I thought I had a pretty good handle on the inventory of the local Hobbytown, but I found something new there this week. To be honest, I haven't spent a lot of time in the plastic model section of the store, as many of the models are civilian vehicles. Well, I happened to wander through that section and on one of the back shelves I found a pile of boxes containing 1:72 scale (from what I can tell, it's a little smaller than true 25mm figures) plastic soldiers from various periods in history, including Vikings and the American Civil War. What really grabbed me was the price point for the figures. Each box contained 40-50 figures for $8.00-9.00. That's a pretty good value. I'd read about some of the virtues of plastic figures in my copy of Battlegames #5, but hadn't really made any connection with my own hobby plans.
My initial excitement centered around the Vikings, but after spending some time thinking about my plans and going over the pictures on the Plastic Soldier Review website I decided that I'm really set on using Foundry's figures for my Dark Ages armies. But there are projects that I don't have figures chosen for that I may use plastics for. The American Civil War is one of those periods that I don't have figures chosen for, and plastics would be a great way to get into the period without breaking the bank, leaving cash in the budget for higher-priority projects. It may be an option for WWII gaming as well, but I'd have to do some research. I like the potential for plastics to act as a cheap way for me to build armies outside of my "core" interests, but I still need to look around before making any final decisions.
My initial excitement centered around the Vikings, but after spending some time thinking about my plans and going over the pictures on the Plastic Soldier Review website I decided that I'm really set on using Foundry's figures for my Dark Ages armies. But there are projects that I don't have figures chosen for that I may use plastics for. The American Civil War is one of those periods that I don't have figures chosen for, and plastics would be a great way to get into the period without breaking the bank, leaving cash in the budget for higher-priority projects. It may be an option for WWII gaming as well, but I'd have to do some research. I like the potential for plastics to act as a cheap way for me to build armies outside of my "core" interests, but I still need to look around before making any final decisions.
