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I'm afraid that 2 guns and 10 crewmen just doesn't make this a particularly cost-effective set, given that the guns themselves are small and that there is no other item eg: a limber, in the set.
I may well be giving this set a miss, since I already have more than enough early C18th artillery via ANOther manufacturer.
Just seen the sprue for the WSS British Artillery.
While the figures look great, the guns themselves look a little more worse for wear.
The bigger of the barrels looks slightly bent and the axle on one of the carriages is bent bad too. Plastic looks soft for it to do that.
Seeing it reminded me of the old Esci sets of artillery. Really soft plastic which bent out of shape really easily & was a nightmare to try & straighten up. Tried various methods but it would always "remember" its bent shape & return to it.
Hopefully this set will fair better.
Three guns or 2 guns with a limber in a box would have been fair/attractive. Only 2 guns are really a shock, also in regard that the guns are quite simple and missing most of theirs historical details (no detaied barrels, no iron reinforcements of the wheels etc. - details which are visible on the box-covers but not in the sculpting). The gunners are instead wonderful masterpieces and for me the only reason to buy the sets. I would have pay 2-3 Euros more per set with 3 guns and 15-18 gunners than 9 Euros for only 2 unconvincing guns. It´s contraproductive to halve the content and to expect double sales, which Redbox has already experienced painful with some of its Burgundy and Landsknecht sets.
Now I have to rethink my purchases ... and again I will buy certainly less sets ... instead 9-12 boxes now probably only 4.
Artillery becomes a luxury in relation to infantry or cavalry. My former enthusiasm for Strelets becomes sour. Lost possibilies, lost hopes and finally less sympathies and less sales .....
I would appreciate too that Strelets give us a perspective which nations will been still add in their WSS range. If we can expect still austrians and dutch or spanish sets.
I think that the pictures at Hannants are inconclusive as they do not show the actual sprues. Looking at PSR for the sets already released the infantry sets contain four sprues with ten figures each (plus a command sprue) and the cavalry three one with twelve riders. So my guess would be that there's a good chance that we'll get four sprues again, two with figures and two with guns. So let's wait and see.
I just hope that the cannon barrels are straighter than on the pics. And yes the gunners look great but guns look indeed very simple. I'm tempted to replace them provided I can find something more suitable and of bigger caliber.
The content is already indicated on the cover of the box by Hannants: 2 guns and 10 men. No misunderstanding and no more hopes...
... in comparison with set 281 japanese with 8 guns and 36 men, set 290 foreign legion 3 guns and 15 men, 291 8 guns and 32 men ...
The cover is the same as published on the Strelets homepage. And I if I'm not completely mistaken it shows eleven men and three guns. Besides I've never seen a front cover (including Zvezda's) that has shown the exact contents of the box. Otherwise some HaT boxes would just contain two men. And contrary to some other manufacturers there's no text or figures on the front cover indicating the number of pieces inside. So until we see the back cover or an updated version of the front cover everything we can do is guess. I'm still optimistic.
To potentially charge the same, but for less in a box, would be an own goal by Strelets. Especially if the guns are bland detail wise.
Now, what with recent troubles, thats not totally out of the realms of reality, but I wouldn't read too much into the box contents just yet. As Flambeau says, I too have bought boxes of figures, thankfully knowing what is inside, but seen misprints on the box. I once got a set from HaT, said on the box I was supposed to have had 480 figures inside..not the 48 I knew was meant to be in there!! I wished!! Would of been a big help & saved me some money!!!
Might of been a bit squashed in that box though!!
Some of the other artillery sets out there have more guns due to the calibre being much smaller & the design more compact overall. Some have less guns due to having more men per gun instead.
EDIT:Having had another look, the price does seem a bit less than the usual, but perhaps still a lot, if the box contents is indeed true. Both boxes do indeed say 10 men & 2 guns...hmm, £7.80 would seem to be a bit steep for just 10 men & 2 bland guns, but then Linear charge a large amount for just 4 figures in a box.
So I guess in the end, its whether people are prepared to pay that price for what they get inside.
Sorry Flambeau, but Strelets shows us still only the cover-image, but Hannants the final front-cover of the box (the numbers of pieces top rigtht like on many other Strelet boxes).
And mysterious is where are you seen an eleventh man in the set - there are only 10. The front-covers are always visualisations which aren´t identical to the content of the box - for example: some napoleonic sets with mounted officers which aren´t in the box.
And Zvezda shows always its content on the backside of the box.
And Haet had shown sometimes the number of pieces (with hats, bags etc.) and not of figures.
And I agree that the calibers of the other sets of Strelets are smaller, but the WSS guns aren´t giants to explain an reduction of men and guns to a third or less.
Unfortunately I must stand corrected. I was judging by the actual picture and not the text (must have missed that, blame it upon poor eyesight ...). So the box seems indeed to offer less than the picture might promise, that's bad. Now let's just hope that they don't charge full price for that meagre content, otherwise I'll stick by my Zvedza GNW artillery.
An observation ,and not looking for a row. The cost of creating one figure, ie sculpting and mould making is the same for all sets. But we are likely to buy less artillery than cavalry and Infantry ,thus making the return on investment far less. So it would pay to make infantry and cavalry and not artillery as we need less on our table tops. Packing them this way, two guns and crews per box means many of us will buy more than one box ,thus making it worth while Strelets making the set.
As I said before, I guess it just comes down to what someone is prepared to pay for what they are actually getting. I personally can't fault the figures, they look great, but i'm not too impressed with the guns themselves.
Another factor involved in price v contents would be if its a set someone really needed, so thus had little option but to either go without, or pay the price for them.
That's probably very true. "Special" unit boxes like artillery or command sets will sell less than regular ones (viz. infantry and artillery). I think Zvezda's artillery sets might have been a bit more expensive at release, but that was ok, as they had a lot to offer. It's indeed a bit risky for a manufacturer to make these special sets, if they don't sell well, it can always backfire. Maybe HaT's rather simple approach (four guns, four figures) was best if you must economize. Personally I prefer Zvezda's way of doing it: Make the set so great that people just go for a shopping spree even if they don't need that many figures :slightly_smiling_face:
The later HaT artillery sets such as the 1805 French were indeed good sets, ok only 4 crew per gun but there are optional arms too. The guns themselves were far superior to their earlier small, very basic ones.
Zvezda however have to be the best artillery sets out there....big box sets that is. I have both the Napoleonic French & Russian sets & the guns are amazing, figures are great & best of all you get a limber & caission too! Yes more pricey, (& fiddly!), but you got what you paid for.
Yes, the Zvezda artillery sets were great, but let's not forget the excellent Revell sets (30YW, 7YW and British foot artillery). Ah, the good old days ...
So based on a hint I received on a comment in this forum earlier this year, I believe this set of two guns may be accompanied by a sister set with two limbers with crews in the future. If I am correct in this assertion, then the idea would be that between the two sets you would end up with two guns, two limbers, and crews for all between them.
Naturally it is up to personal preference, but I would actually prefer this to Zvezda's GNW way because each would have a limber to tow the gun. I also vastly prefer the plastic that Strelets is made out of, so looking forward to the final results!