"28mm FPW compatability - beginners question" Topic

Hi All,

I am a recent 28mm starter – previously only 15mm – and I am very keen on starting FPW.

Ive read a few posts on here and seen a few ranges, and on the most part the quality looks great. I am however very confused by the question of size – I was hoping can someone please confirm for me what do people mean when they ask about Foundry compatibility? are Foundry actually 25mm?

Also, I would like some personal reccomendations on product lines.. I'm keen to collect 1866 and 1870 figs and have a penchant for collecting non standard armies..

Thanks

A few Posts to look at:

TMP link

TMP link

link

Foundry have some useful stuff on their website, they are very nice but more 25mm than 28mm. North Star 1866 beautiful, lively figures big 28mm full of character. Heroes of the Dark Age nice new range, see comparison link. Adam is intending to do many more figures in the range, I may have persuaded him to do some Brunswick and other minor states! I am currently painting his French Cuirassier, nice figure a little bigger than Foundry. I also have some Castaway stuff,again nice figures, Askari make some nice Zuoaves, as do Redoubt in their ACW range.

Ironclad do some suitable figures for French Republican (Sans epaulets)and German suitable for Mecklenburg.

Tally Ho!

Hi, I can answer some of your questions on 28mm FPW figure scales. Old Glory Miniatures, Askari Miniatures, and Castaway Arts are 28mm figures. Eureka Miniatures is also 28mm figures.

Battle Honors is 25mm/28mm scale depending on the range. But more like 25mm. I have the same problem with Foundry. I call the figures 28mm. They are large 25mm figures. But not quite 28mm scale.

What are you looking for as far as figures? Foundry has the most complete figure line. But I've had to do a wide assortment of figures to get what I wanted. Here is what I did…

1) 28mm French Foreign Legion from Old Glory Miniatures.
2) 28mm French Zouaves and 28mm French Turcos from Askari Minaitures.
3) 28mm French Chassuers d'Afrique from Old Glory.
4) 28mm French Cuirassier from Wargames Foundry.
5) 25mm French 4 lb artillery and crews from Battle Honors.
6) 28mm French Mounted Command from Old Glory.
7) 28mm French High Command from Wargames Foundry.
8) 28mm French Mitraileuse battery from Wargames Foundry.
9) 28mm 1870 Prussian infantry from Eureka Miniatures.
10) 28mm 1870 Prussian Cuirassiers from Wargames Foundry.
11) 28mm 1870 Bavarian infantry from Wargames Foundry.
12) 28mm 1870 Mounted German officers from Wargames Foundry.
13) 28mm 1870 Prussian High Command from Wargames Foundry.
14) 28mm 1870 Prussian Artillery crews from Wargames Foundry.
15) 25mm Krupp Field Guns from Old Glory Miniatures (in their British Colonial/Egyptian-Sudan line).
16) 28mm 1870 Prussian Siege Mortar Battery from Wargames Foundry.

If you're looking for 25mm Austrians or Saxons, Battle Honors has a decent range of figures for that period. 1866 from North Star Miniatures also has the larger 28mm figures if you're looking for something larger.

You may be wondering why I went with 25mm Old Glory Krupp guns instead of Foundry. Part of it was ease of assembly. If you don't know what you're doing, the Foundry guns are a pain to assemble. I found that out when I went to assemble a battery of Krupp siege mortars. The Old Glory Krupp guns are much easier to assemble. So I went with them.

Unfortunately, Old Glory doesn't have a 28mm FPW range. You could use Eureka Miniatures USA and contact Rob Walters if you're in the States to see about ordering figures. But Eureka only has infantry and command. No mounted command or artillery.

Though there's also Spencer Smith Miniatures. I thought about using them at one point before I sunk a bunch of money into Foundry. But those figures are true 30mm scale. But they have a large and growing range of 30mm FPW figures that are reasonably priced if you're in the UK or Europe.

Though you could also try Castaway Arts. They have a dedicated line of 28mm FPW for Larry Brom's Chassepot and Needlegun. That is the rule set I currently play.

Regards,
Blake

Hello Nick, after speaking to you at PAW, we are going to start a 'small' Brunswick range this month, just a couple of infantry packs, including command, and some cavalry. These should be done by Easter, along with some Bavarian cavalry

But once you get the units on the battlefield, the scale differences disappear:

link

link

link (for some different mixes of artillery pieces and gunners)

link (scroll about a quarter of the way down)

You'll see, at minimum, Foundry, Old Glory, Askari, Iron Brigade, Castaway Arts, and Eureka figures in these pictures. I think as long as you keep your units as homogeneous as possible, then you'll be OK.

Jim

As Col Campbell correctly says:

Rear gang & Arty – Foundry, Mtd Officers Castaway, close up the larger Original Helion 1866:

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Foundry Wurtenburg Inf, Mtd Officers converted from Danes, Old glory Saxon Gunners, Foundry Cav, North Star 1866 Prussian Inf and Mtd Officers:

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Some of everything!

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Looking forwards to some Brunswick!

Tally Ho!

Here's a new range that's coming out this year.
link

ColCampbell and nickinsomerset, I never tire of seeing your wonderful collections!

Thanks and hopefully both collections show how the different manufacturers fit in on the table,

Tally Ho!

Guys

My sincere thanks for the effort in replying to my request for help. I really appreciate the pictures and I a grateful for your experience in helping me start out.

I have now got a list of sites for manufacturers to check out (I'm in Australia – only one local supplier) and the sculpts look good.

I was planning on using Black Powder rules – however advice on this is also appreciated.

Im going to have a look through my options in figures now with credit card at the ready!

Are the Foundry miniatures older sculpts? It appears in the images above the level of detail in the French example seems to be a lot less than the Heroes of Dark Ages minis. Is this representative of the range? Ive not seen Foundry figures close up.

Yes the Foundry stuff is mid 80s, still very nice though as a visit to their new website shows.

Young Mr Nevermore and his gang use BP for their games and have written a few bits, in addition one of the magazines had an article about using BP a couple of years ago:

link

My chaps are based for They Died for Glory, but I have played a few BP games too, and found they work well with the correct tweaks:

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Tally Ho!

Brunswickers – great news!

One day, calloo callay, some Hanoverians