"What is the worst range of figures you have ever seen?" Topic

The criteria are whatever you want them to be. I will not limit your choices by trying to impose some Olympian standard.

I think that the Redoubt American Revolution range is pretty wretched.
I dearly love the Redoubt Trojan War range, and so bought a bunch of their AWI figures sight unseen. The catalog drawings looked pretty good…
The faces look like melons hacked out with machetes. The facings look like shingles hanging off a roof that was hit by a tornado. I won't even comment on the "lace", or at least that is what I think it was supposed to be.

The Amarillo Design Bureau Star Fleet miniatures are horrible. The non-Roddenberry races are the worst of the worst. Utterly uninspired. An old gaming associate of mine opined this past weekend, "It's the only miniatures line that has gotten worse since it began."

The Roddenberry races' ships aren't much better. Compare the FASA designs with the ADB stuff. The FASA stuff is light years ahead of the ADB, especially the Klingons.

Much as it grieves me to say so Jacklex figures.

They had been out of production for many years and I had always wished I'd bought some. Then in the early 1990's (IIRC) they came back into production – briefly. I sent off a reasonable order for ACW cavalry, and got in return a collection of miscast flash covered monstrosities.

They are still buried somewhere deep in the figure "holdings" but I have never looked upon them again. It would be, perhaps, too much to say they broke my heart, but there was, dear reader, a decided twinge.

Mike's Models 15mm Zulu War British

I'll second that Saber 6.

I also tried hard to love Peter Laings 15mm figures.

But I can't.

I can say "thank-you for getting a new scale off the ground"

But I cannot love those figures.

6mm WW2 British Commandos by Irregular. That's their nominal title, mind. They could be anybody, or anything.

That said, Irregular models are often much better than their image. Just not these guys.

yes, anything by Peter Laing was pretty dire.

I can't remember the name of the company a few years ago that started a Late Roman range (white cross maybe?) Those figures were pretty…not pretty. I also got some Tin Soldier 25mm and they were comparatively dire too. Never again.

Have to disagree somewhat with the characterization of the SFB minis. I used to be a HUGE fan of the FASA designs…until I really looked at them. The Star Fleet ships (mostly the later ones) just didn't fit with the "look" of the setting, lacking a common design ethos other than "there's a saucer in there." Their early generation ships (such as the TOS-look) were really good, but the Movie era ships were downright bizarre. Contrast that with the more conservative SFB designs, which IMHO fit the universe better. I just wish they had more varied designs (and I don't mean sticking an extra warp engine on something). I will agree, however, that the FASA ROmulans really nailed the look.

Damon.

Although I'm happy with the Old Glory Trojan War chariots, most of the crew are indeed funky to behold. However, it wouldn't be fair to call it the "worst range." I'll keep looking for one, though.

The original AD&D miniatures by Grenadier(?) in the yellow boxes were in retrospect pretty pathetic, but if you gave me a box of them in mint condition now I'd be giddy with nostalgia. I'm just itching to see what I can do with them using proper paints as opposed to Testors enamel.

One needs to be a little careful because there are some figures that look pretty bad when bare but when painted are nice. I saw some irregular ancients once, don't remember which range, that looked awful but were pretty nice when painted.

I think it's far more common to go the other way though that someone starts with some pretty nice looking figures and produce something truly hideous when they are done.

Stone Mountain's British Colonial. The Brits look great but the Zulus and Pathans look terrible ..

link

Worst I've owned was a single WWII US paratrooper from the company that produced originally Battlefront WWII. They had a line of minis started when they went under (coincidence… I think not) and this guys was from that line. I don't know if they were going for a cartoonish Sgt. Rock look, but this guy's head with the helmet on would scale out to about 2' across. I called it Dark Helmet. The rest was of the figure equaled the head for badness, but that was certainly the "feature" you noticed.

"Mike's Models 15mm Zulu War British"

Love 'em!

Allen

Lamming Napoleonics.
Grenadier starships.

The original AD&D miniatures by Grenadier(?) in the yellow boxes were in retrospect pretty pathetic

Really? I think there are some really good miniatures in there, particularly given the era and resources available.

Bicorne pathans…

The worst I've got are some 15mm Nappys from the early 90s. Can't remember the name. Could it be Jacobite?

Pachinko Parlor Royale, you read my mind. Especially the Orcs, I would love to have that Shaman with all the feathers and the "skull cap" now, 30 years later…

Big Joe Duke

Irregular 6mm somethings, I can't even remember what they were supposed to be. There were alleged elephants in the lot.

Any one remember the old 15mm Naps line from Ral Partha in the 70's. Used to call them dog soldiers caused they looked that bad.

The original Warzone Brotherhood models by Tim Prow.

Agree with CmdrKiley, Warzone had some pretty bad miniatures. The original Etoiles Mortants still make me shudder…

I'd forgotten about the Tim Prow WZ figs! Gad. I loved the faction, and tried, tried, tried to love those minis, but to no avail. Didn't he do the old Bladestorm fantasy range? I seem to remember them resembling the Brotherhood minis. If so, Prow get my vote for worst sculptor ever. Everyone looks like a Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade balloon, including their weapons.

Hey, the old Grenadier AD&D line was fine, especially in the early eighties.

"Any one remember the old 15mm Naps line from Ral Partha in the 70's. Used to call them dog soldiers caused they looked that bad."

They're available again, from a different source. There were actually some gems in there; two very different styles of sculpting.

Jacobite Napoleonics (I have some Danes, I think) are neck and neck with Mike's Models Napoleonics.

Allen

Yucca miniatures 15mm ACW. Most aptly named miniatures line ever.

I would suggest any bicorne wearing Pathan fits the bill

Most horses of all ranges. Weird poses, too small or too big, no motion etc etc

Damon, I will admit some of the FASA designs left something to be desired (Klingon Gull and One Wing, others), but there is no denying that the sculpting and molding on the FASA models totally destroys what ADB has been able to do. Heck, ADB ships from back then were better sculpted and molded than they are now.

I produce as my primary piece of evidence the differences between FASA's Klingon D7 and the ADB Klingon D7.

The FASA model was very crisply sculpted and nary a mold line or bit of flash to be found. Granted, it did clock in at 6 pieces and some of the pieces were pretty fiddly (the one true failing of the FASA line). This was particularly maddening as some of the pieces left very little surface area to form a strong bond. But these are minor complaints compared with how well executed the model was.

The ADB D7 is a single piece, which is nice from an assembly and play/durability standpoint, but the "wings" are much thicker. All four of mine have/will require some careful bending to get them to look right: They flattened somehow at some point (and I need five more for a scenario I'm working on). The small details on the ADB model are not nearly as crisply sculpted as the FASA version.

I stand by my original assessment.

Surely anyone who has bought Peter Laing 15mm figures in the dim and distant past is crying "No contest!".

Bought mine in 1981 when I was starting out. Seldom had I felt so cheated.

Thank god I discovered Minifigs.

Spencer Smith plastic figures – ill proportioned, detailess, floppy plastic. Friend bought a load of them because people raved about them. Took one look at what turned up and then binned them.

Black Tree (new sculptor)Reviresco sculpts from the 90s, Battleground, WW2 series of grunts 35mm (They had some mighty funky faces), Grenadier AD&D line, some older Cannon Fodder stuff I fond rather gruesome, and some 1st Corps and OG.

Black Tree lost their original sculptor and someone took over and sculpted their Desert War WW2 and their US Paratroopers. Ouch! Funky!

1st corps early stuff was totally insane. You would get minis with one hand three times larger than the other.

Honorable mention goes to Old Glory as they have so many lines that some figs just get lost in the masses. I remember some ACW 28mm models being very over zealous to get to the battlefield. One body part would go one way and the others their own separate way. But overall they are good minis and a good company a true plus for the hobby.

Grenadier AD&D stuff was horrifying.

Battleground WW2 35mm grunts in their own box. These had some of the most awkward looking faces you will see on a mini.

Why do all the elite miniatures figures look to the sky?? What have they seen!

Stone Mountain came out with a 25mm range of Cowboys in the early 90's. It was terrible. Knight Designs 6mm figs make even the worst Irregular figs look like works of art.

Battleground 25mm WWII range, Possibly the worst figs ever made for the period.

Some of the old Grenadier figs can be quite bad.

I see a lot of small scales on this list.

It would be a toss up between Peter Laing and Bicorne Pathans but as I ended up with only a few pathans and a big order of PL I will have to say the Laing were worst in My memory.

Peter Lump.

I have always hated Britannia Miniatures WWII range, oddly shaped grainy castings with double jointed knees and rib cages that must sit directly on the pelvis.

Peter Laing I can forgive as they were the only 15mm around at the time I bought them.

Museum Miniatures ancients were dreadful the last time I looked, admittedly a few years ago. I bought a DBA army just for the hell of it but when I saw the massive height differences between men in supposedly the same range (not to mention the shetland to shire horse mounted cavalry) I melted it all down to make scenery.

My worst purchase in recent year were some Whitecross games early byzantines. OK horses (25mm) OK riders (28mm). In the same pack (oh no!).

Peter Laing – only saving grace was there was no 15mm competition back then!

Garrison 15mm Irish, back in the day when Garrison was frequently changing hands. I bought lots sight unseen – they were rubbish.

Foundry's much-heralded WWII Burma 'range'… two packs of beefy Brit Royal Marine mesomorphs, (not bad, par for the course of what Foundry was producing at that time) then came the previews of the Japanese…

Horrible, HORRIBLE sculpts… 28mm dwarfism in spades with catchers-mitt hands, and a fleshy, bulbous look as if the whole figure had been slightly 'Over-inflated' and was ready to split at the seams.
Flat, smooth, doll-like faces and bulky, oversized weaponry.

They never went on full release and the range was left uncompleted.

Even Foundry's recent policy of 'Range Resurrection' hasn't extended to these guys.

Rogue Trader era Games Workshop plastic orcs.

Airfix French Napoleonic Infantry. Mutated half-men in awkward poses.

Jacobite Napoleonics looked like flats that had some air pumped into them. They had a weird football shape from some angles.

Hinchliffe Pathans.

Some Napoleonic 15's I bought back in the 1990's. Broke off at the ankles way too easily.

Oh remember the old TSR minis? AD&D, Top Secret, Indiana Jones, Star Frontiers, Gamma World, Gang Busters, Boot Hill and Marvel Super Heroes. Not only horrible sculpts but cast in some pretty bad metal too. Very soft and prone to lead rot.

Heritage Der Kriegspielers Fantastiques 1100 series.

The Krot.

Need I say more!