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Horse Miniature Sizes - page 1

If there's one thing that most historical or fantasy armies have in common, it will be troops on horseback, also known as cavalry. You'd have to be an Orc or Goblin - or possibly a Dwarf or some other sort of vertically challenged creature, to do without. But while many manufacturers tend to produce figures in the same general scale, there still seems to be a lot of variation in what is deemed a suitable size for a horse. This can sometimes be a problem if you want to mix figures from different sources and find that the newly acquired miniatures are riding mounts that look like foals compared to your other horses. To make matters worse, sometimes scales will vary within ranges, between older and newer models. This is particularly true for horses.

Are there any general rules you can abide by to avoid the worst? Sadly, no, except for the ancient axiom: "Fantasy horses big, historical horses small". While that may have been true for a long while, many of the newer historical ranges sport larger horses than their predecessors. This should be a good thing, were it not for the constant scale creep that affects all minis, including - or should I say especially - the fantasy ones. So now we have four general types: the ridiculously gigantic fantasy horse, the "oldskool" fantasy horse, the bigger and improved historical horse and the tiny classic historical horse.

Okay, so now we know the problem, let's start working towards a solution. At the moment that requires comparing the sizes of as many different horses. Crude, but effective. Click on the images to enlarge.

First up are four sturdy mounts from the historical stables of Crusader Miniatures (1),
Artizan Designs (2), Gripping Beast (3) and, last but not least, The Foundry (4).
From the picture you can see that the last three horses are of the same average size, allowing you to mix them in the same unit without one of them looking out of place. The Crusader horse is slightly bigger as well as somewhat bulkier. This one is almost as big as a GW plastic horse, rare in historical circles. You can still use them in the same army, but if you want to use them in the same unit with the others, they'll have more trouble blending in. Note that all four are from either new companies or new(ish) ranges.

For the next lot, we needed a point of reference, so I included the same Gripping Beast horse I used before, since that seemed to be a decent average. The others are an Old Glory horse from the "Ghost" range (2), a Dixon horse (3) and a German DSA/Armalion horse (4). The GB and OG horse appear the same size, and they are, but a frontal view of the OG horse would reveal it to be far thinner, less bulky than the other one. I'm not saying you could slide it under the door or something, but I'm not sure you couldn't either. As I only have OG horses of this type, I can't ascertain if this is a general tendency with their models or a coincidence. Drop me a line if you know.

On to the third horse, this is from Dixon's most recent Viking range (splendid models, the vikings I mean) and I believe the picture speaks for itself. The last one (DSA/Armalion) is slightly taller than the GB and OG horses, especially considering the pose. It's somewhere in between the earlier Crusader horse and the other horses from the first picture. Which means it will probably work with both.

Click here to go to page 2 - page 3 - next page of the Horse Miniature Comparisons.

 

 

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