Sourcing Rats of the under ground
With a new KS for some resin ‘old style Ratmen’, well.. they are nice enough but not a big fan of the resin and there are plenty of options for Metal classic ratmen. So I fought about doing a basic list of some options for people out there.
Oh and Cause it’s still running (till 9th December): https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/179741323/rat-storm-rising is where you can find them nice Resins if you want some.
Oakbound – Gnawlochs (https://www.oakbound.co.uk/thewoods/gnawlochs/)
Oakbound do a number of ratmen in their Gnawloch range for the Woods. These are a good price at £8 for 3 (making less then £2.70 a figure) and while aimed for the Woods styling (of course) for the kilted Gnawlochs, work well for Clan rats with mostly spears and light cloth armour. There are also options for Pack masters, Seers, the odd sworded guy, Assassin and muskets (though for Skaven use, you need a second guy as the Gnawloch Muskrats are single figures holding the musket, so no rest guy). Personally, I think this is a good source for slaves & clan rats and could do Jezzails if you have a rest guy (or a bit of converting). There are also some bulk buying options.
Forlorn Hope – Ratmen (https://forlornhopegames.co.uk/category/fantasy-warriors/ratmen)
Painted Forlorn Hope have a number of old Grenadier Ratmen in their Fantasy Warriors range which are mostly wearing light metal/padded armour which is fine for Clan rats. There are also a few Jezziels miniatures (again, without Rest guys). Most of there sword guys come with Shields and have a mixture of Sword & shield, with glave/polearms. There is also a Standard option and champion/leader options. These are about £2.66 a figure and they do a giant Rat but he is less ogre like and more just a giant rat guy. good for Clan Rats and possible stormvermin, along with Jezziels (but need rest guys).
They also do a range of ‘Pi-rats’ which are pirate themed rat men. This range is only sold as a single set of 11 figures for £30.50 (just under £2.80 a figure) but include a Jezzail team (with rest guy) and a cannon (with crew). while possible to use this for a skaven army, they are more clearly pirate in nature.
Little Solder Company – Ratlings (https://thelittlesoldiercompany.co.uk/product/ratlings-and-vermin/)
The Little Solder Company do a set ‘Ratlings and Vermin’ as part of their “Alice in Geründerland ” series. These can be brought as small groups (Edged weapons, Spears, Command group or complete) from £12 for a set of 4 (£3 a piece, Though the common option is only 3 but includes standard and Musician). This rat men are mostly heavily robed and I fine they work well for Plague Monks, while they are a bit shorter then the average Skaven. They also come with Optional Shields.
Ral Partha Europe – Ratmen (https://www.ralparthaeurope.co.uk/shop/ratmen-c-246/)
Ral Partha Europe do a number of Rat men in various types which may be more suitable for Roleplay as they are better as characters then army builders but include magic users, Assassins, Scribes, Champions, archers, crossbow as well as under the heartbreaker lines including two rat Bazooka team, Morter, Rocket team and musician. There are even a couple of ‘beastmen ‘ ratsmen’ which work well as part of the range. There are a few different sculptors with a couple of slight style changes in the fur mostly.
These are mostly around £2.25 – £3 a mini, and as said, work better for special units or characters (like champions, assassins, etc) then army builders and are lightly armoured
Black tree / Eoe / Harlequin – Ver’Men (https://eoeorbisuk.com/collections/fantasy/range_vermen)
The company name is confusing (once Harlequin, then became Black Tree, then are technically Eoe but still do some bits as Black tree) but they do a good range of ratmen from back in the day with a fair amount of variation including Nest Guard (basically Stormvermin with Pole weapons, Ver’clan Warriors (Clan rats), Ver-Burna teams (warp fire throwers), Ver-Gunna (Jezzials with rest Guys), Ver’Ogre (Rat Ogres), Rat Handler and Pack (Pack master with Giant Rats), Ver’Monks (Plague Monks), Sewer Runners (Gutter Runners), Slaves, as well s a few different options and pack types. They mostly range from £7 for 3 figures (just over £2.30 a figure) to £40 for units of 18 (just under £2.20 a figure) which include command options. and do give a fair number of options for units and army builders.
Alternative Armies – Ratmen of Joccia (https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/ratmen-of-joccia)
while these aren’t really much good for many people, Alterrnative Armies do a range of Ratmen for their more Jacobean themed fantasy game style ‘Slaughterloo’. There are still some interesting figures which should atleast be acknowledged for the more niche Rat themed Scottish inspired armies. This very much range in price from the Skirmish Packs (£35 for 8, or £4.30) and unit packs (£63 for 20, or £3.12 each), though the prices are very much rough as some figures are cheaper then others or the pack sizes are a bit different. But they also include some interesting options like Riders on resin Highland Cows, but for Skaven use.. Like the Pi-rats, pretty much only good for a very unique style army.
Willy Miniatures – Fantasy Football Rat men (https://willyminiatures.com/product-category/ratmen/)
While aimed at Fantasy football (like Blood Bowl), Spanish Willy Miniatures do a nice range of Metal Ratmen players which can double up. the runners are nice Gutter Runners, they have an Assassin and some of the players and ogres can probebly be used for more armoured troops or characters. This figures range from 9.99 Euro for two (about 5 euros each.. which is about £4.40 as I write this) to a complete set for 50euros for 15 (including Ogre) to a deluxe set which not only comes with figures but storage, balls, tokens, pitch etc for 100 euros.
There are also some more unique figures such as a Referee, team Mascot, Coach and Apothecary. This range is technically 32mm so maybe a little taller than the average skaven.
Macrocosm – Ratman Fantasy Football (https://www.macrocosm.co.uk/product-category/theoc-games-2/ratmen-fantasy-football/)
Speaking of Fantasy Football, Macrocosm also have a Ratman Fantasy Football team which you can buy in either Metal or resin. or atleast was in resin at some point, but mostly sold in Metal. This were sculpted by the same guy as the Oakbound Gnawlochs can be be through in a few options such as ‘Booster’ (5 figures for £15 or £3 each), ‘Severns’ which is (£20 for 7, or £2.90 each roughly), Full team (£25 for 12, or just over £2 each) or extra full team (£40 for 18, which includes Resin Rat Ogre, which is about £2.20 each). There is also, as stated, the Resin Rat Ogre option (£12).
While aimed for Fantasy Football, like others of that type, the armour and padding can work for clan rat or stormvermin. Just the Football ones don’t really have weapons, so that leaves it up you to kit them out.
Reaper Miniatures – Wererats (https://www.reapermini.com/search/wererat)
While they mostly do soft plastics, Reaper Miniatures have a few metals under there wererat range with a pack of 3 for £14 (about £4.70 each) as well as a ‘boss rat’ which can double as an armoured Rat Ogre, though light armour for £8. Or you can get the same 4 as a set, but much softer details in plastic for £13 (making about £3.25 each) with textured base.
There isn’t really too much in the range, though a bit more if you don’t mind them trying to put some of the detail into plastics.. they aren’t awful and modern plastics can cast more detail then old 80s ones, and there are some more in the range with plastic only options, I’m more focusing on the metals for this list. However, these aren’t too bad but a bit more modern style. Still worth a mention.
Perth Pewter – Wererats (https://perthpewter.com/figurines/perth-pewter-miniatures/nasteez/)
Okay, this is a bit of a weird one.. When Grim Reaper Casting stopped production of miniatures (no one is sure what’s really going on with them), there ‘Nasteez’ miniature line went to Perth Pewter.. of New York (there is a Perth in New York now?) Now.. I THINK theres are 28mm scale.. I’m not 100% sure cause my knowledge of Grim Reaper Castings is limited and Perth Pewter.. ugh..
They have a couple of these ‘Rat men’ but Perth Pewter mostly do Pewter .. erm.. statues? that kinda stuff.. and if this are (which are classed as ‘Small fantasy Figures and Gaming Miniatures) 28mm, I would highly NOT recommend them. Why? while they don’t look too bad, though the bodies are a bit human like, It’s $15 for one. That’s basically £11.50 for one mini. And it’s just… People moan about how high Modern GW (used to be citadel) prices are for there plastics, but over £10 for one current production 28mm mini? yikes.
Mirliton – Ratscum (https://www.mirliton.it/fantasy-25-28mm/ratscum)
Right.. okay.. so.. Mirliton of Italy ALSO have the rights to some of Grenadier’s old ratmen. While many of these are the same as the ones forlorn hope sells. Forlorn only have 2 Rats with Jezzails, Mirliton sell 4 different ones (2 being the same as Forlorn Hope’s), Forlorn has only 1 Giant Ratman, Mirliton has 2 etc. All in all, Forlorn have 15 different figures in the range, Mirliton have about 24 different ones with more on the slightly different types (as they have Archers on giant weasels and Crossbows).
Most of the Mirliton versions are sold in 5 packs for 13.57euros (so about £12, or £2.40 each) though groups with something bigger (like a command group) have 4 in a set for the same price.
Much the same that applies for the Forlorn Hope ones apply here as they are both the old Grenadier figures. Always interesting when two companies get the rights to the same figures like this. though for some reason, some of the ratscum don’t appear in some of the lists I’ve seen.. for both Forlorn Hope and Mirliton but some of the ones which don’t appear, appear in both ranges so.. that from that what you will.
Well, are there others? Not sure. There are quite a few resin and plastic ones out there which I haven’t included but I don’t pay too much attention to them (Got enough old plastics for my plastic Ratty needs) and these are just the Metals I know about.