Gladiators - which are best?

[Orctrader]

From a purely painting perspective, who makes the "best" Gladiator figures?

[bandit86]

I have about 100 painted up, a mixture of Foundry and West Wind with he odd Black Tree and some others.  Crusaders miniatures were not out when I was painting gladiators, but they look nice and I will have to pick some up sometime.   

The Foundry ones are very smooth, well sculpted and easy to paint up.  The West Wind ones look cruder at first glance but turned out to be some of my favorite ones and they paint up better than I thought.

[Orctrader]

...The West Wind ones look cruder at first glance but turned out to be some of my favorite ones and they paint up better than I thought.

Interesting.     Who sells the WW Gladiators in the UK?  Can't seem to find them on the WW site - wanted to look at the pictures.

Crusader figures, mmm, their Gladiators look a bit "clunky" to me.

[Admiral Benbow]

I like the Foundry range and have painted some up. I still have lots of unpainted ones I want to part with, so if you're interested to trade or buy, just send me a pm.
 

[Westfalia Chris]

I've painted Foundry and Black Tree Designs gladiators. I'd say I prefer the Foundry ones, but the BTD stuff is decent as well; maybe a bit more "lanky" in their proportions, but the Foundry stuff have that certain Steve-Saleh-Style to them (occasionally, strange muscles, and very sharp features in some places).

Equipment-wise, both ranges seem to be ok. I cannot comment on the West Wind ones, though. For figure quality and ease of procurement (though not necessarily of wallet), I'd say go with the Foundry ones.

[Aaron]

The Crusader are indeed a bit "thick", but the detail is lovely. They are my personal favorites, but I also love Front Rank.

[Malamute]

You didn't watch that documentary last night about the gladiator remains found in York did you by any chance? 

It certainly inspired me to look through my old box of lead to find some figures.

I have the foundry ones and they are very nice, I would also recommend the Crusader figures as nice comparable sculpts.

I also have some of the old QT 25mm multi part figures.(Old style but very nice) I really enjoyed putting them together, I think they have three or four Gladiator bodies, then a choice of helmets, weapons etc. I spent quite sometime putting together a small force of all the different Gladiator classes (Myrmillo, Thracian, Retiarius etc) and used to play Rudis by TableTop games.

[Orctrader]

You didn't watch that documentary last night about the gladiator remains found in York did you by any chance? 

Saw it advertised but didn't watch it.   

The trailer did remind me that I have never painted any, apart from the Urban Mammoth "Modern" types.



Something that I think of a few times each year.  When I watch Spartacus, or Gladiator. 

Foundry seem the best chance then.  Crusader - will have to take another look.  Wonder what the Steve Barber ones are like?

Thanks all for the input.

[bandit86]

If I remember ill take some comparison shot tonight if you want.

[Helen]

I'm painting a number of Crusader Gladiators at the moment for a commission. Depending on their armour they can be slighty bulky as the lesser armoured gladiators are quite slim.

There is some very nice detail on these miniatures.

Not my genre, but would highly recommend them.

Helen

[Orctrader]

I'm painting a number of Crusader Gladiators at the moment for a commission. Depending on their armour they can be slighty bulky as the lesser armoured gladiators are quite slim.

There is some very nice detail on these miniatures.

Not my genre, but would highly recommend them.

Helen

Thanks. 

[Malamute]

Saw it advertised but didn't watch it.   

  Wonder what the Steve Barber ones are like?

Thanks all for the input.

It was quite good, lots of nice imagery and it certainly highlighted the savagery of the way these guys lived and died. BUt lik eall these pseudo historial/documentaries they could have condensed it into 1/2 hour. They don't half like to repeat themselves in these programmes.

The Steve Barber figures are very nice, lots of variants including  spectators etc, but are more like true 25mm.

[Ray Rivers]

Don't forget the Shadowforge female gladiators... 

*BOOBS*

 

[Heldrak]

Frankly, I've never been satisfied with any of the ranges of Gladiator figures I've seen (although I don't recall the ones from West Wind). The Foundry Gladiators have always looked squat and dumpy to me, and most other ranges seem the same. I actually think that the short-lived Mordheim Pit Fighter range provided the best Gladiator figures, but they may be hard to acquire...

[Mancha]

I don't like the West Wind ones much (although I've only painted females).  The sculptor has this trick of gouging a furrow between details.  For example, where a leg meets a skirt there is a deep line.  This makes blacklining using flowing washes easy, but is still difficult to get used to.