1815 Two Hundred Years On
The beginning of the new year, 2015, marked the third anniversary of my 1809 project. Reflecting on the year gone by, 2014 had been a disappointing year for new 10mm Napoleonics. It had been the first year since the heralding of Pendraken’s new Napoleonic range back in 2010 that there hadn’t been a single new release from any 10mm manufacturer. The last Pendraken new releases had been their Bavarians, available back in September 2013 – I had got hold of a quantity in January 2014 (see Post 137) – and there were great expectations for 2014 and the build up to the 1815 bicentenary. Leon at Pendraken had asked me at the end of 2013 if I would help out in some sort of consultancy role with making up and scheduling the sculpting lists for the Napoleonic ranges, which I was more than happy to do. The 1809 range had to wait in line as, with the 1815 bicentenary just around the corner, Pendraken were keen to release new British and Prussian ranges. I felt that it was important to produce a list that reflected what could be realistically produced in the limited time (and in the even more limited time for painting the figures) before the bicentenary in June 2015. I was careful to keep the list to just what was really needed
rather than to create two complete ranges. I also had a keen eye on the fact that the
Pendraken French army to contest the Waterloo tabletop was in
no way finished.
As the clock was ticking, I was surprised that
sculpting time had been spent on miniatures
that were not on my list – figures that were
not needed for refighting 1815, plus a
number that were complete
fabrications. That’s to say, they never
existed – like standard bearers for
units that didn’t carry standards.
As I said, there were no new figures
produced in 2014 but it was good to
see that a fine range of Pendraken
Napoleonic British and Prussian
figures would be available one day.
Back in November 2013, Simon at
Redline Miniatures had sent me an
image of a forthcoming 10mm
Austrian wurst gun (see Post 114).
However and unfortunately, Redline,
like Pendraken, didn’t release any new
10mm Napoleonics in 2014.
So after an uneventful year as far as new releases were
concerned, getting hold of a bunch of old AIM figures (see
Post 171) was a very nice Christmas present for me. As old as the AIM miniature
range was, the figures were new to me and a welcome addition to my 1809 project.
POST 177
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