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Miniatures for PCs

J

jappel

SOC-13
Fellow sophonts,

I'm casting about for miniatures to use for games. I've been making use of some Shadowrun figures in recent years, but these aren't always a clean match and the few OTU aliens I do use (mainly Vargr) aren't represented.

Before forking over my Cr for some on E-bay or elsewhere, can anyone recommend particular sets of minis (preferably 25mm) to use for general adventurers? I'm interested in both "made for Traveller" figures and other suitable lines.

I'm aware of the GZG figures, but would appreciate comments on their quality. (I know their ship figures are well-regarded.)

TIA,

John
 
John:

Ahhhh... The trouble that Traveller-players/Mini-gamers have faced since RAFM's TNE line became scare: What to use for figures?

At GenCon I talked to some of the few quality miniature casters who showed up (not many, mind you). They were of the consensus that thanks to the market dominance of WH40K and the inability of most science fiction gamers to imagine anything outside of a franchised setting (e.g. Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, etc.), a line of "generic" hard sci-fi/space opera figures would not be a profitable venture for them.

Believe me, if I had the money and the talent, I'd try to buy the mini rights from Marc and produce Traveller figs (Character and ships) myself. However, I'm poor and I can't even sculpt play-doh.

You do have a couple of options: Copplestone Casting's "Future Wars" line or VASA Militia figures from the "Void" game from Urban Mammoth (formerly I-Kore).

As for GZG, the quality of their 25mm military figures are great for wargaming figs. However, they are not as detailed as Reaper or GW's figures. I haven't seen their character figures though, so I can't give you a review of those. Also, GZG are "True" 25mm figs and are not to scale to most of the "heroic 25mm" (i.e. 28-30mm).

Another line of similar line of figures are from Denizen. They are very close to GZG in scale.
 
GZG figures are nice, and match the old Grenadier figures in terms of scale (25mm eyes to feet).

Another option is cardboard figures, like sould be SJG.
 
Thanks for the feedback, guys. I'll try to chase down Mark's suggestions, but may just follow the path of least resistance and go GZG.

They were of the consensus that thanks to the market dominance of WH40K and the inability of most science fiction gamers to imagine anything outside of a franchised setting (e.g. Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, etc.), a line of "generic" hard sci-fi/space opera figures would not be a profitable venture for them.
Click to expand...
Blech. I don't doubt it, but why oh why must so many people be sheep?

John
 
Originally posted by jappel:

Blech. I don't doubt it, but why oh why must so many people be sheep?

John [/QB]
Click to expand...
Because, despite claims to the contrary, most gamers are just as unimaginative as everyone else. "Generic" figures implies that you have to provide your own setting, and gamers don't seem to have the time or talent to come up with orginal sci-fi of their own.

Which explains fan-fiction. Why come up with your own universe when George Lucas or Gene Roddenberry can make one for you? That, and the chance for desperate geeks to share their pathetic sex fantasies involving Princess Leia, Seven-of-Nine, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer with the rest of the world.
 
If you don't mind changing scales to 15 or even 10, there are several good lines of SF in 10 and 15 mm... go to theminaturespage.com, and search there...

someone even had a line of SF cats and dogs in 15mm... as in Aslan and Vargr, just not so called.
 
I went and picked up a box of plastic GW minis (Cadian Shock Troopers, 20 for $30) to use as general purpose soldiery, and I'm quite pleased with them. They're not as over-the-top as some of the other WH40K stuff, so they fit pretty well.
 
What sort of minis would people like to see in a limited range?

I guess a selection of aliens to start with plus some vacc suits and imperial marines.

Human men and women in various clothing - suits, robes, environmental clothing, armour.

Any obvious ones I'm missing?

Crow
 
We already said the size range, right? 25-30 mm?

Well, for aliens: the major races and the more popular minor races (Ithklur, Bwaps, and etc).

Maybe some vehicles like air/rafts and GCarriers, plus some "background" stuff like soda machines, chairs, and etc.
 
Guess I am in the Cardstock crowd. Not as pretty, but from my days of D&D actual minitures of ANY quality price op FAST, require lots of storage space, and as expensive as they are, you NEVER have the right ones anyway.

CArd stock are cheap. THat means taht the publisher can generate new designs quickly, publish as many as they feel like printing, and enounough to cover virtually any encounter you can envision with extras for the unexpected, will not break the bank.

You don't get to personalize them by painting them, (even more expense, copious amounts of time, and unless you are an artist, they still look like crap,) but if enough variations are printed, (the best minitures stocks I have seen run to 100-200 tops, and take BOXES to store, transport of even a fraction is NOT AN OPTION,) cardstock I could carry dozens of pc's, and hundreds of enimies,in one small case, and pull out what I need. If the line is designed right, there could even be the same charactor repeated in multiple poses and multiple outfits. No retoolig costs, and once the origional art is done, running a sheet costs the same, no matter which sheet you print.

Profit margin is less of course, so a company to do JUST cardboard minies is not likly, though their overhead would also be significatntly less than a casting shop, especialy if theyy farm out the printing. Now costs are the artests, and a print bill every month.

THe Free set on-line here seems very popular, so I think they would go well.

just my thoughts, but I don't have $5 dollars, or even 50 cents a peice to spend on minies, but 100 for $5-$10 I could do, if they where decent quality.

Mr TEk
 
I have the old Cardboard heros 15mm traveller sets. They certainly made sense back then, especially since all the deck plans were published in 15mm. (I found my adventure class ships and Aslan mercenary cruisers deck plans!!!
) The best thing about 15mm is the damn deck plans take up so much less space. (A Type S fits on one sheet of graph paper and the Safari ship fits on two.) Copying the Broadsword class to 15mm and each deck fist on one sheet of paper. Makes life so much easier.

In the Traveller Deckplans released by GURPS there are the same figs in 25mm. (Well most of the same figs.)

I have enough time energy and money tied up in WH40K minis to not want to go out and do more 25mm lead, ooops pewter now.

Personally, though, if I had money I would buy the rights to Martian Metals 15mm Traveller line and re-release them. Anyone know what happened to them?
 
What I'd like to see is a line of 25mm cardboard minis, with art on both sides (like SJG cardboard heroes), sold as a PDF file. Which means I could print it to 15mm if I wanted to.

I picked up Poser, and can now make decent-looking modern figures wearing casual and business clothing. Unfortunately, to get other outfits I need to spend more money buying DAZ figures and add-ons, and I can't justify the expense. Or, I suppose, I could make my own clothing using a 3d modelling program, except that I'm not a good enough artist to manage that...
 
Originally posted by Scarecrow:
What sort of minis would people like to see in a limited range?

I guess a selection of aliens to start with plus some vacc suits and imperial marines.

Human men and women in various clothing - suits, robes, environmental clothing, armour.

Any obvious ones I'm missing?
Click to expand...
All of these, plus: PC Starships (Scouts, Traders, SDBs, etc.)
 
I'd rather have PC minis than ship minis, but I wouldn't mind both being available. It's just that I play the game as an RPG more often than as a wargame, and so over 90% of the time, I'll be using PC minis and the ship won't be on the mat at all.

My two creds, anyway,
Flynn
 
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