"Who makes 25mm War Elephants?" Topic

I have two of Rafm's old 25mm Successor war elephants and I like them, but they only have one pose and I would like to build some variety into the herd… Can anyone recommend some 25mm war elephants of similar stature (ideally with tower, but not a deal-breaker without, as I'm fairly handy at scratchbuilding).

I'm assuming that most of the more recent '28mm' manufacturers' elephants are considerably larger than the old Rafm models, but I'd love to be proven wrong – A&A, Aventine, Relic and 1st Corps all have great elephants, but they seem like they'll be noticably bigger and bulkier than the ones I have.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Gripping Beast might be worth a look – I got their Carthaginian elephant a while back and found it pleasingly modest in size. That said, it might be worth posting the dimensions of your RAFM ones – that way it'll be easier for anyone with other brands to say whether they're in the right ballpark….

Try Hinchliffe. They have a nice Sassanid elephant with howdah, and an Indian one with no howdah.
They are marginally larger than RAFM, but not overwhelmingly so.

If you can still get the Garrison ones, they have a nice Carthaginian one with howdah, and a Khmer one without.

Irregular are/were also "true 25mm" and their Seljuk.Ghaznavid one is quite impressive, but armored to the teeth.

The Minifigs Carthaginian elephant is in scale with RAFM.
Try to track down the Naismith Design one. The Seleucid elephant is also true 25mm.

All of the ones I mentioned predate 28mm.

Essex is "heroic 25mm" and starting to get bulkier.

The Hinchliffe successor war elephant (I think it must be the "Macedonian" elephant in their ancient Greek range, was for me the best true 25mm elephant of the lot

Agree with John about the Hinchliffe Macedonian Nellie. Bought these in the late 1970s!

Relic with howdah are 46/47mm tall at the shoulder so maybe larger than you want. I used the 2 man howdah for a Ptolemaic African beastie.

In plastic Zvezda may be a possibiity?

Try Irregular Miniatures. When you click their 28mm button it comes up as a list of 25mm lines. There are several armies that have elephants

Sgt Major Miniatures have elephants in the Indian and Macedonian ranges. These were originally sold by Vendel. All of them are resin and come with crews/towers. The Numidian elephants which are newer and cast in metal.

I have some of the Macedonian elephants and I have been converting them to African elephants. I made larger ears and changed the head and leg positions to add some variety between them and made larger blankets and lighter looking towers. Here's a photo of one in the background. If you want a clearer photo with a figure alongside it for sizing let me know.

link

Maybe also bigger 20 mm/1:72?
Like those:
link
link

Thanks for the advice everyone, it is much appreciated, the suggestions give me a lot of options to consider! (Major Tom, that's a great conversion, very dynamic and looks like the beast has its mind on the fight, maybe about to turn some Roman into red paste!)

I did measure the Rafm elephant last night and as far as I can tell the beast is 37mm to the shoulder. Slightly under 40mm in any case.

According to plastic soldier review Hat's Mecedonian war elephant (with just a mahout and pikeman) is about 40mm to the shoulder, and so could be a good base for a conversion to add a tower. Zvezda's war elephants are even larger! The Hat Carthaginian war elephants are apparently bout 30mm to the shoulder, maybe a bit too small, although the N African ellies are a smaller species… I can get any of those sets in a local retailer, too. The only downside is I doubt the 1/72 crew figs would fit with the rest of the army (close enough height, but too slight in build), so I would have to source some 'true 25mm' crews to thread the height/heft needle between 1/72 and 28mm (which most of the army is).

My jury is still out – I may go with Minifigs, Hinchcliffe or Irregular, just for the convenience.

BTW, does anyone have a photo of a Minifigs or Hinchcliffe elephant assembled?

Yes to the Minifigs and Hinchcliffe question but I've had a beer and am on a bus home so maybe tomorrow.

Some photos with a rule and 28mm mini to help you see the size of the Sgt Major elephants:

[URL=http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/Splinterbox/media/SAM_4063.jpg.html]

[/URL]

[URL=http://s1250.photobucket.com/user/Splinterbox/media/SAM_4061.jpg.html]

[/URL]

Here is some information on the size of 25mm elephants.

link

Further to Jim's very useful advice I had a look at Jeff Jonas' web site – my primary source for things Successor.

He has a handy piece on elephants with pictures of a few manufacturers, including Hinchliffe (a trio is shown above the heading)- link