"10mm ACW Figures" Topic

I am looking for ideas on where 10mm ACW wargamers find information. I have advertised here on TMP for a few years now. I also have done this in ACWGamer E-Zine. I have also posted pictures and information on the Yahoo 10mm Gaming Group, which frankly appeals more to WWII gaming than ACW. If you are a 10mm Gamer, have your heard of Cracker Line and Plank Road Miniatures? If you have, where did you first hear of my company?

I am looking for suggestions on how to reach 10mm ACW Gamers. Your input would be greatly appreciated.

ACWBill@aol.com

forums? others, acw oriented, not necessarily 10mm

input in fire and fury forum?

heard about you here and , not sure if it was you, at the very debut at Historicon 11.

exchange links with those making buildings in 10mm

I heard about Cracker Line directly from you here Bill.

Four years ago when I first went into 10mm ACW, I found info here on TMP and through googling. I think if you are active here, and perhaps some other forums, then your potential customers will be able to find you.

Yeah, that was me at Historicon 2011. I will give the Fire & Fury and ACW forums a go. Please keep posting ideas here if you are just seeing this thread. You have my thanks for any ideas.

I had heard of 10mm before, notably Pendraken, via old Yahoo forums dealing with TFL's Mesopotamian WWI rules. I looked at the 10mm available then, but did not have enough interest in them to follow through due to the periods covered at that time.

I then acquired all the 6mm I would ever need, set them aside due to lack of time and then SAW your Crackerline figures here. I decided to switch scales.

Seeing is believing on your line. I think it will be more attractive to American players. Display is your key I think.

I wouldn't mind putting on a 10mm demo game locally at some point, but the earliest opportunity would be about a year from now. I -will- be taking advantage of your July special.

Oh, an afterthought. Across a Deadly Field will be released very soon. I am sure you are keeping up with that. Two stand units beg for the smaller scales. You might tie into that. Presentation games with those rules, your 10mm figures, and perhaps some of those old Bruce Catton maps from his Civil War history that hold a special place for many of us.

I heard of your ranges here. What about the Wargames Press? There are three main mags these days WI, MW&B, and WSS. Perhaps you can contact them about reviews, or look at adverts?

Mollinary

I am certainly considering ads in Wargames Illustrated as they seem to have the widest subscribership. I will also have an ad in the rear cover of the new Regimental Fire & Fury scenario book. How many of you subscribe to one of the above publications? @Intrepide, will look into John Hill's new rules.

How much interest is there in 10mm ACW? It seems to be a very niche size, especially since Blue Moon 18mm seems to be dominating. At a large con here in Orlando last week, I just spoke at length with a young fellow getting into ACW and miniature gaming. He had been following my blog's ACW posts. He looked at 10mm but was going with 15mm Blue Moon for all the reasons we normally hear for BM and Old Glory.

BTW my old marketing boss used to tell me that the sole purpose of marketing is to make people feel unsatisfied with what they currently own so they buy the product we're trying to push. Not sure how to do that with 10mm ACW.

BTW better photos on the web store might help a bit as well. Camera phones are not the way to go. ;-)

Good luck with the endeavor.

I do not use camera phones. My web site has excellent pics of the highest resolution. I go to every HMGS con held in Orlando, so I am curious as to which one you attended. I attended Recon in the Spring and had record sales there. Here is how I market 10mm. I have been very successful in doing so. Looking to expand already good sales. Thanks, but your statements are not advice, but mere criticism.

Show us some of your 15mm game pics and we will see how they compare.

I do not use camera phones. My web site has excellent pics of the highest resolution.

Wasn't talking about the gallery photos! I was talking about the photos of pack contents. Many are taken at odd top-down 3/4 angles, blurry on the edges, fish eye lens, paint jobs that do not do the miniatures justice. But if you love them…

I go to every HMGS con held in Orlando, so I am curious as to which one you attended.

Dice Tower Con. 850 people for 5 days of gaming from all over the world literally. Next year, 1000 people. 2016 they will be blowing the lid off with a new huge venue.

Thanks, but your statements are not advice, but mere criticism.

Exactly! Criticism is advice.

BTW I don't go to the HMGS shows, which I'm sure you're glad to hear. At least here you can stifle and ignore me. LoL.

Bill,
I love the look of your figures. If I was starting today in ACW I would go with 10mm. It is a great scale, with masses of well sculpted figures available at excellent prices. Using 10mm on 15mm or even 25mm bases gives an impression of mass that, in my view, is unequalled in the larger scales. But, for this war, I game with the 15mm figures collected over the last twenty years. They number many thousands, so. I am not going to change at my age. But is there an entry group coming into the hobby that you could target? 10mm has so much to offer the young (ie cash strapped), and once you've got them, I reckon that the quality of your castings mean you'll keep them. Do you focus on vast numbers of variants (which you have) or packaging specific to your target audience? Don't know, but maybe these are some of the right questions.

Mollinary

@Belt person – Good lord man, show us your painting. I would love to see how much better you paint. Criticism is criticism. Go hijack someone elses thread. Consider yourself stifled.

These little 10mm gems paint up beautifully in my humble opinion.

link

Have a look here:

link

Two possible ideas for you Bill.

First, you are already a very active poster with very inciteful ideas to share but every post having anything to do with the ACW that you comment on should always include your business name and web site URL after you sign your name. The other idea to consider is to change or create a Separate Cracker Line username instead in addition to ACWBill. Not everyone will know who you are especially potential new customers that you have a product to sell.

For example, Someone reading your comment about the color of Reb pants should know you have a product to sell they maybe interested in. Even if there not interested in 10mm, well not at first. : ). I changed my old username around 2005 after starting Syr Hobbs Wargames. A little awkward at first but now I'm use to it. besides you could still sign your post with ACW Bill.

Like I said not great suggestions, just food for thought.

I really like what your doing.

Duane
Www.syrhobbswargames.com

I heard about your business here, but knew you have had an interest for years running 10mm ACW at cons from a local friend who has played in a few.

You may consider Blue & Gray Magazine for a potential ad. You will find there are a lot of historians who are gamers, and you may pick up more business that way.

bluegraymagazine.com

Thank you Duane and Buckeye. Both very good ideas. I never thought to create an ID under the Cracker Line name. I used to subscribe to Blue and Gray back in my reencating days. Will look into that possibility as well. At Roger and Jim, beautiful work. Love the dense packing of troops on the bases.

@mollinary, I got hooked on 10mm when I saw a GHQ demo game at Cold Wars 1993 or 94, can't remember which for sure. All my pards ine the Rogues were doing 15mm (I lived in the Philly area at the time) so it was a bit of a risk. Who would have guessed I would end up with my own line.

Thanks Gents for all the good ideas.

Not to hijack your post, Bill, but Duncan, I really like your AoF bases and the mini dice holder

make the case for 10mm a bit like tovarich bacchus knows how to for 6.

Ok the blue moon syndrome, if I do again acw, might or not fall for it. One thing that would push,I will have space, then already own about 30+ buildings in 15. But 10mm argh.

1 10 mm; space for those who don't have.

2 Acw is a period were with most uniforms(??), you lose nothing much in 10 vs 18. (not like 18th cty)

3 You can easily have flags under the height of hills, which is quite common in real life.

4 It takes 2/3 to 1/2 the time to paint them

5 cheaper (must be)

6 mass effect

7 there are quite a lot of trades doing compatible or nearly so, for a huge amount of variants.

8 You would better do articles on this with pics than costly adverts in magazines.

JC, yes agreed on articles, and I have done many for WI in the past. In fact I had artcles in 302 and 317 most recently. Some further back than that. I need to push my line more in the articles and do more to promote. They are of course, less expensive. I use the same basing and board sizes as a 15mm gamer, I just pack more onto the bases.All of my 6,000+ figures fit in two carrying cases from Baggage train. All good points and I need to get that into articles and ads as well as on my site.

Thanks for your feedback,

B

I game 10mm pretty much exclusively. Heard of you here. Patiently waiting for the right moment (financially) to dive into ACW. I've got a bunch of Gordon & Hague 10mm but they are a far cry from the quality of your figs. Good luck in your endeavors,

Pat

Thanks Pat, when you're ready, happy to get you started up right. Just give me a ring and I will discuss your options and preferences.

crackerlineminis.com

Dice Tower Con. 850 people for 5 days of gaming from all over the world literally. Next year, 1000 people. 2016 they will be blowing the lid off with a new huge venue.

It's a board gaming convention.

I am very tempted by your miniatures. Truth be told, it won't be for some time that I buy any (trying to maintain focus on only one or two things to get something actually done), but I have it in mind to become a customer of yours.

Thanks Caesar, looking forward to working with you.

I have to agree with the comments about the shop photos. I have seen your figs in the flesh and the photos do NOT do them justice.

I'd try a new background – shoot them against light blue felt or plain white. Many are on dark ground with a shiny background.

Thanks Mark, will be revising these shots anyway as I am taking new pics for an ad in F & F.

Bill – I had good luck with my photos for 10mmWorld back in the day (somewhat like the photos I sent you), and if you would like me to help out with some close-ups, just drop me a line. I think you have great "on the table" group/unit shots, but some close-ups would really show off the sculpting.

Cheers,

Christopher

Sur Christopher, I would be happy to feature samples from my customers. Even for the shots I don't use in the shop, they will be shown in my customer gallery. Love to see them.

It looks like 10mm figures are about 17-20 cents (some up to 40 cent) versus 30 60cent for 15mm figures. If I didn't have several thousand 15mm, I would go for the 10mm for reasons mentioned above.