Well I finally got hold of some of the new 15mm Ancients from The Plastic Soldier Company. I even spent 20 minutes painting one up!
Firstly these are made using the Siocast system. This seems to be a method of using a plastic substance to be injected into metal style moulds. It is a plastic, it's not resin or a derivative of it… it's a plastic.
I should also say at this point that the figures I recieved are test models used to get used to the system and before PSC realised that their vacuum pump wasnt working properly! This is now fixed and means far less mould lines on the figures now… and they are sending some new versions (which have arrived and I've added a pic at the end).
The models are in a hard but flexible plastic. It's not really like anything I have encountered before but it retains the detail very well. It does have a slight flex, which concerned me at first but after painting, it's not a concern but now perhaps one of its strengths.
I painted the slinger in the pics up in 20 minutes and decided to be as harsh on it as possible. I did not wash the model first, I used a wash of black paint instead of an undercoat and then painted a base colour and two highlight shades, followed by a matt varnish.
Generally I dislike painting plastics, but these are like painting metal as the material has a texture like metal models. They are also sculpted like metals so I found it really easy and quick to paint. The detail was clear and stood out well.
Really it was like painting a metal 15mm figure. But I'm guessing most people want to know what happens when you flex it… well I after painting I bent the sling all the way down to the body, twice, and then up towards the head. It immediately returns to shape and position, but what impressed me most was the paint did not flake or crack. I'm sure if you really kept at it, then it would… but really that's pointless, unless you do that to your metal models as some form of torture.
These will survive dropping, travel and gaming with no issue and likely be better off due to the material. No more bent spears, or broken slings and swords. What I thought was going to be an issue is actually a big bonus. Very impressed with that element of the model.
I'm not going to review the sculpt itself, all the PSC figures are coming from existing ranges and are well known. It's really the material that is the key feature.
The only downside I found was having to remove a mould line around the figure, but if PSC have remedied this, then I'm hard pressed to think of any other issues with it. Once painted it wont be any different to a metal model until you pick it up.
As someone with no interest in 15mm or ancients, I know want to do a couple of armies for Soldiers of Rome using these. The light weight, the cost and ease of painting are all a big bonus. I'm unsure on price but they tell me the starter army boxes will retail at around £35.00 GBP . Seems a good price to me.
I really hope people give these a go as I think it could really boost the popularity of 15mm and mass battle games in general. I'm also hoping PSC will venture into more periods… I'm told medieval is a possibility and perhaps… Napoleonics! Cant wait to get more of these ancients and paint up a unit or two to see how they look.
So we may be looking at a new revolution for 15mm, and as PSC have also done 20mm figures in this material, it will be very interesting to see how things develop.
These are the latest samples I received this week…
finally paints the first of his Gauls...
