Latest 6mm Greek Myth Figures from Rapier Miniatures

The other day Rapier Miniatures were kind enough to send over a few samples of the latest additions to their 6mm Greek Myth range, something that I was keen to see expand, as the figures so far have been full of character and are an unusual addition to the usual military types more commonly available.

This new set includes a Chimera, a Griffin, a 'Hen Party' (!) of Harpies and a some Bi-clops - just like the previous minis, these are very well sculpted, nicely proportioned, and have some great detail, that I'm afraid these photos really don't do justice to.
I'd thought I'd take a look through them , and give some comparison views alongside examples from the pre-existing range, and also against some 6mm infantry as adversaries.
All the minis are shown in their out-of-the-packet state, and as usual with Rapier are clean and crisp castings - some small areas of flash are visible, but nothing too hard to deal with by a few quick passes of a file.

First up, the new two-headed Cyclops (making him a Bi-clops) alongside the original, about to chuck his rock:

These two-headed chaps are slighter than the original, but are similarly detailed, with raised fist, hefty club and some nice hairy goat-like legs with cloven hoofs - they certainly look like they could do some damage in a fight, and appear suitably ill-tempered - probably each head arguing with the other.....

Seen against some of Rapier's 6mm GRE002 Hoplites in Muscle Cuirass, they are appropriately monstrous in size:

Next up, the Chimera - another excellent sculpt -seen here with the Hydra from the original sets - there is really a lot of intricate detail on this new mini - and it is quite an achievement to properly model all three heads, the wings and scorpion-style tail in well balanced proportion - the faces of the three heads are particularly well done:

Next we have Medusa meeting up with the new Harpies - these are the smallest of the new sculpts, but in spite of this are nicely modelled, with suitably harridan-like faces, raised talons and some great bird legs with claws:

Against the Hoplites once more, you can see how well they fit in with the infantry figures, although I think with my level of painting skills, they are going to be quite hard to paint well enough truly bring out their character:

Moving on, we have the Griffin, meeting up with an armoured Centaur - this new monster is in classic pose, and has some lovely feathered wings - it would obviously have potential beyond the Greek Myth range - would make some great statuary if painted appropriately to go alongside other 6mm or even 10mm figures:

Having a disagreement with some Hoplites:

Finally, a group shot with, on the left, a command strip from Rapier's own 6mm Early Imperial Romans, and on the right, the same from Baccus:

You'll see that all of the new figures scale really well with the contemporary infantry miniatures, and that they don't disappoint in terms of their detail or character.

My only small gripe would be that their diminutive size will make it hard for me to paint them well, but otherwise they are a great addition to the existing range, details of which can be found here:

http://www.rapierminiatures.co.uk/page/Range/6mm_Ancients_Fantasy_Packs.html

Comparing them with a handy list of Mythological creatures that I found online, Rapier have done an excellent job with these; all we need now is a Kraaken and a Talos, and then we are good to go on a Ray Harryhausen style adventure!

http://www.theoi.com/Bestiary.html


As regular readers might have noticed, all things Blog and Hobby related have been on hiatus over the Summer, but I hope to get back and into the swing of things soon, and have certainly found these new 6mm quite inspiring, so more to come on a regular basis in the near future, all being well!


"Oi! - come back 'ere you 'orrible 'arpies!"

6mm Rapier Greek Mythology: Painted Examples

Yes, you guessed it - I just couldn't resist putting brush to mini when it came to those Mythology figures from Rapier. I may have plenty of other projects on the go, but I am afraid they got pushed aside so I could have a crack at these little beauties!

Not that they necessarily ended up that beautiful after I'd been sloshing paint in their direction - but for what it's worth, here they all are!

First up, the excellent Medusa - I think she is Gorgon-gorgeous, although I found that the positioning of the bow in this sculpt is a little stiff - perhaps it would have been better to have a more active pose, although I do like the predatory way she is leaning forward whilst reaching for an arrow from her quiver:

I decided to go for a full-on viper/rattler snakeskin approach for her tail - I'm not so sure it came off entirely, but looks better than being, say, uniformly coloured:

The pavement-style base was just a quick daub to provide contrast in the photos - I think I will probably go the whole hog with these figs and do some vignette-style scenic bases - the Medusa, in particular, would look good surrounded by a few people turned to stone....

Moving on, we have the fantastic Cyclops - a really nice sculpt to work with, although I must say, I seem to have turned his menacing horn into something more resembling a quiff - oh well!

Make a cute couple, don't they?

Next up the Bull-headed Warriors; being on the large size, these are a relatively straightforward proposition, although I found it quite hard to bring out any character in the faces, this in spite of the sculpting being quite detailed - if anything, my spear armed ones turned out looking more like goats than Minatours....

Next up, the Hydra in all its scaly glory - having attached the extra three heads, quite an imposing figure:

The only thing I found difficult with this was the actual join between the body and these extra heads, it needed a bit of filing and filling to get mine right....here it is menacing the diminutive single warrior:

If anything, this isn't a problem of a bad fit, it's just that the angle it meets the main body at is a bit acute, and to be honest, I probably was too energetic with the needle file in the first place, so had to fiddle around to get it to sit just so.

Finally, let's look at the Centaurs:

The horse-armoured pair are simply lovely to work with, and someone who has more experience and skill at this scale could make a lot of the detail that is present here; I was in a justifiable rush, given my excitement, to get these done, but a more considered approach would really pay dividends, I think.

The 'horse' archer figure obviously has a little less going for it in terms of detail to the sculpt, depicting a more basic outfit than the others, but a nicely proportioned one, nonetheless:

I just hope that this nascent range has enough interest behind it to see it put into production, hopefully with some more width and variation to subjects that might make good armies in themselves, such as these half-horses, half men, and the Minatours; but of course, I would love to see more individual monsters, as well!

Exclusive Preview: 6mm Rapier Greek Mythology

A special treat for all you 6mm fans now, with a sneak preview of a future range from Rapier Miniatures: Greek Mythology!

The other day, Paul over at Rapier was kind enough to send me some advance samples for a new line of 6mm miniatures they are considering, and should be showcasing at this weekend's Colours Wargaming show here in the UK.

To chime with their debut, then, I thought you'd all like an advance look at some of the new sculpts that will hopefully be available soon - and they are real crackers!

http://www.rapierminiatures.co.uk/

I was lucky enough to receive a six-headed Hydra, which has a separately cast trio of heads, four Bull-headed Minatour-style Warriors, a beautiful Harryhausen-esque Medusa, a small sword carrying warrior (Perseus or Jason, perhaps?), a fantastic boulder-wielding Cyclops, and three amazing-looking armed Centaurs.

Let's take a look in more detail:

First up, the Bull-headed Warriors, I'm going to call 'Minatons'. :-)

These are lovely, detailed sculpts, and appropriately bulky, given their species - we have a sword and shield armed leader, two spearmen and a drummer.

I make their height measurement from bottom of base to top of head just shy of 11mm, so as you will see later, they can easily intimidate a 6mm Greek Hoplite or similar. The height to the top of the spear comes out as 26mm, so some imposing pieces, and great fun; you can see the detail on the reverse:

Moving on to the Hydra, this is again an impressive piece, with the snake heads nicely animated - I suppose the separate trio gives you the chance to scratch build some new heads growing in once the originals have been lopped off -as per the original Myth. :-)

The scales are very well sculpted, and the pose is nice and threatening; overall height to top of the topmost head, I make 20mm:

Next we have the rather hard to photograph Medusa and Warrior, which are simply superlative (You can tell I'm excited about this range!), the snake-haired monster in particular will be very familiar to fans of those iconic fantasy adventure movies of yesteryear - I think it is a little masterpiece at around 7mm in height - reaching behind to draw a deadly arrow from her quiver:

The rear view gives another good idea of the level of detail included by Rapier onto these minis:

Here she is up against a command stand from the same company's 6mm Classical Ancients ranges; GRE002 Hoplites in muscle cuirass:

Also some lovely figures, BTW!

Next we have three Centaurs, a bowman, and two shield and spear-wielders; the former is the classic type with a nice quiver by his side, the latter are nicely sculpted with armour and helmets, and moreover with Clibinarius-style armoured horses, one full, the other partial:

These again have an excellent level of detail, and are nicely animated and proportioned, if a little slight.

Here's one up against a ROM006 Auxiliary Cavalry, again by the same company:

Let's finish up with some group shots to give a better idea of overall 'scale', next to a strip of those Greek Hoplites, GRE002:

Again, here with a view of the single horned Cyclops and his boulder, a feisty looking foe, if I ever saw one.....Rapier have told me that there may be more of his ilk in the pipeline.....

As yet, as far as I know, these minis are not yet available, but hopefully the lucky few who were able to attend the Colours show may have seen these, and perhaps others in the flesh - I am sure that the level of interest they will arouse will persuade Paul and Co. to go into full-scale production!

There are, of course, a number of 6mm fantasy lines out there, mostly based around a Tolkein-esque paradigm, but I think these as a whole are something entirely fresh to the market, and offer up a wealth of possibilities - yes there are centaurs and monsters available - but these ones are properly rooted in their Greek Mythological form, and would look the absolute business next to any 6mm Classical army.

The minis appear here in the form that I received them - the only flash I cleared up was some small nubs present on the bottom of the bases, and some supporting strips on the Centaurs, - these were removed just to enable the photographs - each of the sculpts is clean, well-proportioned and full of character - if anything, these pics do not do them their full justice.

(Remember, all photos should be 'clickable' for a larger, Macro view)

The only slight criticism might be that the Centaurs are rather on the delicate-looking side, and I'm not entirely sure who the diminutive sword-equipped Warrior is supposed to be, but he is well-modelled all the same.

It's great to see some new sculpts on the cusp of appearing, and even more rewarding given their unique subject matter - I suggest you spread the word and get e-mailing Rapier, if this is the kind of thing that floats your boat.....my Trireme is certainly very buouyant at the moment, anyway (Oo-er!).

6mm Romans: Figure Comparison

The other day, I decided to take advantage of the recent offer from Rapier Miniatures, in order that I could have a look at their figures against the competing ranges of Irregular and Baccus. As you may have seen elsewhere on this Blog, I had taken on a 6mm Early Imperial Romans project with a distinctly 'frugal' twist, and in order to keep costs down, had begun with the cast-together blocks of Legionaries available from Irregular; however, I soon experienced 'mission creep' towards Baccus, and made use of their Command and Artillery figures, so naturally enough, soon reasoned myself into a corner and took advantage of the special offer from Rapier!

http://www.rapierminiatures.co.uk/

I have had no previous experience of their miniatures, but had heard good things about their Ancients Line, and was not disappointed when the jiffy bag arrived, containing 96 Legionaries standing, based in five figure strips, 48 Legionaries throwing Pilum, which were based individually, 6 Command strips with a single Centurion, Signifier and Cornicen on each, and an overall command group of a single mounted Tribune and two standing Legates. Flash was present only in terms of a few ribbons left over from casting, as you will see in the photos here, and a slight nub or two on the base of the strips. The casting and detail was crisp and clear, in line with the quality of Baccus, and all were nicely proportioned.

Let's start off with a look at the Tribune and Legates - nice looking figures with good detailing, especially the breast plates and clothing, (remember all photos here are clickable for a close-up, Macro view), and great character in the faces:

The mounted commander, at a distance, scaled nicely with the offerings from the two other manufacturers - Irregular on the left, Baccus on the right, whilst obviously leaning away from the former's impressionistic bravura in terms of sculpting, toward the realism of the latter:

Up close, the rider is a little slighter in 'Heft' than the Baccus, but if anything, the horse is perhaps more realistically proportioned, although I think there would be no noticeable difference when on the table top, even if mounted on the same base - perhaps only the thickness of the Baccus strip being a factor in terms of height, but again, this is pretty negligible:

Next, let's have a look at the Legionaries themselves; I must state that obviously I have only the cast-together blocks from Irregular, and it may be that their individual figures are slightly larger in terms of individual proportions, whilst the men from Baccus are in reality the single end-placed figure clipped from one of their Command strips, as I did not actually purchase any of their Legionary ones; that aside, hopefully they will give a reasonable comparison:

Immediately, the Irregular Miniatures' chaps come across as the most diminutive, with Baccus being noticeably smaller, perhaps giving a more 'hunkered-down' behind their shields look:

It is important to note that of the three, only Rapier have provided the points of the Pilum, and although this is nice, I found that there was a tendency for these to be fragile and bend during handling, the metal/pewter is good quality, so that they can be bent back into position if disturbed, but of course the more times you do this......

Also interesting is the Rapier strip itself, in that the individual figure sits on its own base, which is then sitting on top of the strip, adding height, which otherwise would probably be a lot nearer to that of Baccus. I suppose this could be filed away, but that would be a thankless task on a whole Legion or two; creative basing would of course even this out:

From behind, in particular, the crispness of the detail on the Rapier mini is evident, although to be fair to the others, the camera focus at extreme Macro, does tend to blur a little at the edges.

The overall proportion of their figures leans toward being an anatomically balanced athletic type, whilst Baccus' men are perhaps, to be kind, a little more well-fed and sedentary in their habits?

To be honest, to my eye, Irregular would look a little too small on the table besides the Rapier, but Baccus would be fine, perhaps just not on the same base.

Next, lets move on to the rather exciting Legionary throwing Pilum.

This is a great little mini, full of animation, the only slight criticism might be the size of the weapon in relation to the figure, but some exaggeration is to be expected at this scale, so that is merely nitpicking.

Please ignore the ribbons of flash in the photo, I left these on for a fair, 'out-of-the-pack' comparison; the Pilum is sturdy, and has no need of this support, and unlike those of the standing Legionary, is less inclined to bend, so will easily be removed for the finished figure.

Seen here against the block from Irregular, the size is actually relatively close, this mini being smaller than his fellows from the same company:

Betwixt a single from Baccus and his fellows:

If anything, this one falls somewhere in between, so has more flexibility in terms of mixing manufacturers on the same base, and also lacks the extra height on the strip of the standing Legionary:

Moving on to the Command strips, these are again animated and detailed sculptings, and whilst showing the athlete vs 'norm' tendency between the two manufacturers, don't look overly large next to Baccus.

I must say that I have deliberately avoided the question of actual figure height in this post, in that I think it rarely gives a true measure of the miniature, and is often not totally helpful in describing a mini. Debates about base to eye, foot to eye, foot to top of head, etc, frequently inflame the Forum pages over at TMP and elsewhere, but from my point of view, it is the 'Heft' or bodily proportions of the figure that is the final arbiter amidst figs of the same ostensible size.

Extra overall height here again comes down to the 'double' base strip, and although from behind, the range from Rapier seems to be definitely leaning toward the Heroic, it certainly wouldn't preclude an appearance on the same table top. The standard and signal instrument are particularly nicely sculpted, with a circular shield for the Signifier.

Looking at the Legate against the Centurion strip, he looks a little more prosperous (less lean and mean) than his subordinates, but perhaps that is a good reflection of real life, anyway!

In any event, it is a super figure, the pointing arm giving good animation and therefore variety to any prospective base, with a nice drawn sword by his side:

Finally, let's see him up against the strip from Baccus; without the extra base part, it would be a good visual match, I think:

Overall, then, some excellent sculpting and attention to detail, that might just be edging it over the output of Baccus, which has always been of a definitively high standard.

I think if you wanted some variety in your forces, then they would march easiest alongside those of Baccus, and a bit of creative basing should iron out any apparent height problems.

The animation of these figures would particularly lend itself to, I feel, depicting those units who are skirmishing, deploying or attacking, rather than just standing in ranks.

I have omitted mentioning the range from Heroics and Ros, firstly, because I don't have any of their Ancients, and also in that I feel they would be clearly different enough in size, detail and heft to warrant being characterised as different figures; I suppose in a way reminiscent of the 1/285th versus 1/300th Scale Micro Armour debate, I wouldn't ordinarily consider placing them against these other minis on the same table top, anyway.

So.....was my profligate; "it's a bargain, though", train of thought rewarded?

Certainly, it was a good offer, and even more certainly the figures did not disappoint, the only worry being the apparent fragility of the standing Legionary Pilum; I think if they do take a place alongside the other bases for this project, then it may be as elites or character figures, or certainly as attacking groups, to take advantage of those lovely little Pilum throwers....