"18mm vs 28mm WSS/WGA" Topic

ok guys, I know its THAT thread, but please, opinions on choosing between:
18mm Blue Moon: more figs per unit, have OG army card so cheap, nice figures.
28mm Wargames Factory: 28mm at a good price, figs aren't bad.
28mm Old Glory: have OG army card so price is OK, but still far more expensive than WF figures, don't know about the quality of the range
I may use other manufacturers for heroes/generals/specialist units, but please keep it to these 3 choices… and please tell me why you chose the one you did

PS: Im looking to game War of Spanish succession, War of the Grand Alliance, and some Imaginations stuff.

thanks
~Joe

I would go with the WF plastics myself. I will, as soon as life lets me.

I sympathise… life sucks sometimes.
I wish you the best
~Joe

I went head first doing this period in 25/28mm. There is a lot of good lines out there with reasonable prices and sales. I have a bit of the OG25's, just be cautious on some of the infantry poses where the figures looks like they are walking; their ankles tend to break easily.

I also have WF in limited units, just for the different look. Dixon, Foundry and the newly line of Warfare Minis are really nice and mix well, even with OG25's. North Star also have small but a very nice range for the period of the GA. There are more out there, but I don't have any of them.

If you go with Blue Moons 18mm, then I would think you would limit yourself to just one manufacture. All the lines I mention have unique poses and really nice figures for some crazy looking vignettes.

Hope this helps.

P.

Go OG 25mm. Compatable with Dixon, Foundry, Ebor and not too bad when lined up against warfare miniatures when not in same unit. So that gives you a ton of flexibility to add all kinds of mixed units.

Musketeer and Front Rank are much larger but still ok on same table just no way in same unit.

The WF stuff is ok but the neck on the fig looks aweful. I have done some and they paint decent but I like lead.

If you want to do the big battles, go 10mm. Pendraken's WSS and LoA ranges provide the basis for all of the armies and GNW as well. They paint easily and you could have useable armies within a month. I am in my late 60s and have no problem painting these figures- good lights and decent spectacles overcome ageing eyesight!

I've been struggling with the same dilemma and have not reached a conclusion yet. Don't forget Ebor's fine line of figures in 28mm, and Khurasan's 18mm WSS.

Cheers Light Horsemen. We already have French troops and Spanish Bourbon infantry (who had some distinctive features). As soon as the painter is done (he has a long queue) we will have Spanish cavalry, artillery, high command, and Dutch troops in both informal and properly folded tricorne. British infantry have been made and cavalry is being made now.

link

those miniatures are quite nice. for whatever reason, I was under the impression that Khurasan only did sic fi… If I do go the 18mm route, I'm going to have to use some of those too.
thanks guys,
~Joe

Thanks, I actually have more historical ranges but yes I do seem to be more notorious as a 15mm SF manufacturer….

well with the quality of work I see in your WSS range, I'm slightly surprised that you aren't more mainstream. I'm going to make every effort to use some of your figures if I go the 15mm route, but the basic units are still going to have to be blue moon… hard to argue with $9 USD for 30 figures…

Understand where you're coming from, but based on volume of sales of these, even though the range has just started, I think a lot of guys are not finding it so hard! They are now my best selling historical range, and I've only got the French basics and Spanish infantry out.

The khurasan WSS figures are awesome. They're worth every penny and they're already priced at an excellent value.

I do believe Blue Moon and the Khurasan figures are the same size and match together very well --or so I have been told. I know that in the last several months the sales of the Blue Moon WSS range have went off the charts with no real explanation so perhaps the old addage "all ships rise with the tide" is applicable here?
regards
Russ Dunaway

I've got directories of 15/8mm and 25/8mm Renaissance manufacturers on my website, which just about creeps into the WSS ranges as well for most suppliers if you are looking for more choices !

(15/18mm) link
and
(25/28mm) link

tim

so perhaps the old addage "all ships rise with the tide" is applicable here?

I think that's definitely true -- as long as they're roughly compatible, multiple ranges of the same period create a geometric increase in interest, because they make customers feel they are more fully served.

Hi Dobber,
I choose to do WSS in 18mm. I use Blue Moon, the regular infantry, cannon crews, artillery, command and open coat infantry are great. I use 29 figs for French 3 ranks deep with officer and drummer out front, and 26 fig 2 ranks deep for platoon firing inf. I like the 18mm due to size I am able to purchase more and field it in a smaller space. For Blue moon the French are good for guard units as they have lace on the front. They also match Khurasn's figures in size perfectly. The Khurasan French and cav are superb! Blue Moon cav do not mix with Khurasan cav. Blue Moon cav is very small. I use the Khurasan cav and Eureka USA 7 yrs war French cav they are a perfect match in size. I use the Eureka 7yr War Russian Grenadiers Cav for Grenadier Cav in WSS. Eureka and Blue moon wagons and limbers are great but the Eureka has stuff being pulled by Oxen. Hope this helps!
!

Is it the horse that is smaller because you can request the 2nd generation of larger horses used in the ACW, etc?
Regards
Russ Dunaway

Hi Russ,
Yes it is the horse that is much smaller. The riders are only slightly smaller but this is IMHO. I did not know I could request larger horses. I am an old glory club member so next order I place I will request the 2nd generation horses and see how they compare. I will try to post some pics in the next few days to show the different figures.
Thank you for the info about the horse sizes Russ.
V/R
David D

steamingdave47 raises a good point – for big battles 10mm is a very attractive option. To my mind it is the perfect balance between detail and compactness, the "king" of grand scale wargaming.

I was quickly converted after picking up a bag of Old Glory "magnificent little soldiers" from a bring-and-buy. When I got them home I thought with horror that they were too tiny and I'd never be able to paint them. Then I read a couple of painting tutorials in magazines and on the net and marvelled at how good the experts could make them look, the trick being to paint by the stand, not individual figures, which also speeds painting up. Viewed from 3 feet away, 10mm can look pretty amazing and really conveys an impression of unit formations.

I actually found that the smaller scale suited my painting style (and lifestyle commitments) better than painstakingly preparing a 28mm or 15mm army over a year or two. I could finish an army of these guys in a matter of weeks! I swiftly followed up my initial acquisition with a 10mm SYW army from Pendraken, which I found even nicer to paint. Oh, and they won't break the budget!

thank you everyone for the responses!

If the choice is between 18mm and 28mm, I suggest that you consider the battles that you intend to game. If you intend to do Marlborough's battles, bear in mind that they are all big battles. I suspect that you would struggle to do them in 28mm ,unless you have a very big table and very long arms.

You could always go 10mm with Pendraken's beautiful sculpts

"The Khurasan French and cav are superb! Blue Moon cav do not mix with Khurasan cav. Blue Moon cav is very small."

Is the Khursan cavalry big like their 30 Years War cavalry? How do they match with OG15s or Essex?

[URL=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/ddaul36/media/Cavcomparison_zps82adc4c5.jpg.html]

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From Left to Right: Blue Moon, Essex, Khurasan, & Eureka. I have never gotten Khurasan 30yrs war cav and I don't own any Old Glory 15's. I hope the picture helps.

[URL=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/ddaul36/media/DSCN1229_zps2b39a8b7.jpg.html]

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On the left are Blue Moon, on the right Khurasan (I cut the bayonets off)

[URL=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/ddaul36/media/DSCN1177_zpscab5e0d1.jpg.html]

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Blue Moon Artillery and crew

[URL=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/ddaul36/media/DSCN1189-Copy_zps5ed3bd25.jpg.html]

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Blue Moon Open Coat Infantry (Prussians).
[URL=http://s1318.photobucket.com/user/ddaul36/media/KHFrSidFr_zps9cf8aafd.jpg.html] [/URL]
Khurasan French. I cut the bayonets off of both figure sets.

DGT123---thank you very much--the way you paint they all look great!

Thanks barcah2001. They are all great figures. That's why I like the 18mm.

10mm pendraken every time, best 10mm range of figures for any period out there at the moment and en masse they look stunning

To be honest, I believe anything in mass and painted looks stunning.
Regards
Russ Dunaway

I agree---I miss the Editions Brokow cavalry---look good en masse. Wish you could still get them. Must have 300 of them already.