Hyborian miniatures revisited

[Rhoderic]

The swords-and-sorcery craze has been overcoming me again lately, so I've started planning some miniature purchases in preparation for Broadsword Adventures. My goal is to game Conan's Hyboria, ultimately having painted miniatures to represent all the people and noteable creatures of that world. I've even started making a list of peoples/nations and their corresponding miniatures. Here's what I have so far:

Picts
I’m leaning towards using the half-naked figures from Black Tree’s Trojan range, with stone-age weapons from Baueda’s Troglodyte range. Some minor converting might be done to turn them more fierce-looking (Mohawk haircuts and stuff like that). That and some woad should do the trick.

Vanaheim and Asgard
Very easy to represent with the many viking miniatures available. I already have a bunch of Foundry Norse so they’ll be the core of the group, but I might throw in some others as well (such as the excellent Norse from Bronze Age Miniatures). I seem to recall reading something about all Aesir being blonde, and all Vanir being red-haired; I’ll probably interpret this quite loosely, so I won’t have to paint two separate warbands differentiated only by hair colour

Cimmerians
Another warband I won’t need to sweat: There are plenty of heroic barbarian miniatures out there. I like the Celtos Gaels in particular.

Hyrkanians
While Ebob’s Tribes of the East would’ve been nice, I’ve gone for the Battleline Miniatures Mongols instead, which despite being marketed as historicals, have a tangible “fantasy” look about them.

Aquilonia
I’m thinking of representing Aquilonia with some historical Dark Ages range, such as Arthurians. To make them look more heroic I might only use character/command figures, and maybe swap out some weapons for more fantasy-looking ones. A few fantasy humans in plate armour might sneak in there as well, to represent knights.

Nemedia
As I imagine Nemedians looking more exotic and esoteric than their Aquilonian rivals, I’d like to model these with Eureka’s Tekumel miniatures. I like their outlandish-yet-slightly-Byzantine look.

Turanians
These I might represent with Eureka’s Turkish pirates, unless I find something better.

Western Shem
Some sort of biblical range should do for these, perhaps the Eureka Assyrians. Again, I might swap some of their weapons for bigger, more fantasy-style ones (something in the “oversized Khopesh” category maybe).

Eastern Shem
Many choices here, so I might go for a mix of miniatures including Artizan Moors, Perry Arabs, Brigade Games Daughters & Sons of the Desert, etc.

Stygia
Another simple one: I’ll just use Wargods of Aegyptus humans.

Reavers of the Vilayet
The new LotR Corsairs of Umbar look perfect for these, I just hope they're not too small. Some of the smaller weapons might be replaced with more oversized ones

Cannibalistic Degenerates / Neanderthals
While there are several ranges of neanderthals around, I’m particularly fond of the Jeff Valent ones.

Cultists
Plenty of cultist miniatures out there, but I think the Eureka ones will fit me best. They’re unarmed and look noncombative, but I can pretend they’ve got daggers under their robes if need be.

More to come later. I think about 5-8 miniatures will suffice for each group. And remember these are just my interpretations of the Hyborian nations and peoples. What miniatures do the rest of you have in mind for Hyborians or denizens of other pulp fantasy worlds?

[Westfalia Chris]

You might recall that I entered a bunch of Rackham Celts as my first team of the LPL back in October.



Their "Drac Mac Syro" is IMHO one of the nicest "not-Conans" out there. Have painted the remaining two figures from the Swordsmen and Spearmen blisters by now, and still want to paint a bunch of their Huntsmen (who look rather feral) as Picts, plus some demonic creatures as... well, demonic creatures.

[Rhoderic]

Ah yes, I recall them. Those paintjobs are very evocative of that Howardesque Pulp Fantasy mood I'm after. I'll keep those in mind when I paint my Cimmerians and Picts.

That said, as with many of Rackham's products, I don't like the sculpts. Too gangly. I also tend to gravitate towards miniatures that don't have too much small detail that gets tricky to paint - it's to my disadvantage, but I've learned to live with it. I realize the Celtos stuff is somewhat problematic in this way too, but they still seem relatively manageable.

[Overlord]

Dont forget the old Mark Copplestone/Grenadier Barbarians.

Now available from EM4:
http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Infantry.html

http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Cavalry.html

or Merliton:
http://www.mirliton.it/index.php?cName=fantasy-2528mm-barbarians


I have an increasing number of these and really like them. Great for Cimmerians etc

[Gluteus Maximus]

Dont forget the old Mark Copplestone/Grenadier Barbarians.

Now available from EM4:
http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Infantry.html

http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Cavalry.html

or Merliton:
http://www.mirliton.it/index.php?cName=fantasy-2528mm-barbarians


I have an increasing number of these and really like them. Great for Cimmerians etc

Wow! I have the "standard bearer"  & "Hero with two-handed sword" figures that a non-gaming friend gave me years ago. I never knew where they came from. Its great that they have some friends available for them to play with. I always thought they would make perfect Cimmerians, if only I could get a whole tribe together. Now I can ::

Thanks very much!  

[Overlord]

I started building a HoTT army with them but couldn't stop there. I'm currently converting some of the figures and will end up with 4 (or more!) HoTT armies worth  :mrgreen:

Here is a small sample so far


Here is my Heresy "Boris" with unknown female companion. Used as a Hero


A Hasslefree "Wolf" Hero

[Westfalia Chris]

The "unknown female companion" is a Slavegirl of the GW40k Dark Eldar "Asdrubael Vect" special character box set (there´s a second one, the two posing at the feet of said character as he stands astride his pimped-out grav-barge). And please don´t ask me how I know that off-hand. I already hate myself enough for it. ::

[Rhoderic]

And please don´t ask me how I know that off-hand. I already hate myself enough for it. ::

Don't sweat it, I recognized her as well

[Overlord]

The "unknown female companion" is a Slavegirl of the GW40k Dark Eldar "Asdrubael Vect" special character box set (there´s a second one, the two posing at the feet of said character as he stands astride his pimped-out grav-barge). And please don´t ask me how I know that off-hand. I already hate myself enough for it. ::

That doesn't bother me, other than she doesn't look very Eldarish (Elvish?)

What does bother me is where the hell she came from  :   I have never had any Dark Eldar  

[Rhoderic]

She's not meant to be Eldar, she's a human slave. IIRC, in the GW "studio" paintjob of the model, she bears a fleur-de-lys tattoo, suggesting she's a captured Sister of Battle.

[Howard Whitehouse]

I have nothing to contribute to the "Where'd ya get the nekkid prisoner chick?" discussion. My wife does not allow me to keep young, unclothed women chained up at our house. She can be very fussy.

I too have been painting Sword and Sorcery types for Chainmail Bikini. I expect that CB (being an Astounding Tales! spin off) will require larger numbers of figures than Broadsword Adventures, mostly in the 'nameless minions' category. I'm not doing Hyboria, although I don't have an alternate world devised; it's the same general mix of frigid northlands (although a fur speedo and a bit of body oil seem to take care of that), exotic Arabian bits, basically Dark Ages Europe parts, and savage jungles of apemen, cannibals and - if I ever paint any - Mayans.

Right now I have quite a lot of barbarians - The various Copplestones (I keep suggesting to Mark that he do new ones, or revise the old ones, but he shrugs me off), Heresy and Reaper.

Reaper are a fine source of both heroes, heroines, sorcerors and monsters. I get mine mostly from Miniature-GIANT, who offer not only about 25% oof list BUT also have all the OOP figures, of which Reaper have many.

Here's a deal on their barbarian bikini chicks!

http://www.miniature-giant.com/savage-beauty-female-barbarians-Reaper-Boxed-Set-sku-10025-c-813-p-1-pr-11064.html

Several years of employment with Foundry gave me a vast back-log of free figures. I find the Sea Peoples look far more fantasy than most actual fantasy figures, and the Trojan Wars ranges match them (although not quite as bizarre). Vikings, of course, in huge numbers, and Egyptians.

The Egyptian theme has led me also to Crocodile Games, and to some of the GW Tomb Kings figures, bought cheap at a flea market. I use the Crocodile Games Heru figures not so much as bird me, but as the warriors of a bird cult in masks.

I got a bunch of RAFM's fantasy African warriors in masks, which will augment my Foundry Darkest Africa stuff (minus all the musketmen).

I'm paintng Greek hoplite armies right now, but basing them singly. and they'd do nicely for theose civilised cities on the Middle Sea.

Uh, there's more, but that's for now --- H

[white knight]

And please don´t ask me how I know that off-hand. I already hate myself enough for it. ::

Don't sweat it, I recognized her as well

As did I, in fact I think I have her somewhere in a bits box, but I don't remember her being barebreasted. I thought she was at least somewhat clothed.  :

[Rhoderic]

Initially, I was meaning to go for my "own" fantasy world as well, but Hyboria grew increasingly alluring. The lack of Mayans/Aztecs/Incas is one of the few drawbacks with that world. However, I think the distinction is ultimately a non-issue: I can at any point eschew Hyboria and do some other world instead, if I like. And anyway, pulp fantasy writers are/were infamous for tossing any plot hook imagineable into their stories, no matter how incredulous. So if I really want Mayans in Hyborea, I'm sure I can find a way to cram them in there. Hell, I could even have Conan "magically transported" to Barsoom if I wanted (there's a thought, BTW)

[Howard Whitehouse]

It has been pointed out that if Bilbo the Hobbit's nephew had  - in some mix-up at the maternity ward - been Conan the Barbarian, 'The Lord of the Rings' would not have been a trilogy but an extremely violent novella. The bloodshed in the Prancing Pony scene would be particularly generous.

[Lowtardog]

The prof has a fantastic barbarian army on his Witchunter site

http://www.witchhunter.net/gallery_norse_army.html