Review: Plastic Soldier’s Early Imperials and Celts – well – plastic soldiers

By Paolo Paglianti

Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) revives one of the best ranges of “ancient” miniatures, the long time disappeared Corvus Belli. Let’s see if they are good, unboxing the packs PSC sent to us.

All wargamers with more than 10 years of activity will remember those days when almost all miniatures were in metal. Metal is more resistant and – generally speaking – more detailed than resin or plastic, and usually painters prefer lead miniatures over plastic ones. The situation is now dramatically changed, with all major 28mm producers using extensively plastic for their products. Anyone concerned about the quality of plastic miniatures can easily change their mind by just admiring Games Workshop’s latest ranges like the stunning , , or the extremely detailed GBP

Like Battlefront, Plastic Soldier Company (PSC) has a history of plastic 15mm miniatures for its World War 2 ranges. In 2020, PSC entered the world of “ancient” and medieval wargames with Simon Hall’s ruleset Mortem et Gloriam (by the way, we had ) and with a full range of 15mm miniatures. The first range we . Now it’s time to travel further back in time with Early Imperial Roman and their Celts opponents.

These ranges come from the beloved Corvus Belli. This Spanish producer did some of the finest miniatures in the early 2000s: I painted one full Roman army and another 100 Years War, as they also did a High Medieval range specifically for the English/French/Burgundian wars. They suddenly stopped , abandoning the historical ones –  and we were all sad about this decision. For 10/15 years, we couldn’t find them at all.

The first good news is PSC managed somehow to recover the original molds for apparently all Corvus Belli figures. (80+ miniatures) but also smaller boxes for expanding your army with Celtic chariots or Roman artillery.

And they are good. As you can see in the photos, the detail is amazing, even better of the Late Imperial range. We know sometimes the Ultracast plastic used by PSC has annoying mold lines or flash, but nothing you can’t amend with a good modeler cutter. Our samples were really good – we didn’t clear them, the photos were taken just after with unboxed them.

What is inside the Pacto box for Early Imperial (39,95£): 3 mounted command, six foot officers, 12 cavalry, 42 assorted legionaries, 14 assorted auxilia (oval shields). We need some Psiloi and skirmishers, but the core army is here.  

The second piece of good news is the price. The Pacto Early Imperial Roman box includes three mounted generals, six of the foot command, 42 veteran or ordinary legionaries, 14 auxiliaries, and 12 cavalry for 40 Euros. If you bought these miniatures from Corvus Belli in early 2000, it would be 5 £ for 8 infantry or 4 mounted: around 80 £ – with PSC it’s far less expensive and you save circa 50%.

The “plastic bag” ) is mandatory for every true Roman army. “The average Roman Army, son, don’t take a dump without two artillery base” (US Admiral).

And the . 32 soldiers, half of them are Eastern (long skirt), half Western (pants). You can mix them, as most Roman armies had both. They can be used as supporting PS for Legionaries and Auxilias, or for the Sagittari units. 

The boxes are made for Mortem et Gloria, but are good for any “ancient” ruleset. Art De La Guerre Early Imperial Roman (list 84) has 4-12 bases of Legionaries and 2-6 Auxiliares, and each base is made by 8 soldiers. You can field the minimum but you’ll probably need two boxes to have a reasonable army.

You also will need the  (32 mixed archers (half Western, half Eastern – but you can use both together in the same army) for 12 £. You would have paid around 20 £, so it’s a good price even if not half of the old metal. Another good addition is, with two artillery (7 £). The Roman cavalry in the Pacto box (12 + 3 generals/bodyguard) is enough for the average army (2-6 bases of three each). You still miss some slingmen or javelin Psiloi, but you can add from other ranges – just one pack of 8 will be enough.

The Roman foot command figures. Very good even if not perfect. In the lower half of the photo, some legionary’s top half: you can see the details in the faces, but also that you will need some cutter’s work to cancel the mold lines on the helmets. 

DBMM has bigger armies and  more specific options like the two German Clubmen bases or the Dromedarii Light Camels, but there are few bases you can find easily around to fill up your ideal army. The Early Imperial Roman DBMM list (Book II, list 56) needs a minimum of 12 Legionaries bases (4 soldiers per bases), so it’s a 48 Legio soldiers minimum. I rarely saw an Early Imperium player with less than 16 Legionary bases,  and you will need two Pacto Boxes as well.

The rough going elite Auxilia (S) need eight bases of four soldiers each, and again two Pacto Boxes, with a total of 28 Auxiliares is just below the minimum you will need to field a DBMM EIR. At the moment we’re writing, there is no expansion for the Auxiliares, so you will need to buy a third Pacto box (and benefit of the greater number of Legionaries and cavalry) or look for other Producers’ Auxilia.

The original metal Corvus Belli Roman mounted Cavalry, and the PSC plastic one. The metal had unassemble shields. The details on the PSC ones are amazing, like the chain mail or the faces. Still, you need to clean the flash from the shields and the flanks.

Even if the original Corvus Belli figures are no longer available, I managed to find some original unpainted miniatures to shoot some photos for comparison purposes. They look exactly the same and have the same dimensions. The original Corvus Belli are cleaner, while the PSC ones have some small mold lines on the sides.

“The Barbarian Horde”: 3 mounted generals, 12 unarmoured cavalry, six noble cavalry, 21 naked fanatics infantry (good for the elite warbands), 42 warriors, four slingers and four javelin. .

The Celtic Army, the second I Century AD army PSC is selling, also comes from the same Corvus Belli range. This range can be used for Gallic, Galatians, or Ancient British. Barbarian armies are bigger, even if sluggish and unmanovrable, so a bigger expense and painting task.

ADG Gallic list (88), Ancient British (98) both have lots of Heavy or Medium infantry (both 8-24, so 16-96 soldiers), Chariots or Cavalry (up to 10 or 12), and light infantry. The Pacto Box includes 12 mounted, 21 naked fanatics, 42 foot warriors and 8 light infantry, plus various command and bodyguard.

Again, you can do a minimum size army with a single Pacto box, or a generous one with two Pacto boxes. You can expand the army with the Chariot pack (9.00£ for 2 chariots, a bit expensive compared to the other prices), or with the Skirmisher pack (8 cavalry for Light Horse and 16 light infantry), 12£.

Comparison between new PSC plastic Celtic leaders and the old Corvus Belli ones. The one on the lower right pointing the hand has some flashes, others are are almost clear. 

Again, I managed to find some original Corvus Belli, and have a photo with their modern plastic cousins. As you can see, they are identical, except for some mold lines.

DBMM speaking, the Gallic list (Book II/11) can field 4-16 Chariots, but you can upgrade to mounted cavalry mixing chariots and horses. The 40-96 Wb(O) is demanding: 160 foot soldiers are the minimum you need, so three Pacto boxes.

Ancient British (Book II/53) could be an expensive army, as you can field 0-21 chariots plus the generals. However, if you do a more balanced army, with 8 chariots and 60 Wb (F) (3 per base), three Pacto boxes and 5 chariot expansions should do the job.

with two Celtic Chariots, for 9£. The metal old Corvus Belli were 5£ each, so no big save on these. 

has both light horses (8) and light foot (16) for 12£.  

If metal Corvus Belli were still around, we could argue if a wargamer should buy them for double price, or go for the PSC far less expensive boxes. The metal ones have a slight better quality with fewer molds. However, the truth is Corvus Belli disappeared from the online shelves for too long. So, in my opinion PSC deserves a big applause not only for allowing us to pay circa 50% less than we did in the “metal” days, but also for having recovered these magnificent miniatures. Without the Mortem et Gloriam operation from PSC, they would have been probably lost forever, and having them available again is a joy.