Different sculpts for UK and North American releases?

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The wolf riders have similar quality differences. The one with better detail on the face and belt buckle has a smaller spear head and a smaller spike on the helm.

[Cael Darkhollow]

interesting. As I have both European and U.S. versions and both expansions I will be examining them closely for differences and will report back.

[Cael Darkhollow]

after examining the figures closely in all four production boxes, namely
Battle Masters box UK) Red+Blue flag on lower left box corner
Battle Masters Chaos Warband Reinforcements box (UK)
Battle Masters Imperial Lords Reinforcement box (UK)
Battle Masters box (US) White Shield lower left box corner (multiple sets with various plastics used)

I cannot see any noticeable differences except minor production variations due to the plastics used. This would lead me to believe the same molds were used on all the figures; however, in general the US figures have much thicker width base tabs than their UK counterparts (making them harder to fit in the movement trays requiring more force, but they stay upright better while the UK versions fall over when bumped)
which could indicate a different mold or sprue tree perhaps, with the same figure molds or perhaps new but nearly identical figure molds.

The gray US armored warhorses have two notches about a 1/16th of an inch away from the ends on the bottom of the base tab that are not present on the UK versions. Likewise the horses with cloth barding have notches on the bottom near the very ends which aren't on the UK versions, but those horse and rider figures themselves seem identical. Interestingly the dark plastic Warhorses for the Chaos Knights do not have the notches at all even on the US ones. Some of the Wolf rider base tabs have several minute bumps all along the base tab that look like rivets and some are smooth. I found both types in the US sets but only smooth in my sole UK base game examples. No other figures I examined had these. The only differences I could find at all were on the base tabs not the figures themselves. The sole exception seems to be the interior of the Ogre as I can confirm that all US versions have two pins while the three UK Battle Masters Ogres I own all have a single pin. I can't find a single difference on the outside of the ogre itself though. I even took some horses, wolves and cannon apart to see if the insides were somehow different on the multi part models.

I don't have a caliper for making minute measurements but I couldn't decern any noticeable size differences on the figures themselves (heads, eyes, etc.), although on crisper molding the weapons are sharper and perhaps a trifle longer as a result. I couldn't find any completely differing figure details or pose adjustments that would indicate a similar but not the exact same mold. It's also possible that later production runs on the same molds would acquire artifacts/defects and less overall detail as the molds wore out. As always on used games wear and tear on vintage figures through use could be a factor.

I've acquired more than half a dozen battle Masters US sets over the years and there is definitely variations in the plastic used between them. I only have one each of the UK version and the expansions which also have variations from the US set and each other. I have all the HeroQuest sets and expansions and they mirror the plastic variants seen in the Battle Masters productions.

In general the UK plastics seem to hold detail better as is especially apparent on tiny skulls, chainmail etc.
The US plastics seem cheaper and not as solid especially the semi-transparent types; very unfortunate if your Battle masters set includes these candy reds and candy greens as almost certainly spears, bows, etc. will be snapped off.
Also it seems the shinier the plastic used the more brittle and less detailed they are.

There are tons of box art, Box interior, printed pamphlet, and stickers, as well as unit names and movement tray color differences between the UK versions and the US version of Battle Masters.
Are there more possible production differences in foreign language releases of Battle Masters throughout Europe or beyond? I know Germany, Spain, France had their own language boxes.

I thought I did a photo comparison post of all the differences between the UK version and US version but I couldn't find it (I certainly did for the various HeroQuest releases between the vintage MB/GW sets and the new Hasbro rerelease sets although I still need to do a few more that have come out since then, such as the new Ogre Horde and The Frozen Horror, IF of course I can figure out how to get back in to my seldom used Flickr accounts I used in the tedious process to get pictures here on the forums...sigh.

We discussed different plastics used in detail for the Milton Bradley/Games Workshop/Citadel games HeroQuest and Battle Masters in this thread:
https://forum.yeoldeinn.com/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=5206

the black minis are an uncommon but not rare "prototype" plastic color variants from Milton Bradley in North America (and at least Against the Ogre Horde, Wizards of Morcar boxes, possibly others?) several Battlemasters games (also MB and partnered with Citadel and GW) have also turned up with black instead of green or gray figures too. Seems black plastic figure variants are more common in BattleMasters than HeroQuest though.

I own multiple sets of both games and many duplicates of all the expansions so I have seen all kinds of plastic color variants over the years. I have probably a few hundred Milton Bradley game HQ/BM figures total with just a few dozen in black plastic.

some plastic color variants I have seen or own
two different red shades: "candy" semi-translucent red or matte brick red for HeroQuest heroes, HQ mercenaries, and Battlemasters Imperial archers, cannon & crew, and crossbowmen

four green shades or same figures normally green in black: olive drab green, forest green, dark green, "candy" semi-transparent green, and black for HeroQuest goblins, orcs, fimir, and Battlemasters orcs, Goblins and hedges.

Light gray, dark gray, rarely in darker blueish gray and black for HQ Chaos Warriors, HQ mercenaries, and BM Chaos Champion knights and BM Chaos Warriors and Chaos Archers.
I've seen the HQ furniture, BM halberdiers/men-at-arms, Imperial Lord Knights and BM tower in both common light/dark grays but not blue gray or black.

Dark deep brown or chocolate brown for HQ rats and furniture parts.

Black or dark purple for HQ ogres(atoh), Wizards of Morcar figures, BM ogre chieftain, BM Chaos Lord Knights and horses and BM chaos beastmen.

Cream white, ivory white or yellowed white HQ skeletons, mummies and Zombies.

Red, yellow, blue and brown BM knight horses.

HQ mercenaries in brick red, "candy" translucent red, light gray, darker gray and black.

Ogres in dark nearly black blue, light blue, shiny black, matte black, dark purple, and brick red.

I have never seen any color variants of the light blue plastic used for the elf quest/Barbarian quest exclusives such as the Frozen Horror, wolves, elf warriors/archers, female elf, ice gremlins, polar war bears or female barbarian; just the ogres (which are the same mold as one of the atoh ogres.)
Both of the Barbarian Quest Packs and both of the elf quest packs I own are all light blue, While the ATOH expansions Ogres I have come in multiple colors.

Very early in the old eBay days of yore I collected multiple HeroQuest and Battlemasters games or expansions for parts as I was disgruntled with the rising cost of GamesWorkshop Warhammer plastic or metal minis, so it was a cheap (back then! $25-50) alternative to build up multiple Warhammer armies because each game (usually missing a few parts) still came with dozens of plastic figures. Much cheaper than the 10 or even just 5 plastic figures per box GamesWorkshop was selling during the same time period. I bought them whenever I had extra money as they were commonly up for sale cheap. No one was piecing out games for individual part sales then at exorbitant prices, incomplete games were just considered unplayable garbage or to Frankenstein a few together to complete a set or replace broken and missing components. I bought MB/GW games on eBay from U.S., Canada, and the UK.
My Orc, Goblin, Empire, Beastmen, Chaos Warrior, Undead, wood elf, dwarf, skaven, and Ogre Kingdom armies all have Milton Bradley HeroQuest or MB Battlemasters figures in them, not to mention Warhammer Quest, Advanced HeroQuest and DarkWorld figures as well to go with the actual Warhammer figures.
I've been collecting for decades always grabbing thrift store or yard sale HQ/BM finds as well as online.

I noticed the plastic color differences right away after I bought more HeroQuest or Battlemasters spare complete sets to go with my cherished originals I have had since I was a teen, or extra incomplete game boxes for conversions to Warhammer.

I suspect the black variant mercenaries are only from Wizards of Morcar sets where they are usually red and come with blue wizards, but sometimes all the figure come in black.
The HeroQuest advanced quest edition mercs are brick red or candy red and the Barbarian Quest Pack mercs are dark gray or light gray.

The early runs of HQ base game and Kellar's Keep seem to only source of occasional uncommon black or dark green HQ goblins, orcs or fimir. While dark green or black BM figures such as orcs, goblibs, chaos warriors and beastmen are much more common.

Something wild that you may not know about is several Battle Masters figures were obviously cloned or imitated (clearly different molds) for the rival company Parker Brothers 1997 Lionheart board game!
I have this game as well but do not own multiple sets for painting or conversions as I always like to keep one game pristine before I mess with the components. Easy enough to find if you want Battle Masters customizations though.