Plastic and more plastic please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Okay, I think it is time for the Twins to step up the plastics production with an aim for six (6) boxes released per year, which is doable. The boys left GW and now Perry is their full time job, so time to strike while the iron is hot and we - us aging wargamers, modelers, collectors, etc - still have the ability to buy these beauties.
So yes, plastic Afghans with a vast array of weapon arms (muskets, jezails, enfield, martini-henry, swords, etc) are a MUST!!!!!!!!!! And as everyone has said, you need loads of the buggers to kill off. So like the Sudan range where Michael did a really nice box of plastic Madhists,
a box of Afghans would be a clear winner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, onto other essential box sets.
In the Nap category,
it has long been a complete no-brainer to release pre-1812 French ....why this hasn't been done yet amazes me!!!!!!!!!!!! So far we have French (post-1812), Austrians, Russians, Prussians, and British in plastic. To fill the gap, a box of
Portuguese and
Spanish would be useful...
but the pre-1812 French really is needed.
What is also needed is more conversion sets, like the Twins have done in metal for the WW2 ranges...different heads/hats can really extend the versatality of a range and increase sales!!!!!!! So a metal conversion set to make Russian Grenadiers, as the plastic box previously promised clearly isn't going to materialize...it disappeared with the Prussian Reservists. I also wonder why the Twins don't take approach taken by Victrix and Warlord, and use the same bodies but include a separate sprue of different heads. For example, get Peter Dennis to do some new artwork for a box of Russian Nap Grenadiers, and then include the normal sprues for the Russian Infantry less the existing heads and replace them with Grenadier heads??? Or just put a pack of metal Grenadier heads in the box. I would do this for all their ranges but you would sell more of the base figures this way! Just a suggestion that I have already shared with the Twins many times to increase sales and reduce costs and use of their resources (they can only sculpt so much in a day you know
)
We also need some cavalry to round things up. So far we have French Cuirassiers/Carabiniers, Hussars (one of their best boxes in my opinion only let down by not having arm options - but can be fixed with knife and putty!), Dragoons (post-1812). What we are clearly missing is a box of the most basic cavalry type,
Chasseurs a Cheval....which also easily makes into Line Lancers using a lot of the same gear. Warlord figured this one out...but the quality of their plastics continues to disappoint. Some people like them but for me, they just don't do it.
Sticking with Nap Cav, for the British we know have both Hussars and Lt Dragoons. Some people want Heavy Dragoons but I think that these are best served in metal, as there wasn't a whole lot of them compared to Hussars and Lt Dragoons.
For other Nap combatants we have nothing else....and perhaps it will stay that way...although I wish it wouldn't. I still want to see a box of plastic Bavarians!!!!!!!!!! pretty please....
Now with the Perry's ACW Artillery release I was hoping they would do some artillery for other periods, namely Naps...but so far nothing...and the Victrix ones look okay but are darn expensive to the point of why not just buy the metal versions and save time on putting them together. Again, to each his/her own. Yet, I do hope the Twins do some Nap Artillery.
That said, the priority for me is getting out the missing bits: F
rench Chasseurs a Cheval,
pre-1812 French Dragoons (I recall Alan telling me when he did the post-1812 ones that he did the early version masters too...),
French Line Lancers (using the Chasseurs horses and such)....oh, and of course,
a box of pre-1812 French Infantry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Moving on to other periods...
Medievals: well, all that I see missing is some French Cavalry for the 100 Year War range, and this is a MUST to complete this. After that, there is enough Medieval plastic out there to keep people busy for a while.
Colonial: as this thread says, the Twins will be releasing their British Colonial Infantry at Salute next month...and the figs for the Zulu War time frame will be thereafter. A box of plastic Pathans would be a clear winner...so let's not delay but get on with it. As for other nations, the only other conflict that lends itself to plastic would be the Zulu Wars (you need good quality plastic Zulus in mass); Sikhs for the Sikh Wars (but I seriously doubt this will happen in my lifetime); or perhaps a box of generic Boers, which could have a lot of uses if done properly...but probably better done in metal.
WW2: Aside from Michael's two boxes for N Afrika...nothing since in plastic. Loads of metal bits keep appearing, so the interest and demand must be there...so perhaps we will get lucky and Michael will do more in this area.
ACW: Well, aside from the promised Union charging figs we pretty much have it all.... I do hope the plastic Generals figs sprues will be on sale individually one day soon, as this would be a nice fig to have.
AWI: Not sure if the demand is there for other plastics in this area...would of course love to see more but don't know about the demand. Wargames Factory tried to cover this with 5 boxes but I was very unimpressed by their quality.
That is the problem, if you like the Perry's sculpting style then it pretty much ruins you for other manufacturers, and turns you into a fanboy/girl....so be it!
Did I leave anything out in plastic that needs doing???
19 January 2013, 11:23:17 AM
