A Simple Warrior of Rohan

One of the challenges of collecting Games Workshop, Lord of the Rings figures is the size inconsistency within the range. This is especially noticeable between the older miniatures (especially the plastics) and the newer figures. It is a shocking example of the miniature hobby concept of ‘scale creep’.

Some people aren’t bothered by such issues and happily play with figures of wildly different sizes. Apparently, I am not one of these. I threw out all of my plastic warriors of Gondor because they were so small, though happily, in that case, there are enough metals available to collect those instead. However, when it came to Rohan, most of the basic troopers, both mounted and on foot, are small plastics. I tried, but I just couldn’t deal with it. So, I started looking for substitutes.

After a few weeks of searching and acquiring samples, I think I have found my warriors of Rohan with Musketeer Miniatures. I painted up my first one a couple of days ago, and I’ve got to say, I’m thrilled by these figures. This figure is actually a ‘Romano-British’ infantryman, but most of the figures I eventually use will probably come from the Goth range.  Between all of Musketeers dark age ranges, there are lots of suitable figures both mounted and on foot.

I can’t praise these figures highly enough. The detailing is so crisp that they are a real joy to paint. Obviously, I painted my warrior in a very basic way, but I still think it looks fantastic. The figures don't come with weapons, so you have to supply your own. You can get spears, but in this case, I went with a plastic Viking axe. It is perhaps also worth noting that the hands come completely closed, but are easy to drill out. This might be a turnoff for some people, but I really like it as you can drill the hole to fit whatever size weapon you want, and not have the weird opened-handed look you get with some miniatures

I am not completely happy with the shield. It was an attempt to paint the Uffington White Horse, which my wife and I cycled to from Oxford last year. I messed up the head a bit, but otherwise it is not a terrible rendering. It just seems to leave the shield a little open and plain. Partly this is because the boss forced the painting to go over the top, leaving the bottom open. If I were to do it again, I think I would, perhaps, paint a border first. Anyway, I don’t dislike it enough to change it.

Size wise, I have included a comparison shot between the warrior and Beregond, a metal miniature from the GW LOTR line. As you can see, the sizes are pretty close. Height is near spot on. The warrior of Rohan is slightly broader (which is probably correct anyway) and has slightly more exaggerated hands and head, but neither are noticeable enough to bother me.

Although Rohan is not the next thing up on my painting table, I am already looking forward to getting some more Musketeer minis to create my Rohirrim.