Friday, September 24, 2010

New: Napoleonic Wargame Flags from Battle Flag

Well just like buses when you see one there is another one sure to be right behind, I saw another news item on TGN about Napoleonic flags this one from BattleFlag about a new range of from them.

From their blog:
New: The British at Waterloo; Napoleonic Wargame Flags from Battle Flag
In response to all the emails requesting that Battle Flag produce a range of model wargame flags for the Napoleonic period I am pleased to say that first sets are ready.

Published on Brigade sheets, similar to Battle Flag’s popular ACW range of wargame flags, Napoleonic wargamers can now purchase flags of complete British Brigades (with their allies and adversaries to follow).

The plate sheets are available in both 15mm and 25/28mm sets.

With the variation in the size of model soldiers between manufactures I have never held that one size of wargame flag fits all ranges. Therefore I have created this range to allow wargamers and collectors of military miniatures to specify what size they want these flags to be. The 25mm flags can be anywhere from 30mm to 40mm in size and the 15mm from 18mm to 22mm.

There will be quite a number of new releases over the coming weeks for all the periods that Battle Flag now produce and just one or two surprises as well.

You can order these or any of our other sets of model wargame flags at Battle-Flag.com

Currently there are two sheets in the range:
BaW1 The 10th Brigade:
The King's and Regimental Colours of ; 4th (Kings Own) Foot, 27th (Inniskilling) Foot 40th (Somerset) Foot, 81st Foot
Baw2: The 5th Brigade
The King's and Regimental Colours of ; 30th (Cambridgeshire) Foot, 33rd (1st West Riding) Foot, 69th (South Lincoln) Foot, 73rd (Highland) Foot

Both are GBP7.50 each plus pp and you get to choose the size (!)
Please specify the size of flag required when ordering. Flags available from 30mm to 40mm on the hoist. If not specified the standard size, 36mm, will be supplied.

How do you surprise people about flags? Maybe they mean Landwehr to coincide with WG's release. If it is they just need to be careful, I think the WG box comes with flags and if your are going to be a 'replacement' then there has to be some unique selling point to pull people in.

Anyway they do look excellent quality and the price is very fair so no complaints there, they would certainly be on my 'list' if I was looking for flags.

The idea of grouping the flags by brigade is novel, though I am not sure at 28mm people build there units strictly by brigade, you tend to have fewer units and pick your own personal 'favorite' regardless of how they were actually brigaded. So will people find that a 'put off' because half the pack turns out to be 'surplus to requirement', I am not sure but I will give them kudos for the idea and giving it a try.

However I don't want to take anything away from them but all of a sudden there are an awful lot of people making Napoleonic flags aren't there, I wonder do we really need so many or more importantly can we support so many?

Of course you can argue that with the British flags being so different between regiments no one (except GMB) covers them all so we need more sources, but maybe we need fewer companies but ones that cover a broader range instead?

Actually it would be nice if you are going to introduce a new range to do something different instead of just banging out the 'same old' however good the quality, like for example SCM the other day were doing linen flags, at least its was different!

Not trying to beat up on BattleFlag but if there is another 'new range' from someone I might feel the need to yawn and ask why bother?

Anyway personally I have now decided that linen really is the way to go, paper is just so yesterday....

... and to think not long ago all there was was GMB how quickly this hobby is changing...

Its all GMB's fault anyway, they made their flags so hard to buy and pricey this was always going to happen someday, however they still set the 'standard' (sorry) and have by far the most extensive range, everyone else is still playing in the shallow end but with plastics being so popular at the moment maybe that's where the money is.

Maybe we need a review of what is available today in the market for 28mm Napoleonic flags, hmm...

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