15-20mm baboons - or suitable surrogates?

[Hobgoblin]

Does anyone make baboons in 15-20mm scale? Or similar large monkeys? Or even somewhat similar creatures (aliens, whatever) that might work as large, weapon-wielding baboons?

I'm looking at running the old Runequest Apple Lane scenarios with miniatures for a couple of groups at the end of next month. I could do it in either 15mm or 28mm; the advantage of the former would be speed of painting and an easier time putting together (or modelling) the pawnshop floorplans. The advantage of the latter is the availability of suitable baboons!

Ideally, I'd like to do this in 15mm. But I'm hitting a real blank in finding suitable baboon surrogates. As these are Gloranthan baboons, they can be quite a bit bigger than true 15mm; they just have to look appropriately dangerous (though not bigger than human-sized) with 15mm figures.

(Posting this here in case there are any options - pulp, wildlife, whatever - that fantasy specialists might miss!)

[Barry S]

Magister Militum sell packs of 30, 10mm Armed Apes (armed with a club).
https://www.magistermilitum.com/ftw106-armed-apes.html

I used these as monkeys for a Jungle Book Army I painted up for a friend. Even though they were larger than I would have liked, they were the best I could find.

Hopefully someone may have a better suggestion as I am always on the lookout for wildlife to add to my 15mm games and menagerie.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, Barry - that's a good call! I'd somehow missed those on the Magister Militum site.

When you say they were bigger than you'd have liked, do you recall how big they were? Big relative to 10mm humans? Or just bigger than you'd have liked as 10mm Banderlog?

Another thought that's occurred to me is converting Copplestone Picts; they have clubs and spears, and are roughly the right posture. I wonder if I could make a single greenstuff head and then press-mould it to convert a batch. It would be better to find something that's closer to begin with, though - and those apes might just work, if they're big enough.

[manic _miner]

 Would the Apes from Lucid Eye not work?

 https://www.lucideyepublications.com/savage-core

[Hobgoblin]

Would the Apes from Lucid Eye not work?

 https://www.lucideyepublications.com/savage-core

Thanks - though they're a bit big for 15mm, I think! They are very nice, though - I almost bought some a while back when our RPG party was in Tekumel (to use as the Chnelh ape-primitives). If I end up going for 28mm, I'll almost certainly snap some up - and snout them up!

For 15mm, I'm starting to think about ratmen as Gloranthan baboons. I have some Magister Militum ones, with which I'll experiment, and there are the Battle Valor and Irregular ones to consider (it doesn't hurt that Irregular do some reasonable broos, too). Magister Militum have halberdiers clad only in their fur, and the halberds could easily become spears. Battle Valor use separate shields and are almost in "convert with paint" territory already. And Irregular are so idiosyncratic/crudely charming that they might work more or less as is.

Basically, I'm thinking that it might be quite quick and easy to give a hunched, tailed snouted humanoid a bit of a mane with green stuff, cut off any rodenty front teeth and then let a baboon-appropriate paintjob do the rest. It would certainly be the cheapest way to do it - I need eight for Gringle's Pawnshop, and we may need others as our regular party continues to explore the Big Rubble ...

[Barry S]

I have just measured them and they're between 11mm to 12mm from their feet to the top of their heads.

They were bigger than I would have liked to represent the smaller monkeys such as the Tufted Gray Langurs from the story. I did consider using 6mm models, but found none that really suited my purpose. My friend was really with the result so that was the main thing.

The apes can be seen next to and behind King Louie:


You can see them below lined up behind King Louie with some hunters next to them. The hunter miniatures are by Essex Miniatures:


If you want to have a look at a bigger version, here is the link to my MyAlbum - https://myalbum.com/album/O3sGdjue8I5j
Scroll to the bottom of the page. I apologise in advance for the poor photos.

And here is the opposing army just for the sake of it:


They are Hordes of the Things armies based on characters from the books and the Disney movies. I use several sabot bases so you can  switch between element types. Sorry to waffle on.

I hope the photos help.

[Moriarty]

Warrior Miniatures of Glasgow had Alien type critters in their Sci Fi range, and have two sizes iiirc.

[Hobgoblin]

What a spectacular pair of armies! Many, many thanks for posting these!

I have just measured them and they're between 11mm to 12mm from their feet to the top of their heads.

Great - thanks very much for doing that. I think those will work; RuneQuest baboons used to have the same SIZ stat as humans, but they've shrunk a bit in recent editions (humans are 2D6+6 while baboons are still 3D6). So I'll definitely pick some up when I order from Magister Militum shortly (I'm going to get hold of some of their ogres and trolls for conversion to RuneQuest trolls).

Did you add all those tails yourself? (!)

They are Hordes of the Things armies based on characters from the books and the Disney movies. I use several sabot bases so you can  switch between element types. Sorry to waffle on.

I hope the photos help.

Not at all - that's been really helpful, and it's great to see those armies! Many thanks again!

I had a rummage through my 15mm box last night and came across some unpainted Magister Militum ratmen. I'm going to have a go at "converting by paint" with a sample, as the armoured guy with the banner (below) should look the part in bronze armour with a Beast Rune on his flag. And I think the Magister Militum meerkats might work too, with some conversion. I'll reshape the snouts and add green-stuff manes (possibly covering the hats); they've already got spears and no shields, which is good. And then a suitable paint job should do the rest.

So I'm thinking that a mix of these with some of the Magister Militum apes, all suitably snouted up, might give me a sizeable baboon warband.

Moriarty - many thanks! Those are Alien aliens, though, aren't they? I was looking for furry beasties that might be converted to baboons. But I see that they have a Barsoom-type ape, and there might be some trollkin potential in their orcs/goblins ...

[Barry S]

What a spectacular pair of armies! Many, many thanks for posting these!

Thank you.

Did you add all those tails yourself? (!)

Yes. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Fine drill and fine wire with some putty on the end of the tail.

I had a rummage through my 15mm box last night and came across some unpainted Magister Militum ratmen. I'm going to have a go at "converting by paint" with a sample, as the armoured guy with the banner (below) should look the part in bronze armour with a Beast Rune on his flag. And I think the Magister Militum meerkats might work too, with some conversion. I'll reshape the snouts and add green-stuff manes (possibly covering the hats); they've already got spears and no shields, which is good. And then a suitable paint job should do the rest.

So I'm thinking that a mix of these with some of the Magister Militum apes, all suitably snouted up, might give me a sizeable baboon warband.

I can see how they would work. Please share some photos of the results!

[manic _miner]

 Would this Guard Dog work with a little green stuff work?

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/15mm-laserburn-and-asgard-ranges/products/118-guard-dog

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/sengoku-15mm-japanese-fantasy/products/sgf148-onikuma-demon-bear

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/sengoku-15mm-japanese-fantasy/products/sgfp21-inugami-hounds-pack

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/sengoku-15mm-japanese-fantasy/products/sgf60-nue

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/tabletop-miniatures-15mm-fantasy-range/products/552-savage-ape

 

 

[Hobgoblin]

Would this Guard Dog work with a little green stuff work?

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/15mm-laserburn-and-asgard-ranges/products/118-guard-dog

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/sengoku-15mm-japanese-fantasy/products/sgf148-onikuma-demon-bear

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/sengoku-15mm-japanese-fantasy/products/sgfp21-inugami-hounds-pack

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/sengoku-15mm-japanese-fantasy/products/sgf60-nue

 https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/tabletop-miniatures-15mm-fantasy-range/products/552-savage-ape

Ooh - now there's an idea! I hadn't thought of approaching them from the dog rather than the monkey front, but that's a great suggestion! After all, baboons are cynocephali: "dog-heads"!

As luck would have it, I have one or two of those very guard dogs kicking around, so I'll get onto them today. Many thanks!

The demon bear might be a bit big, but it looks like the perfect starting point for another Gloranthan staple - the jack o'bear:



And a trawl through that range provides the tanuki (raccoon dog), who might be a good starting point for a club-armed baboon too:



Thankfully, they've gone without the pendulous scrotum that most Japanese representations of the raccoon dog have!

Many thanks again for these pointers - really useful!

Please share some photos of the results!

Will do - and they'll all be going here.

[manic _miner]

 I loved the old Citadel Runequest range of miniatures.So many great sculpts in the range.

 Good luck with your project.

[Hobgoblin]

I loved the old Citadel Runequest range of miniatures.So many great sculpts in the range.

 Good luck with your project.

Thanks! Yes, they were superb. I still have quite a few, in various states of disrepair, but not enough to do much with in gaming terms - except the broo, of which I have a reasonable number. I just found a good miniature for one of the Slop and Slime gang in the Big Rubble, so I think I'll try to get the whole gang assembled in 28mm so that we can jump up to that scale for that encounter.

Here's my first WIP stab at baboonisation:

[Barry S]

They look brilliant!

[FifteensAway]

Check out these from bone wielding apes from Khurasan: https://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/myst800.jpg

Irregular makes a 15 mm monkey on a truncated tree trunk, no picture but I am painting mine up as vervet monkeys.

No idea of the STL, someone else printed, but there are some 3D printable baboons - not sure they will work for your goal, however.

Irregular is a First Stop for 15 mm animals, Museum Miniatures is a good source for domestic animals.  But neither has baboons.

I will happily buy plenty of 15 mm baboons if someone makes them - as long as they are zoological versus fantasy baboons.