An ancients collector, the plastic revolution has so far passed me by. This is because I've not much liked some of the ranges from an aesthetic point of view, and other releases have been smaller and not compatible with my existing metal ranges.
However, moving afresh into Napoleonics, with no previous investment, I've found the plastics very much more attractive. Victrix and Perry are producing some very nice sculpted minis, very cheaply, indeed. Indeed if the plastics weren't available, I'd have balked at considering the period.
This will be the second battalion of French (after yesterday's Perry's), and is a mash up of 1812 Perry Grenadiers in greatcoats, and Victrix Imperial Guard torsos with spare Perry/Victrix shakos. I spent a fun evening yesterday trying different combinations, and have managed to put together 24 Grenadiers for a composite battalion c. 1809.
Here are my thoughts, so far, on the Victrix and Perry ranges.
The Perrys are every bit as nice as I expected; very quick to deploy from the box, with most of the rank and file having only 2 parts (body and pack). They have very little flash and the sculpt quality is everything you'd expect from the Perrys. I even like the Renedra plastic bases.
I was expecting that I'd like the Victrix rather less. They do have some issues; rather more flash on the boxes I had, and a brittle plastic that often causes fine pieces to snap as one cuts them from the sprue (I lost 3 muskets in an hour, last night). They have annoying thick, square bases. Their minis are in more active poses and more complex and time consuming to assemble than the Perry, with up to half a dozen pieces. However this last is their strength, as they lend themselves to conversion in a way the Perrys don't so easily. Heads and arms can easily be swapped between different boxes within the ranges, to produce interesting variants. They are also cheaper than the Perrys, and willl save me a lot of money where I use their command figures, instead of Perry metal. Consequently I have developed quite a taste for them!
Here are my thoughts, so far, on the Victrix and Perry ranges.
The Perrys are every bit as nice as I expected; very quick to deploy from the box, with most of the rank and file having only 2 parts (body and pack). They have very little flash and the sculpt quality is everything you'd expect from the Perrys. I even like the Renedra plastic bases.
I was expecting that I'd like the Victrix rather less. They do have some issues; rather more flash on the boxes I had, and a brittle plastic that often causes fine pieces to snap as one cuts them from the sprue (I lost 3 muskets in an hour, last night). They have annoying thick, square bases. Their minis are in more active poses and more complex and time consuming to assemble than the Perry, with up to half a dozen pieces. However this last is their strength, as they lend themselves to conversion in a way the Perrys don't so easily. Heads and arms can easily be swapped between different boxes within the ranges, to produce interesting variants. They are also cheaper than the Perrys, and willl save me a lot of money where I use their command figures, instead of Perry metal. Consequently I have developed quite a taste for them!
A great thing about Napoleonic plastics is that the Victrix and Perry ranges are broadly compatible, and can be combined within units to give greater variety of poses, as with the Grenadier unit above.
You'll have gathered, by now, that I am becoming quite a convert to plastic...
He's turning to the Dark Side...
ReplyDeleteHide your women amd sheep!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In my experience in dealing with plastic Napoleonics, I much prefer the Perry's to any other brand.
ReplyDeleteHi Consul, long time no hear. The Perrys are two or three times faster to prepare, but I think Victrix bring a valuable variety to the mix...
ReplyDeleteBRB -
ReplyDeleteThat was a great write up! I agree with you that the Perry and Victrix plastics are great and they are so close to each other that they offer wonderful mix-and-match opportunities. So far my French battalion is all Perry, but I know that for my next one there will be a lot of integration.
Great stuff!
Thanks Jeff. The Victrix Old Guard pack is very useful as a complement to Perry French, as long as one likes waistcoats. I especially like the Victrix officer.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that no one has artillery out yet, I'm going to have to go Foundry.
I agree with the comparison; to my mind one of the best aspects of Perry over Victrix is the sculpting of the faces; certainly the Victrix highlanders have some rather chubby men!
ReplyDeleteI must do a few comparison shots between the two of the British range
The Perry faces are very nice...
ReplyDeleteBTW I meant to write greatcoats, not waistcoats, in the previous comment.
The two companies do work well together, thankfully there are no scale discrepancies!
ReplyDeleteI had much the same thought as you with the Old Guard box; using it to make a wholly greatcoated French army circa 1812. Got to finish my British first; but they are at least progressing nicely! If you have nothing better to do have a look! http://warpooch.blogspot.com/
I like them both, although I like the Victrix minis a little better. I never had problems with brittleness or too much flash (odly enough my Perry Russians had flash), but maybe I got lucky there. What I like about them is that the detail is a little crisper on them, which suits my painting style and as you said the greater diversity in parts. Coming from a scale model background, parts never scare me.
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