Wargames factory WSS question

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lord marcus
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Wargames factory WSS question

Post by lord marcus » Tue Oct 18, 2011 12:46 am

I have one question to any that have bought either box of the War of the Spanish Succession line by Wargames Factory.

Are they acceptable?

The reason I say acceptable is because that is what i have come to expect from WGF since their mediocre amazons.
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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by EvilGinger » Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:36 am

I have a box of the infantry & the cavalry which I bought to bulk out my forces.

The infantry figures are fine considering they are mostly two poses both marching with head variants I do have a couple of problems with them. First the marching figures have fitted socket or ring bayonets, but these can be removed easily and converted to plug bayonet scabbards. They also have gaiters rather than knee britches and stockings which I would have preferred. That said they are of a size and build to fit in with my metal Warfare & Dixon figures and paint up rather well and the price helps given I need lots of men form my Sharpe Practice variant.

The cavalry are much better and have nothing wrong with them at all as far as I am concerned & most of my cavalry rank and file will be formed from them. They also have an abundance of bits especially muskets & carbines which would have helped with the conversion of the infantry had I had them at the time. I will post a picture of mine on my blog some time soon.

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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by Sir William » Tue Oct 18, 2011 3:54 am

lord marcus;

I suppose it depends on what you consider "acceptable". Are they correctly-detailed in every respect as any single identifiable nation? No. Can they easily be assembled in multiple positions, which many gamers prefer today? No. Are they suitably "generic" enough to be used as rank & file in large historical collections or as Imagi-nation troops in classic poses? A resounding yes.

They do require some care in assembly, but no more than most plastic kits and less than some. They also require a bit more care in painting as they don't feature the deep undercuts in sculpting that most metal ranges have today. A good friend of mine, who is old enough to make the comparison, calls them the "21st century Spencer-Smiths". I personally think they are much better then the old S-S soft plastic range (or the metal re-casts), but they do fill a niche as inexpensive, good functional troops. Here are some examples by a couple of the better painters out there:

Image

By friend Steve Cady (Corporal Trim in the blogosphere) for an Imagi-nation project as faux French.

Image

By RobH, slightly converted for use as artillerists

Image

Image

By friend Joe in Waco, TX. His bulk forces and detail of his Berwick Regiment.

Image

Bavarian regiment de Mercy by friend Andy in the UK.

These are just a few examples of what can be done with the figures. For the cost, they are a great way to build-up a large collection or for a beginner to "get his feet -" in the period without breaking the bank.

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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by pogo » Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:23 am

Sir William wrote: For the cost, they are a great way to build-up a large collection or for a beginner to "get his feet -" in the period without breaking the bank.

Bill
can only agree to this
due to a fortunate combination of circumstances i acquired 14 boxes of them (504 figs) for just 100 euro, that's 5 figs to the euro (or 6 to the pound)
have painted 4 battalions of 24 and prepping 3 more, will try to get some photo's
have also ordered 5 boxes of cav thru www.3v but they will only arrive in 2/3 weeks

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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by lord marcus » Tue Oct 18, 2011 2:06 pm

Sounds wonderful. Considering there are not that many who play at the time period (most are ancients or napoleonics or FoW) I'd be getting them to paint.

I'd really only be able to play at one of the 2 conventions held each year here in central Florida, and even then only if there are players who set up intro games, tourney's, etc. My local club does FoW and napoleonics, but I have an interest in the entirety of the black powder period.
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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by Sir William » Tue Oct 18, 2011 6:24 pm

Alex - Glad to see you finally got your order sorted out after the management change, and it looks like it was to your advantage! Excellent job on the pic's shown.

Lord Marcus - Your sample sprues (I'm sending two) will go out in the next day or two, have fun with them. I think you are on the right track with the Imagi-nations idea. I'm in a similar situation regarding available opponents, so I'm using Barry's guide to a basic force (page 101 of BLB) and painting two "armies".

This comes out to a total of 18 battalions (9 per side), 8 regiments of horse/dragoons (4 per side), and artillery and command. Using WF figures for the bulk of this (and assuming you use BLB basing and organization) you are looking at totals of:

324 infantry figures = 9 boxes X $20 US = $180
96 cavalry figures = 8 boxes X $20 US = $160

So, $340 total for 420 figures. If you start painting this lot, WF should have their artillery out by the time you're done resulting in more savings. Otherwise, just factor in your basic artillery and personality figures in metal of your choice and you're set.

Also, bear in mind that the above references to cost are based on the single-box pricing direct from WF. They offer multi-box discounts and you can often find the sets on ebay and at local brick-n-mortar stores for less. As stated before, they are not everyone's preferred cup of tea, but as the photos show, they are very serviceable and would work well for a project like yours. Good luck Sir!

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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by lord marcus » Tue Oct 18, 2011 7:19 pm

Bill,

Thank you, that is most Generous. Now i'll be able to test out how they'll look on round bases for my sci-fi-pseudo historical forces as well!

Question as I'm new to the period and as such the abbreviations.

1. BLB?
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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by Sir William » Tue Oct 18, 2011 8:54 pm

BLB = "Beneath The Lily Banners", currently in the second edition, written and published by our gracious host here at the LoA site. 8)

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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by lord marcus » Tue Oct 18, 2011 9:00 pm

Wonderful. I'll see if i can't find a copy at a US company.
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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by Sir William » Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:31 pm

You can order it direct from the web store on this site, and Barry ships promptly and accepts Paypal, or get it from Dennis Shorthouse at On Military Matters in the US for $48. And Dennis also takes plastic or Paypal.

http://onmilitarymatters.com/pages/

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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by lord marcus » Tue Oct 18, 2011 10:49 pm

Good stuff. The fact he also stocks Perry is good as well. His prices for Victrix seem a little off though.

thanks a lot Sir William,


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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by EvilGinger » Wed Oct 19, 2011 3:40 am

They look fine on round bases as do the Warfare miniatures as a mater of fact I know this because all mine are based on UK Pennies which are of a similar size to US cents base to base they look suitably close ordered to me at least.

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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by lord marcus » Wed Oct 19, 2011 2:56 pm

Evil,

That will work great for my sci-fi/historical stuff then. Thanks!
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Re: Wargames factory WSS question

Post by Andy R » Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:00 am

EvilGinger wrote:They also have gaiters rather than knee britches and stockings which I would have preferred.
Oooh, do they have gaiters now? The ones I have (which were pre release) have stockings and shoes, but some of the others posted above certainly have gaiters.


And "Hi" Bill :D
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