how well are your plastics holding up to gaming use?

[Cat]

A few years building and painting with them indeed, not exactly a new medium.  ROCO, Aurora, ESCI, Fujimi and many other hard styrene from the 60s and 70s still holding up fine!
 
Over the decades, I've only had trouble with Airfix.  I think they had a particularly bad blend of soft plastic in the late 70s that I bought many of for gaming and sometime in the 90s had brittled and all crumbled at the ankles.
 
All others have held up fine.

[SteveBurt]

Some (but not all) of the old Airfix figures from the 60s and 70s just crumbled away. Mainly the ancients. But my Airfix ACW guys are just fine.
My ESCI Zulus suffered the same fate.
The newer hard plastic 28mm stuff seems fine, but time will tell

[Harry Faversham]

But will plastics survive decades?

I'm still playing with Airfix plastic figures made in the sixties, that's right good, in 'umble opinion!
 

[bluewillow]

I use large Diorama basing for my units so the figures do not get knocked around as much as my skirmish single bases weapons.

Cheers
Matt

[VonAkers]

Guys
Plastics mostly seem good to me overall.
However there is exceptions .
We did a Huge Hoplite Project , and used majority Victrix Hoplites , but a lot of Foundry Hoplites as well .
We respeared and shielded the Foundry figs with Victrix .
Problem is the Victrix spears are so brittle and prone to breaking that it is a real issue, and a big hassle to respear .
I do find it a bit curious that when people make a purchase of Plastics , it is mostly Cost based .. which is fair enough.
However the Elephant on the Painting Table is NEVER talked about
That is the Cost /Waste in Time of assembling the Plastic Figures .
For me that is a killer .
So yes I like to make some plastics .. which is good fun , but making Large armies jn plastic ...
I would rather be gaming, reading ,walking the dog  or just about any other thing then that .
Cheers
 
 

[SteveBurt]

Metal figures often require bits gluing on as well, and it can be much harder to get spears and shields well attached. Compared to painting time, assembly time is negligible. I use brass rod for spears; easy to flatten one end and file a point. Much more durable than lead or plastic

[Codsticker]

That is the Cost /Waste in Time of assembling the Plastic Figures .
For me that is a killer .
So yes I like to make some plastics .. which is good fun , but making Large armies jn plastic ...
I would rather be gaming, reading ,walking the dog  or just about any other thing then that .
Cheers

If you look at the number of assembled, unpainted GW armies out there it is clear that assembling plastic minis is a hobby unto itself.

[SJWi]

I don't mind plastics, so long as they are simple to put together. I find Perry uniformly good.  The ones I hate are those described in the current post about Firelock Games in the Renaissance section of LAF. I worst experience was trying to glue metal heads onto plastic bodies for for some Warlord Games Grand Duchy of Warsaw Napoleonics. Obviously I couldn't use polystyrene cement and the weight of the metal heads meant getting them to sit straight with either epoxy or superglue was a nightmare. 

[Dice Roller]

I quite enjoy putting plastics together.
You can get some really good poses out of them.
Admittedly, doing hundreds of the buggers would get tiresome.
But for skirmish games I don't find it all onerous. In fact, part of the fun.
Being plastic I often chop off legs and reposition them, or cut hands off, or cut off at elbows to reposition, etc. And, of course, mix with other sets.
You couldn't do that so easily with metals.
But I take the general point that putting hundreds together for full size army would get a bit long in the tooth.
Each to their own though.

[Cat]

I've had to replace many a metal spaghetti spear with brass wire.  Replacing breaky plastic ones, at least the plastic hand is much easier to drill out!

[Aethelflaeda was framed]

Guys
Plastics mostly seem good to me overall.
However there is exceptions .
We did a Huge Hoplite Project , and used majority Victrix Hoplites , but a lot of Foundry Hoplites as well .
We respeared and shielded the Foundry figs with Victrix .
Problem is the Victrix spears are so brittle and prone to breaking that it is a real issue, and a big hassle to respear .
I do find it a bit curious that when people make a purchase of Plastics , it is mostly Cost based .. which is fair enough.
However the Elephant on the Painting Table is NEVER talked about
That is the Cost /Waste in Time of assembling the Plastic Figures .
For me that is a killer .
So yes I like to make some plastics .. which is good fun , but making Large armies jn plastic ...
I would rather be gaming, reading ,walking the dog  or just about any other thing then that .
Cheers

That’s not a flaw…it’s a feature!  More variety in poses, easier to kitbash for something completely different and the total pleasure of model building.  I haven’t had to buy a 1/35 scale tank model or 1/72 plane  for a long time as the putting together squads of infantry scratches that itch.

Too I find that plastics are more durable on the tabletop, a stand toppling hasn’t the weight to alter a bayonet or sword the way metal figs do.  Even a fall to the floor survives better.  When something snaps it’s usually easier to pull out model glue for a sturdier repair/bond with a small surface area than the same with superglue on metal, which often requires drilling for a reinforcing pin.  I do see a bit of advantage with leveled pikes and spears to using brass wire over the original plastic or pewter.

[Sunjester]

Guys
Plastics mostly seem good to me overall.
However there is exceptions .
We did a Huge Hoplite Project , and used majority Victrix Hoplites , but a lot of Foundry Hoplites as well .
We respeared and shielded the Foundry figs with Victrix .
Problem is the Victrix spears are so brittle and prone to breaking that it is a real issue, and a big hassle to respear .
I do find it a bit curious that when people make a purchase of Plastics , it is mostly Cost based .. which is fair enough.
However the Elephant on the Painting Table is NEVER talked about
That is the Cost /Waste in Time of assembling the Plastic Figures .
For me that is a killer .
So yes I like to make some plastics .. which is good fun , but making Large armies jn plastic ...
I would rather be gaming, reading ,walking the dog  or just about any other thing then that .
Cheers

I must admit I am with you on this. It's what has put me off plastic kits. I am a gamer and even regard painting as a necessary evil to get the figures on the table.

[SJWi]

Going back to the original question, I've just unboxed my Perry WoTR troops, most of whom are plastic, and who haven't seen the table for maybe 10 years .All are fine. I also built some additional light cavalry for use in tonight's game and quite enjoyed it.  Only 3-4 parts per figure, and it did allow my to choose my own headgear and pose, weaponry and accoutrements. Nothing too arduous and almost therapeutic for an hour's work. My experience with Victrix was somewhat different but I can almost understand why others love 'em.
 

[Cat]

I absolutely love Victrix for skirmish gaming, it's so easy to get a lot of pose variety:
 https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=133918.msg1715644#msg1715644

 
And show me a box of plastics and I'll show you a box of zombies:
https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=133918.msg1704546#msg1704546
 
Both of those units of figures came from the same box of Victrix French Napoleonics.

[Maniac]

The figures themselves hold up great.  Spears do not, and I've had more than a few snap or pop just in transport.  When I can I generally replace them with wire spears.