"Current makers of 'true' 25mm fantasy?" Topic

I'm playing 1/72 scale fantasy – these days, that means '20mm' figures, but back in the 1970's and early 80's, that meant 1 inch = 25mm figures.

So I'm looking for current manufacturers of 'true' 25mm to extend my range of 1/72 scale figures.
I don't want to trawl ebay, I want to find companies where I can stock up on lots of 25mm goodness.

I already know of and have a large number of 20mm figures from CP models, Elhiem, MJ figures, Newline, etc, plus I own lots of 'large 15/18mm' stuff, like Blood Dawn.
What I'd really like to find are some classic 25mm monsters and races to expand on my collection.

Other than Dixon Miniatures, which still produces gorgeous true 25mm scale fantasy, who else is out there?

Ral Partha via IronWind Studios

RAFM's a bit big but closer than most.

It takes a VERT talented sculptor to put the amount of detail that the market now demands on a 1" figurine. Most scupters couldnt do it, hence we are stuck with scale creep.
You might want to get ahead of the curve and start collecting 40mm figures.
<$0.02>
RC

You could look at Mirliton to. The grenadier non fantasy warriors items were 25mm scale.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Some good possibilities there.

I think some of the older ral partha sculpts are suitable; rafm indeed seems fairly close to tre 25mm, at least from the cthulhu figures I've got from them, but the shipping costs from canada to europe are pretty harsh.
I was just looking at some old grenadier stuff, and it's good at a pinch – especially the sandra garrity sculpts – I have some from the old days and they match up fairly well to my 1/72s. So I will definitely be paying a visit to Mirilton's shop the next time I go to Italy!

Ravenscraft; if you look at the detail Valdemar or Zvezda get into their 1/72s, it's pretty amazing. I agree that a lot of sculptors can't mathc that, but I think the main reason for scale creep is a constant attempt to trump earlier figures with bigger, more 'heroic' proportions. That was certainly the case during the 80's, with the warhammer aesthetic of growing figures matched by increasingly gigantic and absurd weapons, shoulderpads and boots!
But you're not wrong…new companies are presenting 'heroic 35mm' nowadays – totally crazy, and pretty insulting to the collector who wants his collection to match up between companies.

Any more suggestions very much appreciated…

The Denizen range is available in the US.

link

Garrison Miniatures are true 25mm and have a great Sword and Sorcery line.There is also Prince August if you want to cast your own.They are smallish even for 25mm so should fit the bill.

REd Box Games.

I like the Denezin skeletons – very (if you'll pardon the pun) lively poses.

Garrison have some very nice figures in the Sword & sorcery range.

Tin Soldier are true 25mm – and they have some great unusual items as well as orcs etc : link

but the shipping costs from canada to europe are pretty harsh.

Ral Partha Europe: ralparthaeurope.co.uk

What do those tin soldier minis look like?

Minifigs have brought some of their old fantasy figures back into production. It is a frustratingly limited list but some of the classic figures from the early days of D&D are available again: link

It might also be worth looking at the giants, bears and trolls from Copplestone's 15mm range: link

Also the old Asgard range from viking forge. link

You might want to try Other World Miniatures although I'm not sure if they are true 25's.

Another vote for Red Box games – true 25mm and outstanding quality!

For Grenadier, the Lost Lands stuff was in scale with their earlier Fantasy Adventures range, they also had a range of boxed encounters and regiments in the smaller scale but I don't remember the names of those.

RAFM's historicals are smaller than their fantasy stuff.

Okay I went to The Lost Minis Wiki and dug around.

Julie Gutherie's Fantasy Personalities, Sandra Garitiy's Personalities, Dragon Lords and Fantasy Lords ranges are all in the smaller 25mm scale.

The early lord of the rings stuff is much smaller than GW's usual stuff.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of Tin Soldier's fantasy line (and neither does their web-site….yet)

Asgard were always somewhat bulky against proper 25mm figures (probably the first company to go to 28mm !)

Thanks indeed for so many excellent suggestions and cool companies producing classic monsters and characters.

I was quite suprised to learn that red box are true 25mm – I'd always assumed they were large 28s.

Does anyone know what viking forge's shipping costs to europe are like? I recognise some monsters form the old days that I wish I'd got back then!

It would be great to se some pics of tin soldier's fantasy range, and garrison's, too, as there aren't many on their site.

As a final point, has anyone got photos of tumbling dice minis? From the few pics I've seen, it looks like they'd be perfect to flesh out my human forces.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos of Tin Soldier's fantasy line (and neither does their web-site….yet)

If you ask them for pictures, they will probably scan the catalog page and send it to you. I did this with some of their ancients before the pics got posted to their website and was surprised to have pics a day later!

Exactly how high, (sole-to-eye) would you like your soldiers to be?

Some 1/72 scale minis still get stamped with the 25mm measurement sometimes because they are 25mm when measured from sole (sometimes bottom of base) to the top of the headgear). That's a darn confusing way to measure soldiers and it was done away with for good reason. I'm going to be a bit of a buzzkill here, but I'd hate to see you buy a bunch of minis only to find that they are too big.

I've owned a lot of (hundreds) 70's era ral partha, grenadier, some denizen, etc. and these are great minis, but nearly all of these are going to look pretty big when placed next to 1/72 scale miniatures.

Some folks have even mentioned RAFM and Grenadier Fantasy Warriors miniatures. I own a number of these. These are even bigger and are going to tower over your 1:72/20mm minis. Grenadier Fantasy Warriors for example are pretty close to true 28mm and scale up with 90's era GW figs.

I note that you mention other races. Old school 25mm stuff might look ok if you're going to use things like goblins, trolls, monsters and other scale-less stuff, but even old-style 25mm humans are going to be bigger than 1/72.

Lastly, a note about Red Box. It's a bit confusing, but there are 2 Red Box companies.
Red Box Games- Tre Manor' company that produces 28mm heroic miniatures in metal (and maybe resin) recently branching into plastic.
Red Box- A polish company making 1/72 scale plastic minis.

Lance & Laser

Hi guys, thanks for your helpful commnets.

Joker: I will indeed mail tinsoldier; a scanned catalogue is fine by me.

ordinarybass: thanks for a very thorough post. Yes, I'm well aware of the potential scale diferences between even most old 25's and 1/72 scale – not to mention the differences in proportion – most 1/72s are well-proportioned with realistic anatomy, while many 25s (and 15mm and 28mm) have big round heads and huge hands…you're absolutely right, most of even the 70's 25mm humans are going to look out of place beside my modern 20mms.

Denizen seems the best match, since Chub sculpted them much more accurately than most 25mms. They are still a bit tall, but that's ok for the occassional character figure here and there…not ideal, but ok.

But mainly I'm looking for 25mm races such as orcs, lizardmen, etc, so I'm not worrying quite so much about their proportions as with humans; rather, so long as they basically scale up with 1/72 /20mm humans, and have fairly elegant anatomy, then that's fine. This means that a lot of early grenadier (such as those by Sandra Garrity) sculpts suit me fine; the serpentmen and deep ones still available from Mirilton are good (I have some old ones), but their shipping is astronomical.

My old Nick Lund black orcs scale perfectly with 1/72 figures, I'd like to find more figures like that – any fantasy races are worth considering.

Thanks for the clarification about Red Box Games: so they are 28mm after all. Damn expensive too.
I knew about Red Box plastics – not particularly nice sculpts, in my opinion, pretty clumsy, like Strelets.

snurl: I think those lance & laser figures are also old Sandra Garrity figures, if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks again guys!

Twin,

Contact John McEwan of Reviresco:

tin-soldier.com

John has a number of 1/72 scale figures in his Starguard! Line that will work for fantasy, plus he may gave the moulds for his classic 70s vintage 1/72 scale fantasy figures lying about, so it's worth an email to find out!

Hope this helps!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

Excellent, thanks Leland I will indeed check out Reviresco!

I may have to get some Dreenoi too…

Some 28mm kobolds could make good dragonmen and goblins could be orcs in 20mm. The Reaper bones line has Kobolds
link
and goblins
link
and the price is certainly right.

Red Box Games (Tre Manor's company) does '28mm' miniatures. But they are not the GW 28mm Heroic scale. These are properly proportioned figures. So the Aenglish Watchmen, for example are indeed 28mm tall. But the arms don't bugle, the shoulders are 3 and a bit heads wide, the figure 8 heads tall and everything as one expects in an accurate figure.

But more useful would be his Goblins and Bonebacks – both of which would fit in for goblinoid type. The Runty Goblins are just about 18mm tall and well detailed and the Boneback Goblins about 22/25mm tall.
You can look at his Goblins here :
link
and the rest of his range elsewhere on the page.

I will indeed be picking up some more 28mm kobolds to use as smaller lizardmen – they fit well with 20mm humans – cheers!