Empress Miniatures Artillery

[traveller]

I thought I was done with the Zulu War years ago....resisting these beautiful figures becomes harder for every day   . For what other conflicts can they be used? Would maybe the 9th Xhosa War or the Griqua Rebellion in 1879 be interesting?

[Ray Rivers]

Okay, not to be a party pooper here but...

I have bought cavalry from Empress and they are fantastic.  I probably will buy some of their artillery and commanders as well.  I can say the same thing about Perry miniatures.

And just like Perry, I am totally confused as to why there are no advancing infantry.  Advancing infantry is the core of any army I build.  I rarely buy marching and almost never buy firing miniatures.  Sorry, I just don't like my little dudes sticking their bayonets into the back of the fellow in front of him when they are in column formation.

I look at this range of miniatures and I am always tempted to jump in and make a British (as in red not blue coats) army.  But when I can't find any advancing infantryman, the temptation quickly goes away.

Still... I love the miniatures.

[Dewbakuk]

See I'm the opposite, I usually far prefer my figures in firing poses. I'd rather they were doing something sensible like trying to kill the enemy

Possibly because I don't remember the last time I actually used a column formation after the first turn.

[Sinewgrab]

I think we have a winner for when I start putting together my British forces to battle the Norwegians and Germans...

[Gluteus Maximus]

See I'm the opposite, I usually far prefer my figures in firing poses. I'd rather they were doing something sensible like trying to kill the enemy

Possibly because I don't remember the last time I actually used a column formation after the first turn.

French Naps in "march attack". Linear tactics troops in either "firing line" or "advancing"/ standing at (for want of a better term) "low port". To me, most Regular colonial infantry would be linear, so I tend to agree with Dean that firing tends to look better in most cases.

The "advancing" pose is probably the best compromise for most games especially skirmish though, so it's the one I tend to use most.

I love seeing a British square in the Sudan or Zululand in a mix of firing and loading poses. It gives a kind of dioramic feel to the game. 

These new artillery sets are fantastic though and probably my favourite Empress figures to date. The gun is a splendid model! I've recently read "The Curling Letters of the Zulu War" - Lt Curling RA was the only survivor of his troop at Isandhlwana - and these figures are very evocative of his accounts of the campaign

(edited for dreadful spelling    )

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Thanks for the comments chaps....especially the nice ones.

In reference to the advancing infantry we actually have a dolly made for the figure which was one of the original dollies. Our plan was, and still is, to produce advancing figures. We agree that an advancing figure is a good wargames pose as it fits most tabletop situations. However, having produced a lot of British infantry we decided that it was time for us to do other things such as personalities, cavalry and artillery for a while to add more depth to the range. We will then return to it later.

The release of the range is pretty much historically chronological and we are still on Isandlwana. The 9pdr will mess this up slightly as we have it made and just need to do some work on the crew and when done will release it. More auxilliary cavalry and officers are planned for the near future. Especially personalities as this conflict seems to have them in abundance. They simply ooze Victorian character. 




 

[Ray Rivers]

Thanks for the comments chaps....especially the nice ones.

Look... as a paying customer who has bought and painted your mini's my comments may have been "not nice."

So let me put this in perspective.  Last week I dropped over 100 quid at Foundry for three Prussian 10 man units (one of which was a cavalry unit) and artillery.

The reason that money wasn't spent on Perry or Empress miniatures for a British Army is because neither of you do advancing infantry.  If I am going to do an ARMY then I need to have basic infantry types and that means advancing poses.

Now I'm not going to promise that even if you put out some advancing infantry that I would buy them.  But I guarantee that if I'm looking for a range in which I will put out a couple hundred pounds, I will not buy a range without that basic pose.

You can call that a "not nice" comment from the peanut gallery, or... you could consider it a recommendation from one of your customers who would like to buy more.

Cheers

[Plynkes]

To be fair to them, Perry do actually sell a few packs of advancing British infantry, Ray.

[Dewbakuk]

And Empress have said they're going to do advancing poses, they're just doing some shiny things first to break up the blocks of infantry releases.

[Paul @ Empress Miniatures]

Look... as a paying customer who has bought and painted your mini's my comments may have been "not nice."

So let me put this in perspective.  Last week I dropped over 100 quid at Foundry for three Prussian 10 man units (one of which was a cavalry unit) and artillery.

The reason that money wasn't spent on Perry or Empress miniatures for a British Army is because neither of you do advancing infantry.  If I am going to do an ARMY then I need to have basic infantry types and that means advancing poses.

Now I'm not going to promise that even if you put out some advancing infantry that I would buy them.  But I guarantee that if I'm looking for a range in which I will put out a couple hundred pounds, I will not buy a range without that basic pose.

You can call that a "not nice" comment from the peanut gallery, or... you could consider it a recommendation from one of your customers who would like to buy more.

Cheers

Pretty stunned at your reaction. 

The comment was not aimed at you or anyone else particularly. It was tongue in cheek.

Sorry if it read incorrectly . The aim was largely to answer the question you first raised. Your original comment was taken as a wish which our post answered positively, or was meant to.

Going to hide behind the sofa now 

 

[Yankeepedlar01]

"Going to hide behind the sofa now   "

No, don't do that yet, I have n't got my Police I ordered last week or my artillery ordered yesterday!

[M Blakey]

  same here yankee old chap 

[Mancha]

Pretty stunned at your reaction. 

Ray's comment did sound uncharacteristically mean.  The key word here is "uncharacteristically" though.  Ray's a nice guy and I suspect that he didn't intend his comments to sound so negative.

[Jonas]

I think the complete line is great so far and I will definately get some of these cannons at some point.

I will also look forward to the advancing pose models, they do look better in skirmish games.

A suggestion I have is to make a sergeant pack. I have no idea how many troops there is pr sergeant in the historical correct games though. But for what we play, we have one sergeant pr 10 men, so they are a bit under represented at the moment.

But officer packs sounds good too, they will probably have a sergeant or two more  

Thanks.

- Jonas

[Galloping Major]

Nice guns and crews