"18th Century "traditional" figure range recommendations" Topic

Hi all. I'm looking for some recommendations for a figure range. Mid 18th century. Maybe almost a toy soldier look? I like the new Prince August SYW range, but would prefer something not as heavy as home casting figures are.(I have their basic casting kit and some Karoliner range molds). Anything between 20mm-40mm that people can recommend?
Thanks!
Dale

Fife & Drum/Minden Miniatures

Take a look at the figures produced by Spencer Smith:
link

Tradition of London might fit the bill: traditionoflondonshop.com

They do a 25mm range and a number of 30mm ranges, all of which have a bit of the 'toy soldier' look about them.

Minifig 25mm are classic old school figures with a complete range for SYW, very consistent in style and size. You're in the Netherlands, so they should be easy to order from the UK.

Try these. RSM 95. link

The web site is a little clunky but they great figures.

I like Spencer Smiths for their simplicity. You have to paint detail on. Here are some I finished earlier.

link

Check out your preffered scale at Irregular here it might be what you are looking for.

irregularminiatures.co.uk

SYW -one of minifigs best ranges -my favourite figures from the range however are the Hungarian Fusiliers which are in fact Austrians from the French Revolutionary period!!
Still great little figs.
Should really be Spencer Smith of course if we have any sense of wargaming tradition.

Thanks for all the responses guys! Minden/Fife and Drum are beautiful, but I think not quite what I am looking for. I REALLY like a lot of the Spenser Smith figures, and not just the SYW but their site has TERRIBLE pictures and it is tough to figure out what to order. Chortle, I LOVE the image you uploaded, That image alone is the single best marketing for Spenser Smith I have seen. RSM has a very poor website that is not helping them at all, but I got a quick response from an email I sent and really like the figures of theirs that I have seen. I am leaning towrds them I will be in the US in DEcember and might pick up a batch then. I like a lot of Irregulars's OTHER range, but not so much the SYW. Minifigs are great too. Tradition has a HUGE selection, I am still sorting through it all.
It requires a lot of Googling to get decent images of all the ranges (I think Irregular is the best in that regard). Does anyone have links to good PAINTED armies of Spenser Smith and MINIFIGS?

Thanks again for all the support. BTW, I'm interested in a Prussian vs Austrian set or armies.

I prefer the old Surens "Willies" and Staddens from the London War Room. But even in their heyday the ranges were fragmentary and sometimes difficult to work with. Further, they are old and no one is making new figures for them. Sometimes some assembly is required.

Minden and Fife and Drum are gorgeous figures but I don't know how wide the range will be and where they will go with them. That has inhibited me a little.

On the other hand Dayton Painting Consortium is in my opinion the best figures for generally inexpensive prices in all the ranges you want and they are adding to their lines constantly. They are good 28mm and you can easily blend figures from other makers with them and it won't look like a confrontation between Charles DeGaulle and Micky Mouse.

The Minden range is quite extensive, so big, in fact, that I have never bothered to count all of the different figures that the range has. And we continue to add more figures to the range that includes Austria, Prussia, Britain, Hanover and France, recently adding French Cuirassiers du Roi and Volontaires de Saxe with more in the pipeline. In 2015, we will be adding Russians to the range.

Fife & Drum has been very active too. This year we have added 30 dragoon figures to the range and we are currently working on our Hessians, which will be released in 2015.

We have also been busy on the equipment front, adding Austrian and Russian cannon as well as a few surprises yet to come.

Does anyone have links to good PAINTED armies of Spenser Smith and MINIFIGS?

Have a look at Phil Olley's 'Classic Wargaming' blog:

link

Nice! Thank you. Are Staddens still made? Does anyone know who carries them?

Peter Johnson in the UK carries the complete range of Staddens. You can also order them from Tradition Scandanavia.

link

Spencer Smith (SSM) are fairly vague on detail, you need to paint it in for the most part.

RSM are very nice, if you can bring them from the US yourself they're well worth it. Ordering to Europe is likely to cost a lot in customs duties.

The same applies to Minden now, although parts of the range are available from Crann Tara. They are quite compatible with RSM, and much better than SSM in my opinion. In fact some SSM collectors have replaced them with Mindens.

"Toy soldier" could be said to be more about a style of painting than of sculpting? Block colours, possibly blacklining, and definitely gloss varnish, rather than shadows, highlights, washes and dirt powders…

RSM and F&D are stepping off different feet which may be an important consideration for a toy soldier look.
There are a few websites that compare figures e.g.
link