Warlord Games - Pavlovsk Grenadiers

WG are moving fast with their Russian range!

Although we have seen the Pavlosk Grenadiers before, now we can actually order them. They are priced at GBP20.00 per box, but remember if you are outside the EU you won't get charged VAT so that means 20% off that price.

Pre-order Pavlovsk Grenadiers

The third of our plastic and metal Napoleonic Russian boxed sets are the Pavlovsk Grenadiers.

Rewarded for their bravery on the battlefield by the Emperor of Russia they were allowed to retain their distinctive mitre caps when other grenadier regiments were being issued shakos.

This boxed set is designed to allow you to field one battalion of this very famous Grenadier regiment; the variants in the box allow you to build both musketeers and grenadiers along with a command section to lead them into battle. We have also provided a selection of flags from a number of regiments so you can get them into the action right away.

As you can see there are two types of mitre cap – the tall grenadier version and the smaller one worn by the musketeers. As with our 1809-1815 Russian Line Infantry and 1812-1815 Russian Line Infantry sets these are simplicity itself to put together as they are 3-part models…

Each boxed set contains 4 metal and 28 plastic miniatures. Also includes standard poles and flag finials. Also included are 56 metal heads so you can build them as either grenadiers or musketeers. I’ll say that again – 56 heads! Pre-order your box set here today!

Warlord Games - New: Napoleonic Russian Support Packs!

We've seen all these before as greens but they are now available in the WG store so you can rush out and buy them if you wish.

From their announcement:

Following our superb new plastic 1812-1815 Russian Line Infantry boxed set are these two new metal packs – command and casualties! This is just the start of a comprehensive Napoleonic Russian range on the way! Cast a weather eye over these fine sculpts…

First up is this great-looking command pack. Ideally suited to armies fighting after 1812 you could easily use these as early as 1809 by swapping the drummer’s kiwer shako for one of the earlier pattern shakos as you’ll find them in the 1809-1815 Russian line Infantry set – you’ll have plenty of spares after all!

As you’d expect from us here at Warlord there is stacks of variety and options to allow you to build this pack in many different configurations and giving your army a uniform yet individual feel. As you’ll notice from the photos above, all right arms and heads are separate with the pack containing several options of each.

As you can imagine we’ll be producing a similar set for the 1809 pattern regiments so keep your eyes on the newsletter for first sighting!

You can purchase this command pack now here in the webstore.

What would a wargame be without casualty figures? Not only a great addition to your rank and file to add atmosphere to your battalions they can also be used as casualty markers for your games of Black Powder!

You can pick up a pack or two of casualties right here!

As I probably said before some of these poses do look like they were recycled from the Prussian Landwehr but I do like the drummer.

Of particular note "start of a comprehensive Napoleonic Russian range" interesting if true, WG has always struck me as not being really serious about Napoleonics, so I am very interested to see what they mean by 'comprehensive', especially with the Perry juggernaut looming large on the horizon, but as before their Russians do paint up spectacularly well!

One thing I wish, is that Napoleonic manufacturers would 'talk' more to their customers! I hate to do the "Perry are perfect" dance but at least with Perry I believe I know where the range is headed, what I can expect and some of idea when I will get it. Admittedly much of this is due to the Perry track record speaking for itself but other manufacturers don't really have this track record and I think they are missing a great opportunity to get people on board.

If WG are seriously planning a 'comprehensive' range give us an idea of what that means, not saying we need greens now but tell us the scope for the range so we can plan out where WG may fit in to our collections over the next few years ahead, otherwise I am afraid they will be all Perry.

Can't resist another pic of their Infantry...

Mouthwatering!

WG - Pre-order plastic 1809 Napoleonic Russian Infantry!

There was a sort of inevitability to this announcement LOL.

Hot on the heels of our 1812 Russian Infantry are these excellent 1809 Russians from the Napoleonic Wars!

Wearing the taller shako and with Grenadiers wearing the outlandishly larger plumes many regiments would wear this style of uniform right through to the end of the Napoleonic wars.These 3-part models (head, body and backpack/sword) are easy to build and allows you to get stuck into the painting quickly. The set allows you to build a 32-strong unit of grenadiers, musketeers or a mixture of both – complete with command group and several full-colour paper flags – as is your preference.

Take a look at the new models and tell us you don’t want to place a pre-order!

For those of you without access to the internet on your desert island you’ll not have heard about our forthcoming 1812-1815 Russian Infantry – allow us to fill you in…

Wearing the later pattern ‘kiwer’ shako this boxed set represents regiments who have adopted the latest reforms to the Russian army uniforms and structure. As with the earlier set this unit can be made up as musketeers, grenadiers or a mix of both by virtue of the separate heads.

You can take advantage of our pre-order offer for this boxed set and make sure you get yours before those lightweights who will wait for it to be released!

If that little lot hasn’t left you breathless here is the cover art for the next Napoleonic Russian boxed set – Pavlovsk Grenadiers! As with our other box artworks Peter ‘The Count’ Dennis has worked his magic perfectly. We’ll be showing off the sculpts for these in a couple of weeks all being well.

It doesn’t end there though – we have a welter of support packs for the Russians – keep your eyes on the Warlord newsletter for the first news!

Inevitable yes, but still you have to say all of a sudden WG are knocking on the door with 4 different boxes of Napoleonics and after learning on the Landwehr these are not bad at all. Ok maybe not Perry standard but I think good enough for wargamers and to be honest I use 32 man units so these are spot on, as they are mean't to be and they are available now, in plastic, you can't say that about anyone else.

Not sure where they really are with the Pavlosk Grenadiers, certainly no more than 6 months away but are secretly quite advanced and we will see these before xmas?

I have to say these Russian have painted up really well, much better than I expected, they are lovely. So if you need to get your Russians in time for 2012 then this looks like a good place to start.

With all these new sets of infantry arriving this autumn it does beg the question, who is going to be first in offering us non-French cavalry in plastic?

WG Napoleonic Russians

Warlord Games have been quiet about the 28mm plastic late Russians ever since Salute, which is hardly surprising, everyone in the industry tends to fall over themselves in a rush to make announcements in time for Salute, then there is the inevitable lag as they all try to deliver on those commitments and we start drumming our fingers impatiently.

Anyway Paul Sawyer has commented over the weekend:

They are being tooled at the moment and will be our next plastic release.

We'll let you know more when we do!

Hmm...
Well at least this wasn't about flags...

Anyway good news, they will be next up, so they can't be that far away.
Of the top of my head I would guess August, hopefully we should see the Victrix Austrians before then, that should keep us busy.

Warlord Games: Plastic Napoleonic Russians!

Wow, where did this one come from......

From their announcement:

We are delighted to announce a forthcoming plastic kit - the Napoleonic Russians!

Based on uniforms worn in warmer months, these are ideal for battles such as Borodino.

In classic march-attack pose, these 28mm plastic miniatures have separate backpack, swords and ammo pouches, as well as separate heads.

All of the following head variants will be included.

Musketeer with short shako
Musketeer with earlier pattern tall shako
Musketeers with leather covered shako
Grenadiers with short shako
Grenadiers with earlier pattern tall shako (with outrageous plumage!)
Three different body sculpts and a wealth of accoutrements will lend itself beautifully to customization.

As you can see from the photos here, these models will be easy to assemble, allow for a great number of options within the regiment, and look splendid on the table

As we get nearer to confirming a release date, more information will follow - along with photos!

Now this one is a jaw dropping moment, Perry's stuff was good but not exactly earth shocking, you could see the writing on the wall once they announced the Prussians but this one is a major surprise.

I was only thinking this week, was the Prussian Landwehr 'it' for WG Napoleonic's?

Well here is the answer, no way, and these do look lovely!!

What's more it seems WG have listened to our views after last years release of the Landwehr even though we want easy to assemble wargame friendly figures we want more flexibility than can be achieved if you just make the figure as one piece. I commented at the time that we at least need the head separate and we have it here, this makes this set worth looking at, otherwise I would say it can't compete with Perry. Like with the Landwehr WG will offer fewer body sculpts than we would expect from a Perry set, in fact Perry will have two sets to cover what WG will do with one. So I can see this either suiting the guy who finds even Perry too much work to assemble or for the rest of us, the opportunity to do a bit of mix and matching between the sets.

No mention of release dates but in the past WG have tended to only show something when they are quite close to being ready, maybe 3-4 months out, sorry just pure speculation, but I hope so lol.

Having just said there isn't room for two plastic sets targeting the same subject what can I say about this, when not only does it go head to head with Perry but it also is the same style as Perry i.e. aimed at the wargamer rather than modeler. Well first thing is that WG economics are very different from Victrix, WG aren't dependent on Napoelonic's in the way Victrix are, if this set is a success or not it is not going to change things at WG. That said in some respects the fact it is so close to the Perry set make it possibly to succeed, gamers wan't to buy a lot of figures, but they don't want to spend days assembling them as you do with Victrix, however we do like to add some variety if we can, by mix and matching when compatible and I can see people taking a box of Perry and a box of WG, after all the Russian army is large lol. Whilst you might say the same applies to Victrix to be honest you buy one box from Victrix and you have had enough with assembling plastic's to last you a lifetime.

We know the Perry's and WG are close and there was a degree of cooperation with the Landwehr set so we will have to see how this pans out, are the two sets really identical or somehow will they dovetail.

I must say this set has me excited, I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Kudos to WG and lets hope we see more Napoleonics!

Warlord Games helping to rid us of useless women!

Another 'small' release today this time from Warlord Games.

From their announcement:

New: Napoleonic Vivandiere And Donkey!

Now for something out of the ordinary! Vivandieres were women who accompanied armies and performed canteen duties for the troops – they later became known as Cantinieres as a result. This will really add some flavour to your Napoleonic army!

Exempt from the 1793 “Law to Rid the Army of Useless Women” vivandieres would follow the French army and sell the soldiers food, drink, and sundries like tobacco, wig powder, and writing paper and ink. They were married to soldiers called “Vivandiers” who were the only soldiers granted permission to sell goods. Too busy fighting and drilling to sell naturally this duty fell to their wives.

Vivandieres would be a regular sight in many armies over the years that followed. They were to be seen in the armies of the Napoleonic wars, in the Crimean right up until the Great War. The United States War Department even copied the idea and in the American Civil War patriotic women joined up on both sides.

Warlord Games’ Vivandiere comes with two different right arms (one with pistol at the ready and the other clasping her trusty basket of wares) and two different heads. Not only that but her faithful donkey is also laden with provisions for her to further assist her military charges.

The model is well-equipped to provide a tonic to thirsty and weary soldiers as she carries a barrel of brandy  - that will help get the lads back in action.

Purchase this characterful Vivandiere miniature in the webstore and add a real ladies touch to your battles.

A very nice sculpt indeed, I like it, and the choice of arms and heads is good. This retails for GBP5.00 from WG, probably a reasonable price I think given the low demand and that WG are never cheap.

That said I have been looking round for months for a source of good cheap 28mm Donkey's because a need a load of them for a skirmish scenario say 10-15 at least but not found any, and I am not going to buy GBP75.00 of these just to get them either. I would have liked to see this set with say 3 Donkeys like the ECW set they do or the ability to buy the Donkeys separately.

None the less it will make an interesting addition, whether just for a diorama or on the skirmish tabletop, I am going to get one or two.

You can get them here.

A few more Prussians from WG

A little bit 'old news' now but Warlord Games have added a few more metal Prussian packs to their site, first up WGN-PRU-25 a pike/musket combination, then WGN-PRU-24 an 'at trail' set..

Prussian Landwehr with Pike / Musket

From their site:

We have sculpted some metal Landwehr with pike and with musket so that you can give yet more variety to your brave Prussian battalions. A good few thousand pikes were issued in the early days of their existence when muskets were short, and units certainly drilled and marched with them. It’s unlikely that many units got to use their archaic weapon in anger, which is probably just as well.

The front ranks only were issued with the pikes, the remaining two would have been musket armed.

Note that these models come with separate heads and allows for a lot of variety and conversion opportunities.

This set contains 10 metal bodies, 10 metal heads, 5 with pikes and 5 with muskets. Models supplied unpainted.  

This pack is priced at GBP12.00 plus pp.

Prussian Landwehr at Trail

All Prussian infantry were well-trained and drilled, and the Landwehr were no exception, if time allowed infantry could advance in a manner of ways, but advancing “at the trail” seems to have been the favoured mode, allowing a quick pace, whilst keeping the temptation of stopping to fire away from a nervous soldier under fire.

These models come with separate weapon arms allowing plenty of diversity and positioning within your regiment.

This set contains 10 metal models. Models supplied unpainted. 

This pack is priced at GBP12.00 plus pp.

Pretty nice sculpts, maybe bordering a little bit on the 'cartoony' side but doesn't stray over the limit like they have done on some of these metals recently. I particularly like the 'at trail' poses, these will make a nice addition. 
Personally I don't like the pikes, I am disappointed they made the set half pike/half musket, I would have preferred to pay a little bit more and have enough to make either 12 pike or 12 musket, mainly so I could then just forget the pikes. Yes I know they did exist, but I don't believe it was of any significance for tabletop action's even if we are recreating very early 1813 and certainly it ceased to exist by May. However with only 5 muskets in a 10 figure set it makes this set a bit of a waste of money for me so I will give it a miss for now which is a shame as the figures themselves are a good match pose wise for the plastic Landwehr they released in October last year.

More Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr from Warlord Games!

Warlord recently announced the release of several new 28mm metal sets meant to compliment their Plastic Landwehr released last month.

You’ve eagerly grabbed our new plastic Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr with both hands so you’ll be delighted to see that we’re releasing more metal miniatures to support them! First up are these two mounted Landwehr officers. Utilising our Figure Head system (TM) of separate heads they’ll give you plenty of options to lead your brave boys in blue into battle.

Both of the officers will fit either horse and their heads are interchangeable and repositionable too.

Ok so the idea of plastic for the bulk of your army and then the 'characters' in metal is a good one and makes a lot of sense from many angles, I get it and support it. The set is priced at GBP 6.00 for two mounted figures which I think is fair these days for top quality metal. All good so far, however I really don't like these sculpts! No if, but's or maybe's here, the first figure, with the sword down, reminds me of Dolph Lundgren, he looks like he must weigh about 300lbs, all muscle, and is probably as wide as he is tall, the horse is a bit 'cart horsey' more something I would expect from a GW fantasy range rather than a historical one. The other figure with sword raised looks like his head has been slammed between two blocks of ice, at least from the pic it seems to be abnormally thin, like a throw back to the old Hinchliffe casting of the 70's, and the horse, well it look like a real butt clenching pose, maybe it has had one of those fabled pikes shoved somewhere where the sun don't shine, again I don't know whether this is just the camera angle but if so then someone needs to take a lesson in miniature photography quick otherwise this set misses the mark.

With EBob's horses available for licence there really is no excuse today for 28mm horses that are less than perfect these day's, and these are definitely less than perfect for what they are supposed to be.

and what about those 'Ironing Boards' they each have or were they meant to be scabbards? Something I might expect from Renegade in a moment of madness but surely they could do better here.

I bought the reason for the issues with the plastic set but I am really disappointed with these metals, there is really no excuse as to why they aren't sculpted to the highest standard, 'cartoony' is the phrase that comes to mind, sorry to say but I will give these a pass and wait to see if Perry can do better next year. Don't get me wrong on the evidence of these sculpts the 'talent' is there, it just seems to have been misdirected in this set.

And, of course, you’ll be wanting a few casualties to act as as markers in your games of Black Powder or to add a bit more flavour to your regimental bases…

This pack contains ten random casualties. Also included are four 50mm steel pikes and 6 separate muskets. This will allow you to portray your casualties in many different ways!

So what about these, 10 figures for GBP10.00 and these are what I would call 'low demand' items so I think that is very reasonable, no complaints at all. I think these are much better than the mounted set. Still, the poses look a bit 'stiff' and as I have said before I think really the pike is a waste of time from a gaming perspective. I am not sure how this would fit into a march attack battalion, though would look good in a more static firing line, but then again WG tout them as markers which is fine I think. So Ok, not wow, but worth picking up a pack from several points of view.

For completeness sake I might as well include here the one other metal set from WG, though not part of this release, it was announced along with the plastic set last month.

This pack contains 3 great models than can transform your Landwehr battalion into a mini diorama, or simply give you a differing choice of command.

It has two choices of officer, randomly supplied, and a "twinned" figure of a wounded ensign being supported by his Drummer comrade..includes flagpole and finial
Stirring stuff indeed!

This set contains 2 metal models, representing three command. The officer model is randomly supplied from the two shown. It also contains metal standard pole and finials. Models supplied unpainted. The paper flag is not included.

Though this set doesn't really fit in with the march attack poses I like them, I think very well sculpted, nice natural poses,  and something different, something you have not seen a million times before or is part of every other manufacturers range.

So a definite thumbs up on this one, you should grab it, you will find somewhere to fit it in I am sure.

Overall a mixed bag, one set a clear thumbs down, one a clear thumbs up and the other, worth having if not inspiring.

Report card reads 'flashes of genius but could do better'!

Warlord Games Prussian Confusion

I have been catching up a bit today, so I noticed that Warlord Games announced the release of some new metal Prussian's earlier this week, chief amongst these was the Prussian Landwehr mounted command that you can see below.

Well take a look at the Prussian Landwehr foot command they released about a month ago, below.

Am I mistaken or are they both marked as WGN-PRU-21?

My interest in this question is not purely academic, if you read my earlier post's on WG's Prussians you might recall I ordered the foot command a month or so back, but they still haven't arrived, they're supposed to be on back order and promised 'soon'. Anyway this has me now wondering whether the retailer thinks I ordered the mounted command which haven't yet shipped when in fact I meant the foot command which should have shipped a while ago.

I posted this question on WG's Forum but I am not holding my breath, I have posted 4 times in the last 3 month's on their forums and not once has the post shown up, they really do have the worst forum software on the net. Anyway think I will have to shoot an email off to the retailer to see if the order has indeed been screwed up.

Feels like xmas - The Prussians Arrive

Well yesterday the man delivered by spanking new iPad, so I got to play with that for a while before my boss told me to start getting productive with it.

Then today the postman turns up with 3 packages no less, two from Caliver and one from Perry. That's 4 boxes of WG Landwehr, a box each of Perry Dragoons, Hussars and British Infantry and last but not least 12 Perry metal Brunswick Hussars.

There was a note to say that the WG-PRU-WGN21 metal Prussian command would follow ASAP, so that leaves my 40 odd Perry Somatens somewhere in the air I guess.

The Perry metals were fairly well bashed, the horses were at least, and not in transit either, it's taking a fair bit of deft pressure to get the horses straightened out, careful not to end up breaking the legs in the process. Otherwise, an excellent set which I am looking forward to painting, especially after seeing this video, if only it were that easy.

The Landwehr box consists of 3 pack's of 3 sprue's, each with 3 figures and 2 sabre briquet's (wonder whether an axe would have been a better choice), so that's 27 foot, and one pack of 3 metal command, an officer, drummer boy and standard bearer (with pole and finials), to make up the total of 30 foot.

There is a four page flyer included in the box, covering the background of the Landwehr and brief details on facing collars. This sheet also contains 11 flags, and is printed on thickish paper, well thicker than the Perry sheet's.

The metal's are very nicely sculpted and cast, as good as anything the Perry's might turn out on an average working day. I like them.

The plastic's are so 'Perryesque', if that's even a proper word, even down to the little circular base, to be honest if someone told you they were from Perry you wouldn't really argue with them. However this set aims squarely at the gamer rather than the modeler, each figure is a single part, not the multipart's we have seen so far, and as such they are simply perfect for the average gamer, a little bit of cleaning up to do where they were cut from the sprue and then these will be ready to undercoat.

That not to say there isn't some downside to producing single part figure's, apart from the obvious lack of variety  imposed by not be able to pose a single part figure there is also an impact on the casting. Front and back the detail is excellent no complaint's, side-on however, as with any and all plastic's, then detail is lost, these figures hide that, to some extent, as these areas are under the arms, covering the side of the pack and part of the torso. Also, as an example, the bedroll on top of the backpack should curve down in an arc to the neck but that would cause an 'undercut' which you can't have in a plastic figure so it cuts straight from the top of the pack to the neck, making it look a bit 'blocky', this problem could be side stepped if, like the other sets we have seen so far, you had produced the backpack as a separate piece. The other issue which has been noted before is the 'boxing glove' hands. It is true they are a tad oversized and combined with some loss of detail they do look a bit 'boxing glove' like. I will say it is nowhere near as bad as it looked in the original pics, though its hard to understand why it wasn't fixed, but it's not really a big deal. All this said put them together in a unit and you will not notice any of these issue's at all and that is the point with this set.

I do wonder though whether the 'gamers' who clamored for the single piece figure may change their mind's somewhat when they see the end product.

One thing to note here, the set does not come with the Renedra bases as all Perry figures do, so you will need to provide your own. For me this is not an issue as I use my own bases anyway, so the Perry's bases have been superfluous.

In terms of their objective to produce a set of Landwehr for the gamer to get on the table in short order I would give this set 10 out of 10. They may lack in the variety of poses we have come to expect of plastic's but that was intentional and will be welcomed by some. I would liked to have seen more variety at least with separate heads but to be honest the forthcoming releases from WG should take care of the need for some variety in battalion unit's. FYI as Paul mentioned yesterday about the forthcoming releases, 'Some of the metal Prussian models will be released before Christmas - if not everything you've seen so far (and some you haven't!).'

I don't believe these are a challenge to Calpe, the difference in size/bulk alone in my opinion precludes using them to replace Calpe, however I would and will gradually phase out my Foundry Prussians as WG and Perry fill out their ranges. If 'Perry' sized Napoleonic's has a place on your gaming shelf then I would say this set is a must have.

Prussian Landwehr available for pre-order now

The Warlord Games plastic Prussian Landwehr are now available for pre-order, priced at GBP17.00 for a box.

From their announcement:
Pre-order plastic Prussian Landwehr! We’re expecting to release our new plastic Napoleonic Prussian Landwehr early October and now you can place your pre-orders! As ever we’ll be sending pre-orders out first so you’d be mad not to take advantage of this!

This boxed set contains 27 plastic Landwehr and 3 metal command. It also contains metal standard poles and finials. Models supplied unpainted. Head here to pre-order them today!

As usual this set can also be ordered from Caliver Books for GBP15.00 with free worldwide postage if you spend more than GBP16.50, hard to beat that deal.

Plastic Prussians - The morning after

So it's Sunday I have woken up, taken a couple of Panadol and put my shades on, so where are we after yesterday's party for WG and Perry.

Perry and WG or Perry vs WG?
Same question, will it be cooperation or competition? If you have bought or read 'Black Powder' you know there is a connection there, they are at least 'mates' and as has been said Nottingham is a small place. You feel there must be some sort of an agreement in place, lets be honest if the Perry's were to release a box of Plastic Landwehr tomorrow WG wouldn't ever sell a single box of their own, so WG would have to be crazy to make the sort of investment that is required to produce a sprue right in the centre of Perry's turf without some sort of an agreement.

It is easy to see the benefit for WG, green light to make Napoleonic's without fear of competition, the 'buzz' of this announcement and the hint of the Perry 'mystique' will do wonders for WG's sales but what is in it for the Perry's? PR wise they don't need anyone else's 'buzz' to boost sales thank you very much. You can only imagine that maybe the Perry's felt they had enough fish to fry in producing a whole new Prussian range, who knows, maybe they will do "Metal Landwehr" which would keep people like me happy. If it is cooperation where will it go, exactly who will produce what, or more importantly what will WG produce and can they do it at Perry quality and Perry price because if they can't then what is the point of this?

Quality and Accuracy
It's really not fair to compare '3up greens' to plastic finished product but as that is all we have for the moment and giving as much allowance as possible for the problems in going from 'green' to plastic it does seem that the WG figures are not sculpted to the same high standards of the Perry's. It might be a bit harsh but they look closer to HAT than Perry quality, with lower detail definition and larger hands. Is this due to the single piece rather than three piece choice?

I think in particular focus will be put initially on the size of the hands which are almost HAT ring hand size, not that Perry are dainty little things but WG are more like boxing gloves.

So far it looks like we have seen three different WG poses, whether there are more or not is unknown at this stage but by comparison Calpe have 70+ Landwehr Infantry poses alone and Perry never do less than 6 variants even on a single metal code!! Three alone would be disappointing

The musket, two figures are shown with the barrel vertical and facing front in what I would describe as the 'classic' march attack pose with the arm across the chest, but one has the barrel facing the rear, the stock is in the palm of his hand with the musket facing fwd/aft, with barrel to the rear and the underside and sling facing forwards, he is definitely not holding the musket side on or barrel first like you will find with most of the Calpe figures, is this accurate?

The roll, one has has a roll over the shoulder and none on the backpack as you would expect, one has neither a roll over the shoulder nor a roll on the backpack and one has both a roll over the shoulder and one on the backpack. Can they all be right and common? I know Landwehr is a bit 'anything goes' and I might just buy the 'none' figure but the double roll?

Facial hair, one is clean shaven, one has a moustache and one has both a beard and a moustache. Again I would 'buy' the clean shaven and the mousatache but beard and moustache on a quick browse of plates I can't see one like that.

WG have been slightly notorious for being 'small' I assume since they are making the noise about Perry cooperation we can assume that there sculptor was told to match the Perry size and not come up with this own idea of what 28mm should be?

Perry + WG + Calpe or Perry + WG vs Calpe
This will probably be the most asked question over the next six months, compatible or not? Tough one to answer till you have them in your hands, and in any case its always so subjective, I am very very picky when it comes to matching up different brands, personally if I can't mix them in the same unit I don't like them on the same table but I know some profess to have no problem fielding Calpe, Front Rank and Foundry which would just leave me in tears. I don't have any Calpe, (my own Prussians are all Foundry), but I will have to buy some of each to see if they are a true match or not. At the moment I don't see this announcement affecting Calpe in the slightest either way but lets see, they still remain the benchmark for Prussian but aren't 'Perry style', six weeks isn't a long time to wait.

Pricing
WG have to date been the most expensive of the hard plastic 28's and by quite a large margin, will this set be any different? Certainly this set is 'dumbed down' compared to anything else they have done to date will the pricing follow suit, if they don't it will make a hard comparison to Perry once their set is released.

Conclusion
Let's be clear I prefer metal, in fact I would be happy with only metal, YMMV, these, both the WG and Perry Prussians, being plastic doesn't excite me as such, what does excite me about them is having what we could call 'Perry style' Prussian's available in 28mm.

I have no doubt I will buy all these sets and you should to, I think that as 'wargame' figures (i.e viewed on the table from 4') the WG plastics look just fine to me, see the pics below it's hard to argue the WG figures look anything but perfect there, but we all tend to pick them up and study them in detail so whether they get a 'pass' grade or 'can do better' or 'must improve' remains to be seen and on that hinges whether its one box or dozens. The Perry is an easier one to grade, the sculpts are excellent, we have a good idea how they can translate to plastic, yes they won't be equal of their metal, but for bulking out an army they are more than good enough.

Calpe

WG

Perry