And the new Perry Miniatures range is...

[Antonio J Carrasco]

I am very interested in this range, but will keep my feet dry until I see if they make a comprehensive range or just a half-dozen sets and that's it.

Of course, being totally honest I would have preferred a range on the independence wars of South America.

[Captain Blood]

I'm going to apologise to Captain Blood, I have read the post now from the Perry's Facebook page, where they also use the term "obscure". I thought that was you being self-righteous, when you were just repeating the post. So, apologies.

There's no need to apologise - I hadn't read their promo email either when I posted that. But interesting that they picked the same word.
I don't think it's 'self-righteous' to point out that the Paraguayan War of 1864 is an obscure subject. I wonder who had heard of it before this? Not many people I'd imagine, not even many wargamers, who are often into military history. So it's obscure (obscure means 'not known to many people'). And another of those occasional unexpected niche choices from my favourite figure makers. Not that controversial an observation, surely?

As someone with an interest in Brazilian conflicts (due to my partner being Brazilian), I am looking forward to this range (and the Hooker’s/Foundry is a lovely book on the subject).

Fair enough. I can totally see that as someone with a South American connection, this would have more interest for you than for the overwhelming majority of wargamers who inhabit the Anglosphere or European countries. But you never know - novelty itself can be attractive to jaded wargamers tired of the same old same old 

[carlos marighela]

Another rabbit hole of obscurity. Well, they do love to please themselves with projects they fancy... I guess they’ve earned the right 

That rather depends on your frame of reference. If you choose to view the world in a wholly Eurocentric manner, so be it. In Brazil, a country with a population three times that of the UK, it’s a fairly well known historic event, as it is in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. Actually there’s little excuse for the Anglo-American gamer, there’s a fairly good Foundry book on the topic and there’s even an Osprey.

Try thinking of it as a more interesting and infinitely more exotic version of the ACW, with everything that has to offer, gunboats, balloons et al but minus dickheads offering lame excuses about the Confederacy and ‘state’s rights’. It has pantomime villains and heroes and the uniforms are natty but for the most part restrained. This has arrived at a particularly poor time for me, as I am heavily committed to Vietnam but will, almost inevitably succumb to a long term interest, with the consequent hit on my finances.

By the by, if anyone is looking for painting references, aside from the battlefield paintings of Candido Lopez and the afore mentioned Foundry book the University of Toronto has published an online version of Barosso’s Uniformes do Exercito brasileiro, which is an excellent guide. Worth googling, the original goes for upwards of  $1,000 in mint condition.

[Brummie]

It is obscure for any casual military historian.

I remember back when I was doing my War studies degree at the University of Wolverhampton and although it was never looked at in depth (I.E with a module etc) it was recommended that students took time out to at least have a basic understanding of the conflict.

Any war that cost a few hundred thousand lives doesn't deserve to be considered obscure, though I understand the label. South America is a largely unexplored frontier in military history for us Westerners.

[Armstrong47]

Looks like another new project for 2020!!!!
Now,if they could just be persuaded to make a US-Mexico War range..........

[Shahbahraz]

I'm just hoping they go back to their plastics range and use the dollies and weapons from the 8th Army set to do BEF.

[juergen c. olk]

good looking range ..I;m in....the more obscure the better..

[tom_aargau]

An interesting range. According to the newsletter there will be 13 packs in the first release.
There is also a link to some picture included in the newsletter:
https://isfd50historia.blogspot.com/2016/06/la-guerra-de-la-triple-alianza-del.html?fbclid=IwAR3x4rGHLux4yGwYAvTz5dCqBiYSFbwUmhXJP0eWvWO_m_y3tIg2Nit_K38

And for an obscure war it seems to be reasonably covered by Osprey and Foundry as mentioned above:
https://ospreypublishing.com/armies-of-the-war-of-the-triple-alliance-1864-70?___store=osprey_rst&___from_store=osprey_usa
https://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/military-history-books/products/the-paraguayan-war

[Johnp4000]

I’m sure it’s not obscure as a period of history for the local inhabitants. But as a wargames genre, it’s obscure. But maybe there’s a huge untapped South American wargames market.
Like I say, the Perrys are well known for occasionally delving in backwaters of historical or imaginary conflicts that they find interesting, but aren’t necessarily commercial. Fair play, if it makes them happy.
I could see a market for figures portraying the Anglo-Zanzibar War, short as it was.
Luckily, they don’t need to worry about the market
Good luck to them.

I think you made a fair comment we are talking about wargaming genre not the historical significance of a real event. I doubt if Perries will find this a major selling range as supporting comments on forums don't always equate to sales.I would also doubt there is a major market in South America for this conflict, one of the funniest gaming memories I have was being taken to a gaming club in Hong Kong, would you believe it, the Chinese gamers were playing Wars of the Roses! The other main interests were  Eastern Front WW2 and Napoleonic's, there didn't seem to be any interest in gaming Chinese events.
I always find it odd, that still the most but  not complete 28mm range for the Franco Prussian war is still the Foundry's 80's range?Perhaps a war being obscure, can make it a good gaming subject in that it is a good way of putting on challenging games where you can't be pulled up by history fanatics.

[AKULA]

It is obscure for any casual military historian.

This.

Yes, there will be gamers that already have an interest, and yes there will understandably be people that have more of an interest from a geographical perspective but let’s not kid ourselves that it’s a mainstream period from a Wargames perspective...obscure is a reasonable term in a Wargames context....if this offends, then sorry.

@Brummie - Good to hear from you mate....I haven’t been on the Xbox of late, but maybe over the holiday 

[fusilierdan]

Freikops 15 did a range back in the late 1980's.
I guess the Perry's could sculpt the obscure ACW or Napoleonic units or start a new range. I'm tempted. It may help improve my spanish.

[Brummie]

This.

Yes, there will be gamers that already have an interest, and yes there will understandably be people that have more of an interest from a geographical perspective but let’s not kid ourselves that it’s a mainstream period from a Wargames perspective...obscure is a reasonable term in a Wargames context....if this offends, then sorry.

@Brummie - Good to hear from you mate....I haven’t been on the Xbox of late, but maybe over the holiday 

And you mate! Unfortunately my Xbox died many moons ago and I'm not much on the PS4 (a gift from the folks) though I hope to make it to Salute in 2020 so if you're there give me a shout!

[TheBlackCrane]

I wonder who had heard of it before this? Not many people I'd imagine, not even many wargamers, who are often into military history.

I'd heard of it... 

 

Actually, I gave a lecture earlier this year on the Chaco War and part of the framing was a quick foray into the War of the Triple Alliance and also the War of the Pacific (which I've been meaning to 'do' too for ages) - but I'll be the first to admit I love obscure wars, and this one (as rightly pointed out from an Anglo-centric POV) is quite obscure.

One of the joys of wargaming for me is being able to put together projects (or at least, plans for projects) on lesser-known conflicts, but then have the frustration of having to work out what ranges I can shoehorn in, so in this instance I'm hoping the first 13 pack release will be followed up by others.

And whilst there is time left yet - Merry Christmas one and all!

[carlos marighela]

If you want most of the key sources in the original best to work on your Portuguese. History is largely written by the victors as the old saw goes.

As for there being a large gaming contingent in South America, there isn’t, it’s miniscule but that would never have been the intended market.

Obscurity is a relative term and if your reading material is confined to what’s on the shelves at WH Smith then most things are likely to be obscure, save for intricate plots involving the Opus Dei, finding your fortune through positive thought and delving into the emotional turmoil that comes with walks along the beach at sunset and the steamy embraces that follow. 

Obscure compared to the Napoleonic era or World War 2? Yes, doubtless so. Fortunately, the Perry twins and others have seen fit to expand the envelope and found markets beyond those with some connection to these rather ‘niche’ events. There are ranges for the ‘obscure’ Taiping rebellion, the bloodiest pre-20th century conflict. There are ranges for the Chaco War, the Maximillian Revolt in Mexico, The Carlist Wars, The so called ‘Kaffir Wars’, the South American Wars of Liberation, The Sugar Wars, the conquest of Dahomey, etc, etc, etc. Ask anyone outside of the UK, or even in the UK, about the War of the Roses and I’ll wager you draw blank stares. T’would be a sad old world if we were confined to the same old diet of Tiger tanks and La Haye Sainte, endlessly iterated in lead.

Truly we live in a gilded age of gaming.

[Siegfried]

Not that obscure for those with an interest in conflicts not involving Americans or English. (I'd argue it has the same level of importance for the local inhabitants as say the American Civil War or the War of the Roses.)

As a native South American, I can confirm this is true. Plenty of people here know about the War of the Triple Alliance. For us, an obscure conflict would be something like the Wars of the Roses or the English Civil War. I only came to know about these conflicts thanks to my interest in wargaming and English history. But had I never had these interests, I doubt I would have ever known about these conflicts (which is sadly the case for many people over here in South America).

That said, as far as wargaming goes, I don't think it's wrong to say that the Paraguayan War is an obscure conflict. Given that most of the wargaming scene tends to be located around the Anglo-sphere, it's not surprising that, up until recently, conflicts like this one have received very little attention. And quite frankly, I can't blame wargame companies for that. Whether we like it or not, wargaming is at the end of the day just another business, so naturally, miniature manufacturers are going to produce miniatures that appeal to the interests of the majority of their customers. That's why, in my opinion, there's so much offer when it comes to European conflicts (no matter how small in scale they might have been) and so little offer when it comes to conflicts in South America, Africa, or Asia. Granted, this paradigm is slowly starting to change, and I'm certainly very glad about that. But then again, I don't think it's wrong for people on here to say that this is an obscure conflict because, from the perspective of the average wargamer living somewhere in the first world, he's probably never heard about the War of Triple Alliance.