Dutch Wars, anyone? Dutch landings at Sheerness? Redcoats with big floppy hats?
I already have 15mm Peter Laing ECW figures, so what should I do with these individual musket armed figures from the Warlord Games Epic Battles Pike and Shotte ECW box?
Can we extend their redcoat use into the Interregnum and Restoration through to the Dutch Wars?
How they started out …
See the first Redcoats to be finished at:
Crossposted from my Man Of TIN Blog Two, 3 June 2023
I have built my first Sarissa MDF buildings from the Warlord Games Epic Battles Pike and Shotte Starter Set Push Of Pike
and I also remember their Peter Laing / John Mitchell equivalents from 40 to 50 years before.
Crossposted from my Man Of TIN Blog Two
Peter Laing 15mm ECW metal figures compared to the new Warlord Games Epic Battles Pike and Shotte 13-15mm plastic figures.
See and read more on my blog here, crossposted 6 / 7 May 2023:
The 50th anniversary of 15mm figures and of Peter Laing figures is mentioned in November 2022 edition of The 15 Mill, an interesting eclectic and free online magazine (e-zine?) celebrating 15mm gaming run by Martin Goddard of Peter Pig 15mm Miniatures.
Our “stop press” two and half page mention or article was put together as the November / Christmas edition was going to press from emails between Martin Goddard, Peter Laing collector Ian M.Dury and myself.
The November 1972 advert in Military Modelling that launched 15mm scale and Peter Laing figures.
All The 15 Mill back issues are freely available including no. 4 November 2019 featuring Peter Laing WW1 figures from the ABC Gamers blog.
After its recent Flames of War popularity, 15mm seems to be on a bit of a backfoot or backburner at the moment with the increasing dominance of 28mm as current standard alongside a quirky ‘free for all’ diversity of manufacturers’ scales from 2mm, 6mm, 12mm, 18mm, 30mm, 42mm and all stations in between (rarely an odd number like 15!) 
Ian Dury set up and hosts the MeWe Peter Laing Collectors Group https://mewe.com/join-front/peterlaingfigures
Over the last year I have been cataloguing and photographing my Laing figures on this informal blog https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com
Blogposted / Crossposted by Mark Man Of TIN 13/14 November 2022
Military Modelling November 1972
Read more about the birth of 15mm and Peter Laing figures here:
Blog cross-posted by Mark Man Of TIN blog, 1 November 2022
I have spent a blustery wet day today inside in the dry and warm, reading through the superb website of scanned Donald Featherstone’s Wargamers Newsletters.
I have been searching for Peter Laing adverts and reviews from the early 70s, looking at how the new scale and ranges of 15mm figures by the “industrious” Peter Laing rapidly emerged.
https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com/some-peter-laing-adverts/
One of the oddest Peter Laing adverts so far was December 1973 typed advert (above) about the benefits of 15mm and the first six figure series or ranges totalling 100s of items that Peter Laing produced in his first year!
“If she * (the little woman – Mum – the Wife – the Girl Friend – or the better half!) complains that your army or collection is taking up too much room (or you are spending too much money) then Peter Laing’s figures could be the answer …”
Peter Laing 15mm Colonial figures (including bagpiper) – the unusual route to marital bliss?
I wonder what Mrs Laing – Wife – Better Half – etc thought of the advert?
These “Little Women” in Peter Laing’s life didn’t emerge for a few more years in the Late Victorian Parade Range (and probably ACW and Indian Mutiny Series).
By Christmas 1973, interest was growing in the new smaller scales of 15mm and 5 or 6mm. Minifigs has also by then launched a 15mm and 5mm Range.
In December 1973 I was still literally cutting my teeth at “Floor Games” level on larger plastic Airfix figures. Ten years later c. 1982/83 I would be buying my first Peter Laing ECW figures with my pocket money and paper round earnings.
This cataloguing and celebrating my Peter Laing figures (all now sadly out of production) is one of my ongoing 2022 projects and New Gaming Year’s Irresolutions, counting down towards the 50th anniversary of the first figures in October / November 2022.
Why do this? Pertly it’s because Peter Laing never produced an illustrated catalogue before the range vanished in the late 80s / early 90s when he retired. Now the moulds have sadly vanished.
Fellow Peter Laing collectors from the MeWe Peter Laing collectors circle have already started to contribute photos of figures or ranges I don’t have and sometimes figures I have never seen.
https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com
The first advert October / November 1972 Military Modelling (Ian Dury collection)
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN blog, 8th January 2022
Anyone else made any foolish unachievable resolutions for this year’s gaming?
Battling Bronte Sisters (Bad Squiddo 28mm Little Wolves Amazons) meet 25mm Prince August Homecast cavemen boggarts. As close as I will get to Silver Bayonet?
*
It’s that time of the year when New Year’s Resolutions are optimistically made … but maybe not in this house.
My New Gaming Year’s Irresolutions for 2021 were kept deliberately vague …
https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2020/12/31/new-gaming-year-irresolutions-2021/
but even then my vaguest plans for New Gaming Year NGY 2021 often went awry, mostly due to COVID.
The local village Spring Flower and Craft show 2021 never happened so no #FEMBruary figures from Bad Squiddo painted as planned but I did paint some later in the year – The Battling Bronte sisters.
Thanks to Covid levels, I never made it to the Woking 2021 54mm Little Wars Revisited Games Day when it finally happened. Covid dependent of course, but hopefully I might make it in 2022 with my Boy Scouts and snowball fighters who need more gaming time https://littlewarsrevisited.boards.net/thread/847/woking-games-saturday-march-correct.
My local history research project talk on WW2 in my local area (as a fundraiser) was postponed by COVID from autumn 2021 to late May 2022.
I think the NGY Irresolutions 2020 will still stand after a year or two interrupted but who knows what might happen in 2022?
New Gaming Year’s Irresolutions 2022
In no particular order
1. Cataloguing Peter Laing 15mm figures as part of celebrating the 50th anniversary of the now out-of-production Peter Laing figures, possibly the first 15mm figures when they launched in October 1972.
https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com
As well as cataloguing what I have over the next ten months, fellow members of the Peter Laing collectors circle on MeWe have been helping me identify figures and supplying photos of figures I don’t have. Then there’s painting and basing more of my unpainted Laing figure stash and getting in some more 15mm skirmish games?
Peter Laing 15mm Chasseurs d’Alpins (WW1 Range) complete with walking sticks!
2. England or Cornwall invaded – Variations on Operation Sealion / Leon Marino
Still playing around with skirmish ideas as part of my Look Duck and Varnish Blog ongoing Operation Sealion Home Guard games, but also found out more about the WW1 ‘Gorgeous Wrecks’ or Volunteer Training Corps, good for future VTC Wide Games and Victorian / Edwardian / WW1 era ‘what if’ games.
Arma-Dads Army! 1590s Home Guard Elizabethan Muster of conversions and ECW figures against the Spanish Fury, Chintoys Conquistadors and pound store Pirates …
3. More Close Little Wars forest skirmishes and Close Little Space Wars Games in 54mm … I didn’t get a backyard garden galaxy game in this year.
My lovely Bold Frontiers cardboard trees didn’t get enough of an outing in 2021…
Two Britain’s Ltd. broken Scots charging – a favourite pose – with part repaired rifles, two more figures from the Waifs and Strays group of figures 2021 – “Waifs and Strays” sounds like it should be a Victorian Regimental nickname.
4. I look forward to some more enjoyable tinkering with 54mm repairs of broken lead figures to add to various units. Over the years I have been stashing away battered and broken figures from various donations – cowboys, Indians, redcoats, Scots and Khaki figures – along with the odd intriguing figure bought online.
Arrived last year and put away for Christmas – some very heavy, solid lead and fairly paint distressed Terraton 54mm-ish German semiflats to repair and rebase. Indians, redcoats, trees and farm animals …
5. What else might happen?
Weather permitting maybe will even get some more home casting done outdoors?
Pound Store Plastic figures, Early War Miniatures 1940 Range (for Svenmarck invaded!) and vintage Airfix OOHO figures to restore or rebase for some skirmish games.
More time for Bronte ImagiNations?
My Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Snowball Games need attention!
My skateboarders could do with painting!
Not going to run out of fun things to do …
What are your New Gaming Year plans?
I hope that your gaming plans for 2022 go agreeably awry as well.
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, NYE 31 December 2021 / 1st January 2022
Some more interesting Peter Laing figures to be IDentified and added to my online catalogue of my collection.
https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com/2021/11/09/peter-laing-15mm-id-post-3/
This is all part of the countdown to the 50th anniversary next year 2022 of the first Peter Laing figures produced in October 1972 and the birth of a new scale, arguably first 15mm figures?
https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com
Blog post by Mark Man of TIN 9 November 2021 –
also to be crossposted to the MeWe Peter Laing figure collectors community forum page.
How did I miss this?
Have I been under a stone for the last couple of the years in the Wargames Garden?
The 15 Mill – A free online magazine from Peter Pig devoted to 15 millimetre figures and gaming.
https://www.peterpig.co.uk/the15MILL.html
I look forward to reading these as the autumn nights draw in!
Each edition (until Covid) has a free gamette scenario for small games.
https://www.peterpig.co.uk/the15MILL.html
Cleverly, you can buy a 15mm Peter Pig figure package suitable for each gamette.
A clever and fun way to promote your company and your scale!
Fifteen turns Fifty
The pendulum has swung some way from 15mm (and ‘Flames of War’) being the most popular scale some years ago to 28mm, which is apparently “where it’s at” for many gamers today.
15mm is fifty years old next year, if you count the appearance of Peter Laing figures in October \ November 1972.
Peter Laing is long retired. Sadly these figures are out of production and the moulds vanished but small lots sometimes appear for sale online.
Issue 4 of The 15 Mill in October 2019 appropriately featured a fine display of Peter Laing WW1 figures from the ABC gamers blog.
A good time to start sorting through my old original Peter Laing figures, painting and basing as required to celebrate a half century.
A small and friendly collectors circle of Peter Laing enthusiasts exists on the MeWe forum, set up by Ian Dury. https://mewe.com/join/peterlaingfigures
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN 23 October 2021
This month I have spotted online and bought several new units of OOP (out of production) Peter Laing 15mm figures from his WW1 range.
I am quite pleased to have spotted them on eBay as they were vaguely or wrongly listed as “Minifigs / Other 15mm”.
Bird watchers talk about recognising the different “jizz” of similar looking SBJs (Small Brown Job) birds. Certain figure manufacturers have a typical or distinctive look and Peter Laing is one of those.
Originals were carved by hand from thick plasticard in the 1970s and 1980s in the days before ‘green stuff’. Peter Laing figures also have certain slenderness, deliberate under-detailing and a limited number of familiar Laing poses – advancing, firing, walking Officer with pistol – that make them more easily recognised.
As these figures are just about to vanish into the Christmas present cupboard for the next four months, I thought I would share these pictures with you.
Peter Laing 15mm WW1 (700s) with early pickelhaube spiked helmet
F0712 German Infantry Marching
F0713 German Infantry Firing
F0714 German Officer Marching
F0715 German Machine Gun and Gunner
F0716 German Machine Gun Loader
As well as German infantry, there were French WW1 Infantry
F0720 French Chasseur D’Alpin advancing
F0709 French Officer Marching
There was an interesting suggestion from Ian Dury fellow Laing collector who runs the Peter Laing page on the MeWe community forum (which replaced the Google + Community Peter Laing page) that, with walking stick removed, these figures make excellent 19th century Carlist Infantry (obviously an oversight by Peter Laing?)
F0708 French Infantry Advancing
F0707 French Infantry Firing Officer Marching
The light blue French gunners, infantry and officers could pass as Austrians at a pinch.
Ian Dury (in his comments below) identified the artillery riders for me as
M0704 French Hussar with Lance removed.
A0706 French Gunner kneeling.
A0707 French Gunner kneeling with shell.
A0708 French 75mm field gun
If I have misidentified any Laing figures, cavalry or guns Ian Dury and the Peter Laing MeWe collectors group will happily always put me right – find us on
https://mewe.com/join/peterlaingfigures
I have no great desire to run any WW1 historical game scenarios, instead I look at these troops as Bronte ImagiNations fodder for Ruritanian conflicts and border skirmishes.
Hopefully I might have painted some more of my WW1 Peter Laing unpainted figures to join these painted ones in time for the 50th Anniversary next autumn 2022 of the first Peter Laing figures being advertised and sold next October / November 1972, possibly the first ever 15mm gaming figures.
Roll on Christmas !
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN, 20 August 2021
Man of Tin blog 