Smaller 25/28mm Gnolls

[jeffreythancock]

Who makes 25/28mm Gnolls on the smaller end?

Frostgrave plastics? Older Frostgrave metals?  Even older Ral Partha metals?

Thank you, Jeff

[Hobgoblin]

The Frostgrave plastic ones are fairly small (they'd be about seven feet compared with Frostgrave humans if they stood up straight, so they seem about the right size to me). The metal ones scale with the plastics.

The old Ral Partha ones - available from Iron Wind Metals - are smaller still, with only the chieftain about the same size as the Frostgrave ones. They're roughly human size in the more delicate Ral Partha scale, so quite small compared with most other ranges.

The Reaper, Wizkids and Chainmail ones are massive. The Essex ones are pretty chunky, as are the Alternative Armies 'dogmen' - though both are a fair bit smaller than the Reaper ones.

These are Frostgrave plastics with a Wizkids leader:



And these are Frostgrave plastics with a Reaper leader:



In both cases, the smaller ones are on 25mm bases.

[jeffreythancock]

Thanks, Hobgoblin!  The Frostgrave look "meatier" than the RP, but they are perhaps more bent over, too?

[Hobgoblin]

The Frostgrave look "meatier" than the RP, but they are perhaps more bent over, too?

Yes: I can get you a comparison shot if that would help. The RP gnolls are really quite small. It's also worth noting that the RP gnolls don't have digitigrade legs whereas Frostgrave, Reaper and Wizkids all do. The Alternative Armies dogmen and the Essex gnolls have plantigrade legs.

[jeffreythancock]

I'd appreciate a comparison of Frostgrave with RP and Alternative Armies if you have them.  The AA don't look quite as thick as Essex to me.

Thanks again!

Jeff 

[Hobgoblin]

Here you go. Ral Partha with the bow, Frostgrave with knife and axe, Alternative Armies with Lochaber axe and Essex with two-handed axe.

I included two shots so you can see that the Frostgrave one is a lot bigger than the RP one when you see it in profile. The A ones are better miniatures than the Essex ones, all in all - especially this guy. I like both ranges, though, and they're fairly compatible.

What are you planning on using the gnolls for?

[jeffreythancock]

I've sought gnolls for my 1/72-20mm fantasy skirmish collection for awhile now.  RP seem to be the closest.

15mm seem too small, and I don't see Caesar, Alliance, or anyone else making them specifically for that size.

Maybe I should look again at "epic" 15/18mm figures?

The other alternative is to find a custom 3D printed source who might resize their gnolls down a few mm for me?

I visited your blog today and realized I've been there before to see painted Caesar minis!  Wonderful site - thank you for sharing!

Jeff

[Hobgoblin]

Aha - right, well I think the RP ones will be perfect. In fact, that's given me an idea of what to do with mine (I've got a few kicking around and had been wondering whether to squeeze them in to the ranks of my Frostgrave, etc., ones as runts or young). But basing them on coins for 1/72 looks the way to go. I had hung back from using too many metal minis with my 1/72 stuff as it's for care-free travel (for gaming sessions on work trips, etc.). But I have some very strong magnetic card in my monsters box now, so that's less of a concern.

Anyway, here's a comparison with 1/72 humans and a 28mm human. You'll see that the RP guy is much better scaled for 1/72 (assuming gnolls are 7' tall, two-hit-dice creatures as in the Monster Manual). At 28mm, he's no bigger than most one-hit-dice creatures and smaller than many. The humans are standing on extra green bases to bring them up to the height of the gnoll's base (he'll be going on a coin like the rest of my 1/72 stuff now ...):

[jeffreythancock]

Yes, the RP gnolls look the part.  I'll carefully remove the metal stands and pin/glue them directly to my bases, which should level them some.

Thank you again, Hobgoblin!

[Hobgoblin]

My pleasure!

I don't think the bases on that range of gnolls are much of a problem; I don't recall them being much bigger than the bases a 1/72 figure comes on. For the shots I took, it was the GW slotta base I'd mounted this one on that required offsetting.

One final thing that might be worth noting: there was a later range of RP gnolls with open hands. I don't think these are currently in production, but they do crop up on eBay a lot. They're nice figures, but they are much bigger (and on bigger bases) - see below. It's the Julie Guthrie (I think) range still in production at Iron Wind Metals that is the best fit for 1/72 (although one of the other sort might make a huge chieftain or champion).

[jeffreythancock]

Yes, those are the OOP AD&D range from RP.  My second favorite range from my misguided youth, after the Grenadier range.

Now to find suitable halflings....

[Hobgoblin]

Now to find suitable halflings....

I reckon that's a fairly easy one: there are plenty of fairly stumpy 15mm humans that would make great 1/72 halflings. The guy between the two 1/72 historicals here is an Essex 15mm adventurer. (The more militant fellow on the right is a Demonworld/RPE barbarian.)