Breaking Down Boxes: FIW Minis Arriving!

Lots of boxes in the mail this week after I returned from almost 2 weeks of steady travel for my job.  I have boxes from several new mini model shops for me as I start my new French and Indian War painting and wargaming efforts.  The work bench pic above is a rough comparison -- the right two figures are Conquest Miniatures' Indians, the middle two are North Star Figures' Indians and the left two are Rogers' Rangers from Galloping Major (GM).  I think the North Star and GM minis match up well and the moldings are well done.

Box break down day is a big deal for me...as its always a question mark here in the US for inbound Royal Mail from the United Kingdom.  I've had at least one Foundry box lost and several others delayed for almost a month, meanwhile some packages from the UK arrive in less than a week.  Crazy mail!  When I order my first Perry figures I may try Triangle Miniatures as they are based in North Carolina and remove the import time hassle.  However, they have limited product lines and don't carry many of the model makers I like.

My Galloping Major Wargames Rogers' Rangers unit minis arrived!  They are really well done minis.  By purchasing the large Ranger unit package they added a few free minis in the box which is always nice.  I really like these as my first French and Indian War figures, I did a lot of research before ordering for this era as my next theme.  They are on the 28mm bulkier size and are well "animated" (which I like both of these factors), so I will have to be careful moving forward with additional purchases to match up with these.

North Star Muskets and Tomahawks figures also arrived.  I like these Indians and they match the size of the Galloping Major Rangers very well.  I have just ordered North Star's Highland Scots unit and some additional Indians based on this un-boxing and match up.  I think Redoubt's miniatures would work, but pics of them available online via a Google search don't impress me very much, they just look "fat" and uneven with poor face and hand casting.  Perhaps I need to order a few and see up close.

Conquest Miniatures purchased from eBay of French Regular infantry and Compagnies Franches de la Marine arrived as well -- these are nicely cast 28mm, however in comparison to North Star and Galloping Major they are on the smaller size for sure.  I won't buy anymore of these figures, and stick to mostly Galloping Major minis with North Star thrown in.  Like I said already, I do want to purchase a few Perry, AW, and Redoubt  minis for comparison.  I also ordered a handful of nice 100mm wire for flag & guidon poles from North Star.

Conquest Miniatures Indians are also on the smallish side of 28mm.  I bought a box of the Woodland Indian Party on eBay and the special edition mini of "Magua" (directly from Conquest which is really a part of Warlord Games apparently) from the excellent 1992 movie remake with Daniel Day-Lewis of The Last of the Mohicans.  These are Huron and Ottawa Indians that fought for the French side during the FIW along side General Montcalm's forces and the Canadian milice (militia) irregulars.

Lastly, the re-do of my missing Wargames Foundry (WGF) box arrived with my order of 300 EIR shields and several Pila.  This is a mound of shields and will allow me to outfit my entire EIR Cohort with all of the same shields -- which I prefer over Aventine, Gripping Beast and Warlord Games (WLG) shields.  I use a little dish soap and hot water with a toothbrush to remove any left over casting related residue prior to priming all my minis.

Completed: EIR Legion Standard Bearer Group!

I really liked this mix of Warlord Games (WLG) and Wargames Foundry (WGF) EIR Legion Standard Bearers (with Aventine round shields and LBMS decals).  They were fun to paint and I'm happy with the results.  Enjoy!

                                    

Completed: EIR Legionary Contubernium #1

My first EIR Legionary Contubernium (tent group) done!  A mixture of Warlord Games and Wargames Foundry figures, all with WGF shields (and LBMS decals) on 2mm MDF round bases.

EIR Legionary Contubernium Underway! (Part 1)

I'm starting on my next Tent Group (or Roman Contubernium).  Here I'm comparing a new plastic mini from Warlord Games to a metal alloy figure from Wargames Foundry.  There are differences to be sure but I think overall they're okay for side-by-side placement in a battle line.  The main difference which I dislike greatly and will have to figure out how to fix is the Gladius (sword) size disparity.  On the plastic 28mm WLG figures the sword is oddly shaped and way to small -- looks more like a Pugio (dagger).  But for this Contubernium I will use the Pilum carrying plastic (until I sort this out, perhaps I will have to resin cast new swords?). 

I start with flash and mold line cleaning/removal.  The WGF metal figures require a good amount of this effort (way more than the superb Aventine 28mm metal alloy minis).  Next up will by black primer coverage.

I prep the figures for paint-handling by blue sticky-tack attaching them to extra paint pots.  Notice that once they're all primed black -- it is hard to spot the plastic mini out of the group; which is a good thing (I do like the idea of plastic minis because you can easily adjust and customize various positions and stances).

I begin with the armor color application -- this is fast and fun to do.  I tend to like to work in small batches of figures as to not get overwhelmed...so a Tent Group is perfect I think.  Also this way I can spot and remember any small oddities with each figure, making mental notes as I go along on how I will deal with them (e.g. a sword strap that is oddly molded or a scarf that will be hard to reach with care so I may need to adjust the "order" I paint the colors on, etc.).

I painted the Pilum (javelin) shaft a buff/khaki like color because I know the Army Painter Quick Shade "Dip" will darken it and I want it to stand out.  Now I work the skin colors up.  As I described in my step-by-step Primus Pilus Centurion post previously, skin is my least favorite part to paint.  I tend to mix Reaper's Caucasian Flesh with Army Painter's Tanned Flesh at differing amounts as to create different skin tones (so they all don't look exactly alike).  Sometimes during this step, I spot a mold line I missed and reach for my hobby knife to scrap it away and then go back to painting.  I tend to thin the flesh paints as I go with some of P3's Acrylic Paint Medium to improve the flow of the paint onto the mini.

To Be Continued! 

WGF and WLG Comparisons

Side by side comparison of Pila and Scutums by various model maker studios.  Left is Aventine, middle is Warlord Games (WLG) & right is Wargames Foundry (WGF).  I think I like the Wargames Foundry Scutum shields the best out of the three.  The WLG "Hail Caesar" shields are way way to small--not even remotely close to the correct size.  Aventine's shields are simply gigantic in size.  I'll use the WGF shields for my new cohort and then use the following LBMS shield transfers on them:

And I always knew the Pila from Aventine were to way long.  WGF and WLG pila are very similar in size, perhaps a tad too small but closer to the prototype I think.  However, oddly enough WLG's Pila have some with a "ball" beneath the metal anchor head and some without.  None of the WGF javelins have the "ball"; not sure I understand why that is.

This is the WLG Primus Pilus (senior Centurion) figure.  I like the figure overall.  He is mounted on 2mm MDF base with a metal washer.  As with all WLG metal minis, it required a good bit of clean up to remove metal extra flash spur and mold lines.

Side by side of the WLG Primus Pilus metal mini and a WGF Legionary metal mini.

Here is the WLG Legionary plastic mini with Pilum.  I've glued on the head and the arm holding the javelin.  I like the idea of the plastic figures since I can pose them in different positions.  The upsetting thing to me is that the WLG plastic minis have smallish sized Gladius (swords).  They should have modeled the swords the same size as their Centurion figure.