Late Roman Cavalry Comparison

The question often asked when Newline 20mm miniatures are shown is how do they compare with plastics, namely the traditional 20mm being a tad smaller than 1/72 scale. However Newline sets labelled as 20mm over the years have veered closer to 1/72  and these Late Romans were specifically made as 1/72 despite being located in their 20mm Ancients page (for navigational convenience). The only way to know for sure if ranges and manufacturers are compatible is to physically compare the specific figures and make your own personal judgment.

Before comparing Newline and Hat I dug out the Hat cavalry sets, medium, light and cataphracts. I noted that the Hat miniatures themselves differ in size and sculpting style with the light cavalry being slightly smaller than the other 2 sets. As a side note I love the early Hat style of the cataphracts and the equivalent legionary set and again the medium and light infantry were of a softer cast.    

Next up are the Newline casts, with the earlier heavy cavalry and some of the newly released codes lined up. Being the same sculptor throughout there is consistency through the range.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but sizewize to me there is not a great deal of difference. The Hat medium cavalry rider matches well with the Newline riders. In general the Newline horses look slightly smaller but overall I am hoping to use them all together. 

Newline and Hat Indian Elephants Comparison

It has been difficult to get motivated with the hobby over the last couple of months and I have been struggling also to update this page! Bit by bit I am doing some painting and other tasks; made some board game counters for Lost Battles for if I can't get the miniatures out and made a start on some wargames rule writing.

As often I am asked about comparisons and as you can see one of the latest ones was the Newline Elephants, I can only compare these Indian Elephants between Hat and Newline not having the larger Zvezda ones. The Hat ones are slightly larger but I don't think they would be too out of place together on the tabletop. There's not much else to say as the pictures speak for themselves but I did struggle gluing and undercoating the Hat rubbery plastic. 

I've been slowly painting some Newline Maccabean cavalry as Eumenes II's cavalry at Magnesia, not that there is a particular historical look to them just what I will be using them as. Life continues to interrupt the hobby so I will post the various updates on here when I get a chance and hopefully at some point the cavalry will make it on here too!

Newline Designs Late Rome and Goths

I've been rummaging through my boxes recently and dug out my Late Romans and their enemies. It's a part of Roman history that grabs my attention yet I don't have a good understanding of it and am often distracted focusing on Rome's rise. I don't really have a focus for the collection, I may just model and paint Romano-British, Roman East, Gothic migrations and they can all hodge-podge together for any battles I set up but that's a long way off.

I initially was inspired by the Late Roman Legionaries and Cataphracts from Hat, and subsequently picked up their Medium Infantry set, which I was less inspired by, but I remained distracted by other things. Later on down the line Newline Designs released some codes for the era so had to get some in to add to the plastics. Again other eras took my attention but I have a shopping list of more of the range that keeps getting kicked down the road as the classical era took precedent on the hobby funds. 

They are lovely sculpts as ever from Newline but I have heard they are slow movers, possibly hampered by the pictures, so below is an attempt to show off the miniatures, hopefully to improve the ranges chances for future expansion. It would be great to see some of those 28mm late Roman and Dark Age codes scaled down to 1/72-20mm. I'll very briefly go over the Roman and Goth codes, mostly ideas and plans for conversion possibilites rather than a review then I have then have a few comparison pictures with Hat figures. 

Late Roman

Classic looking late legionaries, ready to wield spears but the Spatha could be modeled by a skilled modeler. I might try to bodge one also! I've sometimes seen art work or reenactors wear leg wraps around the shin, the trousers are tight looking on the figures so there is potential to paint them on or file and greenstuff some if that was necessary. Also crests or plumes could be added if that is preferable but I like this stripped down look! I was also thinking of adding a few in with the Goths as better equipped warriors either through wealth or plundering Roman kit:  

Roman command set:

Auxillia Advancing, these figures have the patches of embroidery sculpted on which gives them a distinctive Roman look. They could maybe represent open order javelin skirmishers also if they still used such methods:

 

Auxillia Standing:

Cavalry:

All the Roman codes seem to come with oval shields (pictures below) which I will mention more of below in comparison to the Hat figures. Check out the webstore!

Goths

Between the standing and advancing codes there is quite a bit of variety, most seem to be in furs. There is scope for head swaps for further variety. As well as mixing in the armoured legionaries plus head swaps will bring in chainmail and helmets into the mix. Goths on Newline's store!

The Franks also hold potential for headswaps extra poses going off the website pictures. Of course it's only worthwhile if you don't end up with heads and bodies out of use! 

It seems that tunic, trousers and cloaks are a fairly generic look for the era so those poses with helmets could make good Romano British, seems like that could be the case based on the 28mm Arthurians web store pictures.

Command:

Archers:

Cavalry:

Comparisons

A few comparison shots now, there's a clear sculpting style difference between Hat's offerings even, so if that can be accepted then the Newline style shouldn't be an issue. Size wise they are all usable with each other being generally the same height. I'll end up using them within the same army but have same sculpting style on a single base which is my normal preference. 

Where there is considerable difference seems to be in the shield size. The Newline oval Roman shields are smaller than the cast on shields on the Hat legionaries. The larger shields seem to be more in keeping with other examples of Late Roman miniatures and the Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome which features quite large looking shields for the late era, one source suggested about 3.5-4ft long 3ft wide (roughly 17mm x 12.5mm in 1/72) while the Newline one is 14mm x 10mm. This seems more in keeping with a some of the inspirational osprey plates I've come across. Cavalry shields on the hat figures are roughly the same size these will mix well. When it comes to the Goth's shields I have even less of a clue but I don't have any plastic infantry to compare anyway. They measure at 10mm and give the option to give Romans circular shields if you prefer, which might give them a more post Rome look.

Essentially it's the customers choice whether your units have uniform or mixed sizes but when it come to Hat they are cast on and would take a considerably effort to change. Newline on the other hand with their separate shields gives you the freedom to swap them to match the cast on shields of the plastic Hat figures depending on what look you are after. I'm looking forward to get some bases done of regular Roman and post Roman units as well as some enemies! 

As I mentioned above I am pretty clueless when it comes to the late empire so I would love any insights on this era, historical, modelling painting or gaming please comment below!

Newline Comparison

As I chip away at two units of Newline Designs 20mm Imitation Legionaries I had some Hat Hannibal's Veterans and a Zvezda figure from the Macedonian pike set in 1/72.

Waiting for some bits to dry I set up an impromptu comparison picture which might be helpful to some.

Persian Slingers Comparison

Just a few comparison pics of Hat's 1/72 Persian slingers and Newline Designs 20mm Persian Slingers. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Hat and Newline Designs comparison pics

A few older comparisons I did a few years ago and posted on the "1/72 Ancients" yahoo group:

 

Hat 1/72 and Newline Designs 20mm Carthaginian Comparisons

I received a request on Benno's Figures Forum, where I posted about my African Mercenaries with the blue shields, about comparison shots between Hat 1/72 figures and the Newline Design 20mm figures. I am popping them here in the workshop for future reference.

I have said before how I collected 1/72 Ancient miniatures initially following army lists in Field of Glory supplements. However I looked into filling blanks at the time with Newline Designs 20mm lines, namely the Thureophoroi and I asked about African Veterans in Roman armour. After receiving the metals I loved them and over the years I have been collecting Newline miniatures with 1/72 plastics as secondary.

Newline miniatures tend to be chunkier than the Hat plastics depending on the sculptor. Earlier Newline miniatures seem noticeably smaller than 1/72 and I think that as quite a lot of people asked Sean at Newline about how close they were to 1/72, later miniatures were made a bit larger and fit better height wise.

Some Hat figures appear to be full of action, mid-slash, running throwing etc. and some of the earlier Hat Ancients have shields cast on which lead to flat looking and sometimes awkward poses. Newline poses tend to be more conservative with most heavy foot either standing or advancing tucked and hunched behind their shield. These factors also accentuate the size difference.

I generally don't mix manufactures on the same base/unit but I would definitely mix within an army. I have seen them mixed within units and I think they mix well when painted and based in a consistent manner.

Some examples I have seen around the web:

20mmgamer.blogspot.co.uk

20mm Gamer

cameronian-onlyagame.blogspot.co.uk

jpwargamingplace.blogspot.co.uk