And now for something COMPLETELY Different ... The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745!

 So periodically, A certain website where people go to buy and sell all manner of things awards free money to spend on their website (quarterly).  I used my free money this time two buy two things.  A funky chain saw and this.  

The name of the manufacturer is WoFun games.  They are from Romania and sold in the U.S. by a company called Ravens Banner Games out of Texas.  They have a range of periods besides the 45 including Texas War for Independence, Ancients for Romans, Carthaginians, Greeks, Macedonians and Persians including early and late, The sets are made in either 18mm or 28mm.  Perter Dennis is the artists behind these and Andy Callan writes most of the rule sets.  These are the same system that Peter Dennis tried a few years back with papers figures and rules in a book format.  Apparently those paper figures did not "take flight" so now they are trying the same figures in a different format - painted Plexiglass! 

 

When you open the box and remove a foam sheet this is the first thing you see.  

 These are the British Canons and the canon bases along with a few infantry bases, unlike most of the figures, the canons are made of pre painted and punched mdf.  As an added bonus please not that the bases come pre pained with a "ground clutter paint job so the whole set will literally come out of the box ready to play.  Assembly is your only investment in set up.  

Next out is a full sheet of infantry/cavalry bases. 

Followed by a not so useful sheet of individual figure bases.  There are many individual figures included matching all units in the game, most are casualties, but at a glance I believe there are enough hale and hearty lads to generate some sort of skirmishers if desired in addition to the casualty/morale  markers.  

First of the troops out of the box was a sheet with the British command stand, the British Cavalry regiment and the British "Blue facings" unit.  You can see an example of the casualties at the bottom of the plexiglass sheet.  

Next out came the British Yellow and White facings units, and no, to those of you who know me I did not stack the reveal, this is how the sheets came out of the  box.  "Winners" first, "Losers" second.  

Next out came a sheet with two highlander units on it, plus "Bonnie Prince Charlie".  For some unknown reason the top unit is "Highlanders" armed with an assortment of weapons.  The second Unit is called "Highlanders Marching".  For unknown reasons the "Highlanders Marching" unit has one less stand of infantry than all the other units.  In this set all infantry units besides this one have five stands with two sets of infantry on each stand.  However these "Highlanders Marching" only have nine infantry clumps for some un explained reason.  Apparently have to stand in lines and march on command actually seems to have killed some highlanders?  

The penultimate sheet has lowlander infantry and the Royal "Ecossais", scotch troops in French service , who "happened to be at home when the revolt began".  I mean its not like the French would foment a civil war in their neighbor's country, that would be uncivilized.  

On this final sheet we get the British artillerists and a whole lot more casualties.  

The canons are made of mdf and very "fiddly" I finagled one together just to give you the idea, but these will take some time and 'handling" to get the four of them assembled.  I will update tomorrow when I have this done.  

Here is a slightly harder angle photo to show the thin nature of these figures.  They look great straight on from the front or back, but from the side, there is something "off" about that appearance, but more on that at the end.  

Once again I am just doing them in order.  This is the British Cavalry regiment.  They are designated as "Dragoons".  

Here is one stand of the cavalry facing toward the camera, and another facing away to show the detail on all the figures.  

Here is an even closer photo of the British Command stand.  

Here is a something just less than 90 degree turn of the command stand to get a good close look at the odd sides.  

Here is the Blue facing British foot.  

Here is the Yellow facing unit.  

And here is the Whit facing unit.  

Here is another "fore and Aft" photo of the Yellow facing unit.  

Here we have bonny prince Charlie and his retinue.  

Here is the desultory armed highlander unit.  

Here is a "fore and aft" shot of the Highlanders.  Note the array of weaponry.  

Here is the silly "Highlanders marching" unit.  I used a different base for the command stand

.  

Here are the lowlanders.

Here is a fore and aft closer photo of the lowlanders.  

Here is the final unit from the set, the "Ecossais".  

And here is the closer look at the "Ecossais".  

Here is the entire Scottish army ready for battle. 

 Here are the Brits drawn up with the cavalry in reserve.  

Here are the combined forces ready to do battle, for "FREEDOM"!

As one final advantage, both entire armies will fit right back into the box they came in making storage and transport logical and easy.  

My general thoughts about this "starter kit" as they call it are as follows.  

First, the basic army assembles easily and is ready to go in under an hour, you can literally be gaming the period you buy, the day you receive the package.  

Second, the paint jobs for the figures is very good.  Faces are distinct in every group.  

Third, from the side the figures do look odd, bit from the front and rear they look great.  In thinking about this side view issue, I have come to the conclusion that you should be sitting behind you troops, and your opponent should be across the table from you, this the problem does not really bother me,  so I think these are a great idea.  

The rules are simple, take turns by side.  Each turn consists of "Shoot, Move, Melee, morale, then the other turn takes over.  But they seem quick and appropriate for the time period, which is about all you can ask.