HaT early Napoleonic marching French

Nov 22, 2017 18:11:45 GMT Forum Admin said:

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So, 24 figures per box. That is useful to know, thank you. 

Anyone interested in such figures is likely to want quite a few of them.  Though I understand that much of the sprue is taken up with alternative heads, this results in a very small set; small generally and unprecedentedly small for a Napoleonic marching set. 24 figures is close to being a half-box worth of figures.  

I hope, therefore, that it will be priced accordingly.

There is no exact comparison, but there are a number of approximate comparisons.

The HaT Marching Napoleonic Prussians gave us 40 figures (soft plastic), last retailed in the UK for £5.25 per box, i.e. 13p per figure.

More recently, we have seen Napoleonic marching sets including command from HaT (hard plastic) - British Infantry, Highland Infantry and Duchy of Warsaw Infantry - these are retailed in the UK for £7.99, and each set contains 44 figures, thus these are 18p per figure. 

Perhaps a more meaningful comparison is HaT's SYW Prussians, as these have to accommodate alternative head-gear.  They still managed 40 per box and currently retail in the UK at £6.25 per box, i.e. 15p per figure.

At 15p per figure, the new HaT early French marching set would be £3.60 a box.  If the price were pegged against the most expensive per figure Napoleonic sets, those from HaT, the cost would rise to £4.32 per box.

While I recognise that the alternative heads represents additional costs, if this makes the per-figure costs too high, and out of synch with other sets on the market, it will affect sales.

I welcome an all-marching set, as it cuts down on the waste that most sets represent, as I generally use only a few "action" poses for a skirmish line.  In this regard, HaT's Set 8095, 1808-1812 French Line Infantry, is far better value than most.

It contains 24 marching Fusiliers, 4 marching elites, and 12 marching topqrtes de colonne.  In addition, I would use in proportion at least 4 action poses for the skirmish line.  Thus, I am using a minimum of 44 figures from each box, which is still less than half the box.  Still, it was a set that was extremely good value for money, so I reckon I was only paying 22p per figure used.

While we must accept some changes and price rises from time to time, I do hope that the pricing of these new HaT sets will be sympathetic and not be out of synch with HaT's major rival in this area.  I confess, my expectation was that these would be 48-figure sets for around £8. Now I face the prospect of buying twice the boxes I had guessed I might if I want the same numbers.  I hope the pricing will enable me to do so.     

Anyway, best wishes with the release, they are great figures.