Conan with miniatures

[Verderer]

How many of you folks use minis with your Conan RPG? I like to use minis in gaming, plus I like to paint them. There seems to be loads of barbarians and women in scanty clothes, but other stuff is more difficult to get. I ended up ordering various historicals for regular grunt types, and will spice my selection with regular fantasy minis.

I thought some Byzantines, Moors, Huns and even Medieval Russians look good for Zamorans and surrounding environs, so I ordered a bunch of those. Might do some tiny conversions to make look more 'Hyborian', we'll see. Then there are some excellend old ranges of Grenadier and Ral Partha for Barbarians, and Nomad raider types. Rackham has real nice 'evil' and regular barbarians, Reaper has loads various ape like monsters and so on.. let me know if you have found any worthwhile stuff for Hyborian age! 8)

 

[Jeffreywns]

In most of our games I break out the battle mat but we mostly use numbered chits instead of minis for the baddies. At one point I was looking at Old Glory for theme figs. If you havent already I would check them out.

 

[Diabolus]

Any good sources for Byzantines (or historical miniatures in general)? I've had terrible luck when I was looking online.

 

[Verderer]

I ordered some from Gripping Beast. I think there are others but I liked those. Foundry doesn't make any, do they?

Oh, and Artizan Moors are really nice!

 

[Diabolus]

Thanks! re: Gripping Beast

 

[Edhel]

I just usually bring selected D&D miniatures to our Conan game. There's tons of good miniatures in DDM for cultists, monsters, undead and antiheroes.

 

[Supplement Four]

I don't quite use miniatures. But, I do use this: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/forum.php

 

[DigitalMage]

I don't quite use miniatures. But, I do use this: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/forum.php

You use the Mongoose Forums??? I think your link needs to be to the actual frame, not the overall page

 

[Verderer]

I have hoarded some interesting stuff from several manufacturers so far.

From Reaper I got a winged ape demon (!), a giant ape, three sasquatch (for your generic demon apes thingies), and of course several barbarians and generic fantasy types. Oh, and the city watch pack and cultists sacrificing a maiden (one hopes) should also be useful.

I was very happy to find out you can get old Ral Partha figs still, and I ordered from Ral Partha Europe a bunch their Barbarian Empire figs. These have slavers, marines, x-bowmen, spearmen and cavalry, and will work nicely for your generic type baddies, anything from Hyperboreans to Zamorans, they got that slightly exotic feel about them. I like them a lot. Then I was delighted to get their savage barbarians which will be excellent as Picts. They are wearing loinclothes, and some have mohawk hairdos and all them wear feather ornaments. The only tiny problem is that most of them have swords as backup weapons (main weapon being either spears of bows). I dunno how common swords are with picts, so I might swap them with maces and axes etc. Highly recommended! Ral Partha Europe also has some crocodiles, which I thought would be nice. Here's a linky to their barbarian range.

Word of warning about Ral Partha though, some of their figs are 'true' 25mm, and therefore way too small compared with the prevailing 28mm figs. So you need to be careful when picking these. Luckily Ral Partha Europe has marked each item with a size, so you will alright if you pay notice to them. The figs I mentioned above are all 28mm, and go well with other Manufacturers I mention in this post. You can also By Ral Partha from Iron Winds in the US, but their selections aren't the same (no barbarians there), and they have not marked their fig sizes, so ask before you order. I got their desert caravan pack for the camels, but it turns out they are of the small persuation, so they're useless, except for 20mm figs which I also use in other games.

Like I said earlier, I got some Gripping Beast Moors, Byzantines, Russians and Huns, and then I bought some Artizan Saracens and Moors. These will work nicely as your Shemite bandits or whatever.

 

[Malcadon]

By the way, best Conan fig EVER! (that not a McFarlane)


Reaper has a lot of great minis (even their D&D-styled minis is a hell of a lot better then those cheep, Mage-Knight gum-ball figs that Wizbro is passing off as miniatures), and you can find a good number that fits well into sword & sorcery settings.

Miniatures based on historical setting work vary well for the Conan game, and their are lots to choose from. But if you cant afford metal ones then plastic is the way to go. Caesar Miniatures sells them really, really cheep (42 infantry, 12 calvary, or 2 chariots for $11+S&H)!

 

[Verderer]

Sorry, ignore this. I guess I pressed the wrong button.

 

[The King]

But if you cant afford metal ones then plastic is the way to go. Caesar Miniatures sells them really, really cheep (42 infantry, 12 calvary, or 2 chariots for $11+S&H)!

The best address for lastic soldiers is:
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Links.html

where you can find any almost historical setting.

 

[Supplement Four]

I don't quite use miniatures. But, I do use this: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/forum.php

You use the Mongoose Forums??? I think your link needs to be to the actual frame, not the overall page

Let's try this again. :?

I use this: http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/p...8&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=

 

[Style]

Miniatures based on historical setting work vary well for the Conan game, and their are lots to choose from. But if you cant afford metal ones then plastic is the way to go. Caesar Miniatures sells them really, really cheep (42 infantry, 12 calvary, or 2 chariots for $11+S&H)!

Sweet! Been thinking about getting some new minis, and these look great for Conan.

Questions: What sets would you use for which Hyborian races? Any available in color?

The best address for lastic soldiers is:
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Links.html

where you can find any almost historical setting.

King, what's better about your site than Malcadon's? I'm having trouble finding anything of use on yours. What am I missing?

 

[Verderer]

Plastic soldiers are a good way to collect lots of figs cheaply, but there are some major disadvantages with them: firstly they're usually made of soft 'bendy' plastic which is not very durable, and it can be hard to make the paint stick to them (if you paint them, that is). Secondly they're small scale 1/72, which can be handy in terms of space, but they're also fiddly to move around. And being small and of plastic, their detail level is not very good in comparison with metals. And there is not a whole lot of decent fantasy stuff available in this scale, so you're mostly limited to historicals for choice. But each to his own, I guess. :wink:

 

[Malcadon]

Secondly they're small scale 1/72

1/72! :shock: Oops, I must have overlooked that! LOL
I have a number of 1/72 minis I use with an old sci-fi game (I even take WWII sets to kit-bash them as futuristic vehicles and soldiers). Such a scale is good if you like using small (1/2" = 5') maps. And yes, fantasy sets (more so, sword & sorcery set) are rare or really hard to find.

When I use minis for RPGs, I use 25mm scaled minis (the ones used in Warhammer and D&D Minis are 28mm) that are the size used in lots of old-school lines, like Ral Partha and Grenadier. I still use my old Ral Partha and Grenadier sets, and I use Reaper (as noted above) and Foundery as they have a wide range of historic minis.

I love old-school minis!

 

[Verderer]

Oh yeah, the Italian company Mirliton sells those Grenadier barbarians still. In fact, I have that same barbarian riding a sabre tooth, some more barbs, a shaman/giant snake pack, and a stone statue from their Amazon range. Good stuff indeed.

 

[Style]

Plastic soldiers are a good way to collect lots of figs cheaply, but there are some major disadvantages with them: firstly they're usually made of soft 'bendy' plastic which is not very durable, and it can be hard to make the paint stick to them (if you paint them, that is). Secondly they're small scale 1/72, which can be handy in terms of space, but they're also fiddly to move around. And being small and of plastic, their detail level is not very good in comparison with metals. And there is not a whole lot of decent fantasy stuff available in this scale, so you're mostly limited to historicals for choice. But each to his own, I guess. :wink:

Oh, I didn't realize they were not standard size. Thanks for the heads up.

OK, you guys help me out here. I do like metal minis better, and those reaper ones look great, but the price is too much. All I have is a handful of Wizard's D&D minis, and they're ok, but A) they're a bit pricey, B) I do not play Miniatures, and C) I dislike that I have to buy a box and take what I can get. I want to select what I want and only what I want. I do kind of like that they're in color, but then there is something to be said for having your imagination color them.

I don't paint minis, so (standard size) plastic should be ok. What would you suggest?

 

[Verderer]

Firstly, let me say is no standard size. 28mm is the most popular scale no doubt, but there are plenty of others which are very popular too. Each scale has their up and downsides are suited for particular purposes. All this I say with a :wink: .

About those D&D figs, have you tried eBay, they usually sell individual figs or collections, where you actually see what you're getting? Also, although metal figs might seem expensive (and they are, and are getting more so), there are cheaper figs in metal too. And you get what you see, so there is no random buying.

For example, those Barbarian figs from Ral Partha Europe I mentioned above cost around 6 pounds UK for 6 figs, that's around 1,5 euros or 2 dollars per fig, I believe? In my books that's dirt cheap. and I challenge you to find any figs that look more the part of savage baddies anywhere! 8)

How much does a booster (?) bag of those D&D figs cost, and how many useful figs might one contain, 1 to 2 or maybe none? You do the math. :twisted:

 

[The King]

The best address for lastic soldiers is:
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Links.html

where you can find any almost historical setting.

King, what's better about your site than Malcadon's? I'm having trouble finding anything of use on yours. What am I missing?

His link refers to only one manufacturers while this site mentions them all, as well as all the separate period of history