28mm plastic ancients

[Westfalia Chris]

I was told that the crest shoul be rotated of 45° ... infact it was sculped in this way in ancient "Bas-relief " but in the real it was like this

Thatīs not exactly correct. Centurions did, indeed, wear a 90°-rotated crest, called a "crista transversa", to differenciate themselves from regular legionaries who, when on parade, would wear a plume or crest which ran from front to rear.

Intriguing venture. Oh damn, here I go again into ancients.

[revford]

I sent an email for a bit more info to Wargames Factory.

They tell me North Star will stock them in the UK.  Which will make things easier shipping wise for Europe.

Also they are scaled to fit in with Artizan, Crusader and Foundry.  So that's great news.  I guess they are talking about the Newer Foundry rather than the older ones.

[MaxxVane]

Said I would never do 25/28mm ancients again......... guess I might have to withdraw that statement  

Very nice figs, they will workout less than most 15/18mm figures

[Rhoderic]

I think I'll buy one of each inexpensive set of plastics that any of these companies produce. I don't game any of these settings in this scale, but they're worth it just for the bitz I can scavenge off the sprues. While I doubt they'll come with a lot of extra gear like the GW plastics do, the heads, weapons etc will still be very useful.

Also, another thought just struck me: Being lightweight, they might be cheaper to ship to and from those Southeast Asian painting services with the dirt-cheap rates.

(Please don't burn me at the stake for mentioning painting services in this forum!)

[pierrebi]

I was told that the crest shoul be rotated of 45° ... infact it was sculped in this way in ancient "Bas-relief " but in the real it was like this

Thatīs not exactly correct. Centurions did, indeed, wear a 90°-rotated crest, called a "crista transversa", to differenciate themselves from regular legionaries who, when on parade, would wear a plume or crest which ran from front to rear.

Intriguing venture. Oh damn, here I go again into ancients.

Vegezio Epitoma rei militaris Libti II Prologvs
Cap XVI vapoverso 3
" Centuriones vero habebant catafractas et scuta et galeas ferreas, sed transversis et argentatis cristis..."


1) there are no 3D image with a "crista transversa", jut bidimensional images, you have to design from left to wright in a bidimensional picture because if you design from front to rear you cannot differenciate from a regular legionaire crest ...
2) Any way this kind of crest was not used in battle.

[Captain Blood]

Oh but they're plastic, for goodness sake!  :wink:

I put plastic behind with Airfix aged about 13 when I walked out of the wargames shop with my first 5 Hinchliffe figures clutched in my hot little hand - the proceeds of my entire week's pocket money. Yes, I could have bought yet another box of Airfix soldiers instead, but the pennies had fallen from my eyes, I had seen the light, the gleam of lead, and I knew the real deal when I saw it...

Here was weight, here was quality, here was substance and gravitas and craftsmanship and a serious hobby worthy of dedicating part of my life to...

Plastic figures - even beautifully crafted plastic figures - meh. Lightweight, emphemeral, flimsy, insubstantial, squashable, flaky, bendy, intrinsically breakable - all the things that metal figures are not (unless you really put your mind to it).

And nobody say 'cheap' because I'm in marketing and I know precisely what happens with new product categories like this...

However the pricing starts out (substantially less than metal, I'm sure), the prices of these 'superior' hard plastic 'wargames style' figures will steadily creep up to a more profitable 'nearly as much as metal figures, but not quite' price point. This will then allow metal figures to become a 'premium' category, in turn priced much more expensively.
Pretty much what GW has cunningly done over the years, in fact.

So, my prediction - if the dash to plastic becomes a real industry trend, which looks distinctly possible, then within a couple of years, we will be paying almost as much for plastic figures per head, as we currently pay for metal figures. We will all be paying a lot more for metal figures - partly as a result of the pricing of plastics. In short, the entire hobby will become a whole lot more expensive, with GW type prices across the board.

ANYWAY...

That's not my real point.

My point is that - personally - plastic is plastic and it ain't lead!
So call me a stick in the mud...  :wink:

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Oh but they're plastic, for goodness sake!  :wink:

....

My point is that - personally - plastic is plastic and it ain't lead!

finally the kind of man I like, that's exactly what I've been saying all along  

[Argonor]

Howard Whitehouse was actually working on a ruleset called 'Clash of Iron' that was going to go with those minis - apparently the Wargames Factory suddenly got the possibility of attaching their product to the Field of Glory-line.

Howard's rules are interesting, though, and may still find their way into printing at some future point.

[wolfgangbrooks]

"intrinsically breakable - all the things that metal figures are not (unless you really put your mind to it)."

Que? Metals aren't easily breakable? I think you have never actually handled metal figures, sir. And that you are, in fact, a charlatan! :)

[Captain Blood]

"intrinsically breakable - all the things that metal figures are not (unless you really put your mind to it)."

Que? Metals aren't easily breakable? I think you have never actually handled metal figures, sir. And that you are, in fact, a charlatan!

Gosh, well, I can only say that in my humble experience, metal is quite hard to break, brittle plastic is very easy to break. It's basically to do with metal being hard and plastic being soft.
Could it be that the properties of the materials are the other way round where you are..?  :wink:

I'll tell you something else quite interesting - my kids have loads of GW stuff, 40K and LOTR mainly. I notice that their relatively few metal figures, they look after very well. Their hundreds of GW plastic figures on the other hand, lie in piles of half-painted and broken bits on the floor and regularly get trodden on by all and sundry.

This tells me:
1. My children have no appreciation of the value of money, I shall have to talk quite seriously to them...    
2. My children seem to have an innate respect for the value and quality of metal figures, which doesn't extend to (also rather costly) plastic models.
In essence, the plastics appear to be regarded as disposable, the metal figures appear to be valued.

Says it all really.  :wink:

[fastolfrus]

It's because to smaller eyes plastic figures are just toys.
The metal ones are made of shiney silver. (Or platinum if they come from GW   :)

[Howard Whitehouse]

I haven't commented on this thread so far because I am sort-of an insider of the project.

I think people will like these figures a great deal. They have been deliberately sculpted to match the Foundry/Crusader style, so they are chunky; this should also avoid breakages in most cases.

There will be a lot more figures, from different eras, as time goes on.

I had originally designed 'Clash of Iron' as a free set to go with these figures, but when the chance to connect with Field of Glory came up - and the distribution for FOG will be very extensive indeed - it seemed obviously crazy not to take that opportunity. So Clash of iron will emerge later on, but not as a short freebie set.

I have another design project for Wargames Factory in development right now, and I'll be asking for volunteers shortly here at Lead Adventure  :wink:   H

[redzed]

Plastic 'figures' give you cancer.

This is the 'LEAD' Adventure Forum. :x

[Helen]

All I can say is they would melt Downunder

[Ironworker]

Metal if fine for really high quality smaller projects but it's just no longer practical for big projects.  I'd rather have nice unpainted plastic kits that are easy to convert than a bunch of cruddy pre-paints with perpetually bent swords and spears.  

Both materials have their place and they are both vastly better than the bendy pre-paints.  Talk about toys.....