Victrix plastic Romans?

[Verderer]

Can you tell me how they are, they seem to offer a lot of bang for a buck, and from pics appear to be pretty nice for plastics, especially with shield transfers which make a fab focal point. How do they fit with other brands, like Foundry? I have hunkering for some Republican Romans...

[Hu Rhu]

I have a lot of the Victrix Romans, but sadly I don't have any Foundry Romans to match them with.  I do have some Foundry Gauls which are mich smaller and slighter and don't match at all. 

The Victrix figures go well with Aventine and also with Crusader figures if that helps.

[tyrionhalfman]

I've mixed them with Agema and Wargames Factory plastic, and also a handful of Wargames Foundry metals. I think they all look great together, and any slight differences in size just add to the overall variety I was after by mixing manufacturers. I just kept shields consistent within each unit to tie them together

[Verderer]

Thanks for the info, I should mention that I probably would use mainly Foundry Ancient civilians with them, rebelling Roman citizens, patricians and so on. Not so much the legionnaires. The civvies seem to be newer models, so possibly a little larger than older Foundry ranges? And Victrix seems to be expanding on enemies of Rome too. I already have some Gauls from Warlord which should be useful.

I read someplace that at least some Victrix spears tend to be overly thick, but that's understandable for practical reasons. Thin plastic is really fragile in game use, in my experience (riders or Rohan for example). So I wouldnt mind that so much, I can always paint them dark colors to make them slimmer!

Oh, and is it best to order directly from Victrix, or does some shop in Europe have good deals? I am in Finland.

[Berg]

I have mixed in some foundry metal command with my Victrix plastic and they look fine together. You will get some extra plastic shields that can be useful if you mix in miniatures from other manufacturers.

I live in Sweden and order directly from Victrix without problem, I dont know if there are anyone that stock all the shield transfers besides Victrix.

*edit

I forgot to add that they are easy to assamble and they look good when painted, the only problem I have with them is that it can be difficult glue them in poses that both look natural and will rank up easily.

[Whitwort Stormbringer]

I read someplace that at least some Victrix spears tend to be overly thick

I've actually had the opposite problem.  The only Victrix set I have are the Carthaginian citizen levy, and those spears are very slim in comparison to, say, Gripping Beast's plastics.  None of mine have snapped yet, but it kinda seems like it's only a matter of time...

Oh, and is it best to order directly from Victrix, or does some shop in Europe have good deals? I am in Finland.

I live in the US and ordered from Caliver Books, who seem to have pretty good prices and free shipping over a certain amount.  I'd assume they'll ship to Finland.

[AdamPHayes]

I did a comparison of some Republican Roman ranges last year. The Victrix Romans were not out then but there is one of their Greek hoplites in there to see a reasonable matchup.

http://wargamewarrior.webs.com/apps/blog/show/42484664-republican-roman-comparison

Out of the plastics available I prefer the Agema offerings, better sculpts but a lot less choice of pose.

[Cyrus1]

The Agema Republican Romans plastics are nice figures, quite tall and skinny but the Victrix are far superior - see Agema and Victorix comparisons below:







Victrix:

[Corso]

Cyrus' picts will give you the answer you need.

What I can add is that the Victrix Romans are extremely worth it. Great models with good value for money.

[Verderer]

Thanks for the advice and pics, gents! I certainly will order a box of early Romans, and maybe one of those Sarmatians, and enough shield transfers to go around. That should keep me occupied for bit...

[happyhiker]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm interested in getting some early Romans too.
The victrix ones seem to have massive feathers in their helmets. Is that right, is it accurate ? The Warlord Games Caesarian romans don't have this. Can you just clip the feathers off or would it look funny ? How do the Victrix ones compare to the Warlord ones ? I think Warlord are smaller and their Imperial Romans look a bit squat. I'm a bit torn between starting an Imperial or Republic army, it will probably depend on the best/cheapest models I can get, is there a good source for Plastic Imperial Romans that look better than the Warlord ones?

[Hu Rhu]

The Victrix figures do have feathers but they are not huge (compared to some - Agema for instance).  However if you want a mix of helmets then you can mix and match with the Italian Allies box, who come with a wider range of helmets and adornments.  My own legions have a mix of the two with each having about 2/3 of their own and 1/3 of the others.

Hope that helps.

[Mad Doc Morris]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm interested in getting some early Romans too.
The victrix ones seem to have massive feathers in their helmets. Is that right, is it accurate ? The Warlord Games Caesarian romans don't have this. Can you just clip the feathers off or would it look funny ? How do the Victrix ones compare to the Warlord ones ? I think Warlord are smaller and their Imperial Romans look a bit squat. I'm a bit torn between starting an Imperial or Republic army, it will probably depend on the best/cheapest models I can get, is there a good source for Plastic Imperial Romans that look better than the Warlord ones?

For plastics, these are actually three different periods: Early to Mid-Republican (Victrix), Late Republican/"Caesarian" (Warlord, to an extent: Wargames Factory) and Early Imperial (Warlord, soonish: Victrix). They all have slightly, but noticeably different gear, helmets in particular.
Although most (all?) helmets identified as Roman could hold a crest, it is all but certain that these were attached all the time. You might therefore clip them off as well. Still, this doesn't make every 3rd century BC helmet fit into the ranks of Caesar's soldiers two hundred years later.

Regarding scale: Besides the useful blog link provided earlier, it's always worth checking our Scale Comparison thread (LINK). If anyone wants to contribute, I'm happy to update it.

[happyhiker]

So Punic Wars = Silly Feathers, really ? they really went in to battle with a massive plumes on their bonce? I assume this has been verified by finding lots of feathers on battle fields or something. If I wanted to do Punic wars/Macedonian wars then I assume this is the right set of figures to get ?

In reality, despite my best intentions, the Romans will end up fighting orcs most of the time, so really cool is more important than any given period, but the Victrix do look better than Warlord(feathers not withstanding).

I'll check out the allies but does anyone do a better set of Imperials than Warlord(In plastic), I've googled it but I think Warlord has bought out all the competition since the posts I've read.

[Mithridates1]

HH

According to Wargames Reasearch Group Armies and Enemies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars (just re-issued), the historian Polybios noted that helmets were crested with a crown or circlet of feathers and three upright black or crimson feathers a cubit (18"/46cm) tall.   He apparently implies this type of crest was uniform.   There is a companion WRG volume on Imperial Rome.

Greek hoplites and other Italians like Samnites wore large crests/feathers on their helmets into battle so in this sense the Romans were not unusual.

As noted by Mad Doc Morris, suggest Victrix's Facebook page for shots of their plastic early Imperial range - legionaries and auxiliaries, likely due out next year.   They look excellent and if similar in size to other ranges will be larger than Warlord's Imperial legionaries.   Victrix make Numidian cavalry.  For heavier cavalry, archers and command figures you will need to use metal ranges - hard to go past Aventine (28mm).

Lots to choose from for a Roman!

Garry