"Who makes te best AWI fig's in the various scales?" Topic

Sorry for the dumb question, but a friend of mine (not a gamer) is looking to buy some AWI miiatures to paint up, and has asked me who makes the nicest. Now AWI is not a theatre I've ever played so I'm pretty much in the dark here, so I'm asking you lot out in TMP world where should he look?

Thanks in advance, Cheers Roger.

I'd go with Perry 28mm.

Second the Perry Figures.

Third Perry

I like Perry in 28mm and Blue Moon in 15mm

I'm sorry to disagree with the four above posters, but Jim Purky's Fife and Drum Miniatures have the best AWI figures, sculpted by Richard Ansell. Although his line isn't as extensive as the Perry's, to me they are more realistically proportioned.

fifedrumminis.blogspot.com

And yes, I have some of the figures and are well pleased with them.

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Jim (from Miss.) [not to be confused with Jim Purky from Ill.]

I'd have to agree with Jim/not Jim, particularly if your friend is looking to use the figures in a diorama.

Peter Pig has a massive(320 sculpts) 15mm line if that is a good scale for your friend??

martin

Thanks guys that's great, any good ones in larger scales? 40mmplus?

Cheers Roger.

Best for what? It matters.

I have 28mm Perry and Wargames Factory plastic figures and a few Fife & Drum and Perry metal figures. In the abstract I would say all are fine. The same could probably also be said for other manufacturers whose products I haven't bought yet, so this isn't a knock on any other manufacturer. I only got back into AWI about 2 years ago.

Perry and Wargames Foundry

Perry and Foundry for 28mm. My troops are a mix. Also Eureka makes a great line of ragged Americans. I had to get a rest of the Massachusetts Marblehead troops with the baggie pants, Glover's troops.

I should start by saying I don't game this conflict (yet), and so can only chime in as an interested onlooker, but if I were to get into AWI the Miniature Service Center's 40mm range looks better than all the rest. The larger scale seems tailor made for a smallish conflict like this.

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And don't forget the very nice 54mm range by All the King's Men!

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Many wargamers have a mixture of manufacturers so your friend might be interested in getting a few figures from say, Perry, Fife & Drum, Front Rank (28mm & 40mm) and Foundry to see what he likes.

I second Peter Pig … excellent 15mm figures (that are proper average sized 15mm figures) …

Just look at Fat Wally's Hessians

Phil

For 40mm figures I would go with Trident from MSC. They are fantastic. They are marginally better than Sash and Saber who are also very nice.
Both reward careful painting.

Let me put in a good word for Eureka in 28 mm. The "ragged Contonental " range is full of character and if your friend is not a gamer but looking for colorful figures to paint, you can't beat them.

Thanks for the heads up Phil.

:-)

In 15mm I like Peter Pig best as they're true 15's, very nice sculpts, good quality metal and very clean castings. Makes them a joy to prepare and paint plus you can do lots of interesting headswaps for variety.

However, the Fife and Drum are just sublime.

Fife and Drum for 28mm

Blue Moon for 15mm

Baccus 6mm.

Don't forget about Eureka, their ragged Continentals are beautiful figures.

In 40mm, you have Miniature Service Center' s Battle Road AWI range, Sash & Sabre, and Front Rank Miniatures. All three are very nice figures, but MSC probably has the biggest selection covering nearly everything.

Another vote for Fife & Drum, which is distributed in the UK by Crann Tara .

We are spoiled for choices in this Golden Age of AWI figures, so you can hardly go wrong with anything.

40mm figures you will want would go with Trident from MSC. They are fantastic

Perry in 28 mm hands down plus the sculpts they did for Foundry. Sash and Sabre for price and quality in 40 mm, Essex in 15 mm, Blue Moon for larger 15/18 mm.

I love Perry miniatures, but the Fife and Drum miniatures are nice indeed. They are 28mm btw.

Best ranges for each size (IMO), based on sculpting, historical accuracy, pose variations, and completeness. Except for 28mm, there is a clear winner (again, IMO) in each size:

54mm – All the King's Men
40mm – Front Rank
28mm – Perry/Foundry metal and plastic, Fife & Drum
[Perry just sneaks it on pose variations/extras; F&D is based around one campaign – Philly '77]
20mm – Italieri (plastic)
15mm – Peter Pig
10mm – Pendraken
6mm – Baccus

Jump to
deepfriedhappymice.com
and look at the reviews for AWI 15mm figures.

In true 25mm there are Minifigs, but I'm not sure of any other true 25mm lines still available or if any of the 28mm lines would be compatible with Minifigs.

Minifigs sculpts are from 1975, basic, and pretty easy to paint. Some people like them because of that. The newer 28mm figures are better sculpted than Minifigs obviously.

Don't forget King's Mountain Miniatures if you like 28mm highlanders and crazy hunting shirt types.

Although I started with Perry I would gladly trade them for Fife and Drum figures. Just really great figures. A joy to paint and look great on table. I really like the King Mountain highlanders also.

I have little experience of the period but I've enjoyed painting Fife & Drum more than the few Perry I've done. The casting quality of F&D is exceptional and they are nicely proportioned (shown below). The Perry range is extensive and probably the most complete range ever sculpted for a period, although I appreciate that there are still gaps. Perry castings take more work to prep and paint than F&D.

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This shows F&D compared to a Perry plastic figure.

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I have seen some 28mm Fife and Drum and they are beautiful and crisply cast. Perry's are lovely sculpts, but the casting sucks.

10mm Pendraken is pretty stunning in itself.

I'm new into AWI and more of a painter than a gamer. I considered a number of options in terms of manufacturers when starting out.

In other periods, SYW, Napoleonics, ECW and ACW over many years, I have been through 6mm/15mm/25/28mm and 40mm. For AWI I decided to go for 40mm figures from Trident and Front Rank – the ranges are very compatible, the sculpts are excellent and the service from both Doug at MSC and Angela at Front Rank is first class. No hesitation in recommending both manufacturers for this period.

In "true" 25mm, there are Minifigs, Hinchliffe, RSM, and a few others – mostly they are compatible height-wise, but the sculpting styles differ considerably – for example, you could not really put Minifigs and Hinchliffe in the same units.

Like Walter says, we really are spoiled for choice nowadays. So my suggestion is…

28mm Fife & Drum
15mm Blue Moon
10mm Pendraken
6mm Adller

Don't forget Old Glory. They have a vast selection and the price can't be beaten. Some poses may be a bit eccentric, but overall the quality is good and the pose selection is outstanding. With the army card they are about the same price as plastics

Honestly, your best bet is to mix and match all of the excellent manufacturers that have been mentioned here. As long as you keep grouping of the same size together, you can field an exceptional army with a mixture of brands in
28 mm.

This is the golden age of AWI figures.

And as Bill (nevinsrip) is too modest to plug his own 28mm range take a look at King's Mountain Miniatures….

I have 25/28mm figs from Hinchcliffe, Garrison, Old Glory, Front Rank, Perry, and Fife and Drum. By far my favorites are Perry figures. I haven't tried the plastics, but very much enjoyed the metals. Liked the Fife and Drum figures, but found them to be smaller than the other 28mm ranges.

Don't forget 15 mm Musket Miniatures, very nice and affordable range if venerable. And the recently re-released Polly Oliver in the same scale – perhaps the nicest figures out there as far as sculpts go. And, if he goes with 15 mm, point out that he can get a lot of mounted and matching dismounted figures, through careful study of Freikorps (QRF) Seven Years War ranges. But Peter Pig is certainly a workable option. Might even pull in some Essex figures though there's is an incomplete range – same with Minifigs.

You can certainly do this period quite will in 15 mm – I've collected a very large collection in this scale and, once I get that intimidating pile painted, I will be able to play virtually any historical scenario you can think of and, most of the time, with the correct unit in place (sometimes with a very close stand in). Though my intent is to play a fictional campaign to avoid players all coming to the table forearmed with how the historical battle went. We AWI aficionados seem to know most of the battles too well to ever be surprised by historical scenarios.

Whatever your friend chooses, he is choosing a great and fascinating period of history to game. Good luck to him and kudos to you for helping out.

B and B Miniatures in 20mm – thought about these. I've also been told by Newline that they are thinking about AWI in 20mm
bandbminiatures.co.uk
Here are some from E Bay