I've been thinking about Vikings lately, since Wargames Factory is now producing plastic Vikings by the truckload. * A few days ago I got an e-mail from Foundry about a 20% off everything sale. So I decided to dig in and crunch some numbers. I could throw Gripping Beast in as well, but I've had shipping problems with both orders I've placed through them and don't want to deal with that. The issues always got resolved, but I'd prefer not to have to send e-mails and wait an extra month to get my figures. Your mileage may vary depending on location, I suppose. On to the numbers.
As a base, I took the Viking starter list from Field of Glory's Wolves from the Sea supplement. It doesn't really seem like a starter list at 247 figures, but it's just a baseline for the number-crunching.
For Wargames Factory you could get the figures for $219.45. You'd have a few figures left over, and probably a lot of repetition when it comes to torsos, arms, and the like. Positives are that you can pose them how you want and mix them with other kits.
The Foundry army would cost at least $430 at the sale price, and quite a bit more at the regular price. I do like the sculpts, and even if I go with another option I may still get a unit or two of their berserkers. From my limited reading it seems like berserkers and ulfhednar (berserkers wearing wolf pelts and possibly on drugs) may be more fiction than reality, but they are so characterful it seems a shame not to run a few of them. But that price tag really pushes me away. I do not have a nostalgic attachment to metal figures and even usually prefer plastic figures anyway, so the plastic/metal argument doesn't come into play for me.
By price point alone the Wargames Factory figures seem like the way to go. With the money saved I could buy a full Saxon army whenever they get around to releasing their Saxon set.
I am probably going to order a couple of the Wargames Factory preview sprues to see how they look. I have doubts that they will fit in sizewise with the Gripping Beast figures I already have as plastics generally seem to run a little big, but that's something I will check. Any sort of massive army-building in this era is a long way down the road, but that won't stop me from window-shopping.
* - Size of truck may vary.
As a base, I took the Viking starter list from Field of Glory's Wolves from the Sea supplement. It doesn't really seem like a starter list at 247 figures, but it's just a baseline for the number-crunching.
For Wargames Factory you could get the figures for $219.45. You'd have a few figures left over, and probably a lot of repetition when it comes to torsos, arms, and the like. Positives are that you can pose them how you want and mix them with other kits.
The Foundry army would cost at least $430 at the sale price, and quite a bit more at the regular price. I do like the sculpts, and even if I go with another option I may still get a unit or two of their berserkers. From my limited reading it seems like berserkers and ulfhednar (berserkers wearing wolf pelts and possibly on drugs) may be more fiction than reality, but they are so characterful it seems a shame not to run a few of them. But that price tag really pushes me away. I do not have a nostalgic attachment to metal figures and even usually prefer plastic figures anyway, so the plastic/metal argument doesn't come into play for me.
By price point alone the Wargames Factory figures seem like the way to go. With the money saved I could buy a full Saxon army whenever they get around to releasing their Saxon set.
I am probably going to order a couple of the Wargames Factory preview sprues to see how they look. I have doubts that they will fit in sizewise with the Gripping Beast figures I already have as plastics generally seem to run a little big, but that's something I will check. Any sort of massive army-building in this era is a long way down the road, but that won't stop me from window-shopping.
* - Size of truck may vary.
Plastic is the way to go with a few metal figures thrown in for weight and character.
ReplyDeletethat's how I'll be progressing my Wars of the roses collection once the Perry box launches anyway.
I'm interested to see your views on the plastic Vikings when you get them because the photos on the website so far are unconvincing for me.
I've noticed that the gaming community (at least on The Miniatures Page) has very mixed opinions on the Wargames Factory line. On closer inspection of the pictures, there are one or two arm choices that seem a bit "off" to me, but that could be a problem with the assembly of the figure or the camera angle. We'll see when they get here, but at the price point I don't think I'll be complaining.
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