Continental Command Figures Arrive!

This is just a quick note to let everyone know that the Continental infantry command figures arrived today along with considerable reinforcements for the rank and file and for the British Guards. So now we have everything that you need in stock to create Continental regiments (marching and firing), British Guards, British light infantry and American Militia.

I will post pictures within the next couple of days and hopefully paint some samples over the weekend.

British Guards & Continentals Pix

British Brigade of Guards figures from Fife & Drum (click pix to enlarge)

I have finally been able to post some pictures of the painted samples of the latest figures that are now available from the Fife & Drum range of AWI miniatures. The picture above depicts the eight figures representing the Brigade of Guards. The two figures on the left are the flank companies soldier and NCO, both are wearing the hat-cap with a front plate and horsehair roach. The grenadier and light companies are only differentiated by the ensignia on the plate of the cap: a grenade for the grenadiers and the letters "LI" for the light infantry.

In a pinch, one could also use the centre company figures for line infantry. The main difference is that the Guards wore a bayonet scabbard on the front right side and they had a "tub & strap" water canteen instead of the metal canteen used by the line regiments.

Please note that when you click the picture to enlarge the viewing, that there is some distortion in the pictures which become larger than the actual figures.

Guards centre company men skirmishing.

Guards centre company command.

(L-R) Guards centre coy. man, centre coy. NCO, flank coy. man, and flank coy. NCO

Same as previous picture

I also have some of the Continentals samples painted for your inspection. Please note that the infantry command figures (officer, drummer, standard bearer and NCO) are at the caster's having the moulds made for production, so I should have Continental command and marching and skirmishing figures shortly.

(L-R) Continental mtd officer, 4 marching variants, Continental general.

Continentals skirmishing or use for a firing line.

Continental skirmishers face off against British Guards.

As always, if you are interested in ordering these figures, then contact me via e-mail (altefritz1740@yahoo.com) to place orders or obtain more information.

Continentals & British Guards Castings Arrive!

This afternoon I came home from work and found a large box sitting on the front hall table in my house, and much to my great surprise, it contained a ton of new Fife & Drum Miniatures hot off the casting machines at Griffin Designs in the UK. Needless to say, I was very excited and opened the box with a great sense of anticipation. The castings are beautiful and they are very crisp and clean, just as one would expect from anything done by Griffins.

The British Brigade of Guards

First of all, we have eight castings to represent the British Brigade of Guards circa 1776-1777, both centre and flank company headgear. To my knowledge, no one else has ever designed the Guards Brigade in the 28/30mm size. So this is quite a first. I will post pictures and stock numbers for the Guards over the coming weekend, so keep on coming back for a visit.

B10 Guards Officer marching with fusil

B11 Guards Drummer - centre company

B12 Guards NCO - centre company

B13 Guards centre company man marching

B14 Guards centre company man standing firing

B15 Guards centre company man cocking musket

B16 Guards flank company NCO/Officer in cap

B17 Guards flank company man in cap marching

The centre company officers, drummer and rank and file are all wearing brimmed hats, turned up on the right side with a feather in the hat. I suppose that in a pinch, you could use these figures as line infantry figures. The primary difference between Guards and Line is that the Guards have a bayonet scabbard and a wooden canteen (think St Bernard Whiskey canteen). The Line would not have the bayonet scabbard and would have a round canteen.

The flank company figures are wearing a sort of jockey style cap with a front plate and a brim, with roach/plume on the top and back of the cap. You can paint the flank company figures as either grenadiers or light company men simply by painting a grenade or a hunting horn on the front plate. The Guards did not carry standards during the AWI so there are no standard bearers with this batch.

Stay tuned for pictures over the weekend. I hope to have some samples painted by then.

The Continentals

Next we have the American Continentals in tricorn hats, with a nice assortment of marching and skirmishing poses. The first four poses are being worked into moulds, but they have not been shipped to me in the first shipment. They should follow shortly. The other 8 foot and the officer sets are now available.

A20 Officer marching                  NOT AVAILABLE YET

A21 Drummer marching                "         "                      "

A22 Standard bearer marching      "         "                      "

A23 NCO marching                      "         "                      "

A24 Continental man standing firing

A25 Continental man standing at the ready

A26 Continental man loading musket with ram rod

A27 Continental man cocking his musket

A28 Continental man marching (breeches, tumpline, half gaitors)

A29 Continental man marching (breeches, tumpline)

A30 Continental man marching (trousers, blanket roll across chest)

A31 Continental man marching (breeches, tumpline)

AC1 Mounted general with horse  ($5.00 including horse and rider)

AC2 Mounted officer or ADC with horse ($5.00 including horse and rider)

All infantry figures are $1.80 per figure, sold as individual figures. All mounted figures come with the horse (2-piece castings of rider and horse) and are $5.00 per set.

Continental Mounted Officer Greens

I received a pleasant surprise today with the arrival of these pictures of the Continental officers and horse greens that were sent to me by Richard Ansell. Good things are well worth waiting for and these certainly fill the bill. As shown in the pictures, we will be adding two American officers to the range: one pointing and one riding with his sword drawn at his side.

Their faces seem to have a lot of character, as you can see by clicking on the pictures to enlarge the view. With the completion of the mounted officers, Richard now has a full set of 16 figures to take to the caster (12 foot, 2 officers, and 1 horse - which takes up 2 slots in the mould). So it shouldn't be too long before we get these gentlemen into production.

I'm excited. Can't you tell?  :)

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New Continental Greens

American Continental Command figures by Richard Ansell

I have already posted these pictures of the new AWI Continental greens over on my Der Alte Fritz Journal, but figured that it would be a good idea to post them on the official Fife & Drum site as well. I note that many of the "followers" listed on the right hand side of this page are also followers of my SYW blog.

There are a total of 12 Continental foot figures, including four command, four different marching  poses, two firing (one of which is loading his musket) and two of what I would call "standing at the ready". Richard is also working on two mounted officers: a brigadier general and his ADC, as well as a standing horse. Eventually, I will also add walking and trotting horses to the herd.

Rear view of the command figures. Click photos to enlarge the view.

Here are the front and back images of the skirmish or firing line poses:

Here are the "at the ready" set which could be used to make a complete regiment of Continentals waiting to receive the British attack:

I also think that the two figures above would also look good paired up with the two firing line figures, given that one of these fellows appears to be cocking his musket, which would fit in with the "firing line" theme.

Finally, we have the standard of every wargamer's army: the marching poses:

The rear view illustrates the variety of tumplines, packs and blanket rolls on the figures.

I don't have a timetable on the arrival of the greens as yet, but I would assume that they will be ready to send to the caster in the near future. Once the mounted officers and horse are completed, then we can send them off to the caster and start spinning metal.

I'm really excited by what I've seen so far and like you, I'm looking forward to having the opportunity to paint some of these miniature master pieces.

Cheers everyone,

Der Alte Fritz

Militia Advancing Regiment

American militia regiment using all of the advancing poses in the Fife & Drum range of figures: A1 - officer; A2 - at the ready; A3 - advancing; and A8 - advancing

I just finished basing another American militia regiment to show what a unit looks like when using all of the advancing figures in one unit. The figures used were:

A1 - officer holding sword
A2 - militia at the ready, wearing tricorn hat
A3 - militia advancing, musket down, wearing tricorn hat
A8 - militia advancing, musket up, wearing brimmed hat

And here is a picture of the brigade of two militia regiments, showing one comprised of firing poses and the new unit comprised of the advancing poses. I really like the way that the poses work together in a natural looking way.

American militia firing line, supported by another unit advancing. Please click on the picture to enlarge the view.

Militia Bases Completed

American Militia Firing Line

Rear View of the Same Unit. British Light skirmishers lurk in the background.

I finished basing the four American Militia stands last night and thought that I would post a couple of pictures of the finished product on this blog. Please click on the pictures to enlarge the view and feel free to leave a comment on this blog. I enjoy reading the feedback, both good and bad.

Shipments to the UK

I packed up my first order to the UK this evening (about 36 figures) and put them in a US Postal Service Priority Mail Small Box. The shipping cost to the UK is a flat rate of $13.95 for anything up to 4 pounds of weight and/or valued at less than $400.00. I was doing a little "cypherin'" on my slate tablet and estimated that I could, in theory, pack about 200 figures into the Small Priority Mail Box and still be under the 4 pound weight limit and the $400.00 value limit. That works out to approximately $0.07 (seven cents) per figure for shipping figures across the pond, which doesn't seem too excessive to me. (It's far less than a certain company in the UK charges for its shipping to customers in the US, and you all know who I mean). I don't believe that shipping should be a profit center, so I will never charge more than my postage cost for any shipment. I have no idea what the import duties would be once the figures land in the UK, so that might add to the overall cost.

I am in the process of exploring the idea of casting figures in the UK and then selling the figures throughout Euroland via a UK-based distributor, provided that I can find someone to fill that role. Stay tuned for more information about this in the future.