Options for 25mm (rather than 28mm) medievals - especially knights?

[Hobgoblin]

This is a similar question to the one I asked about Sherden on the 'Age of Myth' forum: what are the options in 25mm (or at least small 28mm) for medievals?

This is for my long-running but slow-burning RPG project. I'm gradually assembling a large lot of miniatures for old-school D&D (and the like), basing them on pennies/20mm rounds if human-sized. The reason for this is that slightly smaller miniatures and bases make standard dungeon floorplans and layouts bigger and more interesting - you can cluster adventurers or their foes together much more easily. I'd originally started the project in 1/72, but there are just more adventurer options (especially female adventurers) available in 25mm.

For character figures, I'm using a mix of Ral Partha, RAFM, Tin Soldier, Grenadier (both the very early stuff and the Julie Guthrie range), Denizen and some very old Citadel. These figures aren't all the same in terms of height and proportion, but they work together OK.

At the moment, I'm exploring options for medieval NPCs to go alongside them. I like playing D&D with lots of retainers and henchmen, so a fair number of knights/men-at-arms/town guards/brigands/armed peasants will come in handy.

So what are the options in 25mm? The old Foundry/Citadel Wars of the Roses range might tick quite a lot of the boxes; the few armoured men-at-arms I have are really quite small for 28mm and will work quite well, I think - especially as they're in full plate. But the Foundry/Citadel feudals would be too big.

As this is D&D at its most kitchen-sink (androids, pig-faced orcs and jousting will probably all feature!), anachronism isn't a problem. I'm particularly interested in full-helm-and-surcoat 13th/14th-century-style knights, and I don't mind a bit of quaintness/old-school charm. For instance, were the Essex knights 25mm rather than chunky 28mm, I'd buy a whole lot of them for this project.

Searching online is surprisingly frustrating because Google often provides 28mm results for 25mm searches! And I'm conscious that there may be some smaller manufacturers out there that I'm overlooking. And this is exactly the kind of project where you settle on one thing and submit an order, only to discover that there's something better out there!

Any pointers much appreciated! I'm in the UK, so would really only be looking at British manufacturers.

[Atheling]

Well, Wargames Foundry Medieval ranges (Feudal, HYW and Wars of the Roses; except Dave Andrew's Swiss) are one of the original Citadel ranges and are about 25mm.

Old Glory has a vast range in 25mm.

Eagle Miniatures do a 25mm Medieval range too.

[Thew2]

Try Wargames Design Workshop, who have the old QT multipart historical amongst other older 25mm ranges.

https://wargamesdesignworkshop.co.uk/

They also have some really nice old Dixon 25mm dwarfs, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

[Galtisant]

Some older ranges from the 1970’s still sell 25mm figures. For example:
Hinchcliffe, now sold by Lancashire Games
Lamming Miniatures

Similarly some other older ranges, such as those listed below, can either be described as large 25mm figures small 28mm, depending on your point of view.
Miniature Figurines
Essex Miniatures
Navigator Miniatures, as sold by Magister Millitum

[Atheling]

Essex Miniatures

Essex are chunky-ish and 28mm.

Navigator Miniatures, as sold by Magister Millitum

Two other good suggestions.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks so much, gents! This is exactly what I'd hoped for: I'd completely overlooked a lot of these (Eagle, WDW, Navigator, Lancashire/Hinchliffe) - and with some that I did know (like Old Glory), I'd taken at their word as 28mm.

There are also some great options for character figures in among that lot - this Navigator guy for example:

They also have some really nice old Dixon 25mm dwarfs, if you're interested in that sort of thing.

I am indeed - thanks!

Galtisant/Atheling - yes, Essex are a bit too big for this project. I have another slow-burning project underway: Arthurian fantasy in 28mm; the few Essex medievals I have are comfortably at home on 25mm rounds for that and are hefty fellows at that scale.

Essex bugbears, on the other hand, are just perfect for this project. In fact, one of the things that makes 25mm ideal for this is that it keeps a lot of old monster miniatures looking the part (Minifigs gnolls are quite dainty by modern standards, but they're easily 7' tall in 25mm, for example, so they work as 2HD monsters).

Well, Wargames Foundry Medieval ranges (Feudal, HYW and Wars of the Roses; except Dave Andrew's Swiss) are one of the original Citadel ranges and are about 25mm.

My recollection/experience is there's a fair divide between the old Perry Wars of the Roses on the one hand and the feudal and HYW stuff on the other. For the 28mm Arthurian project, I'm using a lot of old Citadel knights (preslotta Knights of Law among them). I'd assumed that the Citadel WotR stuff would work with that. But when I dug out a couple of figures, I found that they were too small (they looked like kids), so reassigned them to the 25mm one, where I think they work OK. From memory, the feudals (who were slottabased originally) are at least as big as the Knights of Law, etc.

I think the Foundry ex-Citadel Vikings and Saxons are in the same boat: they're a bigger ex-slotta range that would tower above the preslotta Norsemen of Kremlo the Slann vintage. Foundry don't do the Kremlo lot, which is a shame as some of those were lovely.

But I could be wrong on some or all of the above (or the figures could have shrunk in the remoulding process!).

[Galtisant]

Atheling, thinking about it, you are probably right about most Essex figures, but I do have several of the Essex mounted Medieval knights and do consider them relatively small compared with many modern “28mm” figures. The riders do blend in with other 28mm figures, but the horses are noticeably smaller. In particular the horses have very short legs and are quite slim.

The photos shown here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=137945.msg1755297#msg1755297 include pictures of an Essex rider on a Mirliton horse (both painted green) and an unpainted Essex horse. They compared with figures from several other manufacturers.

[Hobgoblin]

The photos shown here: https://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=137945.msg1755297#msg1755297 include pictures of an Essex rider on a Mirliton horse (both painted green) and an unpainted Essex horse. They compared with figures from several other manufacturers.

Aha - that's a great link, Galtisant! I had a dim recollection of it but couldn't remember where it was. Many thanks for posting it (and for the earlier tips)!

[has.been]

When Essex first came out figures were 25mm, so they were sold as...25mm.
Now figures are 28mm, so they are sold as 28mm.

I like them, but they used to be larger than other 25mm figures.
Now they are smaller than other 28mm figures.  Which is fine if
your force is all Essex, as is my matched pair of Punic War DBA armies,
& as was (till I sold them) my six Egyptian, friends & foes armies.

If you are looking at 'true' 25mm I suggest Mini-Fig (Fantasy and Historical) though
if you get lucky on e-bay Garrison figures can occasionally picked up for reasonable prices.

[Inkpaduta]

Irregular Miniatures also are 25mm.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, both!

Minifigs are definitely on the cards (I have a few humans of various sorts, along with a lot of the monsters).

Irregular Miniatures also are 25mm.

Ah - now that I did not know! I'd always assumed they were quite big and chunky (like the 15mm ranges). They have some nice stuff lurking in their massive lists - I like the late-medieval knights, not least because they do foot and mounted variants, which is perfect for RPGs. The Vikings look nice too, and there are lots of candidates for generic town guards and bandits.

One useful thing about Irregular are the 'variants on theme'. So you can put down 10 'evil knights' or 'barbarian raiders' on the table, and they'll all look the same but different. That's quite handy for D&D, etc.

[Earther]

Denizen Miniatures are 25mm and they’re aces:

http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/files/25mm02.htm]] http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/files/25mm02.htm

http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/files/25mm06.htm

[Hobgoblin]

Denizen Miniatures are 25mm and they’re aces:

http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/files/25mm02.htm]] http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/files/25mm02.htm

http://www.denizenminiatures.co.uk/files/25mm06.htm

Yeah, Denizen are great. I've got a good few on the painting table as player characters - and some of the monsters too. They don't really have the range for "town guards" or "evil baron's henchmen", though - which is why I'm looking for medievals.

One great thing about Denizen is that their dwarves are the same size as Ral Partha dwarves, which allows me to use many dwarves without the risk of some of them being taller than the 25mm humans! Yesterday, Swiftnick very kindly sent me some Caesar 1/72 dwarves, and I was delighted to find that they fit in nicely with the Denizen and Ral Partha ones too.

[Citizen Sade]

Have you considered 3D prints? I’ve bought some nice Vae Victis stuff from Etsy printed at 28mm rather than 32mm. I imagine they’d do 25mm for you too.

[Citizen Sade]

Another thought. It might be worth having a look at the Midlam Miniatures website, if you haven’t done so already, as some of the old Metal Magic figures might work for you.