28mm Pathan figures - some advice please?

[chicklewis]

Hi, forum stalwarts,

I'm preparing to make up a Pathan force, and have the very nice Old Glory 28mm Pathans, which are great.  Bought all four packs of foot Pathans and received 39 different body sculpts with head swaps for 120 unique figures !! 

Last week I purchased the lovely '1930s' Pathans from the manufacturer whose name I can never remember.

I also am aware of, and will order, the Foundry Pathans. 

I intend to get some additional 'Character' Pathans.  Which figure lines should I be considering, please?

Thanks in advance for any advice or pointers.

Chick

[Lowtardog]

Empress new range out should be ideal

[chicklewis]

Lowtardog, YES, thanks, they are lovely, and Empress is the company whose name I can never remember !  

Other manufacturers ??

[traveller]

If you consider the later period there some Mongrel Miniatures (by Paul Hicks) with Lee Enfields:

http://newlinedesigns.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=481_495

[Hobbit]

I think you've probably covered most of the bases there. Some of the Foundry Sikh Wars and Indian Mutiny will fit in nicely. There are other manufacturers out there, but in general their quality is rather iffy.

You might find the odd figure in things like the Perry's Sudan or even Crusade ranges. You may even find a few figures in some of the Pulp style ranges that are out there.

[ARKOUDAKI]

Am I missing something...are the OG Pathans you refer to with 'separate heads' new items...as the ones I have had the head already cast on, and the quality of the sculpts wasn't that great. So have OG redone this part of their range (2nd Gen types)?

[traveller]

Separate heads? Tell us more, on their website are only the old ones with head variants 

[Will Bailie]

OG doesn't do separate heads for their excellent Pathans as far as I know, they simply produce variants themselves - a sort of mix and match with heads and bodies.  Sometimes there is a bit of an odd result, as for example when a figure is pointing a rifle in one direction and looking in the other...

As for alternate Pathans, while I think the OG ones are excellent, I also recommend Foundry's Indian Hill Tribes and Castaway Arts.  Both Castaway and Foundry have superior cavalry to OG.  Britannia miniatures also has Pathans, but I haven't seen them in person so cannot comment further.  The old Ral Partha colonials, now available from Great Endeavours, are nice but tiny compared to OG and the other figures i mentioned.

https://secure.iig.com.au/castawayarts/index.php?cmd=store

http://www.greatendeavours.co.uk/colonials/rp_list.php#frontier

http://wargamesfoundry.com/historical_ranges/hordes/colonial/indian/

[matakishi]

The Britannia Pathans are lovely figures. I have a load ready to go for a project next year.

[Captain Blood]

Foundry DA Baluchis make perfectly good Afghan tribesmen and with bundles of character 

[Furt]

The Britannia Pathans are lovely figures. I have a load ready to go for a project next year.

Any pics of these matakishi - I can't seem to find any.

[S J Donovan]

Tiger makes a couple of packs of Pathans.

[matakishi]

Any pics of these matakishi - I can't seem to find any.

No, sorry, not yet. Similar in bulk to their Malayan Emergency range and Napoleonics which scale with other ranges well, dynamic poses with typical Britannia styling. Once I decide what sort of game I want to do with them I'll order the other figures I need and start taking photos.

Tiger Miniatures Afghans are pretty horrible and Tiger's metal is nasty to work with. I'm happy to buy their cheap wagons but I wouldn't buy any of their figures.

[H.M.Stanley]

I used the Artizan El Cid range Mullah with my Pathans. Looks the part

[Wirelizard]

The Newline Paul Hicks Pathans w/ Lee-Enfield are nominally modern 21st C Afgani figures - is there any equipment on them that would mark them out as obviously modern?

I've long been interested in a Pathan force for Third Afgan War (1919) and interwar pulp-flavoured NWF gaming, wondering if they'd suit!

I'm also pleased to hear that the Old Glory Pathans are nice figures, as the few OG figures I have are rather mixed in appearance.