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Hey guys, I'm starting up a US para army for ML war. I'm definitely going to be buying a few BF miniatures but have you guys tried these? Can you tell me whether they are good or bad?

Thanks

http://oldglory15s.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=6_8_99_142&products_id=622

http://www.peterpig.co.uk/us.htm

I use copious amounts of Old Glory Germans, and Peter Pig Brits and Germans. I can't speak specifically on the US casts, because I don't have any, but this is a potted review of the general ranges.

Old Glory are slightly smaller than BF in general, with slightly more sensibly sized heads than BF. However, sometimes they will mix without too much effort. The casts are generally quite good, with just the occasional "fat leg" or flashy arms. No more than BF do. They are available in bags of 50, generally packed as a single troop type with a variety of casts (so 50 riflemen, or 25 LMG teams.) Thus you're likely to end up with spare men (who can usually be repurposed to artillery crew, command figures, bulking out other bases and what-have-you. Failing that, you can resell the spares and often make back what you paid in the first place. Personally I prefer them to BF as less "cartoony", better scaled and sharper detailed. Old Glory vehicles are usually quite sharp, with the odd mould-line. Smaller a little than BF, but thats only really noticeable in mixed units.

Peter Pig troops are again slightly smaller than BF stuff, though thats mostly the head-size again. Equipment and scaling is generally well-done and proportioned, and the ranges tend to be quite extensive. If there is one problem with Pig figures its the weird "Munch's The Scream" faces. In other words Pig just can't do good face. Of course in 15mm that isn't always an issue. Packs are small, cheap, and very useful for filling in those odd ends of units without buying 50 HMGs or whatever. They also do army boxes (organised to their own rule system) which provide you with a large amount of men in one go. Apart from the faces, the main downside in the Pig ranges is that sometime there are odd holes in the ranges of equipment. But they do do a LOT of Sherman variants (lots and lots) so US players are well covered. Thinking from a US para point of view, I have successfully mixed Pig pack howitzers with BF ones.

If you want to look at a comprehensive and detailed picture catalogue of Old Glory (Command Decision) figures and vehicles then you should go to the Skytrex website, as they are the same figures (in smaller packs) but with better pics than Old Glory have.

The problem with Old Glory and some of the other manufacturers is that their miniatures are not already packaged into units like BF's are.

That means having to buy several different sets to get all the figures you need (standard Paras with rifles, Bazooka Guys, commanders, mortars, LMGs, etc...). Then you still need to get bases. Even getting good deals online you end up not really saving a whole lot of $.

Old Glory and Quality Casting models have been around for a long time and the molds for some of the more popular vehicle types are really starting to show their age. Mold lines, bad flash, and sometimes obscured details are pretty common.

Peter Pig are about the best for detail and accuracy, but IMHO they are seriously overpriced if you're in the US since they have to be imported.

@Swordbreaker: Having more than you need is where Ebay comes in to its own. On a good day you can end up paying for your army with the stuff you didn't use in the army.

Peter Pig is excellent, most of my EW French are either Forged In Battle or PP, which scale nicely together.

Old Glory makes 2 15mm product lines - True North and Command Decision. True North are fairly nice and seem to scale well with both BF and FiB. Command Decision is the repackaged Skytrex line for the US, these are actually pretty nice and certainly cheap, considering you can buy 50 figs for the same price as a BF platoon. As ArbeitsSchu said, you can always resell the leftovers you don't need.

If you want pics of the OG Command Decision line, you can look on the Skytrex website here:
http://www.skytrex.com/151/15mm-command-decision/

Also, avoid an Quality Castings infantry. I recently bought a pack of gun crew from them and they are just as bad as the giant "20mm" BF French.

i think i found right topic, so
anyone seen this http://www.forgedinbattle.com/ ? look like pretty much same as FoW (models)
but i'm not sure about scale.

penek wrote:i think i found right topic, so
anyone seen this http://www.forgedinbattle.com/ ? look like pretty much same as FoW (models)
but i'm not sure about scale.

As I mentioned above, my EW French are mostly FiB. They are slighter and lack the pumpkinheads of BF but are about the same size. They are also a higher quality of metal and better detailed. Be aware though, that all FiB vehicles have an integral base (which some gamers don't like).

oh i just not seen\read last message) sorry.
already found some reviews.. they say that FiB more or less good, but have incomplete cast on the tracks, and infantry weapons a little fat (not a little but really FAT), also BF vehicles a little bigger then FiB
ps. here review http://viewfromtheturret.com/2010/08/24/forged-in-battle-miniatures-review/
http://wargames.nordalia.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=211&Itemid=65

FiB vehicles can be a little on the small side compared to BF ones, but this tends to affect the larger tanks more, and to be honest only matters if you are trying to mix units. The smaller assault guns and whatnot seem to scale better. I've never seen a FiB mini with incomplete tracks, so I'm guessing that this is a variable thing, and not at all the rule. Best advice is either use all FiB or only use one manufacturer for any given type of vehicle.

Can't comment on the infantry, haven't got any.

Never had an incomplete cast on tracks, probably a minor issue FiB would have been happy to fix. I'm curious why the reviewer didn't ask FiB to send a good track to fix the issue...

Also, I've never heard anyone call the infantry weapons "too thick". If anything, they are correctly scaled to 15mm minis. If FiB infantry weapons are "too big", then BF's infantry weapons must be massive!

I use Peter Pig, Battlefront and now Plastic Soldier infantry interchangeably, I think that all three produce great sculpts. Vehicle wise the only non BF models I have are Plastic Soldier Soviet t-34s, a Peter Pig Maus and a French (beute ) staff car. All my aircraft are non BF because I hate that their aircraft are 1:144 instead of 1:100. My Stukas are prepainted metal Corgi and my Sturmoviks are QRF.

ancientsociety wrote:Never had an incomplete cast on tracks, probably a minor issue FiB would have been happy to fix. I'm curious why the reviewer didn't ask FiB to send a good track to fix the issue...

Also, I've never heard anyone call the infantry weapons "too thick". If anything, they are correctly scaled to 15mm minis. If FiB infantry weapons are "too big", then BF's infantry weapons must be massive!

I believe he's referring to the Nordalia review he linked. I must admit that in their pics, the Kar98k does rather resemble a chunk of brown lego hastily tacked on to the mini after the fact.

I’ve only got a few bits from Old Glory but on the whole I found them to be half decent. They need a lot of clean up work though. Peter Pig’s stuff isn’t bad but my main criticism would be in the sculpting of faces which seem to be little more than pin pricks mouths and eyes. They require very little cleanup work though.

My experience of FIB so far has been nothing but positive, their tanks really aren’t that different in size to Battlefronts. I frequently used mixed units which contain both Battlefront and FIB Panzer IV’s and it’s difficult to tell them apart without close examination. They mix extremely well, and are also very good value. I recently picked some more up from Maelstrom during their recent Easter promotion and they came to £15 per platoon, less than £4 a tank!

Their infantry is also first class, better than BF imho. In fact I would say they are my favorite 15mm WW2 manufacturer ATM. My only gripe is the lack of support options (Anti-Tank teams, Snipers, Radio operators, company command ect) however they are still a young company and I’m sure this will be rectified in time. I hope to purchase as much from them as I can.

Also regarding the lack of Bases I can recommend warbases.co.uk who make FOW sized bases out of MDF. About a 1/3 of the price of FOW bases, easier to pick up and no warping!

I found this:
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/5704/velard.3/0_54ef9_70d5939d_orig.jpg
what are BF's size of 251/1 ?

If you mean scale then 1/100, which is what that kit is.

all i know that FoW are 15mm ) and i dont know what its scale in 1/*
and i can read russian) and know link have 1/100 scale, so asked is it same size as BF's minis or no

Yes it's the same scale as BF 15mm = 1/100 give or take.

Whether it's the same size is another matter as every manufacturer seems to make stuff a slightly different size.

some guys on Russian forums try make their own 15mm and then run them in resin
http://www.boki.ee/Miniature_Sculpting/C00001/Boki_Figures.htm
Figrures looking pretty good. (maybe except faces)

They're damned impressive for home made minis.

Plastic Soldier Company makes a good line of 15mm guys. For $32USD, you get like 100 or so figs, no stands. But you can just buy different ones at any old hobby shop. Just get a piece of sheet metal and cut it to size.

Have recently picked up some Forged in battle Germans and have to say am very impressed on the level of detail and the price, have also got a box of plastic toy soldier Russians but the idea of sticking separate heads on enough figures to build my strelkovy fills me with dread so may go for forged in battle Russians as well, especially with zvezdas planned KV-1 and Katusha battery releases!!