15mm Ranges

[vonplutz]

Just wondering what 15mm ranges are good and why you think so?

[NTM]

My 15mm WWII collection consists of the following ranges, Battlefront, Command Decision, Essex, Forged in Battle, Peter Pig, Plastic Soldier Company & QRF (don't think I've forgotten any) I don't feel any one manufacturer could provide all I need, either the range is too small or quality is not consistent. There are pros and cons to most these ranges which I will give a brief summary of;

Battlefront; huge range much of which is excellent but can be pricey (look for offers discounts) and some sculpts are particularly poor e.g. stranglely proportioned infantry.

Command Decision; another huge range cheap and generally good. I get mine in the UK from Skytrex and have not experienced issues with miscasts, seems this is not so much the case with Old Glory though who also cast and sell the range in the US. I do find some of the vehicles need a bit of work to fit together though.

Essex; only a few infantry in the range but they are all clean well proportioned castings. Not the cheapest but reasonably priced.

Forged in Battle; rapidly expanding value for money range. Vehicles go together quickly and easily, some people don't like the cast on bases but I do. Some silly errors such as MG loaders on the wrong side and lack of Bazookas for US.

Peter Pig; large range of infantry and quite a few vehicles. There is something about the sculpting style of the infantry which I'm not too keen though.

Plastic Soldier Company; another expanding range providing excellent value for money. I was put of at first about building kits but now I've tried I find they them quicker and easier than metal/resin.

QRF; another large range, some of their stuff is a bit rough and ready, but newer sculps are excellent. do a lot of stuff others don't.

Going forward I will be using PSC as first choice for vehicles and FiB for infantry as a general rule, but I will consider all the available ranges when looking to create a particular unit.

[Etranger]

Add Eureka to the list of excellent figures, with WWII Australians (desert & Pacific), Italians, Japanese, Chinese & US marines. Usually a full range of infantry & command figures, with support weapons and artillery crew. Great sculpts, nciely moulded & comprehensive.

[Paddy649]

All I can add to what NTM said is to add Flames of War.  IMHO the best figures in terms of sulpting and animation and the greatest varirety (although a few miscasts since they moved production to Malaysia.)  BUT they are pricey and packed in such a way that unless you play FOW you can't get the figures you need to make up your units without wasting many others - this wasted lead is what makes them so expensive.  FOW definately the best for resin vehicles.  One big positive with FOW is that their customer service is truly excellent - so if you get miscast figures then complain and they'll see you right.  However, on occasion I'd prefer that they get it right first time rather than responding well to complaints.

I understand what NTM says about Peter Pig - but don't fully agree.  I would observe that their newer ranges (Germans in greatcoats, Brit Paras, Late War Germans) are better than their older ranges.  Also one positive for PP's chunkier sculpting style is that the figures are practically indestructable.  No PP ankle snaps in my 4000 figure army against several breakages with FOW and Skytrex.  Packaging in packs of 8 make them adaptable (plus for a little extra you can specify the poses you want) and they mix OK with  FOW - so often I'll buy a FOW company pack and pad out with PP. As for their range they PP do pretty much ever pose you need plus you'll pretty much always find them at a UK convention.

Skytrex (Old Glory) are in my opinion OK - but I've experienced too many miscasts and also they are true 15mm and so seem small against the heroic 15mm figues of FOW.  Troops used to be packed in bags of 50 which was inconvenient (especially when you have to buy 50 HMG figures and only get to use 4 of them in a unit) - but they now do platoon packs and gun packs now which is far better. Their metal vehicles are expensive and suffer from casting lines.

I've got no experience of Essex, Eureka or FIB and so won't comment. 

I've seen PSC at shows and they look good if cost is an issue and/or if you are OK with plastics (which I am not - they just don't have the "heft" of lead figures.)  However, they too are true 15mm and so would only fit in well with Skytrex.  Also the range is limited at the moment.  That said were I doing Russians and needed 1000s of troops and 100s of T-34s then PSC would be my first choice.

Can't fault what NTM says about QRF.  If you can't find what you are looking for (particularly vehicles) elsewhere then QRF probably does it!

[War In 15MM]

Gaming Models makes a wide variety of resin pieces in 108th scale.  They are clean castings at $5 each and come painted or unpainted as desired for that price.  They have some unique pieces.  I recently got Shermans with wading vents and some GMC dump trucks.

[NTM]

I looked at Eureka for my Japanese army and they were very tempting but the price was double anything else so a no go. (Based on UK prices can't comment on situation in rest of world)

Battlefront are the manufacturers of FoW so I did cover them. I would disagree with the comment as regards packaging, they are pretty accurate for a 1:1 platoon so there is only wasted figures if you need less than a platoon, but when does that happen  

I'm not knocking PP there is just something about them which means they don't work for me.

Will say again I quite happily mix a variety of makes and think it works really well (most of the time). Current projects are German infantry using old 'green box' Battlefront and current FoW, with British consiting of old 'green box' again, Essex & FiB.