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I just got started with FOW and it seems a lot of people use third party manufacturers. The PCS stuff looks really good, and the FIB infantry look better proportioned than the BF counterparts. I was hoping to hear the impressions of people who have actually worked with the different brands as I'd like to get my hands on the highest quality stuff.

Here is my input regarding German ranges.

Infantry.

I have Battlefront, PSC, FiB and Wargames Factory. WGF and PSC are plastic and are more into 1/100 scale, which means that these soldiers are really tiny. Also, all rifles and light machineguns are fragile.

Battlefront metal infantry (cant say anything about their new plastics from Open Fire set - but have seen many excited reviews) suffer from pumpkin head syndrome, but they are IMHO quite nice and sturdy. Now consider that You will pick infantry up quite often and with BF you can toss them around. PSC and WGF - you have to be careful with these, lift them by the base, not miniatures.
FiB is in the middle - they in my opinion are a bit out of proportion, but this is not apparent. Usually, BF and FiB can be placed on the same stand, alsot PSC ang WGF can be mixed, but not BF and PSC/WGF. However, I have an observer team which is comprised from PS theC radio operator and the FiB machinegun crewman with binoculars and they are not that much different - but thats probably because they are hunched.
There are also Peter Pig and other companies, but I cant say anything about them.

Vehicles

The main thing with FiB is that all tanks/APCs, utility cars come with precast resin base, which you cannot remove, or you can but it will damage the mini. I've heard that this allows them to keep costs down. This can be boon or bane. I intentionally decided to base all my vehicles anyway so it is not a big issue for me, but otherwise, having some of your tanks on bases and others not might be an issue from aesthetical point of view. Also, FiB stuff is noticeably smaller - for example their 251/1 halftracks are shorter then PSC/BF, so FiB stuff should be kept within same platoon and should not be mixed with PSC and BF.

PSC and BF vehicles scale pretty well - in fact their 251/1 halftracks are identical in both length and width. The crew is what makes the difference, since as I mentioned PSC soldiers are tinier. PSC has good plastics and they cover basic units (Combat platoons) and are solid choice for starting your army. But for example their Panzer IV , Panther and Tiger tanks do not have the Zimmerit cast on them - which again is pure aesthetics.

There is also the russian Zvezda company, which specialises in early Eastern Front and has some ranges, which are not covered by PSC or FiB. For example, they have really cheap 222 armored cars and airplanes. They are launching brits now too and if you intend to play early war, then they are a solid choice to get your first 1000 points on the table fast and cheap. These are snap kits, but should be glued and sometimes they have 3D modelling related issues, but it all can be solved with dryfitting and reading reviews on intrawebz.

There are also some pre-painted vehicles, which scale well with FoW system. For example. Axis and Allies Marder III M works well, as so does Point of Contact Tiger - both sets are available on e-bay and cost around 20 USD for 5 vehicles.

I use FiB support weapons (HMG's MORTARS and AT GUNS) as they are cheaper but use BF for the models, PSC doesn't mix well with BF infantry or with FiB. But the PSC vehicles are great, just dry fit them and add some ballast to keep the vehicles nice and heavy otherwise when you sneeze your vehicles move.

I use zvesda for cheap filler units, like Opel Blitz Trucks, why pay £7.50 for a pair, when I can have 5 for £12? Zvesda are a bit throw away, but if there is a little thing going on at the club like an EW campaign I might throw £30 at it and buy a load of 222's, pz35T and Panzer II's. It costs alot less and helps to offset those expensive BF miniatures you sometimes end up buying. I also find some more obscure stuff fits well... SKytrex do a nice line WWII and they are quite good, especially for the 50man packs.

Equally, QRF are good for some vehicles (although their infantry is poor) and Peter Pig do some nice lines of WWII infantry. The best thing to do is check out the TMP forum as many of the members post up pictures of them side by side.

I have sprues of psc and Battlefront grmans,that i am currrently working and the BF ones are alittle beefeier and detailed.

I use FiB, BF and Peter Pig infantry interchangeably. I prefer metal infantry as it is more hard wearing. Of the metal manufacturers FiB are the nicest sculpts, Pig have the most character and BF have the largest range (and heads). For vehicles I use Zvesda, Command Decision, QRF, PSC, Peter Pig and BF. I prefer resin and plastic (FiB, PSC, Zvesda, BF) over metal where they are available and I try to get all the vehicles of one type from the same manufacturer because of the slight (sometimes not slight) scale differences.

You know what we write this alot, maybe we should make an article on all this and point everyone at it?

I am going to be working on a comparsion article for my blog on the plastic infantry.Imay also throw in some other comparsion shots of paras,BF plastic vs.BF metal vs Fib.

Like this one for example?

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/455313.page#4408116

 George Spiggott wrote:
I use FiB, BF and Peter Pig infantry interchangeably. I prefer metal infantry as it is more hard wearing. Of the metal manufacturers FiB are the nicest sculpts, Pig have the most character and BF have the largest range (and heads). For vehicles I use Zvesda, Command Decision, QRF, PSC, Peter Pig and BF. I prefer resin and plastic (FiB, PSC, Zvesda, BF) over metal where they are available and I try to get all the vehicles of one type from the same manufacturer because of the slight (sometimes not slight) scale differences.

Why has everyone been complaing about the Zvezvda armored car? I got some for my early xmas present from my wife and i actually like them alot.All i did was use a little superglue Gel on them.but i glue alll of my Zvezda kits and the plastic for the kits is alot better than the older stuff.Also got the BF Command Car and that turret stinks!The car it self if nice but that turret needs help.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

CainTheHunter wrote:
Like this one for example?

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/455313.page#4408116

Yeah but throwing in a BF plastic one,MAy send a link to yours with the WGF stuff,if that is ok?

CHeers Col. Kenny.

Any one of us regulars playing any matches here over the Holiday? i got a couple of games we are playing,while the traditional xmas lay offs form Caterpillar for the holiday.
Yes it is The CAterpillar big yellow earth moving machines if curious.

Thats fine Kenny - there is also a link in my post to another discussion which has nice side-comparison shots of PSC and WGF infantry.

Btw, I am happy with Zvezda 222 car too - except that it and their Opel Blitz were the most tricky kits to put together - Opel because its damn fragile and 222 because You cant put it togehter without that notorious gap UNLESS you shave down one peg - which i really simple, but you have to go through that ordeal first I am now building the 223 command car variant and will post the pics if the result will be half-decent

CainTheHunter wrote:
Thats fine Kenny - there is also a link in my post to another discussion which has nice side-comparison shots of PSC and WGF infantry.

Btw, I am happy with Zvezda 222 car too - except that it and their Opel Blitz were the most tricky kits to put together - Opel because its damn fragile and 222 because You cant put it togehter without that notorious gap UNLESS you shave down one peg - which i really simple, but you have to go through that ordeal first I am now building the 223 command car variant and will post the pics if the result will be half-decent

The worst for me is the KAty truks,i had to assemble 8 of them for my brother ,who got flustrated with them.But from what i have heard they are still bettter than the BF ones alot of miscasted parts.
What are you looking for in trades for the pumas?

 col. krazy kenny wrote:
Why has everyone been complaing about the Zvezvda armored car? I got some for my early xmas present from my wife and i actually like them alot.All i did was use a little superglue Gel on them.but i glue alll of my Zvezda kits and the plastic for the kits is alot better than the older stuff.Also got the BF Command Car and that turret stinks!The car it self if nice but that turret needs help.

The SdKfz 222? Some people think it's difficult to put together. It is compared to other Zvesda kits but I managed to put six together. I also glue mine and filled them with filler to add weight.

I do something similiar using spackle / Filler as it is cheap and readily to hand.



I find it much easier with PSC vehicles, but I do break the MG's almost with the 1st game I play...

 George Spiggott wrote:

 col. krazy kenny wrote:
Why has everyone been complaing about the Zvezvda armored car? I got some for my early xmas present from my wife and i actually like them alot.All i did was use a little superglue Gel on them.but i glue alll of my Zvezda kits and the plastic for the kits is alot better than the older stuff.Also got the BF Command Car and that turret stinks!The car it self if nice but that turret needs help.

The SdKfz 222? Some people think it's difficult to put together. It is compared to other Zvesda kits but I managed to put six together. I also glue mine and filled them with filler to add weight.

Yeah it is the 222 car. anyone got any idea when we will get the AA Vehicles? German and Soviet.
For weight i usually glue a washer or a coin on the bottom and also glue them on a base.

My own experiences of working with PSC and FIB have been nothing but positive. I actually prefer the PSC vehicles to the Battlefront ones these days. Not just in terms of price, I actually find they look sharper.

Some FIB models are apparently smaller than their PSC or FIB counterparts. This picture is taken from a blog I frequent and it shows a PSC Panther (right) next to a FIB Panther (left) and the difference is noticeable.



Though this is the exception and not the rule. For example I have some FIB and Battlefront PZ 4’s and I have no problem with mixing them.

Infantry wise I find it fine to mix FIB and Battlefront freely, though I have no experience at all of PSC’s infantry. I’ve seen the pics and they look a bit too ‘stickman’ for my tastes. Though I await the Americans to see if they have improved.

FiBs Panthers, Tigers and 88s are noticeably smaller than other company's models. However PSC make the best Tigers and Panthers IMO.

The only thing I don't like about PSC vehicles are the crew, which I replace with spare BF of Peter Pig crew.

Wow this has been tremendously helpful. More comparison pictures would be great. Could I also ask you guys who makes the most proportionate infantry (in terms of actual human anatomy)?

In terms of anatomy PSC and WGF plastics are the best. They suck in terms of durability however

CainTheHunter wrote:
In terms of anatomy PSC and WGF plastics are the best. They suck in terms of durability however

How bad is the durability? I'm normally pretty careful with my minis.

I had a fair few rifle breakages with mine (PSC Soviet infantry). Stick to metal for your infantry.

 George Spiggott wrote:
I had a fair few rifle breakages with mine (PSC Soviet infantry). Stick to metal for your infantry.

This is true enough, I regret buying PSC Infantry not because they aren't good but being plastic they do not take to well to the everyday knocks we all get when playing miniature games. But I am slowly buying Metal Infantry to replacement them, so actually I would recommend them to anyone starting out in the hobby, from the a price perspective and then if you really take to FOW you can buy replacements at a later date.

And actually BF metal infantry is not the most expensive part - it is actually pretty decently priced (at least in comparison with GW price policy) and you get all possible upgrades in the blister. Its the vehicle / tank part which makes FoW expensive if You are aiming to use only BF products (which you should not do, btw).

Agreed, BF infantry is pretty good value. FIB infantry is cheap as chips and quality wise is excellent, however you need to buy bases and they are generic packs that don't necessarily conform to FOW army lists. There are also gaps in the range but I understand these are to be plugged in time. FIB are still quite a young company.

CainTheHunter wrote:
And actually BF metal infantry is not the most expensive part - it is actually pretty decently priced (at least in comparison with GW price policy) and you get all possible upgrades in the blister. Its the vehicle / tank part which makes FoW expensive if You are aiming to use only BF products (which you should not do, btw).

I am a big fan of the BF Infantry blisters.You get all of the items you need for the slot.
ME playing American paras. have spent more money on other brands instead of where i could have actuallly save a tenner buying from BF.

example, fib paras,bases,peter pig Bazookas,Plus still needed a mortar.

My only complaints so far about BF Infantry blisters and packs is that sometimes it seems that there are not that many poses and the stands become repetitive. Seems like that is a good place for places like Peter Pig just to get a few more poses and to personalize your stands. Picked up some mine sweepers and flame throwers from them for my pioneers.