"Best / Worst plastic 28mm Napoleonic sets so far?" Topic

Which are the best, and worst, 28mm plastic sets released so far?

I've had a look at the Perry French line infantry, but not painted them, and thought they were good. At least they had few parts. I've painted the HAT 28mm Prussian infantry. They are relatively cheap, come in two parts, paint up well. Not as detaied as some of the later plastics. But very good value.

I didn't have any problem with breakages in these sets. I've heard that bayonets from some plastic sets are delicate.

I like the Perry British, French and Prussian infantry. Great cavalry sets.

The Victrix, I like less, the British are not a good deal (separate Centre and Flank companies boxes), both the French and the British are fiddly to put together and have very weak bayonets.

I do like the Victrix Old Guard.

I have not seen the HAT or Warlord games plastics.

John

I like the Perry French dragoon and French Hussar sets. I also like the Victrix Austrian infantry sets.

I like the vitrix austrians

They have also learnt from past mistakes

The Warlord Russian Line/Grenadiers for the 1812-1815 period are fantastic and paint up very quickly. The only complication is filing off two of the "greanades" from the cartridge box on the back. Otherwise, I have been very pleased. These are much improved from the Prussian Landweher.

I have yet to get the Victrix Austrians but hope to do so at Cold Wars in a week or so.

The Perry French Dragoons and Hussars are the best plastics that I've assembled and painted.

Erik

I wouldn't be able to choose between Victrix and Perry for British infantry, they both have their strong points. The Victrix Royal Artillery set is also great fun.

Currently I'm up to my ears in Perry British Hussars and they are exquisite.

I'd forgotten about the Victrix Chasseurs! They were so quick and fun to put together.

Perry British Line infantry are a snap to put together. I love them and would get more boxes for my British regulars for my War of 1812 project.

Victrix, not so much.

Those are the only two I've done so far.

Eric

I like the Victrix, but I am a skirmish guy. I won't buy the boxes of infantry in March Attack. Cav have been nicely done

Thus far the least fiddly to put together are the Perry French infantry in march/attack, the most fiddly are the Victrix British Flank Company with all of the separate parts. They are both excellent figures, but each has it's own unique features and problems. The Perry French cavalry are simply excellent all the way around. The Dragoons are fantastic regardless of which type of gaming you prefer. The mounted and dismounted figures are simply great and the poses are also very good.

I don't have experience with other plastic figures.

There can't be such a thing as a "worst" naps plastics set. That said, maybe the best is Perry French Hussars. Beautiful and variants for the full range of revolutionary-napoleonic wars. Simply the best of a wonderful range.
The least good? Perry, Victrix and HaT are all different enough as to not being "worst", but maybe Warlord Landwehr is a step behind, but then they were kind of experimental and are nice as fillers…

Its true that Victrix bayonets seem to come off more easily than others, but I don't mind the complexity of their figures compared to the Perry's, as it gives scope for imaginative conversions without great modelling skills. And yes, each set they release seems to incorporate lessons from previous ones – I can't wait for their French Dragoons…

Similarly with Warlord, the improvement from their Prussian Landwehr to Russian line is major, and the latter have allowed us to plan for a Borodino anniversary battle worthy of the occasion. Great plastic sculpts, but I find the metal command pack a drawback….

I love the Perry British Line – the couple of rifles sprues alone are worth the dosh! A shame they dont do uncovered Belgic shakoes though….

So if I have to nominate a fave it would have to be the Perry French Hussars – lovely sculpts, great poses, stacks of information provided, simply fantastic all round!

For the uncovered shakos I used Victrix heads but I am certain I am not alone in that! :)

I like all the Perry & Victrix plastics. Confirm that the Victrix bayonets are more worrisome than the Perrys' – seems the Perry plastic is more durable. I like all the Perry cav sets – probably the best value for cav around. Best, Dean

BEST?
Perry British or Prussian Infantry I think. Perry Plastic Hussars, (French and British) are OUTSTANDING also.
The fact the Brit and French Hussars cover such a huge time span is a BIG plus. The information that comes with the PERRY sets is also brilliant.
VICTRIX Royal Artillery set is also WAY up there,…

WORST?
Warlord Games Prussian Landwehr, (though they are still "OK").

If I had to weigh up all the pro's and cons I'd say the Victrix French. I have tonnes of their 1807-12 – love em.

The Perry French hussars are damn nice too.

I assemble and paint Perry plastics for a living, I do 3 to 600 of them every week so it needs to be easy and fast. The easiest ones to put together are the French Infantry, slap on a backpack and you're done. The hardest one, or should I say most time consuming are the British infantry and of course all the cavalry.

BEST Perry: As far as I am concerned,the Perry Zouaves are the best set on the market. Easy to put together and full of life. The heads in that box are just amazing, full of expression and brilliantly sculpted.

BEST Victrix; I really like their Austrians and Old Guard but I pass on the rest. I only do Victrix when a customer specifically requests them, don't stock them. They are way too fiddly and time consuming to assemble (but actually no more than Perry British) and yes, the bayonets break very, very easy.

WORSE: I also have to vote for the Warlord Games Landwehr. They are indeed ok but not up to the same standards as everything else on the market.

Fons
MMPS

Would Warlord Russian heads fit onto Perry Prussian infantry?

Just thinking about the Russo-German Legion.

HaT probably has the worst quality, but they're darn cheap and they have Bavarians. They're scaled kinda differently though and have a very "plastic army men" type quality. Thats just my opinion though.

Have to agree though concerning the big 3, Warlord's Prussians are the least good. Followed by Victrix's earliest products but they have gotten much better, just like Warlord's russians

Cant wait to see Perry's Prussians, Russians, and Austrians

Best set: i would go with anything Victrix out there since those give you thr most options, even if it means 5 more minutes on assembly.

Worst set: by far Warlords Prussians. Flat look, huge undercuts, hardly any diversity in the box and still the most expensive plastics on the market.

"Would Warlord Russian heads fit onto Perry Prussian infantry?"

If you wait a while you can put Perry plastic russian heads on them, they surely should fit. :-)

Not sure about the warlord heads, don't have any at the moment so can't try it.

Fons

How many plastic sets do you buy at a time, Fons?

Has anyone bothered with the Perry French head swaps, that look to me like I am supposed to carve them off at the shoulder. Looked far too hard for me.

Has anyone bothered with the Perry French head swaps, that look to me like I am supposed to carve them off at the shoulder. Looked far too hard for me.

I did. Did not like it too much since you need to cut the head and collar off (the extra heads come with cast on collars). No matter how much experience you have and how smooth you work, you always get a gap you need to fill. So I just went and cut the heads off above the collar and carved off the collar on the replacement heads. Looks beeter, you can turn the heads sideways if you like and you can also use some Victrix heads for diversity.

The Victrix British were really hard to put together so I didn't enjoy them. I am debating on getting my Austrian line now or holding out for the Perries but the review of the Victrix Austrians has been good.

For best I would say the Perry Dragoons, not only for quality of the figure but for all of the uses I have found for them.

Perry Hussar heads with plumes and Dragoon bodies are a pretty good stand in for a lot of Minor States cavalry.

>Perry Hussar heads with plumes and Dragoon bodies are a pretty good stand in for a lot of Minor States cavalry.

A thread I would be interested to read, Tod. Please let us know which Minor states you found will work with this conversion :-)

Putting Victrix arms onto bodies is a form of Zen..but once you've done a few, they become easier! And you can make marching as well as attacking and shooting stances.If you really can't be bothered with all that, go for Perry..but they only do 1815 campaign French, so buy Victrix for the Years of Glory. I loved the Victrix Austrians, particularly those Landwehr hats, larger than the Perry ones, and have 2 btns of those colourful troopps.Victrix Austrian infantry also represent the earlier uniform jacket, sloping away from the centre button, so fine up to the close of the 1809 campaign, combined with the Roman kasket helmet.