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Currently figures seem to come into three main catagories, separated by how much you are expected to pay for them .
Of course, these are very much generalisations; GW, for instance, charge
display figure prices for wargaming figures.
Below are a selection of manufacturers I know of, and my personal opinions
of them. I own at least one figure from all the manufacturers mentioned; I have
also looked at the ranges on their websites. One general comment first, though.
No manufacturer can expect to sell figures over the internet if they don't put
photos of them up for people to see. Speaking for myself I like to see figures
unpainted, ideally with a ruler in the picture to indicate scale.
The following links lead to more detailed reviews of specific figures in ranges. So far, there is only one such link, but I intend to add more over the next few months.
Produce a range of different figures ranging from poor wargaming quality to reasonably good. At one time they produced "Lord of The Rings" figures, but have lost the licence to GW. They now produce a range of strangely familiar figures under the title "Legions of The Realms"! They also sell a range of Doctor Who figures. Unfortunately these are packaged together in (very) rough episode order, with no other logic as to the combinations of figures. Each packet only contains one example of each monster, making it difficult (and expensive) to get, say, a force of daleks. Whoever packaged them was clearly thinking collecting rather than gaming.
UPDATE: As of early 2006, the Doctor Who figures are now available individually! For some strange reason, they decided during 2005 that these figures were worth promoting. I can't imagine why?
I regard this firm as at the top end of the wargaming figures manufacturers.
Mostly produces historical figures, including ones useful to fantasy gamers
such as Vikings, and various other barbarians (including, it has to said, a fair
number of anatomically complete nude MALE figures). Produces a small number of
explicitly fantasy ranges including elves (mostly female, many naked. One elven
"standard bearer" is rather obviously a pole dancer!), ogres (with
gunpowder), and dwarves. The main problem with the Foundry is that they only
sell figure in packs costing £8.50 each (usually 6 or 8 figures, but
sometimes only 2), and their postage rates are prohibitive on small numbers of
figures. Having said that, I am currently using one of their "Viking
Shield Maidens" as a figure for my main PC. The armour on most fantasy
figures was too elaborate for my practical, down to Earth ex-mercenary, and at
least the weaponry is in proportion. The figure is actually unarmoured, but then
the Pc doesn't live in her armour.
Oh, and their paint brushes are
rather good, but I have never tried their paints. If you see figures you like on
their website and have not bought from them before, try buying some brushes (no
postage on these). They will then probably send you their "new customer"
offer, which will let you buy figures at a reduced rate without paying postage!
Oh dear. When I started collecting (in the early eighties) Citadel were THE manufacturers for general fantasy figures. But then, White Dwarf was a superb general gaming magazine covering all the main role-playing systems. For a hint of what went wrong see White Dwarf 77 (and read between the lines... Oh, and check out the adverts). There are still a lot of old Citadel figures in my collection. Despite lacking the detail of modern figures, some of them stand up very well. I did not look at GW products for many years, but in the last 18 months or so I have bought one or two of the Lord of the Rings figures (mostly cheap, from fairs etc), which are pretty good and free of "chaos spikey bits". The warhammer figures are still naff and seem very expensive. Then again, I shouldn't be able to buy anything as Bryan Ansell once told me that, as a female gamer, I don't exist!!
Following GW's total surrender to chaos spikey bits, I did not buy many figures for a couple of years. Then a local shop started stocking Julie Guthrie's fantasy personalities range. At the time I worked a couple of doors away from the shop, so I was nearly always the first to see the figures when the new ones arrived. Suddenly I had a supply of quality figures again. Though small by modern standards, the figures were superbly detailed, and consisted of a range of role-playing character types. I currently use a fighter/mage figure as a PC. Grenadier is , alas, no more, but I believe that at least some of these figures, along with some "Metal Magic " ones are available from an American company called "Dark Ages Miniatures" (not to be to confused with Dark Age Games) They were on the Spirit Games web site but have recently vanished. In addition, EM4's barbarians carry the legend "Grenadier 1991" on their bases (and the pictures on EM4's website don't do them justice! Not my usual type of figures, but if you want an army of Conans they are well sculpted, and only £1.25 each!).
I don't understand why these figures are thought so highly of. I have
recently bought one female dwarf (Anghela) from this firm, but I am generally
not impressed by their fantasy figures. An endless succession of naked female
figures (with the odd tin can) just do not "do" anything for me. At
least they admit what their poledancers are! Female villagers? Oh yes,
barmaids, whores, and harem girls! One or two of the better figures are spoilt
by poses (kneeling, for instance), that make them unusable as gaming figures.
On the other hand, some of their other ranges are better; there are some
rather nice oriental figures which I might go for if I were running an oriental
game. The scuptor is clearly talented, so why can't he do some decent fantasy
figures?
A one man band operating from Nottingham. On principle I would like to support him, but he produces few figures that I find interesting. Specialises in big barbarians (his trademark Big Boris ) and BIG demons. His monsters are good - I have a couple of large dog-like things from him, but his people are caricatured and cartoon-like. Heresy is also an excellent source of "Greenstuff".
Originally an off-shoot of Prince August (who make figure moulds) Mithril currently exclusively produces figures based on the works of Tolkien. They descibe them as 32mm, but they are not significantly larger than figures others describe as 30, or even 28mm. They are nicely sculpted but obviously limited in range. In the past, Mithril/Prince August also produced more generic fantasy figures, including a different take on the "multi-stage figure" idea - in this case the same figure standing, fighting, sleeping and a special pose for the individual figure (mage casting, ranger drawing a bow etc). At one time Mithril/PA figures were far larger than any other range; now the rest seem to have caught up with them! In general Mithril figures lack the baroque detail found on say Rackham figures, but have an heroic quality about them; over the years I have noticed they are probably the figures most commonly picked by players to represent PCs.
Produces severely anorexic female figures, and, bizarrely, Sherlock Holmes (film version , with deerstalker, unfortunately). Two of his most recent figures also have grins worthy of The Joker. I have one of his figures - a female "tin can" that came as a free gift with my husband's book club. Sometime I may buy Kaylee, the elven sorceress, despite it being referred to as a "rock star chick" on his website. I can just about cope with an elf being that skinny!
A French company with a very distinctive style. They produce figures in a fantasy range called "Confrontation". The rules for the Confrontation game come in small booklets that you get free with the figures. They are very popular, but too stylised for my taste. None of the figures really look human. They also seem to be very fragile. I have some Griffon Duellists. The hands and swords had to be stuck on at the wrists. The wrists were so fine that I had to use super glue rather than Araldite, but every time I touch the figures the hands fall off. Needless to say, the wrists are far too tiny to put a "pin" in. Despite the game rules that come with them I suspect they are really best suited as display figures. The figures are also rather expensive.
Many of the figures on their website go back many, many years. As such, they
are often rather small by modern standards. I recently bought some old figures
which they said were "medium", which turned out to be tiny.
They also now supply figures for the German "Dark Eye" game. I don't
know anything about the game but some of the figures are very interesting.
Simple, and smaller than say Reaper figures, but just slightly "different".
For many figures they have male and female versions, although in a number of
instances the female is posed in such a way as to make her less useful for
gaming (eg seated). They seem to be quite old figures - many have 96 or 97
marked on the bases which I assume are years. They also carry the initials WK -
early figures by Werner Kloche maybe?
Probably the top manufacturer for generic fantasy figures, with figures from a variety of designers. As such, the style is quite variable, but most people should find something to suit them. There are two main ranges avaible in the UK, Dark Heaven and Warlord. In general the Warlord figures are larger and more stylised (and more expensive). One problem. The figures keep getting bigger and bigger. This is becoming a real problem. Soon they might as well call them 54mm and be done with it.
An Australian company that only produces female figures. Mostly they seem interested in things like all female "blood-bowl" teams. (Probably tame compared to Australian rules football?) They have recently discontinued their fantasy elves. This was insane, as the sorceress was the best figure they made! On the other hand, it would be worth playing "Deadlands" just to have an excuse to buy their wild west figures.
A lot of people rave about Tom Meier's elves. I'm not a great fan - I don't particularly like the clothing style, or the very narrow pinched faces. They are, however, beautifully sculpted. I have ordered an elven lady (the first of his elves I really liked) and a human female warrior, but my husband won't let me have them till my birthday, so I'll have more to say later. Unfortunately, looking at the Website, the male fighter to follow the female is, whilst well sculpted, just…..dull.
UPDATE: Well, I have painted the elven lady and the warrior, and both are in my miscellaneous figures gallery. Very delicate figures, with lots of fine detail, and quite beautiful.
An American company making figures based on artwork by (currently) Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell and Keith Parkinson. A high percentage of bimbos in bikinis, but some very good figures (male as well as female) hidden amongst them. Unfortunately, in this country (UK) only the boxed sets of six figures at a time are available. Prices range from £15-£20 for the box, depending where you shop. I have bought a couple of boxes (Elmore #6 and Elmore #7) as each had only one (to me) useless figure. Generally very high quality sculpting but scales are large, an effect made worse by the very thick bases. They seem to be primarily intended as display figures.
(c) Janet Vialls 2005: Page design by Peter Vialls: Last updated 13/2/06
