Feast of Figures: Plastics

In keeping with my earlier promise to cover plastics as a separate entry, I present the historical plastic possibilities of SAGA.

Conquest Games - Beyond their limited line of metals, Conquest Games has foot and mounted Normans.  For only 20GBP you get 15 Norman knights on horseback.  The box includes an equal number of round and kite shields, so you can use the round ones and call them Bretons.  The box also features a dead horse and rider.  The infantry box includes 44 troops casualties, and weapon and shield options for 20GBP.







Fireforge Games - These are later, more appropriate for the Crescent & Cross games, but wow are they nice.  Two boxes of cavalry give you two dozen horses and riders and run you a bit under 60 Euro.  These figures must be seen to be believed and at 24 figures for the cost of 5 Games Workshop Terminators, they make a strong case for putting your Games Workshop figures on eBay and placing a substantial order for Crusaders.  Besides, wouldn't you fee like so much less of a dork when guests ask what's on your workbench, telling them that you're modelling knights of the Templar Order as opposed to Terminator Dreadnoughts of the Imperial Fists?  One will make you look like a history nerd.  With the other you don't get to use history as an adjective.



Gripping Beast Plastics - Really nice plastics.  Slightly larger figures than the GB metal line, which works if you're pairing them with a larger line like Crusader or Dixon.  The box of generic Dark Age warriors has 40 unarmored figures, where as the Saxon Thegns and Viking Hirdmen incongrously come in boxes of 44.  Given that lower ranking troops come in larger groups, this doesn't make a lick of sense to me.  The price is a reasonable 22GBP per box.  Unlike the Wargames Factory boxes, there are no bows provided.  You do get lots of slings, though.  The figures area really nice, relatively easy to assemble and a box of warriors and a box of thegns/hirdmen provide you with everything you could need to put together a force.  Think about that.  For the cost of two 10 figure boxes of Space Marines from Games workshop, you can get 84 figures, all the troops you'll need to make up your force and still have plenty left over for options, or casualties, or both.

Wargames Factory - Really reasonable plastics.  Their Germanic warriors and Numidians can also be easily repurposed as generic Dark Age warriors.  Some people have expressed frustration at the poses, it's a matter of carefully finding what works.  The best poses may not be the most obvious.  Spears are really thin and should be replaced by metal ones from Crusader at the first possible.  All that aside, they can be had really reasonably.  I picked up a box of Saxon Fyrd and a box of Saxon Thegns for a touch over $31US for the pair and that was enough to build a full force with plenty of options.  For someone short on cash and longer on time, it's a tough value to beat.

So I know I said early on with this blog that one should never compare anything to GW, but I have repeatedly failed that.  GW is what people know.  It's also so ludicrous that people who have reached escape velocity from the GW world are constantly in awe of what else is out there.  You can still spend a lot to get really nice figures, but now you don't have to.