My 'By Fire & Sword' rulebook has arrived

So my copy of 'By Fire & Sword' arrived this morning from NorthStar and first impressions are good. I'll be doing a more in depth review next week but here's my thoughts so far. 

The book is indeed a weighty tome weighing in at nearly 2 Kg or 4.5 pounds. The hardback binding looks sturdy and the pages are fairly heavy duty so should stand up to wear and tear. The text is a decent size and it's lavishly sprinkled with photos and illustrations. There is an index at the back but strangely many pages don't have page numbers on them. The rules are all on numbered pages but things like the army lists have no page numbers. It probably won't be a problem but it is a little unusual.

There's a nice section at the start that explains some of the basics and gives a guide on the different approaches to painting miniatures which seems useful to both beginners and more experienced painters. The rules comprise about 100 pages of the total 408 pages and are well set out with lots of examples and diagrams. The rest of the book comprises the scenarios and detailed army lists and history of the various combatants. There is also a quick reference section at the back of the book although I'm sure someone will produce a pdf version soon if they haven't already done so.

The rules aren't cheap at £38.50 plus p&p but you get a lot for your money. They could have produced a softback version containing just the rules and scenarios but, if you're anything like me you won't know much about this period and it's armies. So you would have probably bought various reference books/painting guides to help you out which would probably take you well past £38.50. 

Hopefully I'll have a more detailled review early next week although 408 pages may take me a while to get through.

By Fire & Sword: Swedish Skirmish set update

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the casting issues I had with the Swedish Skirmish set and then about how Wargamer.pl had got in touch and were going to send me a replacement set. Well now the replacement set has arrived and the quality of the castings is great and there's none of the problems I had with the original set. It did take almost two weeks to arrive and I was getting a little worried but out of the blue they e-mailed me to see if it had arrived yet which I thought was good customer service and anyway it arrived the next morning. Overall I'm happy and will be buying more figures from them, probably a Cossack skirmish set but I'm going to wait for the rules to come out to make sure I like them before investing more heavily.

Swedish Skirmish set problems fixed

Just a quick update. 

Since my last post, about the quality of the castings in the 'By Fire & Sword' skirmish set I bought, the manufacturer has been in touch with me and is going to send me a replacement set. So you have to say that's excellent customer service. I'll do another review when they arrive.

Quick Review: Swedish Skirmish set for 'By Fire & Sword'

UPDATE 19/5/2013: Problems mentioned below now fixed and I give the set 9/10

My eagerly awaited Swedish skirmish set for 'By Fire & Sword' arrived from Nothstar yesterday morning so as promised here's a quick review.

The models come in a colourful box with a large photo of the box's contents on the cover. The rear of the box has a list of the contents with some nice historical background for the units it contains.

Inside the box are two cardboard boxes containing the figures separated into plastic bags with foam padding top and bottom.

The set includes the figures, nice pre-cut metal bases and a sheet of flags. Everything you need to get going. I particularly liked the separate brass spear/lance for the standard bearer as it's top is pre-ground to a nice shiny point.

The figures themselves are ok. There's a nice mix of figure poses and horses and the detail is about the same standard as Essex miniatures. But, and it's a big but, every figure had a heavy mould line round it and I mean every figure. I've been buying figures for nearly fifty years and these have to be the worst batch I've ever had. We've all had the odd figure in a batch with excess flash or a thick mould line but not on every figure. The photos below give you some idea what I'm talking about. I don't know if all their figures are like this or the moulds need replacing or their quality control is just rubbish. But it's going to take me hours if not days to clean off the heavy mould lines on these figures. If I'd bought them locally I'd be returning them to the shop.

Overall I'm incredibly disappointed. I like the idea of the all-in-one pack and I think it's well executed with the flags and bases etc, and I'm looking forward to getting the rules which sound great. But the castings are just atrocious. If they were ok I'd give it 9/10 but as it is it's at best a 2/10. I was going to buy extra figures from them to bulk up my skirmish force to division and probably buy at least one more faction but I can't see that happening now, which is a shame. It looks like I'll be getting my figures from other manufacturers if I decide to expand on my forces.

My Latest Purchases

After being good for a while I've splashed out on a couple of new projects. The first is 'By Fire and Sword'. I'm going to buy the rules when they come out but in preparation I've bought a skirmish set of figures so they'll be painted up ready for the rules when they arrive.

I wanted to go with the Ottomans but the skirmish set is all cavalry and I'm not a big fan of all cavalry forces. I was more interested in Janissaries and other Ottoman infantry. If I like the rules I'll have a look at the lists and maybe build up a skirmish force rather than going for pre-made. The next set that got my interest was the Cossack set. I was surprised that it was mainly infantry and wagons as I always think of Cossacks as hordes of cavalry, but something about it interested me. After some research it seemed that the Cossack forces are mainly infantry and suit a defensive player. As much as I liked it it wouldn't suit my temperament. So what did I buy? Well I went with the Kingdom of Sweden skirmish set. It appeals to me as it's a good combined arms force and I've always had a thing for Reiters. So here's a photo of the set I've bought.

My other project is one for the future as it won't arrive until September. I gave in and pledged to the 'Heroes of Normandie' kickstarter. I went with the £45 pledge as it was the best value for me. I was tempted by the £90 pledge as you got all of the stretch goals but I didn't want to invest that much in a game that I may turn out not to like.

I'll do a quick review of the BF&S skirmish set when it arrives and hopefully some progress shots as i get it painted up.