Warlord Epic Scale Waterloo British photo reiew

       This month's edition of Wargames Illustrated featured a sprue of Warlord's new "Epic Scale" (known in other terms as 15mm) Napoleonic infantry. I managed to convince the good folks at Michigan Toy Soldier to give me an extra copy of the sprues so that I could review both. You can find the French review here, and a look at the associated mounted troops here. The minis are cast in a jarring red plastic that is standard hard styrene. My curmudgeony old self would have preferred gray plastic but having the figures molded in color allows the enthusiastic beginner to feild an army right away.

           The groups of soldiers are cast joined at the elbows (as period drill regulations would have them) with their rifles at shoulder arms. The ten stands of infantry bare accompanied by a mounted officer and an artillery piece. The figures are cleanly cast with no flash and only the slightest hint of mold lines. The level of detail on the figures is very good, more detailed than many of the metal miniatures that I have seen. They are slightly larger than my old Minifig 15s so they ought to mix well with the new larger figures that fill the market but I would hesitate to try mixing them with the 18mm subjects that some companies produce.

 

 the front of the sprue,  

I would have preferred gray plastic but a quick spray will fix that

 

the rear of the sprue, very crisply cast,

 the cannon suffered from damage due to being stacked in a pile of magazines while crossing the Atlantic but a spot of cement will set that right in no time at all, the boxed set won't face such hazards 

 

 

a good look at the mounted officer and the gun and gunners

the gun crew has been cleverly cast attached to the wheel which gives the model additional strength 

 

those same lads from the front the well-defined detail will greatly aid painting

 

the infantry blocks seen from the back,

properly equipped and ready for battle

 

 

the same figures from the front, 

the regularity of the pose will speed painting and lends a nicely organized look to the unit

 

 

 the rear of the command stand

 

 the front of the command stand;

 standard bearers, drummer, a sergeant and the obligatory sword-wielding officer and

       This is a real testament to how far the plastic soldier end of our hobby has come in the last five to ten years. These figures are better detailed than 28mm models were just a decade ago and are so affordably priced that even a beginner can obtain an entire army without suffering financial hardship. To anyone contemplating entering Napoleonic wargaming this set (the Warlord boxed army contains a complete British army infantry/cavalry/guns including rules and some terrain for $145US) should seriously consider getting this. I only wish that items like this had been available when I was building my armies.

     Very Highly Recommended!