Review: 28mm Plastic Roman Veterans

A bit of a departure here for me. I'm going to review some models!

The kit being inspected is the Roman Veterans box, a set of 20 plastic 28mm Romans by Warlord Games, to accompany their Hail Caesar ruleset.

Now, before we get started – I don't do 28mm and I don't do historical. At least up until now. I play Warhammer 40k, Fantasy, Warmachine, Malifaux… you can see where I'm coming from. Most of the miniatures I own are 30 or 32mm 'heroic' scale models so in comparison these guys are like hobbits.

So why am I looking at this stuff, never mind buying it and painting it?

I've noticed a lot more plastic kits appearing on the market these days and from distance they look pretty good. I was intrigued to see how they compared to what I know, plastic Space Marines (© Games Workshop).

I placed my order on the Warlord Games website last Thursday mid-morning; I got an email to say it was being shipped on Tuesday evening this week and it arrived the next day. Not the quickest of deliveries, but not bad at all.

I only wanted to dip my toe in so went for the 20x Veterans box rather than something with more models in it. It has options for a Centurion and a Standard Bearer and Musician with the rest all Legionaries. I was disappointed to see that it only comes with 3 different body sculpts for the troops which, when building 17 of them, makes them look rather repetitive. In addition there are only a handful of alternative head sculpts so again repetition occurs quickly.

Being veterans these guys are battered and bruised and so is their gear. Lots of damage on shields and bandages on heads. I liked this and it's perfect for the application I have in mind for them.

The plastic itself seems good quality. As you can see I stuck my test models onto weighted 25mm bases, and standard plastic glue gave no problems with that or attaching limbs or shields (not like Privateer Press 'plastic' models). It all went together very easily and I could have added more with leg armour and other extras available on the sprue.

The detail on the sculpts is good. I especially like the Centurion and can't wait to get some paint on him. I would have liked to see shield motifs sculpted onto the models but I guess if you're doing multiple units and need different images a plain shield is best. The models came with a set of waterslide transfers which look good – won't be using them myself as I'd rather paint them on by hand, but if you had 20 to do the transfers might be a less laborious option.

I realise I've been spoilt with the quality and volume of extra 'bitz' on my 40k plastics all these years.  These models have limited poses and there's a lot of repetition but that's not to say I'm not impressed. I've a lot of faith in the quality of Warlord Games' gear – they have the pedigree to back it up – and these models do not disappoint. The quality of the product, sculpt and price per model is great and I will be dipping my toe in again at some point.

Price: 9/10
An absolute bargain, 20 models for 16 quid, fantastic!

Plastic Quality: 9/10
No problems at all, variable levels of flash and mould lines but good overall.

Sculpt Quality: 8/10
I have limited experience of this scale but they look great to me!

Poses: 7/10
Limited to sticking arms and heads on and limited alternative sculpts, but alright.

Extra Bitz: 5/10
A few bits here and there but I guess they're more of a 'nice to have'.

Overall: 8/10
Considering these are the first 28mm, non sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk plastic miniatures I've ever bought I'm really rather impressed. I am coming from a totally different perspective that most gamers who will be buying this product, my expectations were very high so the scores may seem a little harsh. I was looking for some Roman Legionaries – they certainly seem historically accurate (based upon my recent studying) and I doubt that I could find anything better out there at the moment. Very happy.

I'll do a post or two as I paint them and that will be the real test!


UPDATE…

With the realisation that the scale of these guys is on the small side I have to amend the overall score to reflect the disappointment I felt.

Overall: 7/10

Pre-Salute thoughts

With a little over 3 weeks to go until our day out at Salute I thought I'd have a look back over the last 12 months, the purchases made, and what I'm expecting from this year's event.

Last year the purchasing focus was Hordes/Warmachine, though the Malifaux interest was lingering.

As you can see from the image above I picked up an Everblight starter box, plus an epic Lylyth. The box set is complete, alas the epic warlock remains unfinished. The Cryx warcaster remains pretty much as you see him, as do the the bonejacks. The Hordes templates were used just the once in our trial game but I've read the Everblight army book to death. I'm embarrassed to say that the terrain is not painted, and in some cases still in the box.

So, with the exception of the Everblight starter box, not a terribly well used set of purchases in the last 12 months. I did buy additional Everblight models over the summer which were painted – e.g. the long-tailed Raek and Forsaken (to the right of photo above). I haven't even built much of the Cryx stuff I bought in the run up to Salute. However, these were not wasted purchases. I am still very interested in Warmachine / Hordes so will come back to them.

So what about this year?

Well, I have a completely different agenda this time around. I don't need any more purchases for my gaming at the moment – 40k has had enough spent on it and X-Wing has no new releases yet – so it's down to anything that looks shiny on the day. No, this year it's all about the more historical side of things.

You heard it here first – I have a secret project up my sleeve. Very secret. It involves very little painting of miniatures but Salute has surfaced at the perfect time for me to facilitate other aspects of the project. As such, my trip to Salute this year will be a fact-finding mission. I will be looking more closely at the demo games on display – might even get my hands dirty, you never know.

That's not to say that I won't be spending any money – please, it's Salute!

Goblin Aid

It's in times of the worst circumstances that people come together. Once again our hobby community is showing its mettle when one of its own comes to harm.

For those of you who don't know, Kev Adams is a sculptor of great renown within the industry. He is especially known for his Ork and Goblin masterpieces and has worked for many well known names.
Earlier this week he was stabbed and beaten by three intruders at his home. He is out of hospital and on the road to recovery but is in a bad way.

Geronimo from Fenris Games and Dags from Ainsty Castings are coordinating efforts to raise money to help Kev replace stolen items and get back on his feet. Sculptors from across the industry are creating unique goblin miniatures for the cause, painters are painting and people are generally doing what they can to raise money from auctions.

Anyway, enough of me talking about it. Go over to the Goblin Aid Facebook page and catch up on proceedings for yourself.

Goblin Aid --->