Warlord games epic battles 12mm acw

[Norm]

I think it will get supported.

Firstly, ACW does not particularly need a lot of support and secondly, if they see this as being something to roll out across several different periods to support their rule sets, they will want the first product to succeed.  This has the potential to be big.

I am guessing we might be staggered if we knew what the pre-order numbers were already and by that I mean, this was a non-market for them just two weeks ago, so all sales are new territory.

[Ray Rivers]

I got my free sprue, only painted the officer and the cannon so far, but they are lovely models.

Yikes! Those look far better than I expected!

Warlord will not support this in the long run, the cost of maintaining an extended new release schedule for the inevitable diminishing number of buyers does not fit their sales policy.

What more do they need to release? John Stallard from Warlord Games has already mentioned cavalry, skirmishers, horse holders, Iron Brigade and Zouaves:



Includes terrain and rules all in one box. 

[Ray Rivers]

I like the concept of the 10 figure close order strips, but I am a little lost understanding the logic of Warlord's regimental organization. It appears a regiment is supposed to consist of five stands, each about 60mm's wide. This gives the unit a frontage of 300mm when in line. The normal frontage of a 28mm unit in Black Powder is 200-250mm. This means that the epic scale either requires a larger table or fewer units. A lot of the discussion I have seen implies the epic scale is a solution to the large tables required by 28mm armies, but the opposite seems to be true.

Personally, I would go with 3 stands per regiment which means you could double the amount of regiments from 10 to 20. I would certainly want a command sprue to be offered before I even thought about buying these... Good god where would I find the time to paint them?

Here is a link to painting the sprues:



I think I would paint the minis right on the sprues and then clip them off when finished.

[Macunaima]

Absolutely.
Warlord will not support this in the long run, the cost of maintaining an extended new release schedule for the inevitable diminishing number of buyers does not fit their sales policy.
Warlord are all about the initial "new shiny" burst of enthusiastic new purchasers; as much as they can get, from as many new buyers as possible, in as short a space of time. Then move on to the next new thing.

Well, if you're expecting every kind of ACW figure possible in plastic, no, that won't happen.

I do think we'll definitely get cavalry, rifled artillery, and skirmishers/dismounted cavalry at the very least. That will be enough for most people. Maybe we'll see some specific famous brigades: the Iron Brigade, the Texas Brigade, etc. in metal or plastic. And then, yeah, they'll probably move on. They're not aiming at the completist gamer who absolutely NEEDS, say, 80 gun ships of the line for Black Seas.

[Macunaima]

Personally, I would go with 3 stands per regiment which means you could double the amount of regiments from 10 to 20. I would certainly want a command sprue to be offered before I even thought about buying these... Good god where would I find the time to paint them?

I will go with three stands per regiment. I don't think it'll be very hard to modify a trooper or two to carry a flag -- particularly in plastic.

Another thing I might do is make command STANDS out of Kallistra figures: 4 figs on a 25mm x 25mm base, perhaps with a mounted officer. That would allow me to make bog-standard infantry stands for any number of systems.

[DivisMal]

Unfortunately, past form doesn't bode well for those waiting for Warlord to fully support this. Their previous outings away from Bolt Action after buying up a range suggest they'll bring out the odd set or two, promise future expansions to get people to buy, then ditch it when the money slows. Sounds cynical I know, but it's just what I'd bet on, given what they've done in the past. I hope I'm wrong, for the sake of those who are interested in it.

While this isn’t really wrong (especially for their trips into fiction/sf) I‘d say with most historical systems supported by Warlords the support is actually quite okay. I mean, you cannot expect a GW/Corvus Belli kind of support with new models appearing regularly, but Warlord have churned out quite a lot of Napoleonics, Ancients and ECW models to be more than happy. Even very rare models, like Wallenstein‘s bodyguard made an appearance (or Sharpe‘s rifles) which most people will need once per army - if at all.

If this will be tru for Epic battles, I‘ll be happy because as with their other model lines I can buy extras with other manufacturers (Kallistra in this case).

Furthermore at that scale, the paintjob might be more than enough to distinguish specific regiments like the Iron Brigade.

[DivisMal]

I will go with three stands per regiment. I don't think it'll be very hard to modify a trooper or two to carry a flag -- particularly in plastic.

Another thing I might do is make command STANDS out of Kallistra figures: 4 figs on a 25mm x 25mm base, perhaps with a mounted officer. That would allow me to make bog-standard infantry stands for any number of systems.

Pretty good idea. That’s how we made our 25mm armies in the day when Games Workshop and Grenadier introduced cheap monopose plastics.

[Harry Faversham]

I've got a sprue of 'em from this month's WI magazine, very nice they are too, the artillery is very well thought out and elegant. 

[Pictors Studio]

I've never been interested in doing ACW land stuff.  I have fleets for Plum Point Bend and the Battle of Nashville, but never any land stuff. 

This has me interested.  I'm getting the magazine so we'll see how the test sprue goes.  After that, if I like painting them, I will probably get the big box.  No hurry, but it is likely that if I do it, I get the figures before the end of the year.  Then I'll probably do Chickamauga. 

[DivisMal]

In a way they‘ve really been able to speak to a new kind of customers. Never been interested in ACW here, but the box and the discussion about it, made me read Killer Angels at the moment.
The big plus will be that the investment is okay from mho and the availability will be good. I got Warlord‘s Black Sea from my wife this Christmas and the same formula worked brilliantly here. I got everything in a box to build and rig two smallnavies and several local shops carry the line.

[Macunaima]

I just got a wild idea that I am going to test out with my free WI sprue, when it finally manages to wend it's way down to Rio de Janeiro.

I've always toyed with the idea of doing an imagiNations late 19th century project, something like the American Civil War, only on steroids. Something which allows the CSA stand-in to have more of an industrial base, which would allow for ironclad fleet actions. Possibly a rationale for some heavy cavalry. Kallistra WW1 early war French Dragoons would be perfect. Certainly a rationale to paint more colorful uniforms, allowing one to field, say, entire brigades of Zouaves on both sides.

Seeing as how I already have a 3mm ACW historical set up to scratch my Black Powder epic itch, this might be the way I go. I may even just do the armies up in "regulation" blue and gray so they can be used as ACW armies in a pinch, but add on some gaudy, colorful, ahistoric special units like the above-mentioned cavalry and what not.

The imagiNations could be based on a North America analogue, but with the Great Lakes set in, say, the Mississippi basin, giving scope for some really cracking naval actions using late 19th century ironclads.

I mean, at these prices, why not? Black Powder is for old school fun games, anyhow, and what could be more fun (at least on the tabletop) than a nitrous oxide-injected ACW?

[nicknorthstar]

With a bit of imagination and creativity you could use these for the War of the Triple Alliance.


Not so much for the figures, they would just be in different paint jobs to the ACW, but more the chance to model different tabletops.

[DivisMal]

I just got a wild idea that I am going to test out with my free WI sprue, when it finally manages to wend it's way down to Rio de Janeiro.

I've always toyed with the idea of doing an imagiNations late 19th century project, something like the American Civil War, only on steroids. Something which allows the CSA stand-in to have more of an industrial base, which would allow for ironclad fleet actions. Possibly a rationale for some heavy cavalry. Kallistra WW1 early war French Dragoons would be perfect. Certainly a rationale to paint more colorful uniforms, allowing one to field, say, entire brigades of Zouaves on both sides.

Seeing as how I already have a 3mm ACW historical set up to scratch my Black Powder epic itch, this might be the way I go. I may even just do the armies up in "regulation" blue and gray so they can be used as ACW armies in a pinch, but add on some gaudy, colorful, ahistoric special units like the above-mentioned cavalry and what not.

The imagiNations could be based on a North America analogue, but with the Great Lakes set in, say, the Mississippi basin, giving scope for some really cracking naval actions using late 19th century ironclads.

I mean, at these prices, why not? Black Powder is for old school fun games, anyhow, and what could be more fun (at least on the tabletop) than a nitrogen-injected ACW?

That’s actually a pretty neat idea. And you could also do weird steampunk things and imagiNations on Mars.

[Macunaima]

With a bit of imagination and creativity you could use these for the War of the Triple Alliance.

You could easily use them for Triple Alliance forces. The problem would be the Paraguayans, who had markedly different uniforms (high shako-style kepis and no shoes, to begin with).

But as for new battlefields... I'm Brazilian, Nick. If I do the Paraguayan War (as it's known here), I'll go historical.

That aside, there really weren't too many battles in the war that were very different from those of the ACW. Tuiutí was basically Shiloh with less tree cover and more swamps. Humaitá was basically Frederickburg in wetlands. Lomas Valentinas was similar to Lookout Mountain. The whole river campaign was very reminiscent of the Vicksburg campaign.

Certainly, it gives one different styles of terrain to fight over. A chance to paint a lot of red laterite soil for one.

Personally, what I'd like is a chance to pit two early ironclad navies in squadron battles on something like the Great Lakes. And for land battles, an excuse for heavy cavalry to make an appearance.

[Macunaima]

That’s actually a pretty neat idea. And you could also do weird steampunk things and imagiNations on Mars.

It would also give one an excuse to paint up A LOT of red soil. More than with Paraguay, even.