Anvil Industry - Regiments Review

Today, I'm reviewing the Regiments sets from Anvil Industry, so Imperial Guard players better be listening!

Introduction

Anvil are a small UK based miniatures company that make a range of resin wargaming miniatures. They have vast ranges of bits; heads, guns, combat weapons and many more interesting items in huge variety. They're made variously in scale for heroic "Exo Lords" (who may or may not resemble certain Marines from Space) and  regular human scale miniatures. They've recently produced their own game "Afterlife" too, which is a futuristic skirmish type affair, as well as these rather interesting Regiments kits.

The Regiments range are a set of modular infantry kits that are formed from resin. They offer a range of legs, torsos, arms, heads and weapons that can be combined in massive variety to make custom infantry squads. They also make heavy weapons teams and a range of officer parts and combat weapons are available. Anvil also have a kickstarter running for "Trench Fighters" currently that will add a large number of parts to the range including great-coats, more gas masks and all manner of cool bits.

You can really see the quality of the casting looking at the perfectly crisp hollow barrels on his weapon.

Why I'm Writing This...

At this point, you might ask what got me started on all of this business, well some of you may remember my recent article on Del'Ragio and the Desert Dogs. After reliving the magic and getting all nostalgic, I was stuck by a profound need to update them to my current standards. I really wanted to enjoy the process too and have a good old fashioned kit-bash-up, but also to start with some cool futuristic bits. After a bit of searching, Anvil were recommended, and well, the rest is history. As a spot of luck, it coincided nicely with Squaduary, so I had another excuse in the bag too!

As it was just a side project, I picked all of my favourite parts from the range. I wanted to go for a bulky armoured look. I went with Gothic Void Torsos, as I liked the gorget. Armoured arms and some Afterlife legs that weren't strictly part of the range, but were what I liked and handily Anvil let you pick them as an option (they did warn that the legs would take a bit of conversion, but I wasn't worried - It was just nice to be able to get everything I wanted). In the end, they didn't take a lot of work, But I think it might be a bit to do with the choice of Torso how well they fit.

A unit of fresh recruits; from a forge apparently located in hobby heaven!

Delivery

Receiving the package in the post, I was surprised how small it was. It seems Anvil use slim-line boxes to enable their stuff to be delivered through the letterbox. Worth mentioning for those who may be worried about delivery.

Customer Service at Anvil was also good - with free 1st class post on orders over £35, and only a day or two of processing time till my order was dispatched.

Resin Quality

One of the most surprising things for me was the quality of the resin; I'd heard it was good, but Anvil Industry may have the best resin in the business. As a long-time gamer, painter and man about town, I can honestly say that it rivals the quality of Forgeworld's stuff and may actually be better. The details are incredibly fine, but are all perfectly formed. I didn't see a single flaw, miscast or air bubble; which in 11 full resin miniatures is downright incredible. The details are so crisp too; with tiny vents, edges and points all perfectly formed. For a relatively small operation it really is jaw dropping quality and I can only recommend buying something cheap if you have any doubts so you can see for yourself.

Compatibility

I found that the resin Regiments parts are pretty compatible with normal 28mm heroic type human miniatures. By that  mean plastic Cadian parts, or a few bits I used from other kits of roughly similar scale. I even managed to fit a Space Marine flamer to one with only a minimum amount of work; which just goes to show how easily they fit into a 40k scale.

The Space Marine Flamer in question

 

The beret head is from some Tempestus Scions, but it fits just fine on an Afterlife body.

 

Size comparison with a dodgy converted Cadian I had about the place

Fitting

Perhaps due to the quality, I had no problems fitting parts - infact they lock together incredibly well. There's no warping or bending in the resin, its dreamy, like working with plastic.

Mold Lines

The other thing that struck me was the lack of mold-lines. the casts are very clean and take minimal effort to get ready for use. It sounds like a bit of a side-point, but considering that these are available as full units, it really is a strong selling point. Nobody would want to clean up 10 hairy resin figures, but Anvil's stuff handles more like plastic. A real pleasure to work with.

Pricing/Cost

Full regiments do cost more, but only about the same amount as most manufacturers; and you're getting a lot of customisation. The individual parts are really cheap though; with sets of 6 heads for only £3. If you were looking to spice up some units of Cadians, an investment of £20-£30 would probably outfit the whole force with fresh heads and accessories. Well worth a look if you want to do something interesting, or are looking to emulate one of the less well loved regiments (Chem Dogs I'm looking at you).

Ready for the battlefield? Come and get it Zombies!

Conclusion

Ultimately, it's all up to the design though and whether they appeal to you. Personally, I think it's a great range with a lot of cool parts and I'm very happy with the results I got. The quality is very high and it really isn't an exaggeration when I say it could be the best Resin on the market in terms of casting and detailing. Well worth a look for anyone looking for that extra punch in their army's aesthetic, or just some nice models in their own right. Full units can add up to be fairly expensive, but only about the same cost as any other resin miniatures. So if you like what you've seen from my test squad, why not check out Anvil for yourself, I can personally guarantee the casting quality is just as good as it looks in the pictures! (and basically the only bad thing I can think of to say is that I wish they were free! - although if anyone does want to give me any free models...).

I should probably note that I have no affiliation with Anvil in any way. and I didn't contact them to let them know I would be reviewing their products, so the quality of casts that I received is exactly what you'll get - with no special treatment. I'll add a link to Anvil below for anyone who is interested:

https://anvilindustry.co.uk/