Topic: New Empire army project: alternative minis for OOP stuff?

[PLC]

Hi all. I've recently started building a small Ostermark force using boxes still officially sold by GW (next on the line are some greatswords and more state troops).







I have managed to order a decently-priced second-hand great cannon from Troll Trader but things like archers and knights are either impossible to find or absurdly expensive. Does anyone know any third parties that sell knights or militia/archers that could pass as empire soldiers? I'm aware that lots of companies like warlord games sell landsknecht/renaissance knights but my concern is that they will look weird next to regular GW minis due to scale and body proportions difference.

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

Welcome to the forum! If you painted those yourself, job very well done! There a number of threads here concerning compatibility, but it is about bedtime for me, so I'll pass it on to someone in a different time zone.

[Zygmund]

There's discussion on the FB site:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/288460758594334

By Schirripa. Maybe it's your thread?

Many companies and one-man 3d firms produce miniatures in similar scale to the GW 'heroic' 28mm.

Gamezone and MOM miniaturas have whole 28mm heroic production lines dedicated to the Empire. They may lack archers, though. I'm certain I'm missing one more Spanish company who do 28mm heroic in resin.

Fireforge's fantasy line is entirely in this scale. Their Northmen are somewhat plain, all with similar padded cloth outfit, and they might be better suited for Bretonnia. But with the excess Empire heads and arms from the boxes still sold by GW, they should be a good substitute.

Northstar fantasy line (Frostgrave & Oathmark) is a bit short, but I'd nevertheless check out their products. They're mostly bulky in the same manner GW is, and if you mount them on square bases with their round base intact, their height matches OK.

Then the 3d firms selling STL files: Highland Miniatures. Reptilian Overlord, Grimforge, LastSword come to my mind. There are more, check MyMiniFactory. Some also offer physical miniatures. I believe you should find someone in your town/county/region who prints these files for a reasonable price.

Perry, Warlord, Artizan, Foundry, The Assault Group and all others doing historical Renaissance miniatures work well in units of their own. Aesthetic views about if and when they can be mixed with GW minis vary. You can build Renaissance archers from the Perry plastics, or buy them in metal from The Assault Group or Foundry. I think Foundry actually manufactures the same metal Perry sculpts which were used for the 3rd ed Empire archers. They're a bit small, but work finely in a unit of their own.

Agree, when it comes to the aesthetic of the Huntsmen in special - a unit of hunters, in their non-military clothing - the GW Huntsmen box or the '92 metal Bergjaeger are hard to beat.

-Z

[Syphon]

A few things:

I second Z's endorsement of Gamezone. They have some stellar miniatures, though if you want entire regiments, they can be a bit costly. Think GW levels of costly. Their quality is great for centerpieces, though.



I bought this one called Ego te Absolvo and I never got around to creating it, which is a shame because it's a great miniature.



This one is a wizard, a thaumaturge to be precise. It's way too involved for me to paint with any confidence, but it's still amazing.

As for Frostgrave and Oathmark, their price/quality/quantity ratios are very fair. One box of Oathmark gives me 30 miniatures. Frostgrave is more focused on warbands so smaller numbers, though it does have a few regiment boxes. You could do worse than get Frostgrave. Plus, since they are both by Northstar, the two lines are interchangable. I've spruced up a few Frostgrave models with Oathmark parts and vice versa.

[PLC]

Thank you Fidelis. Yes, I painted them myself. I ended up picking Ostermark because I wanted to go with unusual colours.

Thank you for the suggestions Zygmund and Syphon, I reviewed most of them. Frostgrave and Oathmark look a bit too 'dark ages' for the Empire imo. Gamezone looks fantastic but they are really on the expensive side (almost 15 euros per knight). The WargamesFoundry Renaissance knights are reasonably priced and look great but I found an old thread that confirms that they are definitely smaller than GW troops (the pics aren't working anymore sadly).

The Sunland Knights from Highland Miniatures might just do the trick though they look a bit more like 3D models than sculpted minis if this makes sense. It's pretty clear they were designed with Warhammer in mind.



Hi Syphon - there is something wrong with the pics, all I can see is background smoke. I did find the mounted warrior-priest though and I agree it looks great as a hero.

[Fidelis von Sigmaringen]

For a very extensive thread on this forum: http://warhammer-empire.com/theforum/index.php?topic=31348.0

And these might be of interest too:
https://solarcrossgames.co.uk/wfb/alternative-miniatures-warhammer-fantasy/

http://warhammerarmiesproject.blogspot.com/2018/02/alternative-miniatures-empire.html?m=1

[GamesPoet]

Zyg did a great job of providing some good places to get miniatures!

I use other figures from various medieval and renaissance figures to cross them between historical and fantasy, although not recently.  Your pictures remind me of my desire to get back to inventorying my Empire fantasy figures, and probably pick up some more of the current GW ones just in case they get discontinued at some point.  Like when they eventually might get around to re-releasing the Old World stuff that we're hearing rumors about, and occasionally updates from GW.

Your painting style seems good, and a great color scheme, congrats!

[The Black Knight]

Amazing love the bright colours! Nothng beats a well painted empire army  .

I think the 3D printed stuff might be the way forward. If you are already using the 7-8th GW stuff I would stay away from all of the Oathmark/Perry/Warlord stuff, as they just are not in the same size category imho.

[White Knight]

I've got some here (scroll for the mounted ones, sculpted by FP, a forum member):
http://whiteknightminiatureimperium.blogspot.com/search/label/Getting%20Some%20Humans

[brr-icy]

I dunno if there's a rule against it, but I've had a lot of luck with used armies from others. think I paid like 300 cad for almost a 6,000 point army that had no paint on it, just glued together. try Logan's Miniature Market on facebook, he tends to put together army deals, be a good way to start your force.

[PLC]

I dunno if there's a rule against it, but I've had a lot of luck with used armies from others. think I paid like 300 cad for almost a 6,000 point army that had no paint on it, just glued together. try Logan's Miniature Market on facebook, he tends to put together army deals, be a good way to start your force.

Huh, just my luck, I see that a bunch of brand new knights were sold for a few days ago.

I've got some here (scroll for the mounted ones, sculpted by FP, a forum member):
http://whiteknightminiatureimperium.blogspot.com/search/label/Getting%20Some%20Humans

Thank you for the suggestion. How do they compare to 7-8th edition GW miniatures in terms of size and body proportions?

[Tyvw]

Those are some good looking units, I especially like the outriders.

[Rowsdower]

Perry miniatures make several historical kits. I've spent the past two days turning a "dark age" kit into men at arms.

P.s my keyboard is busted sorry if any of this is unreadable

[Zygmund]

Perry miniatures make several historical kits. I've spent the past two days turning a "dark age" kit into men at arms.

Does Perry make "dark age" kits? Had to check their website and found none. I guess you might have Gripping Beast in mind?

-Z

[White Knight]

Thank you for the suggestion. How do they compare to 7-8th edition GW miniatures in terms of size and body proportions?

The mounted ones are in a compatible size and proportion to those.

The foot models are more 4-5th edition.

[Rowsdower]

The proxy men at arms I've just made are from GBP. I'm unsure how old they are.
They are a close enough size to GW minis and are the same height when mounted to bases