"Best 28mm WWII Sculpts for the Money?" Topic

Curious to see which companies people think provide the best bang for the buck, as far as nice sculpts go, for 28mm WWII minis?

Looking for mid-late war troops, primarily for the USA and Germany, though I need some for Russia/Soviet Union, and possibly even Britain too.

$12.50 USD for a MMG and 2 – 3 guys firing/crewing it, plus shipping, seems a bit high to me.

If you want cheap BTD are the cheapest I know, but see the threads on delivery delays. If you want the best my top choices would be Empress, Offensive Miniatures and Perry's, but they are not cheap.

Best in terms of anatomy and realistic weapons, Victory Force. Actually around 30mm, and gorgeous.

I second BTD. Mostly good sculpts and good value for the money, esp when they run their frequent sales.

In recent threads there are many complains of BTD with people not getting their miniatures. TMP link

If you need something cheap, go for Bolt action plastics. Cheapest option but the figures are more cumbersome to prepare than metals.

Artizan is one of my favourites as they are very easy to paint, and the price is acceptable.

Victory Force are nice and definitely get the German helmets right unlike some other manufacturers. Bolt Action metal figs aren't as anatomically accurate but seem to paint up better, at least for me. Black Tree are great value for the money, though the figures can be inconsistent. Some I really like and others are kind of meh. They also have a pretty good selection of casualty figures that are not on bases, and some other weapons/characters I haven't seen elsewhere. I ordered from them recently and received my shipment in about a week

Your best bang for the buck is going to be plastics, either Warlord or Perry. Plastic Soldier Co while usually considered a 20mm co, have 28mm russians at a crazy bargain price and I would consider those in a heartbeat should I ever want to do soviets!

Metals, hard to beat Black Tree, and as I personally have never had an issue, there is definitely others who have had problems with long waits or flat out not having orders filled. Next best for me would be Artizan, then Warlord.

I do have Plastic Soldiers 28mm Soviets – they were their first attempt at minis, and it shows. Really…

Wargames Factory made some with really nice realistic weapons, but they went out of production when bought by Warlord Games. Dreamforge sold the remnants in the US, afaik. Warlord Games plastic are quite good considering price/value, and if you go into the Desert, look at the Perrys.

In metal – just look. The best sculpts for the money often come at $5 USD per mini, and are worth it IF quality is what you seek. Heer46 has some nice Germans and Soviets. Rubicon also makes quite realistic sculpts in plastic, though not en masse. In between you will find tons of metals that you need to decide for yourself. I do have BTD, Artizan, Foundry and a couple of others.

I know a lot of others have noted issues with BTD but the couple of orders I've made with them have always come through – plus they run a deep discount on a regular basis. That being said, the majority of my figures are Warlord due to ease of ordering and the wide variety of different figures available – both metal and plastic. Normally it is fairly easy to find Warlord figures at some sort of discount on many different sites.

Artizan IMO are good all round figures . Middle market if you like. They paint up very well .

$12.50 USD for a MMG and 2 – 3 guys firing/crewing it, plus shipping, seems a bit high to me.

That's actually par for the course for a 3-man MMG on tripod in metal. Multi-part plastics like those offered by Wargames Factory (discontinued but you should have little trouble getting them from Dreamforge or on Ebay) are cheaper, but the heavy support choices usually are only available in metal.

If I were you, I'd seriously consider 20mm and 1/72 (or even 15mm and 1/100) instead. The ranges and ground scales are much more realistic for skirmish gaming.

Keep saying that and I'll have to change the first part of my TMP handle.

Try Frontline Games if you're sticking with 28mm. Their prices are not bad and they offer minis from various manufacturers: link

Nobody mentioned Crusader miniatures…I have most of the minis mentioned and a mix of Crusader, Artizan and Warlord metals would me my choice. You can buy Warlord and Crusader at a discount from Wayland games

Unfortunately just germans and brits at the moment.. but Empress are by far the best most anatomically pleasing sculpts, and not too pricey.
Victory Force are anatomically correct..?? Eh.. i dunno.. they seem very cartoony to me.. but then Ive never seen them in the flesh.

Empress make a very impressive range of late war Americans and Germans. Their Brits just only just came out; the Americans and Germans have been around for a while.

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I understand that there will plastic Perry mid-war/Italian campaign Americans coming out soon too.

Victory Force are anatomically correct..?? Eh.. i dunno.. they seem very cartoony to me.. but then Ive never seen them in the flesh.

Victory Force minis are indeed caricatured. They're also taller than the others mentioned, being closer to 1/48 in height. There's a reason they're cartoonish (see below).

As an aside it's interesting to note that the sculptor of VF figs is Jim Bland, who was among the first to introduce the exaggerated chunky "heroic scale" miniatures dominating 28mm WWII today. In fact, the figs for the earliest WWII skirmish rule set specifically designed for 28mm, Battleground WWII by Easy Eight Enterprises, were sculpted by him. They were considered by many (including myself) to be "ugly" and cartoony at the time. It's simply Jim's sculpting style. Some people like it more than others. He's gotten better since those early days though.

DreamForge is still selling the Wargames Factory miniatures and they are deeply discounted.

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Here are some teasers for the Perry Americans:

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My stuff is primarily Warlord Games, very nice and relatively inexpensive. A very extensive range of all nations – lots of options. Their website always runs specials and free shipping.

I have also had major issues with BTD and would NEVER order from them again, horrible customer service.

If your looking for value for money I'll second warlord games plastic sets. They paint up nicely

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Empress Miniatures and Perry Miniatures in metal. These are really the only figures worth buying.

I would put Offensive Miniatures up there with Empress and Perry's. Their new winter Germans are some great looking figures.

I've made many, many orders to BTD (USA) and never had any problems. None.

those perry americans look amazing – wish they were 20mm!