"Best 15mm Fantasy miniatures?" Topic

I looking for good 15mm fantasy figs to paint up
and game with. Want to start with Dwarves, Elves, Orcs/Goblins, Skeleton types and of course mankind.
Any comments,recommends or comparisons would be welcome.
Thanks
J.

Copplestone knock everything else into a cocked hat when it comes to dwarves and barbarians (sadly the range doesn't go very far beyond that): link

Magister Militum do some very good skeletons: link

They also do a lot of other fantasy figures but I haven't seen them up close.

Battle Valor is a new company that has a big and rapidly expanding range. I haven't seen them in the flesh but the look very good, albeit somewhat 'cartoony': battlevalorgames.com

I'm a big fan of the new company Battle Valor. Have some of their figures and the sculpting is top notch. Customer Service can't be beat either.

You can find a very nice list here link

I especially like MY Miniatures. He makes some unique figures (especially prehistoric animals) and he's a great guy to do business with.

Don't forget the Demonworld line: link

Splintered Light: splinteredlightminis.com

Lone Gunman Games: lonegunmangames.com (are they still on sale?)

And plenty of others that aren't floating to the top of my mind right now.

Splintered Light are tops in my book, but I haven't seen some of the other options.

Demonworld is probably the best on the market for crisp detail and depth of range, though they are lacking in a few areas.

Their Dwarves, Orcs/Goblins, and Skellies (Page 4-5 of the Ice Lords of Isthak range) are all fantastic sculpts with a great many troop types. They are also available here from the FASA US store so you don't have to put up with shipping from merry old England:)

Demonworld USA:
link

I am partial to mine and will be running a sale in a week or so for my Hobbit birthday sale.

Lots of great options, however. Rebel Minis and Eureka have some great stuff and has not been mentioned.

David
Splinteredlightminis.com

I am very partial to Splintered Light and also Rebel Miniatures, and have used some of them in just about every army I've done. I do use other makers if they have the figure I am looking for, and can only say I have had excellent service from everyone I've ever done business with.

Terry

Splintered Light are my favorite for what they cover.

I have stocked several different ranges of fantasy. All have their pluses and minuses. I like black Raven foundry made by 19th Century / Battlehonors.
I have also fielded some units of Splintered Light. I am a real fan of their evolved animal ranges.

Splintered Light
Battle Valor
Black Raven Foundry (by 19th Century Minis aka OldGlory15s)

Demonworld and Splintered Light

I have a wide range of figures….

Demonworld are my favourite, the Dwarves are lovely.

Blood Moon are very good

Alternative Armies, 15mm.co.uk (I think)

Eureka, great range, especially their 'Man Orcs'

Pendraken, although 10mm their orcs, goblins and beastmen make great rank and file in 15mm

Tin Soldier, nice orcs and goblins

I do really want to buy Battle Valor, Khurisan and Splintered Light but they are only supplied in the US and postal and custom charges are a little off putting :-(

Between Copplestone, Splintered Light, Rebel, and Khurusan, they offer a great variety of high quality figures, many of them with an old school or Tolkien or Hyborian flavor. The new Battle Valor do look good as well. Lots of choices!

I've been watching the extended versions of the Hobbit / Lord of the Rings movies with my son, and I have that I might use historical figures as well, for instance Avars or Sarmatians for Rohan and Byzantines for Gondor. Legio Heroica have good ranges.

I feel your pain on the postage to the EU (you should try posting to a benighted corner of the earth like Finland), but if you wait for a 20% sale (Splintered Light at least has a few a year) I just look at it like free postage.

I'm a complete Splintered Light fanboy – David McBride is Good People to work with.

Having said that, Copplestone has some of the most amazing detail I've ever seen in 15mm. I was almost afraid to paint them for fear they'd look better unpainted…

Old Martian Metals are still my favorite

The best figs I have seen are the Splintered Light and Battle Valor fantasy figures. The BV figures are setting the standard in this scale in my opinion.

Alternative Armies are my favourite skeletons from 15mm.co.uk.
link

even Skeleton centaurs
link

Here's my two cents. Mind you this is stuff I've actually painted:

Goblins: I've painted Splintered Light and Magister Militum. Both are excellent (get the SL giant warg). More of a warhammer fantasy feel than LOTR, but lovely and reasonable nevertheless.

Dwarves: My favourite for skirmishing are by far the Tabletop miniatures from 15mm.co.uk. Get their skirmish pack; most of them are great with lots of character. The King is excellent as is the one-eyed hunter with goblin faced shield. Irregular have an amazing dwarven archer; probably the only decent figure in their 15mm dwarf line. Copplestone is amazing, painted his sculpts look more like 28mm. As much as I like SL, I just don't like their dwarves as much. Chariot from Magister Militum are small, more like gnomes in my book. The old Reaper stuff they also sell is a bit too large, but some of their figs (berserkers) are great.

Orcs: Love SL, love Magister Militum. Both really great. Waiting for some 15mm stuff to compare.

That's all I can say from personal experience. Lots of stuff to choose from, and you can even add 28mm stuff as you see fit. I have a reaper Bones ogre masquerading as a hill giant and no one can tell the difference.

Dimitri.