And the votes are in

I said that I would give the poll about the possible choice of poses for the BfK Limited Edition figure pack until the middle of this week. It’s now Wednesday evening as I type this, so it’s decision time. At the time of writing, the total number of votes cast stood at 240 which (given that everybody could vote for their favourite four poses) means that 60 of you voted. Wow! Thank you all so much for your enthusiastic participation.

The two artillery train figures came out as the clear favourites, which is just fine and fits well with my own ideas. I suspect the popularity of these two figures is due to their novelty. I don’t know of any 28mm figure range that includes dismounted artillery train figures. At the other end of the spectrum, the two Marie-Louises filled the bottom two positions. I’m disappointed by this but, as I said at the time, this is an opinion poll not a binding election. So I’m going to exercise my meglomaniac tendencies to select one of the Marie-Louise poses to go into the pack.

That leaves the centre ground being held by the light infantry chasseur and the artillery drummer. These two chaps were separated by a mere two votes so I’ve been reviewing the comments that people made to help inform my final decision. Two commenters expressed a preference for the drummer and one stated a liking for the chasseur. Tellingly this latter opinion referred to the figure as “the smoker”, so that has given me an idea for how to accommodate some degree of all-round satisfaction.

Therefore, after a bit more musing and tweaking, I’ve settled on the following four poses for the pack:

• Figure 1: Artillery train figure #1. He’s the chap taking a drink of water. In addition, he will now be bare-headed and holding his shako in his other hand.
• Figure 2: Artillery train figure #2. He was originally going to be carrying a whip or a coiled rope but I’m going to change him to be smoking a pipe.
• Figure 3: The foot artillery drummer.
• Figure 4: Marie-Louise #1. This is the one inspired by Knotel Band XII, Plate 24. I’m very taken by this pose and it can be used in so many ways on different bases and vignettes for the wargames table.

So now I’m off to e-mail Peter F. the outcome (if he hasn’t already read it here) and fill in some of the details he’ll need to begin sculpting. Before I go, though, now that you know the make-up of the pack, I want to share my initial plans for pricing and payment.

Basically, the idea is to follow the Calpe Miniatures pricing model of £1.10 (UK pounds) per figure, which means that the pack will be priced at £4.40 though the OCD part of me has a strange urge to round it up to a neat £4.50. Am I being silly with that? Postage and packing will be at cost – so that part of the price will depend on where in the world you want the figures shipped and will include the cost of a jiffy bag to protect the figures in transit. Don’t worry, I’ll also wrap them in no-end of bubblewrap (I’m sure I’m not the only hoarder who keeps a drawer full of this stuff from things I’ve received in the mail). My plan is to accept payment via PayPal. So, if you want to order now, please contact me and provide details of the address where you’d like the figures to be shipped. Some of you already have the dubious privilege of knowing my e-mail address so you can contact me directly; for the rest of you, please use the “Contact Me” form that appears in the right-hand column of every page here. I’ll reply to confirm that I’ve received your order and give you details of how to make the Paypal payment.

There’s no rush to put in your orders yet but I will set a closing date once Peter F. has sculpted the greens. I’ll post photos of them here when I set the closing date. The reasons for having a closing date are a). Peter F. and I want to know how many packs to cast; b). I want to retain that exclusive limited edition feel to this project; and c). I want a clear demarcation between these figures being a limited edition and their eventual appearance in the main Calpe range (don’t worry, that won’t be for a long time because I want you all the be able to gloat that you’ve got something other people can’t have).

Finally, you’ll be pleased to know that I’m planning to create a painting guide to accompany the pack. I’m not sure what format it’ll take yet but one thing is certain: I’ll have to paint the figures myself as part of the exercise. So, here’s the exciting bit: I’ve decided that everybody who places an order for a pack will be entered into a prize draw to receive one of the painted figures. Now this is a gentleman’s agreement so I’m not going to go on about rules for the draw except to say that you can order multiple packs but you’ll only get one entry in the draw and my decision about the winners will be final. Each winner (there will be four) will receive one painted figure at random from the pack. I don’t mind if you wish to express a preference about which one you get but there’s no guarantee that you’ll either win or get the one you want. Each figure will be painted by me in my usual style – i.e. acrylics, gloss varnish for protection and then matt varnish for appearance. Each figure will be based on an individual laser-cut circular plywood base and signed on the bottom by me (and if you’re lucky, Peter F. too).

That’s all for now. Feel free to comment here if you have any questions I haven’t covered above.