Miniatures

[jericson]

Anybody got any suggestions for miniatures to use for Traveller games? (Like Imp Marines, etc.)

I read good things about GZG minis, but kind of hate to buy them sight unseen. (Their webpage doesn't tend to have too many pictures on it, and the catalogue either has no pictures of the figs I am interested in, or they are so grainy as to be almost useless.)


Thanks for any suggestions!

Jim

 

[leadhead]

Can't tell you about GZG figs, I have some of their 6mm (for mass battles) which are nicely done but have never seen their 25s (except for 1 photo of painted New Israeli powersuit infantry which looked like good, generic human powersuit troopers).

I have converted some of GW's Cadian Imperial Guards for use as Imperial Army Troops (TL13, armed with gauss rifles and combat environment suits, grav tanks are scratch builds). The GW Tau line make good, anime style aliens if you don't use the OTU. Kroot make good generic low tech aliens. The GW Eldar line would make very good Zhodani.

I-Kore's various heavy troop lines (particularly VASA and Syntha) make good Imperial Marines and you can usually find them cheap on Ebay. GW's basic tactical Space Marines or Chaos Marines could also be converted into passable Imperial Marines (which is what I did MANY moons ago and I still use them for both Traveller/Striker, WH40K and the occassional game of Stargrunt).

The new Starship Troopers Mobile Infantry would also make passable Imperial troops.

In 15mm, GZG makes several lines of heavy troops. The New Israeli powersuit infantry and New Anglian Confederation powersuit infantry are close to classic traveller Marines.

Aliens like Vargr or Aslan are going to be harder to come by unless you are a skilled modeller and can build conversions of these sorts of aliens.

 

[Rotters2]

G'day all. Yeah - I've sort of been stuck with the GW stuff too, leadhead. There isn't really a lot of options out there.

There was a thread ages ago, which had a few links to some nice looking lead mini's, but couldn't find it. Maybe ask Hunter if he can point you in the right direction, jericson, that's about all I can offer.

sorry, m8

 

[siefertma2]

It looks like Mega Miniatures, who have the liscense to make the upcoming Traveller spaceship minis are also going to do character figs. See the TMP link and Mega Minis Traveller page for more info.

 

[etherflyer]

Originally posted by jericson:
I read good things about GZG minis, but kind of hate to buy them sight unseen.

They are terrific.

Depending on where you live, it is worth buying directly from them. A couple of years ago their US distributor charged such a markup that North American shops were paying more wholesale than it cost to order retail from England, including paying for airmail shipping!

 

[chrisr]

I use GZG's UNSC hardsuit marines as imperial marines. Personally I think they're the closest match of anything currently available. Also pretty good value.
The colonial militia work well as lightly armoured troops too, starport security etc.

 

[leadhead]

Mongoose Publishing has a Starship Troopers game (good in it's own right, sort of what wh40k could have been if they let Andy Chambers alone). The Mobile Infantry aren't bad as a basis for conversion (I use GW heads, but the combat suits and mortita rifles are cool). The bugs, quite simply, ROCK!

 

[robject]

I'm looking for generic sci-fi starship minis, pre-owned or otherwise for cheap. I've got some RAFM Traveller minis, as well as a set of cool-looking ships (Grenadier?) which don't appear to be related to any game I know and must be at least 20 years old. So that's where I'm coming from.

Anyone have suggestions?

(Edit: some of the old Citadel minis look nice, too, such as the SCP1 Destroyer, or the C43. The Superior Models ships don't look too bad, either.).

Edit 2

I'm checking out http://www.star-ranger.com et al.

 

[far-trader]

Cold Navy has some very nice ships. I ordered a bunch and the company was great to deal with. The casting is high quality and the designs are well done.

Sadly the enterprise has proven too much for the operator and he's looking for buyers to take over. Until and through the transition though it looks like he's still in business.

Check Cold Navy

 

[robject]

Thanks Jim! Those are beayootiful. And huge, though. Hmmm.

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

CN is the bomb. I have a small Terran fleet I just painted for a freind of my nephew. The minatures are well made, and worth it for the price if you are into it.

That blasted website could be a bit more direct, tho! So many sub-links!

 

[robject]

Cold Navy is very sharp, but really, they are too big for my little 1" hex mat and small storage space.

 

[Baphomet69]

Originally posted by robject:
I'm looking for generic sci-fi starship minis, pre-owned or otherwise for cheap. I've got some RAFM Traveller minis, as well as a set of cool-looking ships (Grenadier?) which don't appear to be related to any game I know and must be at least 20 years old. So that's where I'm coming from.

Anyone have suggestions?

(Edit: some of the old Citadel minis look nice, too, such as the SCP1 Destroyer, or the C43. The Superior Models ships don't look too bad, either.).

Edit 2

I'm checking out http://www.star-ranger.com et al.

I wonder if the ones you think are Grenadier could be from Star Frontiers?

I don't have any from Brigade Models Brigade Models yet, but they look pretty good. Perhaps on par with GZG. (Note, if you're in the U.S. (or Canada, I think) ordering from GZG, they remove the VAT so prices are actually about 15% less than listed on their website for non-European customers! Read it at their site to be sure).

EDIT: Looking at the Cold Navy ships, they look to be about the same scale as GZG - close to 3-4" for the larger ships. What scale were the old GDW/RAFM Traveller mini's? I don't think anyone makes ships that scale anymore. Even the new MegaMinis are huge. The Beowolf and Scout are what, ~2" long?