Anyone familiar with my reviews of Wargames Atlantic products is probably aware that I'm a big fan of their products. Their 28mm minis have gone from strength to strength. They have now taken that attention to detail, quality of sculpting and value to an entirely new dimension, literally. Barely larger than a third of the size of Wargames Atlantic's usual product these new offerings are simply superb. The proportions, vitality and detail are all first rate. Combined with the fact that thirty five bucks gets you either 328 or 244 minis makes this an incomparable value, averaging just over eight cents a figure!
The minis are cast in a medium hardness gray styrene that exhibits no flash and only a few mold-lines. Each box has four identical sprues. All the minis are one-piece figures (aside from the optional Mons that may be attached to figures) including the cavalry. After some rather odd sculpts in the Hail Caesar 12mm set from Warlord I had my worries that the one-piece casting of the cavalry would have problems. Happily this is not the case, the mounted Samurai are simply brilliant! Energetic, dynamic and beautifully detailed, I can't emphasize enough how well executed they are. The rest of the figures are sculpted to the same standard.
check out that quantity, I can finally buy "too much" all in one box!
back of the box, it has a breakdown of the contents and some painting ideas
box with contents
sprue, side A
sprue, side B
as jaded as I am I was very impressed by the detail on these tiny figures
proportions, positioning and activity are all excellently done
crisply cast with barely a mold-line to be found and nary a trace of flash
the archers look like they are straining to pull their longbows,
quite an achievement in sculpting a figure barely more than a 1/4" high
I like that the ranked-up minis aren't mashed together like the Warlord products
and they come in assorted-sized groups too
the Samurai set comes with fewer figures but has a number of mounted figures included
back of the box
box with contents, you get four identical sprues
sprue, side A
sprue, side B
I have seen 28mm figures that don't look this good (Dixons, I'm looking at you!)
one-piece casting at any scale are always problematic
after painting the Warlord Hail Caesar minis I was concerned that these might be as ugly
quite the opposite, these are exemplary, very impressive
energy, activity, proportion and detail are all well captured
particularly with the horses
even the casualty figures look convincing
the detail is amazingly crisp on these tiny figures
to emphasize how tiny they are, you could base six figures on a quarter!
After becoming a major player in 28mm plastic minis in just a few years Wargames Atlantic has staked out new ground in the "tiny warrior" territory. If my eyes were up to it these would already be primed and under my brush. I am interested in where next they will turn their gaze.
Very Highly Recommended! Seriously, don't buy any Samurai miniatures without checking out this offering first! If only there were a good set of Samurai-era big battle rules.
What about "Killer Katanas." I think you can find out about the set of rules over on Little Wars TV.
ReplyDeleteI will take a look
DeleteI have 2 boxes of ashigaru and 1 box of samurai. The first unit of ashigaru is painted and will be based soon. Painting, BTW, I do with some figures still on the sprue. This brings me to my one criticism (although I do need to reckon with a lot of clumsiness from me ;-)) - the yari (pike) quickly breaks off. However those I will replace with the plastic bristels of an old garden broom. And Anton: when you are old enough your eyes will be up to it again: I am 78 and wear already a couple of years plastic lenses after my anti-cataract-operation !
ReplyDeleteYour point is well made, those pikes are terribly thin. I guess that I will have to wait for the eyes to catch up with the size of the minis.
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