"Making Middle-Earth in 1/72 Plastic" Topic

Hi all,
A bit of a long post. I’d like to ask for your opinions. With the advent of Caesar Miniature’s fantasy 1/72 line, I’ve finally decided to try and make some Middle-Earth armies for Warmaster. I’ve previously done 1/72 for the game using two infantry figures for each 40mm x 20mm base with three bases making a unit and one mounted figure for each 40mm x 20mm stand in a cavalry unit. However, I’m not quite sold with the look of Caesar’s elves and so I browsed the Plastic Soldier Review’s site and came up with these options based on the unit types Luke Sarson Ueda used for his Middle-Earth Hott lists:

Woodelves of Mirkwood
Spear General Thranduil & Elves with spears
Option 1: Miniart Roman Infantry
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The whole top row may be suitable with some modifications on the helmet as well as the addition of hooded capes made from putty.

Option 2: Zvezda Russian Knights
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The first two figures on the uppermost row look easy enough to convert. A change of shields and some plumes on the helmets might work.

Elves with bows
Option 1: Strelets Norman Archers
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Save for the crossbow figure at the bottom, most of these seem usable with the addition of hooded capes.

Option 2: Zvezda Russian Knights
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This set has two archer poses and would also receive putty capes.

Riders of Rohan
King Theoden and household knights
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Beautiful figures. The curved blades may have to be changed though as well as shaving off the engraved heraldry.

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This could represent a different Eored, maybe Erkenbrand’s, Grimbold’s, Dunhere’s or Elfhelm’s

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These would represent the Rohirrim foot.

Men of Dale

Spears
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Could use these as is.

Archers
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With the exception of Friar Tuck; The mounted woman I can use for a Lorien Army.

Dwarves & Orcs
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Some could use some modifications, especially the “slayers” type. It’s a pity that they didn’t design the figures along the same design parameters to fit a specific archetype Dwarf, be it Middle-Earthish, Warhammerish or D&Dish. Same goes for the orcs. I’m hunting down a set by Red Box titled Dark Alliance Orcs. These seem to be nearer to the LOTR orcs. Hannants, however, doesn’t seem to have them in stock.

Comments and suggestions welcome, thanks!

Nice lineup! I have thought seriously about a similar project in 1/72.

May I recommend for your suggestion HaT Sea People as Orc alternatives. I think they are a good fit for true LOTR orcs: link

I always thought the Rohirim would appear more Germanic/Nordic than your selections, but that is very subjective. I considered using the same Russians you chose for Gondor (along with some Normans), and using Anglo-Saxons and Vikings for Rohan. YMMV.

What about trolls, wargs, spectres, etc?

Ditto for Hrothgar's ideas – I thought the same thing after seeing the HaT Sea People!

I thought this set of Vikings would make good Rohan infantry:
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or these:
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I think the Imex/Emhar Saxons would make good generic troops:
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The Esci Barbarian Warriors (recast now by Italeri) could make decent Orcs, Half-Orcs, or wild barbarian tribes:
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You could grap a few sprues of Age of Mythology Norse. They include some trolls that might be useful.

i also started do do a fantasy army in 1/72 for warmaster
you can see some of them on my blog:
plasticgeneral.blogspot.com

jack

Jack: What company makes those orcs? I can't really identify the name of the manufacturer…

Hey IronMike I found some for you on ebay. Looks like they are made by a company called Dark Alliance.

auction

Hrothgar, your suggestion of HaT Sea People as Orc alternatives looks perfect! I was hesitant of the Caesar orcs because of the "warcraft" look they had but these may work. Likewise with the trolls from eagle games.

ScotBrooks, The emhar figures look splendid also. They would be perfect for Rohirrim or Dunlendings. I gravitated to the russians based on my liking for Zvezda's mounted figures.

Jacksolo, great site! What figures are those at the lower left hand corner, the ones ih red, white & blue? picture

Any suggestions for wargs? Are there any 15mm wargs that would be compatible with the 1/72 plastics?

Cooey2pn, if you used the Russians for Gondor and the Saxons/vikings for Rohan, that could work.

Consider…

Tolkien made reference somewhere in The Lost Tales writings to Gondor being somehwat similar to the Byzantine Empire in influences and development. If I understand correctly (and I could be way off) the Russian armor in the Zvezda sets was influenced by Byzantine designs. Just a thought…..

As for Wargs, there are some old Ral Partha goblins on wolves that were supposed to be true 25mm that would probably work. They were really slight and slender, so would probably look good with 1/72 plastic. I will try to find a photo. I may have some put away somewhere!

Jason

GW Morian Goblins seem to rank up with 1/72 pretty well. I have a few of them I use with my 1/72 stuff. Rebel Mins has the best 20mm orcs, IMHO. They are metal but they are really nice.

I made Legolas from a Hat Merry Man. I need to post a picture of that.

LLC aka Ron

Hrothgar, the Saxons and Vikings as Rohan infantry would be great. Any suggestions for comparable cavalry/riders of Rohan? I've been hanging around P{SR a lot but cant seem to make up my mind. As for the goblins on wolves, Splintered Lights has a giant warg as well as a troll.
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Are the Ral Partha goblins still being sold?

I don't think so. Truthfully, they don't compare that well with the Splintered Light wargs. They're great!

As for Rohirim Cavalry, how about….
Roman Cataprhacts for heavies(maybe with shields added)…. link

and Roman Rupublican cavalry could work, with the helmet plumes pared down… link

but the Goth Cavalry are nice too…. link

and keep an eye out for Italeri's Goth Cavalry that is supposed to be coming out soon as well. I would probably go with the Goths.

Jason

cooey2ph, the men in blue and red are the zvezda 17th Century Austrian Musketeers and Pikemen
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I'm going to use them for my warmaster empire army. painted pictures coming up soon

jack

rebelminis.com/bagoorcs.html

Rebel Mins Bag of Orcs.

LLC aka Ron

Those elves look fine to me. Why the need to convert?

I was actually veering toward's miniart's Late Roman Cataphracts as men of Gondor link

Italeri's Goths will be defintely on my shopping list. Damn PSR! Too many goodies!!!

Jacksolo, looking forward to seeing your Empire army in 1/72. Do you use 40mm x 20mm stands (warmaster standard)? How many figs per base?

Grapeape, I'm still mulling over the issue and even though I will most probably purchase them also, I dislike the too cartoony look of the elves, almost warhammerish. link
Plus the long, slicked back hair ( at least Orlando Bloom had his braided) and the outward pointing ears are too long:) For want of more macho elves perhaps? hehe

La Long Carbine, fantastic orcs there, reminds me of the MERP cover art in terms of armor style -- I think by Angus Mcbride, and the Brother's Hildebrandt Tolkien art. I've got a few extra boxes of GW moria orcs that may fill out the ranks as heavier armored orc guys -- just in case, but I'm planning on basing them individually for skirmish games with my GW LOTR figs. Thanks for the heads up on rebelminis!

cooey2ph: I base my figures on 50x30mm. used to do 60x30 wich is more in the line with the 40x20 warmaster standard but the smaller bases give me a smaller frontage so more room on the table for movement. the 30mm dept i need for the horses, 25mm is mostly to small for 1/72 horses.
5 to 6 figures for infantry, 2 to 4 for skirmishers,2 for cavalry, and 40x40mm base for command and hero's

jack

for those who are interrested, I put my first painted empire regiment on my blog

plasticgeneral.blogspot.com

jack

Great job on the pikemen and the Zerg!

Here's some pics of GW Moria goblins next to Italeri 1/72 medievals.

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It turns them from goblins to orcs. :)

andy

Rohan/Dunlendings?
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More pikes
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I own the pikes and very nice they are too. No flash and nice sculpts.

These would also work as foot rohirrim, maybe even 1st age or 2nd age Edain.
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Or maybe the folk of Haleth
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If Caesar didnt release their Elves in the fantasy line, what would you recommend using for Noldor and Sindar? I remember reading once someone recommended using Revell Normans link

Caesar Elves for all elves. Elves is elves.

I like HaT Late Roman Heavy Infantry for Gondor and Cataphracts for Knights of Gondor.

Goblin Factory Goblins look great against the Late Roman Medium Infantry. I had the good fortune to be able to compare them at Cold Wars this year. They have Goblins on Wolves which is a definite plus!

Blood Dawn Dwarves are supposed to be 15mm but they are perfect for 20mm 1/72 scale figures.

Caesar Dwarves are very nice as well though I've only seen pictures.

HaT Goths and MiniArt Germanic warriors for Rohan work well. MiniArt figures are OK with respect to the germanic Warriors. They are, however, a bit chunky and oversized.

Rebel Minis Bag O Orcs and Dark Alliance Orcs look like they would match well together.

I did a search for the Goblin factory orcs and the Blood dawn dwarves. These are cool! thanks for the suggestion. This webpage has a phtoo comparison of his 15mm minis. My thanks to you for a helpful guide. link

Does anyone have a photo height comparison of these minis? Preferably with a 1/72 min? Andy's pix above were very helpful too.

Eureka Miniatures in Australia do a great range of 18mm fantasy , the Orcs and Man-Orcs inparticular match up very well with 1/72 , i think the Dwarves would also be a good size with 1/72 , check them out .
There are warg riders as well and i think Elves were released recently .
My freind is using these 18mm Orcs and i am painting 1/72 plastic humans for my fantasy opposition .

cheers Tom

just posted a comparison between caesar, dark alliance and blood dawn orcs.
plasticgeneral.blogspot.com

hope this is helpfull
jack

I'm still hesitant regarding the Caesar elves.
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Any suggestions for alternatives?

A friend recently gave me a set of Zvezda Greek Warriors, and when I looked at the wonderful sculpts of the hoplites, it made me think of elves. I would consider these or some of the nice Roman Republican models. The mail coats and plumage on the helmets seem very elven to my eyes.

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I strongly second the use of Hat's Byzantine/Late Roman troops for Gondor.
TMP link

I think the infantry is too obviously Roman looking though with the helmet crests. Gondorians are too pragmatic for decorative crests, in my opinion.
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The helmets of the Orion Figures are better, but sadly the sculpting is bit below par.
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There are, as Hrothgar mentioned, many similarites between Gondor and Byzantium, and this was noted by the directors of the recent film adaptions. I have read they designed Minis Tirith with Constantinople in mind.

If I see any candidates for elves I'll post them.

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The Zvesda Russians are excellent and might be useable as Gondorians.

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I've always thought the Caesar Hittites would make good elves.

John

Thanks everyone, our suggestions were very helpful and have given me food for thought. I'll look thru the suggested figures and post the new list. I've also checked the availability of the model sets and my supplier can order them from the UK.

EOTN, good call on the Hittites! Would make great wood elves, I think.

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The Eastern Auxiliaries archers in the Zvesda Roman Auxiliary are good as well.

John

The Zvesda Eastern Auxiliaries archers do look good as elves. The Hittites too but they're costumed a bit too archaic for my taste…

but the pointy toed and curved shoe tips are nice:)

I posted the wrong link in my earlier post, these are the HaT Cataphacts I was talking about.

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Just out of interest, has anyone converted anything to use as hobbits for a 1/72 LOTR Army?

Regards

Thanks everyone for the wonderful suggestions. I've been spending my free time looking at the suggestions and choosing the sets I plan to use. I'll be posting the project details and updates at my blog soon. Drop by and check out the stuff from time to time.
meninboxes.blogspot.com

Oh and I've read an article about EXTENDING a figures height rather than cutting them down.
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Before Caesar came ut with their dwarves, I've been seriously thinking of chopping off some vikings' legs to make them dwarves.:)

I'm documenting my Middle Earth in 1/72 project over at my blog. Thanks all for the suggestions! I'm already filling out my order forms as my wallet cringes in the corner…

meninboxes.blogspot.com

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