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A Rat By Any Other Name...Part XII

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Avatars of War was created by sculptor Felix Paniagua in 2007, offering alternative models to Games Workshop. They've since aligned themselves with "The 9th Age". So far they offer only a single Ratmen figure, the Vermin Clan Lord. This example was painted by the inestimable Ángel Giráldez.
Battlezone Miniatures is a UK company owned and run by Steve Renwick & Tom Hirst, creators of the Raiders of Arcana wargame. They have two options available for undead "Ratmen Skeletons":
Dark Sword Miniatures, based in Minnesota, was founded in 2002, starting with a line of miniatures based upon the works of legendary Dungeons & Dragons artist, Larry Elmore. The initial sculpts for the range were licensed from Ral Partha, soon supplemented with original sculpts by Dark Sword. A number of "Masterworks" series followed, based upon the works of prominent fantasy RPG artists, along with the Visions of Fantasy range and the Critters Collection. Among the latter are a number of mouse sculpts. Generally speaking, I've avoided mice-based miniatures in this series, such as Reaper's execrably cute Mouslings line. But a few of the Critters Collection figures, sculpted by Dave Summers, are worthy of note and could potentially find a respectable place in a Ratman army:
Nigel Rat-Tail Mouse Wizard
Mouse Druid
Mouse Mummy
Female Mouse Thief
Mouse Fighter
Mouse Witch
Dave Summers also sculpted the quite wonderful "Pi-Rat with Cutlass"
​for the Visions in Fantasy range:
In 2015 Dark Sword launched a Kickstarter for a new Masterworks series based upon the work of acclaimed Planescape artist Tony DiTerlizzi. Among the figures in the range is Roslof, The Wererat . Eagle eyed viewers may notice a resemblance between this figure and the 3-stage Wererat figure by Ral PArtha for their AD&D 2nd Edition line, which was based upon the same artwork.
​Roslof, the Wererat Rogue, sculpted by Tom Meier
Excalibur Miniatures is a German company founded in 1982 as an importer of minis into Germany, but started producing their own figures in 1984. As of January 2015 there is a notice on their website that they don't produce miniatures at the moment, and are only selling off old stock. Excalibur produced no Ratmen to speak of, but they did have a figure riding a giant rat mount that could be of use:
5054 Adonie
 UK-based Fenris Games was founded by brothers Ian & Jo Brumby in 1988 as a Postal Roleplaying Game publisher. In 2002 the company was rebooted as a producer of resin wargames scenery and it wasn't until 2010 that they began making miniatures. Their Wererats and a charming "Rat-King" model are currently only available for pre-order.
Flytrap Factory is a New Zealand design studio founded in 2011 by Anton DuCrot, aka "Baron Trapdoor". Their 2015 Netherworld's Edge:Keystone Kickstarter featured a world of anthropomorphic rodents in 40mm, including numerous Mice & Ratfolk.
Goodman Games, makers of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG products, offered a line of miniatures to compliment their games starting in 2006, originally produced by Iron Wind Metals and then sold to Center Stage Miniatures.  This range included a single wererat miniature.
U.S.-based Highlander Studios was founded by sculptor Rodrick Campbell in 2008. I've found these Ratmen sculpts on an associated blog, but was unable to locate them in their online store, so they may not yet be available for purchase:
HiTech miniatures is a Polish company that offers no ratmen per se, but do produce the aptly named AbeRATion:


​​​I can find next to no information on Jeff Valant Studios, whose website apparently died in 2010 and got co-opted by Asian porn. At one time they made the following rather nice Rat Ogre miniature. If anyone knows if the sculpt found a new home anywhere, please let me know


​Johnny Borg Castings
is what's left of the late and much-lamented Mega Miniatures (R.I.P. 2001-2013). The single relevant figure available is a Ratman zombie, part of the Salvage Crew science fiction range.
Mierce Miniatures is a Nottinghamshire, UK based company that came to prominence in 2012 with the release of its Bane Legions line. They've since switched focus to their Darklands game, based heavily upon British and Celtic mythology. Featuring several people who worked on the legendary Rackham game lines, they have absolutely gorgeous miniatures, they've run a number of highly successful Kickstarters in the last few years, and their lines are rapidly expanding. That said, I could not find many reviews of the Darklands game itself online. I don't know if that's because it has yet to achieve popularity, but Mierce also currently has no presence on the store shelves in my area. All the products I've gotten from them are through mail order, which isn't a criticism or even necessarily an indication of a lack of success, rather I simply think its a shame as I've no doubt their miniatures would give any others on retail sale a run for their money.

Mierce's Darklands range features a race of Ratmen known as The Vras, some of whom originated in the Bane Legions game. Their range got a recent boost in a Kickstarter, but many of these are so far only represented on their website through concept art. Unlike in many cases, however, with Mierce one can reasonably assume the finished models will match or even surpass the art designs.
Blunt-Claw, Vras Lord
​Blunt-Claw Vras-Lord on Goz-Horror
​​Quick-Blade, Spear-Vras Kin-Caller
​Master Converter Kemp-Kemp, Rat Warlock
​​Scar-Scath, Vermin-Fiend
​​Scar-Claw, Rat Fiend
​Flint-Fang, Kill-Thing of the Infernal Pits
On The Lamb Games, a Florida company started in 2007, released an anthropomorphic miniatures wargame in 2010 called Brushfire. The Vandalands faction featured a bevy of rodents, including a quite impressive rat warlord, as well as some absolutely adorable Hamster berserkers. OTL recently announced Brushfire was getting a rerelease.
Vandalands Warband
Vandalands Rat Warlord
Hamster Berserkers

​Located in Cambridge, UK, Otherworld Miniatures is a small company devoted to recapturing the nostalgia of old school fantasy roleplaying. They offer a 2 pack of Wererats sculpted by Matt Bickley as part of their Wilderness Encounters range.
Scibor Miniatures is a Polish company that mainly focuses on customizations and alternatives for Warhammer 40K and resin bases, but also offer the following two Ratmen sculpts. I like them quite a bit (the second in particular), and hope they get around to doing some more in the near future.
Rat Warrior
Rat Warrior #2
And, finally, while not a Ratman of any sort, I'd be remiss not to point out this incredible Wave of Rats from Trollforged minis:
I said at the outset of this series that it was "inevitably incomplete". Though I've tried to do my due diligence, and a shocking amount of research, inevitably a few rodents have slipped through the cracks, so it may be that I'll return to this series with updates periodically. In the meantime, its been a fantastic journey, and I appreciate the response and encouragement I've received on various forums. For now, being caught up to the present as much as possible, we have only one final Part, which I'm not going to spoil now, suffice to say its something that's taken far more effort than any of these other posts combined. 

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