Miniatures for use with Mordheim

Ohoy!

I have been thinking a bit about what figures to use for my Mordheim campaign, and normally I am all in favour of using "proper" GW figures. However, I have a hard time finding figures that I think suit my pirate crew from the GW range of miniatures. There will allways be a discussion about what is okay and not, to use in a games workshop game, and I am not sure that there will ever be a consensus for it.
What are your oppinion in these matters?

I have been thinking about using my pirates, but they are mainly Black Scorpion miniatures (we have a lot of them), but they are really a bit out of period when it comes to clothing.
The Warhammer fantasy world are essentially built around the 16th century german empire, landsknechte and the like, and then they have coosen (at least in later Warhammer lore) to use a bit of other periods for the other countries, this mainly due to the Perry brothers influence.
With this in mind, I have been looking for pirates to use in a warhammer setting, and the ones that I like the most are the ones from the Pike & Shotte range from Warlord Miniatures. They are essentially 17th century figures, made for the Brittish Civil War time period, and would hence be a bit better in their apperance. I can then choose to use the more "generic" looking seamen, with simple shirts and linnen short pants. The benefits are many and plenty, since they also have good extras, like hats and the like, and there are plenty of miniatures available to get some good variety.
I will start with saying that I am not all that fond of the resent plastics from GW, and I have found loads of good miniatures from other companies, that would be perfect for Mordheim, set in the empire or in Sartosa (or what ever your preferences are). One good source would be the recent releases from Lead Adventure Miniatures, they are awsome, really fantastic. I can tell that the sculptor have good insight in medieval matters (so do I, being a historian and have been in to the SCA and re-enactment for the past 20 years or so), wich means that the figures have some very good looking gear, all sculpted with their time period in mind.
I would love some suggestions, when it comes to miniatures, especially if you have pictures or names of GW figures that could be used.

"Pirates" as a cliché / trope (understood as the classical Skull-and-crossbones type, not the Elizabethan Sea-Dog or the dirty, smelly and stinking Buccaneer type) are as un-medieval as it can get, since the trope itself is defined by the pirates of the beginning 18th century. And reading the Sartosa background lore and looking at the fashion and details of the Sartosan miniatures for example, it is obvious (and understandable ) that the inspiration for at least some pirates in the Warhammer world came from the 1700s rather than the Middle Ages, Renaissance &c. (just look at the hats, coats or at the locks of the firearms).

The historical accuracy's going overboard is pretty much the premise for the Warhammer world itself. I see absolutely no problems in using Landsknechts and 18th-century Pirates together (in fact, for this specific pairing of professions - have not both been often described by their respective contemporaries specifically for their extravagant choices of fashion and eclectic styles? ).

If you combine Warlord and Citadel (the Mordheim human adventurer / Empire militia sprues make excellent sea dogs, to continue all the iterations of this particular recommendation ) for the grunts / rank and file, with a bit of Black Scorpion for the characters, a capital warband would you have indeed (the only "problems" being the size difference between some figures). For my own Marienburg privateers, I use that combination, plus some Crusader Miniatures and Foundry ones.

Bottom line: What is "better" depends primarily on your taste - the Warhammer world has precedents, examples and justifications for nearly every historical period (from the Stone Ages up until the Steam Ages) and literary or cinematic trope to play with. "Out of period" is really a bit of a stretch, especially in the piratical context, which is the very epitome of the most different nationalities, ethnicities and cultures sailing, wenching and drinking together. Aye?

I wouldn't worry about using miniatures other than GW ones. They wouldn't be "legal" in an official Mordheim tournament, but there aren't any anymore anyways.

However, being a pirate player myself, and can strongly recomment converting a warband from the GW range - the empire plastics are fantastic for that (loads of pistols and handguns!) and the result is well worth it. At first, I was a little afraid of the task as I haven't seen many pirates made from GW miniatures before, but once I got started, I kept having more and more ideas.

There is no problem in using other minis than GW ones.

There are so many other great manufacturers on the market, which have a real big pirate range.

Some of them are in my pirate warband (link in signature below)

I like the minis from Fenryl, Wargames foundry and the company of the sculptor Werner Klocke, but there are so many more out there.

GW/ citadel minis are fine very often, but they shouldn't be the only choice.

The recommendation of Eliazar is also fine, if you have such fine skills in the modeling department as he has. His warband is really awesome.

Eliazar wrote:

However, being a pirate player myself, and can strongly recomment converting a warband from the GW range

+1

I agree with Eliazar; GW has so many great plastic kits, especially the Empire are blessed with some awesome kits.
One thing you also have to keep in mind is the fact that metal miniatures damage easily in a game such as Mordheim. I have seen it happening more than once, trust me.. There you are, playing a game of Mordheim and minding your own business, when someone (hopefully accidentally) knocks down your miniatures - something breaks off, chips or bends.. Plastic miniatures on the other hand are far more durable and not prone to chip that easily. Though I've never seen a plastic miniature chip, I'm not sure if it's even possible? It's also very easy to magnetise your warband, so that later on you can swap weapons and add different equipment! A good way to keep your warband WYSIWYG throughout your campaign.

Don't get me wrong, I love miniatures from other manufacturers. But in my opinion Mordheim has a certain style/feeling that only matches Citadel miniatures, I just find it strange to play a game published by Games Workshop and use miniatures from other manufacturers..

Hope this helps to make your decision!

Thank you gentlemen, even you Pfreck who I dont agree with at all, hehe.

As I stated in my first post, I am not all that fond of the plastic GW figures, even if they are great looking, good for conversions etc. etc. What I dont like with them, is that they dont have that "pirate" flair and look, hollywood flair one might say, but still, its how I want my pirates. I am not saying that I need to use miniatures that are totally clad in period 16th century clothing, but its more the matter of staying within the range of the warhammer style.
I am not afraid of using metal figures, or converting, that is something that I really enjoy with this hobby. But, there got to be a good base figure to use for those conversions.
Ah well, I will work something out I suppose.

If your warband takes the appropriate hired sword, you are absolutely obliged to use this model.

It took me a while to realise that I really have a hard time painting miniatures that I didn't like the look of. Units you "need" in core, so you can have all the cool other stuff you like in your Warriors of Chaos army for example, or light cav which is essential or what not.
Now that I turned away from WHFB to Mordheim, I start to appriciate the fact that I can play with the stuff I like, since, as mentioned, I woun't be playing in a GW-Store anyways.
That said I'd advise you to look through all the ranges you can find and make up the mind about which minis you'd like to paint. One game I like myself, which was also mentioned here as "Werner Klocke's Company" is "Freebooter's Fate", which has a pirate range:
http://www.freebooterminiatures.de/en/catalog/miniatures/pirates
The Imperials and Mercenaries might work as well.

Reaper minis. Ultimately, they're still a hair more expensive than GW plastics, but can be almost half what GW metals are.

http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/pirate

I especially love the Undead ones...

I use a bit of everything. I love the Black Scorpion pirates, and don't worry if their "peroid" is slightly off (let's face it - Bretonnians and Empire styles come from substantially different periods already, and they are "official"). The Freebooter pirates, which Grimscull recommended, are indeed gorgeous figures. I also use a few Reaper figs (not so many when it comes to pirates), some Foundry figures (they have a beautiful range of pirates, plus their Elizabethan figures for a slightly earlier feel), and Eureka makes some good pirates as well.

You guys have convinced me, I will go with what ever figure/miniature I want, its the best way. I can certainly recognise the situation with core units and whatnots, masses of rank and file troops, but... I converted every single one of my Empire army, all core units and others, to suit my taste and what I thought was cool. I am particularely interested in the landsknechte soldiers of the empire, so used a lot of time to get it right.

This is me and a friend when we where in the US at a SCA event. I am the person to the right. The guy in the middle, in the awsome fez, is a guy that we know from the states, that used to live in Germany.



My girlfriend, to the right with a female friend of ours to her left.

landsknechte? Awesome.

The pic to the left is me at my part time job, the Maryland Renaissance Festival (USA). Our King Henry VIII has two landsknecte bodyguards. (On far left and right, hidden behind king). Both of the guys are great.... although the only person in the pic who speaks German is our "Anna of Cleaves", walking with the king.

I use all kinds of Plastic Models from GW to make my guys. I will Mix and match to get what I like. There is something fund about taking all the parts from different sets and making a Unique Guy. I have a couple of my heroes that I have made with Stories in mind. Like one of my Reiklander Champions looks like and older guy. He has more common looking closes. The thinking is that he use to be in the military, then went-out into the world on his own for a while gaining experince and now he is bringing that worldly knowledge to the group. My other Champion is dressed more like a Military Guy, and my thought is that he just left the military after an incedent with his comanding officer inwhich he punched the comander out for doing something that risked his men's lives. Then while I am playing the game I try to take skills that match those stories.

It might sound a little silly, but I find it makes me think more carefully about the painting and take the time to do it right rather than just say Hey I got 10 more of these to do it's good enough.

Rudeboy wrote:

It might sound a little silly, but I find it makes me think more carefully about the painting and take the time to do it right rather than just say Hey I got 10 more of these to do it's good enough.

I think it doesn't sound silly, but refelects 100% what I am thinking when creating my warbands. Painting the models and going with the flow or being inspired to do some new models by the creative process is all what the painting and modelling, and thus Mordheim in general, is about, in my opinion

I love assembling bits from various metal kits to make models for Mordheim (and our D&D games). The Empire plastics are particularly rich in this regard - although, as Tintin noted, they are not strong on piratical flavor unless you are good with putty for making additional conversions.