"Future of hard plastic historicals" Topic

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I love polling and I haven't done one in a long time. So since it's a rainy New England Fall day, I thought I'd put up a new one.

Hard plastics have taken the wargames world by storm over the last year and Wargames Factory has started four ranges of our own so far:

Might of Rome – All Things Rome and Her Enemies from 100 BC to about 200 AD – with 8 hard plastic sets to date!
Wars of Empire – Colonials starting with British and Zulus
Dark Futures – with Zombies being the first entry.
Hammer of the Gods – just launched with the Viking sampler pack, but with more Vikings and Saxons out soon.

We have several other things in the works – including many that have come out of the Liberty and Union League – our "if you vote for it, we'll make it" program – but I'm always interested to see where people's interests are.

We all know we're (wargamers) a sometimes fickle bunch drawn by the latest shiny set of rules, inspired by a book (or comic book for that matter), or salivating after watching a great movie and ready to start a new period.

What periods do you (currently!) want in hard plastic? Sorry, you can only pick one! Have fun!

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All the best,
Tony

Tony Reidy
Wargames Factory
wargamesfactory.com

What I would really like to see is the Perry Twins doing the earlier parts of the Napoleonic Wars…pre-1812 French uniforms! It is obvious to anyone reading TMP posts that the demand is there…so why not do it.

The quality of the Perr plastics is getting better and better. However, one technical phrase…slide molding! A lot of big name model makers – Dragon Models and some others – now use this technique and it allows them to produce some truly magnificent figures (and vehicles). Take a look at the Dragon 1/35th scale Gen 2 figure sets…or even their 1/72 WW2 armor and figure kits. Fantastic detail. If this technique were applied to 28mm plastic figures then it would produce equally excellent results, and more importantly alleviate some of the current problems with plastic v metals!

As for other new ranges to be produced in plastic, one has to remember that plastics only make sense for small scale producers (Perry, Victrix, etc.) if you are going to sell a lot of them (to recoup the large capital costs involved). Hence, some of the 'odd' ranges mentioned above are really just not economically sensible. Heck, I don't even think some of those mentioned above would make sense even in metal.

In terms of a personal wish list, I would like to see the Twins produce some plastics for the colonial period (Indian Mutiny, Sikh Wars, etc.). However, I realize that this might not make good economic sense at present, especially as there is more money to be made with Napoleonics.

Hence, I just hope that the Twins get busy with producing pre-1812 French (Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery) in plastic. I especially like the concept of the Twins forthcoming Hussars (where you can make them for a large time period and variety of countries) as well as their Dragoons (with both mounted and dismounted troopers).

One final thought, I agree with a number of other posters that putting together plastics is time consuming but this is also true for metals. Moreover, as a long-time kit builder I enjoy working with the plastics as the material is much easier to work then is the case with metal. Yes, the mold definition isn't quite as good as metals but still plastic is so much easier to clean and shape. And as long as you know how to best use liquid glue (Tamiya Super Thin Glue works wonders) then you can smooth over your work for a great finish.

With all that said, I need to get back to working on my Perry British Inf and their new French Cav!

McWong73 Supporting Member of TMP 12 Nov 2009 5:18 p.m. PST

HAT are starting up 28mm Bavarians – the marching box set is on my "to get" list for certain. I suspect HAT will bring a lot of the non French and Brit Napoleonic's to market.

McWong73,

Just to let you know the HaT 28mm French are pretty bad, looking more like old Spencer Smith figs then modern sculpts. I therefore doubt that their 28mm Bavarians will be any different.

A recent review in 'Wargames Soldiers & Strategy' gave HaT the effective thumbs down, as the figures aren't at all compatible with existing plastics from the Perrys or Victrix.

I truly wish this wasn't the case as I too was hopeful that HaT's move into 28mm would be better (or at least compatible with what is already out there)…but the HaT figs are just using the same poor quality 3-ups used for their smallish 1/72 ranges…which while are prolific in the number of sets available are really of pretty poor quality. This is especially the case when you compare them to the figures produced by the likes of Zvezda, Italieri, Caesar, Waterloo 1815, Pegasus…

So in short, HaT's foray into 28mm is pretty much a waste of plastic.

Hope this info helps.

retzlaffmd Supporting Member of TMP 13 Nov 2009 10:04 a.m. PST

As 1/48th scale is close enough to 28mm for most people, there are already a number of sets out there for WW2 in hard plastic, to go with the increasing number of WW2 ground vehicle models(tanks & such) now being made by multiple model companies. These sets are as good(or better), pose-wise, as anything I've seen by the Perrys, and are priced decently, at about 20-30 USD per pack of about 25-40 figures. I've seen Russian infantry, US infantry, German Paras and regular infantry, and tank crew/ armored infantry packs for them as well.

retzlaffmd, Are you talking about the figure sets by Tamiya? If not, do tell which ones you are talking about. The only figure companies I know that produce sets of hard plastic WW2 combat figs in 1/48th scale are Tamiya and Preiser. There are also suppose to be some outstanding looking figures from Fox Miniatures done by Tom Meier, which have sadly yet to appear.

foxminiatures.com

I also recall the 1/48th metal range of WW2 figs done by North Star, which I think were sold off to somebody else recently.

However, none of these producers make sets containing the figure numbers per pack and price you refer to. I am also not aware of anyone doing sets of German Paras in hard plastic in 1/48th.

So if I am missing a new manufacturer then do tell us?