40mm or 54mm? (2 Viewers)

[Wraith]

Give me 54 mm or give me death

That's a slightly unnerving statement coming from a surgeon....

 

[Spitfrnd]

That's a slightly unnerving statement coming from a surgeon....

Oh no, a surgeon with your sense of humor; now that is a might scary. Now where is Hawkeye when you need him anyway.

 

[Wraith]

Oh no, a surgeon with your sense of humor; now that is a might scary.

It must be a warped thing.

 

[Mister Dave]

Hmmmmmmm.......

I never really thought about 40MM figures before, but this might be a good way to stay involved with the Napoleonics after all, and in large quantities at a good price point and all. I must say the figures pictured on the work bench look excellent. Matt, will there be much new development at this scale in light of your 54MM range growing so much so fast? Simply curious...

MD

Still sort of wondering about this possibility. Any comments, Matt?

Regards,
MD

 

[FirstLegion]

Still sort of wondering about this possibility. Any comments, Matt?

Regards,
MD

Yes, we will continue to grow our 40mm ranges including Napoleonics. We had a slow year for 40mm in 2008 for reasons I won't go into, but things have stabilized and we'll be bringing out a lot more figures in 2009 with a continued emphasis on Ancients, Crusaders, and Napoleonics...

Regards,

Matt
First Legion Ltd

 

[Deitz]

Give me 54 mm or give me death

As long as they are Glossy.

 

[Mister Dave]

Yes, we will continue to grow our 40mm ranges including Napoleonics. We had a slow year for 40mm in 2008 for reasons I won't go into, but things have stabilized and we'll be bringing out a lot more figures in 2009 with a continued emphasis on Ancients, Crusaders, and Napoleonics...

Regards,

Matt
First Legion Ltd

Matt, thanks for the feedback. I would just guess without knowing any more of the details that with the huge 54MM releases this past year, it might be difficult to add a lot to these as well. I have had to drop Naps this year for $$$ reasons, but as I stated in a previous post this may be a way to resume in a lower price bracket, and force me to start painting more again at the same time. I will eventually require some British, however.

Regards,
MD

 

[FirstLegion]

Matt, thanks for the feedback. I would just guess without knowing any more of the details that with the huge 54MM releases this past year, it might be difficult to add a lot to these as well. I have had to drop Naps this year for $$$ reasons, but as I stated in a previous post this may be a way to resume in a lower price bracket, and force me to start painting more again at the same time. I will eventually require some British, however.

Regards,
MD

Actually, our 54mm release schedule really didn't have too much to do with it. Sure, constantly prioritizing 54mm castings did put things back a little bit, but it was more the unreliability of one particular sculptor that put us back the most. We're now using the sculptor who did our greeks to work on our Napoleonics, so additional figures should be coming soon.

On another note, we get a lot of requests to produce our 54mm Napoleonic figures as unpainted kits because the sculpts are so good. What do you guys think about this?

Regards,

Matt
First Legion Ltd

 

[marco55]

As long as you still have the pre-painted it would be ok.

 

[beating retreat]

Actually, our 54mm release schedule really didn't have too much to do with it. Sure, constantly prioritizing 54mm castings did put things back a little bit, but it was more the unreliability of one particular sculptor that put us back the most. We're now using the sculptor who did our greeks to work on our Napoleonics, so additional figures should be coming soon.

On another note, we get a lot of requests to produce our 54mm Napoleonic figures as unpainted kits because the sculpts are so good. What do you guys think about this?

Regards,

Matt
First Legion Ltd

Hi Matt I think 54mm in kit form is agood idea I love to paint my own figures and this would allow me to paint some really nice castings

 

[Ragnar]

54mm Castings sound great .
I was just on the FL site and i realy like the look of the 40mm Crusades.
but does anyone know who makes 40mm Castles??

 

[Spitfrnd]

As long as you still have the pre-painted it would be ok.

Yes obviously with this caveat for those of us that are painting challenged. Of course if this gets us some good stuff sooner, even better.

 

[FirstLegion]

Yes obviously with this caveat for those of us that are painting challenged. Of course if this gets us some good stuff sooner, even better.

Of course, nothing would change regarding our toy soldiers. We would still produce them exactly as we are producing them today. It's just along with them we are considering releasing the figures as unpainted castings as well to support modellers. We haven't decided this yet at all, but it's something we are kicking around.

 

[Andanna]

One of the concerns I read about for not selling unpainted kits if you are continuing to sell painted figures is hat someone buys the kit, copies it and paints it to compete with you heads-on. I understand that this would be rather unwelcome competition.

I obviously cannot judge whether this threat is realistic or not.

 

[FirstLegion]

One of the concerns I read about for not selling unpainted kits if you are continuing to sell painted figures is hat someone buys the kit, copies it and paints it to compete with you heads-on. I understand that this would be rather unwelcome competition.

I obviously cannot judge whether this threat is realistic or not.

This really isn't a concern as long as they are buying each kit that they paint and sell. It's only a concern if someone buys one kit, pirates it, and then sells painted figures. This is actually the biggest concern that we have about it, potential piracy. This typically only goes on in Russia though, where piracy runs rampant. In the US or Europe, we'd have recourse through legal means. Russia is unfortunately the wild west. Again, we haven't made any decision about this, but are just kicking it around.

 

[Spitfrnd]

This really isn't a concern as long as they are buying each kit that they paint and sell. It's only a concern if someone buys one kit, pirates it, and then sells painted figures. This is actually the biggest concern that we have about it, potential piracy. This typically only goes on in Russia though, where piracy runs rampant. In the US or Europe, we'd have recourse through legal means. Russia is unfortunately the wild west. Again, we haven't made any decision about this, but are just kicking it around.

Russia as the wild west and still all those Russian figures....? On a serious note though, if you go with kits, which I would like as well, be sure to add spare heads so we could add some more variety to the figure poses etc.

 

[Waterloo]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum. My name is Tom and I'm from Germany.

I want to bring this thread up for a reason.

I just recently got interested in toy soldiers. By chance, I ran into a few 28mm napoleonic figures from Del Prado. Beeing actually made for tabletop games, I wanted to use them to build small dioramas and vignettes for displaying purposes only. So started to look for more of them and was able to buy a few.

But now I got hold of a few painted 40mm figures by Perry. They were offered on ebay in lots of three and I was able to win 5 lots. I wish I got them all, 'cause they are so nicely painted.

I know, this forum is for people who paint their own figures, but I'm still a beginner, so buying already painted ones gives me a chance to take them as models for my own work.

I attach a picture of three of those figures so you get an idea, what I mean. As usually, the photograph doesn't do justice to the real quality of the paint-job.

But one thing is for sure: Forget those little 28mm figures, 40mm is far more worthwhile (sorry, I'm not a 54mm guy...).

Tom

 

[marco55]

Welcome to the forum Tom.Most of us here are NOT painters but there are some very good ones here.As I said a couple of years ago I would love to be able to buy pre-painted 40mm but I don't see this happening in a 54/60mm painted world.For me not only would they be a cheaper price (maybe?) but for people who like to set up dioramas you could have larger amounts of figures.No one does my period of interest anyway but I don't see it happening.Your best bet since your into Napoleanics is to buy FL castings and either have them painted or have a go at it yourself.All the best.
Mark

 

[Waterloo]

Hi Mark,

and thanks for the warm welcome!

I'll definitely give it a try myself to paint some of my figures (at the moment I'm working on a 28mm war elephant), but I do know where my limitations are... .
Having figures painted by someone else is only half the fun and can become very costy.

If there is interest for this issue, I'll be happy to keep you posted.

Tom

 

[marco55]

Also for me Tom it's very exspensive.I have a 5 figure vignette,54mm really closer to 60mm but anyway with special packaging it's going to cost $872.05.
Mark