"Plastic Norman Knights in 28mm" Topic

I just noticed this news item on TTGN:

New manufacturer Conquest Games have sent along photos of the three-ups for their upcoming 28mm plastic Norman Knights. They hope to have these three-ups available for viewing at Salute 2010 and their website is expected to be open in a few weeks.

link

They look quite nice, will be interesting to see how these fit in with other ranges.

Those do look very nice. I wonder when they will be available. The horses are particularly impressive.

I've started and sold off a Norman army that I never managed to game with so many times now. It is always one of those armies that is so nice to paint that you don't really mind but for some reason I always start it so near a convention and then just have a unit or two done prior to the convention and not enough time to paint other stuff. So on the table it goes.

nice!

So once these will be released, we will be having no fewer than eight manufacturers churning out 28mm hard plastics.

does Demaratos ever say anthing other than "nice"?

I think they look promising. I hope they plan on doing a release of heavy and light infantry and archers as well. And maybe some Saxons. I like the WF offerings but would like to see some alternatives in addition.

I don't care how many companies turn out dark ages plastics. I'll buy 'em all.

Bring it on, I've just been adding Crusader Normans to my Dark Age armies …

Those look very tempting indeed….

It's unfortunate that their name is confusingly similar to that of Conquest Miniatures…

conquestminiatures.com

Good info. Always glad to see more 28mm plastic manufacturers! Thanks for posting.

There are at least 9 now.

Immortal
Games Workshop
Wargames Factory
Warlord Games
Victrix
Conquest
Mantic
Perry
Gripping Beast

If Valiant does some 28mm WWII that will be 10.

These look very nice!

Wonder if we'll see Saxons as well.

Yes, very nice. The horse poses look very similar to my Old Glory figures.

It will be nice when we begin to get some coherent lines for one period with all factions/opponents.

So far, the offerings are all over the map. Although, I am happy to see some 28mm Normans in plastic, as they are easier to convert than metal.

And, yes, I hope to see Saxons as well (but would prefer to see Early Saxons to Norman period Saxons… I wouldn't turn either away though)

We have one more box of Vikings and 2 boxes of Saxons on the way: link

Looking forward to seeing these Normans!

Tony

Tony Reidy
Wargames Factory
wargamesfactory.com

There are at least 9 now.

Immortal
Games Workshop
Wargames Factory
Warlord Games
Victrix
Conquest
Mantic
Perry
Gripping Beast

You missed out HäT.

"You missed out HäT."

Yeah, that's sort of like the "different" child that the family doesn't talk about.

Really dumb to take on the name "Conquest Games" when Eric's "Conquest Miniatures, Games and Hobbies" is well established.

But then, in this hobby, dumb is becoming the new black.

Allen

There are at least 9 now.

But GW and Mantic aren't 28mm ….

GW LOTR Plastics are 28mm.

Nothing else is though.

"When I use a measurement," Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."

GW LOTR Plastics are 28mm.

I don't think claim to be even if they are….

It looks like the link is broken to me.
Dennis

These miniatures look amazing. Plastics are wonderful. The horses are really really well done.

I'm liking what I see so far, I can always make room for more Normans. I only hope that they will make a great action posed William! To many Williams fiddling with their helmets already on the market.

Yeah I'll be buying these when they appear…hopefully some foot troops to go along with them to

Pass.

Those are very nice and the horses are outstanding.
I wonder if they will do somw with single piece (No rivets)nasal helms?
Tanc

does Demaratos ever say anthing other than "nice"?

Then it would be pod Demaratos.

It's a bit early to judge (from the 3 ups), but they look pretty good to me!

Simon

My Feudal cavalry does need reinforcing…

These look pretty average.

"Yeah, that's sort of like the "different" child that the family doesn't talk about."

I would take HaT's French over Wargames factory any day. Does this mean the child can be rehabilitated?

Thanks very much for the positive feedback. We are very pleased with these models and look forward to releasing them soon. The Norman range is intended to be as complete as we can possibly make it and further troop type suggestions by the gaming community are welcome. We should be at Salute next weekend, so come over and have a chat.

Mike
Conquest Games

If they scale well with WF offerings, I will probably buy a few boxes.

M.

"If they scale well with WF"
I hope they don't, WF were way to big for 28mm.

@SMC1 – pod?

I just wish someone would do some Templars!!!!

Dear Mike at Conquest.

Plaese can you tell us a little bit more about this set.
How many will be in the box – 12?
Expected price? £15.00?
What is the mix between armoured and unarmoured?
Will there be a musician and a standard?
When do you expect to start shipping? from comparison with others such as Perry, there are about three months from 3 ups to finished products. Therefore I would guess that this would be mid July.

Regards

Mick

Templars would be nice!

from comparison with others such as Perry, there are about three months from 3 ups to finished products

Ummm, the first Perry WotR set was released around 8-9 months after they showed their first three ups.

Similarly, the Immortal Miniatures Greek hoplites are only being released this month, though there have been greens of them shown on the website since the last summer or so.

To Mick in Switzerland…
You must be psychic. :-)

There will be 12 in a box but LOADS of extras for hundreds of combinations
They should be priced around £15.00 GBP
There will be a good mix between un/armoured – good for a two rank conroi
There will be a musician and a standard (and a leader type) if wanted (or they could all be troops)
The transfer from 3-Up to sprue is a long and very skilful process, so will take longer than 3 months. We are hoping to ship early final quarter this year, but no firm dates yet.

Kind regards,

Mike
Conquest Games Limited

Will they fit on an FoG base without having to cram them in strange positions?

Dear Mike,

I am not psycic but I have been watching the development of plastics closely. I have already built Celt, Roman, ACW and Zulu armies in plastic. I am working on Vikings and Saxons at the moment and will expand my Greeks with the new hoplites.

If you have room on the sprues, please consider the following.
- Round shields for Saxons, Lombards, Carolingians.
- Helmets / heads for Lombards and Carolingians.

Together with the Norman parts, these extras would give you the possibility to build allies and enemies from the same box (i.e. Lombards, Bretons, Carolingians, Saxons). They would also allow you to build First Crusade cavalry.

The same parts would allow you to make LOTR Rohan and Gondor cavalry based on the books rather than the films.

Regards
Mick

Well said Mick.

We have lots of things planned with this set, but if I was to give it all away now there'd be no surprises later. :-)

Thanks for your interest, it is great to get all of this positive feedback. We will post more updates as and when we are able.

Regards,

Mike
Conquest Games

Mick, rather than using historical parts to make a set of LotR minis, why not just do a set of dedicated heads for them?

The Gondor forces, for instance, were said to have wings upon their helmets… Now, I know that it doesn't say this about all of the soldiers, but it is a nice touch to give them some variety and distinction.

As for Rohan, it would be nice to have a distinctive set of shields and helmets for them as well. I didn't find the movie to be that far off from what JRRT had imagined. Maybe a little heavy on the armor for all of the troops, but if you watch the films, you can see that by far the majority of the people have chain or just a little leather, rather than all of the scale and laminated leather seen on the notables in the story. It's just that GW, in their Infinite wisdom, decided that they would rather depict the Rohirrim in the heavier armor rather than have the majority in lighter armor… Well, there's my critique of that…

However, I would dearly love some more figures to fill out the Rohirrim I already have, figures that were a little plainer, yet still had a distinctiveness to them.

If I had an email, I would be happy to supply any of the plastic manufacturers with some concept art of the various helms I have drawn for these guys (Mostly Gondorim at the moment)

Mike this is really great news for me I am a major Dark age fan, used to be a pro painter but jacked and only paint in exchange for models now not cash some of my work at tolcrothlogan.blogspot.com I'd love to paint some of these for you, if intersted drop me a line. Regardless Im buying some!

28mm Plastic Normans are "forbidden"? – 'cause that's what I get when I click the OP link….

Doom, maybe your wife or significant other has done something to "Forbid" you from seeing them, cause I am still able to access the photos and wonder:

Will they fit on a FoG base?

@CC: I have no idea, but would suppose that while FoG base sizes may have been specified as if it were still the 1970s or 1980s, "28mm" figures have long since crept past the old-style 25mm "feet-to-crown" size…

I know that, but if Sculptors were to sculpt their figures to proper proportions, then even 40mm figures would fit onto FoG sized bases.

For instance, Tom Meier's new figures are 28mm to 32mm in height, just I have no problem at all ranking 4 of them on a 60mm x 20mm base. And, I have seen other figures that were made for display purposes that are 54mm that could easily fit 4 on an 80mm x30mm base (2x 15mm base sizes)…

Now, what is wrong with sculptors who cannot take an extra freaking second to slim down the figures a little bit, learn a bit more about conta-posto posing and make their figures to fit into a basing system that doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

The problem exists in the cartoonish nature of most sculptor's work… Even those that produce decent figures are still far more cartoonish than they are realistically proportioned (even considering the stylized exaggerations needed for smaller scale work)