Taking the plunge into AWI

[Who Asked This Joker]

Hi all,

 

One of those projects I’ve never dove into was AWI.  I feel every American gamer should have some sort of FIW or AWI game ready to play…much like every UK gamer should have ECW or WotR.  😀

OK.  I really don’t mean that last bit but I am thinking about starting an AWI project and I’ve been looking into Warlord Games starter boxes.  They might cover most of the figures I’d need.  Anyone own these who can say whether they like or dislike them and why?  Just any little review would help.

Thanks in advance!

John

 

 

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[jeffers]

Well, a decent bundle of toys for £85 is pretty good value, but the figures are so-so. I think they were originally Wargames Factory (or something like that) so fit together far better than Warlord’s native offerings, but they have a strange ‘stooping’ effect on a lot of the poses that make them look ashamed. But as tax dodging traitors they should be. 😉

I have a bunch of militia which I was going to mix with other manufacturers to give a real random look, so the Quasimodo impressions I can live with. Perry figures are superior, but Warlord give you a good base and are cheaper, so if you can stand the stoop then go for it.

7/10

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Who Asked This Joker]

Tax dodging traitors?  No longer murderous tax dodging traitors?  Hooray!  We’ve been upgraded! 😉

Thanks for the comments.  I’ll have a look around the web.  Maybe I can find some reviews of these.  I suppose, stooping is a natural reaction to walking into enemy fire.  It might look kind of “natural.”

 

 

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[Edward]

I’ve been working on AWI as my main project for a couple of years.  I really like Perry metals – great sculpts and a large variety of units and uniform choices.  Brigade games new line of AWI figures is also very nice (just got these off the kickstarter).  I’m partial to metal figures over plastic.

[Shahbahraz]

I have a fairly large and varied collection of AWI figures I’ve picked up in the last couple of years. I confess, I don’t like the Warlord figures, the ones I have just don’t seem to lend themselves to natural poses, and are very skinny. The one exception to this was the Woodland Indian set, which with a bit of work, gives excellent results.

The Perry plastics on the other hand are uniformly excellent, go together well, look pretty natural, and I mix mine quite happily with the Perry and Foundry metals. (IIRC I even have some Dixon mixed in). For rules, I use Sharp Practice 2,  which I think works extremely well, especially in capturing the differences between the various troops.

--An occasional wargames blog: http://aleadodyssey.blogspot.co.uk/ --

[jeffers]

Joker – we’ll be after a trade deal soon, so we’ve got to be nice!

Really, for the price you can afford to dump the awkward poses: I suppose it depends how picky you are! I was told some years ago by a Civil War re-enactor in Virginia that the US army had problems getting some of the farm boys to stand up straight, so it could actually be more realistic than I think…

My plan (like so many, it has stalled) was to use 30 figure units because I like the idea of fewer but larger and the militia would look great with different shapes, sizes, poses, styles etc. If I were in the US, though, I would go for the Old Glory saver scheme. They have some odd poses too, but they paint up well and OG2 are really nice. I’ll ask Boris to put that in the trade deal!

You have now prompted me to get up in the loft and sort my AWI figures out… 🕺🏻

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Autodidact-O-Saurus]

Oh, come on…. Go big or go home. There’s nothing like AWI in 54mm.

Self taught, persistently behind the times, never up to date. AKA ~ jeff
More verbosity: http://petiteguerre.blogspot.com/

[Gone Fishing]

Autodidact-O-Saurus wrote:

Oh, come on…. Go big or go home. There’s nothing like AWI in 54mm.

Agreed! It’s a shame All the King’s Men went under, but the plastics out there now (LOD, etc.) are superb.

[Who Asked This Joker]

ATKM went under?  Say it ain’t so!  I really like their stuff but never really had the money to afford the figures.  They even had 12 man units and 6 troopers for horse.

So, a couple of points about WLG.  They are thinner than metal but must plastic figures are.  I am OK with that and am even used to it.  I game a lot with 1/72 scale plastic figs.

It seems that the line troops stand up ramrod straight which is quite nice.  It is specifically the militia that slouch and I am kind of OK with that.  Perhaps slightly awkward but that might actually be what I would look like were I in the same position.

I am using “A Gentleman’s War” by Howard Whitehouse  for this project.  Quite a simple set with smaller (12 man) units.

On the downside, these require arms, and heads to be attached and positioned.  Lots of gluing.

Most/all of the figures are plastic.  Not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

 

Finally, What are some of the 54mm figure makers out there?  I won’t say I’d never until I’ve seen them.  What is “LOD”?

John

 

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[jeffers]

Joker

How is your project going? I ask because – purely from interest, not that I intend to buy loads more figures you understand* – I have acquired a box of WLG Continentals to play about with. Not bad in terms of style and only a couple of slouchers, but I think they could have organised the sprues better and got a couple of extra figures in. Lots of ‘useless extras’, like spare muskets and huge bases, but as they are available locally for £15 a box I can live with it. Perrys still have the edge, though!

*just in case my wife works out the Safari browsing history.

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Edward]

Irregular Miniatures does 54mm – I don’t have the 54 but do have some of the 42mm and they’re nice. irregular miniatures.co.uk. 

 

[Blackhat]

I have a very large amount of 40mm Front Rank that I picked up very cheaply and which I am slowly painting in between other things.  Managed 1 completed British Unit so far and one other very close to finished…

Mike

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

I, too, put off AWI for years, and I too, took the plunge with 40mm — Sash and Saber, in my case. If you haven’t already bought into 25mm, and especially if you’re in the US, I’d suggest looking into them; when purchased in the sets, they’re cheaper than many 25mm lines. And if you can get to a con, Chris has a buy-5-get-one-free deal.

[jeffers]

I’ve plunged three times now:

15mm (mostly Stone Mountain): sold to someone in Staines in about 1988.

25mm (mix of Hinchliffe & Front Rank): unfinished and dumped at the SELWG bring & buy in about 1992.

6mm (Baccus with many conversions): lots of gaming before they all emigrated to California in about 2012.

And I have a clutch of half-finished Blue Moon in the loft.

I also donated a huge library of books to the Cats Protection League (for onward sale; cats prefer Napoleonics).

And I’m at it again.

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

I feel your pain.

OK, I  confess: AWI (along with FIW) struck me as being ideal for 40mm — not a great many units, very little cavalry or artillery. I stand by that. Except. . .

After starting on the project, and re-immersing myself in the history, I found myself saying “aw, jeez, I  can’t do Brandywine with these!”

Then I stumbled across big pile of the Old Glory 10mm at a con flea market. So now it’s A Tale of Two Scales.

[Who Asked This Joker]

I’ve seen the Sash and Saber stuff!  Very, very nice!  I ended up going with Outland (Batallenfeuer) in 20mm.  Neat, energetic figures that are exaggerated and somewhat cartoony.  They are not for everyone but I like them.  They are mostly really 7YW but will do for AWI in a pinch.  There are a couple of FIW battles I want to do as well.  Some notable figures missing are Hessian fusiliers with the short Mitre cap.  B and B miniatures carry those.   There are several ranges of 20mm out there that have th specialized units like dragoons and rifle armed rangers/scouts/light infantry.  Irregular comes to mind.  Lancer and New Line have their own ranges of 7YW figures.

As for the rules, I am going to use A Gentleman’s War by Howard Whitehouse.  I’ve played several times now already.  Great fun!

As for Sash and Saber, I do think the prices are quite reasonable, especially if you get unit packs.  For those thinking about taking the plunge and want something larger in size, I can recommend these without a question.

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[kyoteblue]

I’m doing AWI in 15/18 mm with Bluemoon figures and Rebels and Patriots for rules. I also have figures for FIW as well.

[jeffers]

So you’re a chap who games mostly in 1/72 and has decided to do AWI in 20mm? This application of common sense has confused me so much I need to lie down for a bit… 🤪

Sash and Sabre are rather nice….

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[vtsaogames]

jeffers wrote:

I was told some years ago by a Civil War re-enactor in Virginia that the US army had problems getting some of the farm boys to stand up straight, so it could actually be more realistic than I think…

After WWII Hollywood decided to cast Audie Murphy in films. They had to teach him how to walk upright. He had a shuffling hunter’s gait, acquired shooting squirrels to feed his dirt poor Texas family from an early age. The unusual gait didn’t stop him from dispatching heaps of Wermacht soldiers from time to time.

 

PS my AWI stuff is 20mm Frying Pan and Blanket. Of late they have seen the elephant using Patriots and Rebels. After I had finished the British a mate noted that I didn’t have single redcoat unit in tricorn. So I went and purchased one more unit with tricorns. We also have 15mm French & Indian War.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[Who Asked This Joker]

jeffers wrote:

So you’re a chap who games mostly in 1/72 and has decided to do AWI in 20mm? This application of common sense has confused me so much I need to lie down for a bit… Sash and Sabre are rather nice….

It is the one true scale, you know.  It’s how I appease the dice gods by using their very chosen ones.  Now if I could only communicate that fact to them. 😀

John

"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."

--Abraham Lincoln

[jeffers]

Well, I just had to have a go…

http://battle77.blogspot.com/

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

[Hafen von Schlockenberg]

Interesting  blog post there, jeffers, and I look forward to more AWI posts.

I’m with you on the Greg Novak books. Unfortunately, when Old Glory printed them, they accidentally left out most of the bibliography, which IIRC cuts off around the “F’s”. Ironic, considering Greg was grouchy about criticism of his first booklet as lacking in that respect. I don’t imagine he was pleased.

I asked Russ about it, who responded that, out of the hundreds of copies sold, my complaint was the fourth on that problem. I didn’t think to ask if he still had the missing material.

BTW: Dumping your library? Nonononono!

[jeffers]

Sadly I don’t have the space for a library, but I make sure the books I dispose of are catered for by the books I keep. Mind you, there is no demand for AWI books now. Dealers won’t take them and I’ve had Hadden’s Journal on eBay for about three months with no interest at all.

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

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