Celebrating Little Wars

It was bound to happen.


After stumbling on this article a few months ago on Wargaming Miscellany about the centenary of Little Wars in 2013, I had the idea to prepare and play my own Little Wars game using a very modest number of the Seven Years War figures available from Armies in Plastic (something like 50 figures per side).


Their figures are affordable, they have a buy 3 get 1 free and a buy 5 get 3 free deal, and shipping is a flat rate. While the SYW range is lacking artillery and cavalry,their American Revolution range, at least to my undiscerning eye, can plausibly fill that gap.


But then I read the article a few weeks ago on Swords & Dorkery about home casting , and something inside me began to tick. A time bomb if ever there was one. I am now seriously considering abandoning my initial idea and casting my own lead 40mm Seven Years War style armies instead.


When I was a much younger lad, I had a 2 sets of Prince August molds - barbarians and dwarves (it seemed to me that they'd fight it out in some northern hill country). I cast up 10s of each, but never painted any, let alone play any kind of game with them. Shortly after, I put away my miniatures for 20 years (at some point mom did away with the box they were in, along with my beloved and now long lost Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 25mm from Dark Horse, but I digress). I recall the casting being a fun activity in and of itself. I am older now, wiser some would say (well, I don't personally know any who would say that, but it's possible) but at the very least, I am far more likely to paint up what I cast (please disregard that unpainted lead pile in my closet).


It's hard to beat the cost of the plastic figures - especially with their buy 5 sets and get 3 sets free deal. On the other hand, the more figures I cast, the lower the cost each as I amortize the cost of the molds and metal across each figure. Or so I'm telling myself. I'm not making any purchases yet, but I'm strongly considering it.