After a bit of a break, I've caught up with WOSS releases. I do put my money where my mouth is with these figures, so, best part of £300 lighter, by and large I am delighted. The ability to depict British and French Dragoons, the prospect of all the Maison du Roi cavalry, the prospect of Austrians (I suspect the cuirassiers will do well for Bavarians) is an indulgence for which I am profoundly grateful.

I decided to purchase the artillery sets rather than rely on the, admittedly superb and bar-setting, Zvezda sets. The Strelets' sets will allow me to maintain the same (excellent) sculpting style across the armies.

I do echo the comments made already about these artillery sets. What you get looks excellent. It's just that you don't get that much of it. Given that there are no limbers and trains, 3-4 of each sprue would have been better value (4 of each fit comfortably in the box, I find!).

That said, the main issue is the lack of any artillery train.

There is a logic, in this period, in separating guns and crew (military), from train (civilian).

Could we not have a WSS generic artillery train with civilian drivers, please?



Of course, such a set would do well for a train at least into the mid-century.

There are 9 unannounced slots between WSS set 260 and the next new Nappy set (270), so ....

A (generic) artillery train suitable for most nations would be great, though to be honest most train pieces in my collection still rest in their boxes, as I just hate fiddling with the inevitable ropes and harness ... 😒.
What I would love to see however would be a set of heavy artillery, viz. 12 or 24 pounders.

I too am light by £300 on War of Spanish Succession alone. I won't dare adding up the Napoleonics, Crimean. WWI (Mostly Palestine), WWII Desert campaign, Boer and FFL.
But I'd still reach into my pockets for the Artillery Train, especially if civilian driven.
Did they ever use camels? :)

Very good to hear from you again Edwardian, after your break. Having not seen a post from you for a while, I was beginning to wonder if you were OK, so good to know that you are.... and spending in a 'big way' to boot! My purchases in the last week have only totalled a mere £120, mainly new Strelets releases.:blush:

I'd fully support any further WoSS artillery and related sets from Strelets. Whilst the guns in the recently-released artillery sets are rather basic and rather too small, the gunners themselves are excellent. Two guns and ten figures in a box is, however, poor value for money when compared with the Zvezda GNW sets.

An 'artillery train' set of c. 6 horses, limber and perhaps a small 1 or 2 horse ammunition wagon with drivers for both would be superb, and very useful for armies throughout the C18th.

The WSS artillery sets were a little sparse for contents compared to other competitors sets.

Limbers, Caissons etc are in short supply for many era's.
So I echo Edwardians call for such equipment for the WSS. Napoleonics could use some too. As could Crimea, ACW, Zulu Wars etc.

I also understand Flambeau's concerns about fiddly harnesses etc when making such horse drawn equipment. While I do & will readily continue to buy such sets, the construction does frustrate me at times. Trying to get plastic "ropes" into sides of horses etc......& keeping them there!!! Enough to make someone pull their hair out!!!

However, stopping short of simplifying such parts like Airfix & Imex etc did, it's hard to see another way of doing it.

Normally horse trains are 2 or 3 horses each side in a line. So...what about making them so that each side of the train of horses is already moulded with harnesses/ropes attached?
Then the customer just has to paint each line of horses whilst still on the sprue and then could glue to a supplied base. The 2 lines of horses would then be ready for a limber, caisson or wagon to be attached. Riders for the train can be done as they have always been.

It would be hard work for a sculptor and the moulding process, but its the only way I can think of making horse teams easier to put together.
Would be a tough but interesting challenge for a manufacturer too.

I am tentatively expecting such a set or two in the future based on a comment Strelets made to myself last year here on this very forum, although further confirmation would be great! :grin: