"British infantry, 28mm 1944 NWE" Topic

Hi folks,
just wanted to check with the hive mind here, make sure I'm not missing something . Am going to paint up 50 or so British infantry for Normandy and after. I'm afraid the Artizan type of figure with big weapons and heads doesn't float my boat. I'm much more in to the Perry type proportions though clearly there's no NW Europe WW2 option in their range. So what are my options?

- Empress are slated to do a late war NWE range and really I would love to have these, but given we won't see the first releases this year, and judging by the speed of their releases of US and German late war it will be a long time before we can build a platoon of these guys.

- Warlord, too much in the giant head department for me, though I may convert a few of their plastics

- 1st Corps, smallish range with a fair number of prone figures. Anybody recommend them?

- Crusader, quite nice sculpts but the proportions seem a little dwarfish

- Black Tree Design, seem to have a good few packs, reasonable prices too. Just hope they're not like the US WW2 range with random differences of uniform and equipment.

Currently trading towards Black Tree. Any other ranges / views out there?

thanks
EC

The Warlord plastics are not too bad. I find their heads better sized than the metals. I don't have any BTD so can't comment on uniform accuracy. The Brits were one of the later ranges after the sculptor that did the Germans and Russians for Harlequin left. I find the later sculpts variable. Some are quite poor. Personally don't like Crusader. Find the poses very samey. 1st Corps are a bit like Marmite. Some people love them, some hate them. They are at the chunky end of the range. If you like them then they are reasonably priced. Only caveat is they don't have a lot of different poses so your sections will look the same, but they should mix ok with Warlord and Crusader. Another range worth looking at are Battle Honours, now carried by Gaddis Gaming. link
I have some of their Germans and Finns. I find the ones I have a bit smaller/less chunky than the Warlord/Artizan/Crusader ranges.
Empress would be the ones to have if you can wait for them and who knows one day the Perry's might do a box.

1st Corps figures a generally very good.

I like the BTDs and I have a bunch, but you may have to do some conversions: some of them have the respirator worn on the chest; none of them have a groundsheet, and all of the helmets are covered in hessian, rather than net/leaf camo.

Gaddis Gaming have the old Battle Honors range

link

I would say that Artizan, Crusader, BTD, 1st Corps, Warlord plastics are similar in style and size while Perry, Warlord metals (by Paul Hicks), West Wind (Berlin/Bust)and Battle Honours are slimmer and smaller.

I have not seen the West Wind separate head British, anygood?

Thanks people – Gaddis seems to be an American operation, so I'm not sure about postage to UK. But I assume you'd know Londonplod?

Jeff – why do BTD do this random stuff like the respirators on some figures?! I'm not sure whether the hessian helmet covers were used in the 1944 NW Europe campaigns? Annoying, I was on the verge of a purchase there …

Fred – agreed the Warlord, Crusader, and BTD seem pretty compatible, size wise. Maybe I'll have to live with their proportions! I don't see any chance of a Perry plastic offering in this area, not in the next 18 months anyway. Their plastic US infantry should be out in the first half of 2019 though …

EC

Travellera – thanks for your suggestion of the West Wind range, just checking them out.
I bought a box of their French civilians at Salute and they painted up quite nicely. Does anybody else have experience of their WW2 ranges?
EC

The original Westwind ranges are the smallest of the lot, I would say true 25mm figures. The new seperate heads system are huge and the heads are enormous. I bought some of the para heads and they were too big for Warlord figures!
I don't know about Gaddis. I bought Battle Honours when they were owned by Old Glory 15's and shipping was ok from the US.
If you want Perry proportioned figures now Gaddis are your only option. Otherwise a mix of Warlord, 1st Corps, BTD and Crusader will give you a lot of variety and should all mix together or if you are on a budget 1st Corps and BTD, particularly if you wait for Brits to appear in one of the BTD sales and get 30% off.

Fred – thank you for your help, most useful. Do you think the West Wind soldiers without separate heads are the old, smaller, range?

link

If the answer's 'no', I think I will go for a mix of Warlord and BTD, which is in fact the same route I took with my US WW2 platoon. BTD Brits are currently on a 30% sale …
EC

The WW mini's in your link are the smaller type…

WW has these at the larger size:

link

A word of caution re BTD…I placed an order in September and 2 weeks ago I received the order…with the wrong content. The owner is apparently not well and goes in and out of hospital so the service is not working.

Jeff – why do BTD do this random stuff like the respirators on some figures?!

It's worth remembering they were one of the first serious 28mm WWII figures, and I suppose they wanted to cover the broadest possible swathe. They're still very nice figures, with crisp sharp detail, particularly on the German and US sculpts.

I had forgotten about the Battle Hono(u)rs British. They're quality sculpts, if on the small side.

For my part I was making a BEF unit, so I had to snip off the e-tool and add a respirator and gas cape to the figures that didn't have them. I'm fairly well pleased with how they came out.

Jeff – you're right BTD are crisp figures, certainly a pleasure to paint.

Reluctantly I have concluded that my Brits are just going to have to be a bit bigger than I originally wanted. They won't be Perry sized since the Battle Honours via Gaddis seem pricey coming from the States to UK ($3 per figure + postage). The older West Wind castings might have worked but seem a little oddly proportioned (large helmets, fat legs) so I'm going with a mix of Warlord and BTD, as I did for my original US Chain of Command platoon. The US guys will get replaced when Perry bring out their plastics …and maybe one day the Brits also.

Thank you all for help in my deliberations!

EC