Perry Miniatures Plastic and Metal Beja Comparison

As promised (how very unlike me!) here are a few comparison shots of the Perry Beja in Metal and in Plastic. I've left the metal one's without an undercoat for now so it's obvious which mini's are which.First, before any discussion here are the comparison shots:

The first thing that struck me is that the metals are slighter than the plastics, not by much but it is noticeable. Not by all that much and with a lick of paint I don't really see that the size difference will be obvious without really scrutinizing the miniatures. What i am looking to do is get as much variety in the units as possible so with the addition of the 12 or so packs of metals this should be a very achievable aim.

So, how does the detail on the metals compare with the plastics? Generally the metal miniatures have more character and are in more dynamic poses too. The character of the metals is however offset not just by the cost of the plastics but the conversion possibilities they present. I'm really looking forward to hacking a few of the plastics up and creating some casualties as well as a series of vignettes that i have planned. This of course all be published and discussed in detail in future posts. For now it's a matter of getting used to the plastic mini's before embarking on any chopping! I find that if you give yourself a chance to get 'used to' plastics then you get a much better feel for conversion possibilities and perhaps more importantly, what will look right.

OK, it's late so that's it for now.

Cheers. 

Project Sudan is Underway!!

Firstly, please forgive the quality of the pics in this little article. Due to circumstances beyond my control I haven't got my lighting system and I've just switched from my Laptop to a Lenovo Yoga and frankly the software for pics compared to what I normally use (Photoshop) is complete rubbish. I've got a CRR/WR on it's merry way to me but as it hasn't arrived as of yet I'm having to make do. I'll re-process the pics as soon as I can install Photoshop! These pics are a bit dark and likely to be very large when you click on them, as I say, circumstances beyond my control.

The Sudan project is under way!!

It's been a while as I've had quite a few personal problems (still have!) since my last post but I'm beginning to get back into the hobby again so that in itself deserves a big "Hurrah!!"

I've manages to glue myself together the first 13 Beja (or Hadendawa in this case) and I'm quite pleased with the results. They were very easy to assemble, which counts for a lot when one has to assemble a mighty host; I've got three boxes to do in total! I'm going to do half as Beja and Half as Kordofani Tribesmen as I want the Beja to be as naked in terms of their clothing and the Kordonfani Tribesmen to be more fully clothed. I'll be mixing in a lot of metals on the bases too to keep as much variation going as possible. There are likely to be a few conversions as well but at this stage, lacking all my gear (I think I've got some Grey Stuff somewhere??) I'm going to stick to just well, sticking them together. I always find that this gives a greater 'feel' to how they can be varied so it's not such a bad thing to wait a short while anyway.

Tonight I'll take some shots of the plastics next to the metals as I'm sure that the former are slightly bulkier than the latter. Anyway, it will give me an idea of how to best fit them all in together in a particular unit. It might very well be the case that the metals have lower and less bulky bases in which case adding a piece of card/platicard below the bases of the metals will do the trick nicely.

For now,here are the pics of the plastics glued together:

So, until tomorrow and the comparison shots between the plastics and the metals, it's cheers for now.

At Last! A new Post!!

Hi all,

I was contemplating whether to just say that I've been away from the hobby for four months due to personal reasons (which is certainly true!). Read on if you want to hear the 'blues jam'- if not just scroll down to the pics below;

Basically I've been away from wargaming and painting for about four months due to a relationship breakdown with the love of my life. I was with her for fourteen years when one day she asked me to leave, which is what I did. This was obviously devastating news as although we weren't married the relationship, which was very loving, was the basis of my life and it has taken me four months to come to terms with it being over! I doubt that I'll ever be really 'over it' but at least i now feel strong enough to start blogging, painting and being creative again. I guess that the fact that we had not had any children in this case is a blessing as they would have almost certainly have suffered psychological trauma through the breakdown of what was once a very strong relationship. My partner was always supportive of the hobby and was often to be seen at shows with me around the country. I don't bear her any animosity and in fact I am very thankful for our time together.

So, I hear you say, what have you in the pipeline?

Currently I'm working, or rather about to embark upon a couple of projects. The first being two demo games that will be at Salute in 2016 and Vapnartak in the same year; the games being The Battle of Hastings and Battle of Fulford Gate.

The second project is going to be another demo game, possibly at Partizan next year that will feature the Second Afghan War and Mike Owen's brilliant range of North West Frontier mini's combined with Studio Miniatures North West Frontier range and of course, it would be almost sacrilegious not to include some of the Perry Miniatures sculpts that they did for Wargames Foundry back in the day as well as some of their suitable Indian Mutiny/Indian Rebellion of 1857 mini's.

That's all for now really except to say that bearing my obsession with Late 14th Century Warfare I have of course asked Santa to "please bring me three boxes of the new Perry Miniatures HYW English!

Pics below, I'm sure that you've all seen them before but what would a post on a wargaming blog be without any pics, eh?

Thanks for reading and thanks for your patience for my lack of posts.

Darrell.

Perry plastic Men at Arms, Proper Pics Like.... :>)

Slightly late but as promised and here are some decent pics of the new Perry Miniatures , Plastic Men at Arms. First though, a few notes.....

These sculpts of of extremely high quality and I would be bold enough to say that they out rank that of the Perry metal Wars of the Roses/European Armies ranges! That is really saying something. As seen in my last post I had a bit of a tinker around sticking them together, mainly following the picture that outlines some examples on plastic Men at Arms box inlay sheet. The sheet by the way contains many standards, banners and coats of arms so that it should be an easy task, given all the information contained in all the other Perry Medieval boxes to start to put together any army you choose (including the War of the Kalmar Union Michael ;>]  ).

There were a few gaps in the spaces between one or two joints but these are easily cemented together with plastic polystyrene cement as it actually cements the parts in place and is not just a bonding agent.

The torso's in the box would easily go with any of the plastic sets thus far, the front ranks of a Swiss phalanx, extra poses for the Mounted Men at Arms etc etc. In conclusion, I have to say that thus far they were joy to play about with and with three boxes to play with I will never run out of dismounted Men at Arms in any of my armies!

Here's the pics (I'll endeavour to get a few painted up very soon):

Cheers,

Darrell.