Here’s my review and comparison of the 28mm plastic napoleonic British infantry, produced by Perry (the grey on the left) and Victrix (the yellowish on the right). There’s already a couple of comparisons around (such as here, here, and here) but I figured I’d post up my experience with a box of each anyway.

First up, what you get in each of the boxes:

Perry provides a single box which has a bit of everything: it has both Peninsular and Waterloo heads (with their different shakos) and a couple of flank arms to make a few grenadiers and light company. The box contains 40 miniatures, which are comprised of:

• 4 riflemen (in only two poses – walking and hunched running)
• 1 officer
• 2 ensigns with flags
• 1 sergeant
• 1 drummer
• 31 soldiers

These are all in firing, at ready, or loading poses, which means that you inevitably end up with a firing line.

In comparison, Victrix has four different boxes for British infantry – Peninsular/Waterloo, and Flank/Centre for each of those. I bought a Peninsular Centre company, but all that’s different between the boxes is the heads and arms (for shakos and flank company wings). There are 52 models, which are:

• 4 officers
• 4 sergeants
• 4 drummer boys
• 40 soldiers, which includes 4 kneeling, 4 running

Victrix provides a much greater variety of poses, including marching with shouldered muskets, kneeling ready to receive cavalry, as well as firing and loading poses.

The prices are roughly comparable in regard to cost per miniature.

Here’s a closer picture of the two sample soldiers I put together. Their arms aren’t attached, hence why Mr Victrix has a dislocated shoulder.

The plastic that Perry uses is, quite frankly, much better than the Victrix one. It’s less brittle and has the same sort of qualities as Games Workshop plastics, compared to the Victrix yellow-ish plastic which is very brittle.

The Perry sculpts are slightly leaner than the Victrix ones, as can be seen here. The detailing on the Perry plastics seems much better as well, with sharper and more defined features (the belts on the torsos and the water canteens especially). In addition, it seems like the Perrys put some thought into their miniatures and the mould join tends to be placed across larger, flatter surfaces, which makes them easier to clean. The Victrix models on the other hand have mould lines on the edges of canteens and across straps in a lot of places.

It doesn’t really help that the Victrix mould lines are as prominent as this…

And also there’s quite a few gaps where the mould hasn’t filled in properly, such as on the side of some shakos and, most prominently (and on all four sprues, so I’m not sure if it’s a mould defect) this:

Ouch.

Mould and flash problems aside, I prefer the asthetics of the Perry plastics also.

I like the bulky Perry backpacks (on the left), which I think are more accurate to history (someone worked out that in 28mm scale they’re supposed to be 8-9mm wide, which is about right for the Perry ones, whereas the Victrix ones are only 6mm wide).

The Perry heads and shakos seem cleaner, although I do like the mutton chops of the Victrix heads:

The heads are quite different, with the Victrix heads being wider and Victrix shakos taller and thinner. As I’ve mentioned before, the Victrix models are a bit “bulkier” as well. However, overall, the two ranges match up in scales:

Which means you can mix and match parts relatively easily, as shown here:

One other detail is that the Victrix bayonets are quite thin and combined with the brittle plastic seem dangerously fragile.

Overall

Perry

Pros:

• includes riflemen (if you want them)
• a complete battalion for most 28mm napoleonic games (including officer, flag party, sergeant, drummer, and flank company)
• sharper details
• (IMO) better heads
• better plastic (less brittle)
• less flash, and in less annoying places

Cons:

• includes riflemen (if you don’t want them)
• limited number of poses (the 4 riflemen only have 2 poses, the rest are in firing, at the ready, or loading poses), with no march or charge poses
• can’t do light regiments (which all have flank wings)

Victrix

Pros:

• lots of poses, including kneeling, running, march, and charging
• 4 officers, 4 sergeants, and 4 drummers (if you want them)
• mutton chops
• can choose from flank/centre companies

Cons:

• more officers, sergeants, and drummers (if you don’t want them)
• plastic is more brittle
• less defined details
• have to buy at least 2 boxes to get both flank and centre companies

Overall, I prefer the Perry box, mainly due to the quality. However, I really do like the range of poses which the Victrix box provides. I’ll be buying both and using the Victrix models for flank companies (the bulkier builds work for grenadiers, and the smaller packs and range of poses works for light company), and the Perry models for line companies (in firing lines).

However, if I had to just pick one of the two: