Post
by Sir William » Mon Dec 26, 2011 9:09 pm
Gentlemen;
I was part of the "consulting team" that helped with the design of the original WF Infantry set. This set started as a "Liberty & Union League" submission and the mandate then was to create a truly "generic" set in an "old school" style for doing Grant & Young style games. Hence, the rather generic marching poses. Originally, there was much discussion about doing a follow-up set, or at least a single sprue, that contained optional leg poses to be used with the abundance of extra torsos, arms, and heads. However, these hit the market at the exact time that WF went through their "bloodletting" and management change, so the proposed additions never happened. The Cavalry set was done by new management, who put the test sprue out there for our feedback and input, but only after it had already gone to tooling. That is why there are several inaccuracies in the set and improvements that should have been made, but really couldn't because it was already in tooling.
I have since been in extensive discussion with current management and it is very likely that we will see an Artillery set, they will use feedback while still in the design process, and there may still be an opportunity to produce some "spare parts" or at least optional parts to allow a little more variety in the Infantry. The thought right now is to create artillery crew using the same format as the multi-part Infantry (split at the waist), but create at least two new leg poses that would also work for standing firing or a wider-legged advancing or standing pose, and to possibly offer the crew sprue for sale as a separate sprue (like the Persian sprue). The best thing you can do is to use WF's Forum and let them know that you really want this set and these options included. The overall concept is for all of the WF sets to have interchangeable parts to allow for the maximum degree of variety, although this will mean more assembly. They are committed to "completing" the range, but the priority they assign that set will be based on economic viability and customer demand.
Regards;
Bill