Plastic Mini's

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 3:35 pm

I want to get some ideas on something. How interested would you be in a set of cheap plastic fantasy mini's similar to those green army men we all know and love?

I've kicked the idea around some and I want to see what interest would be. Not that I am planning something like this since I have no clue on how to build the molds and such. But if I did figure it out and they were available cheap could there be a market for this?
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serleran · Post by **serleran** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 4:09 pm

It would depend on the quality, and would need to be better than the stuff TSR made for their D&D baord games (like Dragon's Den or The Haunted Tower) but would not have to be as good as the Citadel stuff, though that is around what I'd want. Not-pre-painted, though.

In fact, I've considered looking at the HorroClix stuff to supplement certain games (I don't use minis in C&C, but I do use them for certain games that bridge between roleplay and board game, like WHQ) or even the DDM stuff, for specific figures... but have not done so.

Orpheus · Post by **Orpheus** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:07 pm

Funny...I've actually been looking into finding some plastic mini's or just using the aforementioned green army men. I've never been a miniatures fan, but after last weekend's game I figured that at least some type of "spatial relation representation" would be nice for once. I wouldn't plan on using a hex grid or anything like that or even considering the distance between figures as being determinate to spell effects or weapons, but it's nice to give the players (especially the new ones) an idea of just where the heck they are in relation to the baddies. So my answer: Heck yeah I'd be interested! I don't care about painting them or collecting them, but I'm afraid that I'd be in the minority. Most people who buy miniatures are really into them and the painting-and-collecting process is very special to them. Therefore, I'm afraid that no one would be willing to produce the kind that you're mentioning since the consumer base would be me and two or three other people. It's just that mini's, to me, always seemed to make the game feel more like a board game and less like an rpg. If there were the type of miniatures you mentioned available, I'd snap some up since the overview of the battle would be there...without the PC's fighting n*z*s with their magical flamethrowers! 8)

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:26 pm

I like them for general battle layouts but get tired of the price on them. I've experimented with paper minis and didn't like them as well either. I got the idea from watching an LOTR documentary where they were planning the Helm's deep battle with medieval "green army men" and the 'bag o' zombies' I saw at a gameshop.

Problem was i never could find the Medieval army dudes. The only thing stopping me is the molds. I'm going to keep looking into it since a bag of them for around 2 bucks would have to sell especially to the crowd who arent all into mini painting.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:40 pm

I would buy. I already have the green and brown (olive drab?) Army men, so don't make any more of those.

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:05 am

I'd definitely be interested! My sentiments are pretty much exactly to those of Orpheus in this thread. I'd like to have some inexpensive fantasy mini's I could use for certain battles but I'm not going to buy, paint, or collect actual miniatures to do so. That alone is costly and I prefer spending that money in gaming books. I've been considering the D&D mini's and seeing if I can get a relative bulk loose bags of Commons but these tend to be a bit too specific for what I need. Some of the Warhammer Fantasy might be 'do-able' but they tend to be a bit more costly for their pieces of plastic...

Keep us informed!

Moriarty the Red
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Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 2:56 pm

Anyone know how to make molds ?
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Orpheus · Post by **Orpheus** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:34 pm

moriarty777 wrote:
I'd like to have some inexpensive fantasy mini's I could use for certain battles but I'm not going to buy, paint, or collect actual miniatures to do so. That alone is costly and I prefer spending that money in gaming books.

Moriarty the Red

That was always my thinking behind it. It's probably still a holdover from seventh grade: "Why would I spend my $20 on miniatures when The Tome of Magic is the same price?"

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:34 pm

Yes, my wife did/does it for our jewelry making.

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:45 pm

How hard is it when your complete artistic talent is barely being able to draw a stick figure?
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:14 pm

I would say pretty much impossible.

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:22 pm

Well now, that just makes this venture easier.
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Orpheus · Post by **Orpheus** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:12 pm

Treebore wrote:
I would say pretty much impossible.

Could you phrase that in the form of a "challenge level?"

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:32 pm

CL 21+

Julian Grimm · Post by **Julian Grimm** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:06 pm

Well I see my quest is to find a mold maker. I'll check that dark abandoned chapel over there...
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Chugosh · Post by **Chugosh** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:46 am

Gee whiz, All I have to do is leave a sandwich on the counter a few days.

Forgive, please!

Do you mean find an artist or find a guy who takes little sculptures to little molds of sculptures to many little copies? I used to be acqainted with one of WotC's sculptors. Cute chick married a friend of mine, last I heard. I'd love to get in on the whole thing, if only I had another year of art school, I'd raise my hand to help.

PeelSeel2 · Post by **PeelSeel2** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 3:23 am

http://www.geocities.com/dbplastic/plas ... links.html
http://dmoz.org/Games/Miniatures/Manufacturers/

For starters
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catenwolde · Post by **catenwolde** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:18 am

Hi guys,

I'm a miniature wargamer, and know several people in the industry, both in the USA and the UK. Here's a brief intro to the wonderful, wacky world of miniature production.

The miniatures world is divided into white metal and plastic figures, largely due to the cost of making the molds. A good sculpt costs about $10 per 1mm as an average, although the scale is fairly flexible at the top, especially for non-historical figures. There is an intermediate stage that involves making noble metal master figures to ensure future production. However, when it gets to the point of making actual production molds, costs diverge by several orders of magnitude between metal and plastic figures. The molds for white metal figures are made from rubber and are fairly cheap, costing just a couple hundred for a multi-figure mold, although they have to replaced every so often. However, molds for plastic figures have to be cast in stainless steel, and cost tens of thousands of dollars each ... which is why you only see plastic figures for the mass market - even Games Workshop hasn't fully transitioned to plastics yet. However, the good news is that those metal molds last forever - which is why you keep seeing the same little green army men you knew from your youth.

Another interesting facet of the miniatures market is that fantasy and sci-fi figures usually cost about twice as much (minimum) as historical figures of the same size and detail, even though the market for fantasy and sci-fi is much larger. In other words, fantasy and sci-fi gamers have been market conditioned into accepting much higher prices.

There are options for producing white metal miniatures. At least one company I know of (in Australia) has a sort of "buyers club" where they will sculpt and cast up a figure if it meets a minimum number of pre-orders ... on the order of several hundred figures. They are a small company, however, so I don't think that this is a mass market solution, although it might work for a targeted release.

The market for 1/72 plastics (those 20mm Airfix figures etc. we all played with) has been exploding in recent years, largely due to cheap production opening up in eastern Europe, so that might be an option. There are already a large number of knight/warrior/ancients/medievals sets on the market, so a fantasy set might be a nice addition to someone's range. However, I don't know of anybody currently doing this, so there may be market resistance or other factors I'm unaware of.

Here's the "go to" site for 1/72 plastics:
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.htm

Let me know if I can help in any way!

Cheers,

Christopher

PS - another option for mass combat is the smaller 10mm scale figures available today. I like these very much (see http://10mmworld.com) and one company owned by a friend in the UK is even stocking mini-dungeons and typical D&D type monsters: http://www.pendraken.co.uk/fantasy.htm

moriarty777 · Post by **moriarty777** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:03 am

Thanks Christopher,

I checked out the pendraken site and some of these look quite promising!! Prices are pretty good considering a lot of these are in packs of 10.

I might select to do this in the near future.

Moriarty the Red
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Plastic Mini's

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