traveller miniatures

[Iron Warrior.]

I really don't understand why mongoose makes so many miniatures for judge dredd and the fading suns game but no miniatures for traveller. I mean personal miniatures. I don;t think I've even see a miniature of a zhoad. I know there have been traveller miniatures before, like vargr, k'kree and droyne, even an ayl yale, but it's odd the mongoose isn't making any.

Maybe if they redid something like snapshot and made a miniatures combat game based on traveller they'd do some miniatures of free trader crew, pirates, corsairs, etc.

So hopefully mongoose will do a miniature type game based on travelelr and get some new traveller minis that are as good as the JD ones.

 

[BFalcon]

I'd hope that they'd make them 15mm so that they'd be compatible with the older minis... just managed to grab a few K'kree from the US off ebay a month back and now have some Aslan and Vargr to go with them, but I would love some Droyne and Hivers and others to go with them.

Of course, it may be the license will cost too much and there'll also be the inevitable argument on here as to whether to make them 15mm, 28mm or whatever...

 

[rust]

I really don't understand why mongoose makes so many miniatures for judge dredd and the fading suns game but no miniatures for traveller.

They do not have the license, it is held by another company (or other
companies - last time I tried to find out who currently has the license
it turned out to be a hideously complicated mess).

 

[BFalcon]

ah... one of those situations...

 

[Rick]

Try looking towards RAFM.....

 

[rust]

My best guess would be that Mega Miniatures still has the license for
the Traveller minis, but I am not at all sure. There is also the infor-
mation that Ad Astra currently has the only valid license, but this is
only one for ships. RAFM produced "generic" miniatures which are
obviously inspired by Traveller, but there is the information that this
was done without a license.

Make of this what you will ... :lol:

 

[captainquirk]

RAFM still produce the old 15mm Traveller minis.

You could also look at Ground Zero games who produce very Traveller compatible minis in 15/18mm and in 25mm. Plenty of military and civilian types in their range.

There are several other companies producing good stuff in 15/18mm including Khurasan and Rebel Miniatures. Eureka Miniatures are just about to produce the Denizen 25mm "Ventaurans" in a 15/18mm format and they look the part for Zhodani.

 

[rust]

RAFM still produce the old 15mm Traveller minis.

Yep, but they obviously are not the ones with the license, their website's
search function reacts to "Traveller" with the comment that they do not
have any such product. They just sell previous Traveller minis as generic
science fiction minis.

 

[captainquirk]

Agreed. But they were good enough to be Vargr and Aslan and Droyne originally and they are exactly the same castings. Where's the problem? Can we only use stuff if someone stamps "OFFICIAL PRODUCT" on them?

 

[rust]

Agreed. But they were good enough to be Vargr and Aslan and Droyne originally and they are exactly the same castings. Where's the problem? Can we only use stuff if someone stamps "OFFICIAL PRODUCT" on them?

No, but the question in the first post of the thread was why Mongoose does
not produce Traveller miniatures, not which miniatures could be used in-
stead.

 

[DFW]

Agreed. But they were good enough to be Vargr and Aslan and Droyne originally and they are exactly the same castings. Where's the problem? Can we only use stuff if someone stamps "OFFICIAL PRODUCT" on them?

No, but the question in the first post of the thread was why Mongoose does
not produce Traveller miniatures, not which miniatures could be used in-
stead.

Mongoose should just produce, "miniatures that can be used for our space based games"

8)

 

[Rick]

I believe Matt Sprange has said in the past that Mongoose have either made a loss or just broken even on most roleplaying character models so would be disinclined to produce them again.
This was mentioned over on the ADB forum about the possibility of 28mm Prime Directive mini's. I did suggest that maybe if Mongoose did the digital designs, they could sell them through a 3D prototyping company like Shapeways, which might have several advantages, but I'm not sure if that would be much of an improvement, either.

 

[BP]

Bah - miniatures are for wargaming!

• I want interactive holograms!

Seriously, nobody makes money off licensing if no-one sells anything... an 'open' license that allows anyone to make miniatures 'compatible with Traveller' without fees would make more money for the Traveller license holder due to free advertising and drawing in potential new clients... (either way, perhaps not much money, but great fan karma - and that can count for a lot in the long run...).

 

[Iron Warrior.]

Well, it figures that somewhere along the line there'd be a lawyer screwing things up.

BTW, I always try to find decent SF miniatures that are more than just "BIG GUY WITH RIDICULOUSLY HUGE GUN" or "WOMAN WITH RIDICULOUSY HUGE GUNS" and I found this one, which I think would be great form a travelelr game as an engineer.

Since mongooes isn''t making traveller minis I guess this isn't competing with their lines, so they should be Ok with it.

http://www.infinitythegame.com/infinity/en/2011/miniatures/machinists/

Seriously, this guy looks like a combat engineer or maybe the engineer on a ship where the crew frequently wear armor and carry sidearms. I could see him an an engineer or technician in a traveller game, no problem. Grab him if you can, he's a good figure for most SFRPGs. I've got one.

 

[smiths121]

Bah - miniatures are for wargaming! .

Having just run my players through a rather extended intro to the campaign, and then a character driven "who done it in jump" (for those in the UK entitles Misjump Murders), we are quickening the pace next session with a 10-15 a side "snashot" session as they get ambushed out of jump for a change of pace.

P.S. For those having a go at Mongoose deckplans, took the original "one crowded hour" ship from the pdf, exported to svg then enlarged at high res (300dpi) in png format - they look very good. One of my players paints "toy soldiers" for a living, I purchased RFM for that "original snapshot" feel - and he has done a great job. Really looking forward to GM'ing this (6 players - 2 sides of 3) using the Mongoose combat system.

There is a time and place for wargames in a Traveller campaign as a change of pace.

 

[BFalcon]

Not to mention letting the players have the minis and the map under their control when trying to solve a "whodunnit" is a useful tool for them to use to determine opportunity at any given time.

 

[GypsyComet]

There is a vast collection of available 15mm SF these day, including but not limited to the RAFM remnants, the old Laserburn line, Ground Zero Games, Khurasan, Stan Johansen, Brigade Models, and Combat Wombat.

The advantage of 15mm is that you can print your ship out in 1/2" grid and run hijackings on one table instead of every flat surface in the house. You can also fit small office buildings, warehouses, vehicle parking, and public venues onto one table. In 1" grid (for 28mm minis) a Free Trader is gigantic, and you may as well ignore vehicles entirely.

 

[middenface]

I'm liking these geezers..good for Traveller and 2300...

http://oozlumgames.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/more-preview-pix-of-oddzial-osmy-15mm-sf-range/

 

[Rick]

I'm liking these geezers..good for Traveller and 2300...

http://oozlumgames.wordpress.com/2011/07/01/more-preview-pix-of-oddzial-osmy-15mm-sf-range/

Those are very nice indeed. Must admit I'm getting back into 15mm Sci-Fi after a fairly long absence, might pick up some of those.

What would be good is if Mongoose did a skirmish game, something like Striker, maybe with the Battlefield Evolution ruleset. I'd definately be interested in that.

 

[Infojunky]

The biggest issue beyond the license (which I believe is workable, just you have to have some earnest money and a plan) is any RPG based miniature line needs to constantly evolve and produce new figures for it to make money.

Look at Reaper's generic Fantasy line it constantly is changing, Martian Metals was constantly expanding before the fire that killed them.

Most miniatures manufactures are producing for wargame, as the same units are needed for every army of a theme and even the profitable one of those churn their lines on a regular basis, yes I am looking at you Games Workshop and Battle Front....

While I would love a "Traveller" specific line of 15mm figures and vehicles, I am equally happy with the current works as status that exists right now, in that a wider variety of SF figures are available than just what is "Traveller" as if haven't noticed Traveller fans can be a little dogmatic.

Now what I have a wish for is a set of 15mm Hivers as my attempts to sculpt them have been less than pleasing, and as we all know Hivers are the true masters of the Traveller Universe. Not that I wouldn't mind some K'Kree as well (including completely borged of K'Kree of the 1248 setting)