Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Hobgoblin on October 17, 2019, 11:59:35 AM
-
I wrote a rather long and rambling blog post (https://hobgoblinry.blogspot.com/2019/10/enter-172-and-protocol-for-miniature.html) on this the other day, but I'm planning some RPG games using 1/72 plastics.
In the past, I've run RPGs using 15mm (so that the tabletop provides a bigger space), but recently, the quality of miniatures (and the amount I have) has drawn me back into 28mm. But I think there are some disadvantages of 28s: they're fine for cramped dungeon-crawls, but space gets a little cramped in outdoor scenarios. And they're a pain to transport in large numbers (I'm going to be running a game 300-odd miles from home in a couple of months).
That's led me to 1/72. Plastics in the scale are very lightweight, and when based on pennies or washers, they allow for safe transportation in magnetised boxes. That didn't quite work with 15mm, because metal miniatures in that scale are still sufficiently heavy to fall off the magnetic lining and get bashed about in transit.
Also, 1/72 offers the same 'footprint' as 15mm (i.e. 1p or 2p bases), but with a little bit more visual impact and a lot more consistency in scale. And that's a huge attraction. I don't really like painting humans, so the relative lack of detail in 1/72 is welcome. But even more attractive is the ability to mix in huge numbers of historical miniatures with the growing number of fantasy sets available - perfect for portraying a world with lots of human cultures in the Glorantha/Tekumel mould.
That was something I wanted to do in 15mm, but the unevenness of scale really got in the way. I'm not too fussed about a bit of variation, but 15mm historicals were often dwarfed by goblins and, er, dwarfs in the same scale.
By contrast, 15mm goblins look about right with 1/72 humans:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/--P8NEcUaE3E/XaINfLqlAiI/AAAAAAAABPE/c8plN6RcJTs-9CW6UNPE-4C8iwuVO746wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Goblin%2Band%2Bhoplite.JPG)
Here are the first couple of painted-up PCs (or villains, who knows?) - the kind of quick paintjobs that you can get away with at this scale:
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IZRJt1uKsgg/XahDjR60MfI/AAAAAAAABP4/AfZ5VNvLj8scuqEaRqZgsWmU3UaIexuaACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Hoplites.JPG)
While there the Dark Alliance and Caeasar sets provide lots of cheap non-humans, I've noticed that a lot of the Wizkids/D&D range of 28s work well as giants, demons and monsters in 1/72 because they're much more naturally proportioned than (say) GW. For the same reason, they don't work terribly well with most 28s. It helps that, for whatever reason, quite a lot of them seem to be especially heavily armoured on the thighs and knees. Lots of them also have double-bitted axes, which I usually dislike. But for a setting with an ancient-world flavour, the occasional bronze labrys is OK.
(https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C-Tn8Px6L6I/XaINPHi_YII/AAAAAAAABO8/7mQAgLsS91s9jvOQILyVdDVIWWNWq5U2wCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Knight%2Band%2Bserpent-man.JPG)
-
The Dark Alliance range is great.They have four more packs coming out soon.Centaurs,Nomads set 1 & 2 and Steppes warriors.
-
Aha. I wonder what sort of nomads they'll be. Arab-influenced, perhaps, given that the Steppe warriors will presumably be Scythian/Hun/Mongol-esque?
-
Great project :), I'm doing something similar with 1/72 minis in my mordheimesque project with 10mm scale Frog/Toadmen :).
-
Sounds like a plan, there are a lot of useful 1/72 figures out there. I've been using 1/72 plastic trolls for 28mm and just picked up a box of Caesar goblins to use as imps.
-
A lot of old Ral Partha and Grenadier stuff scales nicely with 1/72 as well: Tom Meier and Julie Guthrie dwarfs are a better fit for 1/72 than for 28mm, and it occurs to me that the Tom Meier giant goblins would make decent Gloranthan dark trolls in 1/72 ...
-
I love those Greek figures. I always think Runequest.
andy
-
Found these sets which i had never seen before.
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/LA010
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/LA014
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/LA021
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CMHF109
-
Aha. I wonder what sort of nomads they'll be. Arab-influenced, perhaps, given that the Steppe warriors will presumably be Scythian/Hun/Mongol-esque?
I could imagine them being along the lines of the other Lord of the Rings figures in the range or could be totally new.Will be after them for sure though.
-
Great post! When I was a kid, before I got into Warhammer, I used to buy the odd box of 1/72 soldiers to mess about with. I've often thought of revisiting them as an idea for wargaming, particularly for mass battle games where the individuality of the miniature is much less of a concern. My only hesitation has been in the cleaning up and painting of the softer plastics. Do they take acrylics well? I often heard that paint would crack off them or otherwise not bond well. Also, regarding cleaning up, softer plastics require a precision cutting rather than scraping, which sounds time consuming!
-
Most good soft plastic minis doens't need much cleaning up, in fact.
For the best bond, personaly I first wash carefully the minis with soap and water, and then I coat them with vallejo premium base coat (or varnish), since it's made for soft plastic and clear plastic (used for RC cars painting). THen, base coat/paint the way you want.
-
Found these sets which i had never seen before.
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/LA010
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/LA014
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/LA021
https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/CMHF109
Thanks for those links! Just ordered the second set of Caesar orcs very cheaply, plus the Dark Alliance Cimmerians and mummies.
Gibby, I've found Pebeo gesso and acrylics work fine with the softer plastic. I painted these Caesar lizardmen that way and haven't even varnished them yet; they've been used in quite a few games (including one in a Glaswegian pub!) and haven't lost any paint:
(https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-OmfyvIojyqo/W82-ur2ybaI/AAAAAAAAAio/xHjr9eGs4H8MRbgxGB6smGU9FQNsOZtsQCLcBGAs/s1600/Troglodytes.JPG)
I think the softer plastic that Caesar uses might be particularly good with acrylics. I've been more careful about varnishing the Zvezda hoplites (gloss then matt - I don't normally bother with the latter) as they're a bit harder and shinier, but they seem fairly robust so far. I've read that most of the bad rep that 1/72 comes from the US of enamels (often over no undercoat).
I'm also thinking about massed battles with these. You get about 40+ figures for eight or nine quid (cheaper, sometimes). So I'm basing some up individually, but will probably put a lot of the others on HotT element bases. I've been working on 15mm HotT armies on 28mm-scaled bases, but I was already using some 1/72 figures in there. The 15mm chaos hordes I'm working on have a lot of large Magister Militum figures that will actually look better against 1/72. And the 15mm orcs are appropriately sized against 1/72 men. It helps that I've based most of the warband elments with a 28mm troll or equivalent in the front rank - so they look like small but fierce creatures led by very big fierce creatures.
The other thing that 1/72 is great for is Lion/Dragon Rampant. The 1p/2p footprint is the same as for 15mm, which gives much more space for manoeuvre on a 3' wide dining-room table.
Also, I'm finding that the Wizkids D&D figures make perfect ogres and giants at this scale. I don't like the range at all for 28mm, as the more realistic proportions just make them look odd against other 28s. But that very thing makes them 'read' well at 1/72:
-
Yes, those work very well together. I think the consistently realistic proportions and consistent scale is a HUGE advantage for 1/72. 28mm and 15mm can be a minefield of figuring out what figures work together. Even when the scale the same, often the style of sculpt can make them look odd alongside each other.
Might have to give a box of them a go. Is Hannants the best source in the UK?
-
Hannants seem to be one of the best retailers for the 1/72nd miniatures ranges.
The Dark Alliance Mummies are great pieces.THe Nomads maybe to opposition for the Mummies come to think of it.
-
I think the consistently realistic proportions and consistent scale is a HUGE advantage for 1/72. 28mm and 15mm can be a minefield of figuring out what figures work together. Even when the scale the same, often the style of sculpt can make them look odd alongside each other.
Yes - and then there's price - especially for minor NPCs in role-playing and skirmish games. For example, I picked up this lot (http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=2320) for under a fiver (plus postage) yesterday. Once they're based and painted up, they should take care of all crowd scenes in any games with a pseudo-ancient or pseudo-medieval setting. But getting the equivalent in 28mm or even 15mm metal would cost a great deal more (and would require much more effort in painting).
There also seems to be a growing trend in 1/72 towards boxes that mix infantry or cavalry or have few or even no duplicates. And even for those - like the Dark Alliance sets - that have 4 x 10 or 4 x12 figures, they're so much cheaper than the 28mm equivalent even if you're only going to use one set of 12.
-
Great project :), I'm doing something similar with 1/72 minis in my mordheimesque project with 10mm scale Frog/Toadmen :).
I've to say that I'm enjoying your blog. Your 1/72 scale cossacks might have convinced me to try the scale :D
-
I've to say that I'm enjoying your blog. Your 1/72 scale cossacks might have convinced me to try the scale :D
Seconded! I'd missed the link to M.P.'s blog - those cossacks and boyars are amazing!
-
Here's a Dark Alliance goblin:
-
Really nice minis ! I didn't know that 1/72 fantasy became so nice.
-
Excellent! If I didn’t know it could pass as 25/28mm
-
Thanks, gents! I now have five of the goblins ready to go:
-
Really nice wok on the Goblins.I still need to pick-up the second set of them.
-
These are hands down the best painted version I’ve seen. I’m eager to see what will you do next.
-
Hey Hobgoblin, really liking the Goblins. Really nice paintjob you have executed to the models.
Looking at them, they have use not just in fantasy but in th PA type of worlds as well I think.
Anychane you could throw a more common futuristic soldier type mini in armor to get a better scale? If you have any that is.
Grimm
-
Thanks, all!
Grimnar, do you mean with 28mm? If so, see below (obviously, the basing makes a difference too). I'd say they're about the same size as most 28mm kobolds.
Dark Alliance does some 1/72 post-apocalyptic stuff too: stalkers, rednecks and zombies, I think.
-
Thank you I'm flattered :).
Link to the historical part of my project https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=116677.0 (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=116677.0)
Link to the fantasy part https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=118795.0 (https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=118795.0)
Awesome painting can't wait to see more :)
-
Thanks!
Aha - I'd admired that second thread (great sculpting!) but hadn't made the link with the blog. Superb stuff. Beastmen constitute perhaps the biggest gap in 1/72 fantasy; I don't think there are any commercially produced ones at the moment.
-
Thank you :). Have you seen new Dark Alliance previews??
-
Yes - manic_miner drew my attention to them. Worth posting here, I think:
(http://theredbox.com.ua/ckfinder/userfiles/images/ALL72051_600_zad.jpg)
(http://theredbox.com.ua/ckfinder/userfiles/images/ALL72049_600_zad.jpg)
(http://theredbox.com.ua/ckfinder/userfiles/images/ALL72048_600_zad.jpg)
(http://theredbox.com.ua/ckfinder/userfiles/images/ALL72046_600_zad.jpg)
Of those, I find the centaurs and Nomads 1 most interesting. I generally like the Dark Alliance stuff more when it moves away from the LotR films (of which I'm not a fan, I confess!). But that first set of nomads will be great for RPG bandits, assassins and adventurers. And the centaurs fill some of that beastman gap.
-
I as well prefer DA's other set than those based on LotR, except the nomads and pirates, which are spot on for my conanesque project.
-
Here are a couple more RPG foes (or perhaps PCs - who knows?): a Caesar orc and a Dark Alliance orc on a hyena-thing.
I'm experimenting with the Caesar orcs as a Bronze Age tribe of savage primitives - more ogre than orc, given their hefty stature. The nice thing about 1/72 is that you get plenty of duplicates - so it's easy to make several 'tribes' from a pack with different paint-jobs. This guy could work as a dismounted Tusk Rider in Glorantha; I suspect it might be possible to get some appropriately sized boars to mount some of his peers.
I painted the hyena chap a while back, but recently based him. He was originally earmarked as part of a 'beasts' element for 15mm HotT - perhaps as some sort of hyenadon-riding ogre. But I'm now thinking of a clearer division between scales: 15mm for HotT and similar games (on 28mm-sized bases); 1/72 for RPGs, Dragon Rampant and OGAM; and 28mm for a bit of everything, but especially skirmish games and simpler, dungeon-crawling RPGS.
-
really nice !
-
Caesar Orcs look much better when not painted radioactive green.
-
Fantastic paintjob :).
-
Amazing what you do with these. They look fantastic! Do you find figure clean up an issue with this plastic? (I may have asked this before...)
-
Thanks, all!
Gibby: it depends. Some manufacturers (especially Zvezda) are extremely clean to begin with. I haven't tried the technique with the heated pin that's often recommended, but I find a sharp craft knife does the job as long as the strokes are decisive. I use one of the ones with snap-off blades so that I can restore sharpness quickly (and cheaply!).
The kind of plastic used in 1/72 seems to vary a lot; oddly, it's the softer plastic that Caesar uses that seems to be easiest to clean up with a knife.
-
Here's a Dark Alliance troll. I don't much like the New Line take on the cave troll, but it's hard to argue with these ones, with their less comic faces, as nasty great Ologs.
-
Great paintjob on this troll :), do you have Balrogs from DA's lrange? Are they of similar size to that of trolls? Bigger?
-
Great paintjob on this troll :), do you have Balrogs from DA's lrange? Are they of similar size to that of trolls? Bigger?
Thanks!
I don't - but I assume they're significantly bigger. I think you just get two to a box whereas the trolls come in eights. I've read that the balrogs are 60-65mm tall.
-
Thank you :).
-
A batch of ratmen to go with the others. I have another dozen or so I painted earlier, which I've already rebased three times (square Warhammer bases for use alongside similarly based Skaven in SoBH; penny bases to serve as gnollish monsters in 15mm RPGs; and now 28mm element bases of HotT). But I may well put them back on pennies again to join this lot.
-
I'm very impressed by your painting style, those skavens look simply awesome :).
-
Thanks!
Here's a very hastily painted Reaper Bones snake to go with the rest.
-
Awesome :), I need to get one.
-
Thanks!
Here are some more 1/72 bits and bobs.
Every good urban RPG adventure needs some town guards. These HaT Seven Years War Austrians fit the bill nicely - and there are grenadiers, officers with halberds and spontoons, and a mounted commander to go with them. I envisage these guys turning up variously to save the day, curtail the PCs' activities or arrest them. And, as I'll be using the 1/72 stuff for Dragon Rampant too, 12 of these guards will make a nice unit of Heavy Missiles with Venomous shooting.
Then there's an adventurer - a Strelets bashi-bazouk. The bashi-bazouks are as close to D&D adventurers as history gets, I think: genuine murderhobos paid only in plunder. And these figures, with their mixture of swords, pistols and muskets, are just perfect for Into the Odd PCs.
Finally, there's a Reaper Bones stone golem - something for the PCs to encounter deep underground, I suspect. I thought about doing his vambraces and headgear in bronze, but he's OK as is and - obviously - took no time at all to paint.
-
Great paintjob :), I especially like you bashi-bazouk, Strelets' sculpting style is very characterful.
-
The painting on these is extremely good. I have some Dark Alliance plastics that I hope to have on LE at some stage and I must say that the quality of the models far surpassed my expectations.
-
Nice work all round
-
Thanks, all!
Here are some horrors of the underworld (all 28mm, but serving as large monsters and constructs in 1/72):
-
Great looking paint jobs....very gribbly looking
8)
-
Great work :), I especially like the skeleton :).
-
Thanks, both!
I've run a few RPG sessions now with 1/72 figures, and they're really working as I'd hoped: enough identification with the PCs but sufficient 'anonymity' for the NPCs. And more focus on roleplaying than the figures themselves.
Here are a batch of foot knights (from Caeasar). These will probably require a bit more lining and highlighting in the new year, but they're ready for action in a game of Dragon Rampant tomorrow (as two units of Elite Foot).
Happy Hogmanay to all!
-
They look great :).
-
Those do all look fantastic!
I’ve been using 1/72 for a little fantasy project optimized for portability. For Dragon Rampant games, I use multiple figure bases and counters for hits for most things, although I do have some magnetized bases to group some of my individuals.
Pictures on my blog:
http://sharpbrush.blogspot.com/search/label/1%2F72%20scale%20plastic
-
Awesome paintings!
We also play all our RPGs in 1/72 scale for a few years! 8)
Here are some pictures of our sessions:
Classic dungeon crawl in a crypt (skeletons by Caesar Miniatures; Bone Fiend by Reaper Bones)
(https://abload.de/thumb/img-20200118-wa0006juky2.jpg) (https://abload.de/image.php?img=img-20200118-wa0006juky2.jpg)
Some crazy adventure in a dream world o_o
(https://abload.de/thumb/img_20200120_191725koukxy.jpg) (https://abload.de/image.php?img=img_20200120_191725koukxy.jpg)
Fighting wolves in the snow:
(https://abload.de/thumb/img_20190831_115806k2ijgi.jpg) (https://abload.de/image.php?img=img_20190831_115806k2ijgi.jpg)
Some magic users:
(https://abload.de/thumb/magiebegabte10djxx.jpg) (https://abload.de/image.php?img=magiebegabte10djxx.jpg)
A horde of barbarians:
(https://abload.de/thumb/bemalt1jbkoj.jpg) (https://abload.de/image.php?img=bemalt1jbkoj.jpg)
The quality of the newer Dark Alliance 1/72 sets is just awesome (those are the Nomads):
(https://abload.de/thumb/img_20200101_155650nekwa.jpg) (https://abload.de/image.php?img=img_20200101_155650nekwa.jpg)