardgames; Legend of Robin Hood, Arcola, 20th Maine: Little Round Top, and Battles of the Hundred Days: The Waterloo Campaign June 1815 are all Operational Studies Group and sell for .99 each. They are packed in plastic containers and contain counters, maps, and rules. I have noted that other historical miniature gamers use these small, inexpensive games for setting campaigns or for the order of battle information they frequently contain, Can't go wrong at these prices!
Also included was Jihad! out of Simulations Canada ($3.50) which is concerned with the rise of Islam 632-777-1 plan to use the nap for a wargames campaign for the Sudan at some point in the future. MWAN member Ned Zuparko's Vive L'Empereur Napoleonic rules are offered for $4. 00 and I am told these rules provide a good: game even though Ned has been taken u by the VLB system as he is, I believe, more concerned with true "army" level games. These rules, however, cover the grand tactical aspect of the Napoleonic period, are very well written, in my opinion, and contain much information that the Napoleonic wargamer may wish to have access to. Lastly, included was The Wargame Handbook by Richard Zimmerman. This sells for $4.00 and has quick, easy rules for Ancients, Medieval- Renaissance, American Rev, Napoleonics, ACW and WWII, I picked these rules up years ago and have refer-red to them often for an idea of what other rules sets utilize for mvement rates for different periods when writing rules and have also consulted them to see what easy systems of firing, melee, morale, etc. Richard used, Also included was Embolos: Naval Warfare from Salamis to Actium ($2,00) by Gregory Rose 1981. This is a multi-player game of tactics. These are intended for miniatures, as is the Wargamer's Handbook by Zimmerman.
CONNOISSEUR FIGURES USA 2625 Forest Glen Trail, Riverwoods, Illinois, 60015: The wonderful Peter Gilder figures are now available in the U.S. and since I am currently painting 25mm Napoleonics from Connoisseur, Foremost and Hinchliffe, I thought I would do a review of Peter's fine figures. - These are large 25mm figures with tons of character and animation. He has produced a large number of figures for French and British line foot units, for the British foot line, there are 10 and I would think there must be close to 15 for the French line infantry. If you like your wargames units to possess different poses within each unit, these are the figures for you, My French line infantry units of 36 men each, may possess three or four figures of the same pose in-each unit, but for the most part, they are all different poses. The Connoisseur figures fit in exactly with Foremost Napoleonics (also made by Peter) and some of the Hinchliffe line will fit in as well although one has to be careful. They also fit in very well with the Elite line. of Napoleonics (1806 uniforms) also carried by Connoisseur Figures USA. At present, there are British, French, Prussian, Russians, Saxons foot and horse available and Russian artillery. Peter plans to produce all nations in the Napoleonic period eventually, There are so many figures that it is not possible to list them all but there are figures with bandaged heads, without headgear, with all different types of Napoleonic headgear (scarfs), and even figures with ragged pants and rags wrapped around their legs, You won't find better 25mm figures anywhere in my opinion, Also, 30mm figure collectors could easily use them on the table with their 30mm figures as they are a bit larger than the standard 25mm figure A foot figure goes for .90 as does a cavalry figure while horses are $1.25 and $1.40 (heavy horse). The horses are also very well done.
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