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While there are seemingly endless historical periods and wars for our strelets and other manufacturers to cover, it surprises me that the AWI has been so lightly covered. I would invest heavily into a range that covers the conflict, but being that there are so few sets available for it I haven't wanted to. I would love to hear your guy's thoughts. Is the war too small of a niche for manufacturers to cover or are there others who would also be interested in a AWI range?
I would certainly be interested in a AWI range.
Hat were going to start one, even showed some drawings a year or so ago, but have since seen nothing to suggest that it's going to happen anytime soon.
Hello and happy new year,
I fully support this line of products if it comes live.
Cheers
CPN
I would be in favour (if they finished their War of 1812 line first - American forces are needed)...
I support both AWI and War of 1812. Spanish, Dutch, French and American Natives will be most welcome for AWI.
Agreed, I wouldn't call the WSS "obscure" it's just overshadowed by the Napoleonic Wars (amongst others and probably neglected in school ...). It was however something like the first World War of the emerging Modern Age (or the second one if you count the 30YW) and had with Marlborough probably one of England's finest generals (plus some other outstanding leaders like Eugene or Berwick). So it's great it finally is getting some well deserved attention.
And let's not forget that the 7YW was also fought in North America and India. So by no means a regional conflict centered on Prussia and Frederick.
But things being what they are, AWI, ACW and the World Wars are closer to peoples memory and thus probably get more attention. The nice thing about this hobby is it may help teach kids and grownups alike a thing or two about history and perhaps get some people interested enough to learn more about "obscure periods".
The fact that the existing SYW figures were too tall for 1/72 was reason I didnt get involved with the SYW.
Revell Austrians were not too bad but they are long out of production.
If Strelets did take on the SYW, I would prefer them to start from scratch I think.
Same for AWI. Start their own range from the beginning.
@ Paintdog
I think we might agree on "forgotten" or "obscured" rather than "obscure". The WSS got quite some attention in it's time and had consequences that are even today relevant (if you care to look, that is) viz. Gibraltar became British as a result of that war.
"Obscure" would, at least imho, be more appropriate for such wars as the British invasion of the River Plate, the Anglo-Persian war of 1856 or similar smaller confrontations.
But you are of course right if you'd ask people today most of them wouldn't know about it and couldn't care less. Then again most people today also wouldn't be able to tell what caused the First World War. It says more about the state of our education systems than the importance of historical events. So if "obscure" means "slipped from public memory" then it probably and sadly is more or less obscure - until someone here decides to build a huge Blenheim diorama now that we do have these nice minis. :wink:
I guess whether a conflict is "obscured" or "forgotten" is relative to someone's knowledge of military history really.
For example as a kid, I was always interested in history, so wars such as WSS, Jacobite Rebellion, SYW, Napoleonics, ACW, Crimea etc I knew about as I learned about it in my own time.....not in school where it was always WW1 or WW2.
Only time we did something different was the Russian Revolution... and even then not even for that long. And we barely ever touched upon the warfare itself, it was always political & social stuff we focused on.
All 20th Century stuff. Come to think of it, we barely even touched the ECW.....something you would think was a huge chapter of English history!!!
I think some of us within the hobby will always have our favourites, and tend to gravitate towards those regardless if we know about other conflicts. I think whether we get involved in another conflict also depends on what set's are available, the quality of those sets, and how much readily available information there is on things like uniforms, orders of battle etc etc.
I think the AWI is a deceptively difficult era to cover just because there was SO much uniform variety, stretching from the purple coats of the Culpeper Virginia militia to the Scots and men of Hesse-Hanau that fought for the Empire, that fielding what can be called a 'typical' AWI army is difficult. So in part I can see why many 1/72 scale companies have avoided it, albeit naturally this could change in the future.
Frankly the SYW needs so many sets throughout Europe, North America, and India that starting from scratch would not be that much different than building on the current sets. I like the HaT and Revell efforts though.
I agree with many of you that have mentioned this, but I would love to see the international aspect of the SYW done well as well. Especially the "French and Indian" front of the war.
I think what's lacking for the 7YW is mostly heavy cavalry, it can be created by conversions (I used Zvezda Saxon Cuirassiers with heads from Revell Austrian artillery), but to have some sets made by a good manufacturer would be preferable. Zvezda's two 7YW sets suffer from being on the VERY large side (see PSR review). The Revell infantry is not among their best products but can be used. I actually like the HaT sets.
As for 7YW British I think the Redbox British infantry might do and perhaps some of the Accurate/Revell AWI British infantry, both are nice sets.
British cavalry is of course lacking, as are 7YW French and Russians (other figures might be usable for the Line infantry, but I'm not sure, maybe Italeris AWI French though I don't like them very much) and there's an annoying lack of artillery (unless you buy metal figures or make do with IMEX AWI American artillery - IF you can get hold of them).
@ Paintdog
VERY nice figures over at Benno's, great work!
Awesome looking game and great looking armies, Donald.
How did you come by the Pandours?
Regards,
Andrew
Hi Donald,
Could you tell us by which rules you are playing and how you organize your armies (i.e the ratio of minis to real troop strength like one miniature representing twenty or thirty men)?
Thanks!