Sources for 15mm ancients/medievals

[Longstrider]

Hi all,

I came across some locals playing DBA in 15mm, and after a learning game I concluded I'd be happy to build an army or two. It's been a while since I last looked though - looks like Forged in Battle and Xyston remain for ancient mediterranean, but outside of that I'm a bit lost as to what's available beyond Essex army packs.

Particularly I'm interested in bronze age mesopotamian, pre-colonial south american, or maybe something in southeast asia. Khurasan looks like a good option, but I've always had bad luck getting dinged by customs from US parcels and that's before the current trade stuff going on, but I don't know if anyone else comes close to covering the kinds of subjects they do. I can also do STLs.

I'd appreciate any pointers. Thanks!

[Swampking]

Bronze Age - Old Glory 15s - depending on what you're looking for you can adapt various miniatures, unless you're looking for Sumerians/Urians.

Donnington might have useful miniatures.

If you can find them, the old Chariot line did have Sumerians. You may find some on Ebay.

Museum Miniatures has Sumerians in their new 'Z' range. Their Myceneans and Trojans are incredible, so they come highly recommended.

I've been using most of the above for my Trojan War project.

Essex (as you've mentioned) has Incans. I've been looking for Mayans as I've thought about doing a "Kings of the Sun" project. However, with the demise of Gladiator and Naismith, I don't know of any Mayans.

[Cat]

The Essex Bronze Age line are quite good, and the army packs do make the shopping easier.
 
Xyston can be quite scale-creepy.  Khurasan are also variable sizes, older ranges are 15mm toe-to-eye, others are pushing 18.  The new Museum Z range are also giants.
 
I've recently been on a buying spree for Meso and South American DBA armies.  The superb Gladiator range is now in the hands of Gripping Beast, but not back in production yet.
 
The Essex Aztecs are superb, and from that you can put together some of their neighbors too.  I've used some of the tribal figures from their Incas range to build a Coastal Peruvian army.
 
Irregular Incas are also quite nice.  I just put in an order today to build a Chanca army from that range.
 
Eureka has a UK branch and a very nice Amazonian line.
 
The Khurasan sizes for the Americas are all over the place.  Having done some digging around, I finally ascertained that their Chinantec are on the 15mm side, and just ordered those today too.
 
Alas, no currently available Mayans.
 
For SE Asia, I have a fair amount from Outpost, they are now available by a regular seller on EBay.  Irregular has Khmer, Thai, and Burmese filed under Dark Ages.  Grumpy (via Eureka) have Indonesian.
 
Donnington was mentioned as a supplier, but they only do European and Arab ranges, and I don't know if they are currently fulfilling orders.  I've had an order for a painted army from them that was overdue before the pandemic, very sporadic communication since then, and radio silence for about two years now.

[Waffles_vs_Tacos]

Cromarty Forge and Eskice Miniature both have lovely ancients (and more) in 15mm that are affordable, STL wise.

[Longstrider]

Whoa, thanks all! Those are some great options. Museum's offerings look great, whether I go with the Zsculpt stuff or their originals. If I go with the newer sculpts I could also easily twist my own arm into Bactrians, Indians, and Achaemenids. I'll have to see a size comparison between the new and the old.

Good to know about Essex too - the locals mostly had recommended them but had also noted some of their stuff is much nicer than others (not that I'm good enough with a brush for it to matter) so that seems hard to decide on. But if their Bronze Age, Aztecs, and Incas are good I might start there and look at the DBA lists for the latter two to see what I can make for an opposing force.

Eureka also looks great, between their own stuff and Grumpy. Yi/Joseon, Nanzhao, Hawaiians, Tupi... all kinds of less well-represented options.

I haven't really looked at Irregular in a long time. Many moons I had some 6mm punic wars stuff but for whatever reason they don't seem to come up too often. If they're decent I'd definitely consider them for SEA.

Thanks again for the suggestions - I'd come across Cromarty (and indeed the locals are doing a late rome themed event recently so their stuff is an easy fit) but Eskice I'd not heard of, and seems to have cool stuff. Ten Kingdoms I've come across too, which has some interesting stuff in and around China in the 900s.

Thanks again, these are some great recommendations!

[Cat]

Last decade, Essex updated a number of their ranges, Aztec being one of them.
 
Irregular updated the Incas in 2019 and are tops.  Their SEA is an older range, different style than the old Outpost, but about on a par for their age.
 
Having recently been diving into the lists, both the Aztecs and the Incas have a decent pool of worthy enemies to choose from.  A number of figures within their respective ranges are allied/subject troops, or less descript types, which fit nicely into the enemy armies.

[Longstrider]

Thanks! I appreciate the heads up. I'm guessing it's more of a matter of word of mouth for these things rather than following them on social media or email newsletters etc?

[Cat]

Yes, a lot of it is acquired/passed-down knowledge.  DBA covers a huge swath of armies and time periods, with an array of miniature manufactureres past and present.
 
Once you start narrowing down army choices, targeted google searches for '15mm miniatures ________ army' can turn up helpful threads here and on other fora discussing options.

[Longstrider]

Makes sense. Thanks again! In the end in the interests of pretending to focus a bit I went with their Sassanid and Eastern Roman ranges. The event in August has a theme (some a bit forced - I think Numidian/Mauretanian is a couple hundred years early) so I went with Sassnids and then picked up Eastern Romans to rope a friend in and we can pretend we're playing in the era of Julian II's campaign or something.

But assuming it all goes well and painting is fun I think I'll look for a pair of Bronze Age, and either an Aztec + enemy pair or an Inca + enemy pair next.

[Cat]

But assuming it all goes well and painting is fun I think I'll look for a pair of Bronze Age, and either an Aztec + enemy pair or an Inca + enemy pair next.

If it all turns out well, there are plenty of interesting choices for matched pairs with any those three!

[Swampking]

If you decide on the Bronze Age, I can give you a few pointers on 15mm minis. I've been researching my Trojan-esque War for about 2 decades now. I've bought a lot of different miniatures and some cool terrain features (3d printed and MDF).

Like I mentioned in a previous response, the Z range from Museum is probably the best for the mid-late Bronze Age (depending on what your vision of the armies were at the time). It seems that most of the armies (including the Myceneans) used chariots as mobile missile platforms (archers and javelins). The excellent Gladiator range is sorely missed but when they come back into production are worth a look.

[blacksmith]

Red Copper miniatures does fantastic 3D old Egyptians, Hitites, Judean and Sea people, aztecs, mayans and conquistadors.

[madaxeman]

Try the manufacturers directory on my website - it’s mostly up to date (sadly some manufacturers cease trading a little too frequently for me to keep 100% on top of these days) and I’ve not bitten the bullet to start including 3D designers as I fear there will soon be too many to count never mind list!

https://www.madaxeman.com/main/15mm_ancients_suppliers.php