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Author Topic: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?  (Read 7262 times)

Offline ulverston

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I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« on: November 08, 2019, 04:21:27 PM »
Hi Chaps,

Drifting through this forum is such a pleasure as the skill displayed on here is just amazing. Every now and then a topic just pops out and really makes me want to have a go myself. The recent Warhammer forces of Chaos and undead by Nicklas for instance is amazing as is anything by Tin Shed or Captain Blood.

Currently I am painting/modelling German and Russians for the eastern front and with the Germans almost complete I am looking for a side project (how often do war gamers do this?) to break up the dull painting palette of WW2.

I would love to have a go at fantasy and used to have a nice Empire army which has now sadly been abandoned by GW. Is there a viable alternative to sourcing either Empire or Bretonnians? I believe Fireforge are doing Bretonnian types but have never seen an actual model-has anyone on here painted them?

It seems common sense to stick with one manufacturer to get some consistency... has anyone continued to play Warhammer with the human armies? Does anyone actually play Kings of War?

Any advice would be welcome as I am about to spend either on a GW starter box or a Mantic box... or...?

Help advice and links would be appreciated for this solo gamer, thanks Chaps.

Offline Knight-Captain Tyr

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2019, 05:23:46 PM »
Welcome to the fantasy world :)

Fireforge are very well/widely used. AKULA, Ogrob, both Gibby's have used them a lot as I recall - Breazer also makes fantastic use of them in his medievals thread (and what is the medieval period but fantasy without the orcs? Don't quote me on that...) I also use them a lot in my Black Order thread on this subforum.

Although it may seem common sense, mixing manufacturers is actually very common among collectors of human fantasy armies. All the above users + my own log do this (and often on the same model - example below, that's Fireforge, Perry and Conquest plastics)

Kings of War is enormously popular in the UK. If you're on Facebook, there is a dedicated fan page (actually two) and then regional pages which are fantastic for setting up games - if you give us some details perhaps we could help point you in the right direction. :)

_________________________

" ... the seventh wave of Thrall stumbled and climbed over the slippery, piled dead and Mazzarin saw The Watcher with them and at last knew the number of his days."

-Thrall Flavor Text, Myth: The Fallen Lords

Offline Knight-Captain Tyr

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2019, 05:25:09 PM »
P.S.: If it's specifically the Empire you're looking for, look at Warlord Games' Landsknechts and the Perry Miniatures European Mercenaries/War of the Roses range. These are frequently combined by kitbashers in the Mordheim and 9th Age groups looking to make 'improved' Empire minis.

Offline HappyChappy439

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2019, 06:13:41 PM »
+1 for the Perry Suggestion, especially considering the Perry brothers used to sculpt the GW range anyway!

Though, the Fireforge range, with all the great-helms and heater shields, is probably closer in aesthetic to the plastic Bretonnians as a heads up!

Offline Ogrob

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #4 on: November 08, 2019, 06:29:49 PM »
A lot of fun can be had in making your own custom Fantasy humans.

Besides the already mentioned I would bring up Oathmark and Frostgrave from North Star as well which have a lot of useful bits and kits.


Offline Hobby Services

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2070
Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #5 on: November 08, 2019, 07:02:48 PM »
Not that I play personally, but Kings of War has largely replaced Warhammer amongst the local diehards who refused to transition to Age of Sigmar - which was most of them, certainly all the "alpha gamer" types.  The related Vanguard skirmish rules seem to be getting some traction around here as well.

Age of Sigmar hasn't wholly abandoned the old Empire figs, most of the infantry is still available and they just came out with the "Cities of Sigmar" army book that supports lists composed of "orphan" Warhammer figs.  What used to be Empire is now "Free Peoples" and I'm told they're actually quite effective if you actually want to play AoS, more so if you use the mixed armies in the new book to splash in some elves, Dwarves, and artillery support.  And of course they can take Sigmarines for uber-elite types, FWIW.

Offline ulverston

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #6 on: November 08, 2019, 07:05:11 PM »
Wow Guys-what fantastic work! Thank you for the advice.... I will give a further response but now I am caught up reading the topics that you have mentioned-in fact this is my evening sorted, I have opened a beer and have my notebook beside me. Already I have purchased the Warlord Games Pikemen box.

Again thanks for this I will report back shortly

Offline mweaver

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #7 on: November 08, 2019, 07:36:54 PM »
I miss those armies too - the Empire were my favorites.

You might want to hang out some in LAF's "Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts" section, where historical figures that would work for an "Empire" army often show up (usually beautifully painted).

Have you seen Steel Fist Miniatures' Italian War range?

https://www.steelfistminiatures.com/product-category/italian-wars-1494-1538-product_cat-19/

Some lovely figures there.

-Michael

Offline mweaver

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #8 on: November 08, 2019, 07:44:53 PM »
Oh, and Lead Adventure Miniatures has some appropriate and characterful figures in their Bruegelburg range

Samples:








https://lead-adventure.de/

-Michael

Offline petercooman123

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #9 on: November 08, 2019, 07:47:37 PM »
I am on the lookout as well for miniatures to add to my brettonians, and some to use for mordheim.

Going to crisis tomorrow, so will be on the lookout for fireforge and perry boxes!

Offline Ogrob

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #10 on: November 08, 2019, 07:58:51 PM »
Fireforge will mix well with old (5th edition and before) Brettonia, but the later GW models are a good bit larger and chunkier than Fireforge's plastics.

Offline Neldoreth

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    • An Hour of Wolves and Shattered Shields
Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #11 on: November 08, 2019, 08:00:23 PM »
Two of my favourite armies in Warhammer were Bretonnia and the Empire (Undead being my absolute favourite). I have been working on building both armies using older figures, and it's been great. Check out my Empire galleries here:

http://www.hourofwolves.org/?view=armies&which=theEmpire&full=1

And my Bretonnian galleries here:

http://www.hourofwolves.org/?view=armies&which=bretonnia&thumbs=1

For Bretonnia, the Oathmark humans are a great option for men-at-arms. I have painted some as Bretonnians already (see below). For Empire, I'd recommend buying the old figures. They're cheap and also fantastic... and there are years and years worth of old plastics available on eBay at reasonable prices. The FireForge humans Northmen will also likely fit into either army. I think the Fireforge Albion figs are a bit too small imo. I'd recommend buying older figs for Bretonnians. They're so cheap on eBay.



Here are my Battle Masters men at arms that I recently completed!



Thanks
good luck, looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
« Last Edit: November 08, 2019, 08:03:30 PM by Neldoreth »

Offline ulverston

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  • Posts: 474
Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2019, 08:06:41 PM »
I have been reading some of the links supplied and it is astounding what people are kitbashing together! I will be using Age of Sigmar for now so it will be round bases. The Mantic version of Mordheim sounds very interesting and I will look for information on that next.

This was going to be a mild distraction from painting two Bolt Action armies but already I am having more fun than I expected. Its strange that in a couple of years of concentrating on other things/aspects of the hobby that so much can change. This is also a good excuse to try and copy Tin Sheds mdf church...

Thanks again for the links, its time for another beer and have a look at the Bruegelberg range.... I need those sharpshooters! Also just a few of the Steelfist minis... never heard of them before-they look very nice indeed.
« Last Edit: November 08, 2019, 08:15:08 PM by ulverston »

Offline petercooman123

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #13 on: November 08, 2019, 08:33:37 PM »
Fireforge will mix well with old (5th edition and before) Brettonia, but the later GW models are a good bit larger and chunkier than Fireforge's plastics.

I only have a couple of newer brettonians: 2 pegasus knights (but the riders are 5th edition knights, and 1 newer plastic knight that i got in a joblot of minis. I use him as my lord as the horse is more detailed than the older ones. So no problems there!




the rest are proper old brettonians from when i started warhammer all those years ago!



Offline ulverston

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Re: I miss the Human armies in Warhammer-any alternatives?
« Reply #14 on: November 08, 2019, 08:41:58 PM »
Your collection is so nice. Good to see those minis again, they were (and still are) amongst  the best that GW ever produced