Alan Perry:
The most common question we've been asked over the last two years is, quite rightly, 'when are you going to make Prussians!' At last, they're here! Well, the three-up's for the plastics are, anyway. These are in the tooling process at the moment, so we have no release date.
The set will comprise 40 Line Musketeers/Grenadiers, plus a detachment of six Volunteer Jaegers which were often attached to regiments. The 40 infantry will give you a full-strength battalion at 20:1 (for man-sized games), although we will be making the command frame available to buy separately too (direct from us) for those who use a different ratio. This is something we'll be doing for the other Napoleonic sets.
I've gone for the traditional march-attack pose for the line infantry and, as they're advancing at speed, I've made the Jaegers 'at trial', firearms in one hand and their Hirschlangers in the other (!). There will be a metal conversion pack to make the musketeers/grenadiers into fusiliers, too. A metal range will accompany this plastic set, and will possibly be available prior to this set.
There will be enough heads with covered shakos for all the figures in the box. In addition, there will be heads with the Line Feldmutze and peaked Schirmutze for the Jaegers, as some units had them. Likewise, the Jaeger belly pouch is separate, as some Volunteer Jaeger units had them. With all the faces, I've tried to give them a Germanic look.
Most figures are in three pieces, as we realize people like to build up units quickly, so you'll get head, equipment (knapsack, haversack, cartridge box, short sword and half the greatcoat are in one piece) and body to put together.
The command frame comprises one officer, one standard bearer, one drummer and an NCO.
As soon as we have finished sprues, I'll put them up on our website and TMP.
First, this is a really big undertaking, you can't just do one box of plastics, you need cavalry, guns, limbers, caissons, more infantry, command, personalities etc. and they do promise a 'metal range' to go along with this set, so this is going to keep the boys very busy for a few years to come at least!
Then this set is marked as "1813-1815" which is really goods news if they stick to this as this nicely opens up the whole 1813 'War of Liberation' and the 1814 'Invasion of France' rather than being locked into a couple of pointless battles in 1815, that is what makes this announcement so 'big'. So maybe we can then hope for late-period Austrians at some point?
These sculpts are as ever beautifully executed, the right poses for plastic and to 'bulk out' an army. The Prussians were always in a hurry where ever they were going, weren't they, and these look like they are too. They seem to have captured the shako perfectly and I love the Jaeger's, simply perfect, though I would like to see a metal selection to go along side these to add variety. Personally I hope we don't see cavalry in plastic, metal is superior and especially for lower volume items it must make more sense.
It's also good news that this is from Perry and not Victrix, "Most figures are in three pieces, as we realize people like to build up units quickly", Perry do so "get it". As I have said before I really worry for Victrix, especially as their problem is not the quality, they are excellent sculpts, it is just they don't seem to quite get what is needed and Perry are killers, that is why I think Victrix should go all metal, there is room for more metal manufacturers, but I am not sure about there being room for any other (profitable) plastic manufacturer than Perry in Napoleonics, and whilst we are talking of Victrix... guys, where are the horses for those limbers!!!!
Now no date as to 'when' but since they stated "Zouaves in February" it must mean later than that and as they usually take 6-9 months to go from green to in your hand then we should probably expect April/May next year. They also mention metals might be released earlier, maybe a nice xmas gift I wonder?
So what of Calpe, the company that is synonymous with "Prussian Napoleonics", well it depends on whether you see Calpe and Perry as being compatible in the first place, personally I never have, I believe Calpe are beautiful 'big' 28's, and fit perfectly with Front Rank, but Perry are thinner, smaller and as such I don't see these two will be eating each others markets.
Renegade:
Just a little bit of news here, more on this in the next week or two, but the 5-4-4 deal is back on (like you ever thought it wouldn't return) and after some revamping of other lines (I don't know which ones yet), the 28mm Household Cavalry are back on the table and hopefully will be available to order next week, so look out for some pics very soon. If you didn't know Renegade's 28mm metal Napoleonic's are designed specifically to match Perry plastics so they are there to add further variety and are really, really cheap. The site is not updated yet but I guess it will be soon.
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