Reaper Kickstarter Locks in

Yup this is what $100 got you when it was all said and done, WOW.

While I doubt any of you haven’t heard about Reapers Epic Kickstarter  that  concluded in late August and blew expectations out of the water bringing in almost 3.5 Million dollars. They recently got the software configured to organize all the orders.  The Kickstarter standard survey wouldn’t suffice here so it took some time to get all the details ironed out.  I ended up going in for $180 with options on my initial $100 pledge.My full order was: 

Vampire pledge level x1 $100
 W/ Options

-- Figure Case x1 $25

-- Red Dragon x1 $10

-- Hydra x1 $15

-- C'thulhu x1 $10

-- Undead Giant x1 $10

-- Mythos Monsters x1 $10

The big pay off here will be if the plastic versions of these miniatures are up to snuff, I have heard good reports of the quality of these. Considering I have well over 100 metal Reaper figs, I do expect them to be lesser quality but lets hope its solid, The success of this entire project in the end will boil down to the quality of the figures..I guess we shall see this spring.

Hail Caesar! Fall Campaign

Summer has turned to Fall for our next Hail Caesar Campaign.  With our homebrew rules defined.
a new map in order, armies being built and itchy dice we are now just working on an agreeable date to start, which I am hoping is Oct 16th.  The participants are Syracuse, Rome, Sparta, Macedonia, and two different Persian lists: The Seleucid Empire, and Achaemenid Empire.

Again our quasi historical re-imagining of the Peloponnesian War. Not sure on everyone else's army status, (other than Chris and Rich are fully built and painted) while the rest of are in some build phase. Time is my worst enemy of late, I hope to be losing the proxies of at least the full army by the end of the month. If you want to read more about the campaign join up on the blog forum (link on the left) activity has been slow of late but once we get going on this it certainly will pick up alot.

I'll of be doing our bi-weekly updates here on the blog. Ok back to trying to paint some Angmar!.

So it Begins! BBB 2012!

 

I know my posting frequency has been abysmal this summer, I have painted a decent amount of solo figures but the photography has been slacking. I've been working on some Hirst Arts projects, some random Fantasy figures, trying to paint the incredible slog that is not one but two 200+ figure Historical Armies. I've been quite busy with non-hobby related life and before I knew it this summer had come and went. As September rolled around I knew it was time to get back to the only game I am still playing competitively. GW's Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game. 

There are really only two event per year I can attend, Adepticon's Championships and Bilbo's Birthday Bash, Last years BBB was the biggest tournament turnout for the game yet, and I am glad to see this years event looks like it will sell out all its 30 spots by the time the event rolls around. Not as big as last years turnout- but that is do to limited space.

This year's  BBB requires you to bring 2, 600 points Armies, One Good, One Evil. This was the original Bilbo's format back in 2009.  In honor of the format I have brought back my original Grey Company army, they needed an update to get 600 points of pure Grey Company, I definitely needed some more models.

I have added, Halbarad, 4 more rangers, ( I had too many guys with Spears) so I needed 4 more without spears, I have added 2 Dunedain as well. My Dunedain are actually different versions of Aragorn from the Citadel line that was manufactured in the mid 1980's I love putting the old models in the with new. I had original planned to buy a blister of Dunedain from GW direct until I found out it was going to cost me $25 with Shipping for a single blister! I didnt really have $100 of stuff to order for free shipping and I didnt have any luck coming up used ones so this was my alternative, I'm quite happy with the results (its should be pretty easy to ID these models in any of the shots)

I still about a dozen models to paint for my evil army,- Angmar., something I have never run before
and features a host of models I am anxious to try out, Including the Witch King , The Troll Chieftain - Buhrdur and some Barrow Wights.

Still working on my display as well have several ideas, and as always with LotR, the real competition is in the Appearance category, although with the new books the competitive window seems to have opened up a bit,  Really looking forward to this, its always a great event with great folks, I have got about 6 weeks to go and with what I left to do, I might even get a new entry in the painting contest.


In other news our Summer Hail Caesar Campaign has been pushed back to fall, mainly due to people conflicting schedules. I am horribly behind on my Spartan Army, I manage to build one unit of the Plastics telling myself  "I can do this" and I just ran out of gas...I can paint 10 figures in the time it takes me to assemble a 24-32 man unit of plastics..that kind of time sink just doenst add up to me as a hobbyist. I still have 3 more units to build, Unless I breakdown and buy the metals from Gorgon. I do enjoy playing the Spartan on the table top, a rock solid army. Our Campaign this time is centered around Peloponnesian Wars, it looking like a great one with 6 players this time,  I just need to get my damn Army on the table.... With BBB, The Campaign, the Hobbit Release, and if I actually finish a project or two..I should have some stuff to talk about here over the next couple months..bout time.

Reaper Miniatures Wins!

I've followed various kickstarters going on in the last year, but I honestly havent seen anything like this. I got in way early when its around 100K and a couple days,  currently at 1.6 Million dollars
the above shot is what you get for $100.00 Vampire Pledge. I was commenting on our forums that I was speculating it might hit 1M, no with 63 hours to go, it might hit 2M!!!...crazy.
you can follow the goings on  HERE . The average pledge is $200.00 which is pretty substantial, (Rich and I are both in on this and we've increased our pledges numerous times for new options that keep popping up) I heard mixed things about the plastic but, have also seen some positive reviews.  Look forward to this box showing up!

In other news this summer has been woefully unkind to my hobby pursuits, I havent gotten much of anything done, and I have big display to put together for this years Bilbo's Birthday Bash, an Ancients Campaign to get off the ground with almost a whole army to build, and couple of other -not small projects. Here is to September getting me some Hobby time back!.

"The Hobbit"- rampant speculation?, not really.

Lord of the Rings fans everywhere have been following the development of the upcoming Hobbit films since long before their official announcement.  Like us few and proud fans of the Games Workshop miniatures game, its difficult to observe the creation of such a thing,  that is the deeply rooted canon to so many, without adopting a Sauron-like cynical eye. An eye that scans the land for something as small as two hobbits or in this case, umbrage of too much meddling in the Professors beloved work.

When I recently read that the upcoming Hobbit movies, were growing into another cash creating trilogy, from the originally proposed two films, I wasnt really much surprised. When I read the third film was "greenlit" by New Line with no budget or even a script, I wasn't that particularly thrown either.  (although one has to wonder *what* exactly is going to translate at best a 300 page story into 7-9 hours of blockbuster cinema) However, when I saw the leaked release schedule for 2013/2014 for Games Workshop's Hobbit film miniature releases, I about soiled my trousers.

First appearing on the  Dakka Dakka wargaming forums. The release leak was immediately latched onto for discussion of its 40K material. Trying to get information about the Lord of the Rings miniatures game in a 40K thread is akin to wearing a pork chop necklace to a dogfight. Despite cries
of un-authenticity from 40K players over this that or the other thing, one only had to look at the Hobbit releases to confirm the documents legitimacy (Something I that found strangely overlooked in what I could handle reading in the thread) First of all while strange people in 40K and even WFB world have occasionally made up false rumors to gain some kind of attention to themselves or some personal agenda. (I for one was accused of this when I posted some of the first pictures of the GW's plastic Valkyrie that fell into my lap from an early release of  the Feb 09 White Dwarf)

Noone in the tiny universe of us LotR players is going bother to manufacture such an elaborate list of models from the Hobbit, especially since much of it isnt even in "the Hobbit" is clearly created fiction based on the source material by the filmmakers. If you followed the film you have seen some of these things mentioned from the Beornings, to the Werebeast, to things that are acutally Pre-hobbit material like the start of the War between the Dwarves and Orcs, and the ousting of the Dwarves at Erebor.

Despite the last years new rules falling flat, mainly due to the new lists invalidating old armies competitively. ( something GW has been doing forever to its other games.)  That and general antipathy toward GW over the lack of support for the game and it crazy price hikes, really kicked a game that was down,  down even further. Despite the initial splash and positive reaction and even  some milestone tournament turnouts, by the time we reached Adepticon this year the "new and shiny" luster had burned out and despite a better showing than the previous year and some new players, several notable national events have since been cancelled due to, either lack of support from GW, low player turnout or both.

If the face of this customer negativity  Games Workshop fought hard to win a renewed license to produce Hobbit miniatures from New Line Cinema for the films after their confirmation early last year. The cries of "Nooooo" from the premier games fanbase were plainly ignored. GW accounting feels they sell enough models to justify the lines expenses, enough to throw down a gigantic investment to go back for seconds. The list I am posting here is next year and beyond and doesnt even cover the initial releases we will see this fall. We are talking over 100 releases posted here. Most notable, and I think one thing that bring this game new life are the titles called "Adventure" which are coded with various box sizes.My hope is these are similar to old GW scenario packs from the mid eighties Things like the "The Tragedy of McDeath" or similar which were self contained campaign style games with miniatures, These will be great shot in the arm to many LotR players, as getting off the tournament roller coaster and just some having some fun with your models is something I think alot of players have forgotten.It something I think could make many enjoy the hobby again.

Anyway here is the list of models and some of the corresponding packaging codes for you to make sense of., use some common sense here...if you see an Adventure Box with the *a18 Medium single vehicle (rhino size) code* assume it contains some sort of terrain and models etc.  In short
Games Workshop is going whole hog, crazy with the Hobbit, the investment in plastic molds alone is staggering, they are planning on pumping these films for the next decade like they have done with initial Trilogy, while I move farther and father away from GW material in my Hobby pursuits, this is certainly the kind of stuff that can keep me and my money around.

500061211470209 Dwarves: Kili & Fili & Longbeard Archers PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
500062630170206 Dwarves: Bombur with Kettle RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
504018730770200 Wargs: Dire Warg RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
505007311470201 Dol Guldur: Leaping Spiders / Shiverfang Spiders PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
505007630170202 Dol Guldur: Spiderlings RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
500063330170206 Dwarves: Drogo Baggins & The Tavern Maid RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
507012730970209 White Council: Mounted Rivendell Nobles RE b09 Sou_A 02 cc
505000112070298 Adventure: Gandalf's Quest PL a20 Sou_A 02 507060412070297
507060412070297 Adventure: Gandalf's Quest PL a20 Sou_A 02 505000112070298
507017730170208 White Council: Lindir the Harper RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
500071011870291 Adventure: The Battle at the East Gate PL a18 Sou_A 02 501100211870295
501100211870295 Adventure: The Battle at the East Gate PL a18 Sou_A 02 500071011870291
500071411470206 Dwarves: Dáin & Iron Hill Berserkers PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
500071511470205 Dwarves: King Thráin & Longbeard Vanguard PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
500071711470203 Dwarves: Young Thorin & Longbeard Mattockguard PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
500072030170201 Dwarves: King Thrór RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
501061111470209 Mountain Orcs: Azog & Orc Needlers PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
501063230170206 Mountain Orcs: Azog (Wounded) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
506005530170208 Men of Esgaroth: King Girion RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
504019211470206 Wargs: Grinnah & Mirkwood Werewolves PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
508000011570292 Adventure: The Fall of Dale PL a15 Sou_A 02 506000111570293
506000111570293 Adventure: The Fall of Dale PL a15 Sou_A 02 508000011570292
508000811570201 Grey Mountain Dragons: Fire-wyrms PL a15 Sou_A 02 cc
503024630170201 Beornings: Woodmen Healer RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
503025130170203 Beornings: Fair Daughter RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
507020230170203 White Council: Arwen & Estel RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
507021430170208 White Council: Galadriel (Barrel) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
506000112070297 Adventure: The Belltower PL a20 Sou_A 02 508020112070293
508020112070293 Adventure: The Belltower PL a20 Sou_A 02 506000112070297
508008011870299 Adventure: A Thief in the Night PL a18 Sou_A 02 500100511870293
500100511870293 Adventure: A Thief in the Night PL a18 Sou_A 02 508008011870299
506006230170208 Men of Esgaroth: Fram the Watchman RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
506004130170205 Men of Esgaroth: The Master of Lake-Town RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
508009912070207 Smaug the Golden PL a20 Sou_A 02 cc
508008211470206 Grey Mountain Dragons: Braga & Goldscale Worshippers PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
508008730170205 Grey Mountain Dragons: Venomblade Assassin RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
508008930170203 Grey Mountain Dragons: Goldscale Priest RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
503024411570206 Beornings: Meneldor & Swiftbeak Flock PL a15 Sou_A 02 cc
506007411470209 Men of Esgaroth: Bard & Greystreak Bowmen PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
506003211470203 Men of Esgaroth: Bain & Quickstrings Gang / Trout Guild Militia PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
508000611570296 Adventure: Assault on the Aerie PL a15 Sou_A 02 503030111570293
503030111570293 Adventure: Assault on the Aerie PL a15 Sou_A 02 508000611570296
508000730770201 Grey Mountain Dragons: Bofur on Cold-Drake RE b07 Sou_A 02 cc
508009130170208 Grey Mountain Dragons: Dragon Thrall RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
502065111470299 Adventure: The Clearing of Foul Roots PL a14 Sou_A 02 505040111470293
505040111470293 Adventure: The Clearing of Foul Roots PL a14 Sou_A 02 502065111470299
505016330970203 Dol Guldur: The Willowhags RE b09 Sou_A 02 cc
507010912070297 Adventure: Assault on the Barrows PL a20 Sou_A 02 505040712070298
505040712070298 Adventure: Assault on the Barrows PL a20 Sou_A 02 507010912070297
502054111470200 Silvan Elves: Legolas & Mirkwood Fire Archers PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
503025511470205 Beornings: Gorm & Woodmen Axethrowers / Skin-Changers PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
503025711870201 Beornings: Whisperbark / Gnarlfir PL a18 Sou_A 02 cc
504017811870297 Adventure: Clash of the Beasts PL a18 Sou_A 02 503030711870298
503030711870298 Adventure: Clash of the Beasts PL a18 Sou_A 02 504017811870297
505017830770201 Dol Guldur: Bloodwraiths RE b07 Sou_A 02 cc
505017930170277 Dol Guldur: Gwethil RE c01 Sou_A 02 li
503023811570205 Beornings: Black Bear Pack PL a15 Sou_A 02 cc
504017211470202 Wargs: Feral Wolf Pack PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
504018111870208 Wargs: The Werebeast PL a18 Sou_A 02 cc
501084411870296 Adventure: Raid on the Wizard Hut PL a18 Sou_A 02 504030111870293
504030111870293 Adventure: Raid on the Wizard Hut PL a18 Sou_A 02 501084411870296
504016311470204 Wargs: Lagdush & Orc Wolfcloak Warriors PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
504018211470209 Wargs: Narzug & Orc Warg-Riders PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
504018430770203 Wargs: Dol Guldur Orc Overlords RE b07 Sou_A 02 cc
507013330170204 White Council: Radagast with Roäc & Swoop RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
507015330170208 White Council: Galadriel (Water Steed) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
504018530770202 Wargs: Orc Chieftain on Warg RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
504018930770208 Wargs: Orc Wolfbone Shaman RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
507013130770208 White Council: The War Council RE b07 Sou_A 02 cc
507021730170205 Gandalf (Dual Sword) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
500075811470293 Adventure: The Last Stand PL a14 Sou_A 02 501100511470294
501100511470294 Adventure: The Last Stand PL a14 Sou_A 02 500075811470293
500076330970202 Dwarves: Dragon Mithril Company of Dwarves RE b09 Sou_A 02 cc
502074211470290 Adventure: The Raven Hill PL a14 Sou_A 02 501100811470291
501100811470291 Adventure: The Raven Hill PL a14 Sou_A 02 502074211470290
503026230970205 Beornings: Enraged Beorn RE b09 Sou_A 02 cc
506006311470296 Adventure: Thorin's Folly PL a14 Sou_A 02 500100411470296
500100411470296 Adventure: Thorin's Folly PL a14 Sou_A 02 506006311470296
506005811470294 Adventure: The Battle of Five Armies PL a14 Sou_A 02 502090111470291
502090111470291 Adventure: The Battle of Five Armies PL a14 Sou_A 02 506005811470294
500076111870295 Adventure: Breaking the Siege PL a18 Sou_A 02 508020711870294
508020711870294 Adventure: Breaking the Siege PL a18 Sou_A 02 500076111870295
500075611470202 Dwarves: Dáin Ironfoot & Iron Hill Boar Riders PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
500075611470202 Dwarves: Dáin Ironfoot & Iron Hill Boar Riders PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
501085611470200 Adventure: Revenge of the Goblin King PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
501085711470209 Mountain Orcs: Bolg & Great Goblin Bodyguard PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
502074530770200 Silvan Elves: Mirkwood Warhost RE b07 Sou_A 02 cc
506002311470205 Men of Esgaroth: Alfrid & Loyal Town Guard PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
506007711470206 Men of Esgaroth: Garf & Footsoldiers of the Dale PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
504017611470291 Adventure: Blacksoil Slope PL a14 Sou_A 02 500100111470299
500100111470299 Adventure: Blacksoil Slope PL a14 Sou_A 02 504017611470291
504019411470204 Adventure: The Final Onslaught PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
508008411470204 Grey Mountain Dragons: Money Bags & Hired Knives PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
501087411470206 Mountain Orcs: Armoured Hill-Trolls / Frenzied Trolls PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
501085930170201 Mountain Orcs: Orc Stone Thrower RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
502055430170208 Silvan Elves: King Thranduil (Battle Garb) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
502055630170206 Silvan Elves: Tauriel (Mounted) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
502055930170203 Silvan Elves: Castellan Amroth RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
503026411870201 Adventure: The Clouds Burst PL a18 Sou_A 02 cc
505025011470208 Adventure: The Ritual PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
505025111870205 Dol Guldur: The Necromancer / Flesh Avatar PL a18 Sou_A 02 cc
505024830770209 Dol Guldur: Narzug & Orc Summoner Coven RE b07 Sou_A 02 cc
505014611470206 Dol Guldur: Tomb Wights PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
505015211470207 Dol Guldur: Mounted Tomb Wights PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
507011511470204 White Council: Galadriel & Lórien Drumhooves PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
507012511270207 White Council: Chief Aravir & Dúnedain Rangers PL a12 Sou_A 02 cc
507021630170206 White Council: Dúnedain Runecaster RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
505026311470202 Dol Guldur: Saruman & The Ringwraiths PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
505024611470205 Dol Guldur: Vampire Bat Swarms PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
507010211470293 Adventure: The Haunted Tombs PL a14 Sou_A 02 502090611470296
502090611470296 Adventure: The Haunted Tombs PL a14 Sou_A 02 507010211470293
507011811470201 White Council: Elrond & Rivendell Spearguard PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
507012011470206 White Council: Elros & Rivendell Outriders PL a14 Sou_A 02 cc
503023512070295 Adventure: The Blight Breach PL a20 Sou_A 02 505040312070291
505040312070291 Adventure: The Blight Breach PL a20 Sou_A 02 503023512070295
503025030170204 Beornings: Grimbeorn (Greataxe) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
507012111070207 White Council: Radagast's Chariot / Spellfire Cart PL a10 Sou_A 02 cc
508012330170206 Grey Mountain Dragons: Fell Hatchlings RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
500076630170203 Dwarves: Dís, Mother of Kili and Fili RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
500076830170201 Dwarves: Gimli (Stubble) RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc
500077230170204 Dwarves: Samwise Gamgee (Red Book) RE c01 Sou_A 02 c
507010611470299 Adventure: Gollum's Escape PL a14 Sou_A 02 505040611470298
505040611470298 Adventure: Gollum's Escape PL a14 Sou_A 02 507010611470299
507020530170200 White Council: Cirdan the Shipwright RE c01 Sou_A 02 cc

Packaging Codes.
PL- plastic
RE- Resin (finecast)
a10 upgrade pack - sprue in a plastic wrapper? Both resin and plastic codes.
a12 Plastic Small single vehicle (buggy/vyper size)
a14 standard squad size box
a15 Plastic Vehicle squadron boxes (bikes etc)
a18 Medium single vehicle (rhino size)
a20 Large single vehicle/building (building/land raider size)
a23 Huge building box (Astartes battle fortress)
b07 Resin blister/clamshell
b09 bigger resin blister/clamshell?
c01 Resin character packs  

I also have just noticed this is my 400th post on the blog...crazy.!

Reaper goes Kickstarter

While on the subject of plastics, Reaper Miniatures, got on with their own kickstarter for their "Bones" plastic line today bringing in a cool 100K in less than 24 hours.  The $100 pledge level is really too good to pass up so I had to get in on it. while I dont love "all" the  sculpts there using for Bones I do like many of them, and there are many models I like I just never gotten around to buying.
The stretch goals all all piling on the $100 or Vampire Pledge level so in the end for $100 your getting quite a haul, (its already at close to 100 figs with options). The fan support here is pretty epicI think we might see another record..with 28 days to go..if your a fan of Reaper figs like I am check out the Kickstarter page HERE.

In other news I head out for Summer Vacation, tomorrow, and while I know the blog has been a bitslow of late there is a whole lot going on here, from a Fall Ancient Campaign set in Classic Antiquity to huge expansion of my Skirmish Dungeon, to going "old school" crazy painting up tons of miniatures from 1980's. Still working on my Skirmish game, and of course I have new 600 point army for Bilbos Birthday Bash this year all on the Bench. I have lot to post about the next 3-4 months so hopefully things will be alot more regular around., plus before you know we'll be talking about Adepticon 2013...Its been a trying year for me logistically with my real life but I am still hobbying, and gaming for sure. So thanks for hanging around.

A Study in Plastics

 Well its about time we talk about plastic miniatures here at "Plastic Legions" while its somewhat of an oxymoron as most of my miniatures are metal, and I generally dont care for plastic miniatures. However the blogs origins are really in the Games Workshop hobby, so back in 2006-2007 when I was putting together 10 Space Marines in different poses and that was the greatest thing since sliced bread. "Plastic Legions" seemed like a great idealistic hobby goal. However, gigantic Fantasy and Ancients armies later, with 40K never being anything more than a "hobby speedbump" for me. Plastic just never seemed to be the ideal medium in any category, except price. (exception Games Workshop).

Plastics have come along way in the last 6 years. With GW having the monopoly on what was the standard in plastics. I really enjoyed my time with the Plastics in WFB's Empire Models of 6th and 7th edition's. I wasnt until the historical plastics wave started to hit ( Wargames Factory, Warlord Games) did I realize how inferior these models where to what GW was producing. There use was in a slightly different context, mass "stand based" ancients armies versus GW's aesthetic that each model is it own unique piece in your larger army, While that showed clearly in GW's products, other manufactures on the Historical side chose to offer the perception of different posing options and weapons however many pieces were just not versatile enough to be worth the bother of multi parts for any reason other than making them fit on a sprue.

Well plastics have gotten a whole lot better.  While the Perry Brothers excellent War of Roses "Infantry" and "Mercenaries" kits have been around for a couple years now. I finally just into them as I sought to develop a Human army that could double as both a Historical and a Fantasy Army, The Perry's fit the bill nicely for me. Given the 100 years War and subsequent The War of the Roses are two of my favorite Historical periods, It feels like home for me. Not mention the Swiss and German armies of this period are the direct inspiration of Warhammer's Empire.

 The biggest peeve I have with plastic models is the illusion of  sprues and sprues of fiddly bits in order to provide some sort of individuality to individual models. It's one thing with Space Marines but totally another when you need 100 rank and file troopers that historically pretty much kitted out the same. While I like to make all my models as  different as much as I can there comes a point somewhere when you realize its taking you 30 mins to clean, build, accessorize, and base a single plastic figure and you have 100's to do, and then paint that the "FUN"  just crashes off the road. Give me a a nice selection of metal sculpts I can clean and base are 4 or 5 times the speed anytime. I am thankful to say the Perry figs are pretty easy to assemble.. the Pikemen of the kit are the easiest the Crossbow or Handgun options are much more fiddly but nothing compared to WFB's current Vampire Count Skeleton box, the thing that killed my VC army and any passion I had left for plastics until now.

 I currently am working on all three available boxes Perry has to offer from this period supplement by its great a identically scaled metal figures from the range...when this army will see the light of day, I can say but I am working on it I will need a few more boxes of both the Infantry and Mercenaries, if I want to be able to field a full army for either "Hail Caesar" or "Kings of War".

While its no secret that the Perry Brothers are pretty much my favorite Miniature sculptors. Dare I say that Victrix (know for its Napoleonic era figures, recently releasing a large line of Ancient Greek Figures) has out done them? While a sculpts beauty in is the eye of the beholder, its clear this Victrix
models were created to be plastic models, they are probably computer generated sculpts and not hand sculpts like the Perry's but the exaggerated lines and details make these models the best thing I have seen in plastic since GW's best stuff. I am very impressed by this kit and it was final deciding factor in going ahead with the Army versus proxying Gauls with my Saxons in our next "Hail Caesar" campaign. (Which is coming up in September).  I been struggling with going Spartan for my Antiquity army for some time, but the costs of a entire Spartan/ Greek army from someone like Gorgon Studios, was a daunting investment. These Victrix Models allow me to get my Spartan fix
with some supplemental models from Gorgon at a fraction of the cost and they look great too.

The Victrix Spartans are a bit more "Fiddly" then I had hoped and assembling close to 100 of them is a challenge well see how it goes. But the club and some other local people we know have started a hobby challenge for the second half the summer and my goal is to get these guys built for Sept's campaign. The only con of this kit is that the round molded bases of these figs are a bit thick. thick enough that gluing to a square base and piling sand up around could look weird, so I working on creative basing solutions for these..thats for another post.

 Both the Perry and Victrix plastic kits get a big thumbs up from me. I have boxes and boxes of plastic Historicals kits from Warlord Games and Wargames Factory that have never seen the light of day because, I just don't like the figures enough to go thru the work of actually building them. Both these kits I do, and that just about as good a review I can give.

 I'll sign off for now with more shots of my ready to be painted first sprue of Victrix Spartans. All the Victrix pic are models assembled from one sprue, there are 6 sprues in a box., there a couple extra heads and additions to mix these guys up a bit  providing enough variety given the amount of bits it includes. The only draw back is there isnt a supreme "leonidas" type solo model in the box, that would have pushed it over the top but there are plenty of  other options out there.(again Gorgon.)

 In an unrelated note, I having a difficulty creating Historical type banners from scratch, ( not painting them but creating the banners themselves) I have tried  Green Stuff,  Foil and Paper and am not happy with any of the results..if anyone has good tips of tutorial for historical scratch banners..I'd really appreciate it.