Recently an online auction site based in NZ, had some of the Lucky Products AWI troops for sale. They were offered in two separate lots, one of the British forces, and one of the American forces. I got very excited by this and ended up paying NZ$164 for both lots (including shipping). This was slightly more than I had hoped to pay, but I am still happy with the amount I spent. In the big scheme of things, it is a very small price to pay for being able to achieve a minor childhood dream!
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| The blue lot contained some 10 cannon, 29 cavalry, and some 113 assorted foot. |
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| The red lot contained some 5 cannon, 27 cavalry, and some 101 assorted foot. |
This means that I should be able to field some quite large AWI forces for use with Volley and Bayonet. Now while the ad gives a list of what set should contain, it doesn't provide a means of matching the figures supplied to what they represent. While many of the figures are quite straight forward, others are less so. Using a combination of logic, and the
research of others I am labeling the following pictures with what appears to be the the most likely title for its pose.
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| Cannon mounted with loader on a V&B 1.5" by 3" base with a dragoon for size comparison. Also included is the original ad in a 'Scrooge McDuck' comic. |
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| Dragoons. |
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| Shooting infantry. |
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| Marching infantry. |
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| Crouching infantry. |
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| The officers. |
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| Fifers. |
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| The advancing pose. This is meant to be the charging infantrymen in the set description. |
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| Sharpshooters. |
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| The cannons. They look much better once glued on a base. |
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| The cannon loader figure in all its awkward glory! |
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| Drummers. The drum is a much better size than the ones often found in Esci sets. |
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| Minutemen - These figures should only be supplied in blue plastic as part of the American force. |
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| Hessians - These figures should only be supplied in red plastic as part of the British forces. |
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| Mohawks. |
While virtually every other figure manufacturer producing AWI figures has produced better figures, these figures will always hold a great deal of appeal to me due to their comic book ads. Now to base and paint them and fight the battles I imagined having when I was a kid!
Great haul...looking forward to the finished product!
ReplyDeleteYep, I am already starting to figure out what figures to use on each stand.
DeleteNice haul indeed. Good luck with it all, hope to be reading some battle reports soon.
ReplyDeleteAARs will be filed as soon as possible. Frank is keen on playing AWI V&B if I provide the figures. I hope to run the Brandywine scenario out of the book, so hopefully I now have enough figures.
DeleteThat is so cool Brian. I look forward to seeing more of this project.
ReplyDeleteThanks Roger, I am hoping to have a fair bit done by the end of the holidays. As soon as I have something to show I will put it up on the blog.
Deleteyou are a lucky man brian! good haul, let me guess trademe? thinking about it I should take a look at trade me this holidays, you occassionally get some good modern stuff at a reasonable price, though I doubt that they will have my chistmas list.... ah thats what dreams are for sort of. I had a dream last night that a whole lot of 1/72 scale kits had arrived in the mail. unfortunately as this was one of my dreams most were things I did not want :-( even my dreams do not work out.
ReplyDeleteTrade Me is always full of surprises Gowan! Happy hunting - I hope you find what you are after!
DeleteGood haul, Brian, though these guys do make the much-maligned Airfix figures look like the 'denier cri' of sculpting and posing. I have a feeling that had I those figures, they would find themselves in the sort of wars with which the word 'Little' and the name H.G. Wells are associated.
ReplyDeleteBut I have no doubt in your charge, they will be transformed into a body of troops - two bodies really - of which anyone would be proud.
Cheers,
Ion
I hope that I can make them all look good once they are all painted up! At the very least they will make the Airfix figures look fantastic, plus if it does work out I can always knock up a couple of spring guns and go H.G Wells on them!
DeleteWas that NZ$ 1 - 6 - 4 ??? Crikey....I can only assume these ugly little critters are somewhat collectible.
ReplyDeleteCheers, Dave
Yep, the ugly little buggers are viewed as a collectible item as some. I view them as fresh recruits for my AWI Volley and Bayonet games.
DeleteThat being said, the cavalry is around 3 packets worth, and the foot around four packets worth, and 15 cannon would be another packets worth, so eight packets of figures for $164 (or $20.50 each) is unfortunately far less than what I have to fork out for figures here in the shops - assuming I can find eight packets I want in the same place. Of course better deals are available through the likes of Stan, and to be honest the last couple of times I bought large amounts of figures it was through him because he has a better range and pricing than the model shops.