""True" 25mm Fantasy Minis" Topic

What are my options for TRUE aka "teeny tiny" 25mm fantasy models these days? The vast, vast majority of models sold as "25mm" are actually 28mm and do not blend well in my opinion.

I'm aware of Ral Partha minis (sold variously through RPE and Ironwind Metals), but are there any other "true" 25mm model options? Mirliton/Grenadier seem too big… Metal Magic were very good but they are mostly OOP now (I think Midlam and Turnkey Miniatures sell a few models but nothing remotely close to the entire catalog). The vast majority of Ral Partha's AD&D minis are seemingly permanently OOP, presumably for copyright reasons. So where can I go for more TRUE "tiny" 25mm models?

ebay and fleamarkets and asking old guys at your club what they have in their garage is the way. I've been guzzling up 25mm figures this way for a decade now and have amassed everything I could want. There's a lot more speculation and a lot more legitimate buyers than there was when I started so there is more of a mental health tax ignoring dreamers but there are still deals to be had. Expect to pay less than what 15mm cost new, as a rule of thumb.

Rafm?

RAFM are too big.

Games Workshops LOTR range is 25mm rather than 28mm.

The other option might be to check out the Dark Alliance soft plastic fantasy range.

Oh, and parts of the old Minifigs 25mm ranges – Mythical Earth, D&D, Aurelo Rocco and Valley of the Four Winds – are in production from Caliver Books:

link

It's difficult becuase even a lot of the old 25mm lines varied widely.

I've been picking some old early 80s citadel recently and some of them, like the orcs, fit pretty well size wise with more modern metal miniatures.

I picked up some old metal magic space lords from em-4 a while back and they fitted just fine size wise with more modern 40k imperial guard miniatures.

I picked up a bunch of old Asgard sculpts from Alternative Armies and some of them were hefty chaps (like the barbarins). One good thing about alternative armies is they list the size in mm of all their fantasy minis in the description which can help to pick the smaller miniatures.

On the other hand almost everything I get from early Ral Partha is dinky they don't even fit well with early 80s citadel. Later Ral Partha ranges from Ral Partha Europe are more 28mm though.

I decided, 10+ years ago, to see if I could amass mini's in proper scale with the sizes listed in the 1e Monster Manual, circa 1977. I wanted to see it as Gary wrote it. It worked, for a while. Caesar's 1/72 Goblins were in perfect scale to a 25mm tall, 6-foot Human. Tim-Mee's 54mm Cave Men were perfectly sized for Hill Giants; Cherilea 60mm Vikings were perfectly scaled Frost Giants! After that, things fell apart, rapidly. Sculptors do NOT follow Gary's size spec's; Gary actually played with 40mm Human figures, not 25's!

Gary had great sizes in the MM, his color ideas are great, IMO, but recreating them, in miniature, is just not possible using figures on the market then, or now.

Like life, miniatures are a compromise. Choose what you can accept, and game on. Cheers!

As stated above by others, the old 25mm ranges vary a lot. I have used a lot of the Caesar and dark alliance 1/72 models for fantasy (1/72 being true 25mm). Metals that fit with these include Elheim fantasy and the classic fantasy range from Prince August. Tumbling dice do a good range of 1/72 historical for human types.

Some pictures of the above mentioned minis. These are Prince august classic orcs with Caesar adventurer and Dark alliance Cimmerian:

link

…and from the Elheim fantasy range

link

Denizen Miniatures (UK)link

Viking Forge (USA) thevikingforge.net although a number of these are closer to 28mm than 25mm.

The new Midlam dwarves are closer to 25mm than 28mm IMHO

Those Denizen sculpts are nice, TBH I didn't realise they were still in production! Got a few of the SF figure – definitely The Hitchhikers and the pack of Droids, maybe a few others. The fantasy figures could be useful in my newer 1/72nd fantasy armies based around Dark Alliance!

The Prince August fantasy molds produce true 25mm figures. I owned around 6 of their molds. The Model Metal produces better castings than any other. If you want to minimize per figure costs, they are great.

I played out the Battle of Five Armies, years ago. It called for 60(!) Wolves, as an army… I owned the Wolf Goblin Rider mold. I cast up 60 Wolves for that army, plus some Goblin Riders. Back then, each Wolf casting averaged around $0.30 USD. After the battle, I sold off a bunch.

Years later, I sold off my molds and melting pot. Years after that, I bought Caesar 1/72 Goblins sets. I cut a bunch of Spearmen off their bases, mounting them atop the PA Wolves. They look decent, at arm's length, on the tabletop.

The PA Dwarves, and Heavy Orcs, are superb, IMO, for mass armies. The Red Box Alliance and Caesar are better detailed, and not a lot more money. Plenty of options. Cheers!

Awhile back I purchased some 28mm Medieval from Irregular. They turned out to be traditional size and did not fit my other 28mm at all. You could check Irregular.

How about Old Glory? Their website seems to distinguish between 25mm and 28mm scale models. Is this accurate in people's experiences?

I forgot to mention that some of the older Foundry sculpts are 25mm, such as their Wars of the Roses range (from 1984).
link

Old Glory are 28mm not 25mm. Partha figs can work with some of the Dark Alliance figs. Generally non-humans. I own a lot of both of them. I also own about 20+ of the Prince August molds. I use my Orcs with GW LOTR figs. Perfect fit. Martha also fit with Herutage, Custom Cast and Grenadier fantasy.

Thanks

John

I edited that and it still got screwed up. It should read Partha figs fit with Heritage, Custom Cast and Grenadier.

Thanks

John

I painted up a couple of sets of Red Box Alliance 1/72 Orc Pikemen, using simple block painting + The Dip Technique. They turned out nicer than my 28mm figures!

To be honest, after finishing those Pikemen figures, I wished I had all 1/72 figures, rather than a mixture of 1/72 (true 25mm) to 28mm. Cheers!

I feel that all the way – if I'd started in the last 20 years I think I'd only have 1/72nd plastics.

3d printer!

I Think if I could magically convert all my miniatures to one scale, I would likely go 1/72, 25mm to top of head of 6 foot person. 15mm is where I settled, until I started print stuff for D&D at 28mm.

I think Prince August still make true 25 mm fantasy molds.

Yes, Prince August do. I have many of their orcs in my army. They look pretty good! They also fit with 25mms figs with their orders molds.

Thanks

John

RAFM's historical and Call of Cthulhu stuff is 25mm and the older orcs work in 25mm but most of their fantasy stuff is 28mm. The Riel Rebellion line is closer to 20mm for some reason.

Who has the Grenadier Fantasy Personalities by Julie Gutherie these days.

Ral Partha Legacy is casting quite a few of the old "25" mm figures …especially Tom Meiers sculpts…very nice and affordable

The Ral Partha figs are works of art in my humble opinion. I love em! I own 100's! I really enjoy the Chaos Wars rules too! But being affordable is a question for the buyer for building armies of them. Infantry are $3.58 USD each. Cavalry are $7.16 USD buying Unit packs. I'd really love to buy loads more of them. Sadly, they are way out of what I can afford to pay now. The last price rise (which I know was not wanted by Partha) just killed it for me.

Maybe they should think about Siocast or resin printing to reduce costs?

YMMV.

Thanks

John