Aslan Miniatures?

[Vargrz]

I love the alien races in Traveller!

I've found good representations of Vargr (Bronze Age Miniatures).

I also scored a Hiver, two K'kree, and a Varushi from the old Grenadier line. Believe it or not I found them at a local comic store. They were poorly painted so I stripped the paint and repainted them.

I still can't find anything I like to represent Aslan. Anybody have any suggestions?

 

[crazy_cat]

I've found good representations of Vargr (Bronze Age Miniatures).

How do these minis scale up with other 28mm figures?

 

[captainquirk]

Other than the Grenadier castings from way back, Mega Miniatures do a Cheetah, Tiger, Lion and Panther

http://www.megaminis.com/

About 2/3rds of the way down the page.


I still can't find anything I like to represent Aslan. Anybody have any suggestions?[/quote]

 

[Vargrz]

How do these minis scale up with other 28mm figures?

crazy_cat,
The Bronze Age are on the large size. I'll post a photo next to another figure for reference.

 

[IraShaine1972]

Crocodile games Basti are all humanoid cat people. Although they may need some proper sci-fi gear sculpted on to them.

 

[Cyporiean]

I've been told that our Pride Lioness model would work well as an Aslan (though, a big one)



That's a 50mm base she is sitting on.

 

[GypsyComet]

I've been told that our Pride Lioness model would work well as an Aslan (though, a big one)

While not in the same range as Kzinti, Aslan are not small. Sadly, the attempts to sculpt Aslan have all been less than perfect. The Grenadier Aslan would now look rather small unless you were sourcing your humans in 25mm instead of 28-30mm. I don't recall Megaminis getting around to Aslan, either.

 

[Vargrz]

I said I would post a scale comparison for the Bronze Age figures I am using as Vargr.

Here is one flanked by two HassleFree Miniatures.

 

[Vargrz]

Here is a Copplestone Casting next to a Bronze Age "Vargr."

 

[Vargrz]

And finally two Mirliton (from old grenadier molds and a Bronze Age "Vargr."

 

[GamerDude]

While not in the same range as Kzinti, Aslan are not small. Sadly, the attempts to sculpt Aslan have all been less than perfect. The Grenadier Aslan would now look rather small unless you were sourcing your humans in 25mm instead of 28-30mm. I don't recall Megaminis getting around to Aslan, either.

To reiterate my thoughts on this (posted elsewhere)...

Ouch...

Traveller minis started at the 15mm scale
then joined the 25mm/1" scale (25.4mm = 1 inch)

Enter the industry moving to 28mm for that little extra bit of detail

Now people are wanting 30mm? That's a total 20% increase in the scale (1 in = 5 ft). That's almost too big for use on a standard 1 inch grid map. Why the need to creep up minis in size? (remember, the millimeter/inch size listed is the height a 5 foot tall creature would be (or 1.5 M, which is like 4.75 feet or so).


"Let the Giants loose among us!" *grin*

 

[Vargrz]

I also find scale creep annoying. I never played much with 15mm, and quickly went to 25mm miniatures in the early 1980s because I liked the greater detail.

Despite the disparity between 25mm and 28mm, in general it looks okay. However, this mutation toward larger figures needs stop somewhere. To complicate matters, unless you can see the miniature or get a straight answer from the sculptor, you can't trust the pictures unless side by side with a miniature you know! I think the funniest thing so far is "heroic scale," which just means that it is bigger than the stated measurement!

I love 25mm to 28mm miniatures and love working with maps and terrain that fit them. So, I guess gamers like us will have to keep posting pictures for scale comparison and telling each other where the cool Traveller compatible figure are...

 

[GypsyComet]

Now people are wanting 30mm? ... That's almost too big for use on a standard 1 inch grid map.

Yup.

For the record, "28mm" has been a lie for years already. Quite a lot of the industry hits 30 to 32mm to top of head these days. The Rackham barbarians, often close to 35mm tall, no longer tower over modern offerings like they did just a decade ago.

A selection of Aslan with the proper bulk and standing 30-32mm tall would work just fine. A proper 8 foot-tall Kzin warrior is going to be closer to 40mm, but we don't need to worry about the Kzinti in (most) Traveller.

 

[crazy_cat]

Now people are wanting 30mm?

Just to be absolutely clear - I'm not keen on scale creep either.

What I'm after are 28mm minis that scale with all my other 28mm figures. I know there aren't any currently available Traveller minis in this scale for Aslan, Vargr, or specific Traveller human types such as Zhodani, Vacc suited figures, Battle Dressed marines, etc so I'll settle for anything between 25mm and 32mm (heroic 28mm scale) that covers these areas and looks approximately the right size.

Ideally however, 28mm is what I'm after - metal for characters, and/or multipart plastics to also give a range of poses (for say a Vargr pirate crew, Zhodani boarding party, or an Aslan mercenary unit).

 

[captainquirk]

Just to mention again that Mega Miniatures currently do several sci-fi cat figures in 25mm or small 28mm. http://freeboardgamesnow.com/futurealiens.aspx

And they also did a range of Vargr and Droyne in small 28mm a few years back. Not sure what happened to the moulds for them, but as the proprietor has been selling up quite a lot of his master moulds he may be able to provide a lead as to who might own them now.

 

[GamerDude]

Ok, color me silly (again) but - what the heck is "heroic 28mm" and "small 28mm"?

The millimeter size is how tall "five feet/1.5 meters" is for the scale of the mini. I'm trying to wrap my head around how an absolute measurement like 28mm can have a variation called "heroic" or "small" - wouldn't that just be like "31mm" or "17mm"?

 

[Cyporiean]

Ok, color me silly (again) but - what the heck is "heroic 28mm" and "small 28mm"?

The millimeter size is how tall "five feet/1.5 meters" is for the scale of the mini. I'm trying to wrap my head around how an absolute measurement like 28mm can have a variation called "heroic" or "small" - wouldn't that just be like "31mm" or "17mm"?

Heroic 28mm is the Warhammer scale, where models are about the same height as a regular 28mm, but have larger hands/heads then they should.

 

[Vargrz]

Ok, color me silly (again) but - what the heck is "heroic 28mm" and "small 28mm"?

The millimeter size is how tall "five feet/1.5 meters" is for the scale of the mini. I'm trying to wrap my head around how an absolute measurement like 28mm can have a variation called "heroic" or "small" - wouldn't that just be like "31mm" or "17mm"?

I also believe the term "heroic 28mm" is sometime used to ignore the actual measurement! Yes we have come that far! Where an absolute measurement is an approximation. Sort of like when white hunters in India measured the tigers they killed with rulers that were actually 10 inches per foot!