Maya & Aztec Warriors

[ushistoryprof]

Hey folks, I am puting together a series of dioramas for my students of Pre-Columbian warriors, Maya, Aztec, Incas their enemies and allies and the like in  28mm. So I have a few questions. First who makes the best castings with the widest variety of any or all three cultures? Second which manufactures sizes are compatible? Third what are the best reference sources to use for colours, sield designs, standards and the like.  Any help will be much appreciated.

[Dewbakuk]

The Assault Group probably has the biggest range of Aztecs and Tlaxacalan.

Foundry make the nicest Aztecs and Incas.

Outpost are popular but personally I find the proportions too far out for my taste, the heads are huge in most of their ranges.


The Aztec force I'm eventually going to get uses Foundry characters and suited warriors (the eagle warriors are superb) and TAG 'levy' troops. TAG do a unit builder pack of 24 bare torsoed levy troops for £25.

[white knight]

There's also the Eureka range.

[Steve F]

To go all obscure, Navwar used to sell some nice Aztecs from Naismith Designs - but they were very small, 25mm rather than 28mm, let alone "heroic 28mm".

[fastolfrus]

There's also Bears Den :

http://www.bearsdenminiatures.com/

They have Mayans Incans and Aztecs, plus Aztecs in 40mm

[Axebreaker]

Foundry make the best Aztecs and Incas.Unless your building a large army they have enough variety to meet your demands.However,they are expensive.

http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/SB/2/index.asp

Here is some links to pdf's for very useful information on Aztecs:

http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/aztecs/AztecShields.pdf

http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/aztecs/Davies.pdf

http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/aztecs/LienzoShields.pdf

http://www.chronofus.net/wargames/aztecs/Primeros.pdf

Christopher

[ushistoryprof]

There's also Bears Den :

http://www.bearsdenminiatures.com/

They have Mayans Incans and Aztecs, plus Aztecs in 40mm

I have not delt with them before, the figures are what I am looking for but how are they to deal with on the business end? Anyone have any experience with them?

[Photographer]

Hey folks, I am puting together a series of dioramas for my students of Pre-Columbian warriors, Maya, Aztec, Incas their enemies and allies and the like in  28mm. So I have a few questions. First who makes the best castings with the widest variety of any or all three cultures? Second which manufactures sizes are compatible? Third what are the best reference sources to use for colours, sield designs, standards and the like.  Any help will be much appreciated.

[Lowtardog]

The Assault Group probably has the biggest range of Aztecs and Tlaxacalan.

Foundry make the nicest Aztecs and Incas.

Outpost are popular but personally I find the proportions too far out for my taste, the heads are huge in most of their ranges.


The Aztec force I'm eventually going to get uses Foundry characters and suited warriors (the eagle warriors are superb) and TAG 'levy' troops. TAG do a unit builder pack of 24 bare torsoed levy troops for £25.

The outpost Inca are sculpted in the same style as Foundry and have some cracking Palanquins.

Eureka have some lovely aztecs and cracking leaders and such

[white knight]

I hear the Bear's Den figures aren't the best of sculpts.

[Dewbakuk]

The outpost Inca are sculpted in the same style as Foundry and have some cracking Palanquins.

Eureka have some lovely aztecs and cracking leaders and such

The Incas are better than some of the others but still have bigger heads than the Foundry ones. Comparing a few of them side by side with PSE, shows the Foundry ones are about 5 'heads' high, although most of them are hunched slightly making it a little harder to compare. The Outpost ones are mostly 4-4.5 'heads' high. Far better than the Mayans though who seem to be 3-4 heads high and look ridiculous. Which is upsetting as I'd LOVE a Mayan force.

[cdm]

No one makes a particularly accurate or complete range of Aztecs. If 'accuracy' is your thing you will need to mix and match pieces from Foundry, Eureka and TAG and still accept the mess of hairstyles, shoes, armour and jewelry on inappropriate 'captive ranks.' I only have experience of these 3 ranges, plus some Ral Partha which are very small but partly suitable for novice warriors considering their young age and the attire of the figures. Outpost have a few nice back banners not made by anyone else but real life prevents me pursueing much hobby material these days for a few months to be able to get a first hand look at these.

Of the 3 I use, TAG are probably the least 'accurate' and come in pretty silly pack contents. If you're building large armies, the packs can balance out abit especially if you can swap back banners with the other two ranges. They are also good for coming up with extra weapons in the packs and the loose atlatls I swapped over to some Foundry figures. I built a large army of about 400 figures and TAG gave me enough spare weapons to outfit the Foundry ones that are weaponless. TAG shields are pointlessly small and you'll need to order separate suitably sized shields from Eureka. Some of TAG can be bought off Ebay for good 'buy it now deals' from DaveT (I can't think of his proper ebay name but you'll find him easy enough on UK ebay. Very professional and prompt and helpful) I've found ordering from Foundry a breeze and very prompt, not as expensive as some complain but I did order in bulk.

Eureka have Mayans not officially released but you can order them. Some of the unarmoured bows and spears are very suitable for Otomi peoples (not Otomi rank) and rustic Chichimecs.They have a few Tlaxcalans in cotton armour and musicians but they haven't done much with the range yet.