Current State of Manufacturers of periods covered by this blog

 The links which I have included in the sidebar of this blog have mostly been updated to show which ranges are no longer available.

I decided to do a quick summary of ranges which I am aware of. I'll try to remember to update it when necessary.

Blue Moon from Old Glory

A small number of ranges in my area of interest including Crusades, Hundred Years War and Italian Wars. The foot figures tend to be on the large side but the ranges are complete enough that it shouldn't be necessary to mix with other companies' figures - apart from guns to go with the artillery crew!

Donnington

I have used figures from most of the New Era ranges which include Early Medieval ('Dark Ages'), Feudal Europe, Hundred Years War and Wars of the Roses and Islamic armies covering roughly the same timespan. I particularly like the Feudal range, which includes Spanish. Donnington are the only traditional company on this list which still supply individual figures.

Essex

A huge range of figures which still gets occasional additions. 

Particularly of interest to me have been the Early Samurai and the later Medieval Byzantines (which no-one else currently covers)

Eureka 

Only a few ranges in my areas of interest but the figures are very good. 

Includes: Almughavars, Ethiopians, Early Samurai

Freikorp15s from QRF

Various ranges including medieval Welsh and Scots. 

Khurasan

Probably the most prolific in terms of producing new 15mm ranges. Some ranges cover areas or periods which are poorly covered by other manufacturers. Figures in some ranges are 'heroic' in size which makes them difficult to mix with other manufacturers whereas others are more compatible. I have used figures from various ranges but those in the Tuareg and Western Sudanese ranges have particularly appealed. The Early Samurai are very good but these came out after I did mine. 

Lancashire incl. Venexia.

I was particularly pleased to see that Lancashire took over production of the Venxia figures which were OOP for a while. I have particularly used the Venxia Italian Wars figures.

Lurkio from Gripping Beast

Some of the armies covered by these are unique to this company, including some of the South Americans. Main range in my favourite periods are the almughavars - another range of these with a huge amount of variety.

Minifigs from Caliver Books

Even the 3rd generation range are now old and this can show in the lack of variety in pose, especially within packs. However, there are some real gems in the range and the variety can be increased by a bit of pack mixing. My particular favourites are in the 15th century and early 16th century ranges. Note that the Hussite and Burgundian ranges are in the Renaissance part of the catalogue.

Mirliton

I have used a lot of these and recently they have added a 14th century range which covers the early part of that century - a time which is fairly poorly catered for. I haven't painted mine yet, but the cavalry will provide the mounted contingent of my Almughavars although I haven't used Mirliton's own. This is a range which was designed virtually and then converted to produce figures in a more traditional style.

Museum Miniatures

Museum have been pretty prolific in producing new ranges, again using computer design to create the masters. The online pictures show the computer designs rather than the metal figures - in real life they are less 'muscular' but nice and clean. These new ranges include various ancient armies including Samnites with long shields, which aren't available from most other ranges. The most recent release has been some Later Crusader knights which would probably be good for around the 4th Crusade though ideally I prefer the shields to be a bit longer. The Turcopoles are less westernised than in some other ranges - I think they would also be useful for Turk style troops in Byzantine armies.

Old Glory 15s

A large range of figures with occasional additions. I have particularly used the Norman and Crusades ranges.

Peter Pig

I have been tempted many times to get the Peter Pig Wars of the Roses figures. The figure tend to be quite a bit smaller than other companies' but that is because PP have stuck to close 15mm rather than being victims of scale creep. The few Vikings I have aren't too far from the War and Empires figures in size.

War and Empire from Forged in Battle

A relative newcomer compared to the other metal figure manufacturers. Particular favourites with me have been the Gallic and Viking ranges. A good variety for ancient periods I like but nothing yet for the 13th century or later.

Xyston

Very comprehensive range covering roughly 500BC to 1BC Mediterranean. Many of my 'Plutarch's Wars' period armies are based around these figures.

3d Breed March to Hell

Designed to be printed as either heroic 28mm or 15mm. I think the style fits 15mm pretty well though the designer decided to make the 13th century Feudal range riders with very short legs but in the Reconquista range (which is roughly 12th - 13th century) the riders have a better proportion. I particularly like the range of infantry available as many Feudal ranges have less variety with their foot figures compared to the mounted.

Cromarty Forge

Apparently Medievals are in the pipeline, according to the PSC website. 

Reconquest

Lovely printed figures. Designed more for 28mm than 15mm so when scaled down the detail is quite subtle. Anatomically more correct than most wargame figures, which can make them less compatible.

Alain Touller 

These have been out of production for quite a while now.

Black Hat/Gladiator/Metal Magic

These have ceased production. The ranges had come from about three different sculptors. The Feudal range was my favourite and had many very nice figures. The Mesoamerican range was also particularly good.

Corvus Belli

For a while, these were available as resin figures from PSC but this seems to have stopped and as far as I can tell Corvus Belli ancients are currently OOP. I have Romans, Gauls and Carthaginians from when they were made in metal. Very nice figures.

Legio Heroica

The website is currently labelled as being closed. I have occasionally seen messages online that someone has obtained figures from the owners but this seems to be intermittent.

Outpost

OOP. Some nice figures in the Crusader range.