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Author Topic: Other Manufacturers  (Read 668324 times)

Offline towishimp

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1100 on: February 26, 2012, 08:52:23 PM »
And he has a point, too.

He does, but I disagree.  Wargames Factory tried that with their orcs, making them look all Roman-y...and my friend, that I directed to their site as a cheap source of orcs, didn't like the look and didn't buy any.  I think Mantic has to stay pretty generic, so that they have the biggest pool of potential customers.  Also, yeah, cheap.  Quantity has a quality all its own.  I have about 2000 points of VC thanks to Mantic; if I had bought all GW, I'd have like a 750 point warband.
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Offline DariusZero

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1101 on: February 26, 2012, 09:32:05 PM »
I read this. Made me laugh.

(There is link up there, just in case you were wondering.)

I don't see what he rumbles about: The Mantic goblins are different enough to exist on their own:

One of the big wigs... once told them "If a household doesn't have an income of $70,000, we don't consider them a GW target customer."
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Offline ZeroTwentythree

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1102 on: February 27, 2012, 12:13:17 AM »
Wargames Factory tried that with their orcs, making them look all Roman-y

Romans? Er... not by a long shot.

If anything, I think they look like they were aiming for Angus McBride orcs.

Edit: I tried a Google image ssearch for "angus mcbride orc" and the first one that came up was on this page, comparing one of his paintings to the WF figures. http://www.chaos-dwarfs.com/forum/printthread.php?tid=8963

« Last Edit: February 27, 2012, 12:15:47 AM by ZeroTwentythree »

Offline ZeroTwentythree

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1103 on: February 27, 2012, 01:15:59 AM »
I don't see what he rumbles about: The Mantic goblins are different enough to exist on their own:



Glowing green goblin!  :icon_eek:


Offline Darknight

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1104 on: February 27, 2012, 03:15:40 AM »
I really like those Wargames Factory Orcs - those look like lovely models. WF do some decent stuff, in my view.
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Offline towishimp

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1105 on: February 27, 2012, 03:17:01 AM »
I really like those Wargames Factory Orcs - those look like lovely models. WF do some decent stuff, in my view.

I agree.  I have their skeletons and will probably get more in the future.  Just saying that if you try to get too cute when you're sculpting fantasy army figures, you might sculpt your way out of a sale, even if you're talented.
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Offline Darknight

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1106 on: February 27, 2012, 03:20:42 AM »
Based on my cursory glance at the WF news page, they seem to sculpt stuff with a lot of input from the (perhaps small and vocal) community; so they know it will appeal to some. I rather get the impression they are market-driven rather than market-driving (as GW are).
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Offline GamesPoet

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1107 on: February 27, 2012, 03:33:30 AM »
At least since the ownership shake up, perhaps.  Prior, they were doing things like Sci-Fi Shock Troops for a new their own rules, and generic War of Spanish Succession.  Now they are doing 15mm WWII to sell inexpensive plastic vs. FoW metal, but unfortunately the mixture of figures on the sprue seems lackiing.
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Offline ZeroTwentythree

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1108 on: February 27, 2012, 05:29:37 AM »
If anything, I think they look like they were aiming for Angus McBride orcs.


The more I think on it, as a side effect of that, they also have a bit of a feel of the Ian Miller art in some of the really old GW books. (Which might be described as something akin to Angus McBride's orcs, if Mr. McBride dropped acid and only worked in black ink.)

Edit (again): OK, so my memory's fauilty, he did work in color too. I usually think of his B&W drawings.
« Last Edit: February 27, 2012, 05:35:27 AM by ZeroTwentythree »

Offline MiB

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1109 on: February 27, 2012, 09:23:55 AM »
I read this. Made me laugh.

(There is link up there, just in case you were wondering.)

I don't see what he rumbles about: The Mantic goblins are different enough to exist on their own:

[,img width=750 height=562]http://www.manticblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Goblin-and-Mawbeast.jpg[/img]

Those beasts look utterly silly mind.

Offline rufus sparkfire

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1110 on: February 27, 2012, 12:22:19 PM »
Hey, I could still beat up a woman!
If I wanted to.

Offline Justnorth

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1111 on: February 27, 2012, 11:26:18 PM »
Something about the shape of it Rufus, reminds me of one of the French WWII tanks circa 1940, was it a Renault?
No no it wasn't... I was thinking of the REnault R35 originally but the shape reminded me of an earlier British tank, the Vickers Medium mark II from the interwar period, a funny old thing but anyway, the shape of your linked tank reminded me of it...
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Medium_Mark_II
« Last Edit: February 27, 2012, 11:35:52 PM by Justnorth »
GW can pucker their skanky lips and suck my arse.

He's French. Since when do his plans have to be feasible?

Offline DariusZero

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1112 on: February 28, 2012, 11:00:30 AM »
Of course it does...
One of the big wigs... once told them "If a household doesn't have an income of $70,000, we don't consider them a GW target customer."
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Offline Justnorth

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1113 on: February 28, 2012, 01:58:02 PM »
Anybody bought these, they are rather nice and have great options for halberdiers and dismounted knights...
http://www.vexillia.ltd.uk/mirliton/shop28_humans.html
I think they are the old Copplestone sculpted Grenadier miniatures that Mirliton put out and they are available through Vexillia here in the UK.
Anybody got any of these repro's ?
If so what are they like?
GW can pucker their skanky lips and suck my arse.

He's French. Since when do his plans have to be feasible?

Offline warhammerlord_soth

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1114 on: February 28, 2012, 03:09:10 PM »
If so what are they like?


Nice, but a tad small. Can't mix 'em with GW
Have one  on Midaski's tab.  :::cheers:::
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Offline orcyboy

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1115 on: February 28, 2012, 05:25:26 PM »
If those are the same as the Grenadier/Mirlton then they work perfectly fine with GW stuff.

Offline White Knight

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1116 on: February 28, 2012, 05:50:26 PM »
I have a couple of the dismounted knight characters. They are very nice sculpts and tall enough, but a bit more slender than GW, with smaller heads. I'm fussy about such things.

Offline Midaski

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1117 on: February 28, 2012, 05:54:56 PM »

............ but then if you had some of the older 25mm minis from the Fighters and early Brets era they would fit ok too I imagine.

Not seen these before, and I have to say I am impressed - though looking at the tree trunk lances I notice the 'heroic' weapon scale.  :engel:

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Metal to Finecast - It is mostly a swap of medium. 

You mean they will be using Ouija boards instead of Tarot cards for their business plans from now on?

Offline Donnachaidh

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1118 on: February 29, 2012, 10:12:46 AM »
Considering they came out in the early 90's they're not bad at all.

Although the later sculpts not done by Mark Copplestone do look a bit poo.

Mark has revisited fantasy a couple of times, but at 10mm (with his NOT Lord of the Rings range that coincidentally fits in with Warmaster very nicely) and now 15mm.

Unfortunately I got rid of mine a long time ago, but if memory serves they will fit in with v6 figures nicely - apart from the horses which are a truer scale.
Without so much as a damn your eyes for the inconvenience

Offline Midaski

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1119 on: February 29, 2012, 06:24:41 PM »
There was some mention of 4Ground back on page 39 about their buildings.

I've just seen these as well:









at £5.00 each for the first two, and then £3.00 and £3.50 they look amazing value.

I have seen a link somehwere to someone giving the Tudor house discussed earlier a 'makeover' adding thin balsa strips to the beam/timber positions to give the model depth.

http://www.4ground.co.uk/

Quote from: Gneisenau
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Metal to Finecast - It is mostly a swap of medium. 

You mean they will be using Ouija boards instead of Tarot cards for their business plans from now on?

Offline Justnorth

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1120 on: February 29, 2012, 09:57:16 PM »
If so what are they like?


Nice, but a tad small. Can't mix 'em with GW

Soth reckons they're a bit small to work with current GW models. Fair call.

If those are the same as the Grenadier/Mirlton then they work perfectly fine with GW stuff.

Orcyboy thinks they are just fine. Fair call.

What am I to do?

Three more posters come on board and the odds are split fairly evenly.

Hmmmmm...   conundrum...
Then it occurs to me, that firstly, my handgunners are all the old style Old Glory anyway that Midaski put me on to a couple of years ago, I plumped about £80 quid on those bad boys and they are a little shorter than any of the current plastic handgunners, so.... the Grenadier handgunners will be spot on as an addition to the army, they will fit in fine. I want the hand cannons in the same unit as the handgunners with the taper lighters in the 2nd rank.

Next it occurs to me that I don't have many plastic GW Empire miniatures from after 6th edition so is size still going to be an issue?
Maybe?
I have a lot of older Empire models for Reiksguard foot knights (about 70 all metals) and these 4th and 5th edition guys may well be a bit smaller (as in a tad shorter) than my later 6th edition Empire boys, I have metal fladgies (about 65 I think?) similar number of metal Teutogen guard? and about 90 metal GW Kossars
4th, 5th, and 6th edition plastic core troops (maybe 500 plastic core troops in total not including handgunners) and about 300 metal core troops from the same editions spread across roughly evenly and I'm pretty sure the earlier metals are a bit shorter, but not really any less wide or solid if you like.
Against these the older grenadier foot knights might fit in nicely. I have some old grenadier foot troops in metal already and I'm keen to get some more of the handgunners and halberdiers.
The issue is I think Soth is right where the halberdiers are concerned. The older metal halberdiers are definitely shorter than the modern plastic options.
I might have to keep the Halberd and spear units separate and not mix and mingle the older metal halberdiers with their newer plastic counterparts.
The plastic 6th edition core troops are a bit taller than the older metals.
I have around 450-500 metal DoW Empire model options on foot as well but they are almost all a bit skinnier, especially the pike blocks models, and a bit shorter than the late model plastics.
Are the metal body White Wolf Cavalry a bit smaller than the current cavalry? Or the same size?
I have 120 odd white wolf cav and if they are a bit smaller I could field them exclusively with the older models on foot.
I guess that with the Empire knights not having changed their kit for so long the white wolves are probably the same size as the regular knights?
Hmmmm... bugger.
KIslev horse archers are definitely a bit smaller but I only have 60 of them and those little rats don't have any armour on  hmmmm...
Maybe Gryphon knights will be the way forward.

Better idea, I'll just split the army into two different eras, older and newer models and the handgunners can float between the two armies because they never mingle in the units.
« Last Edit: February 29, 2012, 10:26:38 PM by Justnorth »
GW can pucker their skanky lips and suck my arse.

He's French. Since when do his plans have to be feasible?

Offline orcyboy

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1121 on: March 01, 2012, 06:16:28 AM »

If those are the same as the Grenadier/Mirlton then they work perfectly fine with GW stuff.

Orcyboy thinks they are just fine. Fair call.

They certainly don't fit in with the current Empire miniatures. They work better with the 6th ed Empire and older.

The biggest problem with them isn't so much hieght and build as it is the time period they represent.  Their dress is more directed at the Burgundian/Swiss wars era and mine are mixed in with the old 80's Bretonnian crossbowman which represnt same period.

So to be honest they mix in perfectly fine with the 80's Bretonnian/Fighters series as Midaski pointed out but will stand out like sore thumbs with the 7th ed and even 6th when considering their lack of slash and puff.  Ofcourse they still make excellent Tilean mercenaries.

Offline Justnorth

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1122 on: March 01, 2012, 07:35:10 AM »
Roger that Orcy, I've got enough miniatures to split them into time periods of manufacturing (as opposed to historical time periods) and that will mean they are unlikely to clash in terms of height or dress code/uniforms.
I do hope allies are back in the Empire book because I have a swag of puffy sleeved Imperial Dwarves that are waiting to come out of retirement.
I mean they do play in Armies of Arcana but it's been a few editions since they could officially enlist in the Empire ranks.
GW can pucker their skanky lips and suck my arse.

He's French. Since when do his plans have to be feasible?

Offline White Knight

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1123 on: March 01, 2012, 10:30:32 AM »
[The biggest problem with them isn't so much hieght and build as it is the time period they represent.  Their dress is more directed at the Burgundian/Swiss wars era and mine are mixed in with the old 80's Bretonnian crossbowman which represnt same period.

Bretonnians represent HYW period though (at least they did in the 90s), so earlier still. I do agree the grenadier stuff is too early for Empire, but then so is the Perry Miniatures stuff everyone seems to like to use for Empire.

To me, both Grenadier and Perry are better suited for Border Princes and DOW.

But the grenadier full plate knights aren't too different from the Empire ones, so should work. The horses however are rather tiny so will have to be replaced if any mounted figures are purchased.

Offline Midaski

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Re: Other Manufacturers
« Reply #1124 on: March 01, 2012, 11:38:54 AM »
The horses however are rather tiny so will have to be replaced if any mounted figures are purchased.

So suitable as MM66 Reiksgard mounts then ...................  :engel:

Quote from: Gneisenau
Quote
Metal to Finecast - It is mostly a swap of medium. 

You mean they will be using Ouija boards instead of Tarot cards for their business plans from now on?