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Sunday 8 May 2011

The portable wargame in 54mm?

As I was packing away the figures that I recently acquired for my FUNNY LITTLE WARS army, I wondered what they would look like as 'Units' for my PORTABLE WARGAME rules. The cloth I was using was the one I used some time ago for my gridded version of Morschauser's 'Modern' wargames rules, so all I did was turn it over and lay out some typical 'Units'. The result looked like the:

I was surprisingly pleased with the result. To my eyes it looked like a smaller version of the gridded wargames that Joseph Morschauser used to play.



I now realise that these newly acquired figures are going to have many more uses that I originally envisaged. For example, if I want to demonstrate my PORTABLE WARGAME rules, a gridded cloth and 54mm Britains Deetail toy soldier figures are going to look more impressive and easier to see than my current 15mm setup.

It also strikes me that I could use these 54mm figures on my Hexon II hexed terrain to fight American Civil War battles using Richard Borg's BATTLE CRY rules.

More things to think about!

8 comments:

  1. This seems to be coming together well. I really liked the grid with the 54mm toy figures. It felt some how "right".

    I'm also intrigued to see that you seem to have a pose of Deetail ACW infantry that I have never seen. The advancing figures that I had were slightly different.

    Hopefully some of that cavalry will have swum the ocean soon!

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  2. Ross Mac,

    I must admit that it looked 'right' to me as well, and it is something that I will hope to pursue as and when time permits.

    I never realise that there were so many slight differences between the different batches of the figures. Some of the Union figures are moulded in grey plastic and overpainted in dark blue. Some of the firing figures have moulded on right arms and others have separately moulded arms that are held in place by a plug. In addition, the original advancing pose seems to have been replaced by a different pose in later batches.

    The colours used also vary between batches, with two different shades of light blue for trousers being use as well haversacks and water bottles varying in colour between batches.

    When the figures you have sent me arrive, I will let you know and I will reimburse you for the cost of the postage.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  3. I think the picture looks great. It is a shame you can't order these Deetail figures through the Britains website in the UK.

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  4. Il Cattivo,

    As far as I know, these figures are no longer being made by Britains, but that an Argentinean company - DSG - now makes them.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  5. Bob,

    An inspirational post, as usual. I bought some 40mm Balkan War figures from Irregular last year, and I think I just figured out how to use them!

    Best regards,

    Chris

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  6. Chris,

    Thanks for the compliment.

    Funnily enough, it was the Balkan Wars range from Irregular Miniatures that I have been seriously thinking about 'investing' in for my 42mm FUNNY LITTLE WARS/PORTABLE WARGAME/MEMOIR OF BATTLE follow-on to my current Cordeguay project.

    Good luck with painting your Balkan Wars figures.

    All the best,

    Bob

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  7. Bob,

    I agree: the 54mm soldiers look good on the grid.

    I suppose you could also combine a gridded surface with the gun-fire of Little Wars...

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  8. Arthur1815,

    They do look nice, don't they ... and the idea of using my matchstick-firing guns on the gridded surface had also crossed my mind as well!

    All the best,

    Bob

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