"Help! There are too many 28mm Arthurian figures out there!" Topic

I have finally taken the plunge into Arthurian gaming--largely in thanks to the WAB Arthur book (which is totally inspiring) and the Cornwell series.

My problem is that there are TOO MANY ranges of figures out there to choose from: Foundry, Gripping Beast, Old Glory, Westwind, BTD, Musketeer, Renegade…HELP! (I can almost guarantee I've left something out!)

I am interested in doing Romano-British, Saxons, and Picts to start, but I need some advice in regards to what ranges to go with. I am pretty fortunate in that I can buy whatever I want without having to worry too much about price.

I know Foundry does nice models, but their Romano-British and Pict ranges are tiny, and a lot of their Saxons look more like late-era figs to me. (I want to stick to early stuff say 400-600 or so.) Gripping Beast look amazing in pics, but I think part of that may be that they have ridiculously good paint jobs on their site as opposed to the quality of the sculpts.

So the question, posed to you Arthurian collectors, would be: if you could go back and buy whichever manufacturer's models for the armies mentioned above, what would you buy if it wasn't necessary to economize?

Thanks!

AX

I have Beast Romano-Brits and Musketeer Saxons. The armoured Saxons are beautiful, the unarmoured less so but still very nice. The RBs are just excellent, worth every penny!
I would like to add Artizan, but have yet to do so. The West Wind character packs are kinda cool, but the quality is all over the place, reat to crap.

There is also Crusader.

"So the question, posed to you Arthurian collectors, would be: if you could go back and buy whichever manufacturer's models for the armies mentioned above, what would you buy if it wasn't necessary to economize?"

I did that, last year. And I wouldn't change a thing.

A mix of Black Tree Design and Foundry Late Romans (unbelievably, yes, they mix) for the remnants of organized units in Britain.

Gripping Beast and West Wind for the "Arthurian" Romano-British resistance. Gripping Beast and Old Glory Welsh for the less Romanized Welsh/British tribes.

Gripping Beast with Musketeer personalities for the Saxons. Gripping Beast and Foundry (again, yes, they mix) for Franks.

Picts are problematical. Old Glory and Foundry, oddly, work OK together; so do BTD with Gripping Beast's older range. The two pairs don't work so well together, I think. I haven't any of the new GB Picts, yet.

Allen

I've mixed GB and Foundry together just fine. Foundry tends to run slightly shorter but mixed with GB stuff they look good together.

I like BT Picts. I don't own any of those but they have the look of the later Picts.

Personally, I have no problems with any of the figures I own so far.

John

I like Gripping Beast's Arthurian Britains a lot and their Late Roman infantry is nice too. GB doesn't make very good looking horses so I stay away from their cavalry.

I like the Foundry Late Roman and Saxon/Frankish figures very much and use them in my LR vs Franks set up. Also use Foundry Picts. Foundry's Arthurians are kind of so-so or meh, so I recommend one of the other ranges for Arthur.

Foundty and Old Glory mix very well.

The OG are one of their better ranges, I like them very much, they form the bulk of my collection.

The nice thing about Arhurian is there are so many nice figures to choose from! I have to get some Outpost, and some Gripping Beast, and some…

Dont buy any till youve looked at Thunderbolt mountains arthurean figures.

GB doesn't make very good looking horses so I stay away from their cavalry.

I rather like the GB horses. They, BTW, are about the same size as Foundry's horses.

Ok. I think I am less confused now--maybe >;)

The Thunderbolt Mountain stuff is stunning, but I am looking for historical rather than romantic Arthurian.

The GB horses do look a tad odd to me, but the riders are interesting enough that I am probably willing to take a shot on them as it's far too much hassle to try and find different horses.

I think I am mostly going to follow Allen's recommendations, although I am still waffling on the Picts as there are a few GB Picts that are very unique and might be worth having.

Thanks so much for all the advice gents! Hats off to all of you.

By the way, where in California are you? If you wanted to look at figures "in the hand" before deciding, I have… well, boxes full…

Allen

Thanks for the offer Allen. I'll pop you a PM when my supporting membership renews…any minute now…

Axabrax,

Saxons: Musketeer, definitely.

Romano-Brits: The unarmored West Wind figures are nice…the armored ones less so. The West Wind cavalry is very good.

I'm not a Gripping Beast fan, but that may be just the specific lines I've got from them in the past. Anything you can get from Foundry that mixes size-wise with your other figures is worth buying.

Kevin in Edmonton.

Lol, if you're looking for Gripping Beast Arthurians with crappy paint job, then here they are:
link
link

And yes, it's my figures and my paint job, so I'm allowed to call it 'crappy'. :-D

Oddly enough, I just did the same. I just got in some Foundry Arthurians with Crusader Arthurian command and they go together great. I also have a bunch of Crusader Late Romans and I like them very much as well. I know price wasn't part of your equation, but with the Old Glory Army card, the Crusader Late Romans and Arthurians are $1.20 USD each and on par with Foundry in terms of quality. I also have a bunch of the O.G. Arthurian Saxons and those are good as well. I will be getting Crusader Saxon shields for my O.G. saxons so I can use L.B.M transfers with them. Which, btw, was my part of my initial criteria when selecting the figures – the other part was they need to mix.

BTW, if you go here:

link

you can find what must have been the most effective troops of the period. Check out the last entry.

BTW, if you go here:

link

you can find what must have been the most effective troops of the period. Check out the last entry.

Looks dangerous. Lacking in body armour, but I imagine they could drop a Saxon Duguth at 100 yards without too much trouble… :)

To go back to the original question, I've got models from nearly every company that does 28mm Arthurians & the like. If I was able to go back and buy afresh, I'd choose the following:

Saxons – Gripping Beast and Musketeer Miniatures. All super, animated sculpts (note on GB: for the Age of Arthur WAB book, they had new ranges of early Saxons, Picts and Welsh sculpted. These are all by the same sculptor and highly consistent.)

Picts – Gripping Beast, and perhaps Foundry (I love the Foundry range, but it is limited, especially on cavalry). The new GB range is comprehensive and has some lovelty character models.

Romano British – GB's range is good, but getting on, so I might go for Crusader, Foundry, and some West Wind. Not everyone gets on with WW's seperate head system, but their character models are excellent (check out the Death of Arthur vignette).

Hope that helps

Cheers

James

I am also contemplating the plunge into Arthurian warfare and I want as much variety as possible.

Has anyone seen the Parkfield line?
link

The figures look decent enough

I would like to answer this question 6 years later:

"So the question, posed to you Arthurian collectors, would be: if you could go back and buy whichever manufacturer's models for the armies mentioned above, what would you buy if it wasn't necessary to economize?"