From JohnM: FIW Canoes (30 Points)

Two submissions, 2 weeks in a row! I have gone into 8 Kickstarters in the last 3 years and these figures are the latest acquisitions. I would not usually paint pieces that are not going to used in games, but I think some of the FIW rules we use do allow for canoes, so I said why not.

These are from AW Miniatures, and they delivered right as promised. I put in a pledge for set of European Missionaries that I thought would be useful. As part of the pledge I also received both a Ranger and Indian canoe set, as well as a British cannon and crew and some Grenadiers.

The figures are quite big and a side by side with my other FIW figures from Conquest Miniatures makes the Grenadiers and Cannon Crew unusable for me, but for these canoe teams it does not really matter. Oddly the Missionaries that I made the pledge for are compatible with the Conquest Miniatures. I am not sure why you would sell two quite incompatible 28 mm ranges from the same catalogue.

I do note that Warlord Games, who sell the Conquest Miniature line, have canoeists in their catalogue but I do not see them on the Conquest Miniatures site so I am not sure if they are by the same sculptor. A lot of 28mm figures have seen my painting desk and I can easily say the Conquest Miniatures line are the best I have seen in this scale for all the eras I have painted.

The figures themselves are nice, some what "Eliteish" in posture; with them looking up to the right with their sharp chiseled faces. There is some flash, they came with a lot of extra bits but I could not fit it all in the canoes. All in all though they are OK.

Well that is it for this week, I will have a solo submission for next week as I am starting work on a project which is charting completely new territory for me. I will leave the point scoring to Byron as I am unsure if canoes are regarded as vehicles or not.

ByronM: Another very sharp looking entry John.  I like these as they are not something you see all the time, in fact I don't believe I have ever seen a miniature canoe!  Being Canadian I know we have a lot of history that could be played out in miniature, but never really looked into doing so before.  This is a very cool idea though, you could use them for any number of small skirmish games based around either exploration (change the Congo rules to be based on the Voyagers instead of English explorers and move it to North America, or use Saga or Sharp Practice for some European vs Native battles).  By your saying you already do FIW though, I assume you have a rule system you use, which is it? It would be interesting to check out.

I had to do some checking with the commander in chief on points, in the end they are going to be viewed  as a bike or horse with two riders, so 15 points per model for a total of 30 points.  Which seems rather fitting as that is kind of how they were used, as the cavalry of the river ways. Regardless of points, thanks for showcasing something very cool and different than the norm!