Interesting News for Minis Gamers

On Saturday Rick and I went up to American Eagles (“The Game Store That Time Forgot”) and while checking out I picked up a copy of Osprey Publishing’s summer catalog for next year. Osprey publishes a huge number military history books on a staggering array of topics. Want to know what kind of uniforms a French voltigeur wore during Napoleonic Wars? There’s a book for that. Want a concise history of the Wars of Religion? They’ve got you covered. I love the Osprey books and have nearly a complete shelf of them. As I was paging through the catalog, I wondered not for the first time why Osprey didn’t try launching their own miniatures game. Pretty much every historical minis player already collects Osprey books because they are such a great resource, so tapping that market makes a lot of sense. So what do I see when I get to the last couple of pages of the catalog but a listing for just such a game. It’s called Field of Glory and it launches next summer. There’s not a lot of info available yet, but the write up said the books would be full color and use Osprey’s catalog of great art to good effect. There’s a skeletal listing on their website (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/list_by_series.php/ser=FOG), but I’ll be curious to hear more. Looks like they are starting with some classic periods for wargaming: ancient Greece and Rome, medieval Europe, and the Crusades.

Also of interest this week is the news that the Perry Twins are launching a line of historical plastic minis. Making plastic minis requires a big outlay of cash for the mold making and this is beyond almost all historical minis companies. The Perry Twins are best known for their defining work for Games Workshop, but they also run their own historical minis company on the side that does some great stuff. I have some of their medieval Normans and they are terrific. Anyway, the Perrys have the know-how, contacts, and apparently the money to do this right. They are starting with the American Civil War and doing two sets (one infantry and one cavalry). Each one has been designed to work as either Union or Confederate and you can customize them with different heads to make what you like. Even better it seems the sets wil be less than $30 each. I’ve long wanted to do some Civil War minis gaming and have a few rule sets like Fire and Fury but I’ve never taken the plunge and collected an army. This development may change that. You can see some pre-production pictures here: http://theminiaturespage.com/news/45704/. Too many minis, too many games, not enough time.

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