"More Indian Mutiny Previews " Topic

Empress Miniatures presents new sets for their Indian Mutiny range

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Amicalement
Armand

Very attractive figures – but why do they bother, when so many other great Mutiny ranges a) exist; or b) have collapsed?

Because these are the best…

Because they know Mad Guru will buy them for his gorgeous NWF games.

Glad you like them boys!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Because there's no other Mutiny range to match these, bar none.

Very attractive figures – but why do they bother, when so many other great Mutiny ranges a) exist; or b) have collapsed?

I realise that some range may eluded me but I frankly don't know of any Indian Mutiny range in 28mm that is either complete or even representative.
Foundry comes nearest (and I really love those figures) but is still woefully incomplete. The times when you would represent a regiment with 4 different figures is well past. Iron Duke for example has 80+ different sepoys and that's only their first release.

Mutineer has an excellent but small range. Like those figures as well but you would be hard pressed to make an army out of it. With some judicious choosing you can however integrate them with Iron Duke even though most of the Native troops are wearing an older style of uniform. Which is a bonus in my view.

AW miniatures has an Indian Mutiny range but again very limited. Nice enough figures but I noticed several (too obvious) sculpting mistakes.

Old Glory again has some Indian Mutiny figures but again a far for complete range. I'm no great lover of OG figures for several reasons but YMMV.

Conqueror Models has a very small Indian Mutiny range but the samples I saw kept me from buying any more.

So IMHO this is a very welcome range as finally we'll be able to do justice to what is without a shadow of a doubt the most colourful episode in an already colourful era.

I have often wondered what the 'business case' (if any) for launching a new range of figures is. So many manufacturers offer a Zulu War range, for example, that it makes little sense to me for someone else to throw their hat into that very crowded ring.

But I guess the rationale is that (eg) Zulu War must be popular, because a lot of people make figures for it, so its better to join that party than try to dredge up some conflict which no one has ever heard of, and be the first to offer figures for it.

If I am beginning to sound like an Iron Duke fanboy that's probably because I am one

I have often wondered what the 'business case' (if any) for launching a new range of figures is. So many manufacturers offer a Zulu War range, for example, that it makes little sense to me for someone else to throw their hat into that very crowded ring.

Couldn't agree more. I really feel we've seen enough Zulu's and French Old Guard figures. Plenty of choices, but the irritating thing that many of the ranges aren't compatible with each other remain.

But I guess the rationale is that (eg) Zulu War must be popular, because a lot of people make figures for it, so its better to join that party than try to dredge up some conflict which no one has ever heard of, and be the first to offer figures for it.

You're probably right again. But then they all have to compete against each other for starters. Not exactly what I would call an excellent business plan, but what do I know. I'm sure you didn't mean to call the Indian Mutiny an obscure conflict, because it surely isn't. If I'm not entirely mistaken I seem to recall that Great Britain never deployed as many troops to a 'colonial' area as during the Mutiny.
But yes, I get your point. Then again, before the Perrys came out with their Victorian BIF range I had never even heard of the Ambela Campaign. Thanks to new(ish) good rule sets like for example Sharp Practice, it becomes possible to game these 'obscure' battles without breaking the bank or having to paint another thousand figures. If you gamed the Indian Mutiny or the Afghan Wars you would probably already have all the necessary opponents and would only need a handful of British troops, and even those could probably be substituted by IM troops.
And sometimes one thing leads to another. Whilst on the prowl for some more Indian Mutiny figures I spotted the also truly excellent Studio Miniatures for the Afghan and Sikh Wars. Some of them could be straightforward pressed into the IM, others required a little surgery.And they are perfectly compatible with the Iron Duke offerings! Hurrah!

But when I saw the British in greatcoats from that company- which can obviously not be used for the Mutiny- the lead butterfly started to flutter. Why, I would only need say 30 or at the most 50 figures to give me a starter 'army' according to the Sharp Practice lists. So why not buy them? I'm sure you can guess the rest of the story…

WillieB

Yes – I wasn't at all suggesting that the Indian Mutiny was an obscure conflict: on the contrary, I was commenting on the remark made that so many other ranges already exist for this war, and wondering what the rationale for launching another one might be.

Perhaps I muddied the waters by bringing the Zulu War into it to try (unsuccessfully!) to make my point.