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Apocalypse - not now

Dear Strelets

But please no Apocalypse for a while yet. Those Four Horsemen would make amazing figures.

Re: Dear Strelets -thanks- ! and best regards from Austria!

Dear Martin,

thank you for your message.
You are right, set no 074 is Austro-Hungarian.
In terms of flags one of our visitors in thread below gave a reference to a website devoted to the Anglo-Boer war. There was an article about a battle where a banner was actually used. We believe that this site may be used as a reference material for the flags.
Regarding "big boxes" we liked your suggestion as well as the suggestions below in this thread, however we got so many critics for our first set that it makes us reluctant to go through the trouble once again.
Bset regards,

Strelets-R

Regarding "Big Boxes"

Dear Strelets*R,

The "Big Box" strategy is still a good idea. Reasons:

* Should be called "Strelets*R's Collector's Editions: Famous Battles in History" for the serious kids like us
* First time collectors (kids) do not have to know the history = The box will teach them the history.
* It's pure fun to open up a big "Play Set" box.
* Should contain 4 sets = Artillery & Infantry for one side and Cavalry & Infantry for opposing side
* Next set should be reverse of above for a total of 8 sets minimum for each "Theme."
* I like to buy many sets = 4 sets in 1 box = Savings!
* Art Work for a famous battle scene is a strong attraction for someone to buy off the shelf = "Wow! I can open one box and relive the complete battle!" They'll be back for more ... Famous Battles in History.

The reason everyone stated about the first Big Box set was that they already had 3/4's of the contents from the singles releases. It would probably be best to plan this idea for the future. Like you said, the initial sales are biggest. Follow-up sales are fairly few.

WWI would be a good theme to start with. And then other new ones. When you find yourself cash-heavy (ha, ha - right!) then go back and do some limited-run "Charge of the Light Brigade" Big Box Battle sets.

I still think it is a great idea, especially for (1) attracting "New Kids" to the hobby, and (2) Us "Sophisticated Collectors" (eh, hem) could save some money, because we usually buy multiple sets anyway.

Please round table the idea with your S*R Team. For the Boer Wars and Crimean War (already released as "Singles", I would even buy several sets either just to have or as an investment for the future.

Happy Planning!

don't forget accessories...

like terrain pieces, crates & barrels. Like a mini Marx playset.

Re: don't forget accessories...

That's exactly right, Arlin. In fact, it was the Marx "Charge of the Light Brigade" set produced in hard plastic and painted in scarlet red and royal blue that hooked me on European military history - exactly the one advancing British infantry figure with a foreign service helmet with the 17th Lancers cap 4-point top (OK, so it wasn't real, it looked good!) painted in gold, with scarlet red tunic, and white trousers that got me. I'll bet you bought the "Fort Apache" set didn't you? That sells for a premium on eBay today!

For "Accessories" I'd like to see:

* 3-Piece or Multi-Piece plug together "Great Redoubt" for the Crimeans (Solid, soft plastic, not Italeri hollow-type).
: Long rock-piles for the Anglo=Boer War's Spion's Kop (Solid soft plastic - not Marx hollow rock-pile).
: Mealie-bag redoubt for S*R's upcoming Roarke's Drift sets (hint, hint ) in solid soft plastic.

What else fellow collectors ... ???

Re: Re: don't forget accessories...

Hello,
Actually, all my little dudes were Airfix. Marx was scarce west of the Mississippi River back then (well scarce enough), and they were expensive. I did have the Marx Fort Apache "carry-all" 54mm Fort Apache (loved that set) and some GIANT clones, but mostly Airfix American West and Civil War.

Each large Strelets set should be a playset. Everything you need right out of the box. It should be a theme, even if a token theme. I'm not talking about the Fall of Berlin with an entire city in the box. But just some things unique to that set. If you do Camerone in 1863, yes, there should be some Mexicans and French Foreign Legion in there. But there should also be a rockpile, an adobe wall ruin, a cactus, a barrel, a crate, and "theme-flavor" things like a donkey, a Senorita, a man sitting on the ground having a siesta with his hat over his eyes, a well, a hitching post, an out door oven, etc. The theme stuff could be on it's own sprue, or bits here and there on the ends of the figure sprues.

Some of the same theme sprues could be used in several sets. Many of the 19th century sets could use the same sprue of accessories.

Crimea, Italy, ACW: you gotta have rocks, gabions, barrels, crates, feed bags, tree stumps, campfires, etc.

Donkeys, pack horses, rocks, tree stumps, feed bags, wells or fountains, can all be made generic enough to be in sets for Ancient Rome, Medievel, all the way to the present.

If it's from Biblical to modern Middle East, it needs a dromedary camel and a donkey.

Anything in Africa needs a bush or two, again, a donkey, and some animal to give it African flavor. Maybe not an elephant, but a wildebeest or zebra or lion or monkey or something would be nice. Just background stuff.

Sets should have representative accessories, terrain, and/or animals added. If it's American Plains Indians, there better be one buffalo in there. Middle East, there better be a camel. Any forest scenes should have a deer.

The Streltzi figure in each set was a great idea, a bonus, something to set these sets apart from the norm. That's how I think the Accessories would be. Just a little extra, nothing overwhelming.
Arlin

Re: Dear Strelets -thanks- ! and best regards from Austria!

Good ideas, Mr. Macalka!

Your personality figure idea is good, but I think that maybe the maker should stick to humans. Moses is not a bad idea, but I'd be a little bit uncomfortable with Jesus as a fig (since, as a believer, I don't like images of him as I consider it a form of idolatry). But, hey, no hard feelings! I'm not a zealous critic and I'm glad that you even listed him! A lot of guys you mentioned would be great though...and Genghis Khan, William the Conqueror, Kings Harold and Alfred, Harold Hardraada, Yi Sun-Shin, and samurai leaders, all the WWII generals (Patton, Montgomery, Leigh-Mallory, Ike, Tojo, Mussolini, Hitler, Rommel, MacArthur, Kuribayashi, or perhaps even Hirohito), and Napoleonics, Revolutionary commanders...the list goes on and on! (How about the U.S. founding fathers, or presidents?) Is this a job for Valdemar Miniatures perhaps?

But your "Prehistoric" idea is the best! Dinosaurs would get me giddy. Sauropods, theropods, some ornithopods (like hadrosaurs, stegosaurs, ceratopsids, etc.). Mammoths and several Smilodon or wooly rhinos would be a nice set too, maybe with a tar pit! Maybe sets could be created corresponding to different geographical areas? (I.e., Gobi dinos, N. Amer. dinos, Africans, S. Amer., etc.)

Some great ideas Mr. Macalka!

CivilWarDinosaur

Boer flags

A website which offers miniaturized reproductions of the historical flags of the Boer Republics of Transvaal and Oranje-Vrijstaat (quite at the top of the page. Click the names "Transvaal" and "Oranje-Vrijstaat", respectively):

http://www.suid-afrika.de/winkel5.htm

Another flag of a Boer unit is shown in Terence Wise/Guido Rosignoli, Military Flags of the World 1618-1900, Blandford Press 1977, Plate 62, No.380 (flag of the Transvaal Krügersdorp Volunteers)

Hope this helps

please dont retire

PLAESE DONT RETIRE IT IS SO MANY SETS TO PRODUCE PLEASE DONT RETIRE

Re: Keep thier Legacy Alive - please dont retire!

Ahmen! I totally agree with Kert ...

"Hallmark" (the American Greeting Card Company) has already covered the Religeous themes, both on paper and in 3-D plastic. This includes the popular theme of "Snoopy" the Beagle dog as well as Christmas scenes. Snoopy is my wifes favorite and I keep her most snuggled up in Snoopy - And Disney, too ... And Christmas is my brothers favorite. But ...

But ... please, S*R Team, please, let's help keep the memory of those fallen souls (especially "the ones who were inappropriately called some "the worst of society") who have fallen, and which we respect so much and who we owe so much, and to those who have given us the ability to enjoy collecting toy soldiers, and keeping their legacy alive.

Personally, I believe it is an honor and a priveledge to be alive today and be able to sit back and enjoy this hobby. Every time I set up my army men on my desk-top, it is in respect and appreciation to the sacrifice and honor of thier memory. Every time I do this, it makes me want to be a better man!

If you ever find the end to your efforts, then it is the signal to start over, for life, all of it, is dynamic, never rests, and constantly renews itself. So, if you run out of "Themes", then start over again with your first sets, as we could have all done better the first time, and will surely do better the next time ... and be better for it!

Smiles S*R Team :-)

Re: Re: Keep thier Legacy Alive - please dont retire!

Hello!

Mr. Hennen, you SLAMMED the nail on the head just there. A lack of respect to veterans is one of the biggest problems today (at least in American culture). This hobby helps keep their legacy alive. Don't let the next generation forget.

AND DONT RETIRE, STRELETS!

Remember, you still have to make my ACW figs...

"They put their faith before their pride, for women and children first."--last verse of "Women and Children First: In Memoriam to the Gallant Men of the Titanic ", by Douglas W. Phillips

Full poem:
http://www.titanicsociety.com/readables/main/wc_04-12-2001_women_and_children_first_poem.asp

Site home:
http://www.titanicsociety.com/home.asp

We must remember,

CivilWarDinosaur

P.S. Oh, yeah, on the lighter side of things, if I was related to an animal--which I am not--it would probably be the dinosaurs. We are all also related to Noah, too, technically! (See this and the "new theme" thread.)