"Which Figures - Minden or Front Rank?" Topic

I've decided on the scale, but now torn between Minden and Front Frank. Going for British and French for now.

Minden figures are more anatomically 'correct'. Front Rank are cheaper…

From Ateis' second post on this thread, which you may find makes interesting reading.

TMP link

I find Minden more proportionate and very well detailed,but I don't understand why there aren't head variants,at least for private soldiers.Perhaps they are fearful to sell too much!

Front Rank look like they would hold up better when mauled/ handled by the average convention player. Minden make sense when gaming w/ like minded friends in a controlled space (read: home).

Also, does Minden make matching scaled artillery, wagons, limbers etc.?

Thanks guys. The only thing holding me back over Minden is being tied into a single range, but I don't like dumpy figures with sausage fingers much, so the Front Rank ones don't appeal in that respect :-)

"Minden figures are more anatomically 'correct'. Front Rank are cheaper…"

Just noticed this and Minden foot are currently £1.10 GBP, Front Rank are £1.15 GBP each.

I stand, or rather I sit, corrected.

I like FR, but IMHO Minden are the best figures of Amy range. They are diorama quality.

Front Rnk make deadlier shrapnel or grape shot when stuffed in a cannon.

Other than that, it all fdepends on if you like well-fed figures tht will not snap off at the ankles if you accidentally put a dictionary on top of them, or if you like then anorexic.

I still stand by the statement that I made at the time I originally posted the photo that Connard Sage has re-posted here:

"I love both the ranges in my photo. The characterful 'chunkiness' of the Front Ranks is what drew me back into the hobby, and the willowy Mindens have captured the essence of 18th century for me. But, despite loving both ranges, for me their statures are way too different to have them in the same army."

But that picture is perhaps not a truly fair comparison. My painting techniques have improved over the many years since I did those Front Rank figures (those bulging eyes are 'orrible!).

What is particularly interesting is the different take each sculptor has on shoulders. The Mindens seem almost shoulder-less, and the Front Ranks very square-shouldered.

Figure beauty as they say is in the eye of the beholder..some like chunky, some like slender…I had started a project with Front Rank but sold the lot, then I tried spencer and the old school and still was not quite happy…then I came across Minden and they fit the bill for me…nice to paint and the figures really come to life.

I will be adding limbers, limber horses and drivers to my Fife & Drum range, which will be compatible with the Minden figures since they are created by the same sculptor. You can also use the RSM artillery and limbers with the Minden figures. If you dont mind spending a lot of money for cannon and limbers, then the Berlin Zinfiguren cannon models for the SYW will also look good with Minden artillery crews. Finally, some of the old Hinchcliffe models of wagons and artillery work with the Minden figures.

Minden are nicer figures. Front Rank, in the other hand, are easier to paint.

OK, thanks all – I've put in an order with Minden – one big Regiment of 60 men :-)

"Minden are nicer figures. Front Rank, in the other hand, are easier to paint."

I think that statement should be:

Front Rank are not as good figures as Minden, so the painting on the FR figures doesn't require to be as good.

You can do a cartoony paint job on a cartoony figure and it will look OK, but if you do it on a more realistic looking figure it may not look as good. That, is different than "easier" or "harder" to paint.

Minden. As the OFM has said, Front Rank make great fodder for being re-used as grapeshot.

Although, my personal favorite is RSM…

Eric

I have used the Elite SYW artillery with my minden gunners. FR are definately not compatable. I bought the French FR mounted officer doffing his hat only because I have always liked the figure but he does stand out like a sore thumb. Great to hear that DAF will be doing limbers etc.

"Minden are nicer figures. Front Rank, in the other hand, are easier to paint."

I think that statement should be:

Front Rank are not as good figures as Minden, so the painting on the FR figures doesn't require to be as good.

I disagree. The stature of a figure has nothing to do with how easy it is to paint. Rather, it is the detail that counts.

'Front Rank' are easier to paint because the detail is more raised and crisp, and they seem to be purposely designed to minimise unnecessary gaps and straight-lining.

'Front Rank' have been renowned as easy to paint from way before the days of 'Minden'.

Having said that, I love both makes. And painting 'Mindens' is still not as difficult as painting some other popular ranges, so I'd put them at only a medium difficulty.

Minden.

Well, it all depends, doesn't it? If you like beautifully sculpted figures all in the same pose, then Minden are clear heads above everybody else. If I wanted a parade army, that's what I would choose, and have done for some of my forces for whom that style fits.
I turned to FR when they first came on the scene, as Garrison and Hinchliffe had both gone out of production and didn't make a full range anyway, so I have quite a lot of them. But the quality of figures available has changed so much, why not keep up with it, and if you stick with one period, then it is affordable to do so.
Now it's Minden leading the field with others of different style in support, like Jacdaw and Eureka who were not around when FR started. I am still very fond of my FR forces, they've served me well, but they mainly stay in the cupboard.

That's part of the appeal for me, the same pose – makes them easy to paint and they look very orderly on the table :-)

I would imagine that the NCO would cuff any soldier (who was doing anything other than looking straight ahead while marching) along the side of his head with his pole arm.

SYW = same figure poses for the whole unit. It just looks right.

Thanks, you're blog is excellent, by the way! Very inspirational.

I'm with Eric-

RSM all the way…
(and they are way cheaper last time I looked)

However in terms of the painting debate, you dont get lots of easy-to-paint (ie over-scale) raised lace, so they need a bit of neat brushwork.

Well, at least the Mindens are in The Right Pose!

At the risk of offending those who like "character" on the one hand, and those who like "order" on the other, I like both FR and Minden. I CONFESS I have a fair-few FR figures in various stages of preparation/painted or still waiting paint, and right NOW only have some of the Minden "civilians," and dismounted Prussian "General Staff." However, I ALSO have a few 12-figure "battalions" of Blue Moon French, some Foundry British and French, and even some Dixon British, French, and Prussians.

If FR are "characters," Foundry REALLY are, but even so, they appeal to me after a fashion. I find Blue Moon struck a balance between the more "gracile" Minden figures and the more characterful (read "well-fed") FR figures -- at least with their "French & Indian War" French. Dixon on the other hand are really 25mm vice 28mm, and so I am carefully "salting" them in among my FR rank & file where they "blend" without sticking out too noticeably. That is, I find Dixon figures proportionately about as "chunky" as FR (note, I mean proportionate to their relative height), so I don't mind the relative variance in stature. After-all, except for certain Guards units, how many SYW-era regiments tried to only "employ" men of exactly the same height?? As I said recently to a shop attendent; "How tall are you?" [He being about 5-foot six, and I being about 5-foot eleven!]

There is nothing wrong with an informal poll to gather ideas; done it myself in my time. However, in the end, one really has to make up one's own mind how one's "army" ought to look, & what works and doesn't work. E.G., despite the obvious difference in proportions between FR and Minden, I am contemplating getting enough Minden figures for a few battalions. Thus, I will mix them in my "army," but NOT within my "battalions."

Just my zwei thalers!!

We are fortunate to have so many great choices. I use nearly all brands of figures in my various (yes, I have the same army in multiple figure ratios: 1;10, 1:20, 1:30) SYW armies.

In my 30mm BAR rules armies, I use FR Austrians and Crusader Austrians because their relative chunkiness fools the eye into thinking that they are sized right with Staddens and Elite Miniatures (advertised as 28mm, but Elites are really 30mm figures). I also use a few Hinchcliffe, Warrior, RSM and Minden in the same armies. As long as you keep the different brands in their own distinct units, mixing them in your army works.

BTW, you can mix the Minden and RSM figures together, they are totally compatible in height, heft and appearance.

The AWI equipment will be coming soon! If these look as good as I think that they will, I might commission some SYW artillery equipment (Prussian 6pdrs and 12pdrs and limbers) just for the sake of doing it and having compatible equipment for my Minden armies.

With the new Minden French (with turnbacks) now available, the question shouldn't even arise ;-)