Sash & Saber 40mm Spanish Guerillas

 

Theresa "The Needle" leads here band of guerrillas into the town of Montego.

I have been basing the 40mm figures for my Richard Sharpe skirmish game and now have the Spanish guerrillas ready for their photo shoot. Nearly all of the figures are from the Sash & Saber 40mm Napoleonic figure range. The characters representing Sharpe's wife, Theresa, and Sharpe's nemesis, Major Pierre Ducos, are from the Steve Barber range of 40mm Napoleonic figures.

Here they are, below, with the backdrop provided by the 40mm Battle Honours range of 3D printed buildings.

The Spanish figures have a lot of variety and character to them and I found them to be very much fun to paint. I wanted to have a lot of variety in the clothing colors so I sorted the figures into three batches and applied similar colors to each batch. For example, one batch of six figures might have three wearing dark green coats and three wearing dark green trousers. The next batch of six figures might have brown as the common color (three brown coats and three brown trousers). The third and final batch were predominantly grey in color. 

Then I would go back to each batch and add a second color. The green batch would see the green coats getting buff trousers or vests; the brown batch getting some blue or grey; etc. Next I would take some grey/white colors and use them in all three batches. At the end of the day you wind up with no two figures having all of the same colored clothing items.

Once the basic colors were blocked in I started adding a highlight color to each figure, although in some cases I left well enough alone and kept the shade color "as is".

When I paint figures, after applying the basic colors, I then open up the jar of black paint and paint all of the equipment bits (cartridge pouches, belts, muskets, pole arms, water bottles, etc.) black because it is a color that is a good foundation for some of the darker colors such as brown, grey, blue and green, and of course, gun metal and bayonets.

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Sash & Saber 40mm British Center Company Figures

 

A company of the South Essex Regiment on the road, preceded by several
riflemen from the 95th Regiment 

The past week or so has seen a few more additions to my 40mm Napoleonic skirmish game armies. Today I want to post several pictures of a British Center Company unit comprised of 20 rank and file and some command figures (1 captain, 1 drummer and 1 NCO). I might also add a color guard so that Sir Henry Simmerson can lose the King's Colours once again.

Remember, "a man who loses the King's Colours has no friends at court".

I am using Litko skirmish bases that hold ten 30mm round stands of individual figures. They can be removed from the movement base as needed. Shown above we see one group of ten rank and file soldiers and the captain of the company. The other stand of ten figures will be commanded by a Sergeant. These are all 40mm Sash & Saber figures.

The Characters:

Some of the characters from Sharpe: Sir Henry Simmerson, the evil colonel of the South Essex regiment that he raised from his own pocket. The figure wearing the blue coat is Major Hogan, who is one of Wellington's "exploring officers". Hogan also bails Richard Sharpe out of trouble several times during Cornwell's series of books. Both mounted figures are also Sash & Saber figures. The Hogan officer is simply a British officer that I painted in a blue coat with no facing colors on the cuffs and neck. Were I to do this again I would have cut off the shoulder epaulettes and maybe have the figure holding a spy glass or a valise holding important papers.

The church in the background is a 40mm building made by Battle Honours UK.

I also have character figures of Sharpe and Harper from Sash & Saber, and Steve Barber Models provided the Pierre Ducos and Theresa figures shown below. Steve Barber also makes character figures that look like Jane Gibbons, Lord Rosendale and a priest.

Colonel Sir Henry Simmerson (left) - Boo Hiss! and
Major Hogan (right) - Huzzah!

Sharpe (left) and Theresa (center) get the drop on Pierre Ducos (right).
Theresa and Ducos are Steve Barber figures and Sharpe is a Sash & Saber figure.

Here are some other figures that I painted, using the Battle Honours buildings as a backdrop. The cobblestones are from the Lemak collection of Christmas diorama figures.

Several of Sharpe's Chosen Men confront one of the locals with a donkey packed with contraband.

A closer view of the donkey pack train set from Sash & Saber.

I have also finished painting a company of 20 French line fusiliers and officers that I will show and tell in one of the upcoming blog posts. I also have 18 Spanish Guerrillas and three French Horse Chasseurs (which will eventually be a 16 figure cavalry unit plus on officer).

My resupply of Litko bases arrived in today's mail so I will be able to get more of my figures based over the Labor Day holiday weekend. I also have a large order with Sash & Saber that will add another British and French regular units, French horse chasseurs to top that unit up to 16 figures, more Spanish Guerrillas and several other Nicknacks for the game.

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No Tariffs For You!

 

Another Fife and Drum Miniatures order successfully sent to a customer.
(British 16th Dragoons from Fife and Drum Miniatures)

Let me get right to the point: Fife and Drum/Minden is still shipping orders to customers in North American and all over the world during the current uncertainty of new tariffs and administration of the same. We have never stopped shipping products anywhere in the world. And we are not going to be raising our prices.

My Closet O' Lead is chock full of metal inventory that is available and ready to ship immediately.  (my accountant might opine that I have too much inventory). I stocked up on castings well before the current tariff regime came into effect so I see no need to increase my prices.

The point is: Fife and Drum and Minden AWI and SYW products, respectively, are available and there will be no price increases to offset my cost of shipping castings from the UK to the USA.

The current US tariff kerfuffle ( I like this word) or turmoil is very confusing and many countries have announced that they are temporarily suspending all postal shipments to the United States. Since Great Britain is the epicenter of of war game figure manufacturing, this has put many American customers of UK-based companies on edge. When will shipments resume; or will they ever resume?

Presumably this will all shake out as companies and countries figure out how to handle the collection of tariffs that the United States is charging on all imports. Until then, always know that Fife and Drum Miniatures ability to ship orders nearly anywhere in the world is unchanged.

As always, I am grateful for your patronage and support of Fife and Drum Miniatures and Minden Miniatures.

Cheers,

Jim

Sash & Sabre 40mm French Voltigeurs; "and all that"

Sash and Sabre 40mm French Voltigeurs
Hovels Bridge, and Battle Honours Spanish buildings.

I have made a little bit of progress on painting my Sash & Sabre 40mm figures for my Peninsula War Project. Personal events have kept me away from the painting table, but I have been able to get in a little bit of painting here and there.

Mrs. Fritz was in an automobile accident several weeks ago (she is all right) and she has a small break in the humerus bone, just beneath the shoulder socket. It sounds like no big deal but with half of her arm all black and blue and the considerable amount of pain that even a small break can cause, I have to be around and available to help. The break was in her right humerus and so she can't use her right hand. Most of us are right-handed and we don't really give much thought as to how dependent we are on our dominant arm and/or leg.

Consequently I have been spending much of my time running the Der Alte Fritz Taxi and Limosine Service, doing errands and taking our two hounds out on lots of walks. I don't mind doing these things one bit and I am grateful that her accident didn't have a more serious outcome.

Today I finished painting a second 10 figure group of British Centre Company figures. These are of Sharpe's South Essex regiment.

Center company of the South Essex Regiment

Spanish civilian pack team

I have painted the following so far:

Figures Painted So Far

15 x 95th Rifles (including Sharpe and Harper)

20 x South Essex center company (20 figures per player command - we call this a "company")

15 x French Voltigeurs

2 x Spanish civilian/guerilla donkey pack train (2 animals and 2 handlers)

Figures On Order

I have 20 French fusiliers, 20 Spanish Guerrillas and 6 cavalry figures on my painting table. I have another S&S order pending that includes another 20 British center company and command, a few more rifles needed to bring them up to a 20 figure unit, and 20 British light company figures (for the South Essex light company). 

The Scope of the Peninsula War Project

This will truly be a skirmish level game (no. seriously) and I envision each player commanding 20 rank and file figures plus an offer or NCO. Each side will accommodate four players. So I am looking at approximately 80 to 100 figures per side.

British and Allies:

20 x 95th Rifles

20 x South Essex Light Company

40 x South Essex Center Company (two commands of 20 figures plus command)

20 x Spanish Guerillas = these can play on either side

French and Allies:

20 x Voltigeurs

40 x French fusiliers (two commands of 20 figures plus command)

20 x French legere figures or dismounted hussars/dragoons

20 x Pot au Feu’s and Hakeswell's renegade band of deserters

If I can find some acceptable dismounted French chasseurs/hussars/dragoons then this could one of the French commands. 

As noted previously, the Guerrillas can play on either side, depending on the scenario.

Pack train

Sharpe (center), Harper (left)  and Hagman (right)
"God save Ireland"

Hopefully my schedule will open up as Mrs. Fritz's arm heals. It has been four weeks so far and it can take about six to eight weeks to get functioning again and start Physical Therapy .

Four of Mrs. Fritz's friends are visiting next Saturday to play a war game with us. It will be an AWI skirmish game with very easy rules for newbies. The same group played just before Historicon and they really took to the game and caught on to the rules fairly quickly. They are a fun group to game with.

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Figure Review: Sash & Sabre 40mm British Napoleonic Figures

 

British 95th Rifles from Sash and Sabre .

I posted a YouTube video review of the Sash and Sabre 40mm British Napoleonic Center Company figures today. Click on the link to watch the video. If you like my videos then please hit the subscribe button on the video.

Sash & Sabre Review

I really like these figures and they are made in the USA and cast by Old Glory so shipping from OG to you is very fast. 

I find the figures well sculpted and the figure poses look natural and easy to my eye. In other words there are no silly poses and no Hey Steve figures in each pack. Check out the photos of the British Rifles figures on my other recent blog posts.

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Vvv

The Magnificent Seven Return

 

Captain Richard Sharpe and the Chosen Men
(Left to Right) Sharpe, Harris, Hagman, Perkins, Tongue, Cooper and Harper
Sash and Saber 40mm figures.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

The first samples of 40mm figures arrived from Sash and Sabre last week and I finished painting them yesterday. I really like the look of these figures and I think that they will look terrific in skirmish level games.

(Left to Right) Richard Sharpe, Sgt Patrick Harper, Rifleman Harris, and Daniel Hagman.
These are the central characters in the Sharpe TV series.

Recurring characters that alas did not survive through the end of the series:
(left to right) Cooper, Perkins and Tongue, although Cooper survives in the books.

So there they are, the Magnificent Seven of the Sharpe series of books: Captain Richard Sharpe and his trustee sidekick, Sergeant Patrick Harper; Rifleman Harris (the educated man), Daniel Hagman (the best rifleman in the company - he doesn't miss a target); Rifleman Perkins (meets an unfortunate end on the wrong end of a French bayonet), and Chosen Men Cooper and Tongue, whose fates are undetermined.

Magnificent Seven? Hmm, that brings to mind a certain movie and points to a good idea for a skirmish level game set in the Spanish Peninsula War. They face off against the evil French agent, Pierre Ducos.

I painted a total of 15 riflemen:

15 Sash and Sabre 40mm British 95th Rifles
Battle Honours buildings in the background.

I can actually see these figures on my tabletop.

I hope that my 18th Century followers will stick it out with me as I cover the progress of my 40mm Peninsula War Project. I think that you will find it interesting.

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Trenton - My Historicon 2026 AWI Game

 

The Battle of Trenton - 1776
Hamilton's American battery rolls round shot down the streets of Trenton
Fife and Drum Miniatures

So I have established that I am going to Cold Wars in November 2025 to run my 28mm or 40mm Napoleonic Peninsula War in Spain game.

My Historicon 2026 game will recreate the Battle of Trenton. The Historicon convention theme will be the 250th Anniversary of the AWI and so I think that my Trenton game scenario is appropriate.

Here is Don Troiani's take on the Hessian general Rall receiving his mortal wound at Trenton.
I think that this one of Troiani's best paintings ever.

Here are some pictures of the Trenton game that I ran several years ago. All of the figures are Fife and Drum Miniatures. I have noticed that on many Facebook forums, people seem to forget (or fail to mention) that yes, there is another figure manufacturer out there called Fife and Drum Miniatures that makes a very good range of AWI figures. So if you happen to be on a website where someone is asking for figure recommendations for AWI war gaming, then I would be most appreciative if you would give Fife and Drum Miniatures a favorable "plug." Sigh...

An overhead view of my town of Trenton. All of the terrain was made by Herb Gundt.

Herb Gundt built winter trees and, roads and the frozen Assinpink Creek for this game.

Hugh Mercer's brigade on the march to Trenton.
Fife and Drum Miniatures

Here is another overhead view of Trenton that shows the frozen Assinpink Creek. Sorry, no boat models in this game.

Trenton and Assinpink Creek

I don't want to let too much of the cat getting out of the bag, but in conjunction with the 250th Anniversary of the AWI, Fife and Drum Miniatures will be adding new figures to the range that will be completely compatible with the ones sculpted by Richard Ansell. Look for these towards the end of this year.

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Battle Honours 40mm Spanish Buildings

 

Set of three Spanish 40mm houses. Sash and Saber 40mm figures 
shown for size comparison.

Click on the pictures to enlarge

A box arrived in the post today from Battle Honours in the UK. It contained three Spanish Peninsula War house in 40mm size. Yes, I am committing to a 40mm Napoleonic skirmish game project. I decided to attend HMGS Cold Wars this year and I plan to run a Napoleonic skirmish game with 40mm figures.

Why do 40mm when I already have an adequate 28mm collection of individually mounted figures that I could use instead. Two reasons: (1) I need a new project for the coming year and (2) I am getting to the point where I can not see the 28mm figures very well anymore. They look like dark ants on my game table. I can see the 40mm figures and because they are larger, they also have a bit more character than my 28mm figures.

Anyway, I was excited to see the building models and I primed them immediately and then tucked into painting them. Here are some pictures of the three houses. I have placed some work in progress Sash and Saber 40mm British Rifles figures next to the buildings for comparison.

I really like these buildings- they are 3D prints so they can be purchased in sizes from 6mm on up to 60mm (or higher in some cases). One of the things that I like about them is that they are made to look run down and rugged and they don't have a regular appearance across the range.

I primed the models with black primer and then covered them with a coat of dark chocolate brown to provide the base color off of which to work. Then I dry brushed successively lighter colors, I think that it was four different colors. The exposed bricks here and there are a nice touch that add some character and interest to the model.

My first box of figures from Sash and Saber arrived several days ago and I got them primed and ready to paint. I used grey primer, but the dark green paint seems to be coming out a bit too light on top of the grey. I might do a batch of riflemen with black primer and suspect that the Forest Green paint color will appear darker covering black primer.

I really like the Sash and Saber 40mm figures, enough so that I ordered another boxwood of figures the other day to build a small group of French voltigeurs. I also have some Perry 40mm figures on order, but since these have to travel Across the Pond it should take about ten business days for these to arrive. And then I will have to deal with the new tariffs, but that is a discussion best done in other forums.

Now I know that some of you will be thinking (and rightly so), "oh come on Jim, this isn't going to end up being a skirmish game." This time I am committed to keeping the forces small and not letting this grow into a big game set up. The game will accommodate 6 to 8 players and the table will be approximately 6ft wide by 12ft or 15ft long. I can get a 6 x 15 table at the various conventions. Each player will command between 12 and 24 figures, maximum. No really, I mean it this time. I want the game equipment and figures and terrain to fit in my own vehicle and avoid having to rent a behemoth SUV to cart all of the stuff from Chicago to Lancaster.

In two weeks, Mrs. Fritz has invited a number of her friends over to our house to play in a skirmish wargame. We did this prior to Historicon and everyone had a good time and they wanted to come back and play another war game in the future.  BTW, it is interesting that the women turned out to be better players than their spouses. They seemed to pick up on the rules quicker than the men and they tended to be more aggressive. That game was a real gas so I am looking forward to the second installment

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My Peninsula War Terrain Circa 1810

 

Spain during the Peninsular War circa 1810

Click on the pictures to enlarge

I set up my Spanish terrain for Napoleonic games in the Man Cave last weekend and I have been adding little bits and pieces this week. My plan is to really take this terrain up a notch or two, striving for some model railroad style layout.

I want to thank one of my regular blog readers for donating a copy of the book "Setting The Table - Mediterranean Terrain". There are a lot of great ideas in the book and I will be working on some of the terrain bits that are shown in the book. One of my goals is to do a purpose-built terrain board for the Battle on the Coa River. I have to build up some of the boards to a height of 6-inches so I am not sure that these boards will be suitable for transport to conventions such as Historicon, but we shall see. The boards will have to be no larger than 6ft wide by 2ft long, otherwise they will be too unwieldy to handle.

Here are some pictures of some of the terrain pieces that I currently have. I made the large rock formations several years ago based on the techniques outlined in the Setting The Table book. Large chunks of tree bark are used to create the rock effect. I also made the road sections. The buildings are made by Herb Gundt and the war game figures are from Connoisseur Miniatures. The French cavalry are from Elite Miniatures. The rubber river sections are from Novus Designs, a company that has gone out of business. The water pieces look nice and grab your attention, but I think that a darker green or black color with lots of varnish would look more natural.

The table shown measures 6ft wide by 12ft long and it represents the type of smaller table that I plan to take around the convention circuit in 2026. You can achieve some amazing results when you add lichen to your table.

Here is a view of the whole table. The buildings in the foreground were made by Herb Gundt.

Spanish windmill made by Herb Gundt

I really like this picture of British light infantry clashing with the French on the bridge.

A few rocks were added to the scenery. I picked these rocks up while walking the dogs.

I like the look of the bridge that connects two pieces of mountain terrain.

Elite Miniatures 28mm Polish lancers trot down the road.
I like lancers - they are a weakness of mine.

I think that I have focused in on doing this game with 40mm figures and running it at the skirmish level. For larger level games (battalions and regiments) I will use 28mm figures.

I have some 40mm samples on order from Sash and Saber, Perry, and Battle Honours and I am looking forward to painting some of these figures. If that doesn't work to my satisfaction then I can always stick with my 28mm figures.

I briefly thought about doing this project with 54mm plastic figures, but it is probably time to give the 54s and double tables a rest for a year or two. I think that the novelty of my large games is beginning to wear off as I wasn't able to fill up my Little Wars and Historicon Hannibal games to the published ten players (although I had 8 players in the games and this proved to be the right amount of players for the game).

I do enjoy making my own buildings and the lure of Spanish buildings in 1/32 scale for 54mm figures is still appealing to me.

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