Howe Now?

General William Howe - Fife and Drum Miniatures

General Howe arrived in the American colonies last week and he has finally been suited out in his new campaign mufti, that is to say, that I have painted and based the general.

The general shown relaxing with the fetching Mrs. Loring (from the Minden Miniatures figure range)

General Howe may have to wait awhile before he can take command of his troops on the table top because my recent AWI battles have been focused on the South Carolina campaign of 1780-81. The arrival of the new Lord Cornwallis and Nathaniel Greene personality figures have proved to have been timely. Both generals will lead their respective armies into battle at the upcoming Seven Years War Association Convention in South Bend, Indiana on April 4th through the 6th.

I will be hosting two AWI games: the Battle of Guilford Courthouse on Friday afternoon/evening and then the Battle of Cheraw on Saturday afternoon. Cheraw is the final battle in our South Carolina campaign of 1780 and I thought that it would be a good idea to let the game be played at the convention, with the winner basically wrapping up the win in the campaign.

Painted Samples of the AWI Highlanders

I was finally able to finish painting samples of each of the 12 new AWI Highland regiment figures, see pictures below:

All 12 of the new Highland Regiment figures recently added to the Fife and Drum Miniatures figure range.

The three marching poses. I had not previously posted painted samples on this blog.

SYWA Convention Update

I have been up to my eyeballs in alligators these past couple of weeks getting ready for the SYWA convention. I participate as both a dealer and a game judge, which sounds rather insane, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy the convention so much. I don't have my usual helper at the convention this year, so I have to do double duty. My initial thought was to run just one game, which would have been relatively nice and easy. But you know Der Alte Fritz, he doesn't like to do anything nice and easy, so he decided to add the game on Saturday.

My check list of things to do in preparation for the show is rather daunting, but I've been slowly chipping away at the tasks, but there is still much to do including:

1) repackaging all of the AWI figures for display on retail spinning countertop racks which makes it easier for convention shoppers to get a good look at the products that they may want to purchase. I also had to order and assemble 6 spinning racks.

2) finish painting a few odds and ends for my convention games, including a General Cornwallis army command stand (still on the To Be Done List, I'm afraid).

3) start packing up the inventory travel cases for the Minden SYW figure range. I might have some extra spinners left over that would allow me to put the Prussian and Austrian figures on the countertop racks. This could reduce the number of tables that I need for my convention booth (currently I'm at 9 tables) because each country basically fits onto one spinner.

4) get price lists printed; update the rules sheets and get them printed

5) reserve a small van to carry all of my gear to the convention. I can't use my Ford Explorer this year because of the growth in the number of retail figures available.

Much more to do and probably not enough time to do it all, "but sometimes what you get is not is not quite what you choose."

Bonus points to the first person who gets the quote.