Slitherine

I just picked up the rules set today and would like to put together a Roman force. Besides Warlords Games and Wargames Factory are there any other miniature companies that I should look into?

Your input would be greatly appreciated!

spidey16 wrote:I just picked up the rules set today and would like to put together a Roman force. Besides Warlords Games and Wargames Factory are there any other miniature companies that I should look into?

Your input would be greatly appreciated!

Honestly, I can't see why you would look past Warlord? Multi-variable poses in hard plastics - what else do you want?

Regards

Ian

Romans cover over 1000 years of history, 2000 if you count the East Roman Empire, too.
What period exactly do you favor?

Warlord Games and Wargames Factory do Marian Romans and Early Imperial Romans, but there is so much more, especially the interesting Polybian or Mid-Republican Romans.

I would check the usual suspects like Foundry, Essex, Irregular etc.
I know 1st Corps does Polybian Romans.

Thanks for the suggestions. I have not picked a period yet. I am trying to figure out what my options are. You guys have given me enough information to keep me busy for a while. Thanks again.

rafm.com in Canada has a sale on at the moment of its ancients...$4.50 Canadian for 6 figures. They are multiparts, interchangable heads, shields, weapons.

Blathergut wrote:rafm.com in Canada has a sale on at the moment of its ancients...$4.50 Canadian for 6 figures. They are multiparts, interchangable heads, shields, weapons.

RAFM minis are quite nice too. They are 25mm figures not 28mm, and thus ACTUALLY FIT the bases of the rules sets out there!

The primary issue - as pointed out above - is which Roman army you want to do.

Of course if the question is which Romans why not make it easier on yourself and choose a non-Roman army (yes Blathergut and his Romans are my armies arch-nemises) Rafms ancient range can give you lots of choices in either Romans or non-Romans. And they are not that expensive.

Old Glory has a fair sized selection of 25mm Romans and opponents. Black Tree Design is another. Then, there is Wargames Foundry.

I am awaiting more releases from WF. They do appear to be planning some mix and match releases. They have a sprue of generic bodies now. Just may make it possible to field troops that seldom if ever get made for wargaming in 25/28mm.

Right now, Black Tree Design is having a GREAT sale.....50% discounts on most of their minies. Got Romans and opponents too.

I am partial to Gripping Beast's figures. They do Mid-Republicans (with a nice looking Scipio vignette), Caesar's Legions, Early Imperial (sorry, Principate) in Lorica Segmentata with Semi-Cylindrical Scutum and Late Romans/Romano British.

I only have the Domintae/Foederate period (mix of Romano-British, Late Roman, British and Welsh Kingdoms, Germans, Saxons, Scots & Picts, Irish and some Huns). All very pretty but obviously quite pricey (it has taken me years to assemble this collection) but well worth it.

Ral Partha did some nice 25mm Historicals but they are difficult to get hold of now. Their Hoplites were very nice, as are the Aztecs and Conquistadors, but the cavalry are a bit hit and miss.

I think you need to figure out what you are looking for and what your budget is. I'm pretty fond of two lead lines just because of the beauty of the figures:
Wargames Foundry Caesarian Romans are really beautiful with a lot of good variety. I like their "standing menacing" pose for its utility on the base. It's great if you're into Sulla, Pompey, Caesar, or Antony. This gives you a range of opponents including Pontic, Greek, Gallic, and other Romans of course. These are not inexpensive of course.
A&A miniatures has a beautiful looking range of imperial romans more for 3rd century kinds of armies. I'm not sure about the size fit on the bases for these but they do look beautiful.
For both of them you can get LBMS shield transfers which make the armies very doable.

I'm also quite fond of the Crusader middle republican roman.

I did not realize there were that many companies producing miniatures. I am only familiar with Warlords and Wargames Factory. I need to review all the sites (and check out the sales!) you have suggested and figure out what to play with. Thank you for your comments.

Foundry have a 20% discount (off everything, not just Romans) promotion on for the next couple of days.

I was partial to Gripping Beast when I started down this LONG ROAD of Ancients back about 5 years ago - they have great figures BUT if you are in the US - they are hard to come by right now - unless you want to get them from "across the big pond" - as there is currently NOT a distributor here in the USA. If you are in England - I would go that route - BUT they are not cheap

The wargames stuff is nice - with some good Auxilea stuff coming out and more on the way - I am told - I saw some great stuff at Historicon.

I would counsel you to pick a Roman army to fight one of the other guys in your gaming groups army - so you can have some good historical fights.
I like the Late Republic (Marian) and the Principate (early Imperial) myself because - I like that part of history. My buddy has Selucids so the Late Republic guys made the most sense for me - so I started there.

I have been selling off my 28mm guys and I am going to go - ALL 15mm

I bet no matter what you do - you will change some later - but like it says in the FOG book - pick some generic guys - German Aux, Gauls, Spanish, etc and they can serve with MANY armies

I have about 300-400 hundred Saxon/Gaul/Celt/Germans/with a few lightweight Normans tossed in the mix. Those foot, mostly have shields and spears. About half of them have helmets. About two thirds of the ones with helmets have chainmail....A few warriors have swords/axes/hand weapons.

Most of my Romans are Old Glory Republican Romans. I have some Foundry Rep. Ros. and a fair number of Wargames Foundry Rep. Ros. Got about 60 cav, auxiliary cav. I also have 24 WF, plastic Celt cav Got "a plan" for them too.

As mentioned.....buy what will work to use against your opponent's minies/armies. Do buy what you like and want to push.