Brian Carroll's excellent article "Birth of Notion" concerning his Marlburian Project is number one, the type of article I most enjoy within wargaming publications, and two, inspired me to attempt to do the same with my 25mm SYW Project. Long-time MWANers will be familiar, not overly, I trust, with my work in this fascinating period of history.

PART ONE - A 'NORMAL' PROJECT

Rich Black introduced me to the Seven Years War period perhaps twenty years ago. Rich and I made several trips to Milwaukee to participate in huge SYW wargames coordinated by Bill Protz who was, at that time, consumed by the period.

I recall one held in a gym where many thousands of SYW castings were moved around by us on our knees - not something I would take ut at this time at the age of fifty! Rich and I started building armies for the period using SCRUBY figures, but the detail just wasn't there, as far as I was concerned.

I recall French line infantry unit I painted where I tried to paint on crossbelts where there were none on the figure. Just didn't do it for me. MINIFIGS then came out with their 25mm line which was very extensive and, at the time, beautiful casting. Just as I was getting into the period, MINIFIGS dropped the line in favor of fantasy figures. I was quite disappointed and made a number of trips to Lyle's Hobby Store in Lamont, Illinois, who had a large number of MINIFIGS for fifty cents apiece.

Casting About

The problem was, he didn't have enough for full units so I started purchasing single figures with the intention of casting them myself. I felt that if MINIFIGS discontinued the line, I would be justified in reproducing them for my own use. I wasn't very successful at my mold making/casting and quickly changed my mind as the figures just weren't up to standard.

Then CAMPAIGN, out of the UK, came to our rescue with their new SYW line and I purchased quite a few Russian and Prussian foot and horse units while Rich collected the Austrians. CAMPAIGN figures were very good, for the time, and I still like them. They were a bit stiff, but I still have three battalions of CAMPAIGN Russian line infantry; one of Prussian light infantry; and one of Russian light infantry in my collection. I really don't recall what got me off the SYW track at this time, but I suspect it may have been overwhelming interest in the Zulu War of 1879 and redoing Isandhlwana and Roarke's Drift, but whatever the reason, I lost interest in the SYW.

Then in late 1991, FRONT RANK released an extensive 25mm SYW and their figures were, and still are, outstanding. I pulled out Charles Grant's THE WAR GAME and reread it for perhaps the 100th time - I might add that each read has been most enjoyable and tried to figure out how I wanted my organization for the period. I knew I wanted large units; perhaps not as large as Charles (48 line infantry with perhaps five officers), but I wanted the battalion to "look" like a battalion.

I also wanted to have my figures based singly; I never learned the problems of mounting figures individually! This was at the time when Bill Protz, through his SEVEN YEARS WAR ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER, was espousing the 'CHARGE' type game which featured large battalions and singly mounted figures, thus, I was heavily influenced by this as well.

Big Battalions

I finally decided upon 37-figure strong infantry battalions - I call them regiments, actually - where there is one mounted officer, one foot officer, drummer, standard bearer, sergeant, and 32 enlisted men. I believe this came from my Sudan Project where I found that 36 figures had the "look" that I wanted to achieve in portraying a battalion.

As regards horse regiments, 24 figures had that look. I decided upon two 'squadrons" of 12 figures each. The lead squadron had an officer, bugler, standard bearer, and nine enlisted men, while the second squadron featured an officer, bugler, and ten enlisted men.

I took my cue from Charles Grant with artillery; Charles envisioned two guns with limbers and an ammunition wagon as a "half-section" of an artillery battery and that sounded good to me. It also looked "right" on the wargames table. I wanted five gunners per gun with limber horse riders for both the gun limber and ammo wagon.

A "battery" of two guns; ten gunners; two limbers; and an ammunition wagon really looked good on the table! It was quite expensive, however! For Light Infantry, I again took Charles Grant's idea of 24 figures to a light infantry unit including one foot officer. Thus, I had my organization. Now the figures!

I wrestled for a long time as to which nationalities to purchase from FRONT RANK. My intention was to create two fictional countries so as to allow me to paint the uniforms as I pleased - another feature of the 'CHARGE PROJECT' which appealed to me greatly. I wanted to have one uniform color per combatant with different colored facings for each individual unit.

Finally I choose Prussian and Russian figures. After thinking about for awhile, I decided to paint my Prussians historically and to paint the Russians in an off-white uniform color for the infantry thinking - correctly, I might add - that having an off- white uniform color would greatly speed up my painting time. This, as you know, can be an important factor in putting together a wargames period! As far as the "Russian" horse were concerned, I did decide eventually to paint them historically.

Then it was a matter of determining how large I wanted my "armies". This was a most enjoyable process, as you can imagine! I came up with the figures of ten line infantry battalions, one grenadier battalion, one light infantry unit, three batteries, and five regiments of horse per side for a total of 40 "units" for the period. This amounted to some 1,154 figures, a sizable amount both financially and painting-wise!

Big Purchase

In late Fall of 1991,1 made out my order to FRONT RANK for the entire collection - I don't know how I could afford that many figures at one purchase, but I suspect I may have sold one of my collections, perhaps the 25mm Sudan period, to finance the purchase.

I can still recall when the figures came - you all know how exciting that can be.

Taking them out of the box; sorting them by type (my personal favorite wargames activity!); cleaning the flash (of which there was exceedingly little); priming them with white spray paint after glueing them to individual washers; and then the painting!

My intention as regards painting this period was to "increase" my painting standard by a grade. Now I have related a number of times within MWAN as to how I am an "average quality" wargames figure painter. At tbat time, I could paint quite quickly (and compulsively, I might add!), but "upping" my painting quality meant a corresponding decrease in painting speed.

With this in mind, I set painting "goals" for myself. Having the figures ready for painting by the beginning of January, 1992, I was "ready" for a "grand" New Year's resolution. No, I wasn't going to quit smoking that year; I was going to set a tiny schedule for my new period of interest I've already mentioned that I had 40 figures to paint. I aimed for completing four units per month, or one per week. For years, I had (and still do) maintained a "painting record" of figures listed by day, month, and year. I found that system tended to motivate me to attempt to "beat" the number of figures I'd finished in previous year (I told you I was compulsive!). For your interest (I hope I am holding it). I am listing my SYW painting by month:

Month	Foot	Horse	Batteries
January	4	0	1
February	5	0	1
March	4	0	0
April	3	0	2
May	2	1	0
June	2	0	1
July	1	0	0
August	2	0	1
September	2	0	0
October	1	3	0
November	0	3	0
December	0	3	0
Totals	26	10	6

During the year, I already began experiencing "wargamer's dilemma" of "figure greed" and decided to have two battalions of grenadiers per side instead of one. Thus, the year successfully accomplishing my painting goal consisting of 22 line infantry s (X 37 figures = 714); four grenadier (X 148); two light infantry (X 24 = 48); ten (X 24 = 240); and six batteries (X 13 ners = 78) for a grand total, not including mounted generals of course, of 1,228 figures. I was most pleased with myself!

The painting enjoyable and it was with a great deal of action that I recorded within my painting--the completion of yet another unit! It was, however, more demanding as for detail. I recall counting the number of painting steps involved in finishing a unit - 32 for Prussian Fusiliers, for example.

Since I painted units as a whole (i.e., 37 infantry figures at the same time), my first step was always to paint on the coat - that constituted the first step; the second was to paint the vest and trousers of all 37 figures.

When you consider 32 "steps" for 37 figures one is picking up a total of 1,184 figures (32 X 37) before the entire unit is finished! But, oh, they looked nice! The paint job still would not win any painting contests, but to me, it was a job well done!

As regards terraining, I used my usual "static grass" approach which works quickly and looks good to me. Once the figure is finished, I painted the figure base green and dip it into a box of static grass. I then glue (with Elmer's glue) the figures to a stand and after they are secure, I paint the stand green and drop static grass over it. I scrap off any grass from the side of the stand and paint the sides green. It gives, to me, a most pleasing effect!

Rules - well, I decided I would write my own set of rules for the period aiming for large fast-moving banles. However, as I stated before, I lost interest in the period and didn't pursue the rules at this time.

PART TWO: The Madness Increases

In 1993, I added 94 more SYW figures to the collection including 30 casualty figures from OLD GLORY's French and Indian War period. This idea came about as I always disliked "markers" of any sort on the wargames table. A "falling" casualty figure denoted that a unit had failed morate and required a morale check while a "prone" casualty meant that the unit had routed.

About this time, I decided to remount the figures to six man stands for infantry; three man stands for light infantry and horse; and four man crews for guns. Years ago, I had my brother, Gary, cut out thousands of stands made from double tempered hardboard. Infantry stands were 1 1/2 x 2"; infantry command 1" X 2 horse stands were 1 1/2 X 2 and artillery limbers 1 3/4" X 4"; light infantry 1" X 2"; and guns 2" X 2".

With the gun stands, I mounted the four artillery crew to the side and rear of the gun, which gives a look which I like. When I started remounting, I elected to decrease the number of gunners from five per gun to four and also decided to discontinue painting up an ammunition wagon for each battery.

In 1994, I painted another 77 figures while in 1995, Todd Kershner and Dale Wood inspired me with their excellently done SYW rules WARFARE IN THE AGE OF REASON. I signed up to conduct a game at LITTLE WARS and decided to do the "Mollwitz" scenario from Charles Grant's book.

However, I wanted to double the number of units that Charles used. This meant I would have to drastically increase my collection. I didn't want to spend a fortune on more figures and luckily, OLD GLORY came to my assistance with their French- Indian War line of British and French infantry and gunners. I purchased numerous bags (30 figures for $21.00 or .70 apiece for foot figures - what a bargain!) And added 509 more figures. They were quick to paint up as they had "light equipment" and the French, being in grey, painted up very quickly. I regained some of the interest and excitement in the period once again.

Buildings

There are many well done wargames buildings in the 25mm scale for the SYW period and I had made it a practice to pick up such buildings when I ran across them. I sat down one day and put them all of my painting table and realized that I had about twenty of them from a variety of manufacturers. I'd seen an article in WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED about how someone in the UK had made bases for his villages and decided I'd like to try this.

I obtained a piece of double tempered hardboard and cut out 11 " X 15" pieces and mounted from three to five buildings on each piece adding walk-ways (made of sand) and my usual static grass. I made seven such sections and was very pleased with how they look.

It made it much easier in a game as my rule is that a village can be occupied by a maximum of one infantry unit and one artillery battery. If I want larger towns, I can put two villages together. I have FLEXTERRAIN (TM) roads which look very good with the villages. For years, I've gone with indoor-outdoor carpeting for a table covering and like it very much. It is a green color with shades of brown and black which go well together. Andrew Doyle of 3D CONTOURS constructed rivers, streams, and bridge sections which are just sensational, and Howard Whitehouse and Curtis Murff of MURFF'S TURF have made hills for me.

The LITTLE WARS game went well; I was reasonably pleased with my rules which I should run in MWAN at some point although they are certainly not polished by any means! However, as usual, I lost interest in the period and in the hobby in general.

PART THREE - Is There No End To This?

"Well, Doctor, I was doing quite well publishing my little newsletter and learning to live without painting goals and constant purchasing of wargames figures. I resisted OLD GLORY's new 25mm SYW and was feeling as though I was cured.

Then one day, a new company by the name of GUERNSEY FOUNDRY sent me a lisling of their new 25mm SYW line along with some samples. Suddenly, I was driven by the compulsion I'd thought I was rid of. I had to purchase more toy soldiers; I had to increase my already sufficient collection of SYW figures; I had to see my wargames table populated by wargames units from one end to the other. I lost control, Doctor, and I thought I had it licked! Is there any hope for me?"

No, there is no hope, as you all are aware of lt is a continuing process as one becomes even more demented over time. Yes, GUERNSEY FOUNDRY pushed me over the edge again! Prussian musketeers, fusiliers, grenadiers, Frei Korps, and Cuirassiers! Russian musketeers, grenadiers, and Cossacks! No, no, no!

Lists were constructed and orders sent out. Having lost all control, bags of OLD GLORY Austrian and Prussian guns and gunners. Iimbers, Prussian musketeers, fusiliers, and grenadiers, and Austrian Cuirassier and Dragoons were obtained.

Within December of 1996, I had added four Prussian and four Austrian artillery batteries to give me 12 Prussian and 11 French/Austrian/Russian! Who needs 46 guns in a 25mm project? "Well, Doctor, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

At Present

Presently, my SYW Project looks as such:

Line Infantry	49 X 37 figures = 1,813
Grenadiers	13 X 37 = 481
Light Infantry	9 X 24 = 216
Batteries	23 X 10 = 230
Heavy Horse	15 X 24 = 360
Light Horse	10 X 24 = 240
Mounted Generals	=50
Total=3,390

I am currently working on GUERNSEY FOUNDRY Russian musketeers (five units) and grenadiers (one unit). I've finished three of the musketeer units over the last three weeks and have the coats on the fourth. They do look nice!

Brian Ansell of GUERNSEY FOUNDRY informs me they will be putting out Prussian Hussars soon and more Russian cavalry! I have been making out lists for OLD GLORY German and Austrian infantry units.

You can, I am sure, relate to this. An MWANer sent me a bag of OLD GLORY German Musketeer command figures; sufficient figures so as to supply three units with command figures. Well, this means I have to purchase three bags of figures so as to complete the units! Can't very well pass it up, can I? Could you pass it up?

My thoughts are to increase the line infantry size of Hungarian units to 42 figures, as the Hungarian units were always of larger size. I do really love the OLD GLORY figures and their price so right! I've long had a hankering to get a few units of DIXON SYW figures. however, they are so darned expensive.

The problem is that GUERNSEY FOUNDRY, and I suspect OLD GLORY, are going to expand their SYW lines. I know, beyond a doubt, that I am going to continue purchasing their figures. There is no doubt that I have enough SYW 25mm figures, as a matter of fact. I don't think I could fit all of my collection on the tabletop.

However, there is a solution to this dilemma, kind MWANers, and that is to increase the size of my table. I have four 3' X 8' tables in my basement which will give me a 6' X 16' foot table. "If I add two more tables, Doctor, I could go to a 6' X 24' and I would then have the room to put my figures! As a matter of fact, I could probably purchase more SYW figures and be able to fit them on the table!"

No doubt there will be new 25mm SYW wargames manufacturers producing fantastic looking figures in the future in addition to what we currently have. Also, no doubt, I will have difficulty rejecting the urge to purchase their figures thus further increasing the size of my SYW Project. "It all seemed so innocent and well planned. Doctor, in the beginning. Ten infantry units. five horse, and two or three batteries per side. My intentions were honorable! Where did I go wrong?" Thank you for your indulgences, MWANers!

Hal's 7YW Rules

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