Which are your favorite 18th century figures

[willz]

I like 28-30mm figures current favorite are Spencer Smith miniatures (but that’s because I picked up 228 cavalry figures for £12).

Early Front Rank (figures made in the 198o’s), certain Old Glory, RSM (when I can get hold of them), Irregular Miniatures and now as the range is expanding Crann Tara Miniatures.  Huzzar Miniatures are nice but limited.  Elite Miniatures, Warrior Miniatures.

Photo’s, various manufacturers,

IIrregular French marine infantry, Spencer Smith plastic figure, French Trumpeter,

[Anonymous]

I can not say I have a favourite manufacturer, I tend to shop around to see what figures poses I like and which ranges fit together. My F+I war are mostly Redoubt with some Galloping Major and conquest mins with a few foundry offficers. The 15mm Marlborough French and British armies are from Irregular mins with some Essex as Bavarian and Prussian allies.

[Not Connard Sage]

Front Rank.

 

Nice clean casts, and easy to paint.

Obvious contrarian and passive aggressive old prat, who is taken far too seriously by some and not seriously enough by others.

[Tassie Wargamer]

That is a splendid collection of miniatures with lovely paint work William Harley. While I don’t have a favourite manufacturer, at the moment my own collection includes Spencer Smith, Hinchliffe Miniatures and zinnfiguren.

My Blog: http://wargamespavilion.wordpress.com/

[willz]

Cheers for you kind comments Tassie,

“You  wrote”, While I don’t have a favourite manufacturer, at the moment my own collection includes Spencer Smith, Hinchliffe Miniatures and zinnfiguren.

What’s the size comparison for Hincliffe and Spencer Smith, I know Spencer smiths are not super detailed but I still have not found a decent  photo of them to compare.

Cheers,

Willz

[Tassie Wargamer]

William Harley there isn’t much difference in height between Spencer Smith and Hinchliffe miniatures. Spencer Smith infantry may be a fraction taller but Hinchcliffe infantry have more bulk and plenty of detail. Mounted figures vary but are generally about the same height, although once again, Spencer Smith lack the bulk and detail of Hinchcliffe. In my opinion the Hinchcliffe Miniatures range are really nice looking figures and seriously good value for money.

My Blog: http://wargamespavilion.wordpress.com/

[willz]

Cheers for your reply Tassie, that is useful information.

[Greg M]

So far, my small collection of 18th century miniatures is from Ebor.

[Henry Hyde]

Spencer Smith/Holger Eriksson, because seeing them in Charles Grant’s “The War Game” defined the period for me. But if I didn’t have a gazillion of them already, I’d be seriously consider Minden/Fife & Drum, beautifully proportioned sculpts that are highly evocative of the era. For really big battles, I’m also drawn to Pendraken’s 10mm range.

Editor, Battlegames
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[Pijlie]

Plastic 1\72 figures. I am kind of weird that way.

http://pijlieblog.blogspot.nl

[willz]

“Pijlie Wrote” Plastic 1\72 figures. I am kind of weird that.

Nothing wrong with that I have shed load of Zvezda plastic 1/72 18th century figures, I just have not got around to painting many of them.

[Neil Scott]

I’m a 15mm man and cannot look past Dixons Age of Marlborough range. Though the new Blue moon stukk looks really good

Double six! I need a double six

[Frog]

Jacobites: Front Rank. I plan to pick up the Crann Tara Royal Ecossais in the next month or two so we’ll see if my opinion changes.

 

15mm AWI: Essex, followed by Musket.

 

28mm AWI: Perry, Foundry, Wargames Factory.

Bunch of monkeys on your ceiling, sir!

[greenknight4]

40mm Sash and Sabre and of course 40mm  Trident.  I have given up on 25/28’s and can’t see 15mm anymore 🙁

Author of Day of Battle, I game in 25mm and 40mm scales. Also enjoy Horse and Musket and WWII Western Front Games.

[dhauser]

I have some Fife & Drum AWI figures and honestly I love them. They caused me to abandon my 54mm AWI project and I was a big supporter of the F&D Kickstarter. Now that Jim has picked up the Minden range to add to his catalogue I can’t imagine a better tricorn hat range out there.

Chickens got livers? I'm gettin' some!

[duc de limbourg]

My favourite figures are the Eureka French Revolutionary ones, late 18thc century I admit, but 18th century they are!.

Have already bought a reasonable amount but painted, due to lack of time, none.

Sad but true.

[melvyn Jenkins-Welch]

Where did you get all those Spencer Smiths? I’m very jealous. I love the look of the figures and they respond to my daubing quite nicely. I think if I could I’d happily sell all my other figures if I could have an unlimited supply of the plastic SS. The metal ones just don’t speak to me in the same way for some reason.

[Henry Hyde]

melvyn Jenkins-Welch wrote:

The metal ones just don’t speak to me in the same way for some reason.

+1 that. Odd, isn’t it?

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[melvyn Jenkins-Welch]

I think it might be as the plastic ones are slightly smaller, and having less heft are easier to store and move.

The plastics and the metals mix well though as I have metal standard bearers in my plastic 48 man regiments.

[Henry Hyde]

Also, if it were possible, the metals have even slightly less detail on them than the plastics. One of my ambitions would be to do a re-sculpt of one of the HE originals to see what one of those marching musketeers would look like with crisply moulded detail! 

Editor, Battlegames
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[James (olicana) Roach]

28mm Seven Years War –

Austrians – Crusader and Front Rank, good clean war games figures. I’d use Front Rank for the cavalry. Infantry, I wouldn’t mind a mix (not in the same unit).

Prussians – Foundry and Front Rank, Foundry infantry have very little equipment to paint and are well proportioned. You have to be careful with some of the Foundry cavalry command packs so I’d use Front Rank, especially for dragoons.

Russians – Foundry, the infantry without coats are a dream because you can paint them with a roller.

Brits and French – Front Rank, don’t own any but I’ve painted loads for commissions, especially French.

Otherwise, if I were to start again, Fife and Drum have a certain amount of style and I’m seeing, by the number of painting commissions I’m getting, that I’m not the only one who thinks so.

My whoring and daubing:
http://olicanalad.blogspot.co.uk/

[Iain Burt]

Henry Hyde wrote:

One of my ambitions would be to do a re-sculpt of one of the HE originals to see what one of those marching musketeers would look like with crisply moulded detail!

With you on that Henry – as you know I’m a SSM fan and such a figure would be a wonder to behold I’m sure. Couldn’t agree less about the plastics though – horrible furry things.

Iain

 

 

[Adam Hayes]

Well, now we have established that we are all  promiscuous where miniatures are concerned 🙂 …  My  Spencer Smiths have  all been replaced by Front Rank figures but the Hinchliffe  cadre  are still doing good service.  They have also been joined by Foundry and Crusader SYW latterly which are good and fit in with the Front Rank.  If I was forced to choose just one range it would probably  be the Conquest FIW figures (although the Ebor GNW range looks really excellent, the Warfare Miniatures GNW figures are very good and… Oh no, here we go again!)

[Goldwyrm]

For me it’s Minden, Fife & Drum, and Eureka for 28mm. I also use RSM for several units because they size nice with the Mindens and I also have some Front Rank artillery that I like.

Oops, almost forgot about SYW in India- I’ve got  Golconda Rising (via Eureka) and Indus Miniatures that I like.

And in plastics, the Perry stuff is great and I have some still in boxes, even if now I’m beginning to find assembling plastics to be a soul destroying waste of my more limited hobby time.

[OldNick]

Fife and Drum miniatures for Am Rev War.  Great figures and very nice/easy to paint. Especially like the campaign look for the British.

Also Kings Mountain miniatures.  A smallish company who are doing southern campaign 1780-81.  A true labor of love.  Wonderful excellent figures.  While I had only planed to have one battalion 71st in my army I added a second they were so nice.

“the regular troops, who had the keen edge of sensibility rubbed off by strict discipline and hard service, saw the confusion with but little emotion.” 

[Keith Flint]

Has to be RSM95s. Straightforward and classically elegant figures, a pretty  comprehensive range and outstandingly cheap. Easily available from the Dayton Painting Consortium in the US, who are very nice folks. If you want to supplement RSMs with speciality figures, alternative officers, perhaps some more lively cavalry poses,  Mindens are an excellent choice which match beautifully.

 

Keith Flint.

[Count Belisarius]

I shall second the various RSM related comments here. They form the core of my 28mm ImagiNation army. Like others I use some Minden for command etc. which mix well. I do have a brigade of metal Spencer Smiths (the newer WAS range) to add at some point as I feel an Imagination army should have some SSMs! I’ve also got some Holger Erikson to do. They are rather nice figures (especially the cavalry) and fit in well with the other ranges. I also like Fife and Drum and Crann Tara (there is a pattern here!).

I’ve never really taken to some of the ‘chunkier’ ranges. Lovely sculpting and I’ve seen beautiful paint jobs but they just don’t do it for me…

Andy

My Blog: Another Slight Diversion

[willz]

I agree with the last several comments above, I would like to purchase RSM Miniatures but sadly there is no European supplier and trying to have them posted from America is cost prohibitive thanks to HMCR.  The best figures I have found that match and tie in with the few RSM’s I have are Crana Tann Miniatures.

[willz]

 Oops I meant Crann Tara Miniatures.  Finger problems doo

[Brendan Morrissey]

For WSS,  the Dixon 15mm Marlburian range – terrible shame it never got finished, although I am trying to tempt Uncle Trevor to re-start it with some conversions of existing figures – eg horse and foot grenadiers in fur caps, and some better gun crews (that said, I’ve not seen better in 15mm than the “undress” Minifigs WSS gun crew, which have some superb poses).

For AWI, the Perry 28mm range, augmented by odd bits and pieces from Foundry, Front Rank, Eureka, Conquest, Redoubt (FIW Indians + their new AWI range), and even Old Glory (I say “even” as I’m not a fan of the “Hi, Steve!” camp wave/knees bent/running about poses).

I’ve noticed a few people mentioning the Blue Moon 15mm (actually 18mm+) ranges.  Generally, the infantry aren’t bad, there are lots of variations in the command packs (not many manufacturers seem to have noticed there are at least twice as many sergeants as officers in a real army).  I would have given them a serious look for AWI at least, except for the fact that  the horses (and often also the riders) are just AWFUL, no matter how often Russ Dunaway tells everyone via TMP that they are “superb”.  Sorry, but the leg poses on three of the four neddies are hilarious, and the riders “do an Essex” from the waist down, with legs better suited to 10/12mm figures.

[Meic Kelly]

WSS are Front Rank, will probably also collect Ebor, simply because I like both.

SYW currently collecting Minden Austrians, and also Pendraken Russians and Prussians (some mad plan to do Zorndorf).

The ’45 are Crann Tara, love this range in particular.

GNW plan on Ebor, will also look at others – Musketeer and Warfare, but currently planning start using Ebor.

FIW are Crusader, nice figures to paint.

AWI the bulk are Front Rank, also adding Perry Miniatures.

At some point I want to get some Spencer Smith, mostly because I want to see how I can paint them, and I think they have a particular graceful charm. These will probably be for an ImagiNation.

I like all the above ranges for different reasons, I especially enjoy painting Front Rank Miniatures, I feel I can do as little or much detail and they always look great. All in all I think we have an amazing choice of figures for the 18th Century available. There are others such as Conquest, Galloping Major, Redoubt, and Blue Moon but I haven’t got any of these yet, but …..as they are also rather nice.

Cheers

Meic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Command Base http://meicwargames.blogspot.co.uk/

[Steve Burt]

My French & Indian war stuff is a mix of Old Glory (militia and civilians), North Star, Redoubt, Front Rank and Galloping Major.

All nice figures and they work well together, but my favourites are the North Star chaps. Great sculpting and bags of character.

[armchairgeneral]

My AWI Americans are nearly all Perry’s with a few Foundry (but still Perry sculps). I love the variety of full dress, hunting shirts, “interesting hats” etc. available for continental units. The southern militia all in shirt sleeves look great as well.

For my WSS British I plan to use Fronk Rank. I already have a couple of infantry and cavalry units which I am impressed with. Such clean casting as well.
Not sure what I would use for SYW. Maybe Foundry infantry and Front Rank cavalry.

[armchairgeneral]

Sorry not sure why my post above is like this?

Sorted it now!

[Mike]

I should have let you do it!

[armchairgeneral]

Thanks Mike. I typed the text into an email so it looked like I was working Then pasted it into my post which gave me some format issues!

[repiqueone]

My 28mm WSS forces, now numbering over 1000 figures, are made up of mostly Ebor and Front Rank infantry, cavalry, and artillery, with a smattering of Old Glory, Reiver, and Blue Moon figures.  A number of Train items are one of a kind scratch built, including Louis XIVths wine wagon, a siege train,  and a modified Blue Moon General’s carriage.  I particularly like the the Ebor figures and look forward to expanding my early 18th century forces into the GNW using the new figures from Ebor.  I use Flag Dude standards, augmented by Maverick flags. Photos of the array may be seen at : https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Repiquerules/photos/albums

They make the table about once a month for a game using the linear period rules for Die Fighting!  AAR’s may be seen here:

http://www.repiquerules.com/page2/page2.html

I am very pleased that this new wargame “watering hole” has been set-up and look forward to its growing success.

 

[willz]

Thanks for all your interesting comments and posts, a wide and varied choice of figures and manufactures.  Is there as many choices as Napoleonic or WW2, I have no idea but 18t century seems to be expanding.

A big thanks to all of you who have posted links to various webs and blogs it all helps to expand the interest in 18th century gaming.

Cheers Repiqueone for your web site post interesting and informative.

[John Yates]

I really rate the Ebor WSS range, superb! Warfare are very nice if a little “slimmer” than I am used too. In 10mm I really like the Pendraken SYW range, also, their League of Augsburg  figures (not quite 18th C but damn close!) are absolutely, without question, the best 10mm figures I have seen.

John

If I start taking responsibility for my actions who knows where it would end!

[willz]

This is currently my favorite figure.

Almost finished my test figure Crann Tara miniatures, painted as Royal Lorraine 1740, just a bit of touching up to do.

Can’t decide if that is a brass attachment on the cross strap?

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[Author]

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