Aventine Spartacus gladiators

[Prof.Witchheimer]

btw, I shall mention that Keith is really a great fellow, we had nice communication, he delivered quickly and also he put to my order some different shields/javelins/etc for free.  Top service!

[area23]

Same here. The figs arrived today, with an extra bunch of spears and shields.

Seeing the figs makes me wonder though, did Companion at the time get hold of some Darkest Africa figs as well? It looks as if some were used as a base for the freed slaves.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Probably Copplestone did use the same dollies.

[VonMoltke]

are these really from Copplestone?
I know foundry launched them a couple of years ago, I know this because I've bought the full collection at that time but I guessed that they were from their newer sculptors...

No..they are not copplestone sculpts...

[Prof.Witchheimer]

No..they are not copplestone sculpts...

I'm quite sure they are. You just need to compare them to the Copplestone Africa and other stuff to see the similarities. Bodies, faces, everything. No one could imitate Copplestone that good.

If I'm wrong then I need to know the name of the sculptor. Then I would hire that guy for making stuff for LAM

[Prof.Witchheimer]

here to compare, on the left is one of the Foundry revolting civilians, on the right Copllestone's Spartacus range (Aventine).

I would say, it's obvious, they are both made by the same sculptor.

[VonMoltke]

  I dont think, it is very important who is right.....
We should have fun with the figures we like ...thats is important...
 

[Prof.Witchheimer]

We should have fun with the figures we like ...thats is important...

that's for sure

[area23]

While I absolutely agree it's all and only about having fun, for me part of the fun is tracking down Copplestone sculpts. I'm one of this picky guys who wants units all by the same sculptor.

anyway, at the time I only bought some Snot and Grot miniatures, the Fantasy figs sold by Companion (Grenadier miniatures by Copplestone, now sold by Terrain Warehouse). I remember discussions on the Miniatures Page which I frequented a lot at the time. I remember reading somewhere that Companion Miniatures were basically Foundry Caesarians converted by Jim Bowen.
But digging up old discussions on TMP apparently

From what I recall they used the Copplestone unarmoured Caesarians in Montefortinos as dollies, modified with feather crests and with various square and round pectorals. They looked good for what they were, but the origin was fairly obvious.
The 'extra' (over and above the Foundry range) Companion Caesarians were modified by Michael Percy according to the site – I guess the Republicans were the same?

while

Companion miniatures are just the Foundry Caesarians reworked by the talented Brian Philips. He has a few pics on his site.

I've got some pics of Companion Numidians, and the Aventine Gladiators in my hand it's clear that they are not just dollies but actual miniatures by copplestone with added hair, moustache and clothing. Some of the Gladiators are Africans and I suppose they're either unreleased or converted DA sculpts. and some of the heads are identical with a slight variation of the haircut.

Here's the original list of the released Companion Romans I stumbled upon:
http://www.caliverbooks.com/mini/companian/comp_rom.htm