28mm ACW - Which manufacturer do you recommend?

[King Thor]

Hi All,

New to ACW and looking to put together both a confederate and union force along with terrain.

I've done as much research as I could and torn between the following manufacturers. Pros and cons that I found listed as well.

Sash and Sabre - Animated, goofy horses?
Foundry - Great overall range, pricey?
Redoubt - Great range, goofy horses?
Renegade - stale range, good prices, bigger in size than the rest
Perry Plastics - first set not that great, best horses?

Anything else people would add?

I want to start off with skirmish rules so that I can paint small forces to start and not be daunted and give up with a massive pile of lead. I will post rules suggestions in another thread.

Thanks!

KT

[joroas]

Perrys have a nice range of metals, their later plastics are nice and they are a good match for the Foundry Range, now much reduced in price.

[Adam]

I agree with joroas, have a good look at the Perry range. I've got some of their new Confederate infantry and they're lovely models. You could probably get away with using them as some of the shell-coated Union regiments as well (someone correct me if I'm talking out of my bum). The Zouaves are also nice, and their metal range is well priced too.

[joroas]

...and for what they cost, their early stuff is not too bad for some core infantry and cavalry.

[Elk101]

I have mainly Renegade and Redoubt, some in separate units and some mixed. I also have some Crusader. I reckon they are fine together. I also seem to be one of the few people who like the Redoubt horses!

I got a load of Renegade and Redoubt cheap on ebay so largely started with those. Having said that I'm very happy with them.

[Painter Jim]

I just purchased some Artillery and crews from Redoubt, they size up well with 1st corps. So far I have used perry metal and plastic, 1st corp, dixon old glory, sash and saber, renegade but only one regiment and will probalbly ebay them as they are gigantic compared to any others and also recently started on some redoubt. the dixons are the smallest of the bunch. the workbench consist of a mixed regiment of Sash and Saber w/ old glory 1st edition. I have taken a picture for size comparison, some of the old glorys are larger than the rest but remideed slightly with the use of my bench grinder on the figures base which was done after the photos.

From left to right in this order until the last figure. Old Glory, Sash and Saber and so on .......

[alcal]

I dont follow how redoubt horses are `goofy` can somebody elaborate / explain why?

Cheers AL

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=50763.0

[Elk101]

I like them! They're somewhat gangly but they're good.

[Mindenbrush]

I have just about finished both sides for Brother Against Brother using Foundry with a small smattering of Perry and Crusader.

Most of the Foundry were bulk buy and then shipped by a friend in the UK or I picked them up when over there, also bought through DaveT on ebay. No problems with the figures flash or casting wise and a pleasure to paint  

Perry - not a great fan of their work and I only bought their artillery teams plus a couple of the skirmisher packs - the usual plethora of casting worms and some faces that reminded me of Downes Syndrome.
The artillery are nice but took too a long time to paint and had some minor miscasts.
The tow hook on the back of the limber has to be replaced with brass rod as the box overhangs it and the gun cannot be hooked onto the limber otherwise.
The picture of the artillery team on their website is misleading as the fully harnessed horses are at the back, not in the middle.
You also need a base 250mm long to mount the whole lot - I got some alumium bases cut from scrap material where I work  
I did some extensive research on the method of harnessing the horses to the limber and together.

I still have to paint the Crusader figures but the look like they will fit very well with the Foundry.
As B-A-B uses casualty figures I loaded up on S&S as they are by far the cheapest.

[BlindFool]

...in addition to the above dont forget stevebarbermodels.com ACW range...they mix well

[Leapsnbounds]

I really appreciate this thread as I too am having trouble with which 28mm manufacturer to choose from.  I like the Perry figures, but I am a metal guy and am afraid of the plastics as they don't work for me.  I just have trouble with all heads, they just don't work for me.  Has anyone tried gaming in 40mm?  Can you have big battles with those?

[Calimero]

Perrys have a nice range of metals, their later plastics are nice andd they are a good match for the Foundry Range, now much reduced in price.

Infantry figures from Perry and Foundry work fine together. Be aware though that the Perry plastic horses are way bigger than the Foundry metal ones…

[sepoy1857]

Foundry and Perry; Flags GMB.

[General Lee]

I agree with joroas, have a good look at the Perry range. I've got some of their new Confederate infantry and they're lovely models. You could probably get away with using them as some of the shell-coated Union regiments as well (someone correct me if I'm talking out of my bum).

absolutely spot on. a lot of Irish new york regiments wore them

[General Lee]

personally, I don't think the first plastic plastic ACW infantry set from the Perries is bad. The marhing figures are great. ever was a fan of the loading/firing figs but still, not bad sculpts. just get a couple of these and mix them with the metals