OK you by some figures from X supplier to fit in your army. The main reason for doing this often is that you have a lot of that troop type and want variety of pose. You paint them up, base as always in your trusted method and only on incorporating them in your other units do you notice the new guys are dwarfs or giants. Often it is only a mm or two but it's noticeable and that tends to be a problem. Why given the fact that we as people are of different heights but I too feel they do not look right. Scale creep has also had a major effect. Look at the old 25mm which is now 28mm and in so many cases that is tongue in cheek given they are even taller! Old armies have problems with now having the choice of old castings or limited suppliers, after all for 28mm we are talking over 10% size increase!
That's as maybe but the worst culprit is in my mind the laughable 6mm scale. In the good bad old days we had three choices. Irregular, Heroics and Ross and Adler. Two factors at the time swayed my choice at the time of building my Prussian Naps army, price and availability. At the time the Irregular casts were quite crisp as the moulds were new. Heroics did not factor at the time for some reason and Adler was the Rolls Royce of them all. Two problems with Adler was their size, no way were they 6mm and as such seemed wrong but the deciding factor was just how much they cost above Irregular.
Availability went further than just the figures, I at the time had no inclination to paint such a small scale and besides I wanted my army now (well in six weeks). I could get a whole corp painted by Red Triangle Painting Service for the same price of the same number of Adler figure unpainted. Any extra regiments I would paint up copying the bought figures (well that was the plan). Fast forward about 5-10 years and I have bought some Heroics and Ross Prussians but not any castings and our French player has moved away, far away. So I buy a French army from Irregular, the castings are not bad but they are not good either. I paint up about 10 regiments of infantry and start the cavalry and some guns, crews and limbers. First up I paint in my style as I just can't come to grips with the other style. Secondly the infantry was fun, the horse was a pain in the butt and I stalled. Prussians V Russians was the only dish on the menu and then I went into hibernation.
Fast forward about 20 years and it's all changed. Irregular are still the cheapest in town but boy are they ugly and for two reasons. The moulds are old and worn but most of all things have moved on. Baccus have arrived and have almost flash free castings and Adler pricing is close to that of Baccus. Irregular are still the cheapest on the block but they are not an option. After working through most of the Irregular even the cavalry I went on to Baccus and they have been the constant since then. However at Donnington I picked up my first Adler (sorry Matt you was right all those years ago but I was not ready then). But here is the perfect example of three different companies doing the same thing, differently. I believe Baccus purposely went between the two competitors to have the chance of picking up sales from both companies customers.
 |
| Adler, Baccus and Irregular. |
I should have included a Prussian Ulan regiment for the full comparison but never thought to, which kind of sums up H&R for me. This is strange as I actually like the figures, I just don't think about them.
It would be fair to say that you could be forgiven in thinking the figures come from different scales but no all three without a sign of shame call their figures 6mm. Detail increases with an increase in the size of the figure and bear in mind that for the most part so as the standard of sculpting so it's a bit unfair to compare quality of figure across all three.
One clear fact is that I can not, long term keep my Irregular figures now that I have started to add the Adler castings to my army. Even the Baccus cavalry will long term probably be moved on as the Adler dwarf them and I am afraid to say look so much nicer. I will though wait for the new Baccus French for a final word. It's not that the Baccus are bad, far from it. The worst thing is that Baccus ride ponies and Adler have horses. I was not 100% happy with Baccus nags anyway, Adler give me the choice I was needing.
All six regiments lined up on a hill awaiting orders to fight their first battle. Until now all I had finished was the five Hussars and six Lancer units, still got to paint up the Cuirassiers and for these I have 4 each of Baccus and Irregular so they are some way back on the list as in a pinch I can use some of the Prussians if really forced.
Two of the Baccus Regiments, the 19th and the 28th Dragons. I have painted the collars, turnbacks and rolls (over the ammunition boxes to the rear of the saddle) to fit specific Regiments. France had rather a lot of these Regiments so I have plenty to go at when I expand further.
The 23rd managed to get in the frame twice, this time sharing with the 13th. The 23rd is one of the two Irregular units.
Compare the Dragoon.Com. On the left we have the Irregular and the right Baccus. The Baccus are to start off slightly larger and more filled out figure which helps to give more detail to the figure. Also what needs mentioning the Irregular are somewhat old castings I have had for 15+ years whilst the Baccus were probably cast in the last few months. This in fact favours the Irregular because their molds unless replaced in the last few years were showing their age and I know at least one guy who has taken figures back to them after buying them at a con due to the heavy flash and poor detail. Still £ for £ they are really a great price but even looking at the price of Baccus since the price rise they are a fair price for what you get.