Saturday, July 30, 2011

Victrix - British Light Dragoons 1808-1812!!

Well while we were all waiting for the Austrians Victrix stole a march and sprung the British Cavalry upon us!!!

From their announcement:

We are pleased to announce the release of our metal British Light Dragoons for the Peninsular War 1808-1812 uniform.



There is a command pack of officer, guidon bearer and trumpeter. (We will be making Guidon sheets for our cavalry)



The troopers pack has a spine of 6 right sword arms, combined with 3 body and horse positions, this will enable you to field cavalry squadrons with lots of variety and dynamism. We have also added a British Light Dragoon deal to the shopping cart. You can buy 18 figures for £55, saving you £11!

These figures have been sculpted by Paul Hicks. He has put some great character and movement into these models and they are packed with fine, crisp detail making them a joy to paint.


Hmm, I am a big fan of metal cavalry, and these are a really nice set of figures from Victrix, brilliant sculpting by Hicks as ever, nice choice of period as well, though unfortunately not really my focus for the next few years, neatly side steps the Perry juggernaut though.

As you expect from Victrix these figures are well animated, a lot more movement than the Perry's but not quite as beserk as Old Glory, just about what you want for a vignette without being too much for the rank and file wargamer. A nice balance! There is I think now a distinct 'Victrix style' emerging, hard to define but you can tell Victrix cavalry from anyone else's.

If the Peninsular was my current focus I would be in for these, still might be but not for this year unfortunately, but if this is your period I would say these are a must have!

They also point to more good things to come from Victrix in the four legged department. Now Austrians I will buy!

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Painted Austrians from Victrix

Whilst we await the final test shots of the Victrix Austrians they have had some of the helmeted Austrians painted up, and they do look very nice don't they. I would love to have some of these!

From their announcement:

Whilst we are awaiting test shots of the rest of the plastic Austrian boxed sets we thought we would show you some of the beautifully painted Austrians we have just recieved from Darren at Gripping Beast and Andrew Taylor.




We are sure you will agree both have done a really fantastic job on these figures.




It is intersting to note the way both have handled the difference between the white uniform and the white crossbelts. Painting all of them the same would look dull, however by doing what Darren and Andrew have done here by painting the uniform an off white with creams, and then painting the straps brighter and shaded with greys really lifts the strapwork away from the body.




The Austrians used many and varied colours for their regimental facing colours, making for a very striking looking army. We asked Darren and Andrew to show a good mix of facing colours on these painted samples.



We should have more figures to show you soon.

Monday, July 18, 2011

New 28mm Prussian Napoleonic Flags from Flags of War

Flags of War have just released their first Prussian Flags with a promise of more to come, and as we have seen they keep their promises, so if you are in the market for Prussian flags add these to your shopping list.



From their announcement:

To start off our Prussian range of Napoleonics we have added the Post 1806 Line Infantry Regiments. Watch this space with more to come in the next few weeks.

PRU001 1st East Prussian
PRU002 1st Pommeranian
PRU003 2nd East Prussian
PRU004 3rd East Prussian
PRU005 4th East Prussian
PRU006 1st West Prussian
PRU007 2nd West Prussian
PRU008 Leib Regt(1st Brandenburg 1813)
PRU009 Colberg Regt(2nd Pommeranian 1813)
PRU010 1st Silesian
PRU011 2nd Silesian

As with their other flags these are all priced at GBP1.50 for a 2 flag set.
To view the whole range and to buy click here.

They look good and really at these prices I hope the days of people making their own flags from something they downloaded from the internet are gone forever. The Flags of War range now extends to cover the French, British, Portuguese, Russian and Prussians and is rapidly growing.


Flags of War also now do a monthly newsletter, you can view the last one here.

If you are interested then you can sign up for the newsletter here.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Victrix Update - Austrians

An update from Victrix on the Austrians and interesting news it is!

First the box cover art, we haven't seen the Landwehr and the 1806-1815 Infantry boxes before, they look good, especially like the Landwehr!



From their announcement:

We now have some of the first plastic test shots of the infantry frame wearing helmets. The majority of positions are for marching figures but if you wish you can make some other poses such as firing and advancing etc... You can see a few of those poses illustrated below.Andrew Taylor and Darren from Gripping Beast are painting a few up for us at the moment so we will have some painted samples to show next week. Also we are eagerly expecting to get test sprues of the command frame later this week. We will show you those as soon as they come in.



Once we have tests of all the 4 sets we will be putting them on pre-order, so not long to wait now!

Each box contains 56 figures. 48 infantry, 2 officers, 2 drummers, 2 standard bearers and 2 lovely mounted colonels. The infantry can all be in marching poses but we do have some arms to enable you to make some figures, firing, loading and advancing with levelled musket or at porte. Most of the figures are easy to assemble so you can get your units built quickly, however we have added a few extras to add some individuality and character to your miniatures so they don’t look like production line robots!

Also, our metal British Light and Heavy Dragoon packs are with Nick at North Star at present as he does the casting. We should have some castings to show of these fabulous figures in the next couple of weeks. There are command packs, and the trooper packs have arm options to give you more variety. These have been sculpted by the ever-busy Paul Hicks. Paul is currently working on the Russian Dragoons, and firing line for the Russian line infantry and Grenadiers.


There is always some apprehension about how the beautifully sculpted and detailed '3Ups' will really look when the are scaled down in size and adapted for the mold but from these test shots at least there is nothing to worry about, they are superb!

Victrix had promised easier to assemble figures this time, i.e. fewer parts, which is a good thing but the downside to that is the placement of the figure within the mold is more of a compromise and there is a greater chance of loss of detail but you wouldn't know it from these shots, they seemed to have translated very well, notice the very nicely detailed hands, does anyone recall the boxing gloves of the WG Prussian Landwehr?

You can always argue about whether the Perry's produce more practical gaming figures than Victrix or that it takes them an awful long time for them to get a set out the door but you can't argue about the quality, figure for figure I think they are better than the Perry's. I thought the Victrix Grenadiers were the best set ever produced in 28mm but these look every bit as good.

From what I understand they are waiting on the command frame test later this week, followed by the Grenadier, Shako and Landwehr test frames. So it shouldn't be too much longer before these are ready to go and they look well worth the wait!

Interesting to hear news of the metals, actually I am very interested to see their Heavy Dragoons, I have been thinking for a while of trading in my current OG cavalry for some new 28mm, so the timing is just right to do a head to head with the Perry's.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Prussians are Coming!


Mabuhay Miniature Painting Service (MMPS) my chosen painting service on 'Project 1813-1815' have announced that they finally have the Perry Prussians and should have built up stocks of painted units by now.

From their announcement:
This week, around Thursday if not earlier, they will be here in all their glory !!

All you get now is this (on purpose) not so clear picture. You will have to wait until next week for more. :-)


I expect a mad rush on these just like when I launched our British and waiting times for those were long. To avoid having to wait a rather long time you can already pre-order these Prussians. That will put you on top of the order/waiting list. We use the "first in First out" principle so it can't hurt to be quick. :-)

Prices will be the same as for the Brits and French and their codes will be NLP-100, NLP-101 and NLP-102. Just use the Order Form to pre-order and I will send you an order summary with payment instructions when we take them into production next week.

Cheers,

Fons

This is really great news, I have been waiting for these!
I can't recommend MMPS to highly, the quality, price and service are spot on!

I recently received the Brits and KGL from MMPS, 10 32man Battalions in all, hopefully I will get some time to take some pics and post them on the blog this weekend.

Unfortunately that means I am probably going to have to wait a little bit longer for the Prussians, I am in enough trouble with my 'banker' over how much I have been spending recently so will need to wait until the August pay day to keep her happy :)

I have to also get round to getting rid of some of my old stuff on EBay something I promised to do in December but just haven't found the time to do. Welcome to the real world!




I also picked up some Perry command figures from MMPS, these are painted by Chris Leason another expat in the Philippines, they are superb and fit right in with their own figures. I definitely would recommend if you are buying from MMPS you take the option for some of Chris's command figures.

Update:
Two other bits of MMPS news I came across.

First although MMPS will be focusing on Perry ACW for August/September by October they will return again to 1812-1815 Napoleonics with the eagerly awaited plastic Austrians and Russians that will hopefully be available by then. Personally I hope they will also take a look at the WG Prussian Landwehr.

Second the amount you need to spend to get free shipping has been raised from USD500 to USD650 for destinations outside Asia. I don't think that is unreasonable, postage isn't cheap these days and to be honest when we are talking painted miniatures sadly it isn't hard to spend USD650, ouch!

Waterloo - New Rules from Warhammer Historicals

The end is nigh! GW does Napoleonics!

A new set of rules from Warhammer Historicals titled "Waterloo: Tabletop Wargaming in the Age of Napoleon" priced at GBP36.00.


You can view some interactive spreads from this book by clicking here. Quick Reference and Roster Sheets as well as templates are available to download here.

From there announcement:

Battles in the Napoleonic Wars were brutal and bloody. Vast armies fought with musket and bayonet on rain-soaked fields, half-blinded by acrid smoke and deafened by the ceaseless barrage of distant artillery. Men fell in great swathes, marching to death or glory to the rhythmic beat of drums.

Waterloo is a tabletop miniatures game for two or more players, set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars. With these rules you are the general, with an army of miniatures at your command, representing the forces of France, Britain, Prussia or their allies. This rulebook is focussed on the campaign and battle of Waterloo, the climax of the Napoleonic Wars, but the rules within allow you to recreate battles from across the entire period (1792-1815) and even beyond.

This 288 page hardback book contains all the information you need to get started, including full rules for fighting tabletop battles in the Napoleonic era, army lists and historical orders of battle, a brief history of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, a complete campaign to get you started, and a hobby section detailing how to collect, assemble and paint your army of miniatures. In addition, you will find an inspirational showcase of beautifully painted models and lavish illustrations.


For more info and to buy click here.


The quality of this glossy hardback book looks excellent, as you would expect, I have liked previous WH books even though I do feel they tend to try and milk you dry of money, these are probably no different as they mention this set is focused squarely on Waterloo, so I assume we can expect a book for each campaign to be released in the future, "sorry can't play 1812 unless you buy the book"!

A lot of the artwork has a familiar look to it, especially if you have bought any of the Perry Plastic's recently, as a fair amount seems to have come directly off their boxes, though given the connection is that a surprise? I do hope though this doesn't mean at some point down the line we will have to start buying the plastics from GW, there's a scary thought!

As you might expect from a GW ruleset army building looks like it is a big part of the game. From reading the material in the ArmyLists it appears that the 'norm' is a 2,000pt army which probably represents about a Division, maybe around 8 Battalions, there is repeated mention of Battalions being made up of a basic 3 companies, though more can be added at a price. Not sure if that means they really expect 3 stand battalions to be the norm or not, I assume not, in fact it would seem to be 6 if you take account of the skirmish rule below.

Skirmishers are abstracted but are only available if you have 6 companies or more and have then 'upgraded' one of them to Light, similar for Grenadiers making your Battalion 'hardened'.

Repeated mention of 'companies' makes it sound like the rules are stand based, however when discussing facing it says "all models in a company must face the same way", so clearly it is figure based and you will probably end up counting heads like you do in other GW games.

Turn sequence is Initiative, Artillery, Movement, Shooting and Melee.

Actions are performed by expending Tactical points or Strategy points, Strategy points are non-replaceable, TAC Points sound like you have a given level every turn, like other GW games sounds like your 'heroes' are important in determining what you can do.

Although with the odd line like 'Units can be arranged in a variety of shapes called formations' doesn't exactly instill you with a feeling this rule set will amount to much I do think they are interesting, I hope I am wrong that they are figure based, at this level (assuming its Tactical), I think only stands work, figures based games are fine for skirmish and large skirmish but divisional is too much.

I have got to say all the above is based on squinting at the screenshots of the pages and some guesswork, to be honest if you release a new ruleset for Napoleonic's I think you should at least demonstrate you understand gaming the era by providing the sort of information potential customers would need to in order to make a purchase judgement especially at these prices.

I don't think the current information is anywhere near enough to get an idea of what these rules are like to play, basic information like what level they are aimed at, figure or stand based, how many figures in the 'average' game, etc. etc. seems not to be readily available, and at GBP36.00 I am not sure I would be really enthused enough to make the effort to go and find out that much more anyway!

Although I am personally not a great fan of Sam Mustafa the man (mainly 'cos of how he can be on TMP), I will say if you need an example of a superbly managed ruleset LaSalle would be it, hardback, pdf, forums, author support, the lot and if he can do it then I see no reason why a company like GW/WH can't do at least the same.

But you can't simply dismiss anything from GW out of hand, they are a major force in the gaming market even if not in the Napoleonic era, though WH support is patchy to none existent when GW figures aren't somehow involved.

We will be hearing more of these rules in the next few months I am sure and I guess there will be more books released to coincide with the upcoming anniversaries.

Though I think it's going to take a lot to convince me to part with GBP36.00.

At least it wasn't BattleFront!

Monday, July 04, 2011

WG Napoleonic Russians

Warlord Games have been quiet about the 28mm plastic late Russians ever since Salute, which is hardly surprising, everyone in the industry tends to fall over themselves in a rush to make announcements in time for Salute, then there is the inevitable lag as they all try to deliver on those commitments and we start drumming our fingers impatiently.

Anyway Paul Sawyer has commented over the weekend:
They are being tooled at the moment and will be our next plastic release.

We'll let you know more when we do!

Hmm...
Well at least this wasn't about flags...

Anyway good news, they will be next up, so they can't be that far away.
Of the top of my head I would guess August, hopefully we should see the Victrix Austrians before then, that should keep us busy.

And now it's Battle Flags turn....

It must be an arms race or something. The now almost daily flag announcement, this time it's Battle-Flags who have rejigged their line a bit. I really am going to have to find something else to blog about next!!!

As you might recall I mentioned previously that Battle-Flags sell their Waterloo range by 'Brigade', which is quite handy if you are in the market for a full brigade (as I happen to be at the moment) but not so useful when you aren't and to be honest more often than not in 28mm we don't build full brigades that match one particular OB, I mean does anyone really have a Guards Brigade in 28mm?

Anyway they have listened and seems you can now buy the flags by Regiment.

Coincidentally I was speaking yesterday to Richard Lowles (the guy behind Battle-Flags) about whether he might have some KGL flags in the pipeline (he does!) and seems there is plenty more exciting stuff to come from Battle-Flags in the near future, so stay tuned as they say.

Anyway for your edification.....
I am pleased to announce, following the numerous requests from wargamers, that the British Napoleonic 28mm flags are now available on two flag Regimental plates.




This release of 28mm flags from Battle Flag sees the first sixteen British Napoleonic Regiments in the series given the Kings and Regimental Colours:

BNW01: 1st Batt. 1st Foot Guards Regt. (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW02: 3rd Batt.1st Foot Guards Regt. (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt.Colour)
BNW03: 2nd (Coldstream) Foot Guards Regt. (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW04: 3rd (Scots) Foot Guards Regt (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW05: 30th (Cambridgeshire) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)




BNW06: 33rd (1st West Riding) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW07: 69th (South Lincoln) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW08: 73rd (Highland) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW09: 2/35th (Sussex) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW10: 1/54th (West Norfolk) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW11: 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW12: 1/91st Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW13: 4th (Kings Own) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)




BNW14: 27th (Inniskilling) Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)
BNW16: 81st Foot Foot (28mm Flags: Kings & Regt. Colour)

The flags are, as with all of the Battle Flag range printed using archival quality inks and papers to ensure lasting brilliance and value for money.

These flags are created using Battle Flags “living silk” design process which creates the illusion of scale silk blowing in the wind. A great effect that adds real atmosphere to your figures whether on the gaming table or in your display cabinet

To purchase these, or indeed any other flags from Battle Flags growing range of model flags in 28mm (other scales available), go to our secure online shop by clicking www.battle-flag.com


Just to be clear, you can still buy the Brigade packs, which contain the flags for 4 units at GBP7.50, the new individual Regiment packs at GBP1.95 are only an 'option'.

I have made my mind up to buy flags from both 'Battle-Flags' and 'Flags of War' for my new Waterloo Brigades, it will give me a chance to compare them, I would have considered 'Flags for the Lads' who is another flag lunatic but he doesn't seem to do Waterloo (but you should see his 1812 range!!).

Sunday, July 03, 2011

Flags of War - New 28mm British Napoleonic


Yes I know "yet another flag update", sorry about that but at the moment work (i.e. what pays the bills) is stopping me from finishing off a few articles of my own, and the 28mm Napoleonic market seems to have gone quiet this month, except for the flag guys who must all be on drugs or something given the volume of releases!!

Anyway......

There is nothing like a deadline to spur you one and for "Flags of War" a commitment to supply flags to the Scarborough Wargames Club for their World Record Game of the Battle of Salamanca attempt (we mentioned this several months back on the blog) has resulted in the release of large number of new flags.

I was recently contacted by the guys from Scarborough Wargames Club who were trying to attempt a World Record Game of the Battle of Salamanca. They asked if I could supply the flags for it which I duly obliged. Then I seen I only had a handful of the regiments so I had my work cut out for me to get them done within a week.

Thankfully I got all the flags done in time for them but sadly they were not able to break the record. Better luck next year and we hope you have more support.


Here are the new additions to the website:

BNW17 (Coldstream) Foot Guards Regiment Colonel-Lieutenant Colonel-Major
BNW18 (Coldstream) Foot Guards Regiment 1st,2nd,3rd Company
BNW19 (Coldstream) Foot Guards Regiment 4t,5th,6th Company
BNW20 1st Regiment of Foot Guards Colonel-Lieutenant Colonel-Major
BNW21 1st Regiment of Foot Guards 1st-2nd-3rd Company
BNW22 (Scots) 3rd Foot Guards Regiment Colonel-Lieutenant Colonel-Major
BNW23 (Scots) 3rd Foot Guards Regiment 1st,2nd,3rd Company
BNW24 1st (Royal Scots) Foot Regiment (Peninsula)
BNW25 5th Regiment of Foot (Northumberland)
BNW26 7th Regiment of Foot (Fusiliers)
BNW27 9th Regiment of Foot (East Norfolk)
BNW28 11th Regiment of Foot (North Devon)
BNW29 27th Regiment of Foot (Inniskilling)
BNW30 30th Regiment of Foot (1st Cambridgeshire)
BNW31 32nd Regiment of Foot (Cornwall)
BNW32 33rd (1st West Riding) Foot Regiment
BNW33 36th Regiment of Foot (Herefordshire)
BNW34 38th Regiment of Foot (1st Staffordshire)
BNW35 40th Regiment of Foot (2nd Somersetshire)
BNW36 43rd Regiment of Foot (Monmouthshire, Light Infantry)
BNW37 44th Regiment of Foot (East Essex)
BNW38 45th Regiment of Foot (Nottinghamshire)
BNW39 48th Regiment of Foot (Northamptonshire)
BNW40 52nd (Oxfordshire) Light Infantry
BNW41 53rd Regiment of Foot (Shropshire)
BNW42 58th Regiment of Foot (Rutlandshire)
BNW43 61st Regiment of Foot (South Gloucestershire)
BNW44 74th Regiment of Foot (Highlanders)
BNW45 83rd Regiment of Foot
BNW46 88th Regiment of Foot (Connaught Rangers)
BNW47 Kings German Legion 1st Battalion
BNW48 Kings German Legion 2nd Battalion
BNW49 Kings German Legion 3rd Battalion
BNW50 Kings German Legion 4th Battalion
BNW51 Kings German Legion 5th Battalion


That's a pretty big release and maybe quite timely for me, I have just received the latest reinforcements from MMPS which includes the KGL 1st Brigade and the British 6th Brigade so I am in the market for some flags!

GMB and Victrix are very nice (and I do have a lot of GMB flags already) but they are quite expensive when you are buying flags for 8 units, Battle Flags are interesting, but currently only do the British and not the KGL, though buying flags 'by Brigade' is quite appealing, but now Flags of War have the lot. I might buy from both Battle Flags and Flags of War to do a comparison.