"28mm and 40mm AWI Miniatures " Topic

I love the miniatures from manufacturers such as Front Rank and Trident. However, unless I am missing something such as an amazing rules set, I find the AWI as a gaming period to be a bore.

But I really want to use the miniatures!

I know the Hessians can serve for SYW Prussians but
what other periods can one legitimately use the AWI British and French miniatures?

You might be able to use them for campaigns in India.

Some people use 18th century figures for imaginations, then there are loads of possibilities.

Daniel Mersey, author of The Men Who Would Be Kings, has a new set of skirmish rules coming out in 2019 called Rebelts and Patriots. It will cover the American Revolution up through the American Civil War.

India is a good suggestion. i do like elephants.

Paul B, are you suggesting I paint the figures in fanciful uniforms to represent imaginary principalities such as the Duchy of Ditch-Vasser? I sort of like that. It has a very Don Featherstone innocence to it.

Have you considered skirmish gaming in the period?

The AWI is a bore?!?!?!?!

Probably has that opinion due to the lack of much cav. & artillery on the battlefield. It was definitely an infantryman's war. Maybe he will give us more input.

I have not considered skirmishing in the period. For skirmish games, I prefer Dark Age or feudal and ww2 or modern. Musket era for me is more about massed elan.

I wanted to replicate my lifelong love of Napoleonic and SYW wargaming in 40mm because it is new and lends itself well to tactical, regimental/squadron level games.

The AWI isnt a bore, it's a bore to me. And yes it is the lack of cavalry. I didnt know about the lack of artillery but that doesnt help either.

I do love the uniforms and the 40mm figures available. I will be using 40mm Trident and Front Rank Hessians as SYW Prussians. Wondered if there were any other alternative uses for the British, French and Colonists?

I was also curious why there seems to be so many nice 40mm AWI figures available lately? Is there some set of incredible rules out there?

Has anyone tried Peipp miniatures 45mm and are they too large next to 40mm miniatures?

link

Well, let me re-phrase my statement above:
The no. of guns in most of the battles was much less than what you might find in a Napoleonic era battle.

You could always go with an imagi-nation sort of thing if that appeals to you.

If you are looking for sweeping battles, with all three arms in play, you had best stick to SYW. For that reason I have a large SYW collection.

I like AWI but played skirmish games mostly. Several good skirmish rules out there that give decent games. AWI was dominated by small wars, and 40mm and 28mm are great for that.

If you want bigger battles with all arms present AWI is probably not your cup of tea.

Sharp Practice was re-designed around the AWI; for me, this is the best rule set yet devised for small action H&M-era linear warfare.

As others have said, the AWI is very light on cavalry and artillery (as are the F&IW and the War of 1812), so I would stick to Marlburian/Frederician/Napoleonic Europe for your needs.

For the record, Sash and Saber make the BEST 40mm AWI. PERIOD!

Bob

But why is AWI so popular? Frennch and Indian War I can see being popular because it is a romantic and iconic period.

And, if primarily for skirmish, why so many AWI ranges and choices within them? Trident alone must have several hundred figures. Why wouldnt they do Napoleonic? Or British colonial?

Spread it out; or can they be selling that many AWI figures? Are 40mm French AWI versatile? Can I use them for Ancien regime infantry?

What sparked this explosion of AWI? Was it Mel Gibsons movie The Patriot? 😁

If YOU prefer F&IW to AWI then do F&IW. Your figures could also be used for 7YW, and probably WAS and the '46 as well. Just because the F&IW didn't see much formal European open field fighting does not mean you can't have some. You can also do frontier fighting. Plus while 7YW figures are not close enough to pass for AWI, they are close enough to "stand in" for AWI units if needed.

As to why AWI is popular, here is my theory. WW2, ACW, AWI and the Indian wars have traditionally been the most popular American conflicts among American wargamers and toy soldier fans. AWI is colorful. It involves formal battles, skirmishing and frontier fighting. Most battles were small, so that one or two players can assemble enough troops to do them. The AWI mythology presents the conflict as a David v. Goliath war. Plus for wargamers there is a selection of decent quality affordable figures. This last factor was what got me back into AWI.

So why not do Naps instead. To start, how many major Napoleonic battles were there involving armies of 5,000 men or less? Plus a formal AWI action was closer to 18th century formal European warfare, and it is an American War.

@95thRegt Sash and Saber are better than Trident 40mm? By what criteria? I might have to sample both before making a serious investment. It seems they are not quite compatible size wise. Not always a major concern as long as the muskets are similar lengths.

@Bill N, Is the AWI just populsr with Americans? It seems a lot of British game it too. I have no issues with its popularity but hoe can Trident have 1000 different figures offered for a smallish scale period? Demand must be through the roof!

Perhaps I'm dating myself but the FIW was always preferred to the AWI, I think pertly because both sides were balanced with militia and regulars. A fact you do touch on.

I have no intention of gaming AWI unless there are some super duper rules I am missing out on?

Im happy to see this thread morph into a wider discussion but my first gist was what other periods/conflicts I could use the attractive Trident AWI miniatures for apart from their intended purpose.

40mm ranges are rare and it would have been nicer to see Trident do half as many AWI figure offerings in favor of some Napoleonics. If they had done this they wouldve still had some 500 AWI offerings and also had a nice Napoleonic range. Just seems like overkill, unless theyre selling them like hotcakes.

One of my pet peeves is when someone tells me that I should watch Westworld because I love Game of Thrones.
I don't want to watch Westworld.
I ask, "Why would I want to watch Westworld?"
So they proceed to tell me why *they* like Westworld. Which has nothing to do with why *I* would want to.
You get it or you don't.
I have no interest at all in collecting Napoleonics. I tried twice and sold them off twice.
If you don't have any interest in AWI, having dozens of people tell you why *they* are interested is pointless. You get it or you don't. There are bunches of periods I've dabbled in and gave up on because I lost interest.
I love AWI. I'm American. So are you, but many times that's irrelevant. I grew up 3 miles from the alleged site of the Wyoming Massacre. You didn't.

There was enough cavalry in small IMPORTANT battles in the south to lend some tone to what would otherwise be just a vulgar brawl. Cool uniforms too.

Trident is producing what they want to produce. I would not presume to tell Perry to stop making so damn many Napoleonics, and instead concentrate on the vastly more important AWI.
Nobody has yet to produce New York militia grenadiers! I find that criminally irresponsible. It's in an Osprey.
Nor are there proper 23rd Welch Fusiliers in 1768 Warrant uniform wearing bearskin caps! Disgraceful!
Mounted jaegers….
Mounted dismounted Brunswick Dragoons in overalls…
Washington crossing the Delaware Turnpike…

@Winston Smith, do please lay down your peeves, I come not to bury the AWI but to praise it. It must be an amazing period for one company to make so many castings in 40mm. I just thought in my own humble way, that rather than have 60 different Rogers Rangers poses, which might be more poses than his soldiers ever struck, we could've instead have some Canadian Militia for the Seven Years War offering. Am I out of line here?

Additionally, if there is indeed such an AWI demand, I must be missing out on a phenomenal set of rules…surely?

The British and Hessian uniforms are stunning for this period but they are basically used for rooting out militia or worse.I have to say the sculpts are beautiful too. African, French Troops? I want to have them just to have them!

If Perry made a 1000 Napoleonic figures in 40mm, I would be right with you but they make a mere 30-40. They do make a lot of 28mm Napoleonic it is true but then a lot of Nations fought in large numbers.

After all, how many 5th Pennsylvania figures get bought? And, there are two other manufacturers of AWI 40mm and there are only two real makers of 40mm Napoleonics! Someone please pinch me and tell me that there are still more Napoleonic enthusiasts than AWI.

No one is telling you to do anything but how did we arrive at a place where there are so many attractive AWI figures and such a paucity of SYW and Napoleonics (in 40mm)? Trident might offer more figures than may have fought the actual war itself. Dont get me wrong, I want in…I want to use these figures but somewhere else. India? The Caribbean? Early Napoleonic?

And you're right, Trident should've made less within a category and made you both mounted jaegers and a Benedict Arnold stomping his hat figure

Alfie,

Sure, it's a beautiful range. I am jealous that something like that doesn't exist for 40mm modern conflicts.

I do see that Doug sold his 40mm ACW line to someone else? That's interesting.

I like the Sash and Saber 40mm Napoleonic range. I like that the owner is also often the sculptor, that takes the concept of cost out of range creating and infuses it with more passion.

Maybe French AWI as White coated regiments for early French Napoleonic/Revolutionary Wars or Emigres?

But what could the British be used for outside of AWI? I would love to use Highland Grenadiers in Bearskins!

Late to the show here, as usual.

I disagree with earlier posters; I have Front Rank, Triguard (old Trident) and Sash & Saber 40mm AWI. I like Front Rank and Triguard. Sash & Saber don't do it for me. Too chunky and some of the poses look in-congruent.

Finishing my AWI collection and working on my FIW and Mexican/American War (Gringos) before I get into Naps.

I just really like the detail, feel and look of the 40's. I hardly game with my 15's, or 28's much anymore.
John

I guess I will fall into the camp of explaining why AWI is a great period. If you like cavalry, the southern theater gives some options with the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons and the British Legion running around causing havoc. For artillery some of the northern battles (thinking Monmouth in particular) have a good role for arty. I do like Sharp Practice for large skirmishes – I've used that a lot for AWi and think it works quite well.

Wow, this is an oldie. I should mention that Ive since warmed up to the AWI. It was never that popular a period in my circles, and it seems like only recently has it gotten a lot of wargamer friendly treatment in books but I like that it is an unexplored new area for me. It's a manageably small war with a lot of texture. It would be nice if some of the Caribbean and East Indian battles need to get addressed too

The 40mm Trident (Now Triguard)and Front Rank AWI figures are very nice and it is also true that the S&S ones aren't their best range; plus, the S&S are noticeably smaller than the other two lines. However S&S do some useful stuff in their FIW range such as civilians and Indians. I don't know if the Indians were smaller than Europeans at the time of the AWI but the smaller stature of the S&S Indians might work to the advantage of a collector.

As for cost per miniature S&S is the most inexpensive followed by Triguard then the, I feel very costly once you add in shipping from the UK, Front Rank range.

I just really like AWI for the varied uniforms and qualities of combatants. And probably the biggest reason over other musket warfare periods is the smaller numbers needed to fight battles as opposed to Naps.

Not against Napoleonic's, they're just down the list a ways after AWI, FIW & WW2.

But cavalry was very important in the southern campaigns. The armies were much smaller so the small cavalry units were a larger proportion of the whole. Militia, of course, was very vulnerable to saber attacks, and sometimes regulars were also, due to the loose files and extended lines. Of course typically the cavalry kept each other in check, out on the flanks, but they could be decisive if they got around a flank.

The key to cavalry in the southern campaigns was not their performance on the actual battlefields but the ability of mounted units, mostly militia, to move quickly across wide expanses and concentrate against British forces. Once they had arrived at their objective they dismounted and fought on foot. The only mounted troops that were effective on the battlefield were non militia cavalry, Lee's Legion, American light dragoons and Tarleton's British Legion.