A few new painted figures and the arrival of an experimental investigation tonight.
I recently came across a post on McPhees Miniature Men, where the bloggist presented images of some very nicely painted HaT "hard plastic" 28mm French Napoleonic Chasseurs.
I had come across reference to HaT "wargaming" (as opposed to 1/72) plastic figures before and had taken a look. This time, when I Googled them, one of the first hits was a model supplier in Paraparaumu - a town 50km or so north of our capital city, Wellington. This seemed like a good omen, so I investigated further, and long story short, purchased one pack each of 12 British Light Dragoons and 12 Heavy Dragoons. The images of the painted figures on the manufacturers website seemed promising....
The cost per pack was around NZ$18 (£9) - two packs with postage was $42 and they arrived the very next day - pretty good.
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Nice artwork on the boxes!
Upon unpacking the figures, the first thing I noticed was....they are NOT hard plastic - in fact, they are more like very dense rubber! The second concern is that, despite several articles to the contrary on the web, they are noticeably smaller than what I would call standard 28mm figures.(the infantry may be different, as I have seen comparison shots next to Perry and a couple of other ranges, and the HaT figures appear slightly taller, although more slender.
Nonetheless, I have assembled and more or less finished painting one of each of the cavalrymen - results to be posted soon - and I shall finish off both packs. Whether I subsequently add more units is debatable - its unlikely to be honest - I think I would prefer to pay the same money for one pack of Perry plastic cavalry....
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You get three sprues of four figures as per above - Light Dragoons to the left, Heavy to the right. A bugler arm is included on each sprue but another issue is all the figures seem to be standard troopers, with a cartridge box and musket/carbine - if I want an officer and standard bearer, it will involve some level of conversion.
In between ordering and receiving the plastic figures, I have also painted up a few more items from my small collection of unpainted lead. The first two I bought on a local auction site for $4 each - nice old Ral Partha figures that I think may find a role in my Pulp Project...
An African King......
...and his Queen.
I am considering a pack of plastic Zulus for their followers!
The last figure for tonight is one that I bought from Col Bills via his second hand figures collection - £3 or something like that, which I thought was a bargain for a numbered, limited edition figure....but is it?!
When I Googled John Churchill Uniform, this image came up - it seems to imply that the figure may be commercially available from North Star - which is why I wonder if this is REALLY one of only five hundred figures in existence - not that it concerns me overly!
(You may spot some slight similarities between my version and the one above 😀 )
Finally - the day after we got home from a week long trip consisting almost entirely of 15-25km walking every day, my dear wife decided that what we needed by way of a change on Saturday was - a walk to the trig point on the top of a local feature, Mount William! I have been up there a couple of times previously and it was a real bstrd of a route - my clever wife chose the alternative route, where we would start already half way up the hill!
It was actually a pleasant change walking over open terrain (farm land) that allowed constant views of more than the three feet of path in front of us, disappearing into dense bush, that we normally see! The Lake District a la Matts "Dungeon" blog it was not, but I still enjoyed the views and took a few images to share with the group!
The entire route was across private farmland, following fence lines for the most part, and orange topped poles when the route went across a field rather than along its edge.
Trig Point on the summit
View from the summit
The route we followed from about the midway point on our return trip - the trig point is on top of the peak between the two areas of bush
Nice Churchill (limited or not!) Good looking African monarchs, the Hat 28mm figures I have are slimmer, more realistically proportioned than Perrys ,I may well use them in their own unit,the Napoleonic line is better than their dark age line,Peter called them zombie like on my blog and he certainly had a point! I'll be interested to see what results you get out of your Hat figures!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain...I would certainly not mix the HaT figures with other manufacturers, as they are significantly different (I won't say smaller as that may be an optical illusion). I will probably post a size comparison shot for readers info.
DeleteScott MacPhee is a local Wargaming buddy of mine. The photos you show from HaT website sure look like Scott’s work. Fine looking work on the Zulus and Churchill. Ral Parthia colonials are first rate even by today’s standards.
ReplyDeleteLovely scenics again. Your vistas would not be out of place in my part of the world.
Thanks Jon, I did like the Ral Rarthe figures, lovely clean sculpts with bags of detail. I think Scott did the cavalry examples too...certainly, the images of the Chassers on the HaT site are his work. As an aside, I was interested to note that HaT is a company from your area....for some reason, I always assipumed they were German!
DeleteScott's painting on those are superb as all of his work - that said, I saw reviews (with comparison shots) of those HaT "28"'s. They are certainly smaller/slimmer than most other 28mm figures. Great looking Zulus and North Star character figure.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dean...I have not seen the same reviews you have! The ones I saw, including Scotts blog comments, indicated that the reviews you refer to exaggerated the size difference. Maybe that only applies to the infantry , as the cavalry are significantly different from most 28mm ranges....which is a shame, as they are nice figures! It's also a shame they are not produced in genuine hard plastic...in my opinion!
DeleteI've often looked at the Hat figures, but never got around to getting any. Worried about size compatibility with other ranges as I like to mix and some variety is ok
ReplyDeleteIf you are thinking of infantry Scotty, for eight or nine quid, I would give them a try. The pics on Scott McPhees blogs should give you a good idea on size, detail and what's possible with these figures.
DeleteOur local hobby shop has a large range of HaT figures. The box art has almost been enough to draw me in when I have been there picking up a few paint supplies, but have resisted the temptation.
ReplyDeleteHi Lawrence...if there was a greater range of 28mm Napoleonics available, I would be tempted to give the infantry a try, despite my luke warm feelings with regard to the cavalry. Images of the infantry painted, particularly on Jons mate Scott MacPhees blog, make them appear pretty useful. However, there are no Brits and only the Chasseurs for the French, plus, I think, some Prussian infantry. I assume HaT gave up on the idea and the range has not been added to......
DeleteInteresting that HaT don't regard 1/72 as 'wargaming' figures.. my old Airfix veterans might dispute that... Hope they turn out well, anyway. Also interested to see the NZ model trig point, looks somewhat space-age compared to dull UK ones!
ReplyDeleteThanks for dropping by and commenting David! Do you still wargame with Airfix 1/72 figures? I was gently taken to task by James from Australia for my attitude that Aurfix etc would be fine IF they were hard plastic like Victrix or the Perrys ....my implication being, the soft plastic was no good. This may just be a subconcious wargaming snobbery....my recollection of early teens Airfix figures was the paint would chip off quite easily....but this may be a misconception born of youthful inexperience. Certainly, the later Airfix figures...the "new" WWII Germans etc, were excellent figures. Glad you appreciated the views and the Trig point too!
DeleteI have indeed used 1:72 Airfix - see my blog posts labelled D-day Dodgers. Yes they are still liable to shed paint, but a coat of PVA and careful handling will hopefully suffice!
DeleteI’ve never laid eyes on HaT miniatures but it strikes me that it’s a different style of miniature that’s too different to mix well. Not that that matters unless it does.
ReplyDeleteNice job on the ‘limited’ Churchhil and the other miniatures. 😀
Thanks Stew...I think you are probably correct. I will paint them and add them to the British collection but I think they are likely to be the only HaT 28mm figures that I do. Shame, because I could have added a couple of brigades of light and heavy Dragoons for the price of one mat all regiment ! With the perversity of the Dice Gods, they will probably go on to a successful career of winning melees against the odds, defeating far larger, more attractive metal enemies!
DeleteIt always bugged me that the so called hard plastic of these and other figures was anything but! Still they look nice but I wouldn't mix them with other manufacturers for the reasons mentioned.
ReplyDeleteNice views too and we have a trig point on the hill by us, but the views aren't quite as nice as these!
Thanks Steve - they are a strange material, as I said, almost rubber - similar to a couple of Reaper Bones figures I have. The thing that surprised me when I pulled a sprue out was the weight - whatever the material is, it must be very dense, as the sprue of four is much heavier than a Warlord or Perry sprue that's twice the size. I have painted and based four heavies and half way through the first four lights - they are ok but harder to paint than the likes of Front Rank, thats for sure!
DeleteMost of my experiences with Hat is are that the are unpredictable and inconsistent as far as size goes… they certainly don’t mix with modern metal figures.
ReplyDeleteBut they can scrub up rather well…
I think that John Churchill is still available… probably limit to how many people want them…
As always …lovely scenic views…
All the best. Aly