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January 30, 2007

My Favorite [Best?] Miniature Line Ever

I am in the mood for some kinda top 10 list, so here's my pick on the best miniature lines (past and present). It's all IMO of course so take it with a grain of salt...

These are in no particular order..

1. Wood Elves from Thunderbolt Mountain: Tom Meier is one talented sculptor, his stuff is so life-like (and free from the usual bulge of lead miniatures) that one is hard pressed to believe that these mini-masterpieces are only 30mm and not some 54mm kit. They are also surprisingly cheap when purchased in bulk (hmm, that's why I have a wood elf army that I am not sure what to do with). There are downside of course in that they are very hard to paint properly (so I left them to the professionals). Tom also have a very informative blog on his sculpting process. I hope more artist will do this...

2. 25mm Colonials from Ral Partha: Since I am on a Tom Meier kick, might as well list his other line. This is the range that got me into colonial gaming (and thus a life time of obsession). Back in 1984[?] not only was it the best sculpted figures around, they are also super cheap (10 figures for $4.00 whereas most other historicals are running around 90 cents ea.) They are a little static nowadays but the anatomy still holds up.

3. 28mm Darkest Africa from Foundry. Mark Copplestone is probably my other favorite miniature sculptor, and his style couldn't be more different from Mr. Meier. Whereas Meier's figures are super realistic, Copplestone figures have a caricature quality to it, yet they aren't as grotesque as GW figures so for me they strike a fine balance. The DA range is such a large collection of figures and characters, one can't help but come up with background for some of the more colorful figures. His current range is Back of Beyond which shares the same quality as his DA range. Many of Copplestone's earlier figures (fantasy, ancients) have been re-released by Companion Miniatures.

4. 25mm Foundry Macedonians- Sorry to say I don't know who the sculptor is, but I would place this as the best Ancient line EVER. The figures are nicely designed, realistically proportioned, and yet still relatively easy to paint. Foundry seems to went downhill soon after that came out and that is a shame.

5. 15mm AB Napoleonic line- These are hard to get here in the US and cost an arm and a leg, but when you look at the pictures it's hard to imaging that these are ONLY 15mm. If I can afford it I would do my Nappy army in these babies, or if I'd go 25mm for that period I will go...

6. 25mm Perry Napoleonics- I was a fan of the Perry brothers back in their Foundry days, but had issues with some casts (mainly their cavalry figures which seems to suffer from a short crotch syndrome. Since they strike out on their own label they went from strength to strength (Their Samurai, Saracen, and Sudan range are all supreme and any of these ranges can easily find a spot on this list). I think they hit their peak with their latest 1815 French Napoleonics. Some of the vignette are so lifelike that you just had to paint some up. (There are even delusions about doing a Waterloo project in 25mm in time for the bicentennial but the thought was quickly suppressed from the mind).

Honorable Mention: GW LOTR Range: The reason this did not score as high is because it's not a really single range by a single sculptor, and therefore suffered from some NOT AS GOOD figures. If you just single out the cream of the crop though they can easily find a spot here (since many of them are Perry cast that is not surprising..) Now GW pricing is still something I can't accept (and a reason I didn't get into the game), but since price/quality ratio is not really an issue on this list I left that factor out.

Posted by msoong at January 30, 2007 01:06 PM

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