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Hey guys so I've thrown together a sizable mercenary army list build around the Steelhead captain, two full blocks of halberdiers, steelhead rifles, and even managed to squeeze a heavy 'jack and Stannis so they won't be tripping over each other when they tirade into the enemy.

However, I'm not keen on paying $50 for 10 cheap-as-chips units I'm more than likely going to be scooping off the board by the handful. Especially since I hear they're a pain in the ass to construct and I'm pretty "meh" about them aesthetically. On the flip side, I'm having a nightmare finding any spear/halberd wielding fantasy miniature that's scaled around 28mm-30mm to act as a good replacement. I've considered the WHFB Empire State Troops but I'd like some more uniformity than that kit offers. Naturally there's a number of historical options here but even on the appropriate 30mm base a 28mm historical is going to be dwarfed.

So now I come before you, begging you to help me find an alternative for these loveable, cheap-as-chip mercs. In my searches (2 days running so far) I've seen a number of various people on wargaming forums everywhere all asking the same thing: What are good, correctly-scaled, affordable, tolerably detailed alternative miniatures to PP's official Steelhead Halberdier miniatures?

I have looked around myself and found nothing that won't make me spend more. Full plate footsoldiers with halberds are surprisingly difficult to source.

For a while I was toying with the idea of using the wargames factory samurai and ashigaru kits to represent my steelheads.

 Desert Fox wrote:
Naturally there's a number of historical options here but even on the appropriate 30mm base a 28mm historical is going to be dwarfed.

Just imagined dwarf steelheads. Thank you for that.

Have you looked into having some fully armored halberdiers made by a 3d artist and then making a cheap rubber silicone mold and copying the model 9 times?

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/582598.page

 Dais wrote:
I have looked around myself and found nothing that won't make me spend more. Full plate footsoldiers with halberds are surprisingly difficult to source.

For a while I was toying with the idea of using the wargames factory samurai and ashigaru kits to represent my steelheads.

Right?! Them and plate-armored men-at-arms at large with few exceptions (Bless you Fire Forge games, wherever you may be).

I've actually been considering the exact same thing. I'm still juggling that option around. Right now my primary theorized course of action is using a bitz outlet to get as many plate-armored WHFB Empire State Troop torsos and helmets that exist and cobbling my own halberdiers together.

FoWPlayerDeathOfUS.TDs wrote:
Have you looked into having some fully armored halberdiers made by a 3d artist and then making a cheap rubber silicone mold and copying the model 9 times?

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/582598.page

I'd love to get you some more work but I literally have no knowledge about any of it, I'm really just looking to buy established models on the market or converting them sorry.

Weren't there Empire Halberdier units in WHFB?

http://www.manticgames.com/mantic-shop/kings-of-war/basilea/product/basilean-men-at-arms-40-figures.html

I have heard very bad things about the sculpt quality of the Mantic Bastillian infantry.

They also have sheilds and spears/swords, not Halberds.

PP is savvier then people realize. Even the stuff that seems more "generic" is really hard to replicate without official models. Stuff like Precusors or Steelheads is surprisingly tough to find.

Dais wrote:I have heard very bad things about the sculpt quality of the Mantic Bastillian infantry.

Yeah I was crushed when I found out. :/ They were the second kit I'd found that would work but jabers apparently they're absolutely awful.

Polonius wrote:
PP is savvier then people realize. Even the stuff that seems more "generic" is really hard to replicate without official models. Stuff like Precusors or Steelheads is surprisingly tough to find.

It's true their pick of genre and design is entirely unique with very few exceptions (Pirates for instance). At least finding solos tends to draw quite a number of appreciable results but it's driving me nuts how hard it is to find stand-ins for Steelheads.


EDIT: While I'm at it, could anyone tell me what the ARM value of a Steelhead halberdier is? I'm getting to the point where I'll be scavenging for bits to make my alternates but I'm worried I'll invest in torsos that aren't believably well armored (The actual miniatures look pretty solid but I hear they can't take much damage).

IIRC they are 14, which is actually only a little short of Knight armor but its not going to stand up to the typical pow9-10 attack

They're 13/13 def/arm. Their big thing is set defense and powerfulcharge+combined attack. to let them hit decent and force average melee to miss on the charge.

Also, ran across these: http://www.gamezoneminiatures.com/tienda/en/45-empire

Their halberdiers are probably a touch short though.

 Surtur wrote:
They're 13/13 def/arm.

Pfft, wussies!

My Temple Flameguard are Def13 and they have nothing more than robes, a helmet, and a simple shield. These guys are wearing full on armor.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Surtur wrote:
They're 13/13 def/arm.

Pfft, wussies!

My Temple Flameguard are Def13 and they have nothing more than robes, a helmet, and a simple shield. These guys are wearing full on armor.

And the pointed sticks!

Pointy fire sticks!

Gamezone has a box of 21 halbardiers that look great for £50.

I would like to say plastics are coming but metal appear to be deeply venerable in the Merc community.

PP's plastics also leave a lot to be desired in the quality department. Their metals are far superior as far as quality, but do suffer from assembly flaws(like giant weapons or flags attaching at the wrist )

I prefer the plastics over the metals.

Quality is just fine. And I find plastic to be easier to work with, haul around, and play with.

But if you prefer metal you can often still find it around.

If the models look good and assemble easily at a decent price I would prefer them to stay as metal.

Steelheads are none of these things so at hey should be made into plastic, even with mold lines.

oh yeah, price. Plastic is much cheaper. That is a huge edge to plastic in my book.

Yea, I can attest that the metal halberdiers are an enema wrapped in a misery to assemble.

Plus side, they are not terribly large normally, so you might be able to get away with a Perry Bros set of War of the Roses infantry, especially if you make their base a little taller with some scenery or something. ( http://www.thewarstore.com/product58022.html)

Reaper has some fairly nifty options:
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/halberd/sku-down/06141#detail/06141_G
Well, that one mostly.

Doesn't help you right now, but I just saw this:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haste/the-empire-28mm-heroic-scale-medieval-fantasy-huma

 Wehrkind wrote:
Yea, I can attest that the metal halberdiers are an enema wrapped in a misery to assemble.

Plus side, they are not terribly large normally, so you might be able to get away with a Perry Bros set of War of the Roses infantry, especially if you make their base a little taller with some scenery or something. ( http://www.thewarstore.com/product58022.html)

Reaper has some fairly nifty options:
http://www.reapermini.com/OnlineStore/halberd/sku-down/06141#detail/06141_G
Well, that one mostly.

Knowing they aren't huge is quite helpful thanks! Judging by the model pictures I thought they were behemoths (Which seemed at odds with their rather inexpensive point cost and tendency to show up on the table in groups of 20). Perry Bro's are awfully small though; I happily use them in LoTR:SBG as they fit perfectly but I'll scout around for slightly chunkier historicals (Though I'd like to avoid trying to mix any GW in my force. I love my Empire Militants dearly but they just don't look right beside proper warmachine models in the slightest.)

Reaper's Black Legionnaire's also offer a block of proper looking chain/plate troopers with polearms though the price is roughly the same as the normal halberdiers. :/

insidius wrote:
Doesn't help you right now, but I just saw this:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/haste/the-empire-28mm-heroic-scale-medieval-fantasy-huma

*Damn* they didn't make the funding otherwise those guys would have been bleeding perfect. Agh gosh I'm killing myself fantasizing about those models that's a terrible shame they didn't reach their funding.