Tuesday 14 May 2013

Brigade Models New Buildings Range: Comparison Photos


Returning after a long absence from Blogging, (Apologies!)  - thought I'd kick off proceedings by taking a look at a recent development in the world of small-scale wargaming, namely the new and expanding range of buildings from Brigade Models.
These new scenic items are ostensibly meant to go alongside their Land Ironclads miniatures, and the company themselves explain that they are designed at 1/1000th scale, but obviously would happily sit alongside 1/1200th Aeronef whilst also being in the right ballpark for Irregular Miniatures' 1/900th or 2mm ranges.

http://www.brigademodels.co.uk/LandIronclads/Terrain.html

Now Brigade have as usual excelled themselves in introducing these new products to the consumer, and have been particularly good at providing clear photographs of the various sets as they have come available, so I do not propose to duplicate their efforts here.
Rather I'm going to put the contents of the two original sets, English Village Houses and English Churches, alongside similarly sized or scaled buildings that I know both I and others have used with small-scale miniatures between 1/3000th via 1/1200th up to 1/900th.

I'm hoping that these photos will help me to decide how I should re-assess my vast collection of tiny buildings to accomodate the new range, and ideally this post will also be of use in deciding where these 'new kids on the block' fit in with what has previously been available.

First impressions of all of the buildings that I have seen so far, is that they are extremely well sculpted in terms of architectural details and proportions, and are of a quality rarely seen before at this end of the wargaming scale; I think that they could easily be used for a variety of purposes, but I will start the comparison by putting them alongside some 3mm buildings that were originally produced by 'Simply Six', but I believe are now available from Pico Armour to be used with the Oddzial Osmy ACW range:

http://www.picoarmor.com/pages/products.php?rc=63



As you can see, these new Brigade buildings are definitely true to their description of being of a smaller order, although of course it would not preclude their use if you wanted to depict 'Built Up Areas' rather than individual buildings for a 3mm set-up.

Next up, the ubiquitous and ever-useful plastic Monopoly buildings, that in various forms have been an economical and easy option in the past when no other alternatives were available; again, you will note the discrepancy in terms of proportions and size, so they would not sit well together on the table-top:


Following on, we have what up until now has been the best option for detailed buildings in the smaller scales, the excellent 1/1200th Napoleonic items from Rod Langton:

http://www.rodlangton.com/index-2.html



I have found that depending on which building you buy, there is some variation in the sizing of these pieces, and in the past that has meant they have fitted comfortably next to a range of models, whether small scale naval or even land based 2mm. I think it is interesting to note that it appears that the Brigade 1/1000th pieces look smaller in proportions alongside the majority of the Langtons - perhaps I need to have a re-think about which minis I currently use these with - although I certainly wouldn't give them up, as they are great items, given their tiny size.

Next, a slight curve-ball in the form of a couple of Navwar's 1/3000th terrain pieces, namely some Wharehouses - these are obviously meant to represent very large constructions, but look correctly much smaller against the new stuff from Bigade:


Moving on, we have some examples of the 2mm houses from Irregular Miniatures, that form part of a slightly different approach to scenic items that has been discernible  in their recently available items, away from the original 'Area' terrain pieces (of which more below) to larger individual pieces:


In theory, these building should come the closest in terms of appearance, and although there are obvious differences in detail, they are in the right area, but to be honest would struggle, I think, if placed alongside what has probably been a quantum leap in quality now provided by Brigade.

The next phase, of course, is to set the new contenders against the original, and for many years, the classic weapon of choice for small scale gaming, Irregular's scenic items:


The difference in approach and 'identity' if you like, is of course obvious, so I think I will be torn in the future as to which type to use in my set -up, perhaps the new Brigade might go with my 2mm forces, whilst the Irregular will be used to populate the world below high flying Aeronef or even 1/600th aircraft?

This is again re-inforced when they are seen with the plastic villages from GW's Mighty Empires:


Hmmm, I suppose I should not be complaining about being spoilt for choice, as it were, but these new items have definitely put the cat amongst the pigeons with regard to my pre-conceived scenic inventories; proof positive seen in the following shots next to 2mm troops:



To conclude this quick ramble through the small scale urban landscape, I would probably say that for me, the quality, proportion and precision of these new items are very much in 'game-changer' territory, and I think I will have to look long and hard at what I have been using in order to better match troops to their surroundings in future; all of the various contenders detailed here have their pros and cons; whether price, availability, ease of painting, or representational qualities as how you decide buildings are to be depicted, but I think as this line expands, they will be hard to beat - great quality, flexible, and reasonably priced.....



Maybe I'll give up on these ruminations, though, and just keep using them all..........


Although not at the same time.........

:-).


9 comments:

  1. Hi SoS,

    Welcome back into blogdom old chap! I have been looking at the Brigade buildings - especially the Middle Eastern ones for obvious reasons....;-) They look really good and I think are very reasonable priced as well - I reckon you might be rather busy!

    All the best,

    DC

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  2. Thanks very much for this excellent review. I recently bought some of these buildings and your article has convinced me not to bother looking further afield.

    I'm intending to use these 2mm buildings with 3mm figures. I don't usually go down a scale for buildings, but this particular game (Hexblitz) is high level and already fairly abstract. I'm going to use only the low-rise buildings as my Built Up Areas will more-or-less fill a Hexon hex and the units will need to sit on top of the BUAs when occupying them.

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  3. Hi guys, thanks for the comments - these buildings are very tempting, particularly as Brigade are pushing the range forward so quickly - fully detailed railway accessories are next on the list, I believe...... I've already gone a bit overboard as usual and have bought all the sets so far released!

    I guess on slight criticism might be the stipples surface that bely the production of the masters via Shapeways, but at this size, I don't really see this as an issue.

    Definitely see them making the grade as BUAs side by side with 3 or even 6mm - you'd get the best of both worlds, easy abstraction but also some really good looking models....

    For my part, I think these will be used alongside troops, whilst the classic Irregular 2mm will be paired with machinery, whether Aeronef or Land Ironclads.

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  4. Wonderful post, man. Droooooool... Macunaima want.

    I need to get up to Merry Olde England and score me some of these, ASAP.

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  5. Hey there - yes, these are some seriously good new sculpts - and looks like Brigade are going to keep them coming - townhouses, railways, etc, etc - all on the horizon!

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  6. PicoArmor is now stocking these Brigade Miniature pieces....

    John

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  7. Good catch John, great to see they will be more widely available - and I guess will move up the list as possible BUAs for 3mm....

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  8. Hi, thanks for posting this - it was very helpful to see them all together. I had the same dilemma of what to do with the older irregular area pieces. I found they are easy to snip into individual houses or groups of houses. Sticking them onto the new brigade or new irregular buildings makes them look like perfect little sheds, barns and outhouses. Give it a go, far better than them being consigned to a dusty draw and it makes the new stuff look even more realistic.

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    Replies
    1. That's a great idea - thanks for sharing- I'll have to give it a try - I had been worrying about having a largely (and large!) redundant irregular buildings collection...... Problem solved!

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