Monday 28 January 2013

The Plastic Soldier Company

Based in Henfield, Sussex - the Plastic Soldier Company specialises in WW2 infantry, artillery & tanks - all produced in multiple scales.

For the purposes of this site we will be concentrating on their figure releases at present, although their vehicle releases represent great value for money, and are good representations of their subject matter. For more details on these products go to their website, via link below...

This company, more than any other, has embraced the idea that once a figure has been mastered it can then be produced in multiple scales, a good example being their Russian Infantry boxed sets that are available in both 28mm, 20mm and 15mm scales.

Boxed Sets that are primarily Artillery pieces are included here as they also contain gun crew figures, other sets that are tank based and do not include figures (except maybe tank commanders) are not included here, check out the company website below for full product list.

The Plastic Soldier Company Website <Here>
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Product List


20mm - WW2
Late War German Infantry 1943-45
Late War German Infantry Heavy Weapons
Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform
Russian Infantry Heavy Weapons
Late War British Infantry 1944-45
US Infantry 1944-45
German PAK 38 Anti Tank Gun
Russian Zis 2/3 Anti Tank and Field Gun

15mm - Ancients

Gothic Warrior and Archer Infantry
Gothic Armoured Cavalry
Gothic Unarmoured Cavalry

Hunnic Horse Archer Cavalry
Hunnic Noble Cavalry

Late Imperial Roman Cavalry
Late Imperial Cataphract Cavalry
Late Imperial Roman Armoured Infantry
Late Imperial Roman Unarmoured Infantry

Sassanid Persian Armoured Horse Archer Cavalry
Sassanid Persian Unarmoured Horse Archer Cavalry
Sassanid Persian Unarmoured Infantry
Sassanid Persian Archer and Slinger Infantry
Sassanid Persian Lancer Cavalry

15mm - WW2
Late War German Infantry 1943-45
Late War German Infantry Heavy Weapons
Russian Infantry in Summer Uniform
Russian Infantry Heavy Weapons
Late War US Infantry 1944-45

Russian 45mm Anti Tank Gun
Russian Zis 2/3 Anti Tank and Field Gun

15mm - Modern
Cold War Soviet Infantry

Gripping Beast

Gripping beast have been leading metal miniature manufacturers for many years, specialising in Dark Ages, Late Ancients and into early Medieval periods.

Their initial releases, in mid to  late 2010, fall squarely into the Dark Ages era, see below, then after a two and a half year wait the third set of generic Dark Age Warriors was released in Spring 2013.

Since then there has been a steady stream of releases in this popular series.

Gripping Beast Website  <Here>

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Product List

28mm Dark Ages 

GBP01: Viking Hirdsmen
GBP02: Saxon Thegns
GBP03: Dark Age Warriors
GBP04: Arab Spearmen and Archers
GBP05: Arab Heavy Cavalry
GBP06: Arab Light Cavalry
GBP07: Plastic Viking SAGA Starter 
GBP08: Plastic Saxon (Anglo Dane) SAGA Starter 
GBP13: Dark Age Archers
GBP16: Dark Ages Cavalry
GBP19: Plastic Saracen SAGA Starter Warband
GBP21: Goth Noble Cavalry
GBP26: Goth Elite Cavalry


28mm Ancients 
GBP09: Late Roman Infantry
GBP18: Late Roman Heavy Cavalry
GBP23: Late Roman Light Cavalry
GBP24: Plastic Roman SAGA Starter Warband

Sunday 27 January 2013

FireForge - 28mm Templar Knights

Box Art
Close on the heels of their previous release, comes FireForge's offering of Templar Knights, these should be viewed in context of the Teutonic Knights boxed set, as they share many of the same parts and same approach to quality, animated sculpting and ease of assembly.

That said the only exception to the note about same parts is that we get a new selection of heads to work with, to reflect the fact that these are not Teutonic knights! Additionally we get three kite shields in the mix, again using the pre-moulded arm technique that makes assembly simple and robust. See the knights' frame below right.

Figure Frame
Each box contains 12 figures, with 3 frames of knights plus a mix of barded and unbarded horses for the knights to ride. The unbarded horse is moulded in two halves, making a possible nine variants when building. THe barded horse is again in two halves giving four variants and is the same frame as issued in the Tuetonic Knights set.

See Horse Frames below left and right....

Unbarded Horse Frame

Bdared Horse Frame


FireForge Miniatures

FireForge is the first company to be added to this site that is based in Italy. They specialise in Medieval miniatures, specifically the Crusades (Holy Land and Baltic!) and associated military orders.

They very quickly established a reputation of producing high quality, visually stunning figures and from experience they are a joy to build and paint. As with many other European based companies they utilise the moulding skills of Renedera.

FireForge Website <Here>

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Product List

28mm Medieval
Teutonic Knights Cavalry
Templar Knights Cavalry
Mounted Sergeants
Foot Sergeants
Templar Infantry
Teutonic Infantry

Sergeants at Arms
Medieval Archers
Foot Knights XI-XIIIC
Russian Infantry

Mongol Cavalry
Steppe Warriors

Byzantine Auxiliaries
Byzantine Spearmen
Scandinavian Infantry

28mm Fantasy 
Living Dead Peasants
Living Dead Warriors
Living Dead Knights

Northern Folk Rabble
Northern Folk Warriors
Northern Folk Bowmen

Albion Knights

Saturday 26 January 2013

Conquest Games

Conquest Games are relatively new to the plastics arena, they are based in Bexley Heath, Kent, UK and specialise in Dark Ages figures - Normans in particular!

As well as plastics, they also produce metal figures designed by independent designers and sculptors to  a consistently high standard.

Conquest Games Website <Here>.

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Product List


Friday 25 January 2013

Wargames Factory - 28mm WSS Cavalry

Box Art

Wargames Factory Figures are now available via Warlord Games, where the sets have been re-boxed and re-branded accordingly

Following on from the successful release of their WSS Infantry, Wargames Factory have now released their War of Spanish Succession (WSS) Cavalry boxed set.

The sculptor has cleverly designed a set that allows for the creation of models that represent the wide range of cavalry types that were present on the battlefield of the early 1700s.

As such the set can be made into 12-Horsemen and so it comes with 12-horses, 12-sets of legs for riders, over 50-torsos (including armoured torsos for cuirassiers) and over 60-heads (including tri-corn, helmeted, grenadier and dragoon head wear).  See picture of frame below left.

Figure Frame

Additionally the models can be armed with a brace of pistols, muskets / carbines and / or swords.  For even greater flexibility and variety the heads and accessories are interchangeable with the WSS Infantry set for even more options!

That's all good, now the not so good....

My main issue with this set are the horses. First when built they just don't look that convincing, in my opinion they are too small and they do not seem to have the level of animation or movement I would expect to see.

Horse Frame
Second issue is with the riders, when built they look good but as each arm & leg comes separate, along with separate head the model is just far too fiddly to build. Moulding the legs already joined would be a great help....

I have to say that overall I'm a little disappointed by this set, I have opted to use horses from an different manufacturer as I think these look better - but for value for money these are good. I guess you pays your money and makes your choice!

Wargames Factory - 28mm WSS Artillery

Box Art

Wargames Factory Figures are now available via Warlord Games, where the sets have been re-boxed and re-branded accordingly

This boxed set enables you to build a two gun section of artillery from the War of Spanish Succession (WSS), as with other sets in this range, the figures are generic, so that they can be built and painted to represent any nationality.

The set contains two frames - see picture below right - each frame contains the parts to build one gun with either a 12lb or 6lb barrel. Additionally there are 4 crew figures which come, each moulded as a torso & legs, to which you can add a variety of arms to create a umber of alternative poses. Finally the frame contains a mounted officer to command the gun section.

As ever there are a few additional extras on the frame - as we have come to expect from Wargames Factory - a bucket and neat piles of cannon balls plus a couple of barrels.

Artillery Frame
For the price these are good value, the crew are workman like and represented well, as ever with Wargames Factory figures they do seem a little tall and thin to my eye. That said the mounted officer is very good - if  a little fiddly to put together as both his legs and arms are separate and they are all small! There are options for the officer to be waving his tricorne or his sword - take your pick.

The only disappointment is the horse, as with the horses in the WSS Cavalry set, there is something not quite right about them to me. (See more in that review - here) However, it would be a simple task to substitute another manufacturer's horse...

Wargames Factory

Wargames Factory Figures are now available via Warlord Games, where the sets have been re-boxed and re-branded accordingly

Wargames Factory is the first American company to appear on this site, it is also unique in that it uses computer assisted design techniques to sculpt and produce their offerings, which are manufactured in China.

Wargames Factory boxed sets are typically rich in parts - allowing many variations of pose to be achieved - yet to many people,  the quality of their figures is best described as OK not great.

That said, I think that the company has been the first to say that they have been going through a learning curve, their more recent output is of a much better quality than some of their earlier offerings. Their production techniques has meant that they have been able to get a lot of product to market in a relatively short period of time.

Wargames factory website <Here> This Website is no longer functional

Warlord Games Website <Here> 
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Product List

Ancients
28mm Heavy Armor Greek Hoplites
28mm Persian Cavalry
28mm Persian Infantry
28mm Ancient German Cavalry
28mm Ancient German Infantry
28mm Caesar's Legions
28mm Celt Cavalry
28mm Celt Chariots
28mm Celt Warband
28mm Numidians
28mm Roman Cavalry

Dark Ages
28mm Saxon Fryd
28mm Saxon Thegns
28mm Viking Bondi
28mm Viking Huscarls

Oriental
28mm 16th Century Ashigaru Missle Men
28mm 16th Century Ashigaru Spearmen
28mm Samurai Cavalry
28mm Samurai Warriors

War of Spanish Succession
28mm Infantry
28mm Cavalry
28mm Artillery


Colonial
28mm British Infantry
28mm Zulus

WW2
15mm German Infantry
28mm German Infantry
28mm American Infantry

28mm Red Army INfantry

More somming soon...

Victrix Ltd

Victrix as founded by Stephen Hales and Julian Blakeney-Edwards (previously of Valiant Miniatures) specialise in Napoleonic and Classical Greek 28mm figures. Their plastic offerings cover infantry and artillery boxed sets, with their first sets going to market in October 2008.

Up untilJune 2012, Victrix also had a supporting range of metal figures, however, this was sold to Brigade Games in te USA, who will now develop and maintain the metal range.


Victrix Ltd Website  <Here>

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Product List

Napoleonics
VX0001  British Waterloo Infantry, Centre Companies 
VX0002 British Peninsular Infantry, Centre Companies
VX0003  British Waterloo Infantry, Flank Companies
VX0004 British Peninsular Infantry, Flank Companies

VX0005 French Napoleonis Infantry 1807-1812
VX0006 British Napoleonic Highlander, Centre Companies
VX0007  British Napoleonic Highlander,, Flank Companies
VX0008 French Napoleonis Infantry 1804-1808
VX0009 Napoleon's Old Guard
VX0010 British Napoleonic Artillery
VX0011 Napoleon's Old Guard Chasseurs
VX0012 Austrian Napoleonic Infantry 1789-1805

VX0013 Austrian Napoleonic Grenadiers 1789-1815
VX0014 Austrian Napoleonic Infantry 1806-1815
VX0015 Austrian Napoleonic Landwehr 1808-1815
VX0016 Napoleon's Middle Imperial Guard

Ancients
VXA001  Athenian Hoplites 5th to 3rd Century BCE
VXA002  Spartan Hoplites 5th to 3rd Century BCE
VXA003  Theban Hoplites 5th to 3rd Century BCE
VXA004  Mercenary Hoplites 5th to 3rd Century BCE

More soon...


Thursday 24 January 2013

Victrix Ltd - 28mm Mercenary Hoplites 5th to 3rd Century BCE

Vitcrix's Mercenary Armoured Hoplites 5th to 3rd Century BCE follow the pattern establised in their previous rleases in this range. That being 48 figures per box and 8 head variants with different crest options tomix and match within your unit to give great variety to your models.
 
There are 8 figures per frame, 4 have shield arms attached and 4 have no arms attached to enable you to make the musician and other speciality positions for officers and character figures. there are a variety of arms holding thrusting spears, which by careful positioning can represent the spear held at rest of in the act of being 'thrust'. Additionally there are various swords and scabbards plus parts to make a musician or officer
 
As you would expect this boxed set is designed to be mixed with parts from the other 3 Hoplite sets, (Spartan, Theban and Athenian) which all have their own speciality heads and options to give you yet more variety to your Greek armies.
 
Each box comes with a sheet of shield transfers (from Little Man Studios), these are excellent!!

Valiant Minatures

Valiant Miniatures was originally the brainchild of Colin Rumfold (he of 'Rapid Fire!' fame) and Julian Blakeney-Edwards (who went on to create Victrix Ltd).
The company specialise in what they describe as  1/72 scale World War Two hard plastic figure sets for gamers, modellers and collectors.

Straight away we should call out that these figures are much nearer to 25mm scale than 20mm scale and so we have taken the liberty of listing them as such. In our opinion they are too big to be able to integrae well into existing 20mm collections but they are much less noticable when integrated into 28mm figures collections - but there is still a difference!

The boxed sets are designed to provide value or money and to integrate seemlessly (as you'd expect) into Romfrd's  'Rapid Fire!' wargames system.

Valiant Miniatures Website  <Here>

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Product List

British Tommies 1944/45
Classic German Infantry 1944/45
American G.I.s 1942/44
Germans in Normandy 1944
German Paratroops

More soon...

Victrix Ltd - 28mm Waterloo British Infantry, Flank Companies


This boxed set complemnets the Vitrix's 'Waterloo British Infantry, Centre Companies' box, in that it provides all the parts and figures required to flesh-out your tabletop regiments with the appropriate numbers of Center and Flank figures.
As such this set should be viewed as an 'add on' purchace to the 'Centre Company' box, figure out the numbers you need and buy proportionately.
All the comments made about the 'Centre Company' box set apply here, they are the same basic figure frames, except with arms and equipment frames appropriate to flank companies - ie winged shoulder straps.
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The Boxed set comprises of 52 figures distributed as follows:

4 officers/Standard bearers
4 NCO's
4 Drummers
12 advancing figures in 3 different poses
8 march figures in 2 different poses
8 standing firing figures
8 standing loading figures in 3 different poses
4 kneeling figures

40 heads in uncovered belgic shakos with 8 different faces
4 bare heads
4 drummers heads
8 heads in covered belgic shakos with 2 different faces

48 back packs with 4 variants
64 pairs of arms for officers, ensigns, NCO’s, drummers, firing, advancing, at charge, loading and marching positions
4 hands holding pistol 4 spare muskets 4 drums
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More detail to come...

Victrix Ltd - 28mm Waterloo British Infantry, Centre Companies

This is the first release by Vitrix Ltd. and will be the beginnings of a large range of Napoleonic subjects by the Company. their approach is slightly diffrent from other manufacturers, in that the well stocked box, will only provide figures to represent center companies of regiments.

To field flank companies you will need to purchace an additional box of teh appropriately named 'Waterloo British Infantry, Flank Companies'.

The box contains 52 figures with Belgic shakos and includes command figures for officers, standard bearers, NCO’s, drummers, as well as 4 paper flags and fast play rules.

The figures are well proportioned and a delight when built, however, they do require an investment of time to build, due to the large number of small parts - all arms, heads and backpacks are seperate, which then need to be added to the basic torso/legs piece. Note one figure on each frame has seperate legs as well.

Each figure frame contains 13 figures of Britsh Waterloo Flank company, there is also a secondary frame containing heads, arms, backpacks, sergeant, officer and musician parts.

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The Boxed set comprises of 52 figures distributed as follows:

4 officers/Standard bearers
4 NCO's
4 Drummers
12 advancing figures in 3 different poses
8 march figures in 2 different poses
8 standing firing figures
8 standing loading figures in 3 different poses
4 kneeling figures

40 heads in uncovered belgic shakos with 8 different faces
4 bare heads
4 drummers heads
8 heads in covered belgic shakos with 2 different faces

48 back packs with 4 variants
64 pairs of arms for officers, ensigns, NCO’s, drummers, firing, advancing, at charge, loading and marching positions
4 hands holding pistol 4 spare muskets 4 drums
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More detail to come...

Perry Miniatures

Perry Miniatures is run by the renowned Perry Twins (Alan and Michael) who have been leaders in wargames figure sculpting for many years now. They have 'day jobs' with Games Workshop and have in the past worked to create the Wargames Foundry ranges. They are now in business for themselves.

Perry Miniatures Website  <Here>


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Product List

Wars of the Roses
WR1   Wars of the Roses Infantry
WR20 'Mercanaries' European Infantry 1450-1500
WR40 Mounted Menat Arms 1450-1500

American War of Independence
AW200   AWI British Infantry

Napoleonic
BH1      British Napoleonic Line Infantry
BH80    Napoleonic British Hussars
FN100  French Napoleonic Infantry
FN120  French Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry
FN130  French Napoleonic Line Dragoons
FN140  French Napoleonic Hussars
PN1      Prussian Napoleonic Infantry
RN20   Russian Napoleonic Infantry

American Civil War
ACW1   ACW Infantry
ACW2   ACW Cavalry
ACW70 Zouave Infantry
ACW80 Confederate Infantry 1862-65

Colonial
SA30  Mahdist Ansar - Sudanese Tribesman 1881-1885
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Coming Soon

Wars of the Roses
Light Cavalry 1450 - 1500
Foot Knights

American War of Independence
Continental Line Infantry

American Civil War
ACW Artillery



And there will be more...

FireForge - 28mm Foot Sergeants

Another release from FireForge Miniatures in their 'Deus Vult' range, allowing you to build 48 foot sergeants - as either crossbowmen, swordsmen or spearmen.

I guess to be absolutely accurate each frame contains the parts to make 8 figures, as with may figures, the torso and body come as one casting to which can be added heads and arms, etc. Each frame contains 10 assorted heads, 6 arms with spears, 4 arms with crossbows and six arms with assorted swords, maces and cudgels etc. There are 8 assorted shields per frame as will, all in all the potential for creating a huge variety of figures.

Each box contains 6 identical frames, spear staffs can be used to create a Standard Bearer but there are no parts to make a musician or an officer figure (given that these are Sergeants - I guess that's logical!).

Again a very nice boxed set from FireForge.

FireForge - 28mm Teutonic Knights


First release from FireForge Miniatures, allowing you to build 12 mounted Teutonic Knights.

Each box contains three identical frames, each allowing you to build 4 knights, see below left.. Additionally the box contains 6 frames, each allowing you to build 2 horses upon which to mount the knights, see below right.

Each knight is moulded with torso and legs, to which can be added a variety of arms, heads and thus a wide range of poses can be created. Each knight is also provided with the option of a cloak, these look a bit 'clunky' before adding to the figure but once everything is painted, they look fine.

The selection of helms & shields provided for the knights is impressive and with a little knife work each figure can have a really unique appearance. Additionally a selection of standards, icons and lance pennants are provided along with a horn to allow you to create a musician in the ranks.

Overall the figures have a wonderful sense of movement and are a joy to assemble and paint.

More to come...

Perry Miniatures - 28mm ACW Cavalry


Following the same principles as the Perry's ACW Infantry boxed set, these figures can be built as 12 Union or Confederate Cavalrymen.
Again there is are a good range of figure poses, with parts to build an Officer, Standard Bearers and Bugler. Again there are flags printed on a paper insert , allowing these to be attached to complete your Standard Bearer figures once assembled. 

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More to come ...
















Perry Miniatures - 28mm ACW Infantry



This is the first boxed set released by Perry Miniatures and it allow you to build 36 Union or Confederate Infantrymen.

The box contains three identical sprues, each with the parts to build 12 figures. There is are a good range of figure poses, allowing you to represent about 12 figures marching and 12 figures in a typical firing line. The remaining 12 figures in each box can be built to represent Officers, Standard Bearers and Drummers, as well as the odd NCO etc

There are also four flags (2 x Union & 2 x Confederate) printed on a stiff paper insert , allowing these to be attached to your Standard Bearer figures once assembled. The paper is a little too stiff for my liking but the results look good nevertheless.
More to come ...