Fighting 15s gets set to walk the Wight
Leave a CommentOn 16 May, Ian of Fighting 15s will be taking a gentle stroll across the Isle of Wight, from one end to the other. The 26.5-mile walk starts in Bembridge in the east, and finishes at the Needles in the west, allowing Ian to collapse gracefully at least fairly near to home.
Ian is doing the walk mainly because he was talked into doing it and, because he is 50 this year, it seemed worth marking this landmark by doing something special. He has spent the last couple of months going for very long walks in preparation.
Walk the Wight is one of the main fundraising events for the Isle of Wight’s Earl Mountbatten Hospice. The hospice – the only one on the Island – cares for over 800 terminally ill patients each year free of charge, and is maintained by charitable donations.
Ian has set up a Just Giving page at www.justgiving.com/ianiow, with the aim of achieving the modest target of £200. Fighting 15s will match this target, if it is hit, with a £200 donation.
Ian’s walker number for the event is 3275.
Flashing Blade 40mm ranges in production at Fighting 15s
Fighting 15s is now producing Flashing Blade’s range of 40mm figures under licence. Mark Rowsell of Flashing Blade has had to wind down the business to deal with his illness and its domestic ramifications, and while he gets himself sorted out over the next year or so, Fighting 15s will produce his figures. The old Flashing Blade website and contact details are no longer valid.
Flashing Blade’s 40mm ranges include Skeletons (Children of the Hydra), Ancient Greeks, Romano-British, Dark Ages Saxons, and Napoleonic Portuguese cacadores. There is also a range of shield transfers and banners produced by Little Big Men Studios for Flashing Blade. The figures are now available on the Fighting 15s website; the transfers will be added after stock levels have been assessed. Pictures will follow when we can get hold of them or take them ourselves.
Prices have had to be adjusted to account for the fact that Fighting 15s is VAT registered. The price of a single 40mm Flashing Blade foot figure is £2.50 (£5.00 for two, when packaged as such) including VAT, and a single mounted figure is £7.00 including VAT.
Flashing Blade 40mm figures can be ordered in advance for Salute, and Fighting 15s will have stocks at the show.
Kleve-Berg and minor German states added to Flags for AB line
Fighting 15s has filled in a few more niches in the Flags for AB line of 15mm paper flags with the addition of three more sheets for the Napoleonic Wars: two for Kleve-Berg and one for the minor German states that provided contingents for the 4th, 5th and 6th regiments of the Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund).
The additions are:
CRK-F01 1807 Duchy of Kleve-Berg infantry and cavalry flags
CRK-F02 1809 and 1811 Duchy of Kleve-Berg infantry flags
CRR-F01 1807-1815 4th, 5th and 6th Rheinbund reigments (contingents from Mecklenberg, Anhalt, Lippe, Reuss, Hesse-Kassel, Waldeck-Lippe & Schaumberg-Lippe)
Sheets cost £3.25 inc VAT each and contain at least 8 flags.
Fighting 15s: Health and service update
As many customers I hope are aware, my wife Janet has been seriously ill over the past 13 months, having undergone six months of chemotherapy to treat leukaemia, and then requiring the rest of the time to recuperate. During that time I have found it a struggle to look after the family, run the home, and manage Fighting 15s without ruining my reputation for customer service or letting down the companies that I represent. I have worked some pretty crazy hours to keep on top.
Janet has now been able to resume work part-time, and does not have to see her consultant for another three months. Her bone marrow is still not entirely normal, but test results show she is none the less healthier than some perfectly well people, and so apart from the occasional visit to hospital and the need to take life a bit more carefully, we are as back to normal as we’ll ever be.
Fighting 15s is beginning to get back to the point it had reached 13 months ago: i.e. on top of orders, back doing wargames shows, and looking at expanding its line-up of manufacturers. Emails are dealt with when possible, sometimes even promptly. Unfortunately, it has been necessary to drop the traditional mail-order lists and switch to being an almost entirely internet-based business: doing so has ensured the orders system remains organised and fully recoverable in the event of human error. As Fighting 15s can keep going on internet-based orders and sales at shows, a return to using traditional paper-based mail order lists is not on the cards: too few orders arrive by post to warrant the time and effort spent on maintaining the lists.
Thank you to all my customers who have stuck with me and understood my problems during this horrendous time. Your support and patience is most appreciated. I have undoubtedly offended some customers during this time, or seemed distant, offhand, irrational, or inconsistent to others. Extreme stress makes a person do strange things, and I can only apologise: you have been dealing with someone who at times has had the reasoning powers and memory of Pooh Bear, which must be most frustrating.
Ian
Fighting 15s
Flags for AB releases Young Guard fanions in 15mm
Believe it or not, Fighting 15s is still filling out the 15mm Napoleonic Flags for AB range of paper flags, and we’ve tracked down some more useful additions for the French. We have two new releases, both containing 13 flags, with each sheet costing GBP3.25 including VAT.
Sheet FRA-F43, Imperial Guard Fanions (1809 to 1815), contains: Official and unofficial Fusilier fanions (4 total), Tirailleurs fanions (4 total, including 1st and 5th Tirailleur-Grenadiers), Voltigeurs fanions (5 total including 1st and 13th)
Sheet FRA-F44, Imperial Guard and Line Infantry Fanions (1806 to 1815), contains: Official and unofficial Flanquers fanions (2 total), Pupilles fanion (1), squadron and company standard Mamelukes of the Guard (2 flags total), Imperial Guard and line infantry fanions (7 total, probable designs), and the 7th light infantry 4th battalion fanion (because we can do it).
The Mamelukes are a strange omission from the original range of flags, and because the second company was part of the Young Guard we have taken to opportunity to include standards in this release.
Both sheets are available now in the Fighting 15s shop.
British Cavalry Guidons 1801 to 1815
The latest additions to Fighting 15s’ 15mm Flags for AB range are five sheets depicting British cavalry guidons for 1801 to 1815. Even though it’s unlikely that many if any British cavalry regiments carried their colours in the field, and certainly not after 1812, we’ve often been asked whether we will produce the flags.
The new sheets are as follows:
GBR-F34 1st to 6th Dragoon Guards
GBR-F35 7th Dragoon Guards, 1st to 4th and 6th Dragoons
GBR-F36 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th Light Dragoons
GBR-F37 16th, 17th, 19th, 21st, 23rd and 26th Light Dragoons
GBR-F38 KGL 1st and 2nd Dragoons, Life Guards 1801 (1st or 2nd regt), Royal Horse Guards, and Life Guards 1815 (1st or 2nd regt, 1st standard, regimental guidon, 3rd and 4th standards)
All sheets contain 12 flags (King’s colour and regimental colour, except the Life Guards 1815, as detailed above), and sheets cost GBP3.25 each including VAT. Please note that AB Figures does not make the appropriate guidon bearers, which have to be converted from figures in the range.
Huzzah! Napoleonic rules walkthrough
Sean Brady has very kindly uploaded a five-and-a-half turn walkthrough of a game of Huzzah! to the Yahoo! group. It is one of those things I’ve been meaning to do, and am hoping to include in the next edition of the game (which is still being laid-out and edited).
Group members can access the file at http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/Huzzah_UK/files/Orbats/ – and don’t be put off by Sean’s use of the words “excruciating detail” – it’s a good read, made easier with some light humour. It also illustrates the perils of playing in the garden.
Huzzah! is Oozlum Games’ set of tactical rules for Napoleonic wargames, which has been available free on the web as a PDF since 2003. The next edition will be available only in printed form.
Flags for AB expands line-up with 15mm Swiss flags
Infantry flags for Switzerland, the Confederation of Swiss Cantons and the Helvetian Republic are the latest additions to the 15mm Flags for AB range. Codes and details are as follows:
SWZ-F01 Helvetian Republic 1798-1803, 1st, 2nd and 3rd demi-brigades [9]
SWZ-F02 Helvetian Republic 1798-1803, 4th, 5th and 6th demi-brigades [9]
SWZ-F03 Helvetian Republic 1798-1803, St Gallen and Vaud cantons, Jager zu Pferde regiment [9]
SWZ-F04 Helvetian Republic, French 1804 pattern, 1st and 2nd demi-brigades [8]
SWZ-F05 Helvetian Republic, French 1804 pattern, 3rd and 4th demi-brigades [8]
SWZ-F06 Swiss Infantry, French 1804 pattern, 1st and 2nd regiments [8]
SWZ-F07 Swiss Infantry, French 1804 pattern, 3rd and 4th regiments [8]
SWZ-F08 Confederation of Swiss Cantons, 1803: Legion St Gallen, Neuchatel, Bern and Basel cantons [8]
SWZ-F09 Confederation of Swiss Cantons, 1803: Glarus, Zurich, Uri and Aagau cantons [8]
SWZ-F10 Confederation of Swiss Cantons, 1803: Militia infantry Tessin (1809), Neuenburg, and Vaud cantons; Artillery Corps of Geneva 1814 [8]
Flags are GBP3.25 (inc VAT) per sheet and are available in the Fighting 15s shop. The number in brackets is the number of flags per sheet.
Fighting 15s has a few unusual flags in preparation to meet special requests from customers, but the arrival of the Swiss flags means the Flags for AB range for the nations of the Napoleonic Wars is almost complete.
Fighting 15s will have the new Swiss flags as well as the rest of the Flags for AB range at Claymore, Edinburgh, on 2 August.
More 30mm Prussian flags for Huzzah! Miniatures
Twenty-four new regiments have joined the range of 30mm Prussian Seven Years War infantry flags for Huzzah! Miniatures. The range has expanded from the initial release of regiments 1 to 12, and flags are now available for infantry regiments 1 to 36. Each sheet contains four flags for one infantry regiment and costs GBP3.25 including VAT. Flags are available to order now in the online shop.
We will add the remaining infantry regiments soon and then progress to the cavalry flags.
Although designed to fit the flagpoles of Huzzah! Miniatures’ 30mm figures, the flags also suit 25mm and 28mm figures from other manufacturers.
As for Huzzah! Miniatures themselves, work is still progressing on mould making. Musketeer variants A, B and C are currently available, along with grenadier variant A and the respective commands. We regret that illness has got in the way of mould making, but hope to catch up here shortly – just as soon as we’ve got up to date on orders. Until we are ready to announce the initial range as a whole, however, figures remain available to advance order in the online shop.
Huzzah! Miniatures available to advance order
The Fighting 15s online shop now lists the initial codes of Huzzah! Miniatures range of classic 30mm Seven Years War figures. Figures, which include Prussian-style musketeers and grenadiers, are currently available to advance order as the figures have yet to be officially released.
Pictures of the figures currently only exist for the special bargain packs for gamers who use the old school wargames rules Charge! or The War Game. Huzzah! Miniatures is still at work on production moulds and pictures of individual figures of the range.
Prices of foot figures have been fixed at GBP0.70 per foot figure and GBP2.10 for the mounted officer. The base infantry pack coupled with a command pack for Charge! reduces the cost to the equivalent of just over GBP0.65 per foot figure including VAT.
The first 12 sheets of 30mm Prussian flags for the range is also available in the shop. Flags have been designed neatly to wrap round the flagpoles of standard bearers in the Huzzah! Miniatures range of classic 30mm figures.
Classic 30mm wargames figures are old school wargames figures of comparatively slim build that measure 30mm from head to foot.
oozlumgames.com 
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