1/72 Plastics Anyone?!?!?!

[Derdertkd95]

Hello all,
I used to use 28mm but recently i have made the switch to 1/72 plastics, which i have found to be tremendously cheaper as well as very easy to handle when it comes to painting, basing, etc. Does anyone else out there us 1/72 scale figures for FoG? And does anyone know of any 1/72 metal personality figures for, say, Immortal Fire or Storm of Arrows?

[Eques]

I really like the way they look, paticularly the hat ones.

the problem is that there are some limitations in terms range of armies, troop types, poses and available opponents although hat haa gone some way to correcting this.

also i'm unsure what base sizes to use and think there should maybe be a standard for this (15 mm bases too small and 25 mm bases too big)

[pcelella]

I don't use them myself, but I would be happy to play against someone using them. I think that you will need to base them with 25mm base sizes though, and the majority of people at present in the US seem to be playing FoG in 15mm.

Peter C

[ShrubMiK]

Agreed.

Inventing a new intermediate base size for them would likely be counter-productive, unless large numbers of players suddenly rush out and get 1/72 armies you'd be greatly limiting the number of possible opponents. Hence basing as per either 15mm or 25mm is sensible.

Besides, 1/72 would correspond to 1 inch figure height i.e. 25mm if assuming it is representing a 6 foot man. Okay, average heights of soldiers were no doubt less in those days. But unless they were even shorter on average than I realise, it's going to out not far below 25mm figure height...why go to the trouble of introducing new base sizes (and hence rules) for just a few mm difference? In the same way that new base sizes were not introduced for the 28mm and 18mm figures that seem to be the most common sizes in reality.

[Derdertkd95]

I've based them using the 28mm sizes, which I originally thought would be to big, but it actually works out quite nicely especially with cavalry; they don't look too choked. Zvezda makes really nicely detailed figures if anyone out there is thinking of switching.

[Eques]

I believe they translate to 20 mm in metal language and they are noticeably punier and shorter than the 25mm models. they don't therefore work at all visually next to them if that sort of thing worries you.

personally I would only be interested in playing 1/72s against other 1/72s.

[ShrubMiK]

If they are 20mm in height, then at supposedly 1/72 scale that is representative of a soldier only 1.44 metres (or 4 foot 8.5 inches in old money) tall!

They probably do appear puny compared to the "25mm models", most of which are in fact considerably bigger than 25mm. Certainly plastic figures, in the old Airfix days, tended to look slimmer than metal ones of similar size, probably because soft plastic couldn't support such dramatic and deep sculpting. That's probably different with the new plastic figures, but I've not seen any myself to compare.

Personally I think you should only pay attention to making sure your own figures are reasonably scaled with one another. Refusing to play an opponent because his figures are a little bigger seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face...surely the point of being into wargaming as a hobby rather than just building perfect dioramas is that you like playing the game!

[paulburton]

I am slowly putting together a collection of Chariot period figures - DBA Armies of Libyans, Sea People and Nubians done. Chariots primed and some Egyptian Infantry in the queue. Eventually they can be combined into a New Kingdom/Libyan Egyptian army.

I really like the Caesar Miniatures figures, though the chariots are less inspiring. No Pharoah figure in the options, there was also some bending of the sprues and components (easily fixable).

I just bought a load of Incas (they don't make Aztecs which I really wanted so I went for the second choice). These are not as crisp as the Biblical figures and the mix of poses are not as good. The figure mix will need to be thought about when it comse to basing up units. Still, they should look pretty good when I eventually get around to painting them.

[hammy]

It is not uncommon for 1/72nd scale plastics to be used in 25mm tournaments in the UK.

If you think about it the modern 1/72nd fugures which are about 23mm tall in general are no more out of scale to 25mm than the 28mm giants that seem to be the norm nowadays.

I have five (or is it six) 1/72nd scale armies waiting to be painted. I might get the old Atlantic Egyptians painted first, simply because I think they will be easy to do with the 'dipping' method.

[Derdertkd95]

I have a half painted Macedonian army made up of great HäT figures and Zvezda figures. HäT seems to have the largest range and reasonably good sculpting. Zvezda, on the other hand, has immaculate sculpting, without a doubt on par with, say, Perry Bros. 28mm figures, but have a relatively smaller range of production and seem to come out on the larger side (25mm in height).

[Eques]

Refusing to play an opponent because his figures are a little bigger seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face...surely the point of being into wargaming as a hobby rather than just building perfect dioramas is that you like playing the game![/quote]

well no for me i've always been interested in wargaming precisely because the landscaping, mechanics and figures go some way to representing the look and feel of a battle, otherwise you could just play with buttons or symbols.

that said i'm the sort of person who enjoys chess partly because of the way the pieces look on the board so each to his own I suppose.

[pcelella]

I've actually been considering the possibility of using 1/72 plastics at some point in the future. Cost is one motivation, but I was thinking more of the difficulty of fitting modern 28mm figures on the standard sized bases. Especially cavalry figures. My anticipation would be that it would be considerably easier to get 3 cavalry figures in 1/72 on a 60mmx40mm base than using 28mm figures.

Peter C

[madaxeman]

that said i'm the sort of person who enjoys chess partly because of the way the pieces look on the board so each to his own I suppose.

Agreed - although I'm not too clear on some of the rules, and I generally don't like to use many of those boring little stubby figures who most people tend to use as front rankers either

[deadtorius]

The battle of plastic over metal continues...
The main thing to remember about the differences is in the method of manufacturing. Metal figures are thicker and chunkier so they can be cast, ideally you would get a full spin out of a single mold but in reality some of the figs will not come in completely and that drives up production costs. Plastic figures are molded with an injection system, but undercuts causes production problems and mold removal. Sue to weight mounted metal figures normally are in a more static pose with feet on the ground or the horses would break off at the hooves. This is why plastic cav generally has more animated poses depending on the time period. As for size, plastic is actually closer to the original 25mm that metal figures were back in the 70's and 80's with the general trend in going bigger in the fantasy market carrying over to the historical market which then allowed more detailing and easier to paint figures.
Personally I have always based my plastic armies as 25mm and they have taken on their metal cousins many times in the past.

[Eques]

what plastic armies do people have? how do close order foot such as legionaries, phalanxes, and shield walls come across?

have to say I have just base d my first few 15mm hoplites and its a bit of a shame that if you want to achieve the "locked shield" effect it leaves quite a gap between each group of four.

[Derdertkd95]

With my first Mac army I made the mistake of using levelled pikes, but with the smaller 1/72 scale on the 25mm bases it allowed for all 4 of the first 4 ranks' pikes (I fought using a 12 base, 2 x 6 formation) to show in front of the shields with a tight fit. But with pikemen you probably dont want all the pikes level because you won't have base to base contact

[youngr]

what plastic armies do people have? how do close order foot such as legionaries, phalanxes, and shield walls come across?

have to say I have just base d my first few 15mm hoplites and its a bit of a shame that if you want to achieve the "locked shield" effect it leaves quite a gap between each group of four.

I have painted a 650pt Pyrrhic Army using Hat and Zvezda mostly and a camp from all sorts. They look fine on 25mm bases. Zvezda elephants are superb. They are smaller than most '25mm' metal figures but the difference isn't too bad. I used fine plastic rod from a model shop for the pikes as they seem a better look than brush bristles.

Richard

[Derdertkd95]

They look fine on 25mm bases. Zvezda elephants are superb.
Richard

much agreed, absolutely impeccable detail
I used them as carthaginian elephats

[david53]

that said i'm the sort of person who enjoys chess partly because of the way the pieces look on the board so each to his own I suppose.

Agreed - although I'm not too clear on some of the rules, and I generally don't like to use many of those boring little stubby figures who most people tend to use as front rankers either

I must admit I like the Light Horse figures

[sergiomonteleone]

Hello all,
I used to use 28mm but recently i have made the switch to 1/72 plastics, which i have found to be tremendously cheaper as well as very easy to handle when it comes to painting, basing, etc. Does anyone else out there us 1/72 scale figures for FoG? And does anyone know of any 1/72 metal personality figures for, say, Immortal Fire or Storm of Arrows?

Hi,
I haven't used 1/72 for FOG yet but I have a lot of 1/72 figures.
They are not only cheaper, but some of them are very beautifull and well sculpted.

For example Samurai from Zvezda are great and also Ancient Armies from Zvezda and Italeri.
I like a lot also 100 HYW figures from Italeri and Revell.

You have also good options for castles and war machines (from Zvezda and Italeri).

If you are interested in FOGN, 1/72 figures are great (see Italeri and Zvezda).

Sergio