Any Plastics for Sub/Late Roman Brits?

[CarlLeyland]

Hi,

I was wondering given the plastic revolution are there any suitable figures out there for the Sub Roman British period? Are there any planned?

I have the patience of a Tibetan master and will wait for these to eventually be covered but suggestions for what I can be gathering as allies or enemies would be great as I will paint them occasionally and let them amass slowly without anyone-my wife-noticing.

Thanks in advance.

[Jack]

For unarmoured types Gripping Beast Dark Age warriors without helmets would do. You could replace heads with the metal ones from WestWind.
For armoured ones I have not heard about any plastics for this period but with a bit of necklace removal and more head swoops I think GB Vikings might work.

[CarlLeyland]

Thanks Jack thats actually a damned good idea! That had not even crossed my mind. I do like the look of the late Romans and wonder why they have not yet been covered.

[delbruck]

Use Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns for armored warriors. The sprue includes Late Romans helmets, some of which can be seen here:

[Captain Blood]

I think maybe those are supposed to be variants of Coppergate type helmets. Which would put them more 700s - 800s than late Roman. But close enough I guess 

I'm sure if you give it a year or two, one of the plastic manufacturers will come up with a late Roman set. Let's face it, Republican and Imperial Romans are pretty well catered for already, so it can only be a matter of time...

[Atheling]

I think maybe those are supposed to be variants of Coppergate type helmets. Which would put them more 700s - 800s than late Roman.

Yep

Darrell.

[CarlLeyland]

Wow Delbrook those figures look so ice! Very well painted indeed....

I think I will adopt the lotus position and wait for the sets to be released, hopefully they will be a little larger than the medieval ones which make me squint....though having said that there should be a few less straps and buckles on the standard infantry.

Lets hope the Perries have this on their list.

[damianlz]

So far I have asked about 5-6 manufacturers and noone seems to be remotely interested in late roman plastics, we have 4 makers of plastic republican romans, 15th century heavy turkish cavalry, 2 types of arabic archers, but not one manufacturer of plastic late romans. Someone please do it, I will buy a crates worth

[v_lazy_dragon]

Just tagging along with the others, but Gripping Beast Plastics with West Wind heads works pretty well. ~

The bare heads on the unarmoured warrior sprue are a bit shaggy for late/post-romans (they do make good generic germanics though!), but the West Wind heads tidy them up. The helmeted heads also work pretty well with this set. Due to the mix of leg bindings/no leg bindings they will always have a slightly less uniform look.
Either of the Viking Hirdman or Saxon Thegn sets would work for armoured infantry with suitable helmets. Both will need crosses/Thor's hammers removing, it just really depends if you want leg wraps (Thegns) or not (Hirdmen)...

Regarding how they look....


Right hand two figures are converted GB unarmoured warriors




The majority of the shield wall are again GB unarmoured warriors with WW heads...

[delbruck]

Those Saxon thegns are very nice, but I have to admit they are not mine.

The Gripping Beast Saxon helmets may be derived from the Coppergate design, but I have to assume the Saxon helmet was derived from late Roman (or similar Germanic) designs. To this non-expert the GB helmets look "late Roman", but using Westwind heads is a good addition/alternative.

As others have mentioned, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for plastic Late Romans. I think  the Gripping Beast is the best we will get for quite a while. Plastics can always be supplemented by the odd metal figure. The planned Ebor Late Romans might be the perfect fit.

[CarlLeyland]

It may be a long wait but I now have a plastic addiction, probably because they are cheap (in comparison to metal). Good pics though

[fastolfrus]

Has anyone asked North Star?
They've just gone into partnership with Agema (who currently have early Romans).
Maybe they might branch out?

[CarlLeyland]

This could be interesting Fastolfus! As mentioned before the mainstay periods seem to have been covered so the less popular stuff may get a look in now....hopefully Late Romansthen Spanish Civil war....I have a list. Maybe a poll on here could help manufacturers?

[Altius]

For my Late Roman Infantry, I've been using the bodies from Gripping Beast Armored Thegns and Dark Age Warriors (shaving off the crucifixes worn by the Thegns) with GB oval shields and West Wind heads. So, they are mostly plastic, and still a bit cheaper than metal figures. I don't think they look too bad.





Some better shots here:  https://studiovalidus.wordpress.com/2016/01/10/late-roman-troops-and-a-couple-of-extras/

[Arlequín]

This could be interesting Fastolfus! As mentioned before the mainstay periods seem to have been covered so the less popular stuff may get a look in now....hopefully Late Romans then Spanish Civil war....I have a list. Maybe a poll on here could help manufacturers?

The odds are somewhat slight. The big outlay on a range of plastics are the moulds, the actual plastic is cheap as chips. Whereas in metal the cost is in the material to make the figures, so having got your master and moulds (not cheap but much cheaper than ones for plastics), if they don't sell, you cut your costs by not moulding any more. With plastic if they don't sell you can never recover the cost of the mould.

So taking the Perry's as an example; what is likely to sell a lot goes into plastics, what isn't goes into metal, so plastic Afrika Korps and 8th Army 'rank and file' and metal everything else. Warlord Games likewise with all the rank and file in plastic, support weapons etc in metal.

I can envisage Late Romans possibly seeing the light of day... but as much as I wish it was otherwise I doubt SCW. Bearing mind there is only really one game in town in 28mm and Empress haven't added to the range in an age, which you imagine they would if it was a 'seller'.

Simply put 'less popular' stuff is not viable for plastics, like metals I imagine you will eventually see multiple options for the same thing, but nothing unusual or of potentially limited appeal.