"Where Have All the AWI Figures Gone?" Topic

WHat is up with the lack of availability of 15mm AWI figs? I have been trying to get product for months and so far, I can only get a few Essex figs.
Jeff Valent is MIA, MiniFig distributors won't answer emails, Essex distributor has limited availability and can't get good restocks…
For the first time in my life, I have no unpainted figs!!!
Does anyone have any suggestions?

I just placed an order with Brookhurst Hobbies for the new Peter Pig line and I am praying that they are decent so I can move on with my project!

What is a motivated painter to do???? :)

They're beyond decent – the Peter Pig AWI is first-rate. Try here for some eye candy:

link

link

What is a motivated painter to do????

Order direct from the UK?

(Besides which, haven't Blue Moon been releasing tons of 15mm AWI in recent months…?)

Cheers for the heads up Dom.

The Peter Pig figures are really lovely to paint I can't recommend tham highly enough and for me knock the socks off other 15mm ranges.

What about Old Glory 15's and the new Blue Moon figs from Old Glory 25's?

If you are REALLY motivated, you can paint mine!!!!

…and they are 15mm

Oddly the Blue Moon ones are too – my theory is that the dual Old Glorys exist solely to confuse us Brits, especially since Old Glory 25s seem to be mainly releasing 15mm stuff lately….

Connard @ I have been considering doing just that. I don't know what the deal is with the US distributors. Maybe it is because of the decline of the dollar???

Dom @ Blue Moon is not 15mm…
I was so darn excited about their new stuff. I bought the army card… emailed them for months about the timing of the release. Finally they came out! I ordered 5 packages withthe intention of ordering a ton more! Only to be severely disappointed that they are NOT 15mm! They are 18mm and can not work with my 1,000+ Minifig, Frontier, Poly Oliver, Essex, Washington's War and Musket Miniatures figs… thay are just too big!

Which brings me to my next "rant"…
Why introduce a new scale to the damn hobby??? If they were 15mm, I would be buying thousands of figs! WHat a let-down…

Old Glory are also 18mm…
If I had started with 18mm, Old Glory and Blue Moon would really fit the bill, but neither line works with true 15s.

And what the heck is up with Jeff Valent and the Washington's War line?
He won't answer emails or return phone calls. I need some of his product to complete a few regiments. Does any one have any of his stuff that they want to sell?????????

Maybe it is because of the decline of the dollar???

Against the pound, there's been no decline of the dollar…. (OK, so it depends where you measure from, but pre credit-crunch a pound got you $1.90 USD or so, now it's $1.65, so the dollar is stronger than it was relative to the pound….)

Blue Moon is not 15mm…

Oops. AB-inspired scale creep I guess. :-(

So, back to the Peter Pig recommendation then….

What do you chaps mean by True 15s these days? I take that to mean 15mm to the eye? Because if you mean 15mm to the top of the head, then very few manufacturers make those anymore. IIRC my 15mm Minifigs AWI are 15mm to eye.

Dom @ Those figs look great!
I have always been happy with the other figs from Peter Pig… good to see that they will not let me down! Thanks for posting those. They are stunning! Are those yours?

Just a guess on the dollar decline thing… I am out of excuses for these guys and am grasping at straws now!

No they're Kev's – he posted a little further up ("Fat Wally".) The description does fit me too, but sadly I'm nowhere near as fast and good with a paintbrush as he is….
;-)

Porfirio @ I use a 15mm (1:100) scale ruler to measure my figs. I measure from the bottom of the foot (not the base) to the top of the head.

Both Old Glory and Blue Moon measure in at 18-19mm. The others I mentioned come in at 14-15mm.

Just keep in mind that if you are going to order from the UK that you will pay a premium for shipping. I am still in the throes of sticker shock on the cost of shipping – check out the thread over on the Consumer Affairs board "Shipping Profits?".

Musket Miniatures are still readily available and, in my opinion, a fine range of figures. And very affordable against virtually all their available competition. With Minifigs – a sad loss if we lose this range in 15 mm, not just AWI but the whole cloth – try making a direct phone call. I corresponded with the new guy last year and he indicated one of the challenges was the website. Maybe you'll get through and be able to place an order that way. Keep us posted on what you find.

Excellent stuff Kev!
I'm hoping to get some pics of my project posted some day soon. It includes the entire order of battle from Brandywine which includes over 3,000 figs (at 1:10 ratio).
I have around 1,200 done. I have to figure out where to post them though!

From various threads this year I don't think Minifigs USA are taking orders at all any more – a message board search will get, umm, quite a train wreck sadly.

Yep… I read them. Sent them an email with no response and phone number is no good.

Again I say if you can't handle the business, sell off the molds and let a good businessman do it!

Nice theory, but if someone's that good a businessman, he won't be buying wargames companies….

I believe with Valent he is busy with some publishing projects.

GFI will most likely remain on hold until Tom Dye comes back from Germany.

Essex is now handled by two companies in the US, Noble Knight games and Warpath TMP link

Blue Moon and Old Glory 15's, two different companies, make their figures more in the 18mm range to meet some more of the current demands.

I would say that that for the figures you want, you will have to order from overseas and deal with the dollar difference and rising shipping cost, or accept that some of the units that you will be building, which would be 2/3 of the figures you still need would be on the larger side.

RE: Jeff Valent AWI

If no response from Jeff Valent directly, have you tried Legends In Time? They still show Jeff Valent in their shop.

link

I do have a few handfuls of unpainted Jeff Valent figures (and Frontier) if you're interested.

Jon

QRF are good.

QRF are good.

link

Order in the US via David at Miniature Armies: miniaturearmies.webs.com

Being "busy with projects" is no excuse for not answering emails and phone calls. I have a gaming business too and while it can get overwhelming at times to cast and get product out, I respond to my customers and contribute a huge amount of free product to support conventions and events around the US.

The other Essex supplier in the US is Wargames, Inc. in Nashville. He has had issues getting product from overseas.
The point is that I really want Jeff's stuff but I have lost my patience with him.
Skip at Legends in Time no longer carries Jeff's product because Jeff won't supply him either. He has nothing left in inventory…

MiniFig is also disreibuted by Dragonhead Distributors but Steve has been illusive as well. No responses.

I believe Peter Pig will be the majority of my figs from now on. I will contact MiniFig direct and see if they can help me get product.

Jon @ What do you have? You can email me direct at histdean@hotmail.com

Didn't even realize that Friekorps was still around! Just ordered some to see how they are fairing these days…
Thanks for the info!

histdean, if you check the link that was put into my message, you will find that Wargames, Inc is NO LONGER an Essex supplier, per Essex announcement.

My post about Jeff was not offer an excuse, but to polity say if he has not responded to emails or returned phone calls, he most likely considers the miniature not as important as other projects.

There will be new range of true 15mm AWI from an American company coming out at Historicon.
Here's the first batch, which have been cast (not a great photo though):
link

Hmm… I knew that Baxter was having issues with them but did not realize they had dumped him. That's too bad. They are good people!

About Jeff… Understood. But I think he either needs to be a descent human being and respond to his customers or get out of the business. But that's just me and the way I run my business… call me crazy!

For Essex, you may want to try contacting Dan at Crossed Swords:

crossedswords.net/index.htm

listed on Ebay today some of the AWI Minifigs I have held on to, thinking I was going to get into them one day..anyway you can check em out…
auction

Didn't even realize that Friekorps was still around!

Oh yes, very much so. And no longer in that brittle metal (actually not been in that metal for many years). We've also been remoulding from original masters, where available, and feedback is that they hold their own even all these years on.

The Freikorps range is very, very under-rated IMO – lots of figures nobody else has made (eg mounted highland infantry for the late war/Southern campaigns), very well researched uniforms and kit, and they had pose variations long before they were commonplace.

The Friekorps are very nice. I do have a few pictures in the gallery of my webstore. I would like to see some customers send some pictures of painted mini's up close.
I guess I could paint some my self, but i'm such a slow painter:)
Miniaturearmies.webs.com

"if you check the link that was put into my message, you will find that Wargames, Inc is NO LONGER an Essex supplier, per Essex announcement"

Interesting that Wargames is still announcing Essex new products for the month of April… and the web site says nothing about getting out of the line.
Just read the announcement… that stinks!

Oh… and I am COMPLETELY DONE with Jeff Valent. As much as I love the Washington's War figs, I will never buy anything from him again. Such poor customer service is inexcusable, IMO. It's too bad that he has to treat his customers so poorly. It's no wonder that his business is failing!

Silurian @ Who is the manufacturer? If this is a totally new line… I will deffinately have to come to historicon now!

<<For the first time in my life, I have no unpainted figs!!!>>

According to gaming lore, you should now be dead……

You are correct Super… maybe I'm a zombie???

It's a shame you are in the US, as I have a HUGE pile of unpainted 15mm AWI from a whole host of manufacturers – in descending height order – Lancashire, OG, Minifigs, Essex, Musket, Frei Korps and Peter Pig. Would have been happy to get rid of them.

Histdean:
Yes, this is a completely new line. The manufacturer (based in Pennsylvania) hasn't decided upon a name yet! But they will definitely be a dealer at Historicon. The range will be extremely comprehensive.

Just got my first shipment of Peter Pig 15mm AWI figs…
Already placed a $200 USD reorder. Fantastic figs!!!

Also got some Friekorps stuff. Very nice as well.

Thanks to everyone who contributed here! I'm once again wallowing in unpainted pewter… Sweet!!!

"Didn't even realize that Friekorps was still around!

Oh yes, very much so. And no longer in that brittle metal (actually not been in that metal for many years). We've also been remoulding from original masters, where available, and feedback is that they hold their own even all these years on."

I bought my AWI British at about the time the new metal came in. They had not got around to doing the AWI figures then but specially cast my army for me to collect at Salute that year.

Silurian,

Nice figs!!! Please tell me they are 'true' 15s!! I'll definitely order some to supplement my 1788 Norwegians.

Oh, and would you possibly have an email address for the manufacturer for those of us that won't be attending Historicon [aka Hystericon]?

Supercilius,

I live in Poland, what do you have? I'd be interested in taking some of the smaller ones [true 15s] off your hands if we can work out something. Could you email a list to me?

jestarnes66@gmail.com

Will do – children on half-term this week, but next Monday or Tuesday (6/7 June).

Hey SM,

Haven't received an email from ya yet.

Just a friendly reminder.

Silurian,

Any news on the new range? Maybe a website or email address?

Sorry, something else had pushed it to the back of my mind.

I will contact you in the next day or so (I need to find which "mobile" hard drive the list is on).

Jon – do you have any Frontier and/or Valent AWI 15mm figures left? Thanks – Hal

Thought I would 'bump' this thread to get some new info on the new line of figures mentioned by Silurian.

Anybody know which line this might be? Shame about Jeff Valent and with Peter Pig's postage requirements for Poland, I'm scrambling to find some true 15mm AWI figs for a project I'm working on involving the Polish army of 1778 vs. the Russians.

Might have to breakdown and order some Musket Min. or GFI – they would work quite well but wanted to see what else was out there.

Silurian, if you get a chance, drop me a line at:
jestarnes66@gmail.com

I'm bumping this thread.

Silurain do you know what has happened to the range you mentioned? Has it been produced?

I would also be interesting in knowing about this range – thanks