New Pricing Structure & Packaging

British officers (codes L-R: AC2, BC1 and BC2). Figures painted by Ioannis of Leuthen Studios. Photo also from Leuthen Studios.

As the product line expands and more stock keeping units (SKUs) are added to the range, I find that I will have to make some changes that are needed to accomodate the growth of the Fife & Drum Miniatures range.

New Price Structure

Effective April 26, 2013 I am implementing changes in the prices of figures and in the way that they are sold. Prices for infantry will increase from $1.80 to $2.00 per figure, but all artillery equipment and mounted officer figures will remain at the old prices. 

At the same time, I will be adding Unit Pack codes to the inventory so that you can still purchase Fife & Drum figures at  the old $1.80 per figure price point. Unit Packs will have 30 infantry figures and be priced at $54.00 per set (10% discount from the retail price). Artillery Unit Packs will include two cannons, two sets of artillery crew (8 figures ), and two limber teams and be priced at $40.00 per set (13% discount from retail price).

So if you purchase larger quantities of figures, you can effectively buy them at the existing prices. Smaller orders will cost 10% more than at the old price.

NOTE: I will not be posting the new product codes until after the Little Wars convention next weekend. So you can still order using the existing product codes that are listed on the right hand side of this page.

New Packaging Stucture

Figures will now be sold in packs of 4 figures, except for a couple of product codes that require a different number of figures in the pack. For example, the British Light Infantry Command pack only has 3 figures and the British Centre Company Command pack has 5 figures, due to the need for two standard bearers in the pack.

Why the change in packaging? The reasons are two-fold: one, I plan to attend more wargame conventions going forward and it is a logistical nightmare to bring over 100 different bins of figures to the convention site. Plus, it makes it easier for you the buyer to sort through the display bins and pick out your own bags of figures, rather than waiting for me to hand sort each individual order at the convention dealer hall. Secondly, selling the figures in small packs will make it easier for me to establish distributors both in the Eastern US convention circuit and eventually in Europe. Distributors want and need ready-to-sell packs rather than deal with the hassle of hand sorting individual figures.

Convention News

Fife & Drum Miniatures will be attending the Little Wars convention in the Chicago area on April 26 - 28, 2013. That is only a week away from now and I'm looking forward to meeting many of our customers and making new friends at the show. We will be flying the new Fife & Drum banner and logo for the first time at Little Wars, so be on the look out for the three Spirit of '76 fellows that are in our logo.

I have also made plans to attend HMGS-East's Historicon Convention in Fredericksburg, Virginia in July 2013. I believe the dates are July 18th through July 21st. I will also be running two participation games on Thursday and Friday evenings, after the dealer hall closes.

I would also like to attend the Fall In convention in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in late October or early November 2013, but this is not set in stone yet.

New Artillery Equipment
I posted pictures of the greens for 10 new pieces of artillery equipment on my sister blog, the Der Alte Fritz Journal, which you can access at the links below:

Artillery Equipment Greens

French 8-pdr & 12-pdr greens

The figures are currently at Griffin Moulds where the master and production moulds are being made. Prices will be comparable to our existing artillery equipment range, at approximately $6.00 per cannon. I will have to wait on pricing the wagons and pontoon train pieces until I get cost information from my caster. I would expect that the new equipment should be in stock sometime in May 2013.

The new equipment includes French Valliere 8 and 12 pounders, a French limber, Prussian 3/6/12 pounders and a howitzer and two different limbers, a wicker-sided munitions wagon, a pontoon wagon, and separate pontoons, and finally, another artillery train rider wearing a tricorne hat.

Battle of Cooch's Bridge Sept 3, 1777

British Brigade of Guards advance with Jagers covering their right flank.

This is the first of many AWI scenarios that I intend to develop and post on the Fife & Drum Miniatures blog. While the blog is intended to be primarily a vehicle for promoting my miniatures, I want to augment it with wargame scenarios for AWI battles. I will endeavor to keep adding historical content to this blog, so please stop in for a visit periodically... and if you are not a "follower", then please click on the "follower" button on the top left hand corner of this page so that you can keep up to date on the new content that we will be posting.

Battle of Cooch's Bridge, from Campaign to Valley Forge by John Reed.

Given that Fife & Drum Miniatures are intended to cover the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777, I am interested in all aspects of the campaign and all of the actions, encounters and battles, no matter what their size. Cooch's Bridge was the first encounter between Howe's British army and the advance guard of Washington's forces in Delaware. It is also a very small encounter, involving no more than about 700 Americans and perhaps an equal number of British light infantry and Hessian/Ansbach Jagers.

The Osprey book on the campaign: Philadelphia 1777 by Justin Clement gives us the following order of battle for the opposing sides:

Americans (Brigadier General William Maxwell)

700 to 800 light infantry, marksmen drafted from various Continental regiments

British-German Forces (Lt.-Colonel von Wurmb)

Ansbach and Hessian Jagers - 400

1st Light Infantry Battalion - unengaged

2nd Light Infantry Battalion - 550 (Reed says that it was the 2nd Btn that got lost in the swamp)
Amusettes*

* Boatner's Encyclopedia of the American Revolution (page 283) indicates the presence of some amusettes attached to the jager contingent.

This encounter appears to have the makings of a fun skirmish wargame. Using a 1:10 ratio of figures to men, the Americans would need 70 to 80 figures and the Allies would have 50-55 British Light Bobs and 40 Jager figures. 

The Osprey book on the Philadelphia campaign indicates that Maxwell's force was augmented by 1,000 Delaware and Pennsylvania militia, but none of the sources that I have read mention the presence of any of the militia. So I would assume that the militia were not involved in the action.

The 1st British Light Infantry battalion attempted to outflank the American position on Iron Hill, but they got lost in the swamp and morass that lay to the north of Christiana Creek and thus were never engaged in the fight. A battalion of British Grenadiers were also part of von Wurmb's advance guard, but the rapid advance of the Allied light infantry forces left the Grenadiers far behind and so they too were not engaged in the fight.

Background  (from Boatner):

"To harass the advance of Howe from Head of Elk, Maxwell's Light Infantry took up a position near Cooch's Bridge (or Iron Hill). This place was on Christiana Creek about five miles NE of Elkton, Maryland. On September 2, 1777 Washington warned Maxwell that the enemy would move in his direction the next day. About 9 o'clock the morning of the 3rd the advance guard of Cornwallis' "grand division" was fired on by Maxwell. Lt. Colonel von Wurmb, commanding the leading elements of jagers, brought his amusettes into action and then drove the Americans back by an envelopment and bayonet attack against their right. Maxwell was forced out of several delaying positions. The British light infantry came forward to support the Germans, and although the Americans delivered  several close, well-directed  fires, the running fight soon degenerated into a running flight back to Washington's main body on White Clay Creek, some four miles north of Cooch's Bridge.

Baurmeister says the Americans left 30 dead, including 5 officers, but evacuated their wounded. Ward accepts this figure, but mentions Montressor's figure of 20 American dead left on the field, and Marshall's estimate of 40 American killed and wounded. Enemy losses were 3 killed and 20 wounded, according to Montressor, or 30 killed and wounded according to Robinson.

The recently adopted Stars and Stripes is said to have made one of its earliest appearances in this battle."


Howe had landed his army at Head of Elk, in Maryland, on August 26, 1777 concluding a months long voyage that began in New York harbor on July 23rd, with a brief detour up the Delaware Bay, followed by a back track to the Chesapeake Bay and a subsequent landing in Maryland. The first units to land were part of Cornwallis' elite division of all the Light, Grenadier, Guards and Jagers and over the next several days, the balance of Howe's army landed and a perimeter was secured. The few American militia in the vacinity took off as soon as the British first wave landed.

On August 28th, the British advance guard took up position on Gray's Hill, which overlooked the Head of Elk. From there, they could observe some of the Americans atop of nearby Iron Hill. Howe and his staff spotted a group of American officers and it was thought that the party include General Washington himself.

On September 3rd, the British at last moved forward with Cornwallis' vanguard departing from Aikin's Tavern a few miles south of Iron Hill. This force, as noted above, consisted largely of the British light troops and jagers. The road traversed through a wooded area, making the ground perfect for ambuscade and Indian-style fighting. The first fire commenced around 9 AM and a running firefight began as the American fell back toward Cooch's Bridge. Evidently, the Americans soon ran out of ammunition and the British lights went after them with the bayonet. Since most of the Americans either had rifles, which could not use bayonets, or they had so few of them for those armed with muskets, they were no match for the British and the Jagers once their ammo had run out.

At some point during the battle, the 2nd Battalion of Light Infantry attempted to outflank the American position at Cooch's Bridge, but they got mired in the Purgatory Swamp (aptly named it seems) and did not arrive until after the battle was well in hand. Had they been able to successfully complete their maneuver, then Maxwell's entire light brigade might have been captured.

Best Historical Range of 2011 - Fife & Drum!

Fife & Drum Continentals. click pix to enlarge view.

Some of our new Continentals in Hunting Shirts

Best Historical Miniatures Figure Range for 2011

I want to thank everyone for their support in the recent poll on The Miniatures Page ("TMP") to select the Best Historical Miniatures Range of 2011. Thanks to you, Fife & Drum Miniatures won the vote for the Best Historical Range, covering our American Militia, British Light Infantry and British Briagde of Guards figures. Presumably there will be another poll soon for the 2012 calendar year. We released a lot of figures in 2012 including Artillery Crews and Equipement, British Centre Company and Grenadier Company figures, Continentals in uniform coats and in hunting shirts. The range now has around 90 pieces so  I would expect that we will surpass the century mark this year and push on towards 200 different figures.

Free Stuff!

This evening,  I just packed and got ready for shipping, an order that is bound for the United Kingdom. The gentleman had ordered some artillery pieces and limbers, but no artillery crew. So I threw in two free packs of artillery crew to man his cannon - one British crew and one American crew. I like to do that, i.e. give away free stuff from the range. Often you will find that I have included some extra samples so that you can see first hand what else in the Fife & Drum range. For example, if you ordered only Americans, then I am likely to throw in some free British samples and vice versa if you order the British. I've been known to drill open the hands of flag bearers too, if you ask nicely. :)

The bottom line is that customer service is really important to me. I want you to be happy with your figures and your buying experience when you choose Fife & Drum Miniatures. I know that there are lots of good competitive products out there, not only in the AWI genre, but across all historical miniatures genres, so anything that I can do to make F&D stand out a little more, then I will do it.

Thank you again for your kind support of Fife & Drum Miniatures.

cheers,

Jim

Continentals in Hunting Shirts

4th Pennsylvania Regiment using the new Continentals in hunting shirts, firing line poses. GMB Designs flag.

I finished painting a regiment of Continentals in hunting shirts and in the firing line pose this evening. The first step in the base terraining has been done and I will have to set them aside overnight so that the goop can dry. Tomorrow, I will apply brown ink to the base, dry brush some light tan and then apply the static grass and tufts to finish off the stands.

The complete regiment. (click pix to enlarge the view)

Your Help Is Requested

There is currently a poll on The Miniatures Page for the Best Historical Figure Range of 2011 ( I know, it should be 2012, but they had to do a little catching up before they could run a poll for 2012). At any rate, if you like our Fife & Drum figures, then please click on the link below and cast your vote for Fife & Drum Miniatures. This is the final round of voting, with the poll closing on January 10, 2013.

TMP Poll

And Now for your amusement:

Royal Artillery Amusette and Crew (AE-6)

I also had time to start the basing for the Amusette (stock number AE-6) set for your review. Everyone needs to have at least one amusette in his British army.

Painted Samples: Continentals in Hunting Shirts

New Fife & Drum Continentals in Hunting Shirts

I have been working on getting samples painted of the 14 new figures that we have recently added to the range. I still have the Continental drummer and standard bearer to finish, as well as the amusette and crew. Those should be done within a couple more days.

Two different firing poses and one casualty knocked off his feet.

Loading and cocking firelock for a second rank of figures, plus firing figure.

Mounted officer and foot officer make for a nice vignette. Also shown, the three marching poses.

Free Christmas Shipping Deal

Fife & Drum Continentals get out of the way of the on-coming delivery wagons.

I thought that I would run a Christmas Special starting today and running through December 31, 2012:


FREE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE (up to a maximum of $20.00)


I hope that this will make it a little easier for our customers who live outside of North America to start collecting figures from the Fife & Drum range, as international shipping can easily run in the $10.00 to $20.00 range. For our North American customers, the free shipping can often amount to a discount of 10% or more on your purchases.

The shelves are stocked with inventory. We have plenty of the new Continentals in hunting shirts. They are awaiting your orders to muster.

NEW ARTILLERY EQUIPMENT PRICES!

I have made some changes in the prices for artillery pieces, some of which were priced at $6.50 to $7.00, while the limber sets were $12.50. Now that I have a better handle on my costs, I have decided to reduce the prices off all cannon models to $6.00 per cannon. The limber teams are now $9.00 per set.

Continentals in Hunting Shirts Are In Stock!

Firing line figures (left to right) A38, A40, A39, A42, A41 and A35

Command figures (L-R) A38, A37, A36, and A35

Continentals in hunting shirts (L-R) A34, A32, and A33

I just received a shipment of the newest Fife & Drum figures from the caster today. This batch includes 12 Continentals in Hunting Shirts, 1 new standing horse, and 2 British artillery crewmen firing the wall gun for the Amusette set.  I will try to take some photos of the unpainted metal, but actually, the pictures of the greens, previously posted here, give a much better impression. I will start posting pix over the next several days and hopefully have some painted samples by the end of the coming weekend.

So here are the new stock codes for the new figures:

AC3 - Continental Mounted Officer, Hunting Shirt, pointing, with horse -- $5.00

AC3 Mounted Officer on H2 standing horse, and A35 Officer in firing line.

Continentals in hunting shirts. All figures wear a cocked hat.  -- $1.80 each

A32  - Continental Marching/Hunting shirt/blanket roll
A33  - Continental Marching/Hunting shirt/tumpline/belt
A34  - Continental Marching/Hunting shirt/tumpline/no belt
A35  - Continental officer in firing line/Hunting shirt
A36  - Continental standard bearer standing/Hunting shirt
A37  - Continental drummer standing/Hunting shirt
A38  - Continental casualty falling backwards/Hunting shirt
A39  - Continental cocking musket/Hunting shirt
A40  - Continental biting cartridge/Hunting shirt
A41  - Continental standing firing/Hunting shirt, buttoned front
A42  - Continental standing firing/Hunting shirt, pullover

British Artillery Equipment -

AE6 Amusette with two Royal Artillery crewmen and wooden mantle. -- $7.00 per set

AE6 - Amusette and Royal Artillery Crewmen

There are some amazing figures in this batch of new goodies. The A35 Officer is shading his eyes with one hand and holds a sword in the other hand. Match him with the new AC3 Continental mounted officer in hunting shirt/pointing, and you have a wonderful ready-made command vignette. I predict that quite a few of these officers will end up on command stands.



The A38 Continental casualty is a true work of art. He is standing, but has been knocked backwards off his feet by a musket ball. One foot is afixed to the base and the other is in the air. This is an amazing figure.

I also really like the A40 Continental biting a cartridge in the right hand while grounding his musket with his left hand. This makes for a wonderful "second rank" figure to put in your firing line. You can create units of Continentals in firing line or marching with these figures, or you can even mix in some of the existing Continentals and Militia figures into the same unit to get a lot of variety in the unit's appearance. For example, half the figures could be wearing hunting shirts, a couple of militia firing poses could be mixed in and the rest of the figures could be wearing uniform coats.

Also, the militia and hunting shirt figures can be used for either Saratoga in the North, the Philadelphia Campaign in the Mid-Atlantic theatre, or even in the Southern Campaign in the Carolinas.