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Old School Wargame Miniatures Confront the Post-Post-Modern: The Garrison Comparison

Well, I don't know about the title -- I was trying to parody academic paper titles -- but here are the promised comparison photos for Bill McHenry and anyone else who might find this sort of thing interesting. In the above photograph are featured miniatures by (from left to right): Zvezda (a 1/72 Napoleonic Saxon cuirassier conversion), Revell (a 1/72 Austrian dragoon), Garrison (a 25mm Austrian dragoon officer), RSM95 (a 30mm Austrian cuirassier), and Holger Eriksson (a 30mm Swedish dragoon).

As you can see, height-wise, the metal Garrison figure is very close to his plastic brethren, though a bit on the well-fed side for anatomical purists. By the way, Garrison figures would go very well with those produced by MiniFigs I think since the two are very similar in height and build. The Garrison figure pictured here is also much shorter than his 30mm RSM or Holger Eriksson cohorts.

Now, for some gamers/collectors, these slight differences in figure size and dimension might seem problematic. However, as has been noted many times before in the Yahoo Old School Wargaming discussion group (and possibly other places too), if figures by various manufacturers are kept within distinct units, and not mixed within the same unit, the minor differences between them become less noticeable. That point is especially true if you have assembled your miniatures into LARGE units, which are what jump out at the casual observer.



Just for fun, I included a 30mm plastic Spencer Smith miniature and a 25mm MiniFig in this shot. Those of you who have followed this blog for a while might recognize these characters -- the craven General von Drosselmaier/Colonel von Grundig and Grand Duke Irwin Amadeus II, sans his dual left-clawed lobster costume!

Finally, here's one last comparison photograph taken from a slightly higher angle. Yes, delusions of cinematic grandeur and Orson Wells' noir masterpiece A Touch of Evil! At any rate, from left to right, are shown figures by: Zvezda, Revell, Garrison, RSM95, Holger Eriksson, Spencer Smith, and Miniature Figurines.

Bill, I hope these photos supply the information you requested. It's always fun to have an excuse for an exercise like this, to compare and contrast the products of different manufacturers. Ah, if only there were dependable money to be made doing this kind of stuff. The Grand Duchess and child-to-be might see Father change career oars in mid-stream!

Comments

Der Alte Fritz said…
It is interesting to see how close all of the figures look side by side. We played with some of Bill Protz's old Garrison figures last weekend at Minden and at first I thought that they were Minifigs. I'm sort of surprised that you haven't used more Minifigs in your collection, especially Minifig cavalry.
Bluebear Jeff said…
Thanks for the comparative shots, Stokes.


-- Jeff
DC said…
Harsh words re. Garrison - personally i don't think they are any where near as fat as Minifigs SYW. I use Garrison Prussians with my Hinchliffe AWI and i think they mix pretty well. That said, i think Garrison cavalry often look better remounted on Minifig horses as the Garrison nags tend to be a bit short of rump. Cheers.
Martin said…
Hey Stokes,

Many thanks. I've always wondered how those different castings would stack up in a Mark I eyeball inspection. As Artie Johnson used to say in "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, verrrrry interrrrresting!"
Ecellent post and pictures Stokes! Just what I was looking for. Since Zvezda doesn't seem likely to do any Heavy Cavalry in full-skirted coats anytime soon, some alternative must be found for French cavalry and Garrison may be it. I'm trying to get some Scruby 1" samples, as I saw some painted on Bill Protz's blog last week, but so far no luck. Thanks!

Bill
The Garrison figure is very nice and as Alte mentions a good match with the Minifigs - I must investigate further!!

Minifigs are nice figures indeed but I have a slight dislike of their horses, which as someone else mentioned always seem to have a huge posterior!!

PS. Someone needs to make sure that the RSPCA (Humane Society??) doesn't see that Holger Ericson horse... it looks like it's about to collapse!! :o))
Anonymous said…
The only real reservation I'd have concerns the size of the Garrison figure's tricorn hat compared with the others.
I usually like mixing & matching figs. but I think it's all up to the individual gamer.

Steve.
MiniWargamer said…
It's interesting to see the differences in using a 3 up process (the plastics) to what a talented sculptor can do in 28mm. I really like the look of the Minden and HE figures much more than the others!

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