"Rustic Looking Empire units" Topic

I was thinking of finding some models that would work well as Empire units, but don't have the Renaissance vibe to them. The Pirate and frilly look is getting on my nerves. I tend to think that WOTR lines is more of what I am looking for. The problem with most of the WOTR lines is that they match what WOTR embodies, in that they seem to be all bill-men and archers. While there are a lot of good makers out there for this, they don't look the part to me as Imperial.

I noticed that Perry Miniatures does have some mercenaries that they sell, and we are now getting close to what I am looking for. I also saw some of the work that the Perry's did for Foundry as well. As much as I like what I see so far, I wanted to see if I could find others for the sake of variety or just a better model. My question is what else is out there that looks like rustic empire units?

You might try Hussites from 1st Corp(the old Kingmaker line). Look in their Late Medieval line under infantry. Flails and crossbows, pole arms. Very rustic.

Here is something from Dakka Dakka

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Mirliton has the old Grenadier line, which is fantasy but based on 15th century. And, I believe, sculpted by Nick Lund. They fit in quite nicely with my Old Glory and Perry mini's.

Keep in mind the Perry plastics allow you to kitbash all you want. Mix in some Frostgrave soldiers, some Fireforge 13th century stuff, and some other things and you could jazz up the Perry figs quite nicely. You have the "Mercenaries" box, the "War of the Roses" box (billmen and archers, as you say), as well as a "Foot Knights" box for the late 15th century (not to be confused with the separate foot knights for Agincourt box).

I noticed that Perry Miniatures does have some mercenaries that they sell, and we are now getting close to what I am looking for.

If you like those, you might want to take a look at the metal "European Armies 1450-1500" line from the Perries, which contains similar figures with a variety of armaments:

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There you can find halberdiers (could also work as spearmen with a weapon swap), swordsmen, handgunners, crossbowmen, clergy (could be used as wizards), carroccio (a really fancy wagon), archers, command figures and even a bear in chain!

For dudes in full plate armour with two-handed weapons ("greatswords" in Empire army list), the previously mentioned plastic Foot Knights 1450-1500 set is a great resource:

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and for heavy cavalry with lances, full plate and barded horses there is this plastic kit:

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Mirliton has the old Grenadier line, which is fantasy but based on 15th century. And, I believe, sculpted by Nick Lund.

That is a very nice line of fantasy humans, though the sculptor in question was Mark Copplestone.

Have a look at Front Rank, they of-course have the billman and such but you may find some in their line that fit.

Also the Mark Copplestone old fantasy miniatures are what I used years ago for a lot of my Empire. They are nice miniatures and at the time they fit right in before GW went to the whole "Frilly" look you are talking about

Here are a couple of pictures right here on TMP:
TMP link

Warlord

Thank you for the good ideas so far. I did not think about Copplestone's work, or from Hussites, Frostgrave and Fireforge.

I originally discounted Front Rank, as I did for Crusader and Renegade, as they don't have much in the form of actual Halberds. After looking again, I did see that Front rank does have halberds, but only a few. The shortlist for me to make a Bretonnian army was always Front Rank, Crusader, and Renegade.

My idea right now is to try a few Perry's metals from the European Armies line to see if I like what I see. I have no problem kit-bashing the plastics, and that was an idea I had as well. I would need to locate someone who sells a good set of Halberd and spear heads however. The Perry's halberds at first glance is not what I was looking for.

Ultimately, I would like to have GW Wizards that I either already have or can find on E'Bay and use characters as normal. Speaking of Frostgrave their Wizards are on the list as well. If anyone thinks if the Wizards from GW(specifically the old metal ones) will look out of place with any of the Perry's, Copplestone, or Front Rank, I would like to know your opinion.

Greatswords is an issue as well. I would like to find something that is not in full-plate, which is what I see all of the time.

Foundry have the original citadel miniatures from the mid 80s that stood in for the Empire and Bretonnian in the early days of Warhammer

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Front Rank are bigger than Perry figures--FR mix well with Bretonnians and Empire from GW, as well as with Black Tree Design figures, but Perry go better with Foundry, Old Glory, and any of the other plastics. The FR are not incapable of mixing, just that they are definitely heftier and taller figures and you need to keep that in mind.

That is the second issue that I have out there. Finding units that work as empire unit is the fist issue, followed by having them mix well with each other.

So I am picking up a few test models from a few manufacturers in the next few weeks. Aside from a painting challenge that I self imposed this summer, I am going to do some figure comparisons eventually to see which ones that I want to work with. I am getting test models from Perry, Front Rank, and BTD right now.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I have dreams of adding on to my Empire army just because.

I second what Yogi said.

I would go with plastics, FAR cheaper and easier to build up a rank and file Empire army.

Perry's plastic boxed sets along with Fireforge Games' plastics pretty much offer you a virtually endless variety of kit-bashing possibilities: swap heads, swap weapons, etc. Both ranges are comparable in scale and I think could have their components intermingled and look pretty good.

The great thing about Perry and Fireforge is that you get A LOT of miniatures per box, often times 24 models, even 36 in a lot of Perry's boxed sets. Great value and excellent volume for an army.

I just saw a comparison shot between Perry Miniatures and GW plastic models. Honestly they did not look far off. A little thin compared to GW, but not that bad. I am going to add a list of plastic mercs to my list of things to compare.