Finally, after several months of waiting, we have received enough responses to our poll regarding your favorite ACW figures to be able to give you some results. It must be stated that less than 10% of our members responded, making the results less accurate. However, enough people gave opinions to say that this might be a representative sampling of our members' tastes in castings. Percentage of votes follows each figure line: 15mm Figures: 1. Old Glory (38%) 2. Stone Mountain (26%) 3. Essex (24%) 4. Freikorps (9%) 5. Empire (3%) 22 -25mm Figures: 1. Dixon (56%) 2. Stone Mountain (44%) It would seem appropriate as a service to our readers to include basic commentary from the people who gave their reasons for selecting a particular figure line, since many also wrote down why they did not like competing lines. Old Glory won hands down because, according to voters, the castings are inexpensive compared to others, the castings were called "well done", and there were a wide variety of variations to make units appear realistic. Stone Mountain came close, but there were a few comments that the castings fell short in the detail department. However, many people who voted for other lines stated that they buy their artillery from Stone Mountain and often added certain Stone Mountain castings to what they already had. Essex seemed to get the vote for best artistic detail, but several voters complained of excess flashing, and every single person who voted for Essex complained about the price of the figures. Freikorps voters seemed quite high on certain castings in the line, but gave the company very poor ratings for the quality of metal used in the castings. Last, and apparently just about down and out, was Empire Miniatures. The people who voted for those castings stated that they really liked several figures in the line, but apparently felt that there was insufficient selection to make large armies. Surprisingly, Minifigs and several other well known manufacturers received no first place votes. FAVORITE RULES SETS Although not an "official" poll, I went through the mail received in 1991 because many people who write in will state the rules set being used. It gives a pretty good indication of what's "hot" and what's not. The results show some pretty major changes from a poll conducted by us a couple of years ago. 1. Johnny Reb (51 %) 2. Fire & Fury (20%) 3. On To Richmond (11%) 4. Advance The Colors (9%) 5. Stars N' Bars (5%) 6. Rally Round The Flag (2%) The major changes seem to have come from the two new boys on the block, Fire & Fury and Advance The Colors. Johnny Reb still holds a huge edge over its competition, although Fire & Fury has made a tremendous dent in the market. My forecast is that it may become the dominant rules set unless Johnny Reb does some marketing. Two older line rules sets seem to be rapidly biting the dust. On To Richmond, once the darling of the East Coast, has taken a nosedive in popularity. Stars N' Bars isn't doing too much better, at least among our readers. If I had to take a guess, I'd say that both rules-set declines have a lot to do with the lack of support currently being given by their authors, a lesson to be heeded by Richard Hasenaur, author of Fire & Fury. By the way; it's interesting to note that Advance The Colors has made some headway in less than a year, while Rally Round The Flag hangs on even after all of the years of being out of print! Back to The Zouave Vol V No. 3 Table of Contents Back to The Zouave List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 The American Civil War Society This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com