AIP & Barzso Figs: 54mm?

Big Shiny Plastic Soldiers:

do the relative size and bulk really matter?

Wargaming with big figs is already outside of some wargamer's safety space. Altho many would definitely benefit from the great size and bulk making them more obvious to the eye, they just consider plastic toy soldiers to be mere "toys". While that can be the case, there are a number of manufacturers and sculpting styles that suit the wargame table quite well. It's almost as if they were made with the intent to wargame them. Hmmm......?

One manufacturer of 54mm Plastics I really like is Armies in Plastic [CLICK] which has found a popular niche in skirmish style figs [here, this means "the figs have a lot of different poses"].  Their French and Indian War line [CLICK] is especially likeable, with 8 different poses that nicely balance realism and toy soldier style. Below is pictured their French & Indian War - French Army 1754 - 1763 box set:

While ideal for a skirmish battle, if you want that "all the soldiers in the same pose" look, you'd have to buy several boxes to create a firing line, or all marching / charging, etc.  Nothing wrong with that as these 16 figs [2 sets of 8] presently retail for $10!  Astonishing, when you consider how many re-issues of old toy plastics are asking $3-6 per figure in a set, and $10-20 for single character figures.  Kinda crazy, IMHO, but I shouldn't judge.

As for comparative sizing, using the generally accepted guide that we measure from the soles of the feet to the top of the head [due to wildly differing head gear], the AIP figures come in right around 54-56mm, I'd say:

Well, this Ranger is about 52-53mm...

And this Injun is around 55-56mm.

...as is this French Line soldier.

Overall, they are close in height and just as important to the eye, in bulk.  They are all pretty robust figs, with perhaps slightly larger proportions than bad diet and long marches would result in - of course, they wore a lot of clothing layers and carried lots of gear, which makes you look larger.

Here the AIP are compared to - what I am told - are the Barzso French Canadian Militia, likely the ones from the Braddock's Defeat set.  On the right, we can see that altho the height is very close, and I feel like the militia man has a realistic build, next to the red Injun fig he looks small.  The Indian looks like the Terminator.  Based upon illustrations the three Ospreys I have about American Woodland Indians, I'd say he's a bit big and a bit muscular.

On the left, we have Petit Jacques, who comes in at only about 47mm.  In both size and bulk he is somewhat dwarfed by the Line soldier next to him, as well as the Indian. Overall, I like the variety in sizes, after all, people are different sizes.  I would have appreciated a fat fell, Gros Pierre, or something.

The similarity of pose makes it very easy to compare these fellows.

This guy is leaning to the right, but even standing straight up, I'm guessing he's only come in at 48-49mm at best.

Overall, I like having the variety of styles and sizes, I think it makes it feel more "skirmish" and less like a uniformly sized set of toy soldiers.  Overall, I don't really care that much about the relative size and bulk, as long as there is a sort of middle ground of average guys who make up most of the figs.

Hope this has been helpful.  If you want to see any other comparisons, LMK and I'll check out what I have, especially in my son's old toy bins!

American Civil War: It's "Epic" now!

Epic v. Kallistra Comparison

Was able to quickly sell off all my 6mm ACW figures - I had to, they were just too small to see or deal with for me! After struggling with various optical enhancements:

I gave up and eventually listed them on Fb where I was pleased to find someone who was glad to have them.

Still, the ACW is near and dear - and I like it at the regiment / battalion level.  I wanted a look that gave the impression of a long line with lots of Soldiers, but was larger than 6mm.  I was very interested in Old Glory 15s, which look perfectly animated for this period.  I also closely looked at Old Glory 10mm, which appeared to be quick to paint up and yet still look right despite the blocks.

A gaming pal told me about the new Warlord Epic scale [somewhere around 13mm or True 15mm, or...something], I did some research and found the starter box at a discounter for... $108.00, so it was a no-brainer!  Also, the plastics snap into bases and I can playtest while I am painting, which was a big bonus. I quickly bought it!

But, I'm picky about a lot of things I like on the table, so I just had to expand the offerings with Kallistra's "12mm / 1:144" figures from here [CLICK].  They appeared to match up well to the uncertain scale of Warlord Epic.  This allowed me to get skirmishers, cavalry, more gun variety, limbers, wagons, etc. Things I needed for both game mechanics and appearance.

Box arrives - couldn't resist spending a few bucks on flag sheets, they are just too useful!  Amazingly, the simple packing survived altho just barely.  They should up their game in this respect!

Comparison shots:  Kallistra gunners v. Epic: Kallistra are a big "bigger" and Epic are a bit taller and are slender. Overall, while the style is different, on the table there will be very little difference to the eye - especially at 2-3 foot gaming range!

Above, the Kallistra wheels are the right type [16-spoke] and only *slightly* smaller. The gun is the same 12 pound Napoleon, and the barrel is definitely smaller while the carriage is a bit smaller and more slender and otherwise close.  Once painted, I'll see which guns will stand in for what types.

Below, closeup of the Artillery.  The plastics are very cleanly sculpted and executed, the Kallistra have more texture and wrinkles in the uniform cloth. This may differentiate them more from Epic to the eye than any size issue.

The Cavalry. Pictured are Kallistra 12mm / 1:144, Epic, and 15mm Rank and File Prussian Cavalry from here [CLICK].  The difference here is quite pronounced.  As cavalry can take up a lot of space on the game table, it is my thought that I prefer the smaller Kallistra.  How do they look next to the infantry?

Another shot - you can see that the Epic are almost as big as the 15mm fig, definitely between the Kallistra 12mm / 1:144 and the Rank and File 15mm.

Below, how does Kallistra compare to Kallistra? Certainly, the height is right - the cavalry are significantly taller. My thought is that the horse is a bit short and doesn't have quite as much bulk.  I'm fine with this as they are more likely to be pony nags than cuirassier steeds in real life!  The Army was notorious for inconsistent horse purchasing.  Ultimately, they are intended to mostly serve as mounted infantry, so as long as the horse can keep up the pace, it is good enough.

Same comparison with Epic in between.  The stands are not quite right, the Epic is a bit heightened by 1-2mm thanks to the stand v. the cast base of the Kallistra.

This is a better shot - all cast/molded bases are about equal. The Epic has less bulk [and less gear] than the Union infantryman, but both are close in height and obviously shorter than the Union cavalryman.

Overall, I am very happy with the project.  Altho the Kallistra set me back $315, the Epic "cast of thousands] provides a crazy number of 60mm stands, 120 to be exact!  In my world, that translates to about 40 units!  The Kallistra flesh things out just a bit with infantry [Zouaves, Heavy Artillery infantry unit] some gun variety, and most important, the full cavalry option [mounted, dismounted with skirmishers] and skirmishers in general.

The big question now is how will they paint up?  My goal with 10mm is that it be a lot faster than 15 or 25mm painting, and obviously less expensive, while still obtaining the look I want on the table.

I'm hoping this is correct, we'll just have to see!

Romanoff Pikemen - RTW1 'Charge Your Pike!'

This set has the same approach as the other Romanoff packs, 5 multi-pose figures who therefore require some thinking and assembling. This does result in an ability to play with the poses and reduce the "toy soldier effect" if desired, and get more realism albeit at the price of some more work. There are:

• 5 identical bodies / trunks in back-and-breast with tassets [no gorget],
• 5 identical nicely sculpted swords,
• 6 pairs of arms [2 types - one set has the right had pushing the pike from the rear end of it, the other set has the right hand holding the pike shaft, so based on the provided arms you will have three of one and two of the other],
• 5 heads with helmets in three types [2-2-1, the 1 has no mustache, the two others both have a slightly different face with very different helmets].

All are pretty clean with nice small details like the fastening buckles on the armor, etc.

When assembled, they will look something like the below pic; this nicely shows both hand sets and the narrower helmet of the closest pikeman compared to the others, so for example you could have pikes up as high as about 45 degrees or completely leveled with the ground:

http://www.oldgloryuk.com/thirty-years-war/english-civil-war/43/154/408/416

with gracious permission from Andy the OGUK chap! Check out his site for more pics.

It should also be noted that the arms all have the somewhat "older fashion" of wings on the shoulders.  These are part of the arm sculpt and as they were falling out of fashion during the ECW one may consider trimming them off or down a bit.

For me, I like a little more variety in the leg posturing, and I've included the pic from my other post on Romanoff musketeers firing, to show how I snip the base and then use it as a lever to manipulate the leg somewhat. Combined with some head and arm posing differences, and you get a nice natural and realistic effect.

Based upon the above pics, and a close examination of the two sets of arms, I can actually see a few other possibilities for "postures" [poses] of these pikemen.  Looking at my trusty copy of de Gheyn [by Dover Editions] I'd say that the most restrictive pair of arms is the one with the long-extended right arm, but could still have the following postures:

Granted, these are not radically different poses!  But you can see this as both a fighting posture and a transitional posture in the notations.

For the other pair of arms, there's several different postures:

These two show a high point, useful to spare cavalry figures in contact a spear in the face! The second is some sort of trailing pike posture, which also shortens the distance the pike tip would be in front of the figure and therefore within the base.

These two postures have an interesting facing, with a flat body but forward pike. The lowered tip will - again - keep that tip out of the way for gaming. Only thing about this posture is the left hand would have to be flipped over so the palm is down [twisting, or cutting off and gluing back on].

I think these pics show how effective a real drill manual is - that is also easily accessible - and how simple it is to not only get variety of pose but also to find historical postures that are "gaming friend" and teach a bit about drill in the 17th C.

Hope this is useful for you if you are considering getting into 40mm, ECW, or just picking up a few packs of these sculpts to make a unit.  Mine will make their way into my ECW story as some sort of Trained Bande for the county in which my fighting will take place.

S&S Dragoons - 40ECW101 & 102

Ok, the first of the reinforcements in my mind is the dragoons.  They come in a pack of 5 foot or 3 mounted for $14.50 or $23 respectively. All the figures are very nice, and they are a must for any serious gamer as they are present in every engagement, and they are basically the "first to go, last to know" people of the ECW.

The foot pack has two firing, one loading, one cocking and one ready to fire, but not leveled yet. There are five heads with brimmed hats [cavalier style] and one Monmouth and one Montero cap.  All are very crisp, nice castings, and look like a pleasure to paint in the near future.  The interesting thing is that with two mounted packs [6 figs] and one foot pack [5 figs] you get the one lost figure who's holding horses.   Still, they are a lot more expensive than regular foot, so it is great that they are lovely figs.

Each stands about 32mm high without a head [granted, an important issue for all soldiers of the ECW] and has cavalry boots and about 12 "apostles" of powder to load with, which distinguishes them from regular cavalry or infantry.

Below a comparison shot of Romanoff officer from the command pack and one of the dragoons. Clearly, the Romanoff is about 3mm taller, in the 35-56mm height range, that's not taking into account the height of heads that are interchangeable, in any event.

As for the mounted dragoons, there are the same three as usual horses. Two figs are identical and holding a matchlock musket in a hand that is unattached. One is holding the musket braced against his thigh in one piece. There are 4 big hats, one montero and one monmouth head.

Overall, these are great figs, and well worth my time and effort. While I'm not thrilled about the horses, I'll hope that they all fit together better than the cavalry.

Since dragoons are "force 1 figures" who fight nearly all the time, I'm glad these are nicely done. They will figure prominently in skirmish and larger games, providing a mobile force of firepower and seizing objectives just like they did in real life.

The only thing that's a tad annoying is the expense - a force of 6 mounted and 5 dismounted dragoons is about $60, but one doesn't have to field them as a single force, so I look at it as about two small units for $30 each. I figure in colonial times, these mounted men would serve as scouts and work the road networks most likely, as well as occasionally venturing out into the less densely overgrown wilderness, so will be very useful.

In any event, looking forward to painting these up!

Comparison: 40mm Command Packs, Romanoff v. Sash and Saber

Finally, after quite a bit of delay I'm back on this project.  Real life issues like work, family, moving, and some gaming distractions [witness my Dark Ages blog, "Spear to the Strife"] have slowed this project down quite a bit.  But the Neal Thomas rules and some focus have me back at the ECW.

Goals at this point are to finish cleaning and assembling the ten command then the ten cavalry.  After that, it will be time for gap filling, then priming.  Still can't decide what colors to prime in, tempted to go with white to brighten the color palette in general but grey and tan are also possibilities.

So I've a pack of both, partly for variety and partly because I wanted very much to see what the Romanoff figures were like as sculptors usually try their best for command figures. EDIT: found the pics at the Old Glory UK site:
Romanoff Command Pack Pic @ OGUK
S&S have pics of both command packs.  Anyway, the packs are:

Romanoff = 40RTW3 - Infantry Command (5 figures), $17  

S&S =  40ECW201 - Infantry Command A (officer-Sergeant-Drummer-2 Ensigns), $14.50

S&S Command Pack A pic

Romanoff on the left, Sash and Saber on the right.

There's a second Romanoff command pack 40RTW8 that has "officer in armor" in the description.  There's a second S&S command pack B that has officer, ensign, fifer, drummer, preacher.  

S&S Command Pack B pic 

I will find this obvious Parliamentarian pack irresistible!  Actually, I'll be getting them both...

Anyway, what is in them?

Well, there's one unfortunate problem, which is that I appear to have used the command bags as a place to store much of the extra bits for both makes, as well as having grabbed some of the bits out of the bag for use on my infantrymen.  Very sorry about that!  But there are some pieces that are definitely included in the command bags, so no doubts there.

The Romanoff bag has - more importantly than the bits - four identical bodies lacking arms and heads, with the fifth being different, slimmer, check out the pic.  The four certainly have a big buffcoat and turned down boots, the fifth just a regular coat, stockings and shoes.  

Gear included is a selection of heads, a sprue or two of their arms, two arms with flag staffs, a sprue of their excellent swords in scabbards, an NCO halberd, and officer's partizan, and of course a drum.  All the poles seem a bit soft to me, and would need replacement with piano wire as they'll bend, rebend and then break, needing to be replaced anyway.  Hands included are pistol, baton, open, closed around pole [needs drilling], gesturing.  Plenty to work with.

The Sash and Saber bag has five different bodies, as follows:

1. drummer with tassled buffcoat, right hand holding drumsticks and left arm draping over drum [quite a casual pose, really], stockings and shoes.
2.  A "likely" officer due to the VERY big sash, armor, and sculpted lace.  Also has the big turned-down boots, holding right arm in air [quite a dramatic pose].
3. Two Ensigns with right arm, open hand.  One has lace, a large sash, and turned down boots.  The other a jack [maybe buffcoat vest] stockings and shoes.  
4. Waving left hand fig, sort of a "move up with me" gesture, has jacket, large sash, stockings and shoes.  

Gear included is a drum, an NCO halberd hand and an officer's partizan hand, both pole arms with tassles.  There's several heads including a bare one and of course an arm waving a hat.  Overall, if you are realistic about the variety of clothing that may be used in the field, most of the figs offer quite a bit of variety for poses in the command group or among the infantry, really.  Perhaps the only restrictive thing is the lace which should really be for officers - but then again, there's always looting, eh?

Size comparison: the 2nd from the start and end of the line are the Romanoff.  You can see that they run about 2-3 mm taller, mainly in the legs.  Still, people come in all shapes and sizes, so they should mix fine especially with heads and arms.  I think that I'll put two of the Romanoff in each group, where their sameness can be hidden a bit better with good posing and painting, not to mention arm/head selection.

A bit blurry, but this photo shows the height difference a bit better.  Basing can also help - cutting down or raising up the figures base when mounting into units.  Not worried about it, actually just happy with the variety.

Next up will be cleaning and prepping, then of course assembly.  None of the figures has excessive flash or mold lines, but all have some.  Shouldn't be too much trouble, but how the heads and arms fit is important - dictates how much green stuff will have to be used to fill the gaps.

Excited to get to these, finally, after lots of delay!  All that's left after these bags is the 10-fig cavalry unit from S&S [7 troopers and three command], which I very much look forward to - ECW oddities and plenty of cavalry are a big part of the period's interest for me.

40mm Figure Comparison: Romanoff v. Sash & Saber

Well, inevitably there just HAS to be a discussion of this, it's one of the most popular and perhaps important topic of shared info regarding figs.  Amazingly, I didn't even think to compare them and I didn't notice a size discrepancy until I started to play around with basing schemes.  Check out the photographic evidence:

The Romanoff has longer legs and is a bit bulkier.  They're a net 2-3mm taller and I probably wouldn't mix them in the same regiment altho they'd be fine on the same table.  This is important b/c there isn't a ton of 40mm sculpts out there for ECW.  The variety Romanoff offers is quite useful for my early war style of regiments, and I wouldn't want to have to pass on them.  The identical pics just vary the light conditions as each shows different aspects better, I think.  At some point I need to get some Jacdaw figs as well:
http://www.oldgloryuk.com/disp_items.php?m=47&sh=2

While the Romanoff are more expensive and take some time to assemble, I still enjoy the final result and look forward to the command pack.  I'll add some pike to it as well for a full regiment which I intend to use as Trained Bande.  Then they too can fight for either side!

Romanoff Figures: Cleaned, Assembled, and Reviewed!

Two packs of Romanoff 30YW / ECW figures.  These I got from S&S who export them from OldGloryUK.com far as I can tell.  I _believe_ that OGUK also adds to the line with new sculpts periodically.  At the S&S catalogue, they are:

40RTW4  Musketeers - firing and loading with felt hat             (5 figs) $17.00

40RTW4a Musketeers - firing and loading with monmouth caps (5 figs) $17.00

Unfortunately for the pic, I sorted out all the monmouth caps for pikemen and added more felt brimmed hats from S&S.  But you can see what you get, basically.  Each pack had five identical bodies (humph, would prefer at least two different bodies) and six sets of arms/gear to make the 5 figures.  So you can make three loading/three firing, then two of the other.  Five nicely sculpted swords and I believe it was six heads, maybe a couple more (the command pack has 8 heads for 5 figures).

*research point - Osprey ECW vol 1: Infantry suggests that the monmouth / knit caps were favored by the pikemen as they wore them under their helmets for added comfort, while the brimmed hats and caps like the montero were favored by musketeers [perhaps to keep sun out of the eyes while firing?  maybe the brims helped keep the lock dryer during wet weather firing?].  Interesting and makes sense, so I'm running with it*

The amount of mold lines, flak etc was average for an OG casting, but there weren't any really bad ones across the face and such, and most cleaned up easy.  Only annoying problem was a line that was _in_ the trouser side, sort of a groove in fact, that resisted all but the most aggressive filing attempts.  In the end I had to settle for a combo of filing and filling them, unknown if it'll work.

Assembly was not bad and often fun.  I enjoyed making natural poses and thinking about what the guy was doing.  Also, as a former military man, I know that during any drill there's always some variation in how people stand and do things.  During this period drill was even less strict and uniform, so there should be more variety.  With the slight variation in the arms and different heads, several different figures can be made. 

At $17 for 5 [$3.40 ea.] they cost 50 cents more a figure than S&S 5-packs, and $1.15 more than the "value-pack" of 20 firing figures from S&S.  So the bottom line is get them for pose variety - if you value that then great, but if not go for the S&S, I guess.

Now, how do they turn out?  Well, just fine, really.  But it takes a bit of modelling to do it with the separate arms, weapons, and swords, and heads!  I found it pretty fun, but not something I'd do for an entire project.

Cleaned and assembled, five giving fire and 5 loading.  Are the poses accurate?  One seems to be - my copy of de Gheyn has the exact loading posture, holding musket and priming the pan w' fine powder from a flask:

And this is how my assembly came out:

I also tried to vary their relative foot positioning so they didn't look _quite_ so identical in body.  I think with the painting and basing I can succeed in this a bit more, altho for real variety I'll have to await the Montrose highlanders Chris is progressively offering this summer and fall!  Now the shooting posture and posing:

The Romanoff pose has the gun crooked in the bicep/elbow [ouch!] disregarding recoil.  The de Gheyn postures don't show that in the postures just before/after firing either, so in my mind they've been taught their postures by a veteran who has them holding their 'peece' slightly lowered just before/after actual firing.  They still look just fine and having done lots of shooting/drilling, I'm certain that there's not just one way to do it, and the period definitely had lots of self-proclaimed experts with their own ways.  Fair enough.

This stage went fine - big question for me is will the priming process fill up the gaps between the arms and bodies a bit more - they're too obvious right now.  I'll try some gap fill and see how it goes.

Overall, I give them a 7.5 for average casting and value, but superior posing and pose variety.