Miniature Melniboneans - every film needs a figure range!

[Kalessin]

Since everyone will be clamouring after a 28mm wargaming figure-range once the Elric film comes out, and no-one wants Games Workshop to get the rights, here are some of the better sculptors of elfin types currently working in the industry - just to help you get a feel for what's out there.

Tom Meier (Owns "Thunderbolt Mountain", and has freelanced widely for many, many years. His detail work has shot up in quality since his return to wargames manufacturing after a long sojourn in the toy industry. He's currently widely rated as technically the finest sculptor of elves now working, although his style doesn't appeal to everyone, and his sculpting-rate is slower than many - which is inevitable given the quality of his work.)



Steve Buddle (Owns "Spyglass", and has freelanced for GW, among others. He's well known for his exquisite female elves. However, his sculpting-rate is even slower than Meier's!)



Mark Copplestone (Owns "Copplestone", was in-house sculptor for Foundry and Grenadier. These elves were sculpted (for Grenadier) some years ago now - more recently he has established himself as one of the leading names in the historical miniature industry.)

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~tpope/sol/g...igh-elves.html



Andy Cooper (I think he did these elves) - top sculptor with West Wind.



Werner Klocke (Owns Freebooter, has freelanced heavily for Reaper - he's especially well known for the innovative posing of his miniatures. Tends only to do 'characters', rather than rank and file. Same goes for Buddle btw.)

http://www.reapermini.com/store/cust...?substring=elf - quite a few Klocke elves here, alongside some offerings by the oh-so-boring Sandra Garrity, and others.



Rackham (Don't know the names of their sculptors, but they're darn good! Their supposedly human Allanon range is pretty elfin, and they've just started an elf range.)



Thierry Crabouliet (Owns "Fenryll" - has improved dramatically over the last year. Fenryll differ from the above in that they use resin instead of pewter)



Oh, and Games Workshop's Jes Goodwin is pretty awesome too - but he works for Games Workshop.


For a fuller overview of the modern fantasy miniature industry, check out:

http://marbles.frothersunite.com/

[Grey Mouser]

Some great minis there Kalessin. Love the Rackham horseman w lance and the Tom Meier piece. And the Reaper piece. How those guys can sculpt to that quality on such a tiny scale is beyond me.

[Theocrat]

Some great minis there Kalessin. Love the Rackham horseman w lance and the Tom Meier piece. And the Reaper piece. How those guys can sculpt to that quality on such a tiny scale is beyond me.

I knew a guy who got a job at citadel.. He says they use a really specialized type of either plastercine or clay ( Finely grained, but stiff!). He worked in the same building as i did, doing miniatures of vikings/norse myth stuff for a museum of sorts in أ…rsunda. And i was hauling shit around and working up the hours for my then chosen profession of painter (Total waste of time really), while he was having fun with that. Those days of unemployment sucked big time.
Now i have money to start building my own miniature studio!

Haven't seen him in years since he got the job, through his little brother!.. A nice guy. Though a bit odd...

[Kalessin]

Some great minis there Kalessin. Love the Rackham horseman w lance and the Tom Meier piece. And the Reaper piece. How those guys can sculpt to that quality on such a tiny scale is beyond me.

Aye - Tom's work these days is just awe-inspiring, especially if you take into account the fact that most of his stuff is closer to 25mm, while Rackham is approaching 32mm (and at that size, that's a big difference!). I just love the arrogant expression on that Elf noble - it's so very... Melnibonean!

The medium they sculpt in is normally referred to as 'green stuff' - it sets slowly once mixed. Theocrat, what's the name of this friend of yours?

Oh, and Copplestone's elves are both old and poorly photographed, so here's one of his more recent pieces, albeit a human:

[Theocrat]

The medium they sculpt in is normally referred to as 'green stuff' - it sets slowly once mixed. Theocrat, what's the name of this friend of yours?

I hardly remember.. It's swedish thats for sure... Short blondish hair and spectacles. Give me a list and i'll look it up.. Something might pop-up..
We had a night out at the pub once or twice before he left.
I saw in the newspaper that he got the job at citadel.

[Kalessin]

Any thoughts Mr Moorcock? Can you see any of these folks sculpting a range based on the prospective film?

[Michael Moorcock]

Some people know I collect toy soldiers (as I still insist on calling them!) and some of those models are superb. I was also impressed by the commercial (resin) range done at Britain's scale for Lord of the Rings and bought a couple of them just for the pleasure of the work involved, though I don't tend to buy fantasy figures (my interest is mainly in British colonial troops and German 'flats'). I do have some versions (several now broken from having travelled around so much) of characters done for my stuff, some of which were also very good (including a little Jerry Cornelius I'm especially fond of). I like larger figures because they tend to have better features and are better proportioned. I like several of the modellers listed and should there be another set of Elric figures, I'll make a list of my favourites and submit it to whichever firm gets the 'concession'!

[Ant]

Mike (or anyone!) -

Have you seen RAFM's 90mm Elric of Melnibonأ© figure?

Details at http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/mercha...tegory_Code=RC, but no picture! Or at any other online merchant offering it!

Cheers,
Ant

[PsychicWarVeteran]

Mike (or anyone!) -

Have you seen RAFM's 90mm Elric of Melnibonأ© figure? ...no picture! Or at any other online merchant offering it!

It appears Game Mart in the UK is also offering it for آ£15.00, though they don't have an image, either!

http://www.game-mart.co.uk/products.cfm?PID=1312

[Marie-Bernadette]

Wow, those are great, Kalessin! When I was a teenager I spent hours painting pewter miniatures, mostly for D&D. Probably why I'm nearsighted now. A couple of weeks ago I was thinking about how I'd like more 25mm miniatures but was having trouble finding them. I've visited all the links and bookmarked the URLs you posted. I'm going to save up, buy a few and paint 'em. If I can still see them. I think I'll need to dig out my lighted magnifier.

[Kalessin]

Just found this wonderfully clever tool on the Reaper site - they don't have any in-house sculptors as such, and instead use almost all of the top freelancers - this lets one search for figures by sculptor (as well as race etc).

http://www.reapermini.com/?nav=Model...20Fig%20Finder

Oh, and re: Marie-Bernadette if there's anything specific that you're looking for (whatever the period/race/scale/nationality/pose..), give me a yell, and I'll probably be able to find it for you without much difficulty.

[Michael Moorcock]

Anyone familiar with the highly stylish French miniatures.
www.Rakham.fr is I think the way to get there. I have only the physical catalogues, but I've been much impressed, even though they tend to use English-type names for their lines!

[Michael Moorcock]

Oops. I see I've repeated what's above. Sorry, pards. Frequently I don't realise I haven't read every posting when I come to try to answer all the questions raised on the Q&A.

[Kalessin]

It's Rackham - with a 'c'. ;)

Speaking of whom, they do some wonderful miniatures (although you must take into account the fact that their superlative in-house painters could make anything look good!), and their rules are jolly good as well, but their prices are monstrous, and the casting quality has gone down a tiny bit since they opened up the UK market and demand increased beyond their ability to keep quality-control at an optimum (quite a few missing parts in by most recent purchase, too). Also, I have heard a few whispers in the wind about less-than-perfect treatment of sculptors.....

[L'Etranger]

Funny, the Melnibonأ©ans look, well, like Melnibonأ©ans, I suppose, hence like non-humans - but their horses look just like, umm, horses!