Miniatures - description Vs. minis

[finnian3@yahoo.com]

All,
I am trying to gauge what people think about miniatures that do match description as listed in army list. An example of this would be that almost all knights are listed as being armed with lances/sword, yet many miniatures have knights that are armed with heavy weapons such as axes, maces and such. So, what do gamers think? Does it really matter what the list states, or is it a matter of taste? I ask because I am painting up 100 stands of knights. Some of these knights meet the description ie they are armed with lances, but I have a boat load of Spanish knights that are armed with heavy weapons. I am going to sell the fruits of my labor, but will anyone want to buy an army with knights that do match the list description?

What do my fellow modelers think?

[grahambriggs]

I think you'l probably be fine, as "Swordsman" covers a variety of melee weapons. But it does somewhat depend on the figures. i.e. if they are obviously depicted as charging before combat they should be depicted with lance couched.

[madaxeman]

All,
I am trying to gauge what people think about miniatures that do match description as listed in army list. An example of this would be that almost all knights are listed as being armed with lances/sword, yet many miniatures have knights that are armed with heavy weapons such as axes, maces and such. So, what do gamers think? Does it really matter what the list states, or is it a matter of taste? I ask because I am painting up 100 stands of knights. Some of these knights meet the description ie they are armed with lances, but I have a boat load of Spanish knights that are armed with heavy weapons. I am going to sell the fruits of my labor, but will anyone want to buy an army with knights that do match the list description?

What do my fellow modelers think?

No-one will care as long as they are nicely painted. The days of players looking for weapons/equipment on the figures that exactly match the literal description in the army lists went out with 6th-7th edition*

tim

(* unless you are selling 28mm figures to people who still play Warghammer Ancients)

[finnian3@yahoo.com]

I am hoping that the matter will be resolved when I sell my works. I am not willing to invest anymore money in creating armies that match the lancer/sword description. I want to paint up what I have and get them into the hands of gamers. I am lucky though, I painted up several battle groups of Teutonic knights and they are equiped as described in their list. Problems will arise with my Spanish knights; they are all heavy weapons and no lancers to show for it. So I hope the buyers will focus on the paint and not the pose.

[ravenflight]

I agree with madaxeman (mostly).

I tend to go with the 'never let the facts get in the way of a good paintjob', yet there are limits.

I try as much as possible to make little dioramas out of my BG's, so would have a mix of lance armed and sword/axe/mace armed and not really care.

Now, if I had a 'generic knight army' this is how I would go, but if I was to paint up something like 'English Knights' that have no lance I wouldn't be particularly fussed about them having lance as the description may just be explained away by their poor quality of skill in lance, but if you had several BG's (one without lancer ability and 2 with) I would (as much as possible) have no lances in the non-lancer BG's just to make it easy to identify the BG.

Example: I am in the process of painting up a Samurai army and about 1/2 of my mounted bowmen will have bow and the rest katana and naginata. I won't lose any sleep over it.

[paullongmore]

Another point is that the classification in FOG does not necessarily reflect the way miniatures should be depicted.

For instance Arab Conquest warriors are classified as offensive spear to reflect their cohesion rather than their armament.

[finnian3@yahoo.com]

It is too late for spears now as all the miniatures I have lack any lances:[ So I will double down on the painting:] Spanish Knights, heavy weapons, no lances, that is what's on the menu; now I just have to hope someone wants to make a knight heavy Spanish army.

[grahambriggs]

I'd suggest paint them as units of 4 bases each. There are a lot of Spanish armies that have 4 BGs of 4 bases each and some that have more. The early period will tend to have more knight than the later as heavily armoured knights are more expensive.

[finnian3@yahoo.com]

I will keep that in mind. I have maybe 4 BG of early Spanish Knights aka El Cid. I have about 30 BG of heavy weapon Knights.