Thursday 23 December 2010

Last of the 15mm Napoleonics (for now)...

Me again. French Napoleonics again! ;-)

This is the last batch for now until, as already noted, Mr Postman arrives. Or Santa. At least I know when he'll deliver I suppose...

These are the first two battalions of my second infantry division. There will be another four line battalions to complement these two lights. As I'm basing my army loosely around Friedland I thought I'd go with greatcoats for these lads for that wintery feel. These are Fantassin / Warmodelling miniatures ordered direct from Spain. More on that below where I'll provide a bit of analysis on their relative merits.

But first, the pics.



So now for a bit of opinionated discourse, otherwise known as a "review". As stated above, these are Fantassin / Warmodelling miniatures ordered direct from Spain.

Service
Not bad but certainly not the best I have experienced either. The miniatures were posted roughly 2.5 weeks after I placed my order. The only communication I received was when I asked about the order status after two weeks with no word yet received. I was assured they would ship the next day. In fact they shipped 3 days later.

Postage & Packaging
No issues with postage, all were neatly bagged up and sent in a well padded envelope. Postage costs were very reasonable indeed.

One bag was not as ordered which meant I missed some of the variety I deliberately worked towards. One or two other miniatures were mis-packed so I was short a couple of elite company figs. Fortunately the extras I bought covered for that. No explanation on the swapped bag so I would say that was an oversight.

Price
Slightly cheaper than AB per firgure. Probably about the same or a bit under value for money when you compare everything else.

Figure Quality
Again, not the best but certainly good enough for the rank and file. At least 2 poses for most ranks means the units have a nice realistic look whilst still looking like a homogenous battalion. A couple of poses are a bit on the distorted side, possibly due to the molds being on the way out. Proportinally the figs are quite nice and despite what I have read elsewhere I didn't think the backpacks were too narrow really. I will say that the figs on the site appeared to have some in shakos with cords but all I received were covered shakos which was disappointing.

Fit with Other Manufacturers
These are on the taller side of 15mm and fit well with AB and Eureka at this scale, hence my willingness to give them a try.

Overall Rating
6.5/10. You're in a hard market when you're up against AB Miniatures (for that actual figs) and Eureka Miniatures for sales and service. Both are best-of-breed IMHO.

Would I use them again? Probably not given everything around shipping, packing, etc.
Will I keep them? Certainly. They look fine painted up and mix well with everything else.

That's all from me for now. If you're reading this (please Lord let me have a reader or three!) then have a merry and safe Christmas.

Cheers,
Millsy

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