How do the various Foundry medieval ranges compare with each other scale-wise?

[Hobgoblin]

An odd question perhaps, but I've been thinking about getting some generic knights (possibly with a Pendragon campaign in mind when our three-year-old D&D/RuneQuest campaign comes to a natural stopping point).

I was looking around and have been tempted by the Baron's War range. Then I came across the Foundry Feudals and recognised them from their 80s incarnation as Citadel knights. And then my eyes strayed to the Foundry 100 Years War range (where there are quite a lot of civilians, including high-born ladies; we have several female players, some of whom might well want to play ladies rather than knights).

And then, yesterday, I decided to base up some figures for Mordheim and dug out some Wars of the Roses Citadel figures that I've had since the 80s. I'd always thought of those figures as normal-sized Citadel humans of the 80s. But when I put a poleaxe-wielding, sallet-sporting fellow next to the other mercenaries I'm using for Mordheim (Steel Fist, Warlord Landsknechts, Perry plastics, Aly Morrison half-orcs ...), he seemed tiny - viable as a boy or a slight woman only. To my surprise, he was also undersized against very early Citadel adventurers and other fantasy humans. So I based him on a penny to go with my "true-25" RPG collection.

Anyway, I thought it was worth asking whether the Foundry WotR range is smaller than the HYW and/or Feudals range before I dive in and order some of the latter two. I remember the Feudals being absolutely standard-sized Citadel figures back in the 80s, and they are a few years younger than the WotR range, I think,  but I did read something about some of the Foundry ranges having shrunken as a result of recasting.

So, are the figures in the WotR range smaller than the Feudals and HYW, and are the latter two ranges compatible with each other (if we're playing Pendragon, knights and ladies will be required but historical accuracy won't!)? And, secondly, how do Foundry Feudals compare with the Baron's War range from Footsore?

(I don't really mind which scale the putative Pendragon project manifests in, but I don't want to buy miniatures from different manufacturers or ranges that aren't compatible!)

Many thanks in advance for any insight!

[Thew2]

Hi Hobgoblin. I've always thought the old citadel wotr range is a bit odd scale-wise. Some of the figures match the citadel/foundry feudal range well, with larger heads and hands, while others are definitely more 25mm (like the old citadel dark ages or early C series ranges). I guess your poleaxe armed chap falls into the latter category. I don't have any Footsore, but could take a photograph of the foundry feudal, hyw and wotr together if that would be useful?

[Thew2]

I managed to track the relevant figures down.

Running left to right...
HYW - Larger Wotr - Feudal - Smaller Wotr - HYW - Smaller Wotr - Feudal

Hope this helps.

[Hobgoblin]

Aha - thanks so much, Thew2: that's a huge help!

And yes, the divergence within the WotR range makes a lot of sense! I'd included a knight-type with a sallet and mace on one of my 28mm chaos horde bases (since dismantled) a while back, and I'd assumed he was a 'normal' Citadel 28mm size (which he may well have been - must find him!): hence my surprise at how tiny the poleaxe guy turned out to be!

Looking at the little crossbow man in your photo, I think my poleaxe guy may be based on the same maquette or even have the same legs. They certainly look very similar. It's really useful to have that comparison because it occurred to me that the smaller Foundry archers/crossbowmen etc. would be a good source of generic bandits/merry men for my 25mm RPG set. It looks as if the "character" figures might be bigger - your hatted chap and the guy with the mace that I have somewhere are both from the "captains" set.

The Foundry Feudals look reassuringly chunky, as I remember them, so that's great: I've got an old Citadel Knight of Origo to paint up as a test for the batch of knights I'm planning, and he dwarfs the WotR poleaxe guy!

Many thanks again!

[bluewillow]

I mix my foundry feudal with fireforge foot, some old GW, old glory and a few select Essex.

Cheers
Matt