"Questions about EM4 Plastic Dwarves." Topic

Well after getting 2 armies(1st of humans,2nd of Orcs and Goblins) for dirt cheap through a couple of battlemasters sets off of ebay to go with the very well priced elves that I pre-ordered from mantic games, I got to wondering if it would be possible to get a large sized dwarf army for cheap too. So I got looking around and I found the EM4 Plastic Dwarves, which are beyond cheap in price. Sure they are only single pose,but I like that. I would rather do a arm or weapon swap forevery other guy, then assemble each from a multitude of fiddly bits.

Anyway on to my questions for those of you in the know.

1st: Does anyone know how big they are compared to the hasslefree dwarfs? I have many from that line and was hoping to be able to use them as leaders.

2nd: I cannot find any pics of them that are bigger than whats on the em4 website. Since I do not have super vision I cannot tell how detailed they are nor how soft those details are. Does anyone here have any good pics, or experience with them, that could let me know?

3rd: There is no pic of the shield that is being offered on the em4 website with them. Does anyone know what kind it is? Round, square, or kite?

4th: Does anyone know how hard the plastic is to work with,in terms of cutting modding? Is it similiar to GW stuff or something else entirely?

I am pretty excited about these dwarves because with them it looks like I will be able to get my hands on all 4 classic fantasy armies for less than $300 USD and in enough numbers and variety to have large fun games with them. So any help with the above questions would be greatly appreciated.

I've only got the crossbow armed dwarves so I haven't tried any modifications, I'd say the plastic was pretty similar to GW's.
Size wise they are very similar to GW/Ral Partha, bigger than the old harlequin figures that Black Tree took on and smaller than Westwind's Dwarf Wars figures.
Doug's usually lurking round somewhere but I think he's in the middle of a house move right now. You could try joining the Fantasy Warrior Yahoo group, he's the moderator there and Nick Lunn keeps an eye on things too.

Here you can see some of my own em4 dwarves with a GW BFSP command group.

link

Note that the bases are LARGER tan GW 20mm slottabases, so I had to trim them down to make them the appropiate size.

I didn't get any shields, but looking at this

link

link

I guess they are round.

As Buff has poited out, plastic seems similar to GW, but maybe a little harder to cut. No big deal really.

But if you read those articles carefully the author says that the plastic is different an you need cianoacrilate glue for them because "normal" plastic glue will not work.

As I really didn't cut or repositioned any of mine, I can't argue that.

Hope that helps.

I have the shield bag. They are all round but varied. Some have a boss. Others have studs and a boss and some are smooth…I think. The bosses can be round or pyramid shaped.

The dwarves are pretty fabulous. I have a small band of both dwarves and Orcs. I also found some old Grenadier bags at the local store that had an Orc Command group.

One of the more interesting things about the orcs is how good they paint up. The original paint job on the website is pretty bland with all of about 3 colors. When you add lots of colors you think "wow! This figure is not bad!"

Yeah, I agree. They paint up pretty decently as is. They are dirt cheap and fit in my LOTR and regular fantasy Dwarf army. I also like the Orcs.

Thanks,

John

I have one of each dwarf and orc at home somewhere. I'll see about snapping a couple of close-up glamour shots in the next day or two for you.

There was a website somewhere where somebody had done a variety of conversions with the orcs and the dwarves,but I dont recall where.

Nevermind,Mago had it.

Thanks for all the insight and the links! I especially appreciate magokiron's link to some of his own painted ones, they look fantastic!

@Buff Orpington: Thanks for the heads up on the group, I submitted my application to join today. While I have no intention to play fantasy warriors, I hope to get lots of information on what looks like an interesting set of figures from it. Also do you think it would be difficult to turn the crossbows into primitive firearms?

@javelin98: I am really looking forward to those pics, I really appreciate you going out of your way to take them for me.

@John Leahy: Do you mind if I ask whose minis you use for LOTR?

Again thanks for all the info guys.

Here is a link for an EM4 site, which does conversions of the plastic orcs.

link

It may help give you an ideal of what is possible with the plastics and maybe a few conversion ideas.

Hope it helps

Phil

That sites kewl, especially the signs… mind you I found i had some ham in my fridge by a supplier called 'Roach' so some of 'em are not too far fetched…

I use GW LOTR, Grenadier, Ral Partha, Old Glory and Prince August homecast figs for my LOTR armies.

Thanks,

John

Thanks John, that really helps to give me an idea of the scale of the em4 dwarfs.

As mentioned in the orc pages linked above (which are great!!!), arms away from the body is deffo a boon if you are looking to convert. On this basis the spearman might be better conversion targets than the ax or xbow men.

Either way they are nice minis and remember Mirlton and EM4 both do some of the associated metals range, so well matched command minis and "specials" should be easy enough to come by.

My tupence worth, i would say that the price august home moulds that John mentioned would be a great idea, you could build a massive force for very little outlay. They are both from the slender, less pot bellied dwarf school and should work well together.

Just looked and there are 6 different prince august minis to be had, i am tempted myself now i am thinking about it, aaagggg brain, not another project for heavens sake!!!

Many of my sons Dwarf figs are PA ones. I REALLY like their Orcs. They scale well to LOTR and have that Tolkein look. They were pretty easy to cast too.

Thanks,

John