Normans - Which to get?

[Argonor]

Well, I had hoped that by now, somebody had done some better plastic Normans than the Conquest ones, but, alas, no luck, there.

With plastic thus out of the equation, I think I shall have to settle for metal models for a Norman warband for SAGA, which I have been wanting to do for, like, ever, at least for the mail-clad 'archetypical' warriors and hearthguards (I can make levies out of GBs Dark Age Warriors, or the new Archer set, I guess).

So - what manufacturer offers the best balance between quality and price, please? Preferably on the East side of the Atlantic, as postage and taxes have a tendency to lower my enthusiasm otherwise.

I have been looking at the Perry 1st Crusade range which seems to fit my image of Normans nicely, but would like to hear opinions on those, and other brands.

[redzed]

Foundry?  rather a nice range.  LINK

Crusader are also pretty good. BTD also have some nice ones to fill out, their Command pack is great.

Perry - yes, if you can get some that are actually cast correctly. 

[aircav]

black tree do some nice ones as well

[SteveBurt]

Perry or Foundry.
I have some of the Gripping Beast Normans, and while the riders are nice, the horses are, errr, strange.

[armchairgeneral]

The Saxon Miniatures Normans look nice.

[Yankeepedlar01]

Foundry, newer sculpts though.

[Duncan McDane]

I'd go for a mixture of several manufacturers. If you go for Black Tree, remember that their horses are big, sorry, huge. Pretty but huge. Way too huge in fact for the period of time, so you will need to change mounts. Gripping Beast, I don't own their Normans but I do have Crusaders ( early ) and seen their Bretons and they're not the best miniatures out there. Not bad, but a bit "compressed in length" with sometimes very short arms. Their Carolingians on the other hand are marvellous ( I talk about the mounted figs now, foot troops always are of lesser quality with GB ). And don't forget the old Citadel - now Foundry - Normans, to me they are still up to it  .

[aphillathehun]

I like the look of the Perry stuff, but their metals are really a PITA to prepare - casting flash all over them.  I have not seen the Saxon miniatures in the flesh, but I have some of their Vikings and they are first rate from both a sculpting and casting point of view.

One other thing I worry about with the Perrys are the horses ankles on some of the mounted I have from them are very thin.  I worry whether they will stand the test of time of game handling.

[Emperorbaz]

Foundry's Casting Room Miniatures normans are excellent.

[levied troop]

Seconded, in fact I'd say they were the best available:

https://www.castingroomminiatures.com/collections/normans

Will work fine alongside Crusader, BTD for variety.

[delbruck]

The Casting Room/Foundry look pretty good.
Sad about the continuing quality issues with Perry metals. They seem sensitive to criticism,  but it doesn't appear they have done anything to fix the problem.

[Codsticker]

Ebob has some Normans that look like very nice sculpts, but they are dismounted knights and not really useful in that capacity in Saga.

[levied troop]

If I didn't have shed loads of Normans already I'd be getting myself some of those!

I have shed loads of Norman's.  Didn't prevent me buying a few more

[Paul Richardson]

I've got a few of the Casting Room ones and they're nice figures. Reasonable variety too.

[Jeff965]

I just bought some Saxon Miniatures Normans on the strength of this thread 
I am so weak