30mm Prussian fusiliers available at Fighting 15s

I know a number of you out there are probably wondering what on earth has happened to my traditional 30mm project. Janet’s illness and her long recovery has taken a lot out of us as a family, and finding time for my own projects has proved much harder than anticipated. None the less, I have at long last found time to put the production masters for the first of the Prussian fusiliers into a mould, and the basic version of the fusilier for the army of Frederick the Great is now available.

The basic version of the fusilier has Swedish cuffs, no lapels and no collar, and has a matching officer, NCO with cane, drummer and standard bearer. The drummer has had the laced stripped off his uniform to suit the more basic uniforms used by the fusiliers, and the burly NCO – undoubtedly the fear of the other ranks – has been changed so his cane is under his arm. They’re available at www.fighting15sshop.co.uk – no pictures as yet, but they do just involve a change of hat.

Figures are still priced at 70 pence each including tax. They are likely to have to rise to 75p each in the new year when VAT increases. Mould making and variant costs are quite low, which is why I can keep the price at this level for now, even in the face of a doubling of metal costs.

Work will start soon on the variants with jackets with collars, and jackets with collars and lapels.

I’ve also spoken to the sculptor about starting work on the artillery. I’ve had a number of requests for a small field piece and therefore I aim to produce a 3pdr battalion gun at a price to suit the range, plus four crew. With luck I’ll have the briefing done this weekend.

Huzzah! Miniatures: pictures uploaded to shop

The fine weather allowed me to take a few rudimentary pictures of most of the existing Prussians in the 30mm SYW range, and these are now uploaded to accompany the entries in the shop. For some reason I forget to prep a musketeer drummer with stain, so he will have to follow later.

The detailing is picked out using Coat D’arms Super Shader, by far the easiest means I’ve found of showing off sculpting detail. It also matts the shine of a metal figure ready for photography.

Huzzah! Miniatures are still not officially launched but they are available to buy and are cast to order.

I still have the first fusiliers to prep to make a production mould. However, Janet’s illness still takes up a lot of my time and the mould is not currently a priority.

I will be holding the price at a very reasonable 70p per foot figure for the foreseeable future.

Prussian SYW fusiliers

I at last had time to cast enough Prussian fusilier masters to make a production mould, which I hope to be able to get made this week. Unfortunately, coping with the consequences of Janet’s illness has been taking up vastly more time than I ever imagined, and the 30mm project is the main casualty.

Prussian fusiliers are on their way

I know the blog has been quiet. Family life has overtaken me, as my wife is quite seriously ill, and my 30mm project has taken a back seat for a while. None the less, the fusilier masters have turned up, along with the horse masters for the first cavalry, and I have managed to stick them in a mould. I now have to cast up 20 or so for a production mould – there’s no way I’m running off 60-man units at one man a mould!

This will take some time. I have some casting and more mould making to do for Helion’s 1866 range, which Duncan needs doing as a priority. Plus I have to cast some more AB Figures to build up stocks that have been depleted over the past three weeks while I have been running around like a mad thing getting domestic life sorted. And then the 30mm project will creep forward. All the Prussian musketeers and grenadiers are now in production moulds.

Prices will remain at 70 pence a foot figure for the foreseeable future. Goods news at a time of rising prices.

Digital countdown to production: 10, ouch!, 9…

So where was I? Ah yes, the moulds for the grenadiers. The C variant (collars and laced lapels) is now in production moulds, prompted by an order from the States. And there progress on Huzzah! Miniatures stops briefly for me to be whisked to A&E at hospital after I sliced through my thumb with a nice new blade in my Stanley knife. The term “gusher” was appropriate at the time. I originally thought the thumbnail had stopped the blade, but in the gore-free light of day it looks more like the bone did. For the benefit of the squeamish I now draw a veil over the affair.

The worst thing is that, after a week of inactivity, this has made me play catch up for two weeks on orders, working double-quota days. There has been no time for mould making, and the thumb is still a bit too tender for me to think about putting it near another blade. However, I have cast enough masters for the B variant grenadier and the D variant grenadier (for fusilier regiments), and just need to clean these up to start making moulds. Cleaning up involves files and knives…  twitch, twitch.

Once the thumb feels up to it I’ll be onto the moulds again.

Prussian fusiliers begin their march

Still stricken by the “Scottish plague” contracted on the trip to Carronade in May, I have at last got round to writing the brief for the Prussian fusiliers for the sculptor. There will be only two variants of fusiliers, A (Swedish cuffs, no collar, no lapels) and C (Swedish cuffs, collar, plain lapels) as this combination covers the majority of regiments. In time the variant with collar and no lapels may emerge, but it’s not a pressing concern.

The fusiliers are probably my favourite figures in the Prussian infantry line-up, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the sculptor does with them.

I also have sent the horse blanks off for changes and to produce variant poses, prior to producing the Prussian cavalry.

As far as moulds go, I still have to make production moulds for the B and C variants of grenadiers. Production moulds for Helion’s 1866 Prussian uhlans and some master moulds for Eagle Figures have been occupying the vulcanizer of late, and my Prussian grenadiers have been biding their time.

Hiccups in the schedule

A persistent illness contracted in May after Carronade continues to make the odd day miserable for us and, mingled with the more usual hayfever, has been interfering with plans for Huzzah! Miniatures by knocking me out for a day or two at a time. I hope to have more and better news shortly.

Huzzah! Miniatures at Carronade

Fighting 15s will have a selection of pre-release figures from Huzzah! Miniatures’ classic 30mm SYW range at Carronade, Falkirk, on Saturday 10 May.

I have now sorted out production moulds for the “C” variant musketeer and command, and after spending bank holiday Monday making moulds and casting I will have the following available at the show:

P01A Musketeer, plain jacket, no collar, no lapels
P01C Musketeer, jacket with collar and laced lapels
P21A Grenadier, plain jacket, no collar, no lapels

The above will be available in packs of 12 at GBP8.00 per pack.

In addition, there will be Charge!-based command packs for the above at GBP8.50 per pack inc VAT. These include 1 mounted officer and horse, 1 standard bearer, 3 foot officers, 3 NCOs with cane, and 3 drummers. For the show only these will have a bonus standard bearer, allowing players to field two per unit if desired. I’ve added the figure as an extra rather than presume to replace another figure.

In  essence, four packs of infantry and one command pack will provide enough figures to make a 60-figure infantry unit for GBP40.50.

Charge!-based packs are better in terms of commoditizing the range for shows, and my apologies to anyone who uses units organised for The War Game. Anyone who wants any other combination should contact me at Fighting 15s by Thursday, as I will be travelling to Scotland on Friday.

Huzzah! Miniatures available to advance order

The Fighting 15s online shop now lists the initial codes of Huzzah! Miniatures range of classic 30mm Seven Years War figures. Figures, which include Prussian-style musketeers and grenadiers, are currently available to advance order as the figures have yet to be officially released.

I have master moulds done for all the codes listed in the shop, but am currently still working on production moulds, not to mention pictures of individual figures of the range (there are a few group shots in the flags and bargain packs sections for anyone who wants to know what the figures look like). The codes have been added to the shop with the hopeful aim of having advance orders prioritize which moulds I make next.

Prices of foot figures have been fixed at GBP0.70 per foot figure and GBP2.10 for the mounted officer. For old school wargamers out to save a few pennies, there is a base infantry pack of 48 figures for GBP32.00, saving GBP1.60 on the price of the figures bought individually. This can be combined with a command pack for Charge! or for The War Game. The Charge! combination is the best deal as a combined base infantry pack and command pack reduces the cost to the equivalent of just over GBP0.65 per foot figure including VAT. And if you’re in the USA, don’t forget that you don’t pay VAT, which will cut the cost by 17.5 per cent and substantially make up for the price of airmail shipping.

All figure codes are available in the shop individually, so if you want to buy just one figure, you can. No nonsense, no strops or hissy fits – just be aware that there is a minimum delivery charge based on the total weight and the Royal Mail’s pricing in proportion system.

The first 12 sheets of 30mm Prussian flags for the range are also available in the shop. Flags are zero-weighted for postage (but minimums apply) and cost GBP3.25 per sheet inc VAT. Each sheet has four flags for one regiment: 1 Leibfahne and 3 Regimentersfahne. This range will eventually encompass all the Prussian infantry regiments for the period.

A right royal variety act

One thing that will no doubt confuse everyone when the Huzzah! Miniatures range is released is the number of variants of Prussian infantry. I spent some time looking at the commonest combinations of uniform details with the result that three main variants of musketeer are planned: A, B, and C. Figure codes will be differentiated by the appropriate suffix, so P01A is the basic A-variant musketeer, for example.

All the musketeers will have Prussian cuffs, the commonest type used by Frederick the Great’s musketeer regiments. The A, B and C variants then correspond to the following details:

A variant: Prussian cuffs, plain jacket, no collar, no lapels
B variant: Prussian cuffs, plain jacket with collar, no lapels
C variant: Prussian cuffs, jacket with collar and laced lapels

The fusiliers, which have yet to be mastered, will add two more variants: D and E. These are as follows:

D variant: Swedish cuffs, plain jacket, no collar, no lapels
E variant: Swedish cuffs, jacket with collar and plain lapels

Again, these cover the most common combinations in the fusilier regiments. The fusilier drummer will be a plain version of the existing heavily-laced musketeer drummer.

The grenadiers will embrace all the above so it will be possible to differentiate between grenadiers of musketeer regiments and grenadiers of fusilier regiments.

And just to top this off, there is an F variant of the foot officer. My sculptor originally copied the rather splendid coat of the officer of the 4th regiment, which has some lovely edge lacing. Rather than lose it forever, as the figure is on a mould I am simply going to add it to the eventual lists, as he may well fit in with other old school gamers’ ideas of officers of the various imagi-Nations.

So why all the variety? It’s simply that I don’t like painting out or painting on detail, and that modern sculpting techniques both help the figure painter emphasize detail and make it abundantly clear when it has been bodged over. The actual cost of providing the variants is minuscule compared with the cost of the original sculpts, so catering for this degree of differentiation is quite affordable – it’s not getting in the way of adding to the range.

Currently, I have master moulds for all the musketeer and grenadier A, B and C variants, plus the D variant grenadiers (translation: Swedish cuffs, plain jacket and no collar or lapels). The D variant grenadier provides the springboard for all the fusiliers. Production moulds are now done for the A and C variant musketeers, and the A variant grenadier, so I should have those available at Carronade in Falkirk on 10 May. Whether that means they are launched as a range is another matter.

Thanks to a number of old school gamers I have been provided with the basis of unit sizes for Charge! and Charles Grant’s The War Game. As the core of these is 48 infantry, with the command figures varying, it has decided how I will offer the saver deals on the figures. In short, you can look forward to buying 48 other ranks for GBP32.00, or just under 67 pence a figure inclusive of VAT. I’ll then be offering appropriate Charge! or War Game command packs so gamers can build their units with the minimum of hassle on the online store. Figures will also be available individually at 70 pence each. And even though the figures aren’t in my online store yet, if you feel the pic on this blog does them justice you can always email or phone Fighting 15s to get hold of some in advance (see the contact page at www.fighting15sshop.co.uk).