Today I would like to make a short review of the products I have bought for my Flames of War army. I bought 3 box sets from the Plastic Soldier Company's (PSC) 15mm range of Germans. The first two are infantry sets. Late war German infantry and heavy weapons infantry sets.
The infantry sets are excellent in my opinion and I highly recommend them. They are well detailed enough with a good number of combinations and poses to make them more versatile than most 1/72 sets. For example you have some models that can switch between rifles and sub-machine guns, depending on what type of team you are building. There are other figures that also need to be assembled which can be a hassle with such small scale and one has to be careful, but this does allow for poses that could not otherwise be done if cast in one piece. They will also require a bit of mold line cleaning.
The only downside to these PSC sets is that they do not come with bases. You will have to buy them separately. On a bright note they are light brown in colour so you do not even have to paint them - just flock and go!
I also opted to buy the box set from Wargames Factory. I have to say I was a bit disappointed. They are slightly smaller than the PSC miniatures, despite being finer. Yet there is very little pose variation. Also you have a lot of sub-machine gun models when what you really need is rifle men. I found this a strange choice.
They use to be soft plastic but are now being manufactured in hard plastic, which is a positive. You also get two 82mm mortars besides panzerfausts and panzerscrecks. Once again, these are smaller than PSC and the diffrence is notable.
The box set also comes with bases, which is another positive. The one thing that surprised me most though is that their molds require hardly any cleaning at all. You just need to clip them off the sprue and start painting them up.
The pics below are some comparisons between WF and PSC infantry. As you can see for yourselves the WF (darker plastic) are slighty closer to 15mm, but the larger 15mm of PSC (lighter plastic) allows for better compatabiulity with Battlefront miniatures.
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| The Hobbit Aryan! |
I have decided to place one rifleman from the Wargames Factory set in each of my platoon teams (I might as well use them!). This will increase pose variation and will also allow me to build up another platoon of Grenadiers to a maximum of 3. The size difference will not be that noticeable, especially if you raise them slightly with putty on the base. Having said that, I will not buy another one of these sets unless they increase the size and change the poses and weapons' combinations.
As for the tanks I bought a box of StuGs and Tigers. Once again they are very good with respects to detail, size and value for money. You get 5 StuGs and 4 tiger models - i.e. enough to make two full platoons. In each box you also get extra parts to make early, mid or late war variations, as well as command vehicles, which is a nice touch. The only drawback is that all the models will look the same. There are no options for customisation like stowage, but this is a minor concern.
Another point to note is that the Stugs from the Open Fire box set are slightly larger than the PSC ones. This is a bit of a bummer, but for the price you pay, it is certainly worth the slight reduction in size.
All I need now, in order to build up a complete Grenadier company, are an anti-tank platoon, an anti-aircraft platoon and an artillery platoon. Unfortunately, PSC do not make these yet in 15mm, so I will have to fork out a bit more and buy the Battlefront ones.
Well that is all for now. Next post I will present my first painted miniatures. Until then...
Farewell and good health.
NR