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Author Topic: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis  (Read 228726 times)

Offline phreedh

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Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« on: March 10, 2011, 11:24:55 AM »
The purpose of this thread is to collect and link to manufacturers selling cheap metal fantasy miniatures in 28 mm scale (or thereabouts).

Some guidelines:
  • 25-28 mm only (it is after all the most common scale played here)
  • Metal only (for now)
  • Cost of £2 or less for a human sized model
  • Only manufacturers with direct sales (regional resellers can be added)
  • Only manufacturers active in business

Post your contributions in this thread (with an URL and some info) and I'll add them to this list if they fit the criteria. Please post corrections if any information is correct or outdated.

Alternative Armies (UK)
Their High Fantasy range covers several races, models can be purchased individually or in packs. Some good sculpts, some not so good but they are over all ok - and cost £1.75.

The Baggage Train (UK)
The two old Acropolis lines (originally by Scotia) are now being sold by The Baggage Train. Sort of chunky old 70s style scuplts. Not much to write home about, but they ARE cheap. No pictures in the shop, but found a few of the Acropolis figs over at the Lost Minis Wiki.

Black Cat Bases (UK)
A lot of different miniatures in their catalogue, Black Cat don't really offer a specific range of traditional fantasy stuff. There's a lot of other things though, such as roman legionary zombies, an owlbear, skeletons and lizard men. It takes some looking around, and the prices are at the upper end of the scope of this thread at about £2 for a single foot model. Nice people, though!

Black Hat Miniatures (UK)
Nice models, with a slightly different style from the regular high fantasy. Clean and nice sculpts similar to Foundry and 90s GW but at nicer prices; £5 for a pack of 4 or 5 miniatures.

Black Orc Games (US)
Prices can be very low, but unfortunately the ranges aren't very large. They do have some unusual fantasy offerings though, so it's worth to have a look if you're doing something with antropomorphic humanoids such as lion men. Also have some pretty neat lizardmen.

Black Tree Design (UK)
Huge selection of pretty nice quality miniatures, very similar to 90s GW in style. Prices are quite good at about £1.60 or so. Most models are sold in packs only. Not renowned for swiftness in order processing and reliability but that's a whole other can of worms.

CP Models (UK)
CP Models bought Green Eyed Minis' line of dwarfs, and continue to keep the prices low. In addition they have a bunch of orcs and goblins priced at a sensible £1.50 as well as a few larger monsters. A pack of four trolls for £8 isn't bad at all, I must say!

Denizen Miniatures (UK)
Old but nicely detailed figures for less than £1 each. Not a vast selection of models, but for instance their dwarfs and undead are great for building uniform but varied warbands or units for a larger army. Some models are quite tiny but others are suitable next to 28mm.

East Riding Miniatures (UK)
Manufacturing and selling an old line of minis from Lancashire Games. Cheap as chips at £0.90 per mini, but rather slim selection. The minis pictured look good, but question is - are they 25 mm or 28 mm?

EM4 Miniatures (UK)
Affordable and awesome 28mm miniatures. More or less identical to late 80s, early 90s Citadel style. Also old Grenadier models, so some overlapping with Mirliton. EM4 is a tad cheaper though, at £1.28.

Essex Miniatures (UK)
Early Bob Olley sculpts, haven't aged too well but there are a few nuggets that are both good value and nice looking. Most of the catalogue is a bit too crudely sculpted though, with poor proportions and the prices are a bit high compared to what's on offer.

Forlorn Hope Games (UK)
Part reseller, part manufacturer. Currently offering more or less the same stuff as EM4 with some extra tidbits and morsels. Cheaper alternative for UK residents as the prices (£1.28 for UK, £1.60 for EU) include shipping. More to come later in 2012.

Irregular Miniatures (UK)
Horribly dated sculpts, but the price is below a quid for most regular foot troops. Possibly a few gems in there, but hard to tell with a catalogue not fully pictured.

Kallistra (UK)
Maybe not the tightest sculpts, but 8 infantry models cost £9.50 which is a fair price indeed! High elves, wood elves, orcs, pygmies, zombies and treemen are on offer. Little variation in each range, unfortunately.

Magister Militum (UK)
They own the old Standard Games line among other things. Cheap and pretty nice models well worth the solitary £1 they charge for a standard sized model.

Mega Miniatures (US)
Low prices, cheap (and FAST) international shipping. Great selection from two old product lines; Guthrie Grenadier and Metal Magic. Minis can be a bit on the small side, especially the Grenadier ones. Regular humanoids cost $1.89, after a recent price increase (january 2011).

Midlam Miniatures (UK)
Newcomer selling mainly old Metal Magic/Hobby Products dwarves, minotaurs and other random assortments. Also release new sculpts every now and then. Prices are rather low (about the same level as Mega Miniatures, from whom they've purchased molds).

Mirliton (IT)
28mm Grenadier stuff at decent prices. Some corking old miniatures here. UK reseller is Miniature Heroes. Prices vary quite a lot, but standard foot slogging humans or orcs cost on average £1.50 or so.

Old Glory (US)
Varied offerings with sculpts that haven't aged too well at times. Some gems to be found though, and the price is right at about $2 per mini.

Ral Partha Europe (UK)
Very nice miniatures and lots of them. While not exactly cheap (£2 for the majority of their fantasy minis) the store front is good, most miniatures are pictured and they all seem to be more or less 28mm. Particularily nice for role players, a bit short on rank and file but plenty of characters and monsters.

Sgt. Major Miniatures (US)
Sgt. Major Miniatures have re-released the old Vendel line of fantasy miniatures under the range Molon Labe Fantasy. Humans, orcs, goblins, elves, dwarves, hillman, trolls and even a giant are available. Most figures look to be about $1.50 each.

SHQ Miniatures (UK)
Some old Bob Olley ogres and orcs originally from Folio Works, as well as a slew of other things. £3 for two models. A few interesting hooded cultists going 5 for £7.

Space Vixens From Mars (UK)
Not that many fantasy miniatures, but a few interesting ones (like Jesus) could work. Price is ok, at £1.75 per model.

Splintered Lights (US)
While Splintered Lights specialize in 15/18 mm figs their Dragons and Giants are actually old 28mm figs from Metal Magic. Great value, $12,50 for a properly tall and lanky giant isn't bad.

The Tékumel Project (CA)
A project run by fellow LAFer Sir Barnaby Hammond Rye. Prices vary between models, but the rank and file troopers are cheap, if you invest a bit of money in a 50% off membership! Would be nice with pictures of the items on offer, but the store is still in a start up phase.

Terrain Warehouse (UK)
Old Grenadier UK moulds, some products (like barbarians) are overlapping with EM4 Miniatures - but there are even more Copplestone sculpts here for roughly £1.40 (or less) per miniature.

Viking Forge (US)
American manufacturer of the old Asgard line of figures. Recently opened up an online store and should be possible to pay by credit card or PayPal now. $1.75 is the going rate for human models on foot, so quite cheap.

Warrior Miniatures (UK)
Warrior Miniatures stock a fairly crude 28mm range called Dragon Fantasy. While the sculpts won't win any prizes, they're pretty clean and well defined. Most of all, they're cheap! £1 for foot, £2.50 for mounted. They also sell squad and army packs, bringing the price down to about £0.80.

West Wind Miniatures (UK)
West Wind have some rather large but quite cheap fantasy models in their Dwarf Wars range. Prices vary, but a pack of 10 infantry models cost £12 which is more than fair!

« Last Edit: March 09, 2013, 08:31:12 PM by phreedh »
Please visit my miniature gaming blog at http://ministuff.godzilla.se


Offline Pil

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2011, 12:38:00 PM »
Essex Miniatures has early Bob Olley sculpts still for sale at roughly £1.80 for human sized sculpts if I'm not mistaken.
http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/
The sculpts are crude and most heads are far too large if you ask me, but that Bob Olley charm is definately there.

Denizen Miniatures has old but very nicely detailed figures for sale at less than a pound each:
http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/
Some models are quite tiny (25mm) but others are quite suitable next to 28mms, recommended.

I will post up some painted Denizen undead in the LPL or afterwards, maybe even an Essex model 8)

Let me hear the battle cry
Calling on the wind
Let me see the banners fly
Before the storm begins

Offline Orctrader

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2011, 01:07:19 PM »
Ral Partha Europe - LINK  (Recently launched a new website.)

All of the ones I bought were "good to paint."  Very impressed with the quality of the castings.  Crisp and clean, same sort of casting quality I see on Hasslefree miniatures. 






Offline phreedh

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #3 on: March 10, 2011, 01:49:35 PM »
Ral Partha Europe
Borderline expensive, but a classic. Will be added.

Essex Miniatures
Denizen Miniatures
Cor blimey, Essex - how could I forget. Bobbleheaded dwarf proportions on EVERYTHING :D They are really hit and miss and range from great value (2 quite allright halflings mounted on ponies for £3.42) to horribly overpriced turds ("GRAAAR, we're £9.50... EACH!")

Great additions, will throw them up there in a while... Cheers gents!

Offline rob_alderman

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #4 on: March 10, 2011, 03:38:07 PM »
ALTERNATIVE ARMIES!!!!!  ;D

http://www.alternative-armies.com/28mm_High_Fantasy.htm

£1.75 per human sized fig.

11 lesser goblins for £7 though.  :o They are somewhere between snotling and goblin sized.

Oh and what about irregular miniatures?

Offline Mister Rab

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2011, 04:37:36 PM »
Rhoninstorm
I gave in to temptation and bought the first Goblinmaster set by Kev Adams yesterday. Nice, characterful, old skool goblins at £1.50 a head. Not human size, granted, but still under the £2 mark.

Caution - the new figures are more expensive (around £2.50 to £3), but I'm optimistic that they'll drop in price when the next set(s) come out.

Offline saltflats1929

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2011, 04:46:52 PM »
Black Tree Design have a fantasy range.  Often on sale.
http://www.blacktreedesign.com/home.html

Offline twrchtrwyth

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2011, 04:53:35 PM »
Black Tree Design have a fantasy range.  Often on sale.
http://www.blacktreedesign.com/home.html
Oh no you didn't. :o
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Offline black hat miniatures

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2011, 05:21:17 PM »
A plug for us :-)

Black Hat Miniatures


28mm Fantasy range Shattered Isles contains Orcs, Goblins, Dwarves, Highland Dwarves and Halflings.  Starting from £5 a pack for 4 or 5 figures.

28mm Chinese Fantasy Range : Tales of the Dragon Kings.  Packs are £8 for 4 figures.

Mike

www.blackhat.co.uk



Mike Lewis

Black Hat Miniatures
www.blackhat.co.uk

Offline TheSnackist

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #9 on: March 10, 2011, 08:09:12 PM »
Black Orc Games, whose tagline banner proclaims:


Which isn't exactly true. Recent price hikes like much of the industry. Anything Hundred Kingdoms related is definitely more than just a dollar or two, but most of the Minisculpt range (which has a few gems and a lot of mediocre to poor sculpts) is still only a $1.50 at most. Plus, lipped bases at 15 for $1 as I recall. Not bad at all. I'll probably order some more soon. You just have to be able to pick out the good sculpts. Otherwise, a steal!

-TheSnackist

Offline Damien

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #10 on: March 10, 2011, 11:32:04 PM »
I'll put in Iron Wind Metals. Not inexpensive (4.24$US for one fantasy figure) but they hold the entire Ral Partha line, including the Battletech molds.

http://www.ironwindmetals.com/store/index.php

Edit: Just looked at their historicals and they sell for $2.50US, which is not too bad.


Damien

Offline Thantsants

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #11 on: March 10, 2011, 11:41:40 PM »
Green Eyed Minis look like one to watch

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=25904.0

http://www.greeneyedminis.com/


 £87.50 for 71 Dwarfs and a resin rocket launcher!

Good call on the Roninstorm Gobbo's!

Offline phreedh

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #12 on: March 11, 2011, 10:57:19 AM »
I will post up some painted Denizen undead in the LPL or afterwards, maybe even an Essex model 8)
I look forward to that very much, the Denizen undead are great! How do the meassure up next to preslotta (or slotta) Citadel skellies?

Offline rob_alderman

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #13 on: March 11, 2011, 03:51:42 PM »
Warrior Miniatures? They come in at 80P a model...

Offline Pil

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Re: Sources for cheap 28mm fantasy minis
« Reply #14 on: March 11, 2011, 04:38:04 PM »
I look forward to that very much, the Denizen undead are great! How do the meassure up next to preslotta (or slotta) Citadel skellies?

A picture says more than a lot of words obviously but I put them together and compared a bit. First off: I glue all my integrally based models straight onto the slotted base, so it adds a bit to the height. I have three different Denizen models:
FA17 Wraith
FA31 Axeman in Scale Armour
FA32 Leather Armour/ManCleaver

The wraith is small and really looks like a 25mm model, comparable in size to Fantasy Tribe Skeleton Priest (FTS14). The other two are about as high as later (C17) preslotta undead which are also roughly the same size as the 1985-87 slotted skeletons. Their proportions are more realistic (though with clear muscle definition on the FA32 model) so their skulls and hands are smaller. They are finely detailed and proportioned but they do tend to look like humans with skull faces. There is no wear or damage to their gear and even their muscles are still visible. That was a bit of a let-down to me, but I guess you can never have too many painted skeletons 8)

 

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