"New. Ranges????" Topic

Just watched the movie Matewan and recently read several books on union strikes like Homestead Penn, etc.
Very interesting to me and was wondering if a game "union wars" along with figures, strikers,Pinkertons,lawmen, etc would be of interest -- Or would the figures all start looking to much the same?

Regards
Russ Dunaway

P.S. Been working sometime on a great new 28MM fantasy game with rules and figures. Something pretty different !!

The union strikes line sounds interesting, Russ.

I remember when one of Miniatures magazines did a couple of articles on the Colorado Coalfield war and how to game it using Airfix figures. I spent a lot of time painting up doughboys to be the Colorado National guard. I think the union strikes would equally strike my interest.

Russ,

I appreciate you thinking of different periods or miniatures lines but it wouldn't appeal to me… so far. I don't know anything about it so no natural need to play that. Sorry. I hope it does very well though. I applaud the fact that you are trying new things.

Fantasy rules would be something I'd be interested in.

Don

Well, we have reached almost a point of saturation in all scales? How about some Napoleonics, ACW, Vikings, -- or maybe dwarfs and orcs -- how about Gauls and Romans?
In fact, I am mystified by all the "ooohs and aaaahs" because of things that have been repeated 10 times over?

Russ Dunaway

I would like to see the 10mm ranges expanded with packs for the Greek-Trojan War and a fantasy range. The old GW Warmaster ranges are still popular, but are hard to get a hold of and often fairly expensive. I know several gamers who regret getting out of the Warmaster Fantasy system, but who now play Warmaster Ancients and are looking to get back into fantasy in 10mm.

I'm with you on the Fantasy. Everyone seems to do the same old races: Human, Skelly, Elf, Dwarf, Goblin, Orc.

You can find lots of fun small range, but not like for those. I guess it's like anceitns. Do Romans, thy sell.

Would be interested in what direction you are going with the fantasy figures and rules. I use the Italian war landsknecht figures for Empire forces in 15mm.

For some reason I thought there were figures for Matewan in your Night Chicago Died range, but just went back and there are only a couple that would work there.

Franco Prussian War
French Revolutionary Wars
WW1 Near East and Africa
Taiping Rebellion

How about 15mm African archers?

Looked at Franco Prussian wars several times with little obvious interest other the a small handful of people? It is a huge undertaking and I am approaching 70 and so who knows how long Old Glory will be around anyway?
Also, many of those ranges mentioned will go on and on with out end as people then begin to complain and refuse to purchase because of all the obscure units not produced?

Russ Dunaway

Well how about Napoleonic Spanish and Portuguese? Seems fairly limited and probably has more interest.
Spanish – Infantry in bicorne, hats, shako and irregulars, light and heavy cavalry, artillery and generals.
Portuguese- infantry line and cacadores, the rest the same make up as Spain.

The fantasy line I am working on has been bouncing around in my brain (that probably should be worrisome) for some years now. Most of the figures are produced or somewhere in a state of being produced already and a very well known and accomplished rule writer is busy with the rules?

The Union strike game is always in my head. Live near Pittsburgh and many sites including right here where the Old Glory plant is (building was the old company store)located was the site of many conflicts --historical marker signs dot the area where there were pretty big clashs.
Down in West Virginia the union men even had their own "air force" made up of two WW1 pilots with their own crop dusting planes used to drop bombs. The army was called in, the Union men wore red bandanas.
I have read several great books on this. look up Mother Jones, the hero of the union, Sid Hatfield, the battle of Blair mountain, etc.

Russ Dunaway

The Spanish are the worst as the they alone have about 5 different armies and no one will be happy with the one you pick and then the enevitable cry for "plastic" will arise?? We are however starting the early army in 18mm?

Russ Dunaway

Give us a hint Russ. What is going to be different with the fantasy range offerings?

Soon !!!

How about American civil war in the 1930's, I think there was talk of something along these lines several years ago that might be interesting.

The Union Strike Wars were actually deemed an insurrection at the time and could have turned into another civil war ??

The army was actually called out and there are stories of officers and their units who claimed that they would change sides before they fired on American civilians????_
Russ Dunaway

I know it might sound daft but fantasy humans are not well represented. Stuff that would not be over the top. The Oathmark humans from Northstar are nice and not cheese OTT, but plastic. I like your metals.

The Blue Moon Dwarfs are real nice. I'm fond of them as I think dwarfs should be a bit shorter than men. That would be something to build off. A few more heads, some crossbows, and command/heroes would be nice.

Maybe you could do separate heads on humans like the dwarfs. Maybe even some hand/weapon swaps.

Orcs/Goblins without the slack jawed gorilla face and stooped over look are scarce. Not everyone loves green-skins. I much perfer the Middle-Earth orcs from GW over the Warhammer orcs. CP models has a nice line, albeit small, that is interesting and different. There is some room for creativity here.

Good wood elves that are not too fancy pants are nearly missing in 25/28mm. Like Eureka's wood elves that are 18mm.

Modron from old D&D would be cool. Call them what you like. link Geomorphs?

What about post 9/11 moderns? Certainly opportunity there. Your post war stuff kind of ends around Soviet/Afghan era. Everyone else in 15mm is incomplete, Flytrap, Khurasan, Flashpoint.

I would like to see a handful of early WWII Americans in 28mm to do the Philippines or Wake Island. These would have early WWII kit, including the tin WWI-like helmets. Weapons would be M1903 Springields and BARs for Marines and M-1s and BARs for Army. Some Philippine scouts on horseback and dismounted would be good, as well as an anti-tank gun crew. As far as I know this hasn't been done in 28mm.

Steve Barber is sculpting a small number but doesn't have enough sponsors for a whole squad. Bob Murch has two packs of "between the wars" Americans in tin helmets. We are all spoiled for choice these days. In a skirmish game it would be nice to have a little more variety to be able to do some battles in the Philippines and Wake with correct figures.

This could probably be just three or four packs:
- US Army early war infantry
- US Marines early war infantry (the biggest difference is really just the rifles, and since one Marine is better than 10 of anyone else, this can be a bag with just four figures :) )
- Philippine Scouts mounted
- Philippine Scouts dismounted
- US Army anti-tank gun and crew
- US early war (Army or Marine) support weapons and command (HMG, officers, one that looks like William Bendix in Wake Island, etc.)
- Miscellaneous figures (nurses and doctors and dock workers (like in They Were Expendable), Naval shore personnel, Philippine civilians, etc.)

For most of these, you probably already have the figures you need form your Pancho Villa line, but you'd need to swap out the heads.

Rather than start something esoteric, why not improve your Napoleonic ranges. Below are some of the things missing:

Prussian line and landwehr skirmishers
Danish skirmishers
Spanish
Portugese
Confederation of the Rhine
Saxon line and light infantry skirmishers
Cavalry in the 'at rest' position – as this is what they would have spent most time in.

We could definitely use a Fantasy range that isn't just another GW iteration or some exercise in getting the most baroque possible design onto a figure.

If you have any concerns about the time and commitment for a huge new range, like Franco-Prussian war or such, then I would focus on mini-ranges that complement existing ones.

For example, the VBCW ranges out there are fun in their own right but nicely complement Interwar ranges as well as WWI and WW2 and Pulp ranges. You can add a relatively small number of packs and add value to your offerings.

Another example would be the fantasy-historical Old West or Civil War era stuff.

How is the the Warpaint range coming along?

I second surdu2005, not enough early war American stuff on the market

I would be very interested in a "Union Wars" range. I've been watching the very well done "Miner's War" series, and it could inspire some very interesting tabletop games.

Plus, the figures could be used for alternative histories, such as A Very British Civil War.

I also have an interest in a what-if civil war in the US between the world wars, but I have to wonder if it would be worth your time to produce such a range. I imagine the per figure price would have to be higher than for an ACW infantry man.

The Matewan idea has some promise. The figs could easily be used for Bonus Army, Grapes of Wrath or A Very US Civil War a la 1930 scenarios. Some could possibly be bent into 1880s civilians. This would, however, probably qualify as a pretty "niche" idea. This is an idea with merit, but not likely to generate an enormous amount of traction. I'm intrigued, but I don't see my gaming group getting all worked up about it. Maybe you could gin up some excitement with a War of the Worlds skirmish confrontation. "In today's news, residents of Mayapple Holler West Virginia, have defeated the first wave of an attack from another world!"

A similarly valid idea might be to do 1850's Gangs of New York like ruffians. Much has been made of the civil disturbances in Baltimore over the past few years. It bears remembering that the Maryland militia was called out in 1856 to suppress riots between Democratic and No-Nothing gangs that required the use of artillery in "Souff Bawamer." Gangs, including Pug Uglies, Rip Raps and various Volunteer fire crews fought for days leading up to election day. These figs could also be used for any number of confrontations during the civil war. The 1861 Pratt Street Riot. The 1863 Draft Riots.

Balwamer ain't called Mob TAY'own for nuffin.

+1 Leadjunky re: WWI in East Africa. It's surprising how little is out there on that.

There are some notable holes in periods that need to be filled, but may not be something OG wants to tackle.

No one seems to do ACW cavalry horse/rider casualties. Front Rank does a falling horse, but just one.

No one seems to do 15/18mm air personnel. I have been searching for RAF flight personnel and ground crews for a 1941 Crete game for ages. I have the Peter Pig grounded Luftwaffe figs, but I can't say they are their best efforts. The newer PP figs all look like they need to eat a steak.

Blue Moon does Boxers, but only Lancashire does Kansu Braves, and they stylistically don't look like they'd mesh particularly well.

Tons of companies do pirates, but only Firelock does 17th century "Captain Blood'y" big floppy non-tricorn hat baggy pants guys. If you were to venture into that, Firelock could flag you for piling on, but you could make up the 15 yards with 1 play action pass, and it might just be kerosene on their fire.

Boy, am I wordy or what?

That's actually a great idea, a 'what if' American Civil war in the '30s that would easily tie in the Miners/Union Wars. I think there's a market.. may have to produce some rules tho to get it moving tho'. And be sure they are sculpted to a modern standard. I would be all in.. and I would get my group to go in.

28mm Franco Prussian war would be great, but I understand it would be a huge undertaking and not something you are probably interested in doing.

However, it would be nice to have a US company with a line of these figures.

Doesn't Foundry make a pretty neat Franco Prussian war range?

Yes, but limited poses and well, I buy mostly US products when I can.

Code estimates – FPW =48, Spanish and Portuguese =15, WWI =25 and maybe a vehicle or two.

Fewer companies produce 1859-66 armies. Not sure of demand there either though.

What about a smaller venture into French in N. Africa 1830-40's. Could improve upon and adapt some of the Arab tribesmen from Sons of the Desert. I know our TSATF crowd would welcome it.

Union wars sounds great! Lots of other uses for interwar civilians and government forces.

Hopefully, in 28mm.

Separate heads would be a great option.

Another vote for the Franco-Prussian War.

And while we're on the subject, I'd go for some Union versus Strike Breakers type figures. Hometown, PA Workers Unite!

Plus some Pennsylvania Militia and such.

Oh, and The OFM and I are still wanting a couple of spins each on those Paris Mob figures you've got in the Not Quite Dungeon….

My two shillings worth….

Eric

Besides a pack of 15mm Blue Moon African archers, which would be great for conversions, by the way, how about extending the 15mm Blue Moon Boxer Rebellion range with a few packs for the Japanese Invasion of Taiwan, or perhaps even the First Sino-Japanese War or the Russo-Japanese War?

Yes Foundry does make a nice FPW range but I would love to see someone in the US with a range, Like Leadjunky I like to buy figures from the US if I can.

Redcurrant +1

The Danish Army is almost complete.

The Swedes however need some infantry in the 1810 uniform. The Blue Moon range has the earlier uniform which was used in a much smaller conflict and also matches what other manufacturers offer.

You need less figures to fight that campaign and are competing with others. The 1810 uniform however was when a substantial part of the army was in Europe and has no 18mm competition as far as I am aware. Warmodelling/Fantassin had some but their range was incomplete and is now gone.

Neither of these will make you instantly rich, but they are just a few packs that should enhance the sales of both those armies.

Further to my earlier post, archers were an important component of the Kingdom of Kongo's military, for example…

link

Apparently, they were also common enough in West, Central, and East Africa.