Following on from my previous review of Excellent Miniatures 10mm elves, I placed an order for a small wood elf army - now prepped and ready for painting - and recieved a few more samples as well. This follow-up post provides a few more comparative shots of some of the different ranges.
As I noted last time, the Excellent Miniatures 'Noble Elf' line is scaled to match Warmaster figures. Stephan at Excellent Miniatures confirmed that he could scale them up to be more in line with Magister Militum and Pendraken, and this photo is the result. At first sight they still appear slightly shorter than their metal counterparts, but that is because they lack a basis. From toe to eye they match Magister very well and, once based, you wouldn't question them being on the table with Pendraken.
Here is an example of the 'Elves of the Wood' archers. I've chosen to show the same strip twice (they come in strips of two) to illustrate the small vertical supports that they are printed with. The strip to the left has had the supports removed, the strip to the right still has them. These are shown with comparative elves from Magister and Pendraken, and a Magister Classical Greek archer. Again, they match Magister fantasy for heft and height - although the actual details are rather finer.
Elves of the Wood archers and stag-riders along side Pendraken high elf cavalry and Magister Classical Thracian cavalry. The stag-riders are just about spot on size-wise with the archers. They are smaller than the Pendraken elvish cavalry, but larger than the Magister historical line.
Another shot to show the same strip twice, with vertical supports removed to the left, and 'as printed and posted' to the right. It is easy enough to remove the supports with a stanley knife or scalple, but it does take a little time.
My wee army will be led by this stag-rider hero. She is in scale with the rest of the range, but her mount is a big boy!
... and for completeness sake, I've included the giant eagle that will support my force. Again, both the eagle and the hero are shown with the vertical printing supports still in place.
I am hugely impressed by this range, and by the service and communication of Stephan at Excellent Miniatures. Removing the vertical printing supports is a slight inconvenience, but the print quality is just superb - especially when compared with some of the finecast and bubble-pocked resin models I have seen produced recently. In truth, my wood elves will almost certainly skip to the front of the painting queue as I'm really keen to see them with some colour.
But not to be overlooked... I was also sent a sample of some as-yet unreleased human knights. While the Elves of the Wood are being produced under liscence, these knights are digitally sculpted in-house by Excellent Miniatures. The quality of the sculpts and the printing is pretty damn impressive.
