Monday, April 16, 2018

1st Corps ACW Review


I finally made the plunge and bought some 1st Corps ACW figures. I had been a little worried they would be true 25mm and be quite small, a fact I found with their Roman range. However, the figures were a good size and fitted in well with all of the other mid range figure companies, Foundry, Crusader, Dixon, Old Glory, Perrys etc.
 I think these figures must be selling well as they did have a little flash on them and needed a little clean up. Also I thought the rifles were a little on the large size, but nothing I couldn't live with. After a tidy up and a closer look I found that I liked these figures quite a lot, It's nice to find a new range that fits with your old stuff. The sculpting was good and I will defiantly be getting some other packs to add into the mix. Their iron Brigade looks good and so will be on the wish list.

So all in all these figures are recommended and they are fairly priced too, being under a pound a piece in the deals 1st Corps do.

 I have fallen back in love with lots of old companies I had turned my back on in favour of Foundry. Dixon are said to be pumpkin heads but I like them, they add a lot of character to formations and have a charm all of their own, they also paint up well. Here we can see a 1st Corps figure next to a Dixon one, the two match in size and will mix very well together in a unit.
 Another size comparison showing a Dixon, 1st Corps, Crusader figure. All these mid range figures mix well together.


Crusader, Dixon,1st Corps, Steve Barber models.
The causality pack is also recommended as they have many poses and some that can be used as men struggling to the rear, great for fighting units.


                                              
 1st Corps have learnt from other ranges over the years (Sash and Sabre) and have produced codes with multiple variants in. This vast host of poses looks great and is one of the strengths of this recent range. It might be worth buying a right shoulder shift pack as well to mix in with these advancing men to give even more of a mix of poses.

 From what I can see most of these men are in forage caps rather than kepis. This is fine as again I haven't many figures in this head wear. On opening the pack I was a little put off by this fact until I researched it on line and found the peaks were really small. At first I thought it was poor sculpting, but it's right.
 Also a lot of figures in this pack were in shirts and made the unit look like a battle hardened tough fighting mob. Perfect for my Irish Brigade unit I thought to myself.
 Here is a Renegade figure with a smaller crusader drummer. The Renegade figures are the only ones I would put together in the same unit without mixing them as they are quite large. Saying that, the odd one or two here or there won't hurt, my units are all about variety of poses.

Painting by Don Troiani
Irish brigade at Gettysburg, note the shirt. I think these 1st Corps figures will be my Irish Brigade now. I have also fallen back in love with Old Glory figures and was thinking of ordering their Irish Brigade until these guys turned up.
These advancing 1st Corps figures with their bayonets and shirts just kind of tick all the boxes of a tough fighting veteran unit for me...job done!

4 comments:

Carlo said...

I cou
Don’t agree more on the Dixon ACW range being a splendid characterful and comprehensive range. Criticised for their large heads and hands I have never been bothered by that at all as I see their range of faces and variations as an incredible plus. Your figures wre looking very, very nice indeed.

Carlo said...

I couldn’t agree more on the Dixon ACW range being a splendid characterful and comprehensive range. Criticised for their large heads and hands I have never been bothered by that at all as I see their range of faces and variations as an incredible plus. Your figures wre looking very, very nice indeed.

Secundus said...

Yeah I know Just got some more off eBay, I like'em.

metal mercenaries said...

hi matey
love the review
just to let you know that the range from 1st corps of ACW was the first range that Rob Baker produced back in the early 90's at the same time as Dixon's and I would think he would be so pleased to see them today called new...and at that time we also had them in variants like you stated and started selling them in this way as an 8 variant set (4 for command) at the turn of the century...lol
and those Berdan's you like are from the mid 90's...lots and lots of research went into the range a labour of love you might say...I personally still to this day love and paint these figures for my ACW