Albino Squirrel | 30 Oct 2015 7:09 a.m. PST |
The additional AWI plastic kits by Wargames Factory (Hessians and artillery) are finally coming out, being sold by Warlord Games, at this point in big army sets. See more pictures on the pre-order pages: link link link |
45thdiv | 30 Oct 2015 7:20 a.m. PST |
In that second picture, the skirmish line looks like they are already routed. The look sad and downtrodden. |
Supercilius Maximus | 30 Oct 2015 7:31 a.m. PST |
Wonder why they made the artillery in Saratoga caps – are there spare tricorne hats, perhaps? Don't recall any Indians in the New York campaign, either. |
nevinsrip | 30 Oct 2015 7:38 a.m. PST |
I'm wondering who the target consumer is? 280 bucks is a lot of cash to shell out at one time for plastic figures, so I don't see the novice spending this kind of money on a whim. And I do not see ths serious wargamer needing this, because they probably already have most of the pieces anyway. So, who is going to buy this??? |
Pan Marek | 30 Oct 2015 7:41 a.m. PST |
Dang! I've already got enough UK and US infantry, along with militia and Indians! Any word on releasing the artillery or Hessians as separate sets?!? |
John the OFM | 30 Oct 2015 8:19 a.m. PST |
I'm with Bill on this. No way will "I buy the complete sets, but a few of the bits interest me. |
Cold Steel | 30 Oct 2015 8:36 a.m. PST |
Ditto on the comments above. Now if WG had done SYW sets in plastic, they probably would get a better reception. |
79thPA | 30 Oct 2015 8:38 a.m. PST |
Another "ditto" on the pricing. |
Winston Smith | 30 Oct 2015 9:29 a.m. PST |
I was burned on the really bad original Zulu War British figures. I hope they have improved. |
normsmith | 30 Oct 2015 10:37 a.m. PST |
Are the Hessian plastic or metal – the links seem to be suggesting differently for each. |
Bashytubits | 30 Oct 2015 11:03 a.m. PST |
There is absolutely no comparison between the early figures and what they produce now, it is improved tremendously. |
Sloppypainter | 30 Oct 2015 11:28 a.m. PST |
I got a cold feeling when I heard Warlord was taking over distribution (price increases, etc.) and this does nothing to warm up that cold spot. I would like to have seen individual boxes released instead of these large sets. |
Paul at Warlord Games | 30 Oct 2015 1:44 p.m. PST |
Thanks for all the positive comments, gents. Judging by sales so far there are plenty seeing this exciting set as great value – much like our Rorke's Drift, Pegasus Bridge and La Haye Sainte battle sets. All figures in these sets are completely plastic – no metal. Artillery can be made as British or American crews – headgear included for both. Individual sets will indeed follow in the New Year – for now these are great starter sets giving both great value and a great core to an AWI force. Cheers, Paul warlordgames.com |
MH Dee | 30 Oct 2015 1:47 p.m. PST |
I honestly think the WF AWI Plastics look strange to my eyes. I've got 3 boxes, but there's something stiff and awkward about. The Perry plastics are far superior imo, although I'm planning to paint a few units of the WF anyway. |
Bill N | 30 Oct 2015 2:28 p.m. PST |
I am pleased to hear that individual sets will be available. If I were just starting out in the era, package deals such as these might be a good way to start building up armies. Since I have already accumulated a number of sets and figures, I am more interested in being able to fill in the gaps. |
nevinsrip | 30 Oct 2015 11:12 p.m. PST |
"Thanks for all the positive comments, gents." Huh??? |
Green Tiger | 31 Oct 2015 6:20 a.m. PST |
Hoorah! Hopefully be able to give the Hessians different heads and use them as 1799 Russians! |
zippyfusenet | 31 Oct 2015 3:06 p.m. PST |
Am I the only one… who sees the resemblance to those great old ads that used to run in the comic books for *204 Revolutionary War Soldiers Only $1.98 USD!* auction Of course when you scraped your pennies together and ordered a set, you were in for sore disappointment. I'm sure that's not the case here. What great product. Design your own RevWar units, with the heads, weapons and poses you like best. You get two whole armies in the box (just like in the old comic ad), regulars, grenadiers, Hessians, militia, Indians, artillery, two generals and there's even a gosh-darn Molly Pitcher figure! And fencing. And a block house. And the price is less than a buck a figure. This ad triggers my toy-lust, bad. Then the voice of reason speaks up, in an unpleasant, nasal tone. What sense does it make to add nearly 300 more figures to my already out-of-control painting backlog? When will I find time even to assemble 300 multi-part figures? But I know I'm going to break down sooner or later. These toys will be on the market for a long time, and I can only be strong and rational for a little while… |
B6GOBOS | 31 Oct 2015 3:46 p.m. PST |
This is absolutely brilliant! For one price you get two armies and can get into gaming fast. Well after you get the figures assembled and painted. The price, while high at first glance is very reasonable when you look at what you get for it. Great value. I suspect you will see a great up turn in AWI. Which is a very good thing. |
Rdfraf | 01 Nov 2015 8:14 a.m. PST |
These sets are perfect for anyone who has ever wanted to get into AWI gaming! $280 USD is a deal for the number of figures you are getting! I think sales of these sets will be just fine and I applaud the idea of packaging battle packs with enough figures to start gaming. |
nevinsrip | 02 Nov 2015 4:31 p.m. PST |
Let's see what these sets are selling for a year from now. I'm not an anti WGF snob. I quite like the plastic figures as secondary, background figures. Great to fill in the ranks cheaply. But, I'm sorry. I just don't see anyone shelling out 280 bucks for plastic figures. If you want to get into AWI gaming, then but a box of each and see how it goes. What's the rush? "Judging by sales so far there are plenty seeing this exciting set as great value" I wonder just how many "plenty" might be. |
dantheman | 03 Nov 2015 5:04 a.m. PST |
I am interested in the individual sets. Wargames Factory are ok but I am not into 1768 warrant uniforms or Continental 1778 standard. Want more of a field look. |
Supercilius Maximus | 03 Nov 2015 7:30 a.m. PST |
The Perry plastics sets would probably be more to your taste. |
Bill N | 03 Nov 2015 10:43 a.m. PST |
Wargames Factory are ok but I am not into 1768 warrant uniforms or Continental 1778 standard. Want more of a field look. To each his own, and I am glad we have the choice. With a little work the WGF militia set allows you to provide more variety to your continentals. |
basileus66 | 03 Nov 2015 2:39 p.m. PST |
Wonder how compatible are WF figures with Fife & Drum miniatures. I am slowly building my British and Continental Armies. Most of the figures are Perry and F&F, except my Mohawks and Iroquois which are Conquest Miniatures. I won't buy the starter set, but perhaps I would be interested in individual boxes, particularly Hessians (I was planning to use F&F, but apparently there will be some time yet before they are ready). |
dantheman | 03 Nov 2015 3:28 p.m. PST |
Yes Bill I don't understand the focus on AWI but it is good for us. Between Perry and WF You can make most anything in plastic. Only thing missing is French and cavalry. However those would be small units anyway. Many don't like the plastics assembly but the mix and match gives the infantry variety needed. |
6mm Hero | 03 Nov 2015 4:18 p.m. PST |
Interesting sets and you save a bit of cash on buying the boxes separately. Will prob get the Continental set when I get around to starting on the American forces. For now though I have plenty of Redcoats to work through. |
Baranovich | 03 Nov 2015 9:08 p.m. PST |
I just got into AWI(having a budget that allowed me to pick one historical period, my favorite, so this one was it!) after having done only fantasy for many years. I approached the WGF figures kind of the same way I approach a Warhammer army- plastics for the rank and file troops and then metals for the personalities and specials. I echo what was said above about the army sets. I would much rather they had first released boxed sets of the Hessians and the artillery instead of whole army starter sets. I bulked out both of my forces by starting out with buying four boxed sets of both the British and Cont. from Warstore.com at $20 USD each. That right there is 30 infantry x 8 boxes for 240 infantry total for $160. USD That is pretty hard to beat! Great core of 120 infantry for each army. I then purchased one boxed set each of the AWI Perry plastics at $30 USD each. Now I'm up to a $220 USD investment and I've got nearly 320 infantry total, about 160 figures per side. At this point I turned away from plastics and went metal for some supplemental Hessian forces. About 20 figures from Perry including command. I stayed with Perry metals for artillery and then bought additional mounted command figures from Wargames Foundry. So in all I spent about $325 USD and I've got two really nicely rounded AWI forces of decent size if not spectacular size. I echo what was said above about the WGF figures looking "stiff". They do indeed have a peculiar look, and at face value make for an awkward contrast with the more natural looking campaign-type marching Perry figures. However, what I discovered – and this might be a matter of personal taste vs. practicality, is that the WGF figures look MUCH, MUCH better when based for games where you are required to tightly group 4-6 figures per base. When based individually WGF have too much of a "toy soldier" feel and not enough of a wargames feel. Unless I'm mistaken, when you base WGF on the individual square bases provided, aren't the soldiers themselves too far apart? Wouldn't they be closer together in line, more elbow to elbow close like the typical ranks of 18th and 19th Century armies? I think one of the things that makes the WGF figures "peculiar" looking is actually not the figures perse but rather the weird spacing that you see because of the individual bases, as I described above. But if you rank them tightly in groups on bases and you keep the positions separate – i.e. make one regiment all firing, make one regiment all at the "make ready" position, etc., make one regiment all at the "charge bayonets", they look much more effective as wargames units. Obviously you have to buy multiple sets to do this, and I recommend buying multiple individual boxed sets over buying the army sets. You have more control that way over how you want to flesh out the units, and you can always supplement with metals. I find that side by side WGF units look really good next to the Perry units, it also helped that I kept a consistent red for the coats across both brands of figures. I also gave the WGF units washes to weather them. Also, one final important note. Even though the WGF figures are in the 1768 Warrant uniforms, you CAN still give them some campaign treatment. The boxed sets give you an awesome variety of head gear. I made my units by mixing together the classic tri-corn hats with some round hats and with the "light infantry" hats with one side cocked up with the feather(these are the same kind of hats that Perry uses on all of its British metal campaigning foot soldiers to demonstrate that ordinary foot units altered their head gear and coats in the field, as you well know). I have to say in my opinion that the way I built my WGF units looks way better than if you built them all in the pristine 1768 Warrant as they are shown on all the WGF box panels. |
Gunfreak | 04 Nov 2015 11:01 a.m. PST |
Just a note on formations, druring the awi, both British and Americans adopted a more open formation. Not true open order but not shoulder to shoulder either. In gaming terms about 20-25mm per file. Instead of the 12-15mm of earlier and later periods. So 4 figures on a "standard" 45×40mm base instead of 6. |