"Revolutionary Quandary" Topic

I am about to tread carefully into the American War of Independence.

Some advice and opinions is required on figures and sizes and rulesets.

link

Jim, I have been looking at the 12mm figures from Kallistra. It looks like a very full range.

Jim, read your interesting blog entry. i recommend 28mm. Lots of nice figures available in plastic and metal. The American Revolution is full of battles large and quite small, with units much smaller than your projected six stands. It should not be difficult to small actions from the southern colonies on your table.

Good luck in your choices.

@norm

Kallistra, yes, I was surprised at the extent of their AWI range. I wouldn't be surprised if I bought a few at Vapnartak next weekend. A lot will depend on how long my budget will last and how many other stands I dip into that budget with that I walk past before I get to Kallistra.

@KSmyth

28mm AWI are top of my list anyway as they are potential charity sales if I decide to go elsewhere.

I note your point on unit strengths. I'm still reading up the AWI. Keep an eye on my blog.

If you are looking at cost, don't forget about about 1/72 plastics. Peter Pig also makes a very comprehensive 15mm range. In the end, I imagine it will come down to what size you like painting, and what "looks right" to you.

Thanks Joe

I had a quick look at Plastic Soldier Review and I wasn't terribly impressed with the quality of many of the plastic figures. They didn't attract me too much.

Peter Pig, 15 mm figures, somewhere in between 28mm and 6 mm, not grabbing me at the moment.

Thanks again.

Jim,

Take a look at Giles' blog at gilesallison.blogspot.com

He covers the war comprehensively, using mostly Perry but some other figures. He builds units per British Grenadier.

Ed

Thanks Ed

Great site, will take some browsing!

28mm with Foundry and Perry figures!

QRF would be worth a look in 15mm for the armies and a copy of Honours of War for rules. That would give you an economical and quality project with all the variety you could wish for.

18mm Blue Moon figures have a large AMRev range and if you are a member of the Old Glory Army, they are quite cheap.

28mm would be my suggestion. You can base them singly for skirmish games and use trays for the larger type games. Perry's cover most of the units that are needed and Fife and Drum have a nice line.

Lately we've been playing Sharpe Practice for the AWI and it works well. Soon we'll use Carnage and Glory for the larger games. I'm also a fan of the Piquet games.

Of course there's this to see what others are playing TMP link

Thanks for all the pointers guys.

It looks like I'm going to focus on 28mm Perry/Warlord and British Grenadier. There will always be Black Powder in the background.

However I might pick up a pack of Kallistra and/or Baccus as well.

Wonder if this will hold out for the rest of 2016.

Jim

Well done – the AWI is the best wargaming period in the universe. I'm one of the people who think that the AWI is perfectly suited to 25mm. You need very few cavalry, not many guns and even at figure/men ratios of 1:15 and 1:20 you will find that most units are between 12 and 24 figures (16 is the average). Cost is much reduced now that there are good plastic figures on the market. In metals you are very well served with Foundry, Perry, Eureka, Fife & Drum, King's Mountain Miniatures, Old Glory and Front Rank (plus others who have figures that can be used, such as Galloping Major and Conquest). The Foundry and Perry figures are basically one range (the latter is a continuation of the former) and IMHO is one of the finest and most comprehensive offerings for any period in 25mm. (That's not to say that I don't rate other 25mm lines – all the ones mentioned earlier are great; it's just that I started doing the AWI when the Perry range first came out, so it was a natural one for me to use.)

That's not to say that other scales aren't also well served. Kev, aka "Fat Wally", has a beaut of a site that showcases 15mm AWI: link

Thanks to Ed for generously mentioning my site. I have a run down on basing for the "British Grenadier!" rules here: link (I can't believe I posted that 8.5 years ago!).

Giles

Here's my advice for getting started in AWI.
TMP link

Good Golly Miss Molly.

Thanks again for all the information and advice.

The TMP community has come up trumps again.

Can't wait to get started.

Hi Jim, I have 28mm, 15mm and 10mm, it is very addictive and there is a great deal of knowledge on here that is just brilliant, good choice sir!!

Perhaps consider 40mm.

Miniature Service Center, Sash&Saber, and Front Rank all have lines of figures for AWI.

@jambo1

Thanks, I know all about multi-scale addiction, I still get high on it.

In this case I am concentrating on 28mm but getting some 12mm as an experiment.

@GamesPoet

Having to pass on 40mm on this occasion.

Have you done 40mm for a different era?

last year I did my first 28/30 mil for Saga, I will never go back to 15mil. I was running out of figures to paint (yes, that really can happen) so I bought "Liberty or Death" from the LFGS for black powder. they are not bad to assemble, and they fit with Perrys, so lots of Perry abd WGF plastics and about 25% perry metals, 2 years it will be grand…..

don't turn your nose up away from the fine Loyalist royal troops, I had 2 ancestors in the 1st Btn New Jersey Line, they shipped to New Brunswick when congress confiscated their farms. "I'm from the govt, I'm here to help"

Jim, while I have mostly 15 mm (my preferred and only scale), don't discount 10 mm as an ideal scale. It gives the best balance between size of figure and ground scale with still being able to identify, to a degree, figures at a distance. Smaller scales don't allow for this – though they have other advantages like cost and space. And the larger scales, for me, just crowd all but the biggest tables.

My 15s for foot mostly come from Musket Miniatures (either gone or in hibernation) and my foot mostly from Freikorps. I have twenty units of cavalry for the period, all based on historical units though some at larger than historical strength because I like the idea of hypothetical games. Though there were some battles with little to no artillery most non-skirmish events did have artillery.

Part of my motivation to pursue the hypotheticals is that it is pretty easy to get a solid working knowledge of all of the known battles (not skirmishes of course) of the war and so, any time a game is run based on history, chances are too good one or more of the players knows the outcome and will adjust accordingly. Coming up with fictitious battles – or borrowed battles disguised – allows for some real give and take on the gaming table.

Have fun. It is a fun period.

Perfect period for 28mm. I recommend Perry and Foundry figs.

I second "Rallynow". My two AWI armies are from Foundry and perry metals. Superb figs good detail and paint up really nice.