War of the Triple Alliance/ Guerra do Paraguai.

[carlos marighela]

Well the taxman has been quite generous last year so I'm contemplating sinking some cash into a range of miniatures.
 I have been contemplating commissioning some decent 28mm figures for South America's all time biggest slugfest. I came close to doing this last year and I had a sculptor and manufacturer lined up.

I'm contemplating starting with some Brazilian volunteers, some Paraguayan infantry and some Gaucho style cavalry, which could be used for either Brazilian or Argentine cavalry. I figure that this allows folk to play some battles at an early point without waiting for a complete range, which depending on sales may or may not eventuate. Judicious use of ACW figures can fill in some gaps so I'm looking at Perry compatible figures. When I spoke with Nic at Eureka last year he suggested Alan Marsh as the likely sculptor. I adore Alan's work so that would work for me. For those not familiar Alan is the sculptor of such things as the Eureka French Revolutionary range, AWI and the fabulous Italian Wars Gendarmes.

My questions for the forum are:

1) Would you be prepared to buy figures for the war in 28mm?
2) Is the above selection adequate as a start point?
3) Would anyone be interested in sharing costs/input in getting a range up and running?

Interested in hearing your input.

[Arlequín]

It might have been better to do this as a poll, with the range of options suggested. You'll get the comments and input, along with a grass roots feel of the likely interest in general. You can remove the post and re-do it as a poll... I think. 

Personally Chaco War would have been my suggestion for 28mm.   

[Hammers]

Personally Chaco War would have been my suggestion for 28mm.   

Same here. I would definitely buy some of that. As it happens and apart from Colonial, 19th century gaming has little attraction to me.

[carlos marighela]

Hard to invest the necessary enthusiasm for a war between Paraguayans and Bolivians. I suppose any loss is still a going to be a win.

[Helen]

Carlos, Chaco War hands down! You have my vote on this conflict.

Cheers,

Helen

[argsilverson]

My old passion comes true? Always wanted these colourful south-american armies. Good also for some VSF settings

A very interesting subject and very much ignored.
A colourful and bloody war which ended with the defeat of the Paraguay which lost about 90% of the male population.
Large (?) battles in trenches and lots of river action.

Personally I would be interested in some Paraguayans and personality figures, too!

As for the filling the gaps, most can be found in french from Franco-Prussian-war since Argentina and Brazil forces used to wear French chasseur uniforms and some negro zouaves ,too. Also carlists might be used, too.

So far, only covered in 15mm with dedicated miniatures from freikorps 15mm.

By the way: Argentinian President of the time, Juan Mitre, was of Greek origin. As a boy was a survivor of Chios massacre (during GWI in 1822) and rescued and ratsed by some missionaries and moved to Argentina. The rest persons Dom Pedro, Solano Lopez  and Eliza Lynch, Fernado Flores quite interestin subject.

[Arlequín]

It's hard to generate interest in something that most people are largely not aware of. Ask most wargame people about South America in the 19th Century and you'll draw some blank stares, comments on Pancho Villa and the Emperor Maximillian. At worst they'll mention the Magnificent Seven and the Alamo... none of which are actually related to South America obviously.

I'm in a similar frame of mind to Hammers, I've no great interest in the 19th Century, so I'm obviously not in your target group. However imagine I am. The idea of being able to begin gaming the conflict just by buying the first releases of a range is a good one imo, as is the logical extension that your games will grow as the range does (or doesn't).

Personally I'd be tempted to begin generating the spread of knowledge and interest in the conflict by setting up a blog. Not everyone's cup of tea, but you get a far wider audience than here, which is, to be honest and without criticism, not really that orientated towards historical gaming. There's also people out there who just collect figures and never venture into forums, so wouldn't be aware of such a range existing.

The biggest problem I can see is that the 'other war' in the North is much more an easy sale. Loads of ranges and choice, and a seemingly fanatical fan base, even in the UK for some reason. The strengths of the Paraguayan War are its difference in scope and that it's colourful... but then again so is the French Army of WW1, the least popular out of the 'Big 3'.

Despite all that, the Chaco War has grabbed some people's imaginations from out of nowhere, so no reason why this shouldn't with some pushing. Good Luck with this!

     

[Maichus]

It's an interesting conflict for sure!   (From a gamer's/collector's point of view, of course.)

What you have to keep in mind is that most wargamers (I'm not excluding myself) are as fickle as feck.  

Some might be interested and enthusiastic today but bored by it in a half years time, when you might have the first miniatures available for sale (no offense to anyone intended). On the other hand, a lot of gamers seem to fall for the 'shiny new toy'-factor which might drag people into a period they never thought of before just by seeing nice (painted and presented) miniatures.  

In the end, it's a gamble. You might get a great response (i.e. sales numbers) or only warm words.  
(Unless you use some kind of kick-starter project, like Eureka with the 100 and 300 club.)

(There was a thread on starting one's own miniature line in the open talk section some time ago, iirc. Might be worth cheking out.)

[fastolfrus]

When Foundry first sculpted Franco-Prussian they generated extra interest by also producing two coloured A4 plates of uniforms that they sold alongside the figures.

Maybe you could consider a leaflet to go with the figures?
Perhaps in PDF form so you don't have to pay for colour printing.

[argsilverson]

It is a true  fact that the "guerra de Tripla Allianza/ Guerra do Paraguai", is quite unknown to us Europeans.
As far as I can remember in the wargaming community there is only minimal information available. The first I remember was a small leaflet issued by Freikorps 15, sold at 50p, to support their dedicated range of 15 mm figures. Foundry has issued a relative book on the subject.
The stroy is quite a bloody affair shadowed by the ACW, which is greatly known and happened almost at the same time.

Anyhow it is true that marketing helps. Both proposition made by Maichus and Arlequin are worth considering and both approaches might help promoting a new range.

[OSHIROmodels]

Maybe you could consider a leaflet to go with the figures?
Perhaps in PDF form so you don't have to pay for colour printing.

That's a very good idea.

The only reference I have come across was 'Sharpe's Devil' when he implausibly goes and meets Napoleon on St Helena before getting embroiled in skulduggery on the east coast of South America.

Sounded quite interesting.

Perfect for some skirmish gaming to start with 

As to your questions, probably yes to number one, don't know that much for number two and I've got my own range of figures on the go for number three (not for this conflict though).

cheers

James

[Steve F]

When Foundry first sculpted Franco-Prussian they generated extra interest by also producing two coloured A4 plates of uniforms that they sold alongside the figures.

See also the Perry booklet on the Carlist Wars.

[Kingscarbine]

Man... I was thinking about sculpting 28mm figs for the WotTA using the Perry figs as a guide. I've been collecting books for some years and have bought a couple last summer via the Brazilian Embassy in London (inside contact  ). I'm in if you're serious about it.

Nuno

[frontal assault]

Althogether this sounds like a great idea.  As the others have mentioned, not much is known about this war outside of South America, and sadly I can't do anything but lend credit to this.  All I know is roughly when the war took place, 1865-1871 I think and that it involves Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina ganging up on little Paraguay.  For those who love figthing as the underdog it sounds great.

[Matakakea]

I think I could be tempted by a few of these. I had the pleasure of fighting a 15mm Brazilian army a few years back and it did look rather nice on the table. Foundry also have a book on the war which looks rather good from the glance I've had through it, in fact it's only lack cash thats stopped me buying it so far