Kickstarter Project Hits Initial Funding Goal!

I am happy to announce that the Kickstarter Project for the AWI American and British light dragoons surpassed its initial funding goal of $5,000 on the first day of its posting. That means that we can start on our first batch of dragoons very soon. We contemplate adding the British 16th Light Dragoons and the 1st Continental Light Dragoons first. As more funding comes in we can also add the 17th Light Dragoons for the British army (including some in smocks for the Southern Campaigns) and the 3rd Continental Light Dragoons to the Fife & Drum range of AWI figures.

So what is next?

If we can hit our Stretch Goal of $8,000, then this will unlock Tarleton's British Legion cavalry and some mounted South Carolina partisans for Pickens and Marion's forces of raiders. The British Legion will have some very dynamic poses as befits their nature to charge any enemy in sight. As of today we are approximately $1,115 away from hitting our second stretch goal. If you have an interest in any of these figures, then I would encourage you to visit our Kickstarter page and make your pledge

Fife & Drum Kickstarter

Fife & Drum Miniatures Launches AWI Dragoon Kickstarter Project!

Fife & Drum British Officers, painted by Ioannis, are shown to give you an idea of how the AWI cavalry figures will look. Click to enlarge.

Spirit of '76 Reward for contributions of $50.00 or more. And we have Tarleton and Francis Marion personality figures in the rewards queue if we hit our initial funding goal.

Fife & Drum Miniatures is pleased to announce that we have just launched a Kickstarter Project to help put our proposed British and American Light Dragoons into production. Our initial goal of $5,000 will cover the cost of sculpting 16 greens and making the master and production moulds.

Fife & Drum Kickstarter Link

I talked with Richard Ansell today and he is very keen to get started on the dragoon project, which will initially feature a selection of 8 British dragoons and 8 Continental dragoons. Eventually, we want to create the British 16th and 17th Light Dragoons, Tarleton's British Legion cavalry, the 1st and 3rd Continental Light Dragoons, some South Carolina mounted partisans (Pinkney and Marion) and a whole other host of cavalry goodies. 

As you can see, we will do nothing in small measures as I want to produce one of the most comprehensive ranges of AWI cavalry to the Fife & Drum range of figures. I am particularly excited by the cavalry project, because once the figures go into production (around January 2014), we will have achieved our Phase I goal of getting all three combat arms into production so that our customers can field complete AWI armies for both sides of the conflict.

We have some interesting stretch goals too, as you can see from our link. There will be Hessians, Highlanders and even French infantry for Savannah finding their way into our product line over the next several years.

So go ahead and look at our project. You can contribute as little as $1.00 or qualify for the Spirit of '76 Vignette with a minimum contribution of $50.00. Any contribution will be gratefully accepted.

I want to thank everyone for the encouragement and support that you have given the Fife & Drum range so far. I also want to thank our talented design team including Richard Ansell, Alan Marsh and the exsquisite casting work done by Griffin Moulds.

respectfully yours,

Jim Purky (Der Alte Fritz)

The Spirit of '76 Vignette Has Arrived

Spirit of '76 vignette by Richard Ansell. Click to enlarge.

I have been keeping this wonderful vignette information under my hat, so to speak, so that I could spring it as a surprise for Fife & Drum Miniatures' trip to Historicon this year (July 18-21, 2013). Since our logo is comprised of the three gentlemen, it seems only natural that we should also offer the miniatures to our customers. I want to thank Richard for knocking out these three figures so quickly so that we could have them ready in time for Historicon. Likewise, Griffin Moulds Ltd., our caster, also put the project on the fast track so that the production moulds could be created and product cast in time to ship and make available to us at Historicon.

Did I mention that Fife & Drum Miniatures will be attending Historicon this year? We will be sharing booth space with Age of Glory (US distributor of the Empress Miniatures and Crusader Miniatures, among other ranges). I will also be hosting two participation games, one on Thursday evening and the other on Friday evening, both after the dealer area closes down for the day.

At any rate, the Spirit of '76 vignette will be given away at our Historicon booth. To get a set, all you have to do is stop by and make a minimum purchase of one bag of infantry ($8.00) . With that purchase, I will give you the Spirit of '76 vignette for free. For those of you who can not make it to Historicon, just send in a purchase for anything in our range (minimum purchase of $8.00) and with a little arm twisting, I will include a Spirit of '76 vignette in your order at no extra cost. Since I don't have the "bag price codes" listed yet, you may order any four infantry figures that you want off of our individual figure price list.

Kickstarter Heads Up

We will be launching our first Kickstarter Project probably next week to fund the next addition to our AWI range: American and British light dragoons! There will be some attractive rewards to entice your backing of the project, including the Spirit of '76 vignette as well as some other special Kickstarter figures that we will offer. So stay tuned to this blog for more information on the launch of this project. For stretch goals, we hope to put the British Legion cavalry into production as well as start on our range of Hessian musketeers and grenadiers. If things really hit the roof in terms of backing, Highlanders and French infantry and artillery crew will be underwritten and go into production.

It is my intention to make Fife & Drum the most comprehensive range of AWI figures and artillery equipment in the industry. We have a lot more artillery equipment and wagons on the planning boards including a big honkin' large French 24-pounder cannon. I can't wait to see that one.

g

New AWI and SYW Artillery Equipment is Now in Stock!

French Valliere System artillery equipment (L-R) 4-pdr; 8-pdr and 12-pdr shown with Minden Miniatures SYW French artillery crew figures.

French artillery (L-R) Swedish 4-pdr; Valliere 4-pdr; Valliere 8-pdr; and Valliere 12-pdr, shown with Minden Miniatures SYW figures. Click all pictures to enlarge the view.

The shipment of the new SYW artillery equipment, pontoon wagon and munitions wagon sets arrived today from Griffin Moulds Ltd and I have to say that I am very pleased with final products, as shown in some of these pictures. I had to do a bit of assembly work this evening, so I did not have time to black wash the castings to enhance their appearance in pictures. I wanted to get these posted on the Fife & Drum blog ASAP so you can see them for yourselves.

Munitions wagon: wicker-sided with canvas cover.

Pontoon wagon

Prussian artillery (L-R) 12-pdr; 10-pdr Howitzer; 6-pdr; and 3-pdr.

Prussian 12-pounder (left) and 10-pound Howitzer (right) shown with a Minden SYW pioneer.

Prussian 6-pounder (left) and 3-pounder (right) shown with Minden SYW pioneer.

New Artillery Equipment Product Codes:

AE-008  Pair of limber horse with driver         -- $8.00 per set 

AE-009  French 8-pounder,  Valliere System  -- $7.00 each

AE-010  French 12-pounder, Valliere System -- $7.00 each

AE-018  Pontoon Wagon with Pontoon (horse team not included) -- $10.00 each

AE-019  Munitions Wagon (horse team not included)                    -- $10.00 each

AE-020  Prussian 12-pounder                           -- $6.00 each

AE-021 Prussian 10-pound Howitzer               -- $6.00 each

AE-022 Prussian 6-pounder                              -- $6.00 each

AE- 023 Prussian 3-pounder regimental gun    -- $5.00 each

AE-024 Prussian light limber with ammo box (use for 6pdr)  $5.00 each

AE-025 Prussian heavy limber (use also for French cannon) -- $5.00 each

I am not included limber horses and drivers with the various wagons and limbers -- those must be purchased separately (AE-008). I would recommend one set of AE-008 with each of the equipment pieces in this list, i.e. a two-horse team.

The AE-025 Prussian limber is a standard "Y-Frame" limber used by most countries in Europe during the Seven Years War, so it is suitable for any of the French artillery and for the Prussian 12-pounder and 10-pound howitzer. For the Prussian 6-pounder, use the AE-024 light limber which includes the ammo chest/seat attached to the limber frame.

Eventually, I will also sell pontoons separately as a set of two pontoons. I have to get the production mould made for these, so for the time being, the only way to get the pontoon is to purchase the wagon and pontoon set.

As all of these new equipment pieces are in stock, we are ready to take orders for them and ship them out immediately.

v

News Update

PRICE CHANGE & PRODUCT CODES UPDATES
Infantry figure prices have now been changed to $2.00 per figure, but mounted officers ($5.00) and artillery (mostly at $6.00 per cannon, but higher for sets that include horses and other extra figures) will remain at the same price.

I still haven't had time to enter and change the new product codes, so you can still order single figures up through Memorial Day here in the States (Monday May 27, 2013) as I should have some time to make the changes, given the long three day weekend.

ARTILLERY EQUIPMENT NEWS
I talked to Stewart Griffin the other day and he reports that the new artillery equipment  production moulds are being worked on this week. Once I have the configuration of the number of pieces in the new moulds, I can then order my initial inventory stock with Griffin Designs. Stewart is very good at turning stocking orders around quickly, so it should not be too much longer before we add at least 12 new artillery equipment products to the range. So we should be ready to ship cannon in June.

FACE BOOK: from time to time, I will run some special figure deals that will only be announced on my Der Alte Fritz Face Book page. So you have to be one of my "Friends" on FB if you want to get in on some of these tasty deals.

Der Alte Fritz on Face Book

HISTORICON
I will be attending Historicon (July 18-21, 2013) at Fredericksburg, Virginia and bringing the full Fife & Drum range with me. I will also be running two AWI games featuring, what else, Fife & Drum Miniatures. The games will be held on Thursday and Friday evenings, after the dealer area closes down. I will be sharing booth space with Age of Glory (they were very kind to make this offer to me and I gladly accepted).

There will also be some special figures that we will be unveiling at Historicon. So you have to drop by the booth if you want to get in on some of the goodies.

Price & Packaging Changes Update

I have not had the time yet to upload all of the new packaging codes and so the old prices and single figure order option will remain open until I actually make the changes on this web site. I will probably do that within a week, so any orders made before, say, May 10th can be done under the previous price/packaging policy.

I'm sorry about the delay, but that gives you an extra week to slip your order in under the wire.

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.