Fife & Drum Kickstarter Delivers!

James Purky, proprietor of Fife & Drum Miniatures announced, during the summer of 2013, that he would be implementing a Kickstarter project to bring additional figures into his existing AWI range.  Without much hesitation, I jumped on board with a $100 pledge.  Well, I did pause for a few moments before hitting the "Pledge Now" button since my AWI British collection is stocked with the larger Perry figures.  Alongside the Perry's, F&D figures look quite svelte and small.

With that level of support, I could expect 18 mounted dragoons.  As a bonus, I would receive 24 Hessians with mounted commander and a three-figure, Spirit of '76 vignette.  Looks like a good deal, right?  I thought so!

Later, James announced the purchase of Minden Miniatures who produce an exquisite line of SYW 1/56th scale figures.  Minden and F&D share the same sculptor (Ansell) and scale (1/56) so the the acquisition made perfect sense.  Along with that announcement, James offered to swap Kickstarter AWI F&D figures for Minden figures.  The swap would allow me to exchange one mounted figure for three foot figures.  This offer held several benefits:

• No need to wait for the AWI dragoons to hit production
• Complete mitigation of Kickstarter risk
• Minden SYW figures in hand now vs AWI Dragoons later 
• Allow the addition of size compatible Perry dragoons to the project

I have had my eye on the growing Minden line for several years often considering the wisdom of beginning another SYW project in a larger scale.  Well, I convinced myself that swapping AWI horse for SYW Prussians would be prudent since not much cavalry was present on the AWI battlefield and my gaming buddy would likely field all cavalry needed eventually.

Perhaps, in anticipation of Leuthen Day (05 DEC 1757), the package from James arrived in the post on the 3rd.  All requested figures were present and the figures do, indeed, look terrific.  The only issue I discovered was that the bayonets are quite fragile and bayonet breakage resulted in 1 in 6 musketeers missing bayonets.  Notice the eight bayonetless musketeers on the right of the picture.  Rats.  Problem solved with a quick email to James.  Replacement musketeers are on their way.

What are my plans for these figures?  Do I really need a SYW collection in 28mm and 18mm let alone another period?  For now, my plan is to form one regiment for display purposes only.  Only time will confirm if I can maintain that pledge.  The good news is that James maintained his pledge and I have a small collection of outstanding Minden Prussians!