Crimean War? Surely not?

Great War Miniatures have announced today that they are starting a range for the Crimean War and so I have now started to think about whether I might get some of these figures, of course. I like GWM Great War figures without actually thinking they are (as was their intention) the ne plus ultra of World War One in 28mm. They have two sculptors and this is, I find, very apparent in matters of size and proportion. Some of the figures, such as the Early War British are lovely (although not as nice as the Musketeer Miniatures ones) but some, such as the Early War French I don't like as much. In addition they all tend to suffer from a rather old-fashioned "big head syndrome". I don't know whether the Crimean figures will have similar issues but the one they have put up on the Miniatures Page looks more than acceptable.

Anyway, in 28mm there doesn't seem to be much competition which begs the question whether anyone is really interested in the period. For me it has never been a period that appealed that much. Odd, given that it features a British Army in all its Victorian (and inappropriate) splendour. Partly, perhaps, it is too close in time to Waterloo and given a choice of two periods with redcoats and traditional cavalry I'd be more likely to go for the Napoleonic option. For a more modern war the American Civil War offers a more engaging choice with many and varied sized engagements and terrain. Basically my mental image of the Crimea is of (only a handful of) battles fought on freezing cold treeless, featureless terrain and rather too much siegework for an enjoyable wargaming period. The ultimate decision will be made, I suspect, by the figures themselves but these aren't due until 2010. If these are really spectacular (as they have the potential to be) then I may look at the period anew. Perhaps buying the Garry Douglas Kilworth novels might be a good (or bad) idea, especially given that, after the Crimea, his hero Jack Crossman ends up involved in the Indian Mutiny.

Something of a gamble for GWM I would have thought...