Join the Fife & Drum Minis Forum

A view of the Prussian encampment outside of the town of Altefritzenburg during the Seven Years War (click the picture to enlarge the view).

At the end of February 2017, I formed a new discussion board, fifeanddrum-minis, to have a place to talk about figures sculpted by the very talented Richard Ansell. These include the Fife & Drum AWI range, the Minden SYW range, and the Crann Tara Jacobite Rebellion/War of Austrian Succession figure ranges.

I would like to invite everyone with an interest in these topics to join our forum by clicking on the following link:

Fife & Drum/Minden Forum

There is a very user friendly registration process and once that is down, then you can contribute to the forum whenever you wish. There are no rules such as a requirement to post anything or to click on "like buttons" in order to be a member of the forum. In fact, there are very few rules other than to engage in gentlemanly behavior.

The forum has been very active and it "has legs" or momentum evidenced by a total of 403 different threads and 3,857 total posts since its establish at the end of February 2017. We currently have 191 members from all over the world.

A selection of the Minden Mounted and Dismounted Ladies and Gentlemen. Note that each mounted figure has its own dismounted version. (click picture to enlarge)

Forum Categories and Boards

If you have an interest in 18th Century military history and wargaming, then I think that you will find many bits of information that are very useful. We also have made an exception by having a 19th Century Colonial Era board that features some awesome pictures of Dave Docherty's 28mm Sudan collection, among other topics. Why? Just  because I like the Sudan period of history, not to mention the fact that there are many interesting Colonial wargame collections and projects across the internet that need to be seen.

Categories include:

* 18th Century Campaigns

* Museums and Battlefield Pictures

* General Discussion Topics

* Fife & Drum AWI Figures

* Minden SYW Figures

* Crann Tara Miniatures

* Picture Gallery

* Der Alte Fritz Rules

* Market Place (for buying and selling things)

Within each broad category you will find a number of interesting sub-topics, which the forum structure calls "Boards". I'm not going to mention all of the boards that we have on the forum, there are just too many to list. However, here a few that are of interest:

* My own South Carolina campaign for the AWI

* SYW battlefield pictures and European museums devoted to the 18th Century

* Convention reports in the UK and USA

* Wargame Scenarios, where you can talk about your favorite game scenarios

* Painting Table Work in Progress, where you can display current painting projects

* Recommended Books

* Fife & Drum AWI figures and news announcements

* Minden SYW figures - I'm in the process of adding a forum picture catalog for the entire range

* CrannTara pictures and news

* Picture Gallery which features a broad array of topics from The Great Northern War and up to the War of 1812 (plus the fabulous Sudan board).

So click on the link and check out the forum today. There is no obligation to join or post anything, lurking is allowed. The range of topics are very interesting and the pictures redefine the term "eye candy" by a wide margin.

DAF's South Carolina Campaign

My own personal project is the establishment of an AWI campaign that focuses on the 1780 campaign in the Carolinas. I am using a heavily modified version of Tod Kershner's Sport of Kings and Bohemian Blitzkrieg campaing rules, with my own AWI specific rules. I am currently working on the campaign map and jotting down some of the rules that I will use. I anticipate launching the campaign within the next couple of weeks and you will be able to follow its progress over the rest of this year. I'm excited by this project and hope that you will enjoy following along.

This is not my campaign map, but I plan on using a variant of this map for my campaign.

The Best AWI Link Every

The above map can be found by clicking on the link above. This takes you to a very useful web site that covers the AWI in the Carolinas. The amount of information on the site makes this a must see place to visit if you have an interest in the AWI.

Fife and Drum Miniatures Web Store News

I am happy to announce that the web-store now accepts credit cards in addition to PayPal payments. This should make it easier to place orders going forward.

I am also adding pictures of the painted figures across the entire web site. Each product code, or SKU, will depict all of the figures in a pack painted. In other words, if a pack of Prussian Musketeers has 8 figures, then there will be a picture of 8 painted Prussian Musketeers in the Product code listing so that you can see what you are buying and how it will look once it is painted.

I have also added a 10% discount for any order of $1,000 or more. This gives buyers an opportunity to save money on larger purchases, or they could even make a group order with their friends or club members in order to qualify for the discount.

What's Next on Fritz's Painting Table?

I'm currently working on some British infantry as part of the SKU painting program. After I paint the samples, I will build them up into units of 30 figures and start on a British SYW army. Same holds true for their French opponents.

I just finished the civilians in the Minden range and I really like the way that the sets of mounted and dismounted Ladies and Gentlemen look when painted. These could be used for ordinary civilians on your game table or could represent your characters in your Imaginations world.

Those pesky Russian horse grenadiers (the second squadron) are also primed and ready to be painted soon. My plan is to build up a SYW Russian army over the summer of approximately 8 battalions, 4 cannon and crew, and several squadrons of horse grenadiers, dragoons and some Cossacks.