Great Endeavours expands Ral Partha Colonials

Once again Great Endeavours has added to the established line of Ral Partha colonial figures. Last year they added some Boxers, and now they have gone back to the line’s main strength, and added to the British infantry.

Only one pose has been added at this point. As seen in the picture above, it depicts a regular enlisted man in the act of reloading. The picture, which comes from the Great Endeavours website, also includes an older figure for comparison.

The new pose was modeled by Tom Meier, and can be purchased in sets of 10 for $9.99. The GE website is here:

http://www.greatendeavours.co.uk/colonials/

Click on the image for a larger version.

New Boxer figures from Great Endeavours

The images above, from the Great Endeavours website, show two of their new releases: “Imperial Chinese infantryman” (above) and “Boxer with rifle” (below). Click on the images for larger versions.

Great Endeavours is the current manufacturer of the former Ral Partha 25mm colonial range. Besides making the old sculpts available, GE has taken some steps to expand the range. That included the start of a Boxer Rebellion line a couple of years ago.

Things have seemed very quiet on the GE front for a few years now. However, the company did make an addition to its Boxer line earlier this year, with three new figures. The newcomers are:

88-319 Imperial Chinese infantryman
88-320 Boxer with rifle
88-321 Manchu Ten nai (Tiger-man)

These new figures can be purchased in groups of 10, for $9.99 US. The website is here:

http://www.greatendeavours.co.uk/colonials/index.php

ACTA vs Ral Partha, British Colonial Infantry

The photo above compares three plastic figures from A Call to Arms (A,C,E) with a trio of metal colonials originally from Ral Partha (B,D,F). Click on the image for a larger version.

THE METAL FIGURES

Manufacturer’s Designation and Number of Poses:

The Ral Partha figures come from their “Colonials” range. According to a 1985 catalogue, this range included 68 codes, in three groups (covering the Zulu war, the Northwest frontier and the Sudan). Some of the codes contained more than one pose. The figures illustrated are from the following codes.

B: 88-003 “British Command Group”
D: 88-002 “Zulu War British Infantry Advancing”
F: 88-103 “Northwest Frontier Indian Command Group”

All the figures are now sold by Great Endeavours, using the same codes. The firm has also expanded the range with new complementary figures, including dismounted cavalry, figures for the Boer war, as well as others for the Boxer rebellion.

Figure Characteristics:

Height (measured from sole of foot to eyes): 22mm.

Availability and Cost:

As mentioned above, Great Endeavours currently distributes this range. They can be purchased from the GE website; the firm sells foot figures in groups of 10 (same pose) for $8.50 US.

THE PLASTIC FIGURES

Manufacturer’s Designation and Number of Poses:

The A Call To Arms figures are from box 57, “British Infantry, Zulu War.” The box contains 32 figures in 8 poses.

Figure Characteristics:

Height (measured from sole of foot to eyes): 20mm.

Availability and Cost:

ACTA’s figures are currently available and can be found at hobby shops and online retailers. For instance, Michigan Toy Soldiers sells the box for $13.99.

Ral Partha vs HaT, British Colonial Infantry

The photo above compares three metal colonial figures from Ral Partha / Great Endeavours (A,C,E) with a similar number of plastic figures from HaT (B,D, F). Click on the image for a larger version.

THE METAL FIGURES

Manufacturers’ Designation and Number of Poses:

The Ral Partha figures come from their “Colonials” range. According to a 1985 catalogue, this range included 68 codes, in three groups (covering the Zulu war, the Northwest frontier and the Sudan). Some of the codes contained more than one pose. The figures illustrated are from the following codes.

A: 88-103 “Northwest Frontier Indian Command Group”
C: 88-002 “Zulu War British Infantry Advancing”
E: 88-102 “Northwest Frontier Indian Infantry, Firing”

All the figures are now sold by Great Endeavours, using the same codes. The firm has also expanded the range with new complementary figures, including dismounted cavalry, figures for the Boer war, as well as others for the Boxer rebellion.

Figure Characteristics:

Height (measured from sole of foot to eyes): 22mm.
Body Build: Somewhat heavy

Availability and Cost:

As mentioned above, Great Endeavours currently distributes this range. They can be purchased from the GE website; the firm sells foot figures in groups of 10 (same pose) for $8.50 US.

Notes on the Samples:

The second figure from the far right was painted by Chuck Turnitsa.

THE PLASTIC FIGURES

Manufacturers’ Designation and Number of Poses:

The HaT figures come from box 8023 “Colonial Indian Infantry” which includes 48 figures in 8 poses.

Figure Characteristics:

Height (measured from sole of foot to eyes): 22mm.
Body Build: Average.

Availability and Cost:

This set is a recent release from HaT, and can be easily found. For instance, Dragon’s Cave sells the set for €6.95.

Airfix vs Ral Partha, Colonial Indian

Today's wide choice of 1/72 figures is certainly something like a golden age. But there was a time when the only plastic figures in this scale came from Airfix. The three figures on the right in this image come from that period. They are conversions of the Airfix Japanese infantry set (01718), with turbans made from plasticene, hardened by nail polish. (I think I got the idea from an issue of Airfix Magazine.) The turbans have settled a bit in the intervening years, and I didn't do a great job to start with; however they do let me provide this comparison, in case anyone is trying to supplement an army of such conversions.

The Ral Partha figure (second from left) is from the Indian Command Group (88-103), currently available from Great Endeavours.

The final figure in the picture (far left) is from Esci (reviewed in other posts). Both the Esci and Ral Partha figures were painted by Chuck Turnitsa. Click on the image for a larger version.

Ral Partha vs Strelets, Mounted

Following on from yesterday's posting, here is a selection of mounted Ral Partha troops, compared to a couple of plastic Strelets figures. The figures are as follows (in both pictures) left to right:

• Ral Partha, Moorish Cavalry with Spear, 42-176, from the 1200 AD range
• Strelets Scots Grey
• Ral Partha, Mounted Pathan, from the Colonial range
• Strelets Cossack
• Ral Partha, Turkish Mounted Command, 54-619, from the Condottieri range

As the pictures illustrate, the first and last RP figures are a pretty close match to the Strelets. On the other hand, the Pathan in the middle position is smaller than both the Strelets and the other Ral Partha sculpts.

(Click on the pictures for a larger image - much larger this time)

Special - Strelets v Ral Partha

There is a thread on the Strelets forum asking about some metal/plastic comparisons, and specifically, about the compatability of Strelets with old Ral Partha. Since I won't be doing any specific comparisons between these two manufacturers for a while, I thought I would post this general comparison now.


The figures illustrated are (left to right).

• Strelets officer from Crimean French Light Infantry
• Ral Partha trumpeter from Colonial British Infantry Command set (88-003)
• Strelets British Crimean Infantry
• Ral Partha Medieval Turk (probably 54-610)
• Strelets Streltsi bonus figure
• Another RP Medieval Turk (54-609)
• Another Strelets bonus figure
• Two Ral Partha Colonial Egyptian figures from the command set (88-205)
• Strelets Crimean Highlander
  

For those looking for new Ral Partha figures, the colonial range can be bought from Great Endeavours, while the ancients and medievals are now being manufactured by Iron Wind. (Links to the relevant catalogues are below.)

Iron Wind Ral Partha Catalogue

Great Endeavours Colonials List

I will post a comparison of mounted figures tomorrow. As always, click on the picture for a larger version.