"Perry 15mm?" Topic

I have often wondered why Perry or for that matter Wargames Foundry has never produced 15mm figures? Is it the British bias against 15mm? If they produced them at the same quality level as their 28mm lines, I would think there would be a viable market for them.

I do not believe there is a British bias against 15mm minis. In fact many venerable 15mm lines are British such as Minifigs, Essex, Donnington, Irregular, Alternative Armies, Museum, and Peter Pig. All of them are alive and well and produce thousands of miniatures ,in every period imaginable.
However, some sculptors prefer other sizes.

I think the Perrys are in the enviable position of producing what they want to play with. They're gamers. So, one of them says "Oh, darn. If we want to do Camden, nobody makes Volunteers of Ireland." Then Alan says, "Hold my beer."
Ditto Carlist Wars.
So, they're rather unique. Gamers who know how to manufacture what they want to play with.

I'm sure they're perfectly capable of producing 15mm figures. However, they like to play with 28mm.
I may be wrong, but I don't care. *gron*

I still have some 15mm figures late medieval early renaissance sold by Foundry and I think, sculpted by Perry Bros.
They are really good and I have always wished they could produce some range in 15/18mm.
However I share John view, they can afford to sculpt what they like and besides, 28mm could be sold at a higher price.
Marco

Your premise that the British are biased against 15mm figures is wrong. As Legionarius mentioned, many British companies produce 15mm figures-Freikorps to add another to his list, and Steel Fist has just added some 15mm ECW to its product line. For that matter, Foundry once produced both 20mm and 15mm figures; IIRC the 20mm were Tony Barton sculpted WW 2, and the 15mm were medievals of some sort-I still have a few somewhere.

As for the Perrys, I think John has the right of it-they mostly sculpt and produce what they want. With that said, they have done some work in other scales. For example, one of the glossy British-produced rulebooks, perhaps Black Powder, has an illustrative photo of some 10mm figures (SYW I believe, but possibly WSS) that the Perrys had sculpted and cast for their own use but that weren't available for sale. Also, their Travel Battle set is 8mm.

So they clearly don't see 25/28mm as the one true scale and are willing to sculpt other scales and play with other scale figures, but why they don't choose to sculpt and sell 15mm figures…. Perhaps they think the market already has enough choices in that scale, or perhaps they think that there just isn't enough money to be made to justify the work required to produce a range in that scale, or perhaps they now prefer to work mostly in plastic and don't think that would be economically viable to do in 15mm.

I could well imagine the Napoleonic era is pretty saturated in most scales/sizes. There are so many options on the market I would have thought new ranges would struggle to make much money unless the are cornering the market in a new scale/size, a new material (like the hard plastic explosion a few years back) or have actually found something no one else has produced. I doubt it would be worth the Perry bros time, effort and money to do 15mm Napoleonics.

Flip it another way-

Why are there still no 15mm plastic Napoleonics – or other periods?

They are now just as expensive as the 28mm metals were before the plastic sets started to appear.

Tin Hat has a valid point.

Logically, you would think that by doing 15mm plastic Napoleonics would be a great choice. The figures are small enough to have 36-48 in a unit, with lots of units. Figures could be produced with 2 battalions in a box, or 2 regiments of cavalry, or a battery of artillary. Each box could have the commands, flank companies, elite squadrons etc.

The only question is – would it be financially viable to produce all the figures for the box, and create the molds?

Yes, when will we see plastic 15mm Napoleonics and ACW Travel Battle? That would be nice.

I would think it is more of a business and marketing decision. There is something to be said for doing one thing (like specializing in the manufacture of 28mm soldiers) well.

Perrys did many 10mm armies for Rick Priestley's Warmaster Ancients. They are amazing, but the Perrys said they'd be too fragile to mass produce. They seem to love 28mm. They do what they love, and why not. Life is short.

British bias against 15mm!?!? The best range of 15/18 mm figures on the market is AB, sculpted by Anthony Barton, who is, English. Why would Perry Minitures make 15/18mm, when it's not their interest set and money does not seem a motivation? They've set the standard for the 28mm market and opened the hobby to the next generation with their ever expanding and affordable plastic ranges, thus maintaining continuety of the look and feel of GW figures, which many are transitioning from and without the GW prices or discontinuance of ranges. AB are still expanding their ranges, so why not support this company rather than bemoan another company not having any interest in becoming a competitor?

Yes many British companies make 15mm and I own a lot of them like Friekorps 15 but I get the impression that is mostly for the American market. AB figs are 18mm but we all know they are really 20mm. So they don't count.

Just look at the wargame magazines from there. They feature 28mm figures and games. Occasionally you will see an article on 15mm. But it is rare. Read the new product releases almost all 28mm.

Look online at the UK blogs almost all 28mm. The pictures I see from the shows are all 28mm. I know we are going to have a ton of 15mm from the UK posted in response. But they are a rarity.

I am not criticizing Perry or Foundry. Heck I have bought enough figures from Perry and Foundry to put several of their kids through college. I was just asking a question.

I wouldn't pay the slightest attention to the promotional pictures published in glossy Wargames magazines as being representative of the figures actually bought and used by wargamers in the UK.

28mm is an abomination of a scale, but looks nice in colour photographs.

28mm are the photogenic swim wear models of the Uk gaming scene hence why they get all the colour spreads in magazines and appear most often in demo games.

15mm are the readers wives of the UK gaming scene who tend to be found tucked away in the competition areas at shows or used down the club.

The other scales are for the weirdos*

* This post is made in jest and not meant to upset anyone.

FWIW, I also had a lot of the Perry 15mm Foundry figures, that I used in my late medieval armies, back in the late 80's. They were very pretty.

Sizes come and go. There was a time when 15mm WW2 was the new kid on the block, struggling to catch on against 20mm.

In reality, the biggest driver of size change is the quality of the figures in a more-or-less complete line. For example, Victix is ushering in a new golden age of 10mm WW2, on the strength of a superb line of infantry and vehicles. 10 years from now, 10mm might just be the standard.

Tin Hat's question about 15mm Napoleonic plastics is an interesting one. I could see line infantry (in plastic) for most nations in plastic, but after that… too many 'unique' uniforms. French hussars, for example, have little commonality in headwear. I doubt 15mm plastics that require building will catch on. (I'd see plastic 15s more in the style of ready made Airfix figure boxes, with the only fabrication being chariots/artillery etc)

Look at Warlord's Epic ACW. One mould provides both sides' infantry, one mould cavalry and one artillery. Minimal mould outlay. Fancier stuff is being made in resin. Makes good business sense. I believe they are planning on ECW Epic next. Same sort of thing. Minimal moulds make up the bulk of both armies. Cuirrasiers, whilst every ECW gamer has some, do have a very limited market (you can't field hundreds) so would make no economic sense being made in plastic.

Plastic 28s make much more sense. Particularly 'kit' form boxes, which allow customisation.

15mm not a British thing? Certainly not. It does, very much play second fiddle to 28mm in magazine and rules photo imagery. One of the reasons I prefer Vapnartak show – usually has the highest concentration of not-28mm manufacturers in attendance.

"15mm are the readers wives of the UK gaming scene…."
You must have some interesting figures?

This Yank would certainly buy Perry 15/18mm plastics.

My 15mm Napoleonic collection is well north of 5,000 figures and >90% are MiniFigs 15mm.

I have WW2 15mm plastic soldiers. I'd love to try Perry 15mm Napoleonic Plastics.

There's a fair amount of 15mm plastic stuff out there already. Flames of War do them for WWII and the Plastic Soldier Company do WWII, Hundred Years' War and ancients.