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Pen & Paper Roleplaying Central => Pen and Paper Roleplaying Games (RPGs) Discussion => Topic started by: Pierce Inverarity on November 11, 2008, 10:47:52 PM

Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 11, 2008, 10:47:52 PM
I'm looking to buy some mid-80s Citadel miniatures. Is there an online store that specializes in this kind of thing? Noble Knight doesn't even list them in his catalogue.
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: David Johansen on November 12, 2008, 12:24:24 AM
Ouch, that's a hard one.

Much of Ral Partha and Grenadier's catelogue is still in production out there somewhere.  Not so Citadel.  Long ago RAFM had the rights to produce most of GW's lines in Canada, you could e-mail them and ask.  Just recently they've been bringing out a few of the old Citadel Traveller figures.
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 12, 2008, 06:58:34 PM
Quote from: David Johansen;265523Just recently they've been bringing out a few of the old Citadel Traveller figures.

Those are the ones I'm looking for!

I know I said bad things about Citadel Traveller minis in the past, but last week I looked at my ship's crew for the first time in ten years, and they're mostly very good. Strangely, I also own three Vargr. They're the best.

Now I want the adventurers set. Well, and the aliens. But IIRC RAFM are only releasing military, right? But I should get in touch with them, good idea.

Do you know if Martian Metals Traveller were any good?
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: David Johansen on November 12, 2008, 10:02:51 PM
The Martian Metals Traveller figures were awful.  Really, really bad figures.  You got lots of them for your money and the quality was consistant.  Bad sculpts, bad casting, bad poses, bad costuming, just plain bad.
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 12, 2008, 10:15:25 PM
I looked them up on the net just now.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tpope/sol/martian-metals/images/2002.jpg

Words fail me. They're like the minis equivalent of an Ab3 gaming experience.
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 12, 2008, 10:17:00 PM
Gotta love their aliens...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tpope/sol/martian-metals/images/2004.jpg

...or the robots...

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tpope/sol/martian-metals/images/2008.jpg
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: David Johansen on November 13, 2008, 10:20:28 PM
Heh...I actually had most of those.  :D

IRRC their k'kree were okay.

Have you looked at Megaminis for 28mm? They've got some nice startrekish ship's crew and a few packs of K'kree and newts.  They sold out of the vargr and droyne.  I don't know if they plan to do more.

If I were them I'd make vargr and aslan because the vargr sold out in two weeks while the k'kree and newts have taken over a year.
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Jackalope on November 14, 2008, 03:51:35 AM
Yeah.  Good luck with that!

In the meantime, depending in what you need (I assume you need sci-fi minis) you might be interested in some of Hasslefree Miniatures Adventurers (http://www.hasslefreeminiatures.co.uk/range.php?range_id=33) would be very Traveler appropriate, as would Heresy's Sci-Fi Range (http://www.heresyminiatures.com/scifi.htm).  In particular check out the Sci-Fi Deal #1, which is a full crew of free traders.  Heresy also makes some Firefly inspired character minis.

To represent more heavily armed forces, the Viridians (http://www.thewarstore.com/viridians.html) from Urban War make good Alliance/Empire mooks, as do the classic RAFM Reaction Marines (http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=SKRM).

And, of course, I would be remiss if I failed to mention Victory Force's Spacefarers (http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=SKRM), if you really need to have the crew of the Enterprise.

Bronze Age has some cyberpunk influenced Sci Fi Adventurers (http://www.bronzeagemin.com/miniatures_html/25MM/SCI-FI/Mercs/28mm-Sci-Fi-Adv.htm), and while not right for Traveler everyone should check out their Dark Earth lines, which are perfect for John Carter/Burrough's Mars stuff.

You'll also want to check out Old Crow's line of 25mm Vehicles (http://www.oldcrowmodels.co.uk/25vehicles.htm), with their hovertrucks and other non-military offerings.

I can find even more cool stuff if you like.  This is just scratching the surface.
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 14, 2008, 08:16:24 PM
David, yes, I know of the Megaminis--the Vargr did look good, unfortunately I didn't buy any.

Other than that, I am persistent, baby. I searched high and low for a White Box D&D, and eventually found one IN THE ORIGINAL SHRINKWRAP for less than a hundred bucks.

Re. minis, thanks for the links--some of those look really great--but for the moment I'm focusing on 15mm, because I was recently reunited with my FASA deckplans for Traveller.

If you know of any ship's crewesque 15mms (not military, those are legion), do let me know. But of course those wouldn't include Trav aliens...
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: David Johansen on November 14, 2008, 09:26:37 PM
hrmmm...You know?  I'm a fair hand at sculpting and one of my long time beefs with sfrpgs is the shortage of figures of the various aliens.  I've been doing lots of 15mm fantasy this last year aiming at having a range of small army packs, of perhaps 6-8 figures per army.  My original intent having been fancy counters for War Law.  I like sculpting 15's because they take about a quarter the time 28's do.

Long term I've been thinking about doing a range of 28mm aliens for Galaxies in Shadow where a pack would have a couple heavy troopers, a couple light troopers, a ship's crew figure, and an adventurer.  I'd probably do some generic types, lionmen, wolfmen, and so on as well as weirder stuff like the Dagonites and Sheth from The Covenant Generation.

I could do 15's but they're awful small and for most rpg groups nobody can make heads or tails of what's going on in 28mm as it is.  Which is how I come to my obsession with 1/32...
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Jackalope on November 14, 2008, 11:38:21 PM
15mm?

Okay, then you need to check out 15mm.co.uk, who produce a whole range of sci-fi minis.

In particular check out the Laserburn (http://15mm.co.uk/Laserburn_15mm_Sci-fi.htm) line.
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 15, 2008, 08:21:41 PM
Hey, that's great advice. Some of those are pretty goofy, but a couple are really good--thanks!
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: David Johansen on November 15, 2008, 11:32:54 PM
Pierce?  I'm working from the assumption that you're familiar with StarGard and Ground Zero Games.  You are familiar with them right?
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 15, 2008, 11:39:20 PM
I'm familiar with GZG but not with StarGard. Or do you mean StarGrunt? If so, do they have adventurer-type minis?
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: David Johansen on November 15, 2008, 11:49:44 PM
Mostly military and lots of vehicles.  Yeah, Stargrunt.

StarGard is an sf minis game that predates D&D but still has some presence on the convention scene.

RAFM also has the awesome airraft / apc / grav tank kit back in production.  Rumour has it a machist cut the master out of steel for a fun project.

http://www.rafm.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=RAF&Category_Code=GRAV
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: Pierce Inverarity on November 16, 2008, 10:43:36 AM
Man, that tank IS cool... ditto the APC with interior kit...

Given it's military, it's not at all what I'm looking for.

But that is just another way of saying that I need to invent a reason for getting it. :D
Title: [1980s minis] Advice needed
Post by: David Johansen on November 16, 2008, 01:10:17 PM
"See officer, our paperwork's in order.  It's a decomissioned tank with the gun disconnected for use as a movie prop.  We're on our way to a shoot with Dash Rendar himself even as we speak."