Hail Caesar Army Lists

       I had mixed feelings about the idea of the release of army lists for the Hail Caesar rules, the rules sem to have been written with a complete disregard of competitive gaming and now they were releasing lists. Humph!

     I am pleased to say I was wrong, I can't imagine why anyone would try to run a tournament type game using these rules but these lists will probably not appeal to that mind-set anyways. What we have here is a set of army lists with troop-types and special rules (and the unavoidable points) for the period of the third century AD through the thirteenth century AD.

Fireforge Games 28mm Mounted Sergeants

     Frankly, I am disappointed.     

      I never thought that I would say this about a Fireforge product, based on their first two releases, but I am. Following on the heels of the Teutonic and Templar Knights Fireforge has released their mounted Sergeants. They are perfectly cast in a hard gray plastic, with the same lovely detail as the earlier Knights, and that is the problem; it is EXACTLY the same detail as the only change has been a head-swap. Granted the heads are very well executed, on a par with the very best stuff available at any price, but the rest of the box is simply a re-box of the horses and men from the first two kits. I was hoping that Fireforge would present new sculpts with this release. 

     My self-centered whining out of the way let us look at the product.

as with earlier Fireforge products the box-art is atmospheric and excellently presented

Fire Forge 28mm Templar Knights

     The long-awaited (OK, by me at least) Fire Forge minis of the Knights Templar have finally gotten into my hands. I must say that I am both pleased and disappointed. Pleased that they cover a period that I have long been interested in and are stunningly detailed models, disappointed because they are the same models as the Teutonic Knights package that was released a while back with the exception of a swap of the heads. Don't get me wrong, if you are looking for 28mm knights Templar you would have to work very hard to find better models, I am more than a little disappointed that the opportunity to add variety to the Fire Forge line was missed. With that said let us look at the models.



box art

Perry Miniature Mounted Knights 28mm plastic

front of box

     It has been a while since I picked up a box of Perry's plastics, I has almost forgotten how very good they are. Inside the rather flimsy box we find a dozen very well sculpted  horses and riders molded in a hard dark grey plastic, the casting work is exemplary with no flash and only the barest hint of mold-lines to be found. Taking full advantage of the flexibility of plastic molding these have been molded so that the horse is cast completely and the armor, in delightfully thin parts, is cast separately. This allows the purchaser to add as much or as little armor as they desire, greatly widening the applicability of this box.

Book Review, Osprey Fortress #106, Forts of the War of 1812

   

 It took Osprey a while to get around to this subject, and I am glad they did. As any regular reader knows I have a thing about forts, fortresses and castles. I also have a soft-spot for the War of 1812 (this having occurred in and around my part of the world). Now Osprey has covered both of these subjects in one slim volume. The redoubtable Rene Chartrand, who seems to know nearly everything there is on pre-ACW North America, has written another tempting morsel. This book is littered with historical maps and drawings, awash in lovely new artwork from the very talented hand of Donato Spedaliere and the remaining space id filled with tightly written text. This is about as good as it gets in 64 pages.

    In the text Chartrand lays out a background for the situation just post Revolutionary War and covers the steady progress of fortification that the fledgling USA undertook to protect it's lengthy coastline and ever-advancing frontier. He also charts the British response to this and reflects upon the fortifications they maintained or added as a result. There is a good explaination of the somewhat arcane nomenclature used in describing fortifications and a good starter bibliography and index at the back of the book.

    Very highly recommended,  John

ISBN 978-1-84908-576-2
AUTHOR; RENE CHARTRAND
ARTIST;  DONATO SPEDALIERE

Conquest Games 28mm Norman Foot

     Recently acquired from my local Brick & Mortar is this box of Conquest Games 28mm plastic Norman Foot Soldiers. Having seen the Mounted Norman Knights earlier I was excited to see what the box held in store. I was certainly not disappointed, these figures are up to the very best standards of the industry (which is saying a lot), molded in a hard gray plastic and crisply cast these are absolute beauties. With my previously purchased box of knights I now have the makings of a DBA or Saga army. The only fault is that there are no missile troops, which is a critique on the choice of models to include rather than any criticism of the sculptor's skill.

the same sort of truly tragic cover art as the Knights box,

 this has to hurt sales

the worst part is that the back of the box is SOOO much better