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I've heard that the FOW and FIB miniatures are slightly different in size (more different in width than height).

Would it be noticeable if you mixed the two on a single base?

I'd like to get some British Paras, and they both have models I'm interested in.

Any suggestions? Which do people like better for British Para? The FIB are less expensive....

Thanks - Mez

I think it is highly dependant on the ratio of guys. One on every other base isn't going to be noticable. Half the guys being one and half the other...no matter the supplier, is going to be noticable.

I try to keep my platoons all of the same make. Tends to look less noticable that way. If you haven't bought yet and like the FIB sculpts, I would just use all FIB.

It depends. Peter Pig and FiB mix well and I mix Peter Pig and Battlefront without issue. I try to avoid mixing different manufacturers with vehicles but I find infantry more forgiving.

In my opinion FiB are the best infantry sculpts on the market.

FiB infantry is a bit better proportioned than BF and does not suffer from pumpkin head syndrome. I found that FiB can be mixed quite well with PSC - I made my observer team from PSC radio-operator and FiB HMG set (a guy with binoculars) - being behind the wall it is difficult to notice differences. With that, I suspect that FiB and BF might still be apparently different when on the same base (PSC,WGF and BF are noticeably different), but nothing prevents You making separate platoons.

No problem in mixing them I find:





The Mortar teams are FIB, the Command teams are BF



Rifle teams are BF, MG teams are FIB.

As you can see when they are all lumped together you can't really notice any difference.

I’ve not mixed them on a single base, but I’ve used both in the same armies and they don’t look out of place next to each other. To be honest there is so much variety within Battlefronts ranges that It’s almost impossible to give a definitive answer. To their credit FIB have (sofar) managed to keep all their minis at a similar scale.

For example I bought some FIB British Paras to supplement my Battlefront ones and there is no way they would look right next to each other on the same base, the Battlefront ones being far too short, but as separate platoons they look ok. But the FIB SS miniatures look fine next the Battlefront SS miniatures.

It’s my experience that Peter Pig and Stytrex/Old Glory mix very well together. But both look a bit too short next to either BF or FIB.

Like George Spiggott FIB are now my first choice for infantry being very detailed, requiring very little cleanup work and being cheaper than both Battlefront and Peter Pig. But they still have some considerable gaps in their ranges. Hopefully these will get filled out soon.

*EDIT*

Having looked at Aldramelech's pictures one thing that stands out is that a uniform paint scheme goes a long way towards covering up differences between manufactures. Miniatures that look very different when they are bare metal can look almost identical once painted.

 Mezmaron wrote:

I've heard that the FOW and FIB miniatures are slightly different in size (more different in width than height).

Would it be noticeable if you mixed the two on a single base?

I'd like to get some British Paras, and they both have models I'm interested in.

Any suggestions? Which do people like better for British Para? The FIB are less expensive....

Thanks - Mez

All depends on how you are looking at them. If you hold them up for close scrutiny it might be somewhat obvious, especially if they are only primed white. If looking at them painted and actually on the table being used you won't be able to notice much difference at all. The key is that they look good on the table, not that they look "perfect" when looked at with a monocle.

Skriker

I have FiB and BF grenadiers mixed in the same platoon and I can't tell the difference in terms of scale. People vary in size so the small difference that are likely to exist won't really matter anyway.

Looking good Aldramelech.

I've also mixed vehicles from Skytrex/Old Glory, QRF, Battlefront, Zvesda, Forged in Battle and Peter Pig. Though never in the same platoon. I regularly mix crew from FiB, Peter Pig and Battlefront on vehicles from all companies.