08-31-2010, 08:03 PM
I have a pre-complied list I put together for another forum of a good chunk of the 'current' 28mm designers on the market. Note that this list is biased primarily towards plastic manufacturers, an indication of the author's personal prejudice and the fact that the number of plastic 28mm manufacturers can be counted on one hand, whereas the number of metal manufacturers is considerably higher.
Mantic Games
http://www.manticgames.com/
Offering an ever-expanding range of nice, if different-looking multi-part plastic fantasy warriors - their range now consisting of a relatively well-stocked Undead set (Skeletons, Revenants and Ghouls), they do look like a decent bunch to say the least. They're also pretty cheap. I think one of their offers comes in at £24 for 40 miniatures, and £12.50 for 20.
Third-Party review: The undead are fantastic. Closer to 30mm than true 28mm, but very nice models, quite posable and fantastic-looking, good quality plastics
Warlord Games
http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/
Another decent one for the Fantasy miniatures - well, Historical, but if you're like me and you like to mix your History and Fantasy (like mixing drinks, but without the nasty side-effects), they're a decent bunch again. Their prices seem decent - £18 for 40 Pikemen, £16 for 34 Hoplites, £20 for 30 Dacians, £17 for 30 Legionaires and so on.
They also stock a alright-looking WWII miniatures range, with both soldiers and vehicles (28mm scale).
Perry Miniatures
http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index2.html
These guys do Napoleonics, War of the Roses infantry, English Civil War and Samurai-era models. They haven't got a gallery going for some parts of their range, but the War of the Roses stuff looks pretty good, as does the Napoelonics. 40 men for £15 with their War of the Roses miniatures. £15 will also get you 15 Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry.
Victrix miniatures.
http://www.victrixlimited.com/
Makers of hard plastic 28mm Napoleonics. The cavalry would be fantastic for Rough Riders or other cavalry, and the infantry could make decent converts for Guard - including Drookians, as they make a decent Highlander kit. They also say they'll be releasing Hoplite sets come September 2010.
Wargames Factory
http://www.wargamesfactory.com/
One of the most fantastic miniature companies out there. Sells the infamous plastic Greatcoat soldiers that can easily double as Guardsmen for a lot cheaper, splendid sculpts and come with a lot of options. Beyond that, they do plastic Romans, plastic Vikings and Saxons, Numidians, and Zulus for all the fantasy players out there. They also make a fantastic modern zombie plastic kit for dirt cheap. So a good range that with some converting can cover most of the ancient world. More updates on these soon.
Immortal Miniatures
http://www.immortalminiatures.com/
Makers of some truly fantastic Greek Hoplite models. Not the most customisable, but excellent quality sculpts, cheap, plentiful and good quality all around. A great buy for an alternate-looking fantasy army or hellenic army, they'll provide you with a good, solid phalanx of heavy spearmen with which to crush your foes. I can personally recommend these, as they are cheap, solid and have a respectable number of options, and with some conversions would make truly beautiful models. I'll update you on the convert-ability of these when I get some stuff to conver them with.
Copplestone Casting
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/
Looks fairly decent - expensive though, as the miniatures are metal (and £8 for 5). Reasonable-looking sculpts though, but a female dog to convert into things with their being metal.
Pig Iron Productions
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/
Another all-metal company. Again, decent-looking sculpts, but they also sell separate heads, weapons and accessories for relatively cheap, which make fantastic conversion pieces for your Guardsmen. Their sculpts are pretty good and their prices seem to be reasonable.
West Wind
http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/
West Wind's main lines offer an alternate-historical WWII era range of miniatures, complete, like Pig Iron, with separate heads ideal for conversion work. The models are metal though, so they come in expensive (4 for £5), but more reasonable than other retailers (Copplestone *Cough*)
The Assault Group:
http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/
These guys offer a wide range of (metal) miniatures, most notably Reinessance, Medieval Asian, Modern, WW2 and Cold War era. They all appear to be metal, and are expensive (4 for £5), but the sculpts look decent-ish.
Reaper Miniatures
http://www.reapermini.com/
Decent-looking sculpts, but retardedly expensive like all the metal-miniatures sculpts out there. Excellent range of Sci-Fi and Fantasy metal models. Probably good for one-off purchases, but not wise for army building.
Privateer Press
http://privateerpress.com/
Makers of the famous "Warmachine" and Hordes line of miniatures, and probably the closest thing GW has to a competitor, Privateer Press do an outstanding series of infantry and 'warjacks (in essence, small mechs), along with solo models. Their base sizes are different to GW, so you may need to rebase them, and the models are all in metal (though tend to be excellent quality. However, they are, being metal, rather expensive models and will be a pain in the ass to construct.
Requiem's Review: 9/10
Thunder's Opinion: 8/10 (I offer the second opinion here for reasons of my own.)
Hassle Free Minis
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/index.php
Apparantly giving slow service (but helpfully), these guys do decent-looking casts (metal again, so there will be all the issues associated therein). Good for single models and converting parts, I'd expect.
Essex miniatures
http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/frames25mmcont.html
Providers of cheap historical/modern miniatures, metal. Sculpts don't look too refined but that could just be poor painting. Cheap, and could add some variety to a Fantasy army.
Renegade miniatures
http://www.renegademiniatures.com/index.html
There guys make a number of decent, relatively cheap metal sculpts (£12 for 20) of a number of historical armies (Rome, Carthage, Celts, Napoleonics, American Civil War, English Civil War...). Not much else to say. Another run-of-the-mill metal sculpt producing company.
Mantic Games
http://www.manticgames.com/
Offering an ever-expanding range of nice, if different-looking multi-part plastic fantasy warriors - their range now consisting of a relatively well-stocked Undead set (Skeletons, Revenants and Ghouls), they do look like a decent bunch to say the least. They're also pretty cheap. I think one of their offers comes in at £24 for 40 miniatures, and £12.50 for 20.
Third-Party review: The undead are fantastic. Closer to 30mm than true 28mm, but very nice models, quite posable and fantastic-looking, good quality plastics
Warlord Games
http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/
Another decent one for the Fantasy miniatures - well, Historical, but if you're like me and you like to mix your History and Fantasy (like mixing drinks, but without the nasty side-effects), they're a decent bunch again. Their prices seem decent - £18 for 40 Pikemen, £16 for 34 Hoplites, £20 for 30 Dacians, £17 for 30 Legionaires and so on.
They also stock a alright-looking WWII miniatures range, with both soldiers and vehicles (28mm scale).
Perry Miniatures
http://www.perry-miniatures.com/index2.html
These guys do Napoleonics, War of the Roses infantry, English Civil War and Samurai-era models. They haven't got a gallery going for some parts of their range, but the War of the Roses stuff looks pretty good, as does the Napoelonics. 40 men for £15 with their War of the Roses miniatures. £15 will also get you 15 Napoleonic Heavy Cavalry.
Victrix miniatures.
http://www.victrixlimited.com/
Makers of hard plastic 28mm Napoleonics. The cavalry would be fantastic for Rough Riders or other cavalry, and the infantry could make decent converts for Guard - including Drookians, as they make a decent Highlander kit. They also say they'll be releasing Hoplite sets come September 2010.
Wargames Factory
http://www.wargamesfactory.com/
One of the most fantastic miniature companies out there. Sells the infamous plastic Greatcoat soldiers that can easily double as Guardsmen for a lot cheaper, splendid sculpts and come with a lot of options. Beyond that, they do plastic Romans, plastic Vikings and Saxons, Numidians, and Zulus for all the fantasy players out there. They also make a fantastic modern zombie plastic kit for dirt cheap. So a good range that with some converting can cover most of the ancient world. More updates on these soon.
Immortal Miniatures
http://www.immortalminiatures.com/
Makers of some truly fantastic Greek Hoplite models. Not the most customisable, but excellent quality sculpts, cheap, plentiful and good quality all around. A great buy for an alternate-looking fantasy army or hellenic army, they'll provide you with a good, solid phalanx of heavy spearmen with which to crush your foes. I can personally recommend these, as they are cheap, solid and have a respectable number of options, and with some conversions would make truly beautiful models. I'll update you on the convert-ability of these when I get some stuff to conver them with.
Copplestone Casting
http://www.copplestonecastings.co.uk/
Looks fairly decent - expensive though, as the miniatures are metal (and £8 for 5). Reasonable-looking sculpts though, but a female dog to convert into things with their being metal.
Pig Iron Productions
http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/
Another all-metal company. Again, decent-looking sculpts, but they also sell separate heads, weapons and accessories for relatively cheap, which make fantastic conversion pieces for your Guardsmen. Their sculpts are pretty good and their prices seem to be reasonable.
West Wind
http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/
West Wind's main lines offer an alternate-historical WWII era range of miniatures, complete, like Pig Iron, with separate heads ideal for conversion work. The models are metal though, so they come in expensive (4 for £5), but more reasonable than other retailers (Copplestone *Cough*)
The Assault Group:
http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk/
These guys offer a wide range of (metal) miniatures, most notably Reinessance, Medieval Asian, Modern, WW2 and Cold War era. They all appear to be metal, and are expensive (4 for £5), but the sculpts look decent-ish.
Reaper Miniatures
http://www.reapermini.com/
Decent-looking sculpts, but retardedly expensive like all the metal-miniatures sculpts out there. Excellent range of Sci-Fi and Fantasy metal models. Probably good for one-off purchases, but not wise for army building.
Privateer Press
http://privateerpress.com/
Makers of the famous "Warmachine" and Hordes line of miniatures, and probably the closest thing GW has to a competitor, Privateer Press do an outstanding series of infantry and 'warjacks (in essence, small mechs), along with solo models. Their base sizes are different to GW, so you may need to rebase them, and the models are all in metal (though tend to be excellent quality. However, they are, being metal, rather expensive models and will be a pain in the ass to construct.
Requiem's Review: 9/10
Thunder's Opinion: 8/10 (I offer the second opinion here for reasons of my own.)
Hassle Free Minis
http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/index.php
Apparantly giving slow service (but helpfully), these guys do decent-looking casts (metal again, so there will be all the issues associated therein). Good for single models and converting parts, I'd expect.
Essex miniatures
http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/frames25mmcont.html
Providers of cheap historical/modern miniatures, metal. Sculpts don't look too refined but that could just be poor painting. Cheap, and could add some variety to a Fantasy army.
Renegade miniatures
http://www.renegademiniatures.com/index.html
There guys make a number of decent, relatively cheap metal sculpts (£12 for 20) of a number of historical armies (Rome, Carthage, Celts, Napoleonics, American Civil War, English Civil War...). Not much else to say. Another run-of-the-mill metal sculpt producing company.
Alexander Hunt, Mercenary Economist-for-hire, modeller, amateur historian, debater and amateur wargames designer. May have been involved in the conquest of Baktria.
