Dan Becker's 28 mm Warlord Games Plastic Celtic Warriors and Imperial Romans

Imperial Roman Legionaries

Earlier this year, the historical miniature figure market was blessed with a curse. Not one, but two manufacturers announced the release of historically accurate plastic miniatures in 28 mm scale. In a hobby dominated by expensive metal miniatures, this news was announced with all sorts of reactions. Many cheered at the small $1.00 per figure price point, less than one third the cost of typical metal miniatures. Others cheered at the design details and the interchangeable heads, torsos, arms, and weapons, allowing one box to make many types of units. However, others lamented the limited boxes available - both sets are released by new companies. Others were not excited as many more extensive historical figure ranges are already available in 28 mm metal and 20 mm plastic. Others were confused by the similarities of the releases and the manufacturer's names.

The first of these boxes to reach the market are shown at right. These are the Celtic Warriors and Imperial Roman Legionaries from Warlord Games. The other sets to come to market at this time are the similarly named Caesarian Romans and Celts from the similarly named Wargames Factory. Who also should not be confused with the long established Wargames Foundry who have long had many lines of Romans and Barbarians.

I painted 4 each of the 30 figures that are available in a box. Assembly takes a while as each figure requires a head, torso, arms, and weapons. Using model cement (this is ordinary hard styrene plastic as you find in tank and airplane models), it does not take long to glue on a limb, but you have to give it a few minutes to dry and harden before moving onto other pieces. Since I was limited in jigs and clamps, it took a while for me to complete a figure.

Celtic Warriors

The Celts show some of the advantages of this production method. The warriors have some of the most animated poses of any minis. I doubt the crouching warrior could be made with any one piece process. All the figures have unique heads, armor, and weaponry.

One nice perk included with both of these sets are shield decals. The Romans have water transfer decals. The Celts have peel and stick decals. Both sets are colorful, but must be trimmed to fit the shield. I like the water transfers a little better as they are thinner and conform to the shield more closely. In both cases I like the convenience of not having to make an additional research, shopping, and purchasing action to complete my figures.

The figures may seem on the short side for this scale. The Romans are 28 mm from soles to top of skull. The Celts are nearly 30 mm from soles to of skull. Some "28 mm" figures are much larger than that. And some measure from soles of feet to eyes. The best solution is keep units made of entirely one manufacturer's miniatures.

The fantasy battle world have long had a multitude of plastic miniatures from the likes of companies such as Games Workshop. It is great to see these options coming to the historical battle world as well. Thanks for reading about my 28 mm plastic miniatures. More miniatures and scenery photos are located at the Miniatures section.