The NEXT STEP: Maps & Minis

[Infojunky]

Actually, 15mm is roughly 180cm:1.5cm, or 170:1.5 depending on measure being top of head or eyes, and it is in either case to bottom of feet.

1/100 is actually a bit large for 15mm. (tho 1.5m:12.6mm was ground scale for GDW maps... 1/2inch=1.5m... that's also about 1/120)

1/100 was the scale that sighting/identification miniatures were/are made in. the troop figures that look right next to the where approx. 15mm tall. thus 15mm figures. It's not like miniatures are actually scale models, so I generally run with what looks good. Oh and available, Chessex makes a battlemat with 16mm hexes, but not 1/2 inch.

As for any play maps I do and post the base will be 15mm square/hex but with the ease of controlling scale in print drivers this shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Imperator58]

I read here that Mongoose lost their shirts in the metal minis buisiness. Had to close the foundries. But I wonder if it would be economically feasable to jump on the pre-painted plastic bandwagon? Hell, they could even make it a collectible minis game with cards and all: STRIKER. Then the minis would be there for RPG use as well.
OR, they could release set-type packs in plastic: marines, Zhodani, Vargr etc. Like ten minis each or something.
If it was the former plan, in 15mm it could be a virtual clone of Axis & Allies. That is, done the same basic way - lil' men and vehicles (15mm G-Carrier! Cool!!). OR it could remain 25-28mm. I can't honestly say which I'd prefer - both have their advantages. I would ask ONE thing, though: make them basically visually compatible with WotC & Avalon Hill minis. That is, plain round black bases - none of this clickie/slider crap. I mean, think about it - A&A gives us 15mm TL6 troops for Striker already! I'd like to be able to use that - or, Star Wars minis as PCs, encounters etc. if they went with a 28mm standard.
So how 'bout it, Mongoose? Would such a move be economically viable for you?

 

[Emryys]

Pre-painted plastic is so handy...

I've bought some of the MG BF Evolution figs and plan on repainting them for Traveller... But official Traveller figs... 8)

 

[District268]

I'm probably going against the flow with what most people want, but my vote would be for 25mm white metal miniatures.

I wouldn't touch pre painted plastic miniatures with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole.

 

[Beastttt]

if they want to do a collectible game fine
but I do not want to have to wade through packs to find a character
this why I do not play collectible games
I buy what I want or need
not crap

I read here that Mongoose lost their shirts in the metal minis buisiness. Had to close the foundries. But I wonder if it would be economically feasable to jump on the pre-painted plastic bandwagon? Hell, they could even make it a collectible minis game with cards and all: STRIKER. Then the minis would be there for RPG use as well.
OR, they could release set-type packs in plastic: marines, Zhodani, Vargr etc. Like ten minis each or something.
If it was the former plan, in 15mm it could be a virtual clone of Axis & Allies. That is, done the same basic way - lil' men and vehicles (15mm G-Carrier! Cool!!). OR it could remain 25-28mm. I can't honestly say which I'd prefer - both have their advantages. I would ask ONE thing, though: make them basically visually compatible with WotC & Avalon Hill minis. That is, plain round black bases - none of this clickie/slider crap. I mean, think about it - A&A gives us 15mm TL6 troops for Striker already! I'd like to be able to use that - or, Star Wars minis as PCs, encounters etc. if they went with a 28mm standard.
So how 'bout it, Mongoose? Would such a move be economically viable for you?

 

[Beastttt]

I too would want 25 to 28mm figures
metal or plastic so long as they look good

I'm probably going against the flow with what most people want, but my vote would be for 25mm white metal miniatures.

I wouldn't touch pre painted plastic miniatures with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole.

 

[Infojunky]

I'm probably going against the flow with what most people want, but my vote would be for 25mm white metal miniatures.

I wouldn't touch pre painted plastic miniatures with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole.

I prefer 15mm metal to pre-paints any day of the week. So you aren't alone in disliking pre-painted figures.

 

[BenTOGS]

I'm probably going against the flow with what most people want, but my vote would be for 25mm white metal miniatures.

I wouldn't touch pre painted plastic miniatures with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole.

Ah, the time travelers from the 20th Century are heard from. Catch up, guys. BFE was not a collectible mini game. With the price of tin (white metal) edging ever higher, metal minis are slowly being replaced by Plastics. What will replace those as petroleum based products dwindle, I don't know.

 

[AKAramis]

I'm probably going against the flow with what most people want, but my vote would be for 25mm white metal miniatures.

I wouldn't touch pre painted plastic miniatures with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole.

Ah, the time travelers from the 20th Century are heard from. Catch up, guys. BFE was not a collectible mini game. With the price of tin (white metal) edging ever higher, metal minis are slowly being replaced by Plastics. What will replace those as petroleum based products dwindle, I don't know.

Maize-based plastics are available now.
Likewise, cellulose can be used to make structural plastics. (just not ones expected to impact each other... look up exploding billiard balls...)

 

[klingsor]

Some pre-painted plastic figures are quite astonishingly good. I had a good look at the AT-43 ones at the Bovington show and was very impressed with the painting, better than I can do (faint praise indeed), though the guns looked awkward, very big (GW style) and somehow wrong. What put me off though was the quite frightening price.

We would likely see metal figures first to test the market and I fear there simply may not be a big enough market for plastic Traveller miniatures. The initial investment in moulds for plastic figures is also rather steep.

The problem might be Mark Miller, I think there have been problems in the past with Traveller miniature licensees so he might be hesitant.

Deckplans. I am a sucker for these. Most of my figures are 25/28s so I have I bias toward that scale and the few deckplans I have are in that scale. It may not be the standard Traveller scale but it is the standard miniature scale for RPGs and many wargames. The arguments presented for 15mm though are persuasive.

What do we need? Adventurers, males and females (if applicable - Hivers) of the major races (with the probable exception of the K'Kree - you would need to see a big, expensive, family box of those and it would be a poor seller).
Some crew figures for boarding actions and shore parties.
Imperial marines? Nice but do we need them?
Wildlife?

 

[zozotroll]

I like setting up the bars, brothels and backrooms where all the shady deals are made. Never know when one of those are going to go wrong. And street scenes can be very cool as well. 15mm car chases can work out well.

 

[Infojunky]

The problem might be Mark Miller, I think there have been problems in the past with Traveller miniature licensees so he might be hesitant.

Well there are at least two outstanding licenses for Traveller based figures right now, Mega Minis who is producing limited edition runs in 25mm<ish?> and Ad Astra who are doing fleet scale ship figures. Neither are burning up the market.

Deckplans. I am a sucker for these. Most of my figures are 25/28s so I have I bias toward that scale and the few deckplans I have are in that scale. It may not be the standard Traveller scale but it is the standard miniature scale for RPGs and many wargames. The arguments presented for 15mm though are persuasive.

These aren't as critical for me as I have given up buying things like deck-plans and play maps in dead-tree format. It is pdf all the way for me no days, then I can scale the plans to my needs. I got massively disillusioned with SJG's deckplans as they where all printed in 1/36 scale (1 yard to the inch) a scout boat filled the good part of 3 17x22 sheets. Though the card board hero's that come with those are very nice.

What do we need? Adventurers, males and females (if applicable - Hivers) of the major races (with the probable exception of the K'Kree - you would need to see a big, expensive, family box of those and it would be a poor seller).
Some crew figures for boarding actions and shore parties.
Imperial marines? Nice but do we need them?
Wildlife?

All of it, though we have covered this ground already in at least two previous threads.

 

[klingsor]

Yes. I have not used deckplans in ages - possibly not all I just love the things in any scale. Ones you can actually use are nice but I like seeing them though I am also, alas, fussy and hard to please so I have several of the Comstar Traveller ship books and I have to say I do not think much of their ship layouts.

For a medium or large warship though I still thing the big stack of decks at right angles to the thrust axis makes a lot of sense. I think the first one I saw was the P. F. Sloan in Challenge then the Azanti High Lightning when I finally got to see that one. Actually I am wrong, very wrong, the first was the good old Broadsword class. This is quite handy as it means the individual decks are smaller than on a differently orientated ship and on the larger ships at least the deck layout may be repeated.

We have A3 and an A2 printer in work so I really need to start doing my own again - and seeing if can beat he professionals.

 

[Imperator58]

I'm probably going against the flow with what most people want, but my vote would be for 25mm white metal miniatures.

I wouldn't touch pre painted plastic miniatures with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole.

Ah, the time travelers from the 20th Century are heard from. Catch up, guys. BFE was not a collectible mini game. With the price of tin (white metal) edging ever higher, metal minis are slowly being replaced by Plastics. What will replace those as petroleum based products dwindle, I don't know.

Man, I don't know how many hundreds of painted metal minis I have socked away, much less have yet to be done. I love 'em - but they've gotten pricy. Plus, I think people have just gotten lazy, and maybe I'm one of them. Or, maybe I just have too much Life to deal with to crank out a constant flow of painted minis. Regardless, I've bought into the prepainted ones and would love to see some for Traveller, in either scale.

 

[District268]

I'm probably going against the flow with what most people want, but my vote would be for 25mm white metal miniatures.

I wouldn't touch pre painted plastic miniatures with the proverbial 10 foot barge pole.

Ah, the time travelers from the 20th Century are heard from. Catch up, guys. BFE was not a collectible mini game. With the price of tin (white metal) edging ever higher, metal minis are slowly being replaced by Plastics. What will replace those as petroleum based products dwindle, I don't know.

Just for the record, I didn't mention anything in my post about collectable miniature games but since the subject has been raised, thats another consideration.

As for the cost of miniatures, I was recently looking at some very good plastic figures which I was considering buying till I saw the price, £6 each!!!

You can buy good white metal figures cheaper than that.

As a compromise I would settle for pre painted white metal as I could always strip them if I didn't like the paint job.

 

[Mark A. Siefert]

Just for the record, I didn't mention anything in my post about collectable miniature games but since the subject has been raised, thats another consideration.

No no no no NO! I will NOT see Traveller stoop to the level of CMGs with the poor-paint jobs, crappy "bendy" plastic, and having to buy pack after pack after pack to get the miniatures you want.

It's metal, hard plastic, or NOTHING!

 

[zozotroll]

h many hundreds of pack behind me, I have yet to buy a single pack of D&D minis that did not have at least half that I wanted. Which means that I got more minis that I wanted for less than metal.

There is no rule that you can only buy metal or plastic. Get both, as both have advantages. For a GM that uses a lot of minis, random packs are a godsend. You will use most of them, they are ready to go, and they are cheap.

For a player that only wants their own figure, or a GM that only uses a few, metal is the way to go. Be smart, buy what suits your needs.

onsidering the huge number of traveller spewcific minis being made right now, I know I will buy at least some of what ever is produced.

 

[EDG]

No no no no NO! I will NOT see Traveller stoop to the level of CMGs with the poor-paint jobs, crappy "bendy" plastic, and having to buy pack after pack after pack to get the miniatures you want.

It's metal, hard plastic, or NOTHING!

I'd be all for a CMG game myself. And most FLGSs would actually break up the minis packs and sell things individually too (that's how I got all my D&D and Mage Knight minis).

 

[zozotroll]

CMG has brought many many new gamers into D&D because they bought the minis, then decided to try the RPG. A new flood of players into traveller would be a great thing. And the Goose selling millions of minis would be great as well.

 

[District268]

Just for the record, I didn't mention anything in my post about collectable miniature games but since the subject has been raised, thats another consideration.

No no no no NO! I will NOT see Traveller stoop to the level of CMGs with the poor-paint jobs, crappy "bendy" plastic, and having to buy pack after pack after pack to get the miniatures you want.

It's metal, hard plastic, or NOTHING!

Sorry Mark, I didn't mean to upset you. Having re read my own post I can understand why you were.

I pretty much agree with you. Very poor use of English on my part.