"Best 15mm Marlburian minis?" Topic

What companies make 15mm Malburian minis? Which are the best in terms of (a) prica & (b) quality?

JT

No No go for 6mm Baccus.

lol, it will take more then 1 sentance to convert me to the Baccus way (like free minis for one thing!).

JT

I used Dixon and Roundway for mine . Dixons are better but Roundway filled in a few gaps .

Lessee...

Dixon, Minifigs, Editions Brokaw, Lancashire, Essex, Irregular (I think), Roundway. No others come to mind.

Overall, Dixon is the best, but is the chunkiest and the most expensive. Also, the line isn't quite complete. Minifigs would be 2nd best, closest to anatomical reality, and is toward the cheaper end.

Essex is Essex. Roundway is very similar.

Editions Brokaw is the cheapest, allegedly most accurate, and worth avoiding, to be honest. Features so crude they don't even have hands. Seriously. By Design.

I haven't seen the Lancashire or Irregular figures.

Hope that gives you a starter. I've been using Dixon as I received a large number of them in trade. If I was starting from scratch on a budget, I'd go with either Minifigs or Roundway.

I haven't purchased any but the Venexia line sure looks nice.

I have Russians, Swedes, Poles for GNW from Baccus and they are very cool, I want to expand to WSS soon.

Well, as long as we're talking about 15 mm figures, I'll stick up for Editions Brokaw.

I've got a large number bought over the years and I like them. No they are not super detailed and can be confused as 28 mm figures in a picture. No they are not as well detailed as the other 15 mm figures out there.

But:

They are cheap.
They are detailed enough to look very sharp at 3 feet range.
They are historically correct.
They are easy to paint.
They are easy to paint (and no, I mean it).

The EB figures are true 15 mm figures and mix well with Hallmark 15 mm figures. Cavalry come as single models, and standards have to be added as they don't include the pole.

I've been painting up WSS armies for a modified version of AOR, and have about a dozen French foot battalions done. Very nice looking, and if asked would be willing to try and get some figures of them (and the Hallmark) figures and send them to you.

Pat Condray is the partner/owner and an excellent guy to deal with (he is the editor of the many WSS booklets you can buy from him).

EB comes in single packs of infantry, cavalry and guns, or in army packs which are an excellent way to get started.

Again, not the most detailed, or nicest figures out there, but then I want to paint hundreds of the figures, not spend hours on the lace on one figure.

Dan

Thanks for the info. I would look into EB, but they don't have a website! Errrr. Thanks for the other recommendations.

JT

Minifig from GFI are very nice.

Haven't seen Minifigs WSS, but we are very pleased with the Seven years War armies we got from them.

The Venexia figures are very nice but the ones we did were very fragile in some cases.

Agree with Dan Cyr about Editions Brokaw. Actually, they look very good lined up in batallions of 24 in two ranks. Once you have a dozen or so battalions lined up, you would be amazed. I have over 3000 of them painted. Agree that Dixon are the best sculpted. I use them for GNW.

Editions Brokaw are blue collar minis and carry a wide variety of figures nobody else is likely to cover. EG Hungarian Hayduken (dressed like hussars on foot). I like the Dixons for sculpt quality and how well they paint up.

Being a bit biased here, but the Minifigs Marlburian 15's are my choice. (The WSS is my personal favorite!) I bought a LOT of Roundway and Dixon. I enjoy painting the Minifigs. Dixon has some very good officer figures! Our mounted officers are all named personalities.

I have almost completely replaced my painted Roundway with Minifigs. My local gaming WSS buddies have been using the same kind of mix, but the majority of their armies are Minifigs, despite availability of the other ranges locally. (I don't bend anyone's arm to buy our figs. We are more interested in having a good game than having a "uniform " appearance of figure manufacturers. I found it interesting that they will buy any range that's painted, but seem to buy Minifigs when they paint their own! )

Regardless of what range you decide on, I hope you enjoy this facinating period!

best,
Tom Dye
GFI

Dixon are very nice, but quite toy-soldiery.

You can see some of mine here!

link ( bottom of page – English )

Maybe it's just the gloss varnish I used…

( Also some 10mm French Malburian by Pendraken just above ) .

The Minifigs WSS is an excellent range. I've moved on to 10mm for WSS (very nice painting Major!) but have kept the 15's for the GNW.

I don't mind the simplicity of Editions Brokaw but the few that I have required a fair bit of cleanup.

-Mark

Trojan Bunny -

I really have to agree with the praise for Editions Brokaw. The last time I got them, they were about 17 cents per infantry figure, twice that much for cavalry. They are simple, workman-like figures which are well proportioned - unlike the Dixons which are beautifully detailed, but very squat.

EB also offers pikemen, which I am not sure any of the others do. I have a unit of EB Grenadier a Cheval which are the most attractive 15mm unit I have ever painted, and my 15s win awards at large scale collectors competitions.

EB is a very solid choice in their own right, and in economic terms are the BEST. I will say this though - they look VERY unimpressive UNTIL they are painted! EB figures are easy to modify as well. I usually turn the heads slightly on about a quarter of the figures, and I replace the bayonets, swords, and sabres with metal from staples. The simplicity of the fiures makes them a joy to paint.

I have not see Irregular's WSS, but going by other 15mm Irregular I think they would be very compatible in terms of scale, and include some very interesting poses.

I like Minifigs for more 'elite' units. Grenadiers, guards, most of the Maison du Roi, etc., as they are larger and more imposing en masse. They are also reasonably priced and reasonably available.

Roundway is alright, but my least favorite. Largish, a bit too pricey, indistinct detail, and a bit stiff.

For 15mm WSS, I am going with EB for sure, and probably Irregular for the mass of the army, I am incorporating Dixon figures here and there in odd units, I may well leave out the small amount of Roundway stuff that I have, and I will be using Minifigs for the British, cuirassiers, and most guard units.

Someone mentioned Baccus. If I did not already have masses of EB, I would seriously consider Baccus for the WSS, and I most emphatically AM going to use Baccus for GNW, as I want to do amphibious actions, and will be using more fortifications in the GNW, and the 6mm scale offers much for these purpose. Also, it give sufficient space for some proper cavalry actions. Baccus figures are little gems, and they have recently fleshed out a very exciting line of SYW figure - go look at the pandours right now!

I hope some of this helps.

Oops! Regarding Minifigs I meant to say 'readily available' not 'reasonably' available, which sounds a bit iffy. Obviously, as Tom Dye is following this thread, he is quite on top of his business.

The 18th century! Exquisite!

Re: Editions Brokaw figures

I have some of these that I purchased about 15 years ago. I dug them out of the closet and, yes, I like them. There was quite a bit of flash on the bottoms of the bases . . . but that was easily cleaned off.

My question is . . . what are the castings like now? Are they still relatively "flash-free" (except for bases)? Or have the moulds deteriorated as some are wont to do?

Would some of you who have recently purchased Editions Brokaw figures please comment?

- Jeff "Bluebear" Hudelson

I have seen little chaange over the past decade or so of buying them. Yes, the flash/sprue on the base needs to be hit with a file, and a little bit of flash along the sides requires a few quick scrapes with the exacto knife, but that is about it.

I have never seen any with the mold breakdown that some lines get. I have not bought any new ones in about three years though.

Dixon minis for me

Realm of wishful thinking I know, but I'd love to see a range by AB figures.

JT,

While all opinions expressed are valid, undoubtably some may be biased or based on limited exposure to other ranges. This is perfectly normal and applies to all periods and scales of gaming, and it is not a bad thing to champion a range that you favor.

For the WSS, might I suggest the excellent blog maintained by Steve-the-Wargamer specifically on his WSS project? Steve provides side-by-side comparisons of almost all of the available ranges along with pictures of his own painted troops and cost comparisons. He also offers comments on things like QC, shipping, customer service, compatibility with other ranges, etc. To me at least, it is a "can't pass up" as a reference source. He does not currently show any of the EB figures, but I personally sent him some samples to try out, so we should see them in the near future.

link

Please check it out, it may answer some of your questions and validate some of the opinions offered above.

Bill
Sir William the Aged
warsoflouisxiv.blogspot.com

Warrior Miniatures also offer some suitable troops which are very, very inexpensive.
Peter Pig, in their Pirate range has Government troops which are very good as well as wenches, rabble militia and er..pirates that can be incorporated into your games. Also, and most important if you are going to take Corporal John up the Danube they do a boat and seated infantry as well as oarsmen. Excellent stuff.
Black Hat has a new range of figures who are compatible with Dixon/Irregular et al with a rather more toy solderish appearance…for more comparisons see:_
link

Graham