IMHO, the best mini company is...

Trying to get a consensus for who makes the best minis, and why. Clearly, this is a highly subjective question, so feel free to quantify your response with your prerequisites. Personally, I am looking for a company that does high quality fantasy figurines. Super detailed and very artistic. By artistic I mean a subject that tells a story. The best example of a company I can think of that fulfills these requirements for me is Kingdom Death. However, they are pretty much all sold out. My final question, then, is where can I find mini's like Kingdom Death produce????
 

Mortarion101

New member
Personally I'd say Reaper Miniatures. They have a HUGE catalog of figs, some of the older stuff does look... dated but then again it is the old stuff! Their newer stuff is top notch though!
 

gohkm

Active member
The old Rackham miniatures. Best miniatures in the world, although they did have some shockers.

The old Ilyad Vorags were pretty good, too.

But customer service wise, Hasslefree wins hands down.
 

HodRod

Member
The pre-plastic Rackham stuff was some of the best minis ever created IMHO. Seeing them online is one thing, but painting them is a whole other. They are the most fun minis I have ever painted. The shapes, the postures, the expressions are just a joy to work with. The details makes you feel like a better painter than you might actually be, because they have put so much into it. It's almost like a paint between the lines and then when you're done, you go: WOW! I did that.

A second place, IMHO, would be Imbrian Arts, they do some really great looking stuff. I haven't painted any, but the sculpts look great.
 

Wigdog

New member
Hard question to answer - I too like Kingdom of Death - but for individual miniatures to tell a story - I like Smart Max - quality is superior. With new companies, I like Ammon Miniatures, Imbrian Arts and the Wild West figures. But companies like Bombshell Babes, Degra, Enigma, Figone, Guild of Harmony, Infamy, Kabuki, Studio McVey, and Wyrd have some incredible individual models as well as other companies I haven't mentioned. So what I"m saying is I don't have a favorite company and unless you want a certain theme - like orcs, babes, old west, etc - you should look at all the figure companies and find what you want to paint based on size, theme, quality, and price. (IMHO)

You also may want to look at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ure?ref=search, this is an up and coming company - no I don't have a dog in the pound - but I did pledge and looks like some great sculpting.
 
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Bailey03

Well-known member
Yeah, the old Rackham figures are definitely great minis. Although since they're no longer in production they can be hard to find. Check ebay or you can often find people selling them here (trading post section of the forum). Be wary of ebay though, there are a lot of recasters selling pirated copies of the figures. Aside from the usual reasons not to buy pirated copies the quality of the casting can be very poor depending on who did it.

Studio McVey makes some very high quality figures. I really like the stuff Enigma does. You can find them in the CMON store. They make mostly 28-32mm figures but they do have a small line of 54mm scale (I'm working on one right now). You should also take a look at Red Box Games. I think their sculpts have a lot of character in them and they aren't too expensive. They are small though. I'd say they're closer to 25mm scale then 28mm. Doesn't seem like a big difference but painting those tiny faces is tough!

If you're looking for something different, consider trying a 54mm figure. At roughly twice the scale of 28mm figures you've got a lot more room to work and can paint in a lot more details. I already mentioned Engima has some but here are a few other companies that come to mind:
Andrea Miniatures Warlord Sage range
Draconia from Ares Mytholoic
Nocturna - has 28mm, 54mm, 70mm and busts

And, when all else fails, try browsing through the CMON store. They've got a large list of companies so it's a good place to see what's out there.
 
Thank you everyone. Just what I was looking for. Can anyone tell me when kingdom of death will restock? Can any longer term painters tell me of they are frequently sold out, or if they restock and then just go very fast? There are some figures I just HAVE to paint...
 

MAXXxxx

Well-known member
actually there are a few items that are in stock atm:
in the CMON store:
- dung beetle knight, male warrior of the sun, white speaker (normal and pinup too), pinup great game hunter, chosen
in the KD store:
- white speaker (normal and pinup too), pinup great game hunter, 54mm twilight knight pinup, 54mm preacher pinup, chosen, dung beetle knight, twilight knigh pinup, experiment of death (wet-nurse in plastic + twilight knight pinup in plastic)


CMON updates on KD are hard... just about 2 days ago I got a mail, that the "Savior - 20 years" is in stock, gone to the store instantly, sold out.
KD store updates: about once a month, mostly around or slightly after a KS-update.


btw which ones are you looking after? (that you HAVE to paint)
 
Had my eyes on the Lion Knight, Flower Knight, and Storm Knight. Also interested in some of the babes and I neglected checking out their own website so I'll see if they have any of the ones I liked in stock. I liked the Nico one.
 

MAXXxxx

Well-known member
Had my eyes on the Lion Knight, Flower Knight, and Storm Knight. Also interested in some of the babes and I neglected checking out their own website so I'll see if they have any of the ones I liked in stock. I liked the Nico one.
those are hard... With a bit of luck after the KS there will be a few lion-flower knights to get, but the storm remains an elusive one.


and on topic: while I have fond memories of the Rackham minis, but I don't rate them as the best. I think the high-rating for R minis is mostly because of nostalgie.

Right now besides my KD love :), I'm mostly torn between Darksword and Hasslefree.
Not only the minis, but the customer relation is also top by both.

There are a few other companies, whose product I like, but I'm unsure about the companies themselves (Sodapop for example... which is a problem because at the beginning they were among my favorites, let's just say when KS delivers I'll have 4 Maylas :D ).
 

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'm currently working on a Wedding cake topper for a friend using two figures from Guild of Harmony.
MAN, they are seriously high quality, no moulding lines, excellent sculpting ​and Steampunk!
 

MAXXxxx

Well-known member
BloodFather of Kharnath: now you have to be quick.
massive update on the KD shop including the flower knight, pinups in plastic, slender man resin, illuminated lady, beyond the wall...
 
Hard question to answer - I too like Kingdom of Death - but for individual miniatures to tell a story - I like Smart Max - quality is superior. With new companies, I like Ammon Miniatures, Imbrian Arts and the Wild West figures. But companies like Bombshell Babes, Degra, Enigma, Figone, Guild of Harmony, Infamy, Kabuki, Studio McVey, and Wyrd have some incredible individual models as well as other companies I haven't mentioned. So what I"m saying is I don't have a favorite company and unless you want a certain theme - like orcs, babes, old west, etc - you should look at all the figure companies and find what you want to paint based on size, theme, quality, and price. (IMHO)

You also may want to look at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ure?ref=search, this is an up and coming company - no I don't have a dog in the pound - but I did pledge and looks like some great sculpting.

I checked out the KS. Wow. that's about as good as it gets. Wish I had that kind of change to spare.

Also, just got to look at a bunch of Wyrd minis at my local hobby shop and they are pretty incredible. Plus there are a bunch of painting contests centered around then which I can dig.
 
Anything left at at KD is really not what I am looking for right now. I'd love some of the models they have in that set, but can't drop the cash required for it right now. Wish they would stock a few of them as singles since they are actually in stock.

I almost forgot about one of MY favorites. A very small, obscure groups of Russians that do fantasy style figures with awesome detail and great customer service. They are called Russian-Alternatives. Check them out:

http://russian-alternative.ru/our_models/
 
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