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Author Topic: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?  (Read 5011 times)

Offline Mr. White

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Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« on: January 20, 2021, 02:42:58 PM »
I'm very familiar with Foundry, Artizan, and Black Scorpion for wild west minis, but I don't have an experience with with Knuckleduster's Gunfighter's Ball line or Great Escape Game's Dead Man's Hand minis. They both look to be pretty robust with lots of good options.

Any experiences and thoughts with these two?

Offline frank xerox

  • Scientist
  • Posts: 403
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #1 on: January 20, 2021, 04:48:37 PM »
Gunfighters Ball scale well with Artizan, slightly bigger than Foundry and slightly bigger than earlier Knuckleduster figures, but only if you squint. DMH are slimmer and slighter but pretty much the same height wise.
None of them are bad figures by any stretch, but for me Gunfighters Ball are THE best western figures out there - especially if you like characters from the movies. I mean who else sells Mongo, and a mounted version at that?

Offline mweaver

  • Scatterbrained Genius
  • Posts: 2683
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #2 on: January 21, 2021, 03:08:58 AM »
I agree both are decent ranges.  I was disappointed with the first Knuckleduster figures I ordered - some good ones but also some mediocre sculpts.  But, I later discovered, the ones I was disappointed with were, by and large, some of their earliest releases.  Recently I put in another order of some of the newer figures, and was quite impressed overall.

-Michael

Offline Elbows

  • Galactic Brain
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Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #3 on: January 25, 2021, 07:44:34 AM »
One huge thing to consider, and it should be less of an issue now...Knuckleduster shifted from manual sculpts to digital sculpts when they re-launched their miniatures.  I "think" the hand sculpted ones (which were...sub-par in my opinion) are gone.  The digital sculpts are excellent - easily the best Cowboys I've seen on the market.  I've had maybe one or two I didn't love - mainly because of thin rifle barrels, etc.

They're definitely larger but not so much that they don't work with other lines.  I've only had one box of DMH minis and they were completely...okay.  Not on level with Knuckleduster in my opinion.

The "corpse" miniatures from DMH in resin were the worst miniatures I've ever purchased.

I can wholeheartedly endorse Knuckleduster. 
2024 Painted Miniatures: 166
('23: 159, '22: 214, '21: 148, '20: 207, '19: 123, '18: 98, '17: 226, '16: 233, '15: 32, '14: 116)

https://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com
Find us at TurnStyle Games on Facebook!

Offline AndrewD

  • Student
  • Posts: 10
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #4 on: January 25, 2021, 11:11:29 AM »
The "corpse" miniatures from DMH in resin were the worst miniatures I've ever purchased.

Elbows, I'd really like to know why these are so bad! I'm just starting up with DMH and those miniatures are on my shopping list. Thanks very much for your help.

Offline Elbows

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Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #5 on: January 25, 2021, 04:25:36 PM »
Things may have changed, but here was my experience:

https://myminiaturemischief.blogspot.com/2016/01/bodies-and-boxes.html

Now, that being said, I think Knuckleduster has produced a line of corpses in metal, but I have not tried them.  I may have had a completely fluke set, but I received 2-3 blisters of the DMH ones in resin and they were absolute garbage.  This was in 2016 - so perhaps it's not an issue anymore.

Offline AndrewD

  • Student
  • Posts: 10
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #6 on: January 26, 2021, 10:24:06 AM »
Thanks for your reply, Elbows. Very useful - I think I'll wait until I can actually see the models before buying any.

I hadn't seen your blog before, seems to be quite a bit there of interest to look through.  :)

Offline Elbows

  • Galactic Brain
  • Posts: 9451
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #7 on: January 26, 2021, 04:47:55 PM »
Yeah, if you can see them in person before ordering or search around a bit more - definitely do that.  I never want anyone taking anecdotal "Well mine sucked" as gospel...just a warning that some turds exist out there. :D

Again four years on, maybe things are much better.  I think that's the only post to the blog I've made complaining about a product.  lol

Offline terrement

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 173
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #8 on: February 24, 2021, 12:59:12 PM »
One more ".02 worth" input.

Forrest Harris' digital Knuckleduster figs IMHO are the best Old West figs out there, and second place on the list would not even be close.  What's more, there are a few (not) figures to be had elsewhere, but again, the sheer number of (not) figures he's done, and all digital, all same scale as the counterparts and so dead on that you don't have to squint to see who the figure "isn't"

We are all spoiled these days.  For those of you not sufficiently grey of beard, I remember buying lead figs from the early seventies that could easily have been mistaken for weights for your fishing line.  Though some of the sinkers were more detailed and better animated than the minis.

Offline Nightpaw

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 111
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #9 on: February 24, 2021, 01:17:42 PM »
I have a couple o DMH minis and they are of a very sad quality regarding mould lines etc. It takes me three times the working time to clean them up compared to Artizan, Knuckleduster, Foundry, Black Scorpion or Reaper. And I am talking about metal. The few resin minis I own are a big pain in the... Worse than Citadel‘s early finecast sins.

Offline Mr. White

  • Mastermind
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Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #10 on: February 24, 2021, 01:19:11 PM »
Thanks for all this feedback!
Are people finding Black Scorpion too big compared to the others or do they match well with Knuckleduster?

Offline Nightpaw

  • Librarian
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Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #11 on: February 24, 2021, 01:21:27 PM »
Knuckleduster are really big ones. Therefore they fit in perfectly with black scorpion imo.

Offline terrement

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 173
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #12 on: February 24, 2021, 08:21:49 PM »
Knuckleduster are really big ones. Therefore they fit in perfectly with black scorpion imo.

Their line had both 28mm and 32mm of the same figures, so you are covered whichever way you want to go.
https://knuckleduster.com/shop/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=8
shows figure comparison of their 28mm versions.  I'll see if I can get Forrest Harris to post a reply here about his figures for clarification.

Offline Nightpaw

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Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #13 on: February 24, 2021, 11:33:55 PM »
I have taken a picture of all brands that I have in my collection. As far as I remember, the Vaqueiro is from Knuckledusters 32 mm range. I see no problems to field all of them on the same tabletop together. Though Lucid Eye, Knuckleduster and Black Scopion are a bit larger than the rest.

Offline terrement

  • Librarian
  • Posts: 173
Re: Gunfighter's Ball vs Dead Man's Hand Minis?
« Reply #14 on: February 25, 2021, 06:19:14 PM »
I have taken a picture of all brands that I have in my collection. As far as I remember, the Vaqueiro is from Knuckledusters 32 mm range. I see no problems to field all of them on the same tabletop together. Though Lucid Eye, Knuckleduster and Black Scopion are a bit larger than the rest.

Thanks for the great comparison pic.  Folks should also be aware that there is a noticeable difference between current/new Foundry and old Foundry.  I have a pic at home I'll post tonight - firewalled here at work.

 

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