Big Beast / Little Beast?

[Garanhir]

My fellow Lead Adventurers, could I partake of the font of your collective wisdom?

I'm pretty new back into this hobby, and two years ago I discovered that things had certainly changed a bit since I'd last swapped cash for lead.  For a start, it wasn't lead any more, for the most part.  Anyway, I digress.  I remembered seeing ads in old WI magazines, and so my first new purchase was a selection of Gripping Beast civilian bods.  Lovely, they were.  Last year I decided to buy some more, some Pictish characters to be precise, and it came as quite a surprise.

They were comparatively huge.

Now, I see from comments on various fora that this really shouldn't have surprised me; Gripping Beast are well-known as being at the top end of the range in terms of overall scale and chunkiness.  And yet, there seem to be some distinct variations between ranges.  My civvies were close to "true" 28mm, with the fellas being 28mm from base of feet to eyes, more or less.  The Picts are gigantic in comparison, though still jolly nice.

So, clearly at some point a decision was made at Beast Towers to beef up the minis.  What I'd like to know is: which ranges are of the smaller type, and which have been at the steroids?

[max]

From what i have, Perry Miniatures and Wargames Factory are smaller than Gripping Beast and i perhaps some other companies. Perry Miniatures are more 'true' 28mm.

[Garanhir]

I bought some Perrys just this week, and you're right that they are gorgeous and a very good 28mm size.  I think I've not made myself clear, though. 

What I meant to ask was, which of Gripping Beast's ranges are larger or smaller?

[max]

Oh, sorry. I must have misread 

[LeadAsbestos]

All I can help w is the Dark Ages Romano-Brits/Arthurians are the old, smaller ones, and the Scots, Picts, Early Saxons and Welsh are the new gigantic sort.

[James Morris]

GB's models are the products of a number of sculptors over the last 15 years.  The original ranges were by Duncan and Colin Patten, and more slender than today's models.  Duncan did the original civilians, I believe, which are still in production.  Duncan's style is very clean and slightly slender.  The original Saxons were mostly Duncan's work as well, though many of these have been superceded by newer models.

When Andy and Darren took over the Beast (c.2001 I think), newer sculptors came on board, notably Soapy, who has been the main sculptor since.  Soapy's style is slightly more chunky (I really like it) but different to the Pattens.  As time went on, and demand for various ranges grew (i.e. when WAB books came out) and moulds wore out, models by Soapy replaced many of the orginal GB minis, notably the Picts.  The Welsh, early Saxons and Scots-Irish are all in the same style.

It'd take all day to try to split GB ranges into early/late, and some (like the Vikings) have had some models remastered, resculpted and tweaked so they are a mix of new and old.  However, in brief and from memory:
Romano-British/ Age of Arthur, El Cid, Middle Saxons, Vikings, Civilians are mostly (but not all) Patten sculpts from the early years of GB. The 'Ancients' range (Romans, Punic Wars) were scuplted to be compatible with the Foundry (Perry) ranges so are slightly smaller.  Most other ranges are more recent and therefore slightly larger.

Hope that helps.

[Garanhir]

Thanks, everyone; you've all been really helpful.