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Are enemies necessary?

Following up from the thread below about US Cavalry, I was wondering how much (if at all) the absence or presence of an opposing army makes on your purchasing habits. For me, opposing sets are essential and I generally will not buy a set (even if I like it) that has no opponent (ie Emhar FPW sets). Orion also seems to have a habit of making beautiful sets without opponents (Boxers, Israelis, Russian Civil War Cav). Sometimes, with popular subjects like Napoleonics, Romans, other manufacturers can be used to fill the gaps, but, for me, if the sculpting style is too different or with scale creep this may not be a satisfactory option. What do you think?

Re: Are enemies necessary?

You are right. The more sets for a period are available the more interesting it becomes for me. Even with two sets for a range it is not enough to make a good diorama.

But beside this I bought all the sets you mentioned because I hope to get the enemies in the future. Or in the case of Boxers and 1870 I had metals and conversions.

cheers
Uwe

Re: Are enemies necessary?

Yes, enemies are absolutely necessary. Beyond single set boxes.

Each theme, or each Big Box, even if it has only 2 sets in it, should have a Blue & Gray, a Red & Blue, a Good Guy and a Bad Guy, even from the same mould (Giant of Hong Kong) and so on ... :-) Good point.

A Big Box should encourage buying the next box, especially if you are trying to attract new young kids with limited budgets.

Each money spent should self-support the encouragement to save up and purchase the next set which will continue to build up an awesome army !!! That's why I have always enjoyed the hobby, Airfix Cowboys and Indians, French Foreign Legion and Arabs, etc.

Even if nothing else happens in the future, at least you'll have 2 sets which has the opportunity to become classics.

In the case of Airfix FFL & Arabs, even if no other sets are made, later colors from the same moulds still add to additional sales. I have made some scans to show it, but this forum is not the appropriate one. I have them in White, Tan, Cream/Yellow, Greenish and Rusty-Brown. As strange as it sounds, for a wild group such as Arabs, together, they look swell! And the FFL in Dark Blue as well as Light Blue, are awesome, too!

Re: Re: Are enemies necessary?

Hi Dave,

that reminds me of the old Esci battle-sets. With some special equipment or maybe a ground-plate it could be interesting for collectors and children.

cheers
Uwe

Re: Are enemies necessary?

Of course are necessary..specially if you want to collect barbarians indeed but you get only romans!!!!

Re: Are enemies necessary?

i totally agree with you! i can't see why manufacturers make sets that have no opponents? for that matter, i fail to see why they make opponent sets in the same color plastic, but that is another argument all together!
anyway, i think they should go back to the Airfix way of doing things. if memory serves, they always put out a set with an opponents. ESCI used to do the same. some of today's companies seem to have lost that notion. what good are exotic sets when there is no one to fight them? not every one is skilled at "Frankensteining" their own opponents nor do a lot of people want to!

Re: Re: Are enemies necessary?

oehh, Frankensteining, I like that:)

Re: Re: Re: Are enemies necessary?

Me too

Re: Are enemies necessary?

Hey Mako ......... you certainly have a point but by not buying those sets (available sets without oponents) you take a certain risk.

Sooner or later every set will have its oponents...I'm quite sure of that. And the risk you take is that certain sets that you perhaps refused to buy (because at that moment there were no enemy sets) will be out of production and hence hard to find.

The moment a new set hits the market I buy it (depending on what the set contains and what period it covers I even buy it in large numbers, not caring wether there are already oposing sets or not). I didn't buy those four Lucky Toys sets, released after their Black Huns,not because there were at that time no enemy sets but because they were crap. And I'm still hesitating to buy the latest BUM and German sets simply because of the lousy material they are made of (and of course because they are extremely expensive).

But I agree that if there had been adversaries for the Sumerians (HAT) I would have bought more than one set (momentarily I only have one set INF. and one set CHARRIOTS) but with HAT I can take the chance (even their eldest sets are still available in the shops).

BTW the sets that you mentioned in your message either already have enemy sets or their oposing sets are to be expected in the "near" future.

EMHAR: FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR: have a look at the HAT site (next to the infantry sets I think we can expect Cav. and Art. sets).

ORION: BOXER Rebellion : check the period at PSR

ORION: RCW: WWI RUSSIAN INF (HAT), WWI RUSSIAN CAV.sets (STRELETS), 2 sets WWI RUSSIAN INF. (announced by STRELETS) and RUSSIAN INF. (RUSSO-JAPANESE WAR:CAESAR)

Cheers

PG

Re: Re: Are enemies necessary?

Hi Paul, you are absolutely right that by not buying right away one runs the risk of missing out. In addition, it is true that a lot of gaps can be filled by other manufacturers and promised future releases. However, I started this thread because I think that manufacturers could probably increase sales just by rearranging or reorganizing their release schedules. In order to maximize sales, I think it is absolutely essential to release opposing sets at the same time(or within a 3 - 6 months of each other) otherwise momentum can be lost. I know personally that if I have to wait too long for sets, I often eventually lose interest in the period and move on to something else (there always seem to be new WWII sets!). Also when starting a new era, I think it is important to start with core units like infantry and then branch out to cavalry, artillery, camp sets. For example when I look at Strelets Medieval range, it seems to me fairly well balanced between infantry, cavalry, Crusader and Muslim, however their Roman range is top heavy with Roman units! I like Romans (particularly the brilliant marching set), but the lack of Roman enemies makes this series less appealing to me. Strelets will probably rectify this in the near future, but we really need good units of enemy infantry and cavalry (my choice would be Hebrew units for Masada). Anyways these are just my thoughts. I really want Strelets and other figure manufacturers to be successful so that we will get even more great figures (like US Cavalry Set2 plus enemies)!

Re: Re: Re: Are enemies necessary?

In most cases they are necessary. French knights could probably pass for English knights during the Hundred Years War, and I'm pretty certain that there wasn't much difference in appearance between the typical Lancastrian and Yorkist during the War of the Roses. If you were doing one of the Roman civil wars the same figures might work for both sides, and for much of the 30YW the armies in Germany, aside from there flags, probably looked about the same. However these are more the exceptions than the rule.

Re: Re: Re: Are enemies necessary?

Hello Mako,

It's indeed very sad that STRELETS seems to be considering not making or postponing their second set of US cav. (and enemies) but I gues they will have their reasons. Perhaps if they had released their first set together with Apaches or whatever sales would have been better .... I don't know ....now I've bought only one set .... but what if they released two or three sets and the sales were still low ... I can imagine this being a serious financial setback for STRELETS (let's not forget that STRELETS started years ago as a small firm producing only sets in addition to already existing sets made by the big players ... since then STRELETS has come a long way and in my eyes they certainly have made their place among the great players but compared to a giant like ZVEZDA ....).

Must admit that the second set US cav. is not on my priority list (first finish GNW range ... SWEDISH PIKEMEN and early RUSSIAN inf. are a must ... not to mention their CRIMEAN WAR range .... those TURKS ...).

Imperial Romans: situation is indeed critical.
I have too many Romans and far to few numbers of adversaries. But there is always hope. LW has a new set of DACIANS in the pipeline and like you I've set my hopes on STRELETS.

Cheers

PG

BTW LW has another set in the pipeline being HEBREW WARRIORS (foot) for the Jewish uprising so I gues you are a step nearer to Masada.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Are enemies necessary?

Something I forgot to mention.

Lots of Romans (Republican, Imperial and even Late Romans) and far to few adversaries ....true...... but we still need a decent set of Republican Romans for CAESAR to conquer GAUL.

Now since CAESAR has a set of Republican Romans in the pipeline I do hope that this set will be related to their companies name.

In a Cival War, not always

For Romancival wars, and lots of medievil and modern stuff, both side can be represented by almost identical soldiers with only some sligt variations in paiting or the color of plastic is required

Re: In a Cival War, not always

And I would say Romans are a speciality of HAT. Why not ask them?

cheers
Uwe

YES YES YES!

I couldnt agree more with Mako. Surely Orion would have sold many more Boxers if they had also done at least 1 set of opposition. All the SR Crimean sets are great but to cover the basics we still need British grenadiers, French cavalry, artillery for everyone except Russia and, of course, Turks.

I recently decided to buy some sets for a friends children. I then realised how important having a balanced set was, with figures for both sides in it. I opted for an Airfix big box, but if Strelets made a 'Poltava', 'Balaclava' etc they would be a great introduction for newcomers of all ages.