"Best 15mm Lead WWII Figures-???" Topic

Since FOW has discontinued its roll out of lead and went to plastic, I was wondering what other companies make quality 15mm WWII figures in metal or lead? Are Peter Pig and Old Glory good quality?

Cheers,

Scott

P.S: I just joined 3/24/2021.

I don't know if these are available in the US but Forged in Battle 15mm are brilliant, and fantastic quality. Not a huge range but they do troops for the British, Soviets, US and Germans.

I still have loads of the older metal Battlefront figures, they were good for esoteric troop types that no one else covered like the Desert Rats in Normandy. They also did figures for troops like Sikhs or French North African soldiers that traditionally got overlooked.

I have a great fondness for the Peter Pig ones. There are photos of everything in his very large range on the web site peterpig.co.uk/page8.html

Peter Pig are very good. Old Glory are nice, but I've had QC problems with them before – try to get ones cast by Skytrex in the UK. Essex are nice, but the range is limited. I haven't seen many Forged in Battle, but I've liked the ones I have seen (1940 BEF).

Older lines that are still available are Quality Castings (available from Battle Honours, the vehicles tend to be better than the infantry), QRF, Legions East.

Or you can try to find older BF on EBay or a minis swap group.

Hope this helps,
Mark

Some of the old metal Battlefront figures are horrible to paint. Peter Pig does some very nice late war British infantry and Paras.They were enjoyable to paint. Would not go back to BF for these models.

FIB make some nice Early War infantry. British, French and Polish. Can't comment on the German, no experience with them.

Old Glory are a bit harder to paint than PP IMO, and slightly on the smaller side.A lot comes down to the casting. Can be hit/miss with the US, UK Skytrex always seems to be to excellent.

BF makes such a huge variety of Germans that the quality level is just as varied. Well worth the time to find some of their better/older German scuplts.

Peter Pig is my ‘go to' for 15mm WW2

The sculpting, casting and lead quality of Peter Pig have always been excellent, in my experience.
And their WW2 range is very extensive.

Peter Pig and Forged in Battle.

I've always liked Peter Pig. Below is a pic of my PP in action. They are from 13 years ago and were some of the first 15mm I ever painted. They paint very easily and have lots of character. The PP website has good photos of them. (I did go back and 'improve' the paint jobs, but I have no photos to show.)

I think shipping costs from UK and EU have become more of a factor since January, but it seems more of an issue with larger scales or larger orders.

I do not like Old Glory 15mm WWII for all the reasons stated above.

I'll agree on recommending Peter Pig. Only problem is getting them here in the US. Brookhurst is supposed to be the US agent, but seems to have problems with restocking.

My only complaint about Forged in Battle was that their US BAR figures were crap! The barrels on the LMG figures in general often need replacing. Their mortars are also dumb – a very old fashion one piece triangle thing – better replaced by a Flames of War or Plastic Soldier mortar. These are the only thing that spoils what is otherwise a really nice range of figures.

Peter Pig are really good – they also do the dumb one piece mortar thing, though their one is really cleanly cast.

The often overlooked Essex range of 15mm world war two are also really nice – very clean figures, mortars in two pieces. They are a basic range – British, German, US and USSR only in basic types – no commandos, rangers or paratroops or other types of showoffs. Well worth a look in my opinion.

Peter Pig 'nuff said.

Blowing my own trumpet but can I add Eureka Miniatures to the list? Sculpted by Mike Broadbent and we have a UK agent.

Nic EUREKA MINIATURES

Yep, Peter Pig get my vote on this one !

Phil

Blowing my own trumpet but can I add Eureka Miniatures to the list? Sculpted by Mike Broadbent and we have a UK agent.

Nic EUREKA MINIATURES

Doh! Of course! Brilliant range, even if they are a bit showy. Colonial Italians, for heaven's sake!

Peter Pig are sensational

Thank you for the Peter Pig comments. Appreciated.

I think most of the 15mm WW2 ranges mentioned will fit in together as the figures are usually placed apart when based.

The Peter Pig range is obviously the biggest out there, at over 700 packs. In the last year a big range of EW Germans and German paratroops has been added.

thanks

martin

Peter Pig. OG are fine, as are Irregular, QRF etc but the quality is inconsistent, with PP they are just lovely all the way. Funnily enough another big box full of PP is turning up today, according to Royal Mail parcel tracking.

Keep up the good work Martin!

Peter Pig range is obviously the biggest out there, at over 700 packs.

Will it be possible to have platoon packs again? I found myself needing figures to build units but it turned to be too many packs at once so I ended up buying nothing :/

Platoon packs would definitely help in making one focused purchase customisable with additional packs.

The platoon packs were withdrawn because they became far too much work.

Gamers would ask to change poses (I only like kneeling poses), take out a few figures(can the price be reduced please) , add in a few figures (my rules need the LMG moving and firing as separate bases), mix in stuff from another range etc..

All for an £11.00 GBP product

It all took a lot of time , thus making them a loss making product.

martin

Martin,
Is there an issue with Brookhurst? I ended up cancelling an order, as they could not guarenteee when they would be getting a restock.

Eureka miniatures are very nice.
Lorenzo

NNascati. Brookhurst is hit or miss. Just order direct .

Brookhurst should/do have every single pack in stock.
They get are stock every few weeks from the UK.
Let me know if you want me to "help out" at any point

martin

Martin,
Thanks, I'll try again.

Best wishes Nick.
Let me know if they are short of anything.

martin

Martin,
They are still short several packs. I told them to hold the order until it can be shipped complete.

Peter Pig, Old Glory Command Decision, Eureka, and Battlefront are all good. Peter Pig is very consistent in size except for the Japanese which were purposely made smaller. They are nearly indestructible. Command Decision is good but rifles and MGs may occasionally bend or break and their crew-served weapons packs are too much of a good thing for most purposes. Eureka are very nice but again, weapons may be flimsy. Battlefront are uneven. Some lines, such as Soviets are great, others such as Germans are uneven. All are compatible to a large degree depending on how you base them. Cheers!

Old Glory for the masses, Peter Pig for specialists

Thanks for your overwhelming responses!

General Scott

I feel this is a very "Leadidst" topic. :-).