"Indian (as in India) fantasy in 25/28mm" Topic

Through a long sequence train of thought, starting with the Dragon Kings Chinese fantasy line, detouring through Sir John Mandeville and then my closet where I had some RPG material buried, I've forayed into a mythic Indian (as in India) fantasy project. It'll be skirmish scale, using Song of Blades and Heroes as the rules.

I have some old Dragon articles on Indian weapons etc. and some good Indian fantasy background from a small RPG company called Dog Soul Publishing, as well as the old AD&D manuals, for things like the rakshasa. I'm trying to avoid Bollywood (I'm in a DVD-poor area), and will also be checking out the epics etc. but would rather start with Coles Notes versions if possible. So if anyone has any other ideas for background, I'd be interested in hearing them.

For figures, I picked up MegaMinis Arabian fantasy line, they'll sub in for India alright, and the photos on MegaMinis' website look more Indian than Arabian to me anyway. Searching around I also came across references to 1st Corps, RAFM, and Irregular, so they'll do for the nuts and bolts of the project, but I am in need of more "character" and mythological type figures. Any pre-gunpowder era is ok, this is a mythological mashup.

Some of the things needed on the mythological side are ancient/medieval monkey-people and the aforementioned rakshasas. The latter are basically horned demons, so I may be able to borrow from some traditional fantasy figs I have lying around. D&D always had them as more like tiger-men, and 100 Kingdoms has a figure that may work.

I was thinking 100 Kingdoms also has their centurion monkeys, which might do as a Plan B. But again I'm interested in other figure ranges people might have seen that would fit.

Chris

Ral Partha makes a very nice Rakshahsha.

Iron Wind sells it calling it a Weretiger

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Foundry has an extensive Indian Mutiny rnge that can be combed for good figures.

The London War Room had a very large range of Indian figures, but they went out of business. I think SOMEBODY took up the range, but am not sure who.

Finally, in a more mystical manner, Eureka has some "village scenes" in its civilian range, including snake charmers and the Rope Trick.

Shameless plug here but some my miniatures maybe useful..

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Regards,

Ashok
Indus miniatures

Shameless plugs are definitely in line.

I have some Mara on the way (slowly…) with plans for more:

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And these…

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Reaper has a bunch of Arabian/Persian style fantasy figs scattered through the lines. There are a few dancing girls of course, but there are also some that could be Indian mystics in the Pathfinder range, with the right paint job.

It's an interesting notion for a project, and a bit of opportunity for some different terrain!

Just had another thought – some figs in the Lance and Laser range might meet some of your needs. They have some monkey-men with some weapons:

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and

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Some of the human figures in the other L&L ranges have an exotic vibe as well, so it might be worth looking through them. Good luck!

Eureka do Monkeys wearing a fez (with wings – but you don't need to glue those on…).

Harwood Hobbies has a small but very nice Sinbad range.

harwoodhobbies.com

I really like Alfritz's Mara.
You could use some of the Cavalcade Minotaurs, they look more eastern than European to me.
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Perhaps a couple of Guild of Harmony figures may be useful
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Dark Swords Anthropomorphic animals
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Black Tree have a Giant Cobra, Efreeti, Djinni, Naga, etc
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West Wind or Copplestone for Yetis
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Bob Murch's Thuggees
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Rakshasa Sultan
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I'm sure that someone did a range of Rakshasas, but my brain is dead today…

Alchemy had a race of lionmen. Not that Rakshasa's aren't necessarily lion/tigermen. I don't believe any such description is in the original sources material. It has just become the popular interpretation.

That'd be Alkemy, and the faction is the 'Khaliman Republic'. Their clothing struck me as more Arabian than subcontinent, but after reading quite a bit of the Kinnari webcomic, I think they'd work pretty well as Rakshasa.

Thanks for all the input guys, that's way more than I expected! Some manufacturers I should have thought of myself, but I was thinking pre-gunpowder and didn't consider that some of the gunpowder lines would also have guys with swords/spears etc.

@altfritz – You are way ahead of me in thinking about this, your blog looks great. Are any of those figures available for sale (or will they be)?

Thanks again all,
Chris

By the way, you guys are costing me a lot of money this morning!

They will be…galleys/war canoes, the Mara and the Daughters of Mara are all "in progress". The Mara should [hopefully] be molded this month.

Excellent, I'll look for them.

By the way, near-misses for India are good too, I'm sort of thinking that the Dragon Kings, mythical India, weird Japan, and other stuff (Amazons, Prester John, lost descendants of Alexander) would all sit together nicely on a map as legendary imagi-nations. Mandeville is handy that way. So guest appearances by Persians and Arabs works.

The master mold for the Mara is done. :-) Now to work out how many production molds are needed…

Great News about the Mara, my 15mm Classical Indian army is nealry done.

Next, I will be using Orcs paininted in a variaty of bright colour as seen in Indian Mythology Art and the Mara will be of similar shades and be the Major Demons and the Orcs will be there little entourage… should look quite spectacular!