Alternatives Minis

H

Hash

Mongoose
There ain't anyone else producing B5 minis but someone mentioned ships made by GZG and I'm sure there are other spaceship mini manufacturers out there.

I was thinking if there was a semi-official substitute list (i.e. Company A makes this mini which substitutes for an Octurion...) for most ships then game shops (like ID Gaming) may still be able to support games like ACTA (promoting other minis!).

What do you think...feasible? Maybe people could post suggestions...alternatively Mongoose could divorce ACTA from B5 and create some stand alone space combat game rules...there are lots of spaceship minis out there that could fit the bill :)
 
well there are of course, always the counters. I say a guy make up 3d cardboard versions as proxies a while back. Sort of "Pirates of the Spanish Main" version b 5 ships. They actually looked alright. Printer, card and photos to make them up. I assume if you get something that looks about right and just btell people what it is at the start of the game they should be cool with that.
 
cthol24601 said:
well there are of course, always the counters. I say a guy make up 3d cardboard versions as proxies a while back. Sort of "Pirates of the Spanish Main" version b 5 ships. They actually looked alright. Printer, card and photos to make them up. I assume if you get something that looks about right and just btell people what it is at the start of the game they should be cool with that.
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That's true and that would work well for actually playing the game but what I'm talking about is identifying OTHER things retailers could sell.

For the game to survive in needs more than people to play it...it needs people to buy things associated with the game. I spent a little money on ACTA rules and when places (like game shops) ran tourneys, I bought loads of minis, paints, green stuff etc to field fleets in said tourneys.

If there are no "accessories" then there is no real incentive for game shops to support and so the player base dwindles and eventually dies...sad but definately a very real possibility that I would like to avoid.
 
I see what you mean. I have some shops haver ye olde version of B5 minis from alternate systems for sale but its pretty scarce. The thing is i don't see any way to really save it. Without the ability to vicariously project yourself with proper ships that look that part I can't see how you can get people into the hobby. Unless someone takes up the slack.

Maybe we can get Wizkids to make "click" versions... :P

There are no mini ranges from show parephernalia as well unfortunately.

I think its home made and canibalised or nothing at the moment.

I still don't see how it was costing Mongoose money (see earlier post) for most games its the minis that are the bread and butter and rules a side issue. If it was the diversity of minis in production you can save cash just be limiting the amount of models for each side. Like, in this case, going more or less canon, for the ships and making variants with the same models etc and having less sides.
 
cthol24601 said:
I still don't see how it was costing Mongoose money (see earlier post) for most games its the minis that are the bread and butter and rules a side issue. If it was the diversity of minis in production you can save cash just be limiting the amount of models for each side. Like, in this case, going more or less canon, for the ships and making variants with the same models etc and having less sides.
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I would hazard a guess that a big problem was the way that the miniatures production was run. I think I bought at least 10 times as much GW stuff as MGP, yet had 5 times as many packaging errors(5 to 1). There were many miscasts that got sent out and there were a lot of mispackagings(though in their defense, I recently spent a half hour sorting 11 pairs of arms, constantly trying to put 2 right and 2 left with a figure:P). MGP always sent replacements, but those replacements(including shipping) eat right out of profits. If you have a 90% rate of getting things made and packed right and you are committed to 100%, then it costs you more than the missing 10% costs to fix those problems.

I'm not too familiar with any ACTA mispackaging issues if any, though I have seen some pretty gnarly casts of ships.

Hopefully, IF MGP does produce miniatures in the future, they will have retooled the whole process so that they can get it right.
 
I think this sort of thing would certainly work for local scenes where a good number of the players meet up reguylarly (once twice a month even every other month).
 
I would wonder if the problem was that they went far too diverse with the range of minis for what the hobby could support. I think keeping to mostly canon ships with variation "bits" for add ons to make new variants would have been more cost effective. I can see the problem where they have dozens of models of which people people buy only a couple of each osting money and prevent effective distribution and mass prodution where as keeping to maybe 5 models of each with bits in each pack for making variants would have been much more cost effective.
 
cthol24601 said:
I would wonder if the problem was that they went far too diverse with the range of minis for what the hobby could support. I think keeping to mostly canon ships with variation "bits" for add ons to make new variants would have been more cost effective. I can see the problem where they have dozens of models of which people people buy only a couple of each osting money and prevent effective distribution and mass prodution where as keeping to maybe 5 models of each with bits in each pack for making variants would have been much more cost effective.
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This could have been countered by more boxsets like the 1st edition reinoforcemtns boxes.
For example, less individual blisters and more boxes.
A box containing all Patrol level Centauri ships etc.
 
Hash said:
There ain't anyone else producing B5 minis but someone mentioned ships made by GZG and I'm sure there are other spaceship mini manufacturers out there.

I was thinking if there was a semi-official substitute list (i.e. Company A makes this mini which substitutes for an Octurion...) for most ships then game shops (like ID Gaming) may still be able to support games like ACTA (promoting other minis!).

What do you think...feasible? Maybe people could post suggestions...alternatively Mongoose could divorce ACTA from B5 and create some stand alone space combat game rules...there are lots of spaceship minis out there that could fit the bill :)
Click to expand...

I've been thinking of the 'standard proxy' idea myself. Several of GZGs ranges would work for the EA, the crecsent-winged Islamic ships are a shoo-in for the Centauri and the Sa'Vas'Ku are more than a bit Shadowy.

Ravenstar make old-style BSG Cylon ships, so the Vree are OK. The Narns, Brakiri and others are more of a challenge.

Can't say I'm enthused by the idea of another space combat game. I've got four (SFB, FedCom, FT and ACtA) I really like (and three or four more I'd like to try) and don't get enough games of any of them. Another system, another range of minis? It would have to be pretty special, perhaps playable vector 3D movement special...and that's special. Not just the ACtA game engine with a codged-together background and some new toys.
 
Several of GZGs ranges would work for the EA, the crecsent-winged Islamic ships are a shoo-in for the Centauri and the Sa'Vas'Ku are more than a bit Shadowy.

Ravenstar make old-style BSG Cylon ships, so the Vree are OK. The Narns, Brakiri and others are more of a challenge.
Click to expand...

They sound cool - Do you have any links/pics for those maybe?
 
Da Boss said:
Indeed :) I just wish they had proper pics of all their ships - i would get more if I knew what they looked like
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Download the pdf catalogs, they have pictures or line drawings of all the minis, or check out their Picture Gallery for more images of the GZG minis.

For more choices and links to all of the different lines of spaceship miniatures, I have a web page up with all that information:
http://www.star-ranger.com/Minis.htm
 
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