Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Topic started by: Ethelred the Almost Ready on January 08, 2016, 06:18:17 PM
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I will probably use my vikings and Saxons as a basis for my fantasy gaming (Crusader/Artizan Designs/Footsore/Gripping Beast), but heroes, elves and creatures need to come from elsewhere. I was thinking Reaper, but as their metal miniatures come in at around US$5 to $9 we are getting into the price range of Thunderbolt Mountain and Dark Sword. Although the style and hight of these are different from my historical minis, this would not be a problem as I am representing a taller and more graceful race. Do Dark Sword and Thunderbolt mix well?
For horrid little orcses I am left struggling between Thunderbolt (more expensive) and Viking Forge (I have read that they are quite small as they are 25mm) and Mirliton. I want Tolkein orcs, not great hulking GW style ones.
I have no idea what brand skeletons I would go for. Otherworld look the best, but are another big price ticket, and skellies, I think, will only be part players.
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Assuming you are in north america you could check out the Ral Partha re-releases the Iron Winds are doing (from a kickstarter)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1050509756/ral-parthas-chaos-wars/description
The elves,orcs and goblins were among the first figures i ever bought and still look good today (no surprise. Sculpted by Tom Meier)
In europe alot of them are still available from Ral Partha Europe.
I love the orcs that are attacking crouching low behind their shields. Realistic tunnel fighting style for Tolkiens Dwarf and goblin wars from the Silmarillion.
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For horrid little orcses I am left struggling between Thunderbolt (more expensive) and Viking Forge (I have read that they are quite small as they are 25mm) and Mirliton. I want Tolkein orcs, not great hulking GW style ones.
The Viking Forge/Asgard ones are excellent, and so are the Tom Meier ones (Thunderbolt and Ral Partha). But why choose between them? Orcs could obviously be fairly disparate in appearance, and you'll get a much wider range of goblins if you mix them up. For my Tolkien orcs, I'm using Ral Partha and Asgard, and am also adding some old Chronicle orcs: "black orcs" (the small ones) and "cave goblins". They're cruder than the Goodwin and Meier sculpts, but they fit in size-wise and add to the variety. And the Chronicle wolfriders are excellent - proper "dreadful wolfriders" - small but heavily armed riders on hulking, savage-looking wolves. They crop up a lot on eBay. I've acquired six or more recently, paying less than you'd pay for most new miniatures.
I agree entirely with Steam Flunky on the crouching Ral Partha orcs: they make excellent uruks, and I think they were pretty much designed as such: they were originally sold as "giant goblins". Meanwhile, the Asgard/Viking Forge range gives you a good variety of subtypes - and lots of slouching, crouching poses.