From Prisco Hernandez Hal, hope you had a wonderful Christmas season filled with spiritual blessings and lots of new toys! I am still working on my 15 mm. SYW Austrian army. I know how much you enjoy the SYW and learning about other people's projects so I will share mine with you and fellow MWANers.
To date I have painted three battalions of German infantry, three of Hungarian infantry, three regiments of cuirassiers, one of dragoons, five artillery batteries with crew and ten generals. (As you can tell the proportions between my forces are not yet right!) All my units are painted after actual regiments in the Austrian army of the SYW. The only license I allow myself is that I only paint one battalion per regiment. This way I can paint twice as many regimental uniforms! I am using Old Glory figures and they look great! Old Glory figures have lots of character and a very definite campaign look which I enjoy very much. Their poses are somewhat exaggerated compared to those of other manufacturers (Essex for example) and they have lots of surface variation and equipment sculpted on them. At times the proportions are not exactly right but this -in my view- is amply compensated by the animation and e1an of each figure and the great variety of poses offered. All this makes them quite interesting (and challenging) -to paint. Techniques such as dry brushing, ink washes and black lining work really well on them. I black-prime my figures so that I get automatic shading effects and some black lining by the careful application of paint. I also don't have to worry about painting boots and tricornes black.
After much thought and trepidation I decided to base my figures as per option B in the SHAKO rules. Line infantry battalions are 18 figures based three to a stand in two ranks or six to a deeper stand (larger battalions such as Austrian German infantry are 24 figures) cavalry regiments are 12 figures with a six figure frontage. My artillery basing maintains the two inch recommended frontage, but I glue five crew figures per stand and insert two guns per stand. This -in my opinion- is a much better representation of a "battery" than just one gun. I do not glue my guns so they can be hitched to limbers or temporarily abandoned by their crews to seek shelter from a cavalry charge if necessary. Another advantage of this system is that by including different types of guns I can have either a medium (six pounder or howitzer) or a heavy battery (twelve pounder or larger). One of the batteries may be designated an "army level" battery in the SHAKO rules.
To distinguish this battery I include a mounted artillery officer. It looks great! I was tempted to use option A (a single rank of figures for both infantry and cavalry) because it requires half the figures and thus half the time, or option C, a more compact style in two ranks as per NAPOLEON'S BATTLES, but I settled on option A for two reasons: 1) the larger units look great to me and 2) what I call the "Old Glory syndrome" or "I have 100 figures in this pack and I don't want to waste any." This, incidentally, can be quite a problem when you want to build your army exclusively with Old Glory figures. There are two ways around it: 1) either buy your skirmishers, elites, and other low density units from other manufacturers or, 2) split some packs with a friend. I am still debating this point with myself and trying to find others who would like to split a pack of say Pandours or Hungarian grenadiers. (There is still a third if irritating option: buy Old Glory anyhow figuring that even if you use half a pack you will end up spending less money than you would using other manufacturers or perhaps breaking even but ending up with a bunch of orphaned figures which would likely never see the tabletop.)
Perhaps if enough Old Glory fans band together the company would consider releasing half packs or quarter packs for some figures. (Do their marketers ever read army lists?) Another good point about Old Glory is that they produce a line of flags for the SYW. Every one of my regular infantry battalions and cavalry regiments has its flag. I am also changing the way I mount my figures.
For years I have been mounting my figures on metal stands and terraining these with Scale-Crete Modeler's Paving Material and various types of flocking. This works really well but there is one problem: the bases are so thin that one must always touch the figures to pick them up. I have been thinking that too much handling will probably damage a good paint job over the years -even one well protected with fixative. Long bayonets and pole arms are also quite prone to bending and will eventually break. Thus, I decided to mount my figures on artist's board and glue the metal stand underneath it so I can still use magnetic strips for safety when transporting my figures. At first I found that the thicker bases detracted from the natural look of figures on the table, but I am getting used to this stylized convention and I am happy because it is no longer necessary to constantly touch the figures since I can pick stands up by their sides. To me the "look of the thing" is very important and I have never liked casualty caps so I devised a system to denote the various states of morale/casualties as per SHAKO rules.
A staggered unit is shown with its stands staggered if infantry or cavalry; if artillery, I exchange one of its two guns for a damaged gun or add a puff of smoke to the rear to denote an explosion in the caissons. A unit which falls back faces away from the enemy as per the rules. Morale hits/kills are shown by placing a casualty figure to the rear of the formation. Only one casualty figure is needed in my system since the number of kills is shown by the position of the figure relative to the unit and the orientation of its head.
To take an extreme example, in SHAKO a guards infantry battalion can receive up to six kills. The first kill is shown by placing the casualty figure behind the leftmost stand in the battalion with its head facing the direction of movement, the second kill is shown by moving the figure behind the middle stand, and the third by placing it behind the right stand. When the unit receives a fourth kill place the figure again behind the left stand but this time its head points away from the direction of movement. Continue moving it to the right for the fifth kill. At the sixth kill the unit is removed. This system is simple and eliminates the need for ugly casualty rings, caps, or an unwieldy number of casualty figures. I am thoroughly enjoying painting my Austrian army and reading about the Seven Years War, a period with which I was not very familiar. I have purchased the three Osprey books on the Austrian army and am reading Christopher Duffy's The Army of Maria Theresa -- an excellent source book for the period. I have developed a liking for Maria Theresa and her army although not for most of the senior commanders (they blew it!) My favorite battles are Kolin, Hochkirch, and Kunersdorf, my least favorite is Leuthen, and Torgau is the most exasperating.
Another excellent book I have read lately is The Battle Tactics of Napoleon and his Enemies by Brent Nosworthy. This is what may be considered the most definitive overview in English of Napoleonic warfare at the tactical and grand tactical level. But much of the information it contains is equally applicable to the later period of linear warfare.
For example it describes Frederick the Great's use of platoon fire and columnar formations as well as the French school of the ordre profond. It is a long book 462 pages of text but every page is crammed with interesting and useful information. It also includes an extensive bibliography and a useful glossary of military terms. I think that once I finish my Austrians I will start painting the "bad boys" (the Prussians) since I always paint up paired opponents for my collection and for solo gaming. As for rules I have read many ads, reviews, game reports etc., of WARFARE IN THE AGE OF REASON, KOENIG KRIEG, VOLLEY AND BAYONET, FINAL ARGUMENT OF KINGS, etc. To begin with I decided to adapt Brother Glidden's Napoleonic rules MWAN 87. 1 will also probably experiment with FURIOUS REASON -Charles C. Sharp's adaptation of FIRE AND FURY to the eighteenth century. However I was able to examine a copy of SHAKO and decided that this was a style of game I liked.
I use ARMATI to game Ancients through Renaissance and I have played SPEARHEAD. I find that Arty Conliffe does an excellent job of producing rules that are simple but which capture the problems of command at the particular level selected without getting bogged down in minutia. I think that I will still use Brother Glidden's rules for some games because of their raw simplicity and fast action. But I believe that SHAKO yields the style of game I most enjoy. In addition the author provides army lists for the SYW and the Napoleonic period. Finally, a word about scale: there has been a trend of extolling the merits of the 25 mm. scale. I agree that it is undoubtedly the most imposing and when well painted the most beautiful scale. Indeed, I am building a substantial collection of Dark Ages, Late Medieval, and Old West 25 mm. figures.
However, I find that in the horse and musket era 15 mm. works really well, and a well painted battalion in two ranks conveys an outstanding representation of a massed unit in the period of linear warfare. In addition, if you are not overly ambitious with your figures you will: 1) require less space for gaming, or 2) have more room to maneuver. By using SHAKO army lists and with a little "bathtubing" you can game even the larger battles of the SYW in a modest sized table and with manageable forces, paint both armies in about a year's time, and have some fun playing with your toys!
From Tom Barkalow Appreciated the resubscription reminder that came with issue #90. MWAN is the only wargaming continue to subscribe to. It continues to have something in every issue that I find interesting, it comes out pretty much on schedule, the overall "bull-session-after-a-game" feel has not changed, and it's gotten better looking (definitely like the digest binding). I give thumbs up to the larger font.
Decreasing top and bottom margins on submittals to 0.75" should give 3 more lines of more text per page and decrease the amount of white space in the current format. Decreasing left and right margins didn't work in the previous attempt and should be left alone. I have been surprised at the little mention of Little Wars 1997. I went on Friday afternoon and Saturday afternoon. The Friday afternoon session was surprising as it was the first time I've been to a convention where there were more games being offered than gamers to fill them. Several large games with great terrain and being put on by well known names in the miniatures gaming community played with fewer participants than allotted. This was quite the contrast to the previous year. Not sure if it was due to fewer gamers being there on Friday or more games being available. It certainly was the year for wonderful terrain made in a variety of ways.
Sculpted terrain boards were in wide use. I saw an WWII Eastern Front armor game set in winter time with terrain boards made from the 4" GHQ terrain maker hexes. It was a marvel of gradual slopes and subtle ground cover shades and looked very wintry. Duke Seigfried hosted a Tomahawk game using his terrain boards (each 2' by 2') including a realistic appearing waterfall and stream. when I went up to him after the game and asked him how he made the waterfall, I received a five minute sales pitch for his terrain boards (including his "board of the month" club). Quite an experience.
Todd Fisher hosted a 15mm Napoleonic game set in the early Italian Campaigns that had great looking trees, bluffs, and a windy stream. Jim Purky hosted his McPherson's Ridge in 25mm complete with a Reynold's figure with binoculars standing in the cupola of the Lutheran Theological Seminary. My favorite game layout was the town and river front set up for an ACW skirmish game, Brother against Brother, that included a Hunley type submersible tied up to the dock.
I played in two games: a Volley & Bayonets scenario of the first day at Gettysburg (I Corps got torn to shreds while XII Corps took one look at the Confederate reinforcements pouring onto the northern edge of the table and decided that Cemetery Hill and Culps Hill were good places to squat on) and a WWII kamikaze game with 1/700 scale model ships and airplanes (the least said about what happen to my kamikazes the better).
The Gettysburg terrain was a good example of how functional terrain can be made half-way presentable. The entire layout was made from painted and flocked dense Styrofoam boards. Hills were "wedding cake layers" with beveled edges. Woods were a layer of Styrofoam with roughed up tops flocked a darker green than the ground (to look like tree tops seen from a distance) and recessed edges with vertical grooves painted in alternate lines of dark brown and tan (to look like tree trunks seen from a distance). A unit was in the woods when it was placed on top of them. The only jarring note was that the height of the hill layers and woods was lower than the figures. They seemed scaled for 15mm figures (or smaller) while 25mm figures were used in the game. The best part of the convention for me was attending a seminar about Napoleon's Battles given by Robert Coggins. Provided good insight into the rules, their premises, how to use them, and having some common questions answered.
Curt Murff finally used his Fort Duquesne in a game he hosted at Prosek's this fall. I did not participate, but went to watch for an hour or so (had to see this fort after all that Curt has written about it). It was BIG!! He was using the 8' by 16' table that Charlie has in a back room and had it filled. This fort is just unbelievable in its detail and size. I teased him about using a pencil sharpener to do the tops for all the uprights in the palisades rather than making a small ax and hacking each one to a point (the palisades contain hundreds of uprights).
The fort is a true labor of love and Curt is justified in being proud of it. If you ever get a chance to see this fort, do so. It is done to the same scale as the 25mm figures he uses so they fit in well. The rules he was using was obviously sized to a different scale and this resulted in a few oddities.
At one point a Frenchie was considering firing ball from an 8 lb gun in the fort, looked up that it had a range of four feet, measured it, and found this just barely put it to the outer palisade!! Curt was anxious for the Brits to use their Coehorn mortars so he could use his mortar burst patterns, but I left before they were anywhere close to using them. I am still gaming with Rick Stoffel. We have been doing a series of games with Napoleon's Battles using 400 point armies per the scenario booklet. The point system offers three choices for allocation of command points with preassigned commander values and we have been using the one with five division commanders and two corps commanders. This is enough to have a cavalry division with four infantry divisions and makes for a good mix of troop types.
We have four-nationalities and have been doing one on one combinations. I have based the forces on 1807 point costs and have put in some slight organizational differences. For example, I have made the Russians artillery heavy, but the guns assigned at the divisional level. Makes it difficult to get them where you may need them. The French have fewer guns, but they are assigned to the corps commanders and this gives them more flexibility for placement.
The games have been good fights and can be played to a conclusion in three hours or so. The point system has the overall commanders rated as "Poor." This results in having to keep forces somewhat concentrated rather than roaming all over the table as you often see in gaming.
I've been thinking of developing 500 point armies and letting players pay for commanders with a given number of points from the mix rather than using preassigned commander values. This would allow a player to have an excellent overall commander, but they would have to spend the points and live with what's left for the remaining commanders.
From Kevin Killian Next year's project I will be taking a good look at Dean West's The Final Argument of Kings and modifying it to a 5 to I ratio for the AWI in 15mm. Dean introduced myself and two other wargamer's to his playtest version back at TwinCon a number of years ago. Although I have played the British Are Coming, Carnage and Glory, Age of Reason, and Washington's Wars; I compare everything to that original playtest at a con over five years ago. This was either a testament to the rule set or the game master; or maybe a bit of both.
From Timothy Boyd Oh no! Another year has roared by! It's resubscription time!!!!
I don't know that this year has been busier than any other, but it sure Passed by quickly. It had wonderful moments, including a late spring trip to the UK to see my second Trooping of the Colour dress rehearsal (amazing! there's a wonderful video available of the 1979 Trooping, but it pales in comparison with the view from a grandstand at the edge of Horseguards Parade!).
This trip also included meeting Michael Parker, whom I first became acquainted with in the pages of MWAN about two years ago, but had never seen in the flesh. My wife, Carolyn, and I spent a delightful afternoon in a pub near the National Army Museum with Michael, swapping stories and wargames notes. What a good friend and all because of MWAN. Thanks, Hal! On the same trip, I paid a visit to Motorbooks, with its narrow walls stacked floor-to-ceiling with military books. I had budgeted for a blowout and pigs in clover had nothing on me. I'm especially interested in the odd and out-of-the-way and Motorbooks often seems to have Just such things (a book on the uniforms of the early Belgian army, for instance, and one on the early Cape Wars).
From London and its wealth of museums, our trip moved on to Istanbul and a cruise along the Turkish coast in a sailing ship.
Carolyn, as a Harvard professor, gets invited, every spring, to lecture to Harvard alumni on these cruises and I, who also teach classics, get to tag along. I came back to spend the summer teaching Beginning Latin at the Harvard Summer School, which I've done every summer since 1992, then the regular school Year began and I've been at work on the Iliad, the Aeneid, and Latin declensions ever since-so, I suppose, that's where the year has gone.
On other military matters, we made a flying visit to Ticonderoga in early October, just as the leaves were turning, but that's been pretty much our military traveling this year.
When it comes to new periods and filling out old, I've finally been trying to complete my "Mexico, 1916" project with figures from the excellent Jeff Caruso. It's not a large-scale thing--two US cavalry units, one infantry unit, and a field gun (Jeff's very fine US 3-incher), vs. one Villista infantry and one cavalry unit plus a gun (Wargames Foundry French 75mm) or three Federales infantry units and one cavalry unit plus one gun (WF German 77mm). Add in some 1916 sailors I bought years ago from the old Modeler's Mart Frontier line for Vera Cruz, and I'm ready to go--except for Painting, that is!
Along with the above (I never seem to paint in fewer then 4 periods simultaneously--I wish that I had your discipline!), I've continued my Russian Civil War Project, plus Wellington in India, plus "Sicily, 1860" (with Freikorps 15s), plus something I'm calling "BEF", which is a very scaled-down game based on the first moves of the German invasion of Belgium and northern France in August/September, 1914. Cobbling together figures and equipment from Britannia, IT, and Tumbling Dice, I've got a 4-bn British infantry brigade and a 3-rgt cavalry brigade with 2 13pdrs, 2 18pdrs, 2 4.5" howitzers, and one 60pdr vs. a German division, complete with cavalry brigade and an array of guns.
I'd been interested in 1914 since I had first read Lyn McDonald's 1914 some years ago, but what really got me going was probably one of the best books I've read on WWI, Richard Holmes' RIDING THE RETREAT (Jonathan Cape, 1995). Holmes and some friends took their horses over to France and the book is his account of their tracing the route of the BEF as it gradually fought its way back from the encircling Germans. As a sometime horseman, as well as someone interested in WWI, I was just knocked over by Holmes' narrative.
In the summer, I had noticed a color photograph of 15mm figures for the lst Carlist War (1833-1840) in VAE VICTIS. This conflict had interested me since I had read a series of articles on it in WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED a couple of years ago, but no one made figures, so I just put my interest on the shelf at the time. The photo looked very good and there was an ad in the same issue (in case you're not familiar with it, VAE VICTIS is A useful source for smaller European companies who don't advertise in the big English publications--I've even found a company there which offers Italians and Austrians for 1917, which no one else currently manufactures), so I began a correspondence with Fantassin Miniatures and am now the Proud possessor of a heap of very good quality figures. Besides their quality, their maker, Luis Alvarez, has supplied quantity-everything from mountain guns to the French and British Foreign Legions to all the famous leaders, complete with staffs (one even with a bishop!). My favorites among manufacturers have always been those who understand that, if you're interested, you don't just want 1 pose and no command figures for the cavalry. Instead, you went everything which makes that war distinctive and Luis is clearly of the same opinion. I highly recommend both the period and the figures.
Well, this has been a long letter, but I hope not too tedious! We live in the most wonderful time for our hobby, a real Golden Age, and I'm glad and thankful--especially for you, sir, who, through your efforts, create new friendships and enthusiasms on a regular basis. May you live not only to paint your 1,000,000th figure, but to order your 2,000,000 figure and wonder what will be available next.
(Editor's Note: Thanks for your kind comments, Timothy; I look forward to your yearly update letters!)
From Dick Vandegrift I have enclosed a check for my renewal of MWAN. Even though I have MagWeb, I still prefer to have a hard copy of MWAN. My collection of this great, fun reading, super reference magazine started in May of 1994.
It has been almost 2 years since I wrote to you about working on a "Boxer Rebellion" collection. I finally finished painting my mixture of 20mm Stan Johansen and Kennington Boxer figures. Tom Milmore made the terrific Legation buildings for my "55 Minutes at Peking" scenario. With some tips from Tom, I made the ruined buildings and the Great Wall that were needed for the scenario. I used the rules for "55 Minutes at Peking" that appeared in issue #27 of Wargames Illustrated, with some modifications. I have been able to run one test game so far. Some pictures of the exciting finish of this game are enclosed. I will have to run several more test games before I take it to a convention.
I plan to develop some other scenarios for my Boxers using modified Sword and Flame rules. So far, I've stuck to my goal of not starting any new figure collections.
The Boxers are my one remaining collection. I may expand this if Kennington comes out with additions to their Boxer line, They are great little figures. I have a feeling though, that if everything goes as it has in past, my Boxer collection will go up for sale by the end of next year. It seems like every few years I use my present collection to finance something new.
For financial reasons I now have to hold to a rule of replacing collections instead of adding. I have started a new project with a complete change of pace; painting 54mm military and non-Military figures in shadow box and shelve display settings. My family has been requesting that I do something like this for quite some time. I thought, at my age, I better not keep pushing this off as a long-range goal. The challenge now is to keep an even balance between my new project and my Wargaming Hobby.
From Len Brewer I hope that this finds you and your family doing fine. All of us are fine here. I have been working on the WWII range lately. We are modifying the "Rapid Fire" rules for play. The big thing that we are doing involves basing. We are putting one or two figures on a stand now. We are basing them on the supplements that are now out. I can't wait for the Pacific supplement to be released. I have picked up a Japanese tank destroyer kit along with a couple of other things that the Japanese need. They will probability get beat but at least they will take some others along with them.
From Major Mark A. Reed We were playing DBR last night and the Polish managed to pull off a slim victory despite early setbacks. I learned a valuable and historical lesson with Mercenary Horse (Pistol Inferior) being thrashed by English Royalists (Pistol Fast). The battle raged back and forth until my Hussars (Lancers Fast) with the Pancerni (Sipahi Ordinary) closed and eliminated the Royalist center command (Pike[Ordinary] and Shot[Superior]). The determiner was to be whose second command would break first and the Haiduks (Shot Fast) took national pride into account and eliminated their Musket (Shot Superior) foes.
All in all a fun filled game with the participants both getting new Armies bloodied.
From an Unknown Writer (Sorry; I must have lost the second page with the name/address): This fall has been really productive in terms of painting figures. Unfortunately I have picked up the Warhammer sickness. This is from attending GENCON and watching a friend of mine, win the Warhammer tournament. This year the tournament was not just the winner of the tabletop take all, but based on various aspects of your army.
Painted quality, characteristic of the army, sportsmanship and knowledge of the rules represented most of the points versus just winning the battlefield. Those "Cut throat" type individuals were mostly weeded out after the first few rounds and towards the end of the tournament, each tabletop had very beautiful figurines showing off Games Workshop products. The enthusiasm of three veteran historical gamers has resulted in purchases of over $1,000 of Games Workshop products in the past four months. Could this be a lesson for historical figure manufactures out there? I have always believed to sell a product line you need dynamite rule sets, quality painted figures, and be highly visible at conventions.
How do you sell Zulu's without Sword and the Flame or Union without Johnny Reb/Fire and Fury. It can be done, but there probably is no profit in it. At Historicon I played an Old Glory sponsored Mex-American game using quality painted figures. Other than purchasing a few to mix with my Confederates; I will not invest in the line. They are great figures to paint, but I perceive no supporting rule sets that knock my socks off. Look how WWI and WWII aircombat has just exploded due to a few rule sets. A marriage of rule sets and figure manufactures should not only sell products but expand the hobby in general. The fantasy figures of Old Glory are magnificent, yet I did not see them at GenCon, and you can't enter them in the Games Workshop Tournament. I will want to practice on my gaming group with the figures I will bring to the tournament; So when will I use them?
In issue 90 of MWAN Robert Epstein was stating his pet peeve of bulk packaging of various wargame manufacturers. This is very similar thought of the practicability of the manufacture versus the market. On a personal level I love bulk packaging. The "extras" are always painted up for sale/trade or just in case I do decide to change rule sets that require 16 cavalry instead of 12 or four artillerymen instead of three. The current projects on my table include 25mm ACW using the rules set Brother versus Brother.
This is a very bloody "man to man" rule set that we have incorporated several modifications. Such as saving throws for the target, a card system(like Sword and the Flame) for casualties and turns. These are great rules and because of this rule set I have painted up around 800 figures since April mostly Old Glory and some Foundry and Dixon. I am slowly gathering 15mm Crimean for a modification of Johnny Reb including scenarios concerning the British intervention in the ACW, but have yet to paint a fig.
The decision to go to 1/600 WWII air versus 1/285 is with mixed emotions for the rules set Squadrons(alias Blue Sky stuff). The 1/285 planes look nice but cluttered on the tabletop (I have a tendency of knocking the planes over due to their high center of gravity.). Again the superior rules set is the reason I am entertaining this era.
From Mark Brown I am working on an article on Black Troops in the War of 1812. Everyone knows that Washington had Black Troops (i.e., 1st Rhode Island), but the American Army of 1812 was fully integrated, especially in the Southern recruitment areas. Sources indicate 20-25% of the US soldiers were Black or of other ethnic status. New Orleans has three Black battalions alone; all with Black officers. My documentation also shows that Confederate Regiments, especially from LA, AL, MS and GA had integrated units and a few were all black. The majority of the Home Guard and Militia units in the South were inclusive of Black men; the C.S.A. and USA navies included. Once I am finished, I will send you a copy for MWAN. Many things about the article will or may raise eyebrows, but all is documented with primary sources (i.e., US Achieves, etc). Even found the complete roster of two of the New Orleans battalions. Some of the eyewitness accounts I have read give a different version of the Battle of New Orleans.
Seems not all of Jackson's men stayed behind the earthworks. Happens that two of his Black battalions advanced out to meet the British...and won! Also our group is growing. Two members left due to US Navy orders, but we found a replacement. Due to there being no hobby stores (historical), we have a difficult time finding gamers. We go to the fantasy stores, but have found no one who is interested. As any store owner thought about helping to get gamers together? One replacement came due to Bernie Chambers at the Emperor's Headquarters. If he did not contact us and give phone numbers, our newest member may not have ever found our group.
(Editor's Note: Interesting stuff re Black Troops in War of 1812/ACW, Mark; would enjoy seeing your article!)
From Scott Hansen I'm finishing up my 15mm FREI KORP Garibaldi and Neapolitan armies. I had the figures over a year. I didn't paint as many figures this year either. After painting over 1500 figures a year for five years, you get burned out. I find I paint more in the Fall and Winter when the weather gets bad. I ordered about 1,000 figures from Irregular Miniatures in 15mm for my next period, the Russo-Japanese War. I hope they arrive before our typical Christmas to New Years work break we get in the automotive industry. I need something to keep busy. I feel the next big wargame period could be the Carlist Wars of Spain in the 1830's. Two British companies, Strategem and Valient Miniatures have small and growing ranges in 25mm. I asked Falcon Figures from the UK about designing some in 15mm with their figure design service, but I calculated it would be cheaper in 25mm if I used smaller units. What is the world coming to! Scott Hansen doing a period in 25mm! Those of you who know me used to think of me as a 6mm fanatic converting to 15mm for the Spanish-American War.
I still prefer 10mm but there are not any 10mm unusual war ranges for the Great Paraguayan War and the Russian Civil War. I'm hoping some company will do it in 15mm. I know B&B Miniatures do it in 20mm but I feel their miniatures are too expensive. I have not personally seen their line but have read reviews of them. They seem to be poor. I remember in Michael Huskey's article (one of my favorite MWAN authors) that the cavalry required major filing. Basically the only figure requirement would be Russian Cavalry wearing the peaked cap with the Red Star.
(Editor's Note: Re the B&B Miniatures, Scott; I don't have many of them and don't have any cavalry, but I haven't found them to have much flash. They are a bit on the pricy side and from what the description of the infantry packs say, there are some prone figures and I don't like paying for prone figures when I have no intention of using them. However, they are quality figures, in my mind, at least.)
From Fred Bultman Does anyone do 1690's French in 15mm besides Editions Brokaw? I yearn to do this army for DBR.
(Editor's Note: You asked at just the right time, Fred. I was looking through the DONNINGTON MINIATURES catalog (15 Cromwell Rd., Shaw, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 2HP, UK (01635-46627) and they have two lines you may be interested in: "The Wars of Louis XIV - Western Europe 1670-1686" of which they offer 12 cavalry, four horses, and 16 infantry. Secondly, their "Late 17th Century 1680-1700" line which features British, Dutch, Imperialists, French, Swedish and Danish figures has 11 cavalry, four horses, 24 infantry, a gun and limber. They state you can use guns/equipment from their TYW line for the Wars of Louis XIV. Infantry are .15 pence; cavalry .30p. Let us know if you do anything with this period, Fred! Good luck!)
From Kirby Arriola Why hasn't someone already written a booklet essentially "How to start designing wargames/miniatures games/historical simulations" for the raw novice? Why aren't MWAN readers writing it as a group? I'm talking about a publication available for true historical beginners, say for five or six dollars?
(Editor's Note: Good question, Kirby; I would venture a few guesses. One of the bigger points, I would say, is that where are "raw novices" going to find this booklet? They have a hard time finding historical miniatures gaming shops. No shop, except for some historical miniatures shops, are going to carry this "inexpensive" booklet. As far as writing it, wargames authors take a considerable financial risk in attempting to publish such "specialized" publications. A $5/6.00 price is going to mean that you are limited to fifty pages or less probably. How many do you print? The larger the print run, the less expensive each individual copy is, though you are still talking about a considerable sum of money. Once it's printed, how do you get rid of it? I think your subject sounds like a chapter in an "introductory" miniatures wargames book, though we've had a number of those over the years. Any other thoughts?)
From John Bertolini I am sending you some 1866-70 Bavarian infantrymen. This is the same figure which I made for my friend, Marc Storch, a couple of years ago. I cast about a brigade's worth for Marc at 1:40 plus two regiments of cavalry (lancers and light horse). These figures are about half way along the evolution of my sculpting abilities. The stuff I am sculpting now is a bit better than these. Also, I threw in a couple of 1904-05 Japanese (This is my largest painted collection to date - some 500-600 figures including Russians in summer white). In any case you can put them on your shelf as curious primitives and a reminder of the resourcefulness of a frugal wargamer living in a wargaming vacuum.
(Editor's Note: Thanks very much for the figures, John; I am very impressed with them! I wouldn't call them "primitive" at all! I would encourage you to continue to work at your sculpting if these are any indication of your talent! I would appreciate an article on how you developed this talent and what you are doing with it. Your casting would also be of interest. Thanks again; the figures are sitting on my cabinet at work!)
From David Barnes My grandson, Billy, was urging me to get a "Warhammer" rules army the other day. He has a Skaven army, the members of which seem to be based on ruts! He says he'll bring his army up here and give me a battle. I decided to get an "Empire" army - basically it's Renaissance and I have three-quarters of the figures in my Swiss vs Burgundy set up anyway! So my army looks like this - General to be bought in. Winger Lancers (Polish "Redoubt"), Horse Archers (Parthians "HINCHLIFFE"), Halberdiers ("Essex/Dixon"), Bows (various review figures), Crossbows ("Redoubt" and "Minifigs"), Great Swords ("Dixons"), Swordsmen ("Redoubt"), Hand gunners ("Essex/Mirliton/Redoubt"). I've had to buy in a unit of Halflings. I love the artillery piece. Hot Pot Sling and cooks crew! I've also an organ gun by Games Workshop because the chief gunner is a "lift" of Leonardo de Vinci's portrait in old age! A lot of the GW handbook on the "Empire" Army looks as if the drawings came from "Der Triumpshasqugge der Maximillians der Grosse" by Albnecht Duner - originally. Billy said "Don't bother with Ogres and Wizards and Beasts, I don't use that stuff."
So basically he's a historic gamer. My son, Chris, his dad, tells me he (Billy) wins a lot too. I rode a horse for the first time in twenty years last Sunday on a family outing. My legs thought I'd gone made. Wonderful, riding past Castle Stalker, Ont.. He shore with a flag flying from a turret! Very "Empire".
From David Woody Awhile back in MINIATURE WARGAMES magazine, I saw in an index an article in (I believe) issue #52. It was about adapting the WARGAME or CHARGE rules to Napoleonic wargaming. I have long enjoyed both these rules sets, but lacked the desire and the wherewithal to develop yet another period for gaming. However, I have about 1500-1700 30mm Napoleonics, currently based for COLUMN, LINE & SQUARE. I would love to game with those figures in the CHARGE or WARGAME rules. However, the problem is this - since I saw the index on the Net, I have been unable to find it again (No, I didn't bookmark it) and I must rely on my memory - feeble as it may be. Could you check your collection and see if such an article exists? (Editor's Note: I checked my collection of MW and WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED and couldn't find any such article, David. Maybe someone else can locate this for you. Sorry)
From Phil Wood I would like to give away a few figures to young wargamers that may not be able to afford figures themselves but are interested in wargaming. Some figure sets would be good for several young wargamers to go in on together and other sets would be good for skirmish gaming. I only ask that (1) young wargamers that can't afford but are willing to paint and use the figures apply and (2) that they pay postage. If anyone knows of young people interested in wargaming and would be willing to work on these figures, please have them drop me a line.
Free to a good home: (1) 45 20mm WWII German infantry; (2) 15mm late Medieval assorted infantry - 140 and cavalry 70; (3) 15mm Dark Ages assorted infantry - 400 and cavalry - 70; (4) 15mm 46 Macedonian pikemen w/command; (5) Adler 6mm Napoleonics: French 170 infantry, 56 cavalry, 4 guns; Prussians 200 infantry, 50 cavalry, 6 guns; (6) 1:1200 sailing ships & fortifications: 25 assorted ships. [Note: For MWAN print subscribers only--RL]
(Editor's Note: Great idea, Phil; thanks for your kindness in offering them. This would be a great idea for others to do. I used to offer to distribute figures people didn't want, however, it got to be too time consuming and expensive with postage. However, if MWANers wish to write me and list what they have and what the conditions are, I will be glad to run it in MWAN and have interested parties contact them. Please, however, send an SASE along with your letter if you are asking about the figures)
From C.S. Grant I enjoyed your most recent editorial and sympathized with your labors on bases. I find it is something that I have to be in the right frame of mind to take on. Some years ago, I rebased a complete and rather large army - not something I would wish to repeat. Talking of armies, I am currently doing something I have never actually done before. Normally I paint an army unit by unit. I have had French and British 1690's armies in 25mm for sometime.
I have recently decided to add a Monmouth Army to do a fictitious Monmouth Rebellion Campaign as well as refight Sedgemoor. The British forces of course are complete and waiting for the rebels. I have assembled all the figures for the rebel army, almost 200, being a mix of Foundry ECW and Early Marlburian, Dixon 1680's and various miscellaneous individuals. They are all based and undercoated. I have no started painting! Actually it is very relaxing because there are not many uniforms and you can just pick up a colour and work through a bunch of figures doing jacket, cuffs, hat, trousers or whatever is appropriate - then pick up another colour. At least that is the theory at the moment - let's see how it goes!
(Editor's Note: Thanks for writing, Charles; let us know how your project goes)
From Herb Gundt : I was impressed with the notion that Charles Sharp brought forward in his WORLD AT WAR column, about using BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER as a substructure for a set of WWII skirmish rules. Locally, we found this interesting, as we have already played one WWII game using BAB as the core rules. In fact, we are building 25mm WWII squads right now and working on terrain pieces for Normandy Bocage country. Hopefully, we will be able to present some games at conventions in the near future. Fellow MWANer, Steve Dake, was the character that got our local crew all hyped for doing 25mm WWII. Steve presents a very impressive WWII skirmish game and for that matter everything that I have seen Steve put together has been visually stunning. The BAB rules are also being used outside of their expressed area of interest.
We are getting reports of BAB being used for Napoleonic skirmish games ala Sharpe and Harper as well as Indian Mutiny and Plains Indians. After a fair amount of pressure from a friend in New York, we are going to put on a Napoleonic Peninsular game at COLDWARS in March. This will be my first public showing of BAB with a non-North American theme. Should be fun and it gives me a chance to work on Spanish terrain and buildings. Another bit of news to pass on to you, is that H.G. WALLS is no longer going to import ELITE MINIATURES into North America.
(Editor's Note: Good to hear from you, Herb; exciting news about using BAB for other periods. I would be very interested in hearing from you as to the Peninsular War use of BAB as I am slowly collecting 25mm French and British for a skirmish type game in the Peninsular. This period has always appealed to me greatly! Good luck!)
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© Copyright 1998 Hal Thinglum
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