I built my Empire Army out of a combination of Perrys, Fireforge, Frostgrave and some Warlord Games stuff. They all work with each other. They are smaller. But depending on what you’re fighting against that’s not always a problem. I’d argue those 4 companies are nicer than the old GW range.

@richsh scale shot with a few more ranges:

Left to Right GW Night Goblin (7th ed) Frostgrave Barbarian (without base), Perry Foot Knight, Fireforge Foot Sergeant, Warlord Landsknecht, Very burly and manly and not at all flouncy brave man of Middenheim 😛 (6th ed GW Empire mini),  Frostgrave Barbarian (on additional base this time), Frostgrave Soldier (From the Female / Soldiers 2 Box), Avatars of War Plaguebringer and shieldwolf Shield Maiden.

A couple of things perhaps worth calling out:

– The Perry and Warlord stuff are true scale 28mm so smaller than most of the ‘fantasy’ ranges. Additionally their sculpts are in proportion, note the normal scale head and hands compared to the GW minis. I picked up some Warlord Landsknecht thinking I could use them as proxy GW greatswords – short version, didn’t work 😉

– The Frostgrave barbarians are in a bit of a ‘stooped’ pose which works for the theme of the mini (and the size of the weapons) but makes them appear slightly more diminutive than the other Frostgrave kits.

– I don’t think Avatars of War presently do any ‘human’ box sets but would be great for character mins if you were so inclined.

– The Fireforge are midway between GW and the other historicals (Perry and Warlord) and sit comfortably alongside either, whereas the Perry and Warlord don’t mix with the heroic 28mm stuff.

If starting an army from scratch I’d say just have a look at a few ranges and see what takes your fancy. Not sure what options Freeguild have in AoS (I may have never moved on from WHFB…) but Warlord and Perry have most of the core options of the old Empire list covered – just missing the more esoteric stuff (steam tanks, war altars, demigryphs etc). But if you don’t like the ‘Holy Roman Empire’ look then Fireforge is a nice mix between affordability and integration on scale with GW.

As @darthcheese and @somegeezer point out, you can mix Perry, Warlord and Fireforge just fine, and you can mix Fireforge, Avatars of War, GW and various other fantasy. Hrm, think I’m talking myself into picking up more Fireforge here…  😛

Best of luck with the new project! 🙂

A few companies that haven’t been mentioned: Mom Miniaturas, a bit rough in places but great models and a good price. Norba also has some great models. Gamezone has plastics that are fabulous.