I love the look of the Bard miniature in the Desolation of Smaug Rulebook, and I'll be buying him as soon as he becomes available. Unfortunately, Bard doesn't aesthetically match the Laketown Guards that would comprise his warband. Of course in the book, Bard was captain of the guard and would have dressed like the rest of the guardsmen. Peter Jackson's interpretation of Bard is rather more humble.

Now, as I said, I like this version of Bard. I don't want to change him. What I'm going to do is change the Laketown Guards. My idea is to put together a warband of peasant militia that will look aesthetically coherent when it's led by Peter Jackson's raggedy version of bard.

At the moment I'm debating what to use as the basis of my conversions. Within Games Workshop's LoTR range there are a couple of choices. Dunedain of the North should look sufficiently ragtag next to Bard, though 100% of them carry bows. The Ruffians and Slavers from Isengard look exceptionally peasantish, but they also look like they might be freezing to death way up in laketown.

Outside of Games Workshop, there are a few options that I am aware of. The Perry brothers have sculpted some Russian peasants that look sufficiently Slavic to fit in just fine with Laketown. I have faith in the scale, consistency and quality of Perry miniatures. Aside from that, I've been told Old Glory has a range of Romanian peasants that would work, but I'm unsure of their size next to LoTR minis.


If anybody can think of other Slavic miniatures I should look at, I'd appreciate any tips. I'll make updates as I progress on this project.

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Elrond Nine Sixteenths elven does not exactly roll off the tongue.

Idk if any would fit exactly what you're looking for but I'd recommend Warlord Games' Hail Ceasar range. They're great sculpts, to scale with LOTR and much better priced

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Gripping Beast offers a huge range of historical miniatures that are the same scale as LotR. The models are metal, but better priced than GW's (actually, they are probably the price of GW's plastics).
Anyway, here are a few ranges that I found after a quick search, that might be suitable for what you want:

http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=302
http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=312
http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=11
http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=31
http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=33
http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=2442 (check out the Viking Bondi)

Especially the fourth link might be what you're looking for. Otherwise, I would just advice their Dark Age Warriors: http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.ph ... =268441664
40 plastic, multi-part minis for 20 pounds!

Also, these might be good heroes:
http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.php?ItemID=2693
http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.ph ... =268441441

And finally, Musketeer Miniatures pops to mind, with their Early Saxons and Goths/Germanic forces here:
http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/sto ... ical&id=35
http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/sto ... ical&id=53

Hope you can find what you're looking for!

Peasant-style figures ... look at Wild Men of Dunland, maybe? And, of course, you could use a Hobbit to represent Bain, Bard's son.

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See my WIP thread here. viewtopic.php?f=50&t=25624

Problem is of course that you can't take any shields, and few models come with just a spear (or would look good with the shield removed).
Most of these are shieldless, the others carry it on their back (which could then count as armour). Sure don't look very fancy.
http://www.grippingbeast.com/photos/abr9.jpg
http://www.grippingbeast.com/photos/abr10.jpg
From the Arthurian range: http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=63