Frontier 15mm Mexican War Miniatures Part 2

 Last night I opened the Mexican cavalry. There were 15 figures that represent the 1st cavalry, with lances and leather crested helmets. There were also 15 figures with shakos and carbines representing the Mexican line cavalry.

The cavalry figures with shakos.

The 1st Mexican cavalry figures 

Frontier 15mm Mexicans Part 1

 After my last post, I naturally went to check Ebay to see if there were any new Frontier Miniatures. Surprisingly, there were 2 large bags of Mexican American War Mexican Miniatures. One was infantry, the other cavalry. I know the last time I was thinking of ordering from Frontier in the 1990s, they went to selling mixed bags of infantry or cavalry, where you couldn't order just what you wanted, so I'm guessing these are from around that time.  As I'm retiring in a few weeks, I have been being careful on my spending. However, I also figured these figures could be a good long project for me, so I purchased them. 

The Mexican cavalry

The infantry opened.

The command figures of the infantry set.

The infantry separated. I haven't got a count out yet, as I opened it right before going to bed.

Warlord Games Epic ACW

Warlord Games have come up with a new American Civil War game; Epic ACW. Using Black Powder rules, they have come up with plastic 15mm models in 10 man strips. The regiments will consist of 100 regiments. The main game will come with rules, 2400 infantry, 24 cannon and 24 horsemen. All for $120 (American). When I first saw it, I was ready to order it. However, the limited space for my gaming, along with my current uncertainty of income, I decided against it. However, in the January Wargames Illustrated, the magazine gave a free frame of the figures. The frame includes 100 infantry, 1 gun and crew, and one horseman. It also comes with the bases. After much waiting, the magazine showed up in the local bookstore. I ended up buying 2 of the magazines. I'm not sure the figures will ever be used. I have different ideas for the figures. On another blog someone cut the 10 man strips in half, to make ten man bases. I have been thinking this might be the way to go, except that I would make my own bases and do 5 man bases. At least with the two frames of figures, I could make up one regiment for each side and do skirmish games.

New Frontier American 1812 Figures

        A few days before my discovery mentioned in the last post, I bought a rather large collection of 15mm Frontier War of 1812 miniatures. The main reason I purchased it is I thought it had  a few figures that I have been looking for. I did spend more than normal, but finding such a collection of 1812 Americans is a rarity.
       One reason I wanted these figures were to paint some of them as 1820's-1830's volunteer militia companies, possibly to be used in an imagi-nation wargame campaign. I started painting one unit the same day I received them, as there is some primer on most of the figures. I also wanted to try some new acrylic paints, artist in the tube type. I like the tube paint as it tends to cover the figures better; however, the colors are much darker than the label shows. They also seem to dry a little darker. Perhaps it is that I bought a very cheap set, not wanting to invest $30 in paints.

   As I was finishing up the figures I also realized that the figures were not the same ones  I was looking for. The shako is shorter and these figures have a canteen and haversack: the figure I was looking for only has a bayonet sheath. Still, I still plan to move forward with the militia plan. That would give me 9- 4 man units.

  In the end, I am thinking of another project, using these figures for War of1812 skirmish games.

On the left are command figures and soldiers in overcoats. On the right are Riflemen.

These are Marine figures.

I believe the figures on the left might be British, as they have wings in their shoulders. The figures on the right are lovely American sappers with aprons! I have to figure a way to use these figures.

Another shot of the sappers.

Various command figures, including 2 Minifigs officers.

The main reason I bought this lot. 36 infantry advancing.

The new figure painted on the left, the original figure that I was looking for.

Close up of the difference in the figures. I didn't notice until looking at this picture that the left figure also is more animated than the right figure.

The front of the figures. These two figures are more my style; these isn't too much detail in these figures. The rest of the Frontier figures are the same height as these figures, but much more stocky with more detail.

Scruby 12/15mm Seven Years War Figures

      When I first got into wargaming 20 years ago, I had read both "The War-game" by Charles Grant and "Charge!"  by Peter Young and J.P. Lawford. Of course, I then wanted to form SYW armies. Among the figures I was checking out were Jack Scruby recasts in 15mm.  In the end I went with 1/72 plastics.

     During one of my Ebay searches a large lot of Scruby SYW recasts popped up. It was a "Buy it Now" sale, and for the amount of figures, a very good price. I spent several hours going back and forth on wether to purchase it (I was really hoping one of the other people watching would buy them).   In the end I bought them and received them this week. This is one of those, "project for another day" purchases.

   The amount of figures according to the seller is: 400 infantry, 100 grenadiers, 60 flag bearers, 60 sergeants, 50 drummers, 50 light infantry, 50 cuirassiers, 50 dragoons, 50 hussars, 18 cannon, 50 gunners.   The seller referred to them as 12mm/15mm. They are on the small size; however I really didn't compare them to any other figures yet.

Some painted samples of the Scruby figures. The lot came with some painted figures  of cavalry, infantry, and artillery.  I also got a rather sizable pile of MDF stands. 

Unfortunately the photos are out of focus. They are nice generic figures. It looks like the collection was a project that never got off the ground. Hopefully I will have better luck with them.

If it's Napoleonic, it must be Spring

The last couple of weeks we have had springlike weather; it seems when winter turns to spring, I get a sudden interest in the Napoleonic wars.

While at a craft store I saw some nice felt in a package, 2 yards of green felt for $8.99. I had a large piece of felt that I had used for wargaming years ago, but threw it out during one of my rare cleaning of the junk room. I bought it, then cut it into two 3'x3' sections. One I have marked off into 2" squares. While photographing my last installment of "Peter Laings by the Numbers" I played a quick game on it. I left items that were in the desk under the felt, to give it some contours.

The field of battle. Landscape pieces were randomly put down.

The French line.

The British line. It's hard to see but they were on a ridge line.

The main purpose of the game was to see how the pictures would come out. I still prefer the foam squares I used in earlier games as the figures seemed to stand out better. In the photos the contours of the hills don't show up too well.

New Peter Laing ECW Figures and another No Brain Game

Today I got two packages in. One was a small lot of 1st generation Minifigs Napoleonics, the other a lot of Peter Laing ECW figures. While I already have many of the ECW infantry, the main reason I bought this lot was to get 40 cavalry figures that were new to me.

Three of the new ECW cavalry figures I just received.

I also got 10 each of these ECW peasants; another one of my favorite Peter Laing figures.

The seller sent this SAS figure along "to guard the package"! 

I wanted to fight my new Mahdi army. Their opponents were my Arab army.

The Mahdi first contact is devastating, killing 8 of the Arabs.

Still, the Arabs manage to force back the Mahdi tribesmen.

In the center, three Mahdi archers hit a unit of Arab archers, killing one and forcing the other two to retreat....

...which exposes the Arab chieftain to another Mahdi unit with three archers. However, instead of  attacking the Chieftain, they go after the unit of Arabs to the right of the Chieftain. It was a wasted effort as they missed anyways.

The Arab Chieftain now started bringing all his men towards the center of the line.

However, the Mahdi forces pushes through the center and close on the Chieftain.

At this point the Arabs realize the battle is lost and falls back.

The Mahdi general, once a lowly cavalryman in the Ottoman Turk army, is now a general leading a victorious army.

New Books and Plans

     Since finding HORDES OF THE EMPIRE  by Paul Potter, Blake Radetzky, and Terry Webb, and WHEN EMPIRES CLASH! by Bob Cordery, and their armies list, I have started work on my British colonial figures.  In a couple of practice games, the results seem that either side could have won the battle. I have started looking through my Peter Laing figures for opponents to the British. I have found several, and have ordered new rubber to make molds of these figures.

    I think anyone who has studied the colonial wars have come across Michael Barthorps' books on different campaigns of the Victorian period.  I have several of his books and went looking for more. I have bought several books  in the last week by various authors about British colonial wars and they have started arriving. In the meantime , I have started reading Donald Featherstones' KHAKI AND RED, which is a good overview of the period.

   When I started getting back into toy soldiers one manufacturer that caught my attention was William Hocker, who made a line of colonial British soldiers along the style of Wm. Britains. At the time I bought a catalog of color picture of his line. Looking at the pictures, I have been thinking of painting some of the Peter Laing figures using the Wm. Hocker pictures as a guide. I have already painted a unit of the Royal Berkshire Regiment.

This book covers the first Maori War.

My Peter Laing Royal Berkshire Regiment.

Zulu Wargame

       In the past I have mentioned using Horde of the Things army list to fight battles. With my current interest in the 19th century British army, I started looking for army lists for the period. It has been pointed out that many of the enemies of the British army during this period were armed with spears and other hand weapons, in which some battles can result in the slaughter of the natives before the natives have a chance to engage the British army. However on Fanaticus.org has variations of the HotT rules, called Hordes of the Empire, which gives rules for the 19th century colonial wars. I wanted to see if their army lists would give a fairly equal armies. For this game I used Zulus (as I have a large collection of Peter Laing Zulus) versus the British army.  The Zulu have 12 war bands. The British have 6 infantry units, 1 machine gun manned by sailors, a troop of frontier horse and the 17th Lancers. I did use Bob Corderys' Memoir of Battle rules to fight the battle.

The British army on the left, Zulus on the right.

The Zulu left horn holds back as the "loins" close in the center. The British advance to give themselves room to retreat. The British general brings the Highlanders behind the line for reserve. The British open fire, with no success.

The Zulus overrun the machine gun. Another Zulu unit has pushed back one infantry unit.

Another view of the above picture.

The Frontier horse holds back the left  horn of the impi. The Highlanders are in the right spot to hold back the Zulus in the center. The Zulus lose 13 figures this turn.

The Zulu left horn forces the Frontier horse back. In the center the Highlanders are routed off the board. One Zulu unit gets behind the British line. The British general had joined one infantry unit to recapture the machine gun.  The Zulus kill four of the five in that unit, including the general! The 17th Lancers tried to hold the right horn back, but is pushed back. 

Suffering heavy losses, the British start consolidating towards the center, except the Frontier horse, which pushes back two Zulu units.

The Frontier horse continues to distract the Zulu left.

The 17th Lancers overrun one Zulu unit.

The Zulus eliminate the 17th Lancers and the two rightmost infantry units. The Frontier horse  is finally pushed back when it is attacked by three units. At this point the British won the roll for initiative, which allowed them to retreat.

This was just a sample game to see if these armies would work out. The game worked out better than I thought it would.  At first I thought it would just be a slaughter of the Zulus. As can be seen, quite the opposite occurred. The armies are based on Army points: these armies were 24 APs  for the Zulus and 20 for the British.  It would be easy enough to base the armies on lower APs, or even roll for APs.  This army list could make my gaming easier.

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