"Can you Please recommend 15mm Renaissance figures" Topic

Hi, I've been thinking of big battles for the Renaissance period, I'm not done with Pikeman's Lament just thought I might try By fire and sword and I would like recommendations for figures.

I would recommend Old Glory 15s, a US company. They have both Italian Wars (1495-1550) and Eastern Renaissance figures.

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Now I do not have any of these since I no longer collect that period, but I do have plenty of their 15mm ACW figures and some of their 15mm First Crusade figures and can highly recommend them.

Jim

I like the By Fire And Sword.

OG15s' figures vary in quality because it's used a number of different sculptors over the years, but I'd say that, while many of the figures in the renaissance range are good, on average the sculpting is inferior to that of most of that company's other ranges.

If you think you might want to use these figures I'd recommend studying the photos on the website as closely as possible and looking for inaccuracies. For instance, many muskets are undersize; more like arquebuses.

For the Renaissance the top of the line in 15mm (at least for me) is Venexia. After that the Old Glory and Blue Moon are pretty good, followed by Essex who has a vast range for that period.

By Fire and Sword mins are packaged for the rules. Makes it handy to set up your forces.Mini's are pretty good too.

I agree with 'aegiscg47', Venexia are lovely, I like Old Glory and Blue Moon. My Italian Wars collection consists of all three makes. Museum Miniatures are not back and Lancashire are good for the price.

It very much depends on the period
ECW/TYW Peter Pig 15s or Pendraken 10mm are great. By Fire and Sword are nice but expensive and depending on your basing scheme you could end up with redundant figures.

For Ottamans Venaxia and By Fire and Sword are great.

There are some good options out there. Good luck

I like Donnington, Essex, and Irregular Miniatures (all in the UK).

Any particular nationalities you are looking for?

Yep, the Venexia ones are/were very nice.

I've been looking for the Poles.

Khurasan has some nice figures that got with Donnington and Testudo is size/heft.

How do Old Glory and Fire&Sword compare on prices?

If you are looking for figures for the same period as BF&S, I thought the Old Glory figures were decent and good value. They were a little bulkier than the BF&S miniatures.

QR Miniatures in Poland do Renaissance Poles
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I have both OG15 and BF&S minis and like them both. OG15 are beefier and hold up better to rough handling gamers and are much less expensive too.

Which era, which armies?

As "Renaissance" in wargaming differs a lot from the historical notion – which ends for most countries around 1500 – you should get more precise. In addition, it makes quite a difference wether you want to play the WOR, the Italian wars, the Burgundian wars (or the successor wars), the Osmanic wars, ECW, TYW or perhaps the Sengoku or Ming conflicts. Companies offer fine sets for many of these, but alas some are not compatible within a unit or even an army.

From the two most typical eras the first is the Italian wars, with Pikeblocks and Gensdarmes at the core and artillery, arquebus and light cavalry in all its facets to fill out the mosaic. Some 50 years of constant change, and you can break off towards Mohacs, Flodden, the Siege of Vienna or Orsha.
The other typical era are the TYW and its small cousins the ECW. Still lots of change, but overall far more stable then the Italian wars, with many interesting armies.

If you are more precise, you will get better advice.

Essex also make some very nice figures too.

I have Blue Moon ECW, 30YW and their line is pretty complete except for Scots/Highlanders. Their It. Wars look nice. Good service and a joy to paint.

How do Fire and Sword minis compare sizewise to Blue Moon?

Alternative Armies (based in Scotland) do quite a nice range of 15mm rennaissance figures (i think they were formerly Asgard figures[?]), plus a set of rules called Furioso, which I've actually used (once, so far).

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Better pictures of much/most of the range can be found here:

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