"Colin Patten Launches Shieldwall Miniatures" Topic

Glad to see you doing something, figure looks good.

Looks lovely. I play a fair bit of DBA and am loving the new plastics (moved from 15mm to 28mm because of them). The one complaint I have about 28mm is that it is tricky to get four on a base with a 60mm frontage.

So I suppose my request then is that you give some thought to including "narrow" poses for those of us playing element-based games. I know we're not the only (or even primary) market for 28mm figures so all I'm asking for is some thought.

Love the mini. Based on conversion rates and allowing for tax and shipping your rate works out to $2.14-$2.30 per figure which is a good rate for metal in 28mm in particular with the quality.

Good Point Bob.

Looks wonderful. The hands seem to be in proportion and the sculpt looks dynamic enough. 25 GBP for 20 seems reasonable. Best wishes!

How do we contact you at work?

Looks great – these days that price would be very good for that quality. I always love the idea of themed sets! Shall I just send you my credit card number now?

If the quality is bad or the price too high, they won't sell, so I need to get the balance right. What kind of price is acceptable to you?

Is a 20-figure bag at £25.00 GBP GBP a bad idea?

That would be £1.25 GBP per model.

Crusader charges £20.00 GBP for a unit of 24 models (£0.83 per model).
Perry miniatures charges £26.00 GBP for 24 models (£1.08 per model).
Artizan Designs charges £22.00 GBP for 20 models (£1.10 per model).

And then there are the Gripping Beast and Wargames Factory plastic Vikings and Saxons.

You are going against a plenty of competition if you are sticking to the usual western European early medieval topics (Vikings, Saxons, Normans).

Nice looking figure, Hopefully your figures will be compatible with some of the existing lines (looks like it so far) size wise so they can be used with existing armies?

The figure looks outstanding. I would try to keep the price in line with Perry and Aritzan, I always consider them at the high end. Anything priced above that I pass.

He looks quite nice!

Lovely sculpt and a top end price but not unreasonable. However the Western Dark Ages is a well saturated field. Many ranges already in there.
Why not looking further afield, Eastern European, Turkish, Byzantines many under-represented armies there.

I think a themed set is a good idea, ie similar in notion to the GB "shieldwall" sets, figures that "fit" together. I assume command included. It also plays to the Impetus basing, which i like.

will shields be seperate?

Good points above, tough market at moment lots of good offerings, at competitive prices.

just my 2c worth

If all the figures live up to the figure shown I'm happy to pay £1.25 GBP even £1.50 GBP each – I'm paying for quality not a lump of metal labelled as 'X'.

However, I need to know what I'm getting in the bag. I don't do 'supplied at random' unless it's cheap as chips and Im looking for back rank fillers.

Cheers
Mark

For combatants I'll compare with Artizan, GB, and Crusader. I am unlikely to buy more Norman, Saxon or Viking infantry even at inexpensive prices. I would buy period siege crew, ram crew, riders w/o mounts, civilians, carpenters, stone masons, cart drovers, men holding horses in the rear, sitting figures, or other more unique period figures for a premium of 2.0-2.5 GBP each.

That's always good news to see more miniatures :-)

Do you have a website (I couldn't find it)?

Why not looking further afield, Eastern European, Turkish, Byzantines many under-represented armies there.

…Carolingians, Bretons, etc…

civilians, carpenters, stone masons, cart drovers, men holding horses in the rear, sitting figures, or other more unique period figures

Yes I agree with that too.

The figure looks very good indeed!

One problem I have with some of the 28mm Dark Age figures is the fitting of spears/swords to hands. Much better to have the hands moulded onto the weapons and then these fit to the arms of the figures.

No problem on price as long as there is a good variety of poses.

If the figs are good £1.00-£1.25 is OK but please, no more Vikings! Would like to see more Southern and Eastern European stuff (and North African).

I really like the look of the figure but I go along with others who have commented that western European dark ages is a very competitive field right now. So, unless you are already committed to it, maybe you should think of a less well covered period. What about armies of the 'far east' (but not more Samurai) – Warring States Chinese, Han and the various dynasties that followed.

Your figure looks like a Rus warrior with those trousers and I would be interested in a Rus range.

I like it! Get some cast and painted. As far as the prcie goes I think your being reasonable.

Hello
20 figures for 25ukp is okay if there is plenty of figure variety.
The figure looks very good for a Rus warrior or a Viking. I would like to see gaps in the Western Dark Ages ranges filled; including:
Franks especially mounted
Norman allies & enemies for example Swabian foot knights
Breton foot
For Eastern Dark Ages how about:
Slavs including mounted
Armenians mounted & foot
Georgians mounted & foot
Kind Regards
Derek

Good luck, Colin- I look forward to seeing more from you.

Glad to see you back in the saddle Colin.
Always loved your figures and this newest one looks amazing.

Outstanding! Very nice sculpt – I'm in! 25 pounds is a bit much – I favour smaller packs say eight figs. (25 is about $40 USD Canadian). I am in favour of British Dark Ages ie English/Welsh/Scots/Picts/Irish and Vikings myself…oh and Eastern Vikings/Wends/Slavs etc would be cool as well. All The Best in your endeavor

Excellent looking sculpt. I think that's a fair price for top-notch figures.

I agree with the comments about lots of competition, but there's certainly room for quality Dark Ages stuff in white metal. While I love the Gripping Beast plastics, I still prefer metal (less assembly and more heft). Definitely worth giving it a shot. I'd probably prefer 8-10 per bag though.

Agree that the field is well-supplied right now – if I am building a DA army, I will probably use plastics for the bulk of my troops, but use "special" metal figures for the command figures.

Non-combatants armed with farm implements and with fearful looks on their faces will be good to have too, especially if they are cheap by the bag.

"Non-combatants armed…"

OK, that was silly. Civilians is perhaps the better word.

Many Thanks for the comments .
I agree that the\Dark Age period is well covered, what I need to do is work hard, not jus at providing good packs, but get the quality to the height of best . I know that's a longshot , but anything less just wont sell .
I/m hoping that most people would then consider buying one or two units for their host , just to really give their armies that extra punch .
I'll post a few more as they come . By the by, which Dark Age figures do you consider the absolute tops in sculpting quality ?
Thanks Again

I love dark ages figures and will always buy them so long as the sculpts are high quality. I mostly own Crusader and Gripping Beast. Anything that fits in with those manufacturers would likely see my support. Regarding price, I will pay up to $3 USD per figure, but the detail needs to support the price. That is why I have been buying mostly Crusader figures, as I believe they are the best figures on the market right now. Keep producing sculpts like the figure on the cover of the news story and you should have no problem finding customers.

I don't believe there is such a thing as too many Normans, Vikings, or Saxons.

Good luck.

As long as they fit into the rest size wise and well sculpted…the more the merrier :-)

"I don't believe there is such a thing as too many Normans, Vikings, or Saxons."

Me neither, that way you can have an army consisting of unique figure poses.

By the by, which Dark Age figures do you consider the absolute tops in sculpting quality ?

Crusader
Artizan
Musketeer Miniatures
Gripping Beast – especially their character figures
Foundry

Who makes the best DA figs is, of course, in the eye of the beholder. For me, Musketeer Miniatures range of Saxons is the best but close to them are West Wind's Arthurian range. I have also bought, and been very happy with, Artizan's Charlemange range, Crusader Normans (especially when they were on the original heavy horses), Gripping Beast and Essex. One word of caution re GB, like many others I believe their horses let down a number of their ranges. If you are going to do cavalry, unless you are ace at doing horses I recommend that you bring in someone like ebob.

Crusader charges £20.00 GBP GBP for a unit of 24 models (£0.83 per model).
Perry miniatures charges £26.00 GBP GBP for 24 models (£1.08 per model).
Artizan Designs charges £22.00 GBP GBP for 20 models (£1.10 per model).

I forgot to list Gripping Beast, they charge £25.00 GBP for 24 metal models (£1.04 per model).

That said, the above prices are without postage included. If the suggested £25.00 GBP cost for 20 models includes shipping (to anywhere in the world) then it would be somewhat more competitive.

I also think that the market is full of Vikings and Saxons. I would rather prefer to see Byzantines, continuing the old range , begun at Gripping, discontinued since many years ago (I do not like the anatomy, size and horses of the present range of Byzantines of neither Gripping or Crusader). I liked the style of the first figures of Byzantines made for Gripping in the 90´s. Also I would like to see a good Carolingian range to confront the many Vikings collections, metal or plastics.

I'm glad to see you back, I always loved your figures.
As said here before, there are a lot of Viking/Saxon figures available, but you never have enough of them. I would also like to see a Carolingian range.

Lovely looking figure, and I have a ton of various Vikings; I would happily pay your rates for figures of this quality. These historical miniatures can also be utilised by various fantasy games. For my tuppence worth, I would like to see more Rus Vikings, Slavs and Byzantines.

Agree on Byzantines. There isn't really an acceptable range of late 11th early 12th century Byzantines. The Crusader Cataphracts, for example have smaller horses than the normal cavalry…

I can only agree with the opinions above – the sample sculpt is genuinely first class… the proposed pricing is generally in line with the competition, and there are a LOT of vikings about these days!

Under-represented subjects – Rus, Franks (both expansion and Carolingian eras) Goths, Samogitians, and Swabians.

Similar subject but a little earlier – has anyone done Dacians since the 1980's Foundry range?

The sculpt looks to be of outstanding quality, mon amis, very well proportioned and, I assume, commensurate in size with GB, Artisan etc.
having found real difficulty building an allied Byzantine army that truly matches, I have to echo the calls for the greatly under represented Later Byzantine period – especially decent foot given the cornucopia of allies that could be chosen from. For me – later Byzzie, esp foot (not more Varangian guard though)
Franks, Rus and Slavs.
Some of the mounted archer types – Avars, Skythicon etc. could potentially add to the mix.
Might be useful to have a number of command packs and vignettes, I am always happy to pay a bit more for a high quality set piece with a little more "character" than the main force

has anyone done Dacians since the 1980's Foundry range?

Warlord Games has some:

link

Cheers, Gb… they're not bad at all.

Hello
Warlord Games does a few Dacian figures. Their Dacian box is the Celt plastics box with some metal Dacian torsos, heads, shields and weapons. One problem I have with this approach is that I am afraid that glue that is strong enough for metal might eat (melt) plastic. Any suggestions?
Kind Regards
Derek

Hello
One problem I have with this approach is that I am afraid that glue that is strong enough for metal might eat (melt) plastic. Any suggestions?

Good superglue (Gorilla is nice) or decent 5minute epoxy are both plastic and metal friendly.

John T

Hello John
Thanks
I live in South Africa and it is not a brand name I recognise. Airline restrictions make getting some glues difficult. Hobby type glue for plastic kits is readily available for all plastic figures. Superglues for household purposes works for metals. I will probably have to experiment to find the right one.
Kind Regards
Derek
I intend to return to the main thread when more people have commented.

I/m hoping that most people would then consider buying one or two units for their host , just to really give their armies that extra punch .

If all of your figs are that nice looking, I'm in even if you switch to the second war of indecision between Fiji and Tibet.

JJ

Hello
Colin of Shieldwall Miniatures asked which Dark Age figures do you consider the absolute tops in sculpting quality?
My response: for an entire range Gripping Beast Early Saxons. Gripping Beast Early Saxon foot include 22 packs of figures. There are four packs of Command figures, two packs of Gedriht (Gedrichts?), four packs of Duguth, three packs of Geoguth including one pack of young Geoguth warriors, four packs of Ceorls, two packs of characters and three packs of casualties and killers. There is also a last early Saxon King on foot pack which includes an army standard bearer and a musician. Furthermore there is figure variation within at least 20 of the 22 packs. 17 of the 20 packs have at least four head variants of each figure. I have at least 280 different Gripping Beast early Saxon foot figures without taking into account giving the figures different shields (choice between buckler or larger round shield) or weapons including axe, sword, javelin (or sling for at least 16 figures) or spear.
I am not sure how much figure variation there is in the three casualties and killers packs as I recieved my three packs in an army deal and I do not generally buy such figures. Nevertheless Darren of GB confirmed that there is also variation within these packs. There are also 6 packs of mounted with four variants in each pack giving another 24 poses. Some of the GB Early Saxons are suitable for later periods too in my opinion. Finally some are generic and could be used for Franks or early Vikings.
Kind Regards
Derek
PS: I do not work for Gripping Beast

I love the OLD Gripping beast figs the best – too bad they got rid of their old Picts packs (forget now what they called them exactly). Anyway you definitely have my support sir!