Sind Sie auch Sammler oder
Wargamer, der, genau wie ich, seine ersten Erfahrungen mit Miniaturen auch
heute noch mit dem Namen Airfix verbindet?
Der die Funckens über alles schätzt, ja liebt, weil deren Uniformbände, Ihnen die erste Inspiration für die Bemalung Ihrer Figuren gegeben haben (mal abgesehen von der Phase der Findung, in der sie dachten, dass die Deckelbilder Ihrer Airfixpackungen die Ultimatio Ratio der Uniformkunde seien).
Gehören Sie zu denen, die die Namen Mollo, Haythornthwaite und Jack Cassin-Scott auch heute noch zuordnen können, weil der Heyne Verlag Ihnen die Freude beschert hatte, deren Uniformbände zu den napoleonischen Kriegen in die deutsche Sprache zu übersetzen, und als Sammelbände herauszubringen?
Wenn Sie zu dieser Gruppe gehören, dann erinnern sie sich sicherlich auch daran, wie großartig es war, wenn EINE Neuerscheinung der Firmen Airfix, Esci oder Revell angekündigt wurde.
Was war das ein Fest.
Zum damaligen Zeitpunkt, ich rede von den 70er bis 80er Jahren, war es nun einmal so, dass Sie, liebe Sammler mit wenig zufrieden waren.
Für Sie bestanden Napoleons Armeen aus den Figürchen von Airfix.
Der die Funckens über alles schätzt, ja liebt, weil deren Uniformbände, Ihnen die erste Inspiration für die Bemalung Ihrer Figuren gegeben haben (mal abgesehen von der Phase der Findung, in der sie dachten, dass die Deckelbilder Ihrer Airfixpackungen die Ultimatio Ratio der Uniformkunde seien).
Gehören Sie zu denen, die die Namen Mollo, Haythornthwaite und Jack Cassin-Scott auch heute noch zuordnen können, weil der Heyne Verlag Ihnen die Freude beschert hatte, deren Uniformbände zu den napoleonischen Kriegen in die deutsche Sprache zu übersetzen, und als Sammelbände herauszubringen?
Wenn Sie zu dieser Gruppe gehören, dann erinnern sie sich sicherlich auch daran, wie großartig es war, wenn EINE Neuerscheinung der Firmen Airfix, Esci oder Revell angekündigt wurde.
Was war das ein Fest.
Zum damaligen Zeitpunkt, ich rede von den 70er bis 80er Jahren, war es nun einmal so, dass Sie, liebe Sammler mit wenig zufrieden waren.
Für Sie bestanden Napoleons Armeen aus den Figürchen von Airfix.
Aus der französischen Linieninfanterie, deren Marschierer die Muskete falsch geschultert hatten – was Sie damals nicht wussten.
Aus der französischen Garde, die abgesehen von den schießenden Figuren, doch recht merkwürdige Haltungen hatte, unter anderem den Gardisten, der einen Gewehrkolben recht unnatürlich in die Lüfte hob.
Aus den britischen Linieninfanteristen und Highlandern, deren Bases so schmal waren, dass sie immer umfielen.
Aus den französischen Kürassieren, DER French Cavalry – offensichtlich gab es da keine andere -, deren Figuren extrem schmalbrüstig wirkten. Zudem war da eine Miniatur dabei, die ein Pferd hielt. Warum das? Warum kämpfte die Mini nicht?
Dann war da die Waterloo British Cavalry, die Sie irgendwie merkwürdig fanden, weil jeder Soldat anders modelliert worden war. Hinzu kam noch, dass diese Minis fast doppelt so breit waren, wie die französischen Kürassiere, und hinzu kam noch, dass deren Pferde, genau wie bei den Franzosen, nicht richtig auf der separaten Bodenplatte hielten, und ihnen beim Spielen, trotz der Zuhilfenahme unzähligen Plastikklebers, immer wieder umkippten.
Bei den Franzosen irritierte das Transportmittel der Kanone: Eine Deichsel mit zwei Rädern, gezogen von zwei Pferden. Sahen die Protzen damals so aus?
Die Frage konnten Sie persönlich erst für sich lösen, wenn Sie die oben genannten Bücher besaßen.
Besaßen Sie sie, waren sie ganz schön enttäuscht, als sie die Wirklichkeit entdeckten. Außerdem fragten Sie sich damals, warum um Himmels Willen sind da acht Marschierende dabei. Eine Frage, die ich, wenn ich ehrlich bin, bis heute nicht wirklich beantworten kann.
Die britische Artillerie war allerdings Ihr Sahnehäubchen. Die sahen echt gut aus in ihren Raupenhelmen, und der Chef mit dem Fernrohr, der hatte echt was.
DAS waren die Figuren mit denen Sie jahrelang spielten.
Zunächst im Sandkasten, dann in Ihrem Kinderzimmer, vielleicht auch mal auf der Tischplatte ihres Schreibtisches. Quasi auf dem „Tabletop“.
Und was soll ich sagen.
Sie, ich, wir alle waren zufrieden und glücklich.
Was brauchte man eigentlich mehr?
Es war völlig egal, dass ein Großteil der Posen unglücklich war.
Dass die Franzosen Wasserköpfe hatten.
Dass die Pferde von den Bodenplatten kippten.
Dass die Figuren eigentlich nicht zueinander passten, scheinbar andere Maßstäbe hatten.
Das störte Sie nicht.
Das einzige an was Sie
damals dachten, war der Spruch „ich wünschte es wäre Nacht, oder die Preußen
kämen.“
Die kamen dann auch, aber relativ spät im Jahr 1979.
Was waren wir glücklich. Wie haben wir das gefeiert. Wir lernten, dass Preußen kein Bajonett nutzen. Dass sie ihre Gewehre recht ungewöhnlich vor ihrem Körper halten.
Aber egal.
Endlich waren die Preußen da.
Die kamen dann auch, aber relativ spät im Jahr 1979.
Was waren wir glücklich. Wie haben wir das gefeiert. Wir lernten, dass Preußen kein Bajonett nutzen. Dass sie ihre Gewehre recht ungewöhnlich vor ihrem Körper halten.
Aber egal.
Endlich waren die Preußen da.
Jetzt war Waterloo gerettet. Da würde jetzt bestimmt noch mehr kommen. Dachten Sie. Sie wollten eine komplette Serie. Sie wollten alle Kavalleristen der Schlacht von Waterloo, alle Artilleristen, alle Infanteristen.
Aber Airfix erklärte das Experiment für beendet.
Seitdem packt die Firma immer wieder diese Figuren in einem Waterloo Battleset zusammen, und erklärt uns damit, dass man bereits 1979 alles erreicht hatte, was man erreichen wollte.
Sie waren so enttäuscht.
Sie verbitterten, und selbst Esci, die Firma, die dann einige ihrer Wünsche erfüllte, aber nicht alle, konnte sie nicht wirklich zurückholen.
Der Lichtschein Hät verblasste dann auch sehr schnell, spätestens dann, wenn Sie deren Figuren in den Händen hielten.
Eine unbefriedigende, sehr einsame Zeit.
Meine lieben Leser.
Merken Sie sich bitte alles das, was ich dort oben ausgeführt habe genau.
Denn alle die Menschen, die Sie heute als Knöpfchenzähler kennen, kommen aus dieser Zeit.
Diese große Schar der damals Kompromissbereiten, die heute noch weinen, wenn sie eine Airfix Mini in der Hand haben, kritisieren heute den Scale creep, regen sich über dicke 28 mm Figuren auf, die angeblich große Köpfe haben, suchen bei 28 mm Figuren Knöpfe, die es auf Ihren Lieblingsminis gar nicht gab.
Diese Sammler bombardieren die armen Perries mit Wünschen nach mehr und mehr, obwohl Airfix sie damals mit insgesamt 9 Packungen zufriedenstellte, die –ehrlich gesagt – alle grottenschlecht waren.
Es sind dieselben Menschen, die jeden falsch gemalten Uniformaufschlag verdammen, obwohl sie selbst einmal völlig davon überzeugt waren, dass alles, was auf den Deckelbildern Ihrer heißgeliebten Airfix Minis zu sehen war, auch historisch korrekt sei.
Aus dieser Schar der Kompromissbereiten, sind heute die Kritiker entstanden, die Sie meine lieben Leser in Foren, bei Facebook, bei Instagram oder sonst irgendwo kennenlernen.
Seien Sie gütig mit Ihnen.
Denn irgendwann waren auch Sie Kinder, die einen Traum hatten.
Sie sind erst später leicht biestig geworden, weil sie solange auf Neuerscheinungen warten mussten.
Wenn Sie sich also über die Nörgler ärgern, sehen Sie einfach in Ihnen das Kind von damals, dass sich diebisch freute, als dann Esci und Revell richtige Figuren rausbrachten, die zwar, aus heutiger Sicht betrachtet immer noch schlecht waren, aber fair gesprochen, einen Meilenstein darstellten, verglichen mit ihren Vorgängern von Airfix.
Was WIR, und ich zähle mich ja auch zu dieser Gruppe, aber höchstgradig bedauern, ist die Tatsache, dass wir nicht verstehen, warum gerade Revell, Italeri und Zvezda die Master ihrer eigenen Minis in Schubladen gesteckt haben, und diese auch nicht mehr zu den mittlerweile bezahlten, sehr teuren Spritzgussformen bringen, um sie erneut auf den Markt zu werfen.
Diese Hersteller haben das Hobby als erledigt definiert, uns quasi gezwungen zu anderen Ufern zu gehen, sich dem 28 mm Maßstab, oder Kleinherstellern zuzuwenden.
Deshalb meckern wir auch so viel, weil man uns unsere Kindheitsträume geraubt hat.
Erst das Warten, jetzt die Verknappung.
Das zehrt an einem.
Dabei können wir eines. Mit wenig zufrieden sein, und vor allem, warten.
Es ist geradezu grotesk, dass heutzutage der Hersteller, den wir in den 90er Jahren verdammt haben, zum Marktführer aufsteigt.
Ich rede von Strelets.
Im Gegensatz zu Airfix hat sich diese Figurenschmiede verbessert.
Wirft immer mehr Minis auf den Markt, die mittlerweile auch echt gut sind.
Nichts mehr von Plastikknubbel wie früher. Nein. Gut modellierte, gut recherchierte Minis, die wirklich zu gefallen wissen.
Na, und was ist das Großartige an Strelets.
Sie entwerfen komplette Serien!!!
Gut. Das hatte Hät in den 90er und 0er Jahren auch versucht.
Allerdings waren da viele Minis nicht wirklich gelungen.
Außerdem war da das Problem, dass die Zeiten von der Ankündigung bis zur Veröffentlichung oftmals zu lang waren.
Strelets macht das mittlerweile besser; und Strelets könnte es wirklich gelingen eine Epoche wiederzubeleben, die in Deutschland nur von wenigen bespielt wird.
Genau vor einem Jahr habe ich Ihnen begeistert einen Bericht geliefert, der sich mit den Infanteristen des Spanischen Erbfolgekriegs beschäftigte.
Schon damals habe ich die Vielfalt des Herstellers gelobt.
Heute, nach einem Jahr ist es Zeit ihn nochmals zu würdigen, denn innerhalb eines Jahres hat diese Firma jetzt die sehr variantenreiche Kavallerie und Artillerie des Konfliktes abgebildet!!!
Uns alten Sammlern hätte es im besten Airfix Stil doch gereicht, wenn wir DIE French Cavalry und DIE British Cavalry bekommen hätten.
Wir können ja warten und bescheiden sein, wenn es um 1/72 Minis geht (im 28 mm Maßstab hätten wir gemeckert).
Was macht Strelets???
Die bilden nahezu alles ab, was Sie, meine lieben Leser aus den Funcken Bänden kennen.
Da gibt es die British Cavalry (Set 238), die Chevau-Legers und Gendarmes de la Garde (239), das Garde du Corps (240), die French Royal Horse Grenadiers (241), die French Musketeers of the Guard (242), die britische (243) und die französische (244) Artillerie.
Wenn Sie jetzt denken, das ist alles, dann haben Sie sich geirrt.
Strelets ist da offensichtlich in einem solchen Flow, dass sie den Nummernkreis ihrer Packungen erweitern mussten.
Es gibt nämlich noch viel mehr: French Dragoons on the march (251), French Late War Dragoons in Reserve (252), French Dragoons in Attack (253), Dismounted French Dragoons in Skirmish (254), British Regiment of Horse (Late War) (255) und die British Dragoons (256).
Die Nummern 257 bis 269 sind noch frei. Kommt da noch mehr???
Frühe französische Husaren und mehr??
Man wird es noch sehen.
Gehen Sie bitte einmal auf die Seite von Strelets. Alles kann ich hier nicht zeigen. Das würde keinen Sinn machen.
http://www.strelets-r.com/Pages/Product.aspx?SeriesID=1
Eine solche Auswahl findet man heute nur noch im 28 mm Maßstab, und hier höchstens bei den Napoleonischen Kriegen.
Das uns Strelets aber jetzt die Möglichkeit bietet, die doch sehr variantenreiche Kavallerie des Konflikt abzubilden, ist schon überragend.
Wer noch kein Projekt für sich am Horizont hat, dem empfehle ich diese Miniaturen.
Der 1/72 Maßstab ist ideal für diese Epoche. Ich möchte da nur auf meine Spielberichte zum Nordischen Krieg verweisen, wo wir Zvezda Figuren in die Schlacht geführt haben.
Der Look ist ideal; und das Angebot, das uns Strelets hier macht, ist fantastisch.
Noch sind nicht alle Figuren erschienen. Sie können sich also langsam an die Geschichte herantasten. Aber im Gegensatz zur Firma Hät, bringt Strelets auch das raus – und zwar relativ kurzfristig – was sie ankündigen.
Man kann hier also demnächst aus dem Vollen schöpfen.
Erwähnen sollte ich noch, dass auch die Infanteriesets nochmals Zuwachs bekommen haben.
In diesen beiden Berichten hier, hatte ich die damals erschienenen Sets besprochen:
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2019/11/strelets-230-und-231-der-spanische.html
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2020/04/strelets-234-235-236-spanischer.html
In beiden Berichten hatte ich Ihnen auch entsprechende Buchtipps gegeben.
Also gerne nochmals reinklicken.
Neu hinzu gekommen, sind Set 232 British Infantry Firing Line 1701-1714, Set 233 French Musketeers on the March und Set 237 French Pikemen.
Hier bleibt zu sagen, dass die französischen Sets etwas schlechter modelliert sind als die britischen. Da wir aber hier auch jede Menge Posen haben, werden Sie genügende Minis für Ihre Schlachtreihen finden.
Um es abschließend zu sagen.
Strelets liefert uns hier eine Vielfalt, die in 1/72 nur vergleichbar ist mit der Zweiten Weltkriegsreihe des Herstellers Caesar.
So etwas, hätten wir uns alle damals von Airfix gewünscht, und ich bin mir sicher, dass, hätte Airfix diese Mission erkannt, wir weniger verbitterte Sammler und Wargamer in 1/72 hätten.
Warten Sie mal 20 Jahre darauf, das was Anständiges rauskommt.
Das macht einsam und führt zur Verbitterung.
Strelets kann das bei der heutigen Generation geraderücken, wenn da noch Interesse besteht.
Wenn nicht, haben Sie eine mittlerweile in die Jahre gekommene Fangemeinde, die auch die Kohle hat, diese ganzen Packungen zu kaufen; na und vielleicht werden auch die Verbitterten und Gemarterten weinen und wieder glücklich sein.
ENDLICH MAL EINE KOMPLETTE SERIE IN 1/72.
Was will man eigentlich mehr…
Vielleicht, dass Strelets uns ein Battleset rausbringt.
Umverpackungen, genau wie Deckelbilder, sind einfach überragend, und sehr, sehr wichtig für uns.
Glauben Sie mir.
Manchmal sind sie sogar wichtiger, als die darin befindlichen Figuren.
Link zum Hersteller:
Strelets - Home (strelets-r.com)
Are you also a collector or wargamer who, like me, still associates his
first experiences with miniatures of Airfix?
Who appreciates the Funckens more than anything, even loves them, because their uniform bands gave you the initial inspiration for painting your figures (apart from the phase of finding, in which you thought that the images printed on your Airfix sets were the ultimate ratio of uniform research ).
Are you one of those who can still assign the names Mollo, Haythornthwaite and Jack Cassin-Scott to this day because the german publisher Heyne gave you the pleasure of translating their books into German?
If you belong to this group, you will surely remember how great it was when ONE new release from the companies Airfix, Esci or Revell was announced.
What a feast.
At the time, I'm talking from the 1970s to the 1980s, it was just the case that you, dear collectors, were not satisfied with much.
In your eyes, Napoleon's armies consisted of Airfix miniatures.
There was the French line infantry, whose marchers had shouldered the musket incorrectly - which you did not know at the time.
There was the French guard who, apart from the shooting figures, had very strange poses, including the guardsman who raised a rifle butt in the air in a rather unnatural way.
There were the British line infantry and Highlanders, whose bases were so small that they kept falling over.
There were the French cuirassiers, THE French Cavalry - obviously there was no other - that looked extremely narrow-chested. There was also a miniature holding a horse. Why this? Why wasn't the Mini fighting?
Then there was the Waterloo British Cavalry, which you found kind of strange because each soldier was modeled differently. In addition, these minis were almost twice as big/fat as the French cuirassiers, and it wasn’t possible to fix the horses on their bases. Tons of plastic glue were used; but we all failed.
There was also artillery.
Do you remember the gun limber of the French: a two-wheeled drawbar pulled by two horses?
Did the limbers really look like that back then? You could only personally solve the question for yourself once you had the books mentioned above.
If you owned it, you were pretty disappointed when you discovered the reality.
You also asked yourself at the time why on earth are there eight marchers included in the set? A question that, to be honest, I still can't really answer to this day.
The British artillery, however, was the icing on the cake. The minis looked really good in their caterpillar helmets, and the captain with the telescope… he was awesome.
THAT were the miniatures you played with for years.
First in the sandpit, then in your children's room, maybe on the tabletop of your desk. Yes; can you hear the sound of the word: on the "table top".
And what should I say.
You, me, we were all content and happy. What more do you actually need?
It didn't matter that much of the poses were not so good. That the French had melon heads. That the horses fell off the bases. That the figures did not actually fit together, apparently had different standards. You didn't mind.
The only thing you thought of at the time was the saying "I wish it was night or the Prussians would come."
They came then, too, but relatively late in 1979.
How happy we were. How did we celebrate that.
We learned that Prussians do not use a bayonet.
That they hold their rifles in front of their bodies in a very unusual way.
But it doesn't matter.
Finally, the Prussians were there.
NowWaterloo
There would definitely be more to come now. You thought. You dreamed of a full series. You wanted all the different cavalrymen of the Battle of Waterloo, all the artillerymen, all the infantrymen.
But Airfix declared the experiment as finished.
Since then, the company has been packing these figures together in aWaterloo
You were so disappointed. Your dreams were broken.
The glow of Hät faded very quickly, at the latest when you held their figures in your hands.
An unsatisfactory, very lonely time.
My dear readers.
Please make a careful note of everything that I have said above.
Because all the people you know today as button counters raised up in this time.
In former times they were happy with all the compromises. Still today they cry when they have an Airfix Mini in their hand.
But, they are the same persons who criticize the scale creep today, get upset about 28 mm figures that supposedly have big heads, look for the exactness of buttons on 28 mm figures that didn't even exist on their favorite old Minis.
These collectors bombard the poor Perry brothers with wishes for more and more, although Airfix then satisfied them with a total of 9 packs, which - to be honest - were all horrible.
They are the same people who condemn any wrongly painted uniform, even though they were once completely convinced that everything that was shown on the cover pictures of their beloved Airfix Minis was also historically correct.
From this crowd of those formerly willing to compromise, the critics arose today, whom you, my dear readers, get to know in forums, on Facebook, on Instagram or elsewhere.
Be kind to them. Because at some point they were children who had a dream.
They only became slightly beastly later because they had to wait so long for new releases.
So if you get annoyed about the complainers, just see them as the child from back then.
What WE, and I also belong to this group, deeply regret, is the fact that we do not understand why Revell, Italeri and Zvezda put the masters of their own minis back in the store.
These manufacturers have defined the hobby as done, forcing us to go to other shores, to turn to the 28 mm scale, or to small manufacturers.
That's why we complain so much because our childhood dreams were stolen from us.
First the waiting, now the shortage.
That eats you up.
We can do one thing. Be satisfied with little, and most of all, wait.
It is downright grotesque that these days the manufacturer we condemned in the 90s is becoming the market leader.
I'm talking about Strelets.
In contrast to Airfix, this company has improved.
Strelets throw more and more minis on the market, which are now also really good.
Nothing more of plastic knobs like before. Instead. Well-modeled, well-researched minis that really know how to please.
Well, what's the great thing about Strelets.
They design COMPLETE series!!!
Well. Hät tried to do that in the 90s and 0s.
However, many minis were not really good.
Strelets is doing better now; and Strelets could really succeed in reviving an era that only a few inGermany
Exactly a year ago I enthusiastically delivered a report on the infantrymen of the War of the Spanish Succession.
Even then, I praised the manufacturer's diversity.
Today, after a year, it is time to pay tribute to the company again, because within a year the manufacturer has now mapped the very varied cavalry and artillery of the conflict !!!
For us old collectors it would have been enough, in the best Airfix style, if we had got THE French Cavalry and THE British Cavalry.
We can wait and be humble when it comes to 1/72 minis (at a 28 mm scale we would have complained).
What is Strelets doing???
They cover almost everything that you, my dear readers, know from the Funcken Uniform volumes.
There is the British Cavalry (Set 238), the Chevau-Legers and Gendarmes de la Garde (239), the Garde du Corps (240), the French Royal Horse Grenadiers (241), the French Musketeers of the Guard (242) , British (243) and French (244) artillery.
If you now think that is all, then you are wrong.
Strelets is obviously in such a flow that they had to expand the number range of their packs.
There are many more:
French Dragoons on the march (251), French Late War Dragoons in Reserve (252), French Dragoons in Attack (253), Dismounted French Dragoons in Skirmish (254), British Regiment of Horse (Late War ) (255) and the British Dragoons (256).
Numbers 257 to 269 are still available.
Is there more to come ???
Early French Hussars and more??
It will be seen soon.
Please go to the Strelets website once. I can't show everything here. That wouldn't make any sense.
http://www.strelets-r.com/Pages/Product.aspx?SeriesID=1
Such a selection can only be found today on a 28 mm scale, and here at most in the Napoleonic Wars.
The fact that Strelets now have the will to depict the very varied cavalry of the conflict is already outstanding.
I recommend these miniatures to those who don't have a project on the horizon yet.
1/72 scale is ideal for this era. I just want to refer to my game reports on the Northern War, where we led Zvezda characters into battle.
The look is ideal; and the offer that strelets make to us here is fantastic.
Not all miniatures have appeared yet. So you can slowly approach the story. But in contrast to the company Hät, Strelets also brings out what they announce - and at relatively short notice.
I should also mention that the infantry sets have also grown again.
In these two reports here, I had discussed the sets that were released at the time:
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2019/11/strelets-230-und-231-der-spanische.html
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2020/04/strelets-234-235-236-spanischer.html
In both reports I also gave you relevant book tips.
So please click again.
Added to this is Set 232 British Infantry Firing Line 1701-1714, Set 233 French Musketeers on the March and Set 237 French Pikemen.
It remains to be said that the French sets are modeled a little worse than the British ones. But since we also have a lot of poses here, you will find enough minis for your battle lines.
To conclude.
Strelets provides us with a variety that in 1/72 is only comparable with the Second World War series by the manufacturer Caesar.
We would have all wished for something like that from Airfix back then, and I am sure that, if Airfix had recognized this mission, we would have less bitter collectors and wargamers in 1/72.
Wait 20 years for something decent to come out!!! That makes you lonely and leads to bitterness.
Strelets can fix that with today's generation if there is still interest.
If not, they have an aging fan base who has the cash to buy all these packs; well and maybe the embittered and tortured will cry and be happy again….
FINALLY A COMPLETE SERIES IN 1/72.
What do you want more??
Hmmmhhh.
Maybe Strelets will bring us a battleset.
Outer packaging, just like cover pictures, is simply outstanding and very, very important to us. Believe me. That’s important and in former times that was better than the minis inside the sets.
Who appreciates the Funckens more than anything, even loves them, because their uniform bands gave you the initial inspiration for painting your figures (apart from the phase of finding, in which you thought that the images printed on your Airfix sets were the ultimate ratio of uniform research ).
Are you one of those who can still assign the names Mollo, Haythornthwaite and Jack Cassin-Scott to this day because the german publisher Heyne gave you the pleasure of translating their books into German?
If you belong to this group, you will surely remember how great it was when ONE new release from the companies Airfix, Esci or Revell was announced.
What a feast.
At the time, I'm talking from the 1970s to the 1980s, it was just the case that you, dear collectors, were not satisfied with much.
In your eyes, Napoleon's armies consisted of Airfix miniatures.
There was the French line infantry, whose marchers had shouldered the musket incorrectly - which you did not know at the time.
There was the French guard who, apart from the shooting figures, had very strange poses, including the guardsman who raised a rifle butt in the air in a rather unnatural way.
There were the British line infantry and Highlanders, whose bases were so small that they kept falling over.
There were the French cuirassiers, THE French Cavalry - obviously there was no other - that looked extremely narrow-chested. There was also a miniature holding a horse. Why this? Why wasn't the Mini fighting?
Then there was the Waterloo British Cavalry, which you found kind of strange because each soldier was modeled differently. In addition, these minis were almost twice as big/fat as the French cuirassiers, and it wasn’t possible to fix the horses on their bases. Tons of plastic glue were used; but we all failed.
There was also artillery.
Do you remember the gun limber of the French: a two-wheeled drawbar pulled by two horses?
Did the limbers really look like that back then? You could only personally solve the question for yourself once you had the books mentioned above.
If you owned it, you were pretty disappointed when you discovered the reality.
You also asked yourself at the time why on earth are there eight marchers included in the set? A question that, to be honest, I still can't really answer to this day.
The British artillery, however, was the icing on the cake. The minis looked really good in their caterpillar helmets, and the captain with the telescope… he was awesome.
THAT were the miniatures you played with for years.
First in the sandpit, then in your children's room, maybe on the tabletop of your desk. Yes; can you hear the sound of the word: on the "table top".
And what should I say.
You, me, we were all content and happy. What more do you actually need?
It didn't matter that much of the poses were not so good. That the French had melon heads. That the horses fell off the bases. That the figures did not actually fit together, apparently had different standards. You didn't mind.
The only thing you thought of at the time was the saying "I wish it was night or the Prussians would come."
They came then, too, but relatively late in 1979.
How happy we were. How did we celebrate that.
We learned that Prussians do not use a bayonet.
That they hold their rifles in front of their bodies in a very unusual way.
But it doesn't matter.
Finally, the Prussians were there.
Now
There would definitely be more to come now. You thought. You dreamed of a full series. You wanted all the different cavalrymen of the Battle of Waterloo, all the artillerymen, all the infantrymen.
But Airfix declared the experiment as finished.
Since then, the company has been packing these figures together in a
You were so disappointed. Your dreams were broken.
The glow of Hät faded very quickly, at the latest when you held their figures in your hands.
An unsatisfactory, very lonely time.
My dear readers.
Please make a careful note of everything that I have said above.
Because all the people you know today as button counters raised up in this time.
In former times they were happy with all the compromises. Still today they cry when they have an Airfix Mini in their hand.
But, they are the same persons who criticize the scale creep today, get upset about 28 mm figures that supposedly have big heads, look for the exactness of buttons on 28 mm figures that didn't even exist on their favorite old Minis.
These collectors bombard the poor Perry brothers with wishes for more and more, although Airfix then satisfied them with a total of 9 packs, which - to be honest - were all horrible.
They are the same people who condemn any wrongly painted uniform, even though they were once completely convinced that everything that was shown on the cover pictures of their beloved Airfix Minis was also historically correct.
From this crowd of those formerly willing to compromise, the critics arose today, whom you, my dear readers, get to know in forums, on Facebook, on Instagram or elsewhere.
Be kind to them. Because at some point they were children who had a dream.
They only became slightly beastly later because they had to wait so long for new releases.
So if you get annoyed about the complainers, just see them as the child from back then.
What WE, and I also belong to this group, deeply regret, is the fact that we do not understand why Revell, Italeri and Zvezda put the masters of their own minis back in the store.
These manufacturers have defined the hobby as done, forcing us to go to other shores, to turn to the 28 mm scale, or to small manufacturers.
That's why we complain so much because our childhood dreams were stolen from us.
First the waiting, now the shortage.
That eats you up.
We can do one thing. Be satisfied with little, and most of all, wait.
It is downright grotesque that these days the manufacturer we condemned in the 90s is becoming the market leader.
I'm talking about Strelets.
In contrast to Airfix, this company has improved.
Strelets throw more and more minis on the market, which are now also really good.
Nothing more of plastic knobs like before. Instead. Well-modeled, well-researched minis that really know how to please.
Well, what's the great thing about Strelets.
They design COMPLETE series!!!
Well. Hät tried to do that in the 90s and 0s.
However, many minis were not really good.
Strelets is doing better now; and Strelets could really succeed in reviving an era that only a few in
Exactly a year ago I enthusiastically delivered a report on the infantrymen of the War of the Spanish Succession.
Even then, I praised the manufacturer's diversity.
Today, after a year, it is time to pay tribute to the company again, because within a year the manufacturer has now mapped the very varied cavalry and artillery of the conflict !!!
For us old collectors it would have been enough, in the best Airfix style, if we had got THE French Cavalry and THE British Cavalry.
We can wait and be humble when it comes to 1/72 minis (at a 28 mm scale we would have complained).
What is Strelets doing???
They cover almost everything that you, my dear readers, know from the Funcken Uniform volumes.
There is the British Cavalry (Set 238), the Chevau-Legers and Gendarmes de la Garde (239), the Garde du Corps (240), the French Royal Horse Grenadiers (241), the French Musketeers of the Guard (242) , British (243) and French (244) artillery.
If you now think that is all, then you are wrong.
Strelets is obviously in such a flow that they had to expand the number range of their packs.
There are many more:
French Dragoons on the march (251), French Late War Dragoons in Reserve (252), French Dragoons in Attack (253), Dismounted French Dragoons in Skirmish (254), British Regiment of Horse (Late War ) (255) and the British Dragoons (256).
Numbers 257 to 269 are still available.
Is there more to come ???
Early French Hussars and more??
It will be seen soon.
Please go to the Strelets website once. I can't show everything here. That wouldn't make any sense.
http://www.strelets-r.com/Pages/Product.aspx?SeriesID=1
Such a selection can only be found today on a 28 mm scale, and here at most in the Napoleonic Wars.
The fact that Strelets now have the will to depict the very varied cavalry of the conflict is already outstanding.
I recommend these miniatures to those who don't have a project on the horizon yet.
1/72 scale is ideal for this era. I just want to refer to my game reports on the Northern War, where we led Zvezda characters into battle.
The look is ideal; and the offer that strelets make to us here is fantastic.
Not all miniatures have appeared yet. So you can slowly approach the story. But in contrast to the company Hät, Strelets also brings out what they announce - and at relatively short notice.
I should also mention that the infantry sets have also grown again.
In these two reports here, I had discussed the sets that were released at the time:
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2019/11/strelets-230-und-231-der-spanische.html
https://thrifles.blogspot.com/2020/04/strelets-234-235-236-spanischer.html
In both reports I also gave you relevant book tips.
So please click again.
Added to this is Set 232 British Infantry Firing Line 1701-1714, Set 233 French Musketeers on the March and Set 237 French Pikemen.
It remains to be said that the French sets are modeled a little worse than the British ones. But since we also have a lot of poses here, you will find enough minis for your battle lines.
To conclude.
Strelets provides us with a variety that in 1/72 is only comparable with the Second World War series by the manufacturer Caesar.
We would have all wished for something like that from Airfix back then, and I am sure that, if Airfix had recognized this mission, we would have less bitter collectors and wargamers in 1/72.
Wait 20 years for something decent to come out!!! That makes you lonely and leads to bitterness.
Strelets can fix that with today's generation if there is still interest.
If not, they have an aging fan base who has the cash to buy all these packs; well and maybe the embittered and tortured will cry and be happy again….
FINALLY A COMPLETE SERIES IN 1/72.
What do you want more??
Hmmmhhh.
Maybe Strelets will bring us a battleset.
Outer packaging, just like cover pictures, is simply outstanding and very, very important to us. Believe me. That’s important and in former times that was better than the minis inside the sets.
Link:
I certainly endorse your remarks about Streletz-R - I have a few of their figures, and like what I have bought (Crimean war and some from the Russo-Turkish war of 1877 - try and get hold of Turkish regular cavalry though!)
AntwortenLöschenHowever, I do have a soft spot for Airfix. The marching figures from the French Napoleonic box made the line companies for 6 out of 7 infantry battalions of the Army or Ursaminor; the British Hussars and French Cuirassiers some of the horse of Altmark-Uberheim and Jotun-Erbsten; and the artillery supplied several of my central Europeian Imagi-Nations.
Cheers -
Cool post!
AntwortenLöschen