Warlord has finally released their plastic Caesarian Romans, a set of figures I've been dying to get my hands on for months. I've been using Wargames Factory's similar offering for a few years, and while I agree the sculpting on them is a bit odd, I think once painted and ranked up they are more than acceptable. I'm planning on investing in a large number of late Republic era legionnaires, so I want to make sure I choose a manufacturer that look good and don't dent my wallet too badly. My first thoughts on deciding which to pick up after the jump.
The first thing I noticed about Warlord's set was the apparent odd weapon mix. They are offering two boxed sets: one for Romans armed with gladius, and one with Romans armed with pila. While on the surface this seems a strange choice, it actually matches up with the Wargames Factory weapon assortment. Warlord's boxes are 24 figures each, while WGF boxes are 48 figures. If you pick up the same number of figures from each manufacturer, the number of pila and sword armed figures should be the same.
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| A horde of Wargames Factory Romans |
Plastic's big advantage over metal has been cost. The initial manufacturing costs for plastic are much higher than metal, but the result are mass produced figures that typically wind up cheaper for the buyer. I'm always on the look out for deals and managed to snag two boxes of Wargames Factory Romans at half price when they were initially released. I don't think I'll be so lucky in the future, but both WGF and Warlord are offering discounts for larger orders. How do they stack up?
Comparing Discount Deals on Plastic Caesarian Romans
I'm in the U.S, so I'll be using 'murican pricing and shipping costs. A single box of WGF Romans of 48 figures runs $19.99. Two get the same number of figure from Warlord you'll need two boxes at $29.99 each for a whopping $59.98!
Ok, no need to panic. Warlord has just released their unit deals. Surely the discount will drop the Warlord pricing to something competitive with Wargames Factory. Wargames Factory offers a 10% discount when you purchase 3 boxes of figures:
144 Wargames Factory Romans = $66.79 (53.97 with 10% discount + 12.82 shipping)
Warlord is offering a free box of figures when you buy five boxes. Hooray! That turns out to be...
144 Warlord Games Romans = $145 (buy 5, get 1 free + free shipping on orders over $75)
That's.. .wow. That's quite a price difference. No doubt the quality on the Warlord figures is better, but to date I've only seen test shots of greens on the Warlord site. Perhaps a full view of the sprue will tempt me to their more expensive option. I suppose it could be worse. Buying the same number of figures from Foundry would run over $300. Rather than compare Warlord to other plastic ranges maybe I should be comparing them to metal competitors?
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