Cheap or readily available Tekumel proxies? (Pe Choi raw materials)

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

A Sea Peoples helmet - the fringed variety - does make a pretty good khil. I suppose a shako could work, but personally I think the sea peoples is a better fit. Professor Barker told me once that the Yan Koryani would be more irregular in appearance than the Tsolyani. Doing the three different helmet designs was my solution, adding varying facial hair was another part of that. It only cost me 10 GBP per head; of course, there were quite a few to be done so it added up quick! 

[Hobgoblin]

Here's the Thunru'u.

[Severian]

Ah, he's excellent - in a horrible eye-eating sort of way, of course.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

The expression on its face is priceless! 

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks - he'll certainly startle the PCs, I think!

Here's the start of a kitbashed priest of Vimuhla. I'm very much on a "don't let perfect be the enemy of good" drive with this project, so this guy won't be quite right. But I think he'll more or less look the part - especially when I've added some epaulettes and done him up in reds and gold and azure.

This is the drawing that I took as a starting point:

[swiftnick]

He is pretty cool!

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Yup, that he is! 

"Dark Elf" sword?

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, guys! Work might not allow for much more progress on him for a while, but I'll try to get him done when a spare moment presents itself.

Meanwhile, I've hit a bit of a motherload for Tekumel-ish stuff while searching for suitable Chnehl (apes), at Lucid Eye.

Chnehl (and there are many more):



Hlutrgu (two sets of these plus a leader):



Undead of one sort or another:



Pe Choi (after wing amputation and a head swap):



And then there are the Amazons and Sea People in their Ziggurat range, plus various Aztecy and Atlantean sorts in the Savage Core range.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

I think the Vespans are missing a thorax. The others are all good proxies IMO. The Swamp thingies are better fed than my Hlutrgu, I understand.

[Hobgoblin]

I think the Vespans are missing a thorax. The others are all good proxies IMO. The Swamp thingies are better fed than my Hlutrgu, I understand.

Good point! They do look a little 'cramped', at least from this angle. Yes, your Hlutrgu are better all round, I'd say - but these are fairly decent, I think.

I was idly musing over Tekumel in 1/72 during work breaks today. Before Covid, I was working up a set of 1/72 RPG miniatures for ease of transport (I was getting down to London with work now and then, and was meeting up with old friends for some gaming, so wanted ultra-portable miniatures. 1.72 based on coins and carried in magnetised boxes are ideal for that). I'd thought about both Glorantha and Tekumel in that scale, but hadn't really investigated the latter. I think it could work quite well - especially for humans. And of course it's dirt cheap.

Here are some possibilities from the Plastic Soldier Review website.

Tsolyani, etc. (Caesar Incas):







More of the same (Caesar Maya):





Yan Kor (Caesar Philistines - and note the Nluss bodyguard at the end!):





There would also be some potential for priests of Ksarul among that lot.

There are loads of options for Salarvyani. These are Caesar Assyrians:



Now, the non-humans present a bit of a problem at 1/72. But not, perhaps, an insurmountable one. Pygmy folk are easily created from 15mm ratmen and the like. And 15mm werewolves would work as Renyu. And I think there are a few "weird centaur" aliens kicking around that are big at that scale and might work just right in 1/72.

Also, for big creatures of variable size (Sro, Serudla, Hra, Thunru'u, etc), smaller 28mm types - like the 'trill' - might work as the bigger sorts at 1/72.

[swiftnick]

Yes something I think about a bit. More a these figures are cool but what could I use them for?

[Hobgoblin]

Just tested out a 1/72 hoplite against my smaller Hra. It works, I'd say (10-12' tall):

[Hobgoblin]

These old Asgard (or TTG?) Centalons from Alternative Armies might work as the basis of Ssu or Pachi Lei or Swamp Folk conversions. They must be a reasonable size for 15mm, given their price.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

The 1/72nd plastics are attractive - and some manufacturers do Amazons so you're Aridani might be take care of as well.

I've been tempted many times, but I know the scale, and soft plastic, won't work for me. (1/32nd scale is another story.)

In metal, I am using Gringos Maya, and similar, as Kachor Tribes from the Chakan forests (mentioned in the Man of Gold). I use Foundry Inca for clan Household troops/militia from Western Tsolyanu. I use their most savage looking Aztecs to mix in my Haida Pakallan pirates, and probably elsewhere as well: Tsolei, for example. I've been avoiding using the feather suits but I know people who do use them. The Gilraya Forest tribes I used Forest Indians from a number of Ancient Indian ranges.

Assyrians are often used as proxy Salarvyani b/c of the full beards. Newline and Eureka make biblical highlander figures - Lulubi? Gutta? which have hairstyles like the Mu'ug skirmishers. Also some of Victrix Numidian hairstyles IIRC.

I also like the caps worn by Punic Era Spanish. Casting House has a couple of packs that I think are useful.

re. Centalons, what size bases are those?

[102-year-old-man]

awesome ideas and I also play D&D with 1/72 miniatures. Our battle maps and rooms can be much bigger now as the figures are smaller

More size comparisons with 1/72 miniatures as reference would be awesome!