"Why no SYW plastics?" Topic

Is the SYW period not popular enough for 25/28mm? I don't understand why not. I'm talking about hard plastics, not the softer kind.

I stock SYW figures (albeit in 15mm). One of my slowest sellers. Nowhere close to Napoleonics, Renaissance, ACW…

So… why is it a slow seller? What turns off gamers?

Maybe the apparent need for 100s of figures turns folks off?

Perhaps but a LOT of black powder era games needs 100's of miniatures. Just look at Nappy, ACW and a dozen other periods. Same thing.

Well, I have SYW armies, Napoleonic and ACW. Also Franco-Prussian, Seven Weeks War, etc.

Aren't there plastic AWI Hessians?

I've done AWI and have bought more than I've done. And I might have a weak moment if SYW came available. But

(1) It's not cheap when the line is incomplete. Even in AWI I'll have to pay a fortune for cavalry, which I'm putting off. And (2) All the assembly is a serious consideration. That time has to come from somewhere. I'd be a much easier sell for finished hard plastic castings even sacrificing the flexibility. In fact, some of the flexibility is a myth. Selling me a drummer in multiple pieces is no help--or a torso which can only be standing firing.

I think the ideal for SYW and for a lot of mass armies would be assembled bodies with plug-in heads. But that's not available, so the kits tend to accumulate in the garage.

It's always struck me as a little odd that there are no (European theatre) SYW plastic sets, yet – once the Perry's release theirs, there has been 3 different manufacturers producing Zulu War Brits.

Nothing against Zulu War Brits, but it never struck me as the most lucrative choice for 28mm plastics.

I think the reason SYW is less popular than other periods is that the popular periods are better known generally, through film and TV. How many SYW movies can you name? Beyond Last of the Mohicans I can't think of any, and that is just a small part of what was the 1st truly global war. Most gamers go with what they know, and that tends to be what they grew up with watching on TV or at the movies.

@Vigilant--Barry Lyndon, but I suspect you are right that this is a significant problem.

How many Napoleon movies can you name? ACW? Zulu War? Outside WWII it's not like there's a ton of popular media on any period.

Our group uses 1:72 plastics for SYW. Many of our figs are no longer in production, though, there are a few companies coming out with some in the near future.

Napoleonic movies: Waterloo, Desiree, The Duelists, Master and Commander, Horatio Hornblower, War and Peace, The Caged Eagle, Austerlitz, The Brothers Grimm, Damn the Defiant, The Gun, Love and Death, etc. etc.

I would love some SYW 28mm, especially cavalry. I plan on buying a box of AWI Prussians at Fall In to see how well they work. Hatt has had hard plastic 28mm Prussians on the future release list for several years, but I gave up asking them when.

Weren't HaT going to bring out 1/64 (i.e. 28mm) SYW Prussian Infantry in (soft?) plastic?

I would love to see some cavalry in plastic assuming they were not multipart kits. That would help save some money.

Our group uses 1:72 plastics for SYW. Many of our figs are no longer in production, though, there are a few companies coming out with some in the near future.

I know HaT has a couple more Prussian projects. They plan on doing Cavalry but the company moves at a glacial pace. Who else will be producing 1/72 scale 7YW?

Art Miniaturen – metal though

This is apparently not limited to plastics. I talked with Chris Hughes of Sash and Saber at Historicon,asking why 7YW 40mm production was so tardy. He said he really has very few people buying the line,which he finds mysterious,since he considers the period the central conflict of the 18th century.

It's not the scale,BTW--40mm FIW is one of his best-selling lines.

How many Napoleon movies can you name? ACW? Zulu War? Outside WWII it's not like there's a ton of popular media on any period.

Well the Zulu war only needed one film and it got two. ACW hardly needs movie exposure.
War movies work best when telling a story of a small group in a conflict. That can work well in a WWII ruleset but could hardly show the nature of 18th century warfare.

It's not the scale,BTW--40mm FIW is one of his best-selling lines.

I could play F&IW with 10+ figures, SYW Europe would need several hundred, even more to cover Clive in India.

HangarFlying

I see that you are in the Omaha area and have some 1/72 armies. Do you game ACW or Napoleonics in this scale? I have a ton of figures but I don't know anyone in the area interested in this scale.

I wonder what it would cost to get the sculpting and injection mold made for such a box of say infantry that were "French" in style and then a box that were "German" in style. Similar to the Wargames Factory ones for the WSS?

I have a 7yw army gatheirng dust in a cupboard somewhere. Unpainted.

The uniforms are at least as nasty to paint as napoleonics, and the tactical difference between the SYW and Nap periods isnt huge.

So I would rather have gone for Marlburian, which has a totally different feel to SYW, or even earlier to Williamite/9yW – the latter being exactly what our club has done.

With Williamite there is plenty of colour on the table, pretty flags from several nations, easy to paint, good range of figures available, excellent rules available…… why go through the pain of SYW for a "near Nap" experience?

Also, didnt Wargames Factory produce a SYW figure? Or was that an earlier period. I recall that it was a fairly general "Composite" figure to represent the various uniform styles of the period.

Buff O--sorry,haven't checked in for a while. People are are apparently buying a LOT more than 10 FIW figures. Maybe not 600,but 200,easy(believe me--I have!).

1815Guy-- aren't you thinking of the WSS box? They also did one each of cavalry and artillery. I don't know about the infantry, but, as I understand it,the cavalry box was very flexible,if fiddly. 60 different torsos to make up 12 figures,IIRC.

I have a lot of S&S 40mm SYW. i just paint the same figure types with different colored uniforms. sometimes I modify the heads. works good for me using Maurice :)

I fill in the odd areas with Irregular miniatures. Thought not as nice as S&S you can get the missing links. Cuirassiers, and Crats for example.

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I reckon the button counters would kill off "generic" 7YW figures. People seem to want every nation and eery cuff variation (bit like I do with Naps so I am not poking fun at the 7YW crowd).

I went Imagi's with my tricorne figures precisely to avoid the limitations of what was/is available as I use 1/72 plastics, and in all reality there will NEVER be a complete range even with the 1/72. SO seeing it in 28mm s, sadly I fear, extremely doubtful. From the few trader comments above, it just does not sell.

And I have o hard evidence, but HaT never followed up their 1/72 Prussian 7YW, neither did Zvezda, so that implies (although not 100%) that they did not sell well.