Andalusian light infantry

For the second and third chapters of Lost Mine of Phandelver, several humanoid figures will be required.  The most cost-effective way to get 28 mm scale figures is to go with wargaming miniatures rather than fantasy minis. These tend to be cheaper because they are molded as multiple figures on a plastic tree (a rack) rather than individually. The ones I got were the 28mm Hat 28006 Andalusian Light Infantry  (Amazon link). The 28 mm Hat 28002 Spanish Light Infantry  (Amazon link) look pretty good too, if not better, but were more expensive on Amazon for some reason. If you're having trouble finding either in stock search for Hat + the model number on multiple hobby websites.

This is one of 4 trees that I got in a box that cost $10. All four trees have the same 8 model poses, but I plan to modify some of the models extensively to make them distinct characters.

To prepare the figures for painting, I first washed them in warm soapy water, rinsed them well, and allowed them to dry thoroughly. I then spray-primed one tree with white primer and will spray prime another tree with gray primer.

Once the primer was on, I noticed the prominent lines from the molding process. I used a hobby knife and sanding stick to remove these lines.

The figure poses are as follows:

Left to right from the top:
1. Short bow, robe, no head covering, full beard
2. Javelin held upright, socket in hand for holding second javelin horizontally, robe, turban, no beard (spear is molded separately but was broken in 3 out of 4 trees)
3. Sling, robe, no head covering, no beard
4.Crossbow, chainmail, helmet and turban, face covered (crossbow and hand are molded separately and glued on)

Going back right to left on the bottom:
5. Short bow, chainmail, no head covering, no beard
6. Two javelins (second arm and javelin are molded separately and glued on), running, robe, turban and beard.
7. Spear facing down, small shield (molded separately and glued onto peg on arm), robe, turban, and beard.
8. Crossbow, robe, turban and beard (hand, arm and crossbow are molded separately and glued on.

I'm pretty happy with my purchase. I got a total of 32 figures for what would usually buy between 2 and 5 D&D figures. One downside is that these figures are true 28mm scale. I had assumed that D&D figures were also 28mm, but measuring the ones I got from WizKids and a few others that I have from another campaign, they are typically 30-35mm. The difference makes these figures look out of scale when placed right next to the larger D&D figures. However, since these will mostly be baddies, I'm okay with letting my PCs be literal Big Damn Heroes.