Ordering figures from U.K. manufacturers can be expensive for those of us in the U.S.A. or "Rest of the World." Some charge as much as 40% shipping but rates have come down to an average of about 25-30% per order value. Not outrageous but still a fair amount of overhead to swallow when purchasing from the U.K. I should note that many U.S. manufacturers and distributors charge around 15% for shipping within the CONUS.
By examining the overseas package when it arrives, the 25-30% shipping charged is usually quite close to the actual shipping expense incurred. No overcharging for postage from the vendors with whom I trade.
Probably not new to many but I recently discovered a means to bypass these shipping charges on select U.K. figures.
How? Order your figures from Caliver Books!
On select ranges, Caliver ships for free. Yes, free! As a test, I placed a small order for Artizan, Crusader, and NorthStar figures and accessories. Indeed, the order was post free! The order arrived within one week too. As a bonus, Caliver's prices are up to 12.5% less than the Artizan web price for their figures.
Nice!
Now, gone are the heady days when Crusader figures could be had at 40% discount through Old Glory but every little bit helps, right?
The second stand of Ashigaru spearmen made it off the painting desk. Like its predecessor, these Peter Pig figures sport red lacquered armor.
With Jake in Spokane for a day of Impetvs gaming on Sunday, talk, more than once, turned towards Samurai Battles games. We both enjoy Command & Colors and the added depth of Samurai Battles makes for often tense and wild swinging games. Great fun that we agreed must be scheduled soon.
Also, we discussed using our Samurai Battles figures for Impetvs. Since our Samurai Battles' collections use single element basing, porting to Impetvs should be straightforward with no difficulty. Army lists are available both for Basic Impetvs (BI) and Impetvs. With BI list only having eight elements, I could field both sides for a few test games. I should give that a try.
On the painting desk are the following works in progress:
- 8 15mm Peter Pig mounted Samurai that are nearly finished
- 13 28mm Renegade Carthaginian veteran heavy infantry
- 4 28mm Black Tree Design Arab camel cavalry
When churning out individual units on a regular basis, it can be easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. With the first Impetvs game later this morning, I pulled all of the stands from their boxes and set them out on the gaming table.
The group photos illustrate what has been accomplished on this project since mid-July. With skirmishers out front, light cavalry on the wings, and heavier cavalry in reserve, the lines of troops are about four linear feet in length and several stands in depth.
One final Andalusian archer unit makes it off the painting desk before the inaugural Basic Impetvs (BI) game today. Even though I switched focus on painting to non-Reconquista figures, I did slip in one last unit of "T" archers in case we decide to try armies having large units with supporting archers. We may not get that option in BI but we may decide to move up to Imptevs quickly.
Jake is driving up from Moscow with his collection of Spanish Christians to do battle against my collection of Muslims. Since this is our first game, mistakes are likely to occur. Therefore, game play will tend towards the "how does this work" rather than attempting to crush your opponent. Jake is concerned with the lack of evasion for skirmishers in BI so we may add that option.
Game table has been cleared, labels made, and game aids laid out. I think I'm ready to rumble.
To convince myself that the 28mm Peninsular War project had not been completely abandoned in 2013 and to maintain some semblance of sticking to commitments (Project Plans 2013), I pulled out eight British light dragoons from the lead pile. These troopers are Front Rank and will be fielded as two squadrons of the 16th Light Dragoons.
One curiosity of British light dragoons is the color of the turban wrapping the helmet. Some sources suggest the facing color. Other sources suggest black. Still others, show blue. Not knowing which was correct, I gave the 16th a blue turban to remain consistent with the 14th that I have already fielded. Turban in the facing color is probably a more interesting choice. If I find blue is unhistorical then it would not take much work to repaint the turban. Oh, the standard will be added later.
Lesson: Research first then paint. Don't rely on memory.
Continuing the recent, non-Reconquista theme is one stand of 21 Ashigaru spear men for Samurai Battles. These spear men are attired in the livery of the Red Devils. This unit represents the start of a third brigade. My plan is to field this brigade composed of two Ashigaru spear, one Ashigaru bow, and one Ashigaru teppo all suited in the red lacquered armor. Rounding out the brigade will be one stand of Samurai foot and one stand of Samurai horse. Figures are from Peter Pig.
Switching projects again, next off the painting desk will be 28mm Napoleonics. This time, British cavalry will get a little attention in the form of eight light dragoons.
These 48 figures were primed and in the painting queue before the Reconquista bug struck. Given a two month wait, I finally pulled these figures from the lead pile and began my task. Now, I have mentioned before that a 48 figure painting batch is not my favorite task to tackle. I much prefer smaller painting activities such as 12 or 24 figures at a time. Never the less, I had 48 figures primed; enough to field one, four battalion Sardinian regiment. The decision was made to paint all 48 in one go.
I enjoy seeing the end result of such a large group finished as a singular task but getting through that many figures can sometimes be quite tedious. Without all of the accoutrements present in either Napoleonics or SYW uniforms, the plain uniforms of the Sardinian infantry aided a quick completion.
Fielding this batch of figures was not without incident, however. After finishing the painting and dullcoating, the figures were grouped in 12 figure battalions for basing. Unfortunately, I was one figure short. Did I miscount or did one figure go AWOL during its lounging in the primed box? Maybe it will turn up someday? One additional infantryman had to be primed and painted before I could continue. Luckily, it only took a few minutes to complete that single figure. Has this ever happened to anyone else? I bet I am not alone.
