10/12mm Germans

[Legere]

Thanks

I quite like the Victrix figures - they paint up nicely. A couple of down sides are they are a bit flat in most of the poses, and there are a lot of prone figures.

Yes, the Victrix vehicle options are a bit odd, as you say pack sizes are quite large for many of the vehicles. I also would have liked to see a few more options on the sprues (like PSC do) as the Firefly kit could have included 75mm options, and the US Sherman kit could have included 76mm options etc.
The PzIV is fairly limited in building late models as it has the schurzen moulded to the hull, unlike the Stug where they are separate pieces.

It seems like they aren’t really getting the benefits of plastic kits.

Exactly. If there were more options the packs of 6 might be more usable rather than just straight 6s of which I might only REALLY want 4, or less! I have bought a lot of the PSC 15mm plastics in the past and their 250 Neu comes with several build options, as do their tanks and German 234 armoured cars. The Churchill that Victrix do could have had a Crocodile option to make it more attractive, albeit at least that has the AVRE option.

I've just been going through pricing up some Victrix packs (Stugs, Pz IV, Churchills and the US Half Tracks) and while I quite like them, they're not cheap, or rather they're not cheap if your'e not getting what you actually want. As it stands though I find I'm trying to talk myself into buying them on the basis that the decals and included commander options make it worth it, fact is though, they don't in all honesty, particularly when I can get the precise versions of vehicles I want from Pendraken, even if I buy the exact same number, for about 65% of the cost of the Victrix option. The big difference of course is, with Pendraken I can scale the order precisely with 2, 3 or 4 of any one vehicle type, making it even better VFM with no waste. For me it's not so much the cost, but I'm happier to may a premium for miniatures if it means I can get what I want, not pay a premium and feel somewhat half-hearted about them, trying to convince myself it's still a good idea.

[fred]

I’ve got a fair few Pendraken Sherman’s - but I still get the point that being able to buy just what you want is good thing

[Legere]

I actually decided to stop with the Victrix purchases after I'd bought the British and German Army bundles. Those were good (enough) value for me given they are 20% off the regular price and especially as Victrix don't charge VAT on overseas orders, same as Pendraken, (it's annoying how many do!) and have quite reasonable shipping rates. The fact that Customs this end let the package through without charging any duty or VAT was an added bonus

Finally making a start on them now and, while I think the Panthers and Shermans are nice, I have to say the Cromwells were a bit of a pig to build. The hull assembly was easy enough but there are 9 parts to the turret which, from an assembly point of view, are not particularly well designed IMO, not particularly well fitting and very fiddly. It doesn't help that whichever way you assemble them none of the parts will go together and stand up on their own resulting in the need for a bit of a balancing act and also the need to assemble the parts rapidly so you can attempt to squish them together in order to get the best fit you can. Not at all impressed with them from an assembly point of view and not a kit that qualifies for the 'Easy Build' moniker they put on the this and the rest of their range. Of course the other downside is that their Shermans are not actually British Shermans, again, odd decisions on the releases.

Passed on everything else, even the PzIVs that I could probably have got by with but as Fred mentioned, too restrictive with the moulded schurzen. The allied half tracks I could have used but buying single packs without discount and shipping them is where the value for money drops off a cliff, pushing the price up to near on £5 each. They're good but not THAT good IMO.