Underwhelmed by Perry Miniatures

[vodkafan]

So, I bought some Perry Sudan Brits second hand from a nice chap on here. Before they even arrived, in a fit of excess enthusiasm I had sent off to Perry's for a load more, everything from Sikhs to Naval Brigade, Camel Corps and Bengal Lancers. Yesterday I was examining the whole haul and I came to the realisation that although they are well proportioned, detailed miniature people, for me they are kind of....bland. They seem to be lacking in individual character.
Does anybody else think this or am I weird?
(I have been known to be a bit aberrant with my minis, I painted my romans blue coz i thought it looked good)

[Daeothar]

I can't judge those minis myself, as I have never seen them in the plastic myself, but I believe that I know where your issue stems from.

When comparing those minis with, for instance, Frostgrave plastics or maybe even Fireforge or GW, you're comparing two different schools of miniature gaming.

The aforementioned brands mostly create their minis for skirmish games, with a clear focus on individuality. This even goes for miniatures aimed at small unit games such as Saga. Also, they're either fully or obliquely aimed at the fantasy market, which allows for exaggeration and/or addition of details not possible in historical miniatures.

And that's where the Perry plastics come in; they're aimed at the historical wargames market, where the correctness of uniforms is often paramount and most games tend to require untold masses of troops.

So, this 'old school' approach means that miniatures need to be 'correct' and easily painted without too many fiddly details, simply as there need to be so many.

Your Perry plastics are aimed at the historical crowd, so they're 'bland' on purpose. Once painted, they'll look really good en-masse, but if you're looking for very individual minis for smaller scale games, you may be better off looking at stuff like Copplestone's Back of Beyond range, Pulp minis or maybe Artizan's ranges...

[vodkafan]

Mine are all metal, I haven't got any of the Perry plastics...I agree that Copplestone do have the character that Perry's seem to be missing..I also like Redoubt and the small Essex Sudan range, both of those are straight historical

[mcfonz]

Personally, I have found that if the miniatures are designed for large blocks and the reality is you would not see most of them easily they tend to do just what they need to.

The more characterful sculpts appear to be for the front rank or generals etc which are typically used on their own in games. I have some of the peasants from their crusader range and they are really quite characterful including one that looks very much like a cut throat!

[Vermis]

Here I came into the topic expecting you to talk about the casting.

[Dags]

Here I came into the topic expecting you to talk about the casting.

Ditto

[vodkafan]

Here I came into the topic expecting you to talk about the casting.

A few of them had a fair bit of flash but I have a high tolerance for that as long as the figures have that certain something

[rebelyell2006]

So, I bought some Perry Sudan Brits second hand from a nice chap on here. Before they even arrived, in a fit of excess enthusiasm I had sent off to Perry's for a load more, everything from Sikhs to Naval Brigade, Camel Corps and Bengal Lancers. Yesterday I was examining the whole haul and I came to the realisation that although they are well proportioned, detailed miniature people, for me they are kind of....bland. They seem to be lacking in individual character.
Does anybody else think this or am I weird?
(I have been known to be a bit aberrant with my minis, I painted my romans blue coz i thought it looked good)

I prefer a bit of blandness, because they represent hundreds of generic soldiers.  What bugs me is that they insist on drummers for their ACW command sprues/sets.

[Cubs]

What bugs me is that they insist on drummers for their ACW command sprues/sets.

Do they not still have the removable drum arrangement? They used to do that on the first ACW sets, where if you didn't attach the drum they could just be a standard infantryman.

[rebelyell2006]

Do they not still have the removable drum arrangement? They used to do that on the first ACW sets, where if you didn't attach the drum they could just be a standard infantryman.

Yeah, but I would like buglers.  The non-Perry buglers I have are far more animated than the Perry infantrymen, and thus stand out more than appropriate.

[Littlearmies]

Actually if you compare the faces of the Perry figures to their older Foundry sculpts the level of 'character' has diminished. I know several well known Perry exponents have mentioned to the twins that they would favour more 'character' - but I've no idea what the response was.

On the other hand if anyone has a spare dog or two from the Sudan set....

[RichyBee]

You are all a picky bunch of mush heads....no wait so am I... damn it!
The Perrys minis dont do it for me but cheap plastic is er cheap!...Warlord are a lot better though.
I hate figures that can only be used for one purpose...thats what metal is for.

[joseph_curwen]

You've managed to hit the nail on the head as to why i actually like the Perry models so much.
I'm so burnt out on overly detailed stuff like GW's recent monstrosities that sitting down and painting a pile of Perry's is such a sweet relief.

[Hupp n at em]

You are all a picky bunch of mush heads....no wait so am I... damn it!
The Perrys minis dont do it for me but cheap plastic is er cheap!...Warlord are a lot better though.
I hate figures that can only be used for one purpose...thats what metal is for.

Really??  I only have Warlord WW2 plastics admittedly, and not even for their intended purpose (kitbashing post apocalyptic figures), but from what I've seen, most of Warlord's plastics seem to suffer from "squatting to poop" pose syndrome.  Apparently it's hard for them to stand up straight.    Guess it's a style thing then, I really like the Perry plastics.

[YPU]

Really??  I only have Warlord WW2 plastics admittedly, and not even for their intended purpose (kitbashing post apocalyptic figures), but from what I've seen, most of Warlord's plastics seem to suffer from "squatting to poop" pose syndrome.  Apparently it's hard for them to stand up straight.    Guess it's a style thing then, I really like the Perry plastics.

TBH that is the stance most actors take in WW2 action scenes. I wouldn't know if its appropriate combat drill for the time though.