Ask the CFM: Female characters

A pretty big installment of Ask the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist today. Back in August 2013, Taylor Jordan writes:

I was wondering if you were going to sell any figures that could work for female warriors/cleric/paladin archetypes in the 1/72 scale. I'm finding that to be the most difficult thing to find, and of course my randomized Caeser set didn't come with any female fighters ><

This is an excellent question, and one that I've been wanting to explore more fully. I don't want to give the impression that female characters are like some sort of alien species, like elves or orcs, but female characters in general do present a challenge to the 1/72 fantasy miniaturist. 1/72 scale is principally a historic hobby, and the fact of the matter is that historically speaking, very nearly all soldiers have been male. So male figures are vastly over-represented in this scale as far as fantasy gaming is concerned. Luckily there are options if you know where to look. So let's see what's out there.

We'll start with 1/72 figures made specifically for fantasy. From left to right are a Caesar Miniatures Undead vampire, three Caesar Adventurers, two Caesar Elves, and an Alliance Orc (set 3) which could just as well be human. More Caesar Adventurers can be seen here. You'll see I'm missing the female warrior character that Nathan mentions; it hasn't been in either of the sets I've purchased (which seem to be missing the exact same figures, but that's another post maybe). A lot of these are on the mild, Larry-Elmore-esque cheesecake side, which may not be to everyone's taste. Other options abound, luckily.

Arcane Legions figures, for more 1/72 figures made for fantasy. Left to right: a Han hero, three Roman priestesses, and Egyptian lion rider and Han "jorogumo" (spider monster) with leg swaps from Caesar figures, and three Egyptian sorceress types.

Some historic 1/72 figures easily adapted to fantasy. Left to right: three Orion "English Pirates", two Hat figures from the "Gallic Chariot w Warrior Queen" (i.e. Boudica) set, a Hat druid from their "Gallic command" set (which seems female but also seems to have a mustache, so ??), a Caesar "Hebrew Warrior" (who could be Deborah or possibly Judith), a Caesar noble from their "Samurai w Ninja" set, and an Esci/Italeri barbarian.

Civilian figure sets offer many more female figures in 1/72 than military sets. These are just a sample of what I have, from sets made by Strelets, Linear-B, and Imex. The figures represent diverse eras from Rome to Renaissance England to Early American, but I think they actually hang together just fine for fantasy.

As I often mention, halflings and gnomes from larger-scale fantasy miniature lines—such as Dungeons and Dragons or Reaper Miniatures—may be easily adapted to 1/72 scale. This is a great, if relatively expensive, way to find female character minis. The painted minis are D&D figures; the unpainted are Reaper Bones. From left to right: a gnome fighter, Champion of Yondalla, halfling cleric, halfling archer, Lidda the halfling adventurer, halfing paladin, Elliwyn the gnome bard, and Cassie the gnome sorcerer. The D&D halflings can be a little on the small side for 1/72 humans but should work fine at the table. The Reaper figures are about the right height, though the large heads may be off-putting to some.

A special challenge is finding suitable female minis for gnomes, halflings, and dwarves in 1/72. Here's the best I've been able to find. From left to right: a D&D halfling tombseeker, D&D halfling veteran, Lidda the halfling rogue (repainted), a gnome rogue and dwarf cleric from the World of Warcraft board game, and Ingrid the gnome rogue from Reaper Miniatures. The last two are the best I've found for cheap 1/72 female dwarves, though the World of Warcraft figures may now be hard to find.

Here are the female figures I've painted myself. To the left of the Arcane Legions witch is the original bizarre "Modu Shanyu" figure for comparison.

These are perhaps not all the plastic female character minis available that will work for 1/72 fantasy gaming. Hopefully that gives an idea of what's available. As always, if you have any other questions for the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist, please ask in the comments!

Ask the CFM: Here fishy fishman!

Pic credit: Wookiepedia

Going out of town this week, so no time to paint! Instead, it's Ask the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist, where I answer your questions about 1/72 fantasy minis. Back in October '13, David Thorpe asks:

Are you aware of any mermaid/mermen/sea people etc in 1/72? Would like some to create an army for a Poseidon I have. I already have large sea monsters and some 1/72 dolphins/sharks/rays for riders if I can make some, but actual mer type people seem to be hard to find or too large. Thanks

My original answer:

Depends on what you mean: these fishmen from Elhiem Miniatures are ostensibly 20mm, though they're apparently on the stumpy side. I also like the murloc figures (on the right) from the WoW board game, though you may have trouble finding them (I got lucky and found an incomplete set of the board game on eBay for cheap). 

For mermaids, there's this 15mm model from Rebel Miniatures, or these HO scale figures from Preiser. Both may be a little small, and either would be kind of an expensive way to make an army. I also think these snake women figures (discussed in this post) could make for good conversion possibilities.

You could go the other way: find some tails from some fish minis that are about the right size (these Safari Ltd. critters, possibly?) and swap them with the legs of some suitable 1/72 soldiers. Ironically, these "Sea Peoples" figures might fit the bill.

Further thoughts: The new Zombie Pirates set from Mars, which I recently discussed, has a 1/72 mermaid figure. Mars' original Zombie Pirates set has a few movie-inspired sea mutant figures that may also work for a marine army, depending on how grotesque you want to get.

Got a question about 1/72 fantasy? Feel free to leave a question in the comments.

Ask the CFM: Rogues, assassins and other dishonorable skulkers

Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

It's "Ask the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist", where I try to answer reader questions about 1/72 fantasy miniatures. In this installment, reader Eric asks:

I was wondering, have you found 1/72 rogues, thieves, assassins?

My answer [with updated comments]:

Good question! The Caesar Miniatures Adventurers set has a few figures that would make good rogues, as does Orion's English Pirates set. Valdemar has had this set of assassins in their preview gallery for months (Paul managed to get ahold of set), but there's no word on when it would ever be produced, and it would probably be expensive. [The Valdemar assassins have been in production for a little while as it happens. It's about as expensive as I feared, though.] 

I've got ahold of some D&D-scale halfling miniatures that are good as 1/72 human-scale rogues; there are a few such mins out there that I think would work [More suitable D&D minis for 1/72 rogues can be found here]. I suspect this 15mm set from Splintered Light Miniatures would be good for 1/72 halfling rogues.

As I read your comment, I got the idea of doing head swaps between these Zvezda peasants (especially the hooded ones) and, say, these Orion Vikings, for a passable rogue/assassin conversion. I've already used the Zvezda heads to begin some cultist conversions.

Reader Shintokamikaze also reminds me that just as various 1/72 pirate sets make great rogues, many 1/72 ninja sets, such as this one from Caesar Miniatures, have great hooded assassin types.

Got more questions for the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist? Please send them along and I'll do my best to answer.

Ask the CFM: Devils and Clerics (and other folks)

Pic credit: Zigzag Journeys to Northern Lands; via Project Gutenberg.

It's "Ask the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist", where I try to answer reader questions about 1/72 fantasy miniatures. In this installment, Raph from the 1/72 Minis Google+ group asks:

1- what about tieflings and other d&d playable races (halfeling, ferals, etc.)2 - what would be your choice for a typical d&d cleric ?

1.) Tieflings could simply be any old human figure painted red or some other exotic color, maybe with some horns made from Milliput or Kneadatite. If you're looking for something more overtly devilish, there are certainly possibilities. I've discussed some devilish conversions I made previously. You may also want to check out these demon figures from Twilight Creations; they're a pretty good match for 1/72 figures.

I could do a pretty detailed post about halfings, but I'll keep it short (heh). Turns out there are a lot of DnD halfling figures that work with 1/72 scale. I'd also consider 15mm figures, such as these guys, for 1/72 halflings. Lord of the Rings hobbit minis from Games Workshop may also be something to consider; they look a little too chunky next to 1/72 figures, but aren't bad.

A DnD halfling, Games Workshop hobbit, and Sven.

I'm not sure what you mean by "ferals." If you mean wildmen, there are lots of 1/72 barbarian sets available (these are my favorite). If you mean beastmen, there are various 20mm and 15mm metal figures that ought to work, and headswaps with animal figures are always an option.

2.) There are two images that come to mind when one thinks of a DnD cleric; the armored warpriest, and enrobed holy man. For the former, any old knight figure (such as these) should do the trick. You may also find this post helpful for finding suitable clerics of this type.

There are more 1/72 scale guys in robes than you might imagine. For Christian priests, consider these sets among many. For more generic dudes in robes, these sets may be useful.

Any more questions? Feel free to ask the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist, and I'll do what I can.

Ask the CFM: Greek Monsters

Photo credit www.CEDMagic.com

It's "Ask the Cheap Fantasy Miniaturist"! Every now and then visitors ask me questions about where to find various minis in 1/72 scale, and I do my best to answer in the comments. Since I'm on a hiatus from the hobby, I thought it'd be good to feature some of these Qs&As.

Let's start with Dave, who in this thread asks:

Hi, was wondering if you have any harpies, satyrs, driders or half snake type D&D minis, and if so, how well do they fit into 1/72.

They look ideal for adding to an ancient Greek army I'm slowly putting together; but as i'm UK based I don't want to waste any money on ordering from either the US or overpriced UK stockists if they're too big/small.

Thanks for any help! Love the blog :-)
Dave

My answer:

Hey Dave, thanks! You'll find that most DnD minis will look a little large next to 1/72 figures. The ones I use are actually meant for small critters in DnD scale; a lot of those halfing minis look about human sized in 1/72, but that also means that most human figures in DnD scale look too big in 1/72.

There are some other possibilities. For satyrs, try Splintered Light in 20mm. For snakemen, you might be able to modify these Armies of Arcana 15mm figures, or just settle for smaller snakemen. Similarly, you may be able to make these 15mm Demonworld harpies work. For driders, you can try to find jorogumo figures from Arcane Legions, or just buy a Han booster brick. I discuss these figures here. I'm going to do some body swaps on the jorogumo figures with some Caesar Miniatures elves to give my driders more variety.

A recent post at 1/72 Multiverse shows that this harpy figure is also a good match for 1/72. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out my snakemen conversions. For other Greek Monsters, check out the Roman or Egyptian booster brick for Arcane Legions or the Greek Age of Mythology set from Eagle Games.

I've got a few more of these questions I'd like to feature. If you have anything more for me, feel free to ask!