Hi again!
Back this time with a manufacturer review, this time it's Pendraken Miniatures from the UK. Pendraken makes 10mm miniatures for a huge variety of ranges, from ancient to modern as well as sci-fi and fantasy. I was looking to do an American Civil War side project and liked the price and style of Pendraken after looking around online. 10mm seems to be a nice scale in my mind for ACW. I'll be basing six infantry/two cavalry/one gun to a 30mm wide by 25mm deep base. I intend on using these to play Regimental Fire and Fury to really focus on those key actions of the war, but this basing scheme also lets me place two bases side by side to form brigades for Altar of Freedom. As I said above, this was intended to be a side project to give me a break from my 6mm Napoleonics, but I'm been very impressed by these figures, so it may become a bit bigger down the track...
Now onto the review! I break my manufacturer reviews into three segments
- Quality and design of product
- How they are purchased/packed
- Service/Cost
Quality and design of product
Pendraken's figures are definitely of a good quality. Design wise the detail is fairly chunky, which makes them very easy to paint. The sculpts have tonnes of character to them, something which I kind of picked up in the bare metal but became very obvious once I started applying paint. Size wise these tend to sit around 12mm to the top of the hat (10mm to eye level). To me this feels perfect, large enough to have plenty of visible detail yet small enough to be easy to paint with simple techniques. I'm not a great painter by any measure but I was very pleased with the results of my first infantry. on the downside, mold lines on some of the figures can be quite prominent and often run along the face of the figure. These are relatively simple to remove as these ACW figures are not covered in equipment. This is perhaps something to keep in mind for more elaborately detailed figures (WW2 British paras come to mind, with helmet detail and plenty of gear). The biggest downside for me came with the rifles, which often have no visible firing mechanism and in some cases were perhaps cast a bit too thin, resulting in weapons that easily broke. The firing mechanism may not be necessary at this scale but the brittle rifles was disappointing. That said I think the pros outweigh the cons here.
How they are purchased/packed
Pendraken has kept their packaging and purchase scheme simple and operates an easy to navigate website. Infantry is packed 30/pack, cavalry 15/pack. Infantry command packs have 15/pack. Artillery is sold 4 guns/pack with crew packaged separately (16/pack to match up with the guns). Personally I think this is a mistake, however it may be convenient for those who wish to make destroyed artillery markers. Starter armies are available with 150 infantry (including command groups), 15 cavalry and 3 guns with crew. Key generals such as Lee and Grant are available individually along with a broad array of other items such as wagons, sharpshooters, stretcher bearers and even civlians. I personally purchased a starter pack for each side of the war.
Service/Cost
Pricing is very competitive, something which initially attracted me to Pendraken. All prices here exclude VAT.
Infantry pack (30) - 4.38 pounds (8.30AUD)
Infantry command (15) - 2.21 pounds (4.20AUD)
Cavalry (15) - 4.38 pounds (8.30AUD)
Guns (4) - 3.50 pounds (4.60AUD)
Gun Crew (16) - 2.33 pounds (4.40AUD)
Starter Army - 27.5 pounds (52AUD)
Service was very good. Everything was cast and shipped in around a week and came in good condition. I can't comment on how you would go with complaints as I had none!
Conclusion
Pendraken offers characterful figures at a good price, making 10mm a compelling halfway between 6mm and 15mm. While their figures have fairly prominent mould lines and some of the rifles are overly brittle, the figures in general have plenty of easy to paint detail with a variety of fantastic sculpts. Highly recommended.
Back this time with a manufacturer review, this time it's Pendraken Miniatures from the UK. Pendraken makes 10mm miniatures for a huge variety of ranges, from ancient to modern as well as sci-fi and fantasy. I was looking to do an American Civil War side project and liked the price and style of Pendraken after looking around online. 10mm seems to be a nice scale in my mind for ACW. I'll be basing six infantry/two cavalry/one gun to a 30mm wide by 25mm deep base. I intend on using these to play Regimental Fire and Fury to really focus on those key actions of the war, but this basing scheme also lets me place two bases side by side to form brigades for Altar of Freedom. As I said above, this was intended to be a side project to give me a break from my 6mm Napoleonics, but I'm been very impressed by these figures, so it may become a bit bigger down the track...
Now onto the review! I break my manufacturer reviews into three segments
- Quality and design of product
- How they are purchased/packed
- Service/Cost
Quality and design of product
Pendraken's figures are definitely of a good quality. Design wise the detail is fairly chunky, which makes them very easy to paint. The sculpts have tonnes of character to them, something which I kind of picked up in the bare metal but became very obvious once I started applying paint. Size wise these tend to sit around 12mm to the top of the hat (10mm to eye level). To me this feels perfect, large enough to have plenty of visible detail yet small enough to be easy to paint with simple techniques. I'm not a great painter by any measure but I was very pleased with the results of my first infantry. on the downside, mold lines on some of the figures can be quite prominent and often run along the face of the figure. These are relatively simple to remove as these ACW figures are not covered in equipment. This is perhaps something to keep in mind for more elaborately detailed figures (WW2 British paras come to mind, with helmet detail and plenty of gear). The biggest downside for me came with the rifles, which often have no visible firing mechanism and in some cases were perhaps cast a bit too thin, resulting in weapons that easily broke. The firing mechanism may not be necessary at this scale but the brittle rifles was disappointing. That said I think the pros outweigh the cons here.
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| Confederate infantry. This is not all the poses included. Lots of character! |
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| Confederate cavalry. Some of the cavalry figures are great. Cavalry is perhaps the forgotten arm of the American Civil War, but Pendraken has brought it to life here. |
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| Great figures! |
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| Confederate artillery. Guns are four piece and look easy to assemble. |
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| Size comparison to Baccus 6mm Napoleonics. |
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| My first 12 CSA infantry. I'm very pleased with how these came out. |
How they are purchased/packed
Pendraken has kept their packaging and purchase scheme simple and operates an easy to navigate website. Infantry is packed 30/pack, cavalry 15/pack. Infantry command packs have 15/pack. Artillery is sold 4 guns/pack with crew packaged separately (16/pack to match up with the guns). Personally I think this is a mistake, however it may be convenient for those who wish to make destroyed artillery markers. Starter armies are available with 150 infantry (including command groups), 15 cavalry and 3 guns with crew. Key generals such as Lee and Grant are available individually along with a broad array of other items such as wagons, sharpshooters, stretcher bearers and even civlians. I personally purchased a starter pack for each side of the war.
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| Packaging is simple. The package came in a soft post bag. One plastic bag per starter army. Only the artillery is packed separately, infantry and cavalry you'll need to sort yourself! |
Service/Cost
Pricing is very competitive, something which initially attracted me to Pendraken. All prices here exclude VAT.
Infantry pack (30) - 4.38 pounds (8.30AUD)
Infantry command (15) - 2.21 pounds (4.20AUD)
Cavalry (15) - 4.38 pounds (8.30AUD)
Guns (4) - 3.50 pounds (4.60AUD)
Gun Crew (16) - 2.33 pounds (4.40AUD)
Starter Army - 27.5 pounds (52AUD)
Service was very good. Everything was cast and shipped in around a week and came in good condition. I can't comment on how you would go with complaints as I had none!
Conclusion
Pendraken offers characterful figures at a good price, making 10mm a compelling halfway between 6mm and 15mm. While their figures have fairly prominent mould lines and some of the rifles are overly brittle, the figures in general have plenty of easy to paint detail with a variety of fantastic sculpts. Highly recommended.
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