"Old Glory vs Battlefront" Topic

I just became interested in WWII war games, I am likely to use both FoW and CD3 rule sets at some point or another.

Now I need to start buying mins (15mm), I am thinking of either Old Glory or Battlefront. I could use some help making up my mind though. I would have to order either, my local store stocks a little battlefront, but not much.

What would you pick Old Glory or Battlefront?

Thanks for your help--James

I have both plus some Quality Castings in my colection. I'd say it depends on what you're looking to spend. The QC and OG stuff is cheaper. The FOW stuff is generally higher quality though the newer stuff by the other companies can be real nice too. Stay away from the OG ZIS-5 and ZIS-6. They scale out to about 1 meter too short! One note: the FOW infantry are taller and bulkier than the other companies. They fit together well enough though

PS I base my guys on 20mm square metal bases so I can play CD3 or I can stick two together with magnetic sheeting to make a base about the right size for FOW

I prefer Old Glory for tanks and artillery and other equipment. It is cheaper and I prefer the metal to the resin, it seems to cast up crisper somehow.

But I prefer BF for the figures because they are packaged in units that work for the game. For example if you buy a command pack it has all of the other bits you need in it to make the command pack. It works really well if you are only making 1500 or so point armies.

If you were making bigger armies or playing soviets, it may behoove you to go with the OG figures pricewise.

Funny, I'm just the opposite. I use mostly BF vehicles (although I have a fair amount of OG tanks) but I don't care for their infantry because they are too big for my taste. My preference is for Peter Pig infantry, especially because PP has a range of heads. So, I was able to build a foreign legion company using the PP kepi heads on British 8th Army figures. The heads don't mix with the BF infantry because they infantry are just too big.

As others have said, BF is a great way to go for infantry, especially the platoon packs. You get everything you could possibly need for a full platoon, and sometimes (such as the early war Panzer Grenadiers) you get extra. Plus the detail on their infantry is a joy to both behold and to paint! I like Quality Cast and BF vehicles-- they match up fairly well. The newer BF vehicles are really primo models, though, and are actually worth paying considerably more than the QC ones. I have NEVER liked the OG vehicle packs-- they are in reality MORE expensive than the QC ones, and always have horrible mold lines and in general poor quality control. But go to a con sometime and look for yourself if it's possible-- that way you can "buy smart".

All of the different sets mix well enough then I take it?

Old Glory looks good for price, and from what I have seen I think they look nice...not that I have seen a lot, since my local store does not stock them, and their website is not very good about that.

I have heard lots of people saying how they like their battlefront mins a good deal online though. If they were that much better I would not mind paying a bit more for them.

I do think that the packaging for battlefront is nicer, on the troop level anyway, but I think the infantry models are a little bulky.

I have a lot of OG and some FOW. The newer packs of FOW I have seem to be a little larger than the older FOW and the Old Glory figs. Must have been a size increase when they redid some of their molds. Not that big a deal, they're toys after al. I'm happy with both of them. For every OG tank I had to clean up the mold lines on, I had a FOW tank with a couple of extra little protrusions in the resin. And most of them from both companies were just fine.

I prefer the OG infantry, the FOW is too bulky. But OG has packaging where you have to buy 50 of the guys per bag.

"I think they look nice...not that I have seen a lot, since my local store does not stock them, and their website is not very good about that."

Post here anything you'd like to see and someone probably has one they could take a picture of. I personally have early war Soviets and Germans.

Oh and one final note, if you can, avoid mixing vehicles from different companies. I have OG and QC SU-85s and they're noticibly different. The QC one is a smaller so it looks kind of funny when they're next to each other.

"I prefer the OG infantry, the FOW is too bulky. But OG has packaging where you have to buy 50 of the guys per bag."

Keep looking round... both Peter Pig and QRF do packs of 8.

"I prefer the OG infantry, the FOW is too bulky. But OG has packaging where you have to buy 50 of the guys per bag."

Buy OG/Command Decision figure from Skytrex they do 10 man squad packs of the OG figures...

My preference would generally be for the Quality Castings (now packaged as Battle Honors) vehicles. Whatever you do, buy all of any given type of vehicle from the same manufacturer. Few, if any, of the vehicles will be consistently to scale in all dimensions, so don't expect them to be exaact scale models, some manufacturers are a lot worse than others about this. Don't know what to tell you on infantry, I just bought a sample pack of the new QC infantry and thought they would be much nicer, don't like the packaging on Old Glory, but the ones I saw were better figs than QC. The QRF figs I saw seemed to range from nice to kind of soft sculpts; I think it was a matter of different sculpters. Peter Pig's range is big, but the figs I had not as crisp as the Old Glory figs. Essex Figs looked very nice, but looked a little big to me and range is limited. True North's are pretty decent, and becoming available again soon, if not already.

Don't buy a brand. Inquire about specific models. Each company has strengths & weaknesses. When you have a tank in mind, let me know & I can send you jpegs of your choices (if I have them).

OG Vehicles suck, sorry. Almost all I've seen are way out of scale, mostly to short (although the Honey's are like 50% to long). The only way I'd recommend OG is if price is the only consideration. Quality Castings/Battle Honors or Battlefront/Flames of War are much better for vehicles. I also like the Battlefront infantry packs though there is nothing wrong with the OG infantry. The only disadvantage is the large pack size for things like HMG and such. I've mixed OG and Battlefront infantry in the past without any real problems. I'm kinda picky about the looks and scale of a vehicle. I would rather play with cardboard counters rather than a vehicle that looks somewhat like a PzIII. I'm just about 100% Battlefront these days because of the quality. One note on Battle Honors, they seem to be using their molds a bit too long. The latest order in the game shop is noticeably lower quality than past casting from the BH folks.

Mike

Ivan, sorry but BF is no gold standard for accuracy. Tigers are too thin, Panthers (& mostly everything) are too tall.

Like I said, you really have to look at the model in 15mm. You can't blindly buy a brand.

"Panthers (& mostly everything) are too tall"

That's deliberate. They have stated more than once in the past that Evan makes the vehicles taller to account for infantry being on bases.

Hope this helps! :-) I suspect you'll wind up doing your own thing like everyone above and myself. Main thing is not to mix vehicles of the same type (Studebaker, PzIII, etc) among the different manufacturers

Deliberate or not, they are an example of inaccuracy. Granted, most of the time it doesn't bother me. But with some, I just can't stand the sight of them.

Kelly, I disagree with you too! ;-) There is merit to what you say, but the Panzer III's from QC, PP, & OG are very 'mixable'. Only the BF is in a class of itself for the above stated reasons.

But this is model specific, not brand specific. Another example are the Pz IV's. OG, BF, & QC work well together. PP is the odd man out.

For T-34's, PP & OG go together, BF & QC no.

For Stugs, PP, BF, QC, and OG could all work together.

Again, I can send pics to anyone who asks, if you want to see & make your own call.

LeibstandarteArnldSchwarzenegr, can you email me directly at QRF.

Thanks
Geoff

LAS: who makes the best BT-7 and T-26 tanks?

Since you are interrested you could mix figs. I would recomend PANZERMARCH as rules since it allow you to use any scale as far the rumours go....

You had to ask about the T26 & BT's! You had to ask about those! :-)

When my friend & I were collecting those, the only players were QC & BF. For the BT's, BF won hands down. For the T-26, only BF was available & it met our expectations. Since then, QC came out with theirs (the last new product before the ownership changed) and the pics look nice, but I don't have any. OG/Skytrex came out with BT's & T26's about a year & a half ago. Don't have any either.
June/July '41 is such a small East Front niche for us, we really don't go crazy about it.

Now if you had asked about T-60/70's, that would be a different story. But, no, no, you had to ask about BT's & T26'S!

I can send pics of my BF models, but their website already has excellent photos you can look at right now.

To be honest, BF really kicks butt for Russian stuff. My only criticism was their T-34's (put one next to an OG/Skytrex & you'll know what i mean), but they seem to be redoing those now.

If you're into 1941 east front, by all means get some of the early T-34's offered by Skytrex (not OG yet). They are really nice. They have the early type with the smaller 76, also a rare variant with applique armor that was only made in Leningrad during the seige.

And BobChinook, you are sure right about the SU85. It's like father & son with OG & QC. None of those really mix (including BF), but I imagine BF will eventually redo the SU85 (& like) now that new t34's are appearing.

I only know about infantry and have found both companies vary in quality and what is available.

OLD GLORY:
Some OG is superb while other OG sculpts are poor and also can be let down by the casting process, but don't write OG off, just try and see what you are buying first. Most of the main German infantry and Allies are fine but some of what I suspect are later additions like the US inf in greatcoats are not so good. To me it looks like their earlier and better sculpters have left. If you are after Japs get OG as they are excellent (BF don't do Japs yet). OG are very awkward to buy as they sell 50 infantry of one type per pack, so if you need panzerfausts you have to buy 50 which is way too much for most people. They work out cheaper than BF, I guess you could sell the excess pack infantry on ebay.

BATTLEFRONT (FOW)
I am just getting in to this company and I must say they are very nice and are now my preference over OG. They still look like some infantry sculpts are better than others but at least BF are actively remastering lots of their own range to weed out anything they consider not up to scratch. These too can also be a little awkward to buy if you are not using the right rules that fit their packs.

My choice would be to go for BF and use their FOW rules. The main reason is their ongoing dedication to keep improving their range and excellent customer support. OG rarely release new items now compaired to BF. But take a look at both types before you buy because the infantry are very different to each other and I have found some people definatly having a preference.