Possible 1/72nd or 28mm Biblicals

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 3:25 pm

Hi all,

A few questions. I currently have some old 15mm Biblicals but am considering upgrading to either Hat or Caesar 1/72 plastics on 25mm bases which would be quite cheap, OR possibly 28mm metal, I am guessing there is more available but the price of the chariots is probably prohibitive.

I had a quick look at wargames foundry ranges. I don't know any other 28mm metal biblical manufacturers??

Very ball park in an average NKE 650 army how many chariots would you expect to field?? Just trying to do the math and see if metal is affordable. Not sure if 8-12 chariots would be reasonable or whether double that number would be more typical. If anything I would tend towards more chariots myself.

I am familliar with a 1200BC NKE army, say I wanted one that was more like about 800BC so comparable in time to a mid assyrian army, would it still be roughly the same or would it have changed completely by then?

I am probably going to have to build two armies and want ones that are interesting and have a reasonable chance. NKE, Hittite and Assyrian particularly earlyish Assyrian is my main interest.

Ta

Andy

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 9:13 pm

I would think 12 chariots plus commanders as a minimum and more likley 16 for a 650 point army.

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 11:28 pm

Thanks Hammy that gives me some idea for cost, forgot about the generals being chariots as well so at least 19 chariots.

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 7:44 am

Plastic would be a lot cheaper than lead.

thabear · Post by **thabear** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:36 am

G'day Andy
Depending on where you are in the world a Biblical army in 28mm metals could actually be allot cheaper than you think , especially with the Aussie dollar the way it is compared to the Euro .
May i suggest you have a look at two of our best figure manufacturers here in Australia , "Eureka Miniatures" in Melbourne and "Castaway Arts" in Cairns .

( I dont work for either of them , i just like thier stuff )

Both companies do some excellent complete figure ranges for Biblical armies including Assyrians , Egyptians , Sumerians , Jewish , Arab ,,,,,,,, there are of course others but i cant remember them all now Some of the more plainer dressed figures from later periods may also do for skirmishing troops , please take the time to doa "google " search on them , you wont be disapointed .

I am actually more of a 1/72 gamer as well ,i really like the plastics but i also collect and paint allot of 28mm metals .

I hope that helps , cheers tom

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Sun Apr 13, 2008 10:20 am

Thanks guys,

As my main scale for ancients is 15mm I am dubious about the cost of 28mm, though I have looked at black tree designs and they seem very reasonable at the moment.

I am going to order a pair of NKE plastic chariots, paint them up and see what they look like. If really nice I will go plastic, If a bit naff I will consider black tree design or others...

Ta

Andy

Maxshadow · Post by **Maxshadow** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:16 am

Will you let us know what your thoughts are?
I'm interested in doing the same thing.

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:11 am

sure. i am not a very good modeller, and i am certainly not a very good general. but i am quite a good painter. i will put pics up here for you to view once painted.

i am currently going with caesar plastics, they look very good....

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 1:51 pm

Ceasar really do make nice figures, along with Italeri they between them make the best 1/72nd stuff IMO. It's just a pity that the ranges of these two companies are not that huge.

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:15 pm

Coverage of ranges in plastics is a bit sketchy, Caesar seem to have a very wide range of NKE compatible figures. I would also be interested in Hittite or early Assyrian. No one does early assyrian (say 900BC) they all do 700-600BC which is completely different. There seems a to be a very small selection of Hittite chariots available.

I am going to have to paint the plastics to see what they really come out like. They seem to be best value for infantry at less than 15p per figure which is at least 5 times cheaper than the cheapest metal 28mm figures.

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:24 pm

miffedofreading wrote:I am going to have to paint the plastics to see what they really come out like. They seem to be best value for infantry at less than 15p per figure which is at least 5 times cheaper than the cheapest metal 28mm figures.

From what I have seen the 1/72nd stuff paints up really well and the 15p per figure is an attractive price. When the wargames factory ranges hit the streets at 30p per figure there could be a lot more 28mm armies about.

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 2:35 pm

The wargames factory stuff and the other 28mm plastic romans with a similar name all sound great. But I don't want imperial romans

I may well be tempted by their 100 years war plastics if they get them into production with a large enough range.

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 3:25 pm

I have to admit that Romans are not high on my list of current armies to build either but lots of people do like them so they get made. We will just have to hope that WF manage to keep up a steady release schedule and make enough money to keep going.

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Mon Apr 14, 2008 7:32 pm

I have a feeling that when the hard plastics hit the street I will inevitably be drawn into buying an army in them

Maxshadow · Post by **Maxshadow** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:16 am

Thanks miffedofreading. That will be very helpful. Esp since I've been wanting to put together a 20mm to 28mm NKE army for a nephew plus I've I've always wanted one for me but can't make my mind up on scale.

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:24 pm

The Caesar 1/72nd chariots arrived yesterday. Very nice. I think my biggest issue with some plastics is that they are quite "fine" i like the deep cut chunky Brittannia miniatures type look. This seems rare with plastics. Caesar are pretty good, they may not be quite as deep cut as metals, but not bad at all. Biggest problem is trying to make spears, wheels and chariot poles look vaguely straight!

Anyway painting is progressing very well, finished the chariot bodies and horses, working on crew and chariot runners at moment. Should have pics up of both chariots based within the next 2 days.

Andy

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 5:51 pm

Ok here are some pics of the 1/72nd plastic NKE chariots by Caesar plastics.

I have also included some recent 15mm feudal castings horse archers and Xyston 15mm Companion cavalry for comparison

Overall I think the chariots are very good, though the models are only a little bigger than the biggest 15mm figures which means they look a little small on 25mm bases..

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 7:39 pm

You don't hang about when it comes to painting. Nice job too!

Those are very good figures. I'm well impressed with 1/72 plastics and look forward to the possibility of painting more armies of this kind when I have finished my 1/72 Ancient Spanish and "Mid-Republican" Romans, and my 15mm Scots Isles. I don't think I will ever bother buying 25mm metal figures now.

miffedofreading · Post by **miffedofreading** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 8:01 pm

I don't think the photos do the companions and general element justice. I am really happy with the painting on them. Perhaps more relevant to this topic though I think the pics of the chariots are fairly close to the real thing.

I hope this gives others something to work on when deciding whether to go 25mm metal or 1/72nd plastic.

Advantages of plastic
Cheaper (much)
Quicker to paint (a bit)
lighter (a lot)
easyier to get lots on a 25mm base
If you are not the most brilliant painter they will hide your failings better than 25mm. But to be fair 15mm or smaller will hide much more

Advantage of 25mm metal
Bigger (quite a bit)
more "prescence" (I tried to add weight and depth to the plastic with layers and inks)
If you are a very good painter you can show off your skills more
Larger range of figures to choose from (not so much now but still some)

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 12:49 pm

FWIW there were 3 1/72nd scale plastic armies in use out of the 10 25mm armies at the Challenge.

One Mid Republican Roman, one Parthian and one Medieval French. They all looked pretty good to me.