"NEW - 28mm 'pre contact' Maori figures + pics" Topic

Gents,

I'd thought I'd pop up a few pics of the new Eureka Miniatures 'pre-contact' (c.1800) Maori figures with some comparison shots with Empress Miniatures Maoris.

These Maoris are 28mm sculpted by Alan Marsh. They are a little larger but have about the same heft as the Empress figures i.e. they look like a similar style of anatomically correct sculpts. I think the Eureka ones are a little more so (taking nothing away from the lovely Empress minis) and they are a smidge larger as you can see.

The two figure ranges mix quite well even though the Empress are a touch smaller, but I suspect, once painted and based that they will blend together quite well.

Thee figures will be useful for players looking to engage in pre contact tribal warfare. The Maori were a constant warring culture so from these sculpts two varied and sizeable hosts could be formed without excessive 'repeat' figures….a 60 figure tribe would have only 3-4 of the same figure in the them. By my count there are 18, yes 18, different figures and they are all in motion and look very nice.

Within the range some body shapes vary but all are reflective of the possible variations one would expect which I think was the sculptor's intent…regardless, they all work together very nicely.

These figures are lovely. They will be useful for not only pre contact conflict but as you can see, when mixed with the Empress figures, they can do duty as tribes of the Musket Wars era (1806-1845-ish) where Maori warfare literally exploded with near constant fighting up and down the Islands. They can also be used as enemies of the Crown in the Flagstaff War of 1845-47 so you get nice double duty out of these.

All in all, these are an excellent addition and pretty much take top place as they best Maoris on the market for this earlier period. They will be perfect figures for the new tribal warfare game by Mana press (called Tribal).

Speaking to the owner of Eureka Miniatures, he said if enough people are interested we could get 8-10 additional figures armed with muskets and that would truly make for a superb range with excellent use for gaming and a nice homogenous single sculpt effect that woudl work very well.

Happy Wanderer

PS If anyone is interested in adding musket armed Maori warriors troops by the same sculptor to complement this range thereby being usable for the Musket and Flagstaff Wars then maybe a show of hands would be good. I'm up for 100. If we get to 600 or more (10-15 people) then it can probably happen.

..hope we get there…

This is great news! I'm looking forward to adding these to my collection!

Interesting stuff! I had been hoping that Empress might make some, but am glad that Eureka have filled the gap. Could they be useful for distant ancestors of the Maori?

The Empress Miniatures 1st Maori Wars range was a commission and it seems there are no plans to expand the range into the subsequent 1860-70s conflict nor go back into the Musket Wars and pre contact period.

Eureka are the only real option when looking at the standard of sculpts produced IMHO. The thing with Eureka is that they are adding these NOW and probably could be eased into expanding the range if enough people put their hand up to buy as the period is fairly 'niche' regards prospective sales.

HW

Nic has never struck me as having a "niche" phobia. I have a small unit of Kriegshosen,as well as an assortment of oddball things like "Shaftsbury and O'Toole in Rubber Dinosaur Suit"--can't get much "nichier" than that!

These are such lovely figures.
I've been wanting to do the Maori wars for 16 years now and finally started painting the 15mm figures I got back then.

I really wish there were 15mm versions of these.