Wanted: Fantasy figurines

[Dave Perkins]

I'd like to design a fantasy version of the excellent WW2 board game Memoir '44 (http://www.memoir44.com/). For that, I will need a bunch of fairly inexpensive plastic fantasy miniatures. I just spent a half hour flailing around with google-fu with no luck; all miniatures seem to cost about $1 each and/or are pre-painted.

Do any of you know of a good website that sells such miniatures by the dozens, for maybe 50 cents apiece at the most?

Thanks in advance..

[snowcrash22]

ebay? (http://cgi.ebay.com/Carnage-Fantasy-Miniatures-Battle-Game-96-miniature_W0QQitemZ8711074170QQcategoryZ2537QQrdZ1 QQcmdZViewItem)

[Dave Perkins]

I tried ebay and didn't come up with anything as promising as what you found. I wish the seller included a picture of the figures.

[Ryan A]

mmm.. man fuel...

Hurry up, they're almost out of the figurines

THEY'RE STATUES!

they're statues

[Dr Fear]

I tried ebay and didn't come up with anything as promising as what you found. I wish the seller included a picture of the figures.

Do you need more than this??


Also included are 10 ten-sided dice, spell point counters, measuring sticks, and a rulebook.
Spell point counters and measuring sticks!

[jeffd]

You aren't going to find non-prepainted plastic minis for less than a dollar a pop.

The only major manufacturer of plastic minis is Games Workshop. A typical GW regiment box will cost you 30 or so dollars for 12-20 models.

The molds for plastic anything are expensive, so not terribly many companies bother with plastic; most do pewter. Of course pewter is more expensive than plastic, so pewter models end up being even more expensive to the consumer.

The prepaintd minis (the kinds that D&D Miniatures and the various Clix games use) are made of a vastly inferior quality plastic, which is why they're so cheap.

JD

[Shieldwolf]

Dave,

Try Heroscape. Memoir 44 rocks and the idea of a D&D game is an awesome idea. Best of luck.

[Rod Humble]

Dave,

You might want to try Warmaster figures. They are 6-8mm scale from Games Workshop (and so available).

The scale is small so you get more bang for your buck and a group of them may look better on your Memoir boards.

Painted is always going to be pricey though for lead.

Incidentally there is meant to be an Ancients version of the Memoir 44/BattleCry system coming out soon.

[Don Quixote]

It's funny, Mr. Lutes and I were talking about this exact subject last week when he was teaching me M'44. I replied that it's already been done, mostly- an old Milton Bradley/Games Workshop game called Battle Masters (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/700). It was really similar- hex map, card-driven movement, special-dice-based combat, hordes of plastic minis. The biggest difference, IIRC, was that instead of each commander having individual decks, you drew from a common deck. And the map was like 4'X6' (!!!). The minis are all unpainted, BTW.

I found a copy about eight years ago at a thrift shop along with a copy of Heroquest (the other GW/MB collaboration)- I stripped all the extra parts away and just kept the figs, planning to build an 'all cheap plastic' Warhammer Fantasy army. That never happened, but I still have the figs (and the tower). You could look for a copy of that- (it looks like they go for between $10-$60 on eBay- average being around $30). You could then make up unit strengths/powers for all the units , and re-base the lot of 'em (the BM game puts then all on 'stands' that are about 3"X4"- way too big). Use the M'44 board- I really don't see a reason to change, it's pretty generic (though I'm not sure if 4 28mm figs would fit in those hexes- you might hve to go with damage counters or something, and only use 1 or 2 minis for each troop).

Your other option is this: Irregular Miniatures (http://www.irregularminiatures.co.uk/) sells 6mm Fantasy stuff- they are all cast (pre-based) in lines of 5 soldiers. They sell a wide range- though they don't picture them on the site, you can see painted-up versions of them here. (http://6mm.wargaming.info/page1.shtml) (though these pics are slichtly misleading- he's rebased them- they are normally not in blocks like that, just in single-rank strips of 5 figs). These will fit four-to-a hex on the M'44 board, I'm almost sure. I have box of them here Dark Elves, Undead, Ratmen, Lizardmen (I planned on doing an Epic 40K-to-WFB conversion, wrote up most of the rules, then never finished. The minis sit primered, but unpainted). I ordered the basic army packs for each of them from Silver Eagle Miniatures (http://members.aol.com/eaglewars/private/sews.html) (homepage). 6mm Fantasy is here (http://members.aol.com/eaglewars/private/6mm.htm#FAN). It looks like stands are $.40 for infantry, $.80, or an 'Army Pack' for $19.

Good Luck, and I'd like to hear what you work out.

[DavidCPA]

Where's Raphael when you need him? If I remember he had a collection second to none and should know where to find anything.

DavidCPA

[Hetzer]

if you are interrested in unpainted why settle for mere plastics? Try lead:

http://www.hobbyproducts.com/

[ElGuapo]

Fucking Battle Masters, man. Most overlooked game of the 90s, IMHO. I had a TON of fun playing that with my brothers. Eventually we played it so much we decided to actually paint the figures. That made it all the better.

I never did get into Warhammer though. Too many rules, plus the players were typically olfactorally offensive. I loved that big Battle Masters map, though.

Can you "paint" your figures in the Dawn of War game? How detailed, if so?

[GuildBoss]

mmm.. man fuel...

Hurry up, they're almost out of the figurines

THEY'RE STATUES!

they're statues

Beat me to it! :P That commercial is the first thing I thought of when I saw the word "figurines". That's some pretty good marketing.

[Jason Lutes]

Hey Dave,

To add to Don Q's excellent advice, I suggest checking out your local game/hobby stores to see what they've got. Depending on the store, sometimes you can find bunches of stuff lying around for cheap. Sometimes novelty stores are worth looking into as well, if you don't mind using really cheap plastic figures of a limited variety. In a recent quest to acquire pieces for my X-Com boardgame idea, I found a bunch of UFOs, giant robots, army men, and jet fighters at the local novelty shop for very little money.

I was going to tell you to check out HäT Industrie, (http://www.hat.com/index.html) but their website doesn't show prices, and I found their stuff available at the Michigan Toy Soldier Co. site, (http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/newplastic_folder/new_plastic.html) along with a ton of other products. It's mostly ancients through WWII, as opposed to fantasy, but the selection is huge and the price is right. Browse under the 1/72nd scale category for the small, cheapass figures.

Where else can you find 50 vikings for $8.95? Besides the back of a comic book from 1972, I mean.

http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/newplastic_folder/Emhar/emharimages/7205.jpg

[Ryan A]

I wonder if you wouldn't be better off drawing/painting/photoshopping some cardstock 2D counters... that would give you full control over scale and art design while allowing you to stay on a decent budget. I know there are tons of good fantasy-type scans out there.

As for miniatures, didn't Citadel used to make a game called Warhammer Epic or something where all the pieces were much smaller to allow for a more... uh.. epic game?

[Dave Perkins]

Holy crap, thanks for all the excellent answers! I was away all day, and this is my first chance to look at this thread. I don't have time right now to reply, but I will read the thread as soon as I can.

Thanks again..

[Dave Perkins]

Incidentally there is meant to be an Ancients version of the Memoir 44/BattleCry system coming out soon.

Greeks 'n Romans 'n whatnot?

Jason, Quixote, and everyone.. thanks again for the advice. I'll check out the sites you linked me to. I don't mind spending $1 a pop if I have to; I think any game based on Memoir has a great chance of staying on my shelf for a long time.

[Dave Perkins]

You might want to try Warmaster figures. They are 6-8mm scale from Games Workshop (and so available).


To add to Don Q's excellent advice, I suggest checking out your local game/hobby stores to see what they've got. Depending on the store, sometimes you can find bunches of stuff lying around for cheap.

I did drop by the local game store; they had two entire walls devoted to miniatures. I think they had lots of Warmaster stuff. For some reason, I didn't like it much. I think it was pretty expensive, the figures were too large, and they were unpainted (and definitely needed paint).

[Don Quixote]

If I have it right, Warmaster was 15mm scale- not nearly as small as the 'epic' scale (6mm) stuff, but probably pretty close to the M'44 size. Looking through that box of Irregular stuff, I found a bunch of Epic Space Marine 'Chaos' figures that I'd obviously gotten because they would still work for a fantasy game (as opposed to the 'scince-fantasy of 40K). Daemons of Khorne, Tzceencth and Slannesh, some minotaurs and whatnot. Beastmen. Pretty cool- I'd forgotten about those. I wonder where I got them... :/

Those plastic sprues take me waaaaaay back. They look like some that are/were carried at a local wargaming shop, 'American Eagles', in Lake City, (Seattle). I had a history teacher in 8th grade (what, 20 years ago?) who wargamed with stuff like that- he made us do projects building dioramas enacting various historical scenes with them. I seem to remember building a rome vs. the barbarians thing in a pizza box. I loved miniatures, hated the teacher. :/ I'm shocked they're still around- I'm really not into historical wargaming of any sort- fantasy is more my thing.

Oh, and BTW, the Ancients version of the Battle Cry/M'44 system (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14105) won't be coming with miniatures, last I heard. Too much variance in time period/setting- from 3000BC to 400AD, so just generic blocks/counters. You could probably buy a boatload of those plastics for all the various scenarios, though... O_o

Oh, and Jason- we totaly have to work on that Xcom idea. :)

[Jason Lutes]

I wonder if you wouldn't be better off drawing/painting/photoshopping some cardstock 2D counters... that would give you full control over scale and art design while allowing you to stay on a decent budget. I know there are tons of good fantasy-type scans out there.
Yeah, counters is the smart way to go, especially if you're just prototyping. But it is easier to get excited about designing a game if you get to play with little plastic toys instead of little squares of cardboard. The deluge of big box plastic miniature games has spoiled some of us...

On another note: Dave, the expansions for Memoir '44 are on store shelves now, in case you haven't picked 'em up yet. There's the Eastern Front pack, two new mapboards (winter and desert), and a terrain feature pack with new scenarios included.

[Ryan A]

But it is easier to get excited about designing a game if you get to play with little plastic toys instead of little squares of cardboard.

You don't have to tell me... you're talking to a grown man who has several hundred dollars' worth of fully painted Battletech miniatures sitting atop the bookcases in his basement (the cool metal ones, not the lousy plastic Wizkids clicky crap).

Dang - did I just confess to being a BT geek?

[Dave Perkins]

Oh, and BTW, the url=http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14105]Ancients version of the Battle Cry/M'44 system[/url] won't be coming with miniatures, last I heard. Too much variance in time period/setting- from 3000BC to 400AD, so just generic blocks/counters. You could probably buy a boatload of those plastics for all the various scenarios, though... O_o

Thanks for the link! I look forward to hearing if that game is any good.

I'd like my fantasy game to involve some magic and some hero units (in contrast to the game linked above), so I think I will go ahead and design it. Like Jason says, it's more fun to play with miniatures than cardboard pieces, so I will probably buy some of them. I think the chances of my game being fun are quite high, since I am ripping off a lot of what Memoir '44 does.

Just cuz I'd like to tell you, there's a nice correlation between:

Memoir - New game
Infantry - Melee units
Armor - Ranged units
Artillery - Magicians

Plus I'd like to use Hero units that can join squads and, with the appropriate card, use a special ability.

[Don Quixote]

Hey, don't know if you've moved on this but I came across this the other day- a couple of Fantasy versions of 'Battle Cry', the Civil War big brother of of M'44 (released a few years earlier, same designer and nearly identical in gameplay).

One is on the BGG Battle Cry page (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/551), and the other is on the designer's webpage (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/551). The former was apparently inspired by the latter and seems to be a bit better- I haven't had time to really look through them both yet. The former is also a bit fancier in the design of the unit counters (using art 'recycled' from around the web), but this wouldn't matter much if you're using minis, and besides, the text on them is in Spanish, iircc.

At the very least, these might get you thinking.

[Dave Perkins]

Hey, don't know if you've moved on this but I came across this the other day- a couple of Fantasy versions of 'Battle Cry', the Civil War big brother of of M'44 (released a few years earlier, same designer and nearly identical in gameplay).

One is on the BGG Battle Cry page (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/551), and the other is on the designer's webpage (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/551). The former was apparently inspired by the latter and seems to be a bit better- I haven't had time to really look through them both yet. The former is also a bit fancier in the design of the unit counters (using art 'recycled' from around the web), but this wouldn't matter much if you're using minis, and besides, the text on them is in Spanish, iircc.

At the very least, these might get you thinking.

I am indeed still working on this project! I have cards, dice, a board, and am waiting for the units to arrive. Thank you for the links. The first one worked well, but the second one appeared to be identical to the first.

I haven't looked carefully at the rules (http://freespace.virgin.net/gatehouse.games/FantasyBattleCry.pdf) for "Fantasy Cry", but I will. I like what I've read so far.

[Mark Asher]

You could try Cardboard Heroes from Steve Jackson games. They aren't quite as cool as real minis, but they are still pretty neat -- and cheap.

http://www.sjgames.com/heroes/

[Don Quixote]

Damn- thought I c/p'd that correctly. The 'FantasyBattleCry.pdf' you linked to is what I was trying to link to with the second link.

The set on BGG is actually in a zip file here (http://www.bggfiles.com/viewfile.php3?fileid=12614) and is based on the former, but seems like it has 'more'- more of a magic system, rules for leaders, facing (really a must in a non-modern' warfare system), etc. Not to mention better graphics for counters and whatnot. If the direct link doesn't work, go to the BGG entry for Battle Cry, and look for 'Fantasy Cry.zip' in the files section. The rules themselves are in .doc format.

[Dave Perkins]

On another note: Dave, the expansions for Memoir '44 are on store shelves now, in case you haven't picked 'em up yet. There's the Eastern Front pack, two new mapboards (winter and desert), and a terrain feature pack with new scenarios included.

Just got these last weekend! Now I need a tackle box or something to hold all these danged pieces. And a way to straighten out the Allied and German artillery barrels.


The set on BGG is actually in a zip file here and is based on the former, but seems like it has 'more'- more of a magic system, rules for leaders, facing (really a must in a non-modern' warfare system), etc.

Thanks again for the link. My intention is to keep almost all of the M44 rules intact, and it looks like the Fantasy Cry rules are a good deal more complicated. Then again, the terrain pack, Blitz rules, and North Africa rules are only making M44 more and more complicated, too.


You could try Cardboard Heroes from Steve Jackson games. They aren't quite as cool as real minis, but they are still pretty neat -- and cheap.

I'm gonna go with the figurines from Lord of the Rings RISK. They are sold separately, are inexpensive, and are the perfect size.

[Jason Lutes]

I'm gonna go with the figurines from Lord of the Rings RISK. They are sold separately, are inexpensive, and are the perfect size.
Link please!

[Dave Perkins]

I'm gonna go with the figurines from Lord of the Rings RISK. They are sold separately, are inexpensive, and are the perfect size.
Link please!

Link! (http://tinyurl.com/9kqm8)

[Dave Perkins]

So I finally ordered and received the fantasy figurines from Lord of the Rings Risk, and they are perfect! We tested the game tonight, using everything from Memoir '44 except the pieces. In fact, we used an actual scenario from Memoir '44, and the same cards and dice. For now.

----------------

We used these rules..

The "light" side has:

Archers - 4 in a squad
Can move up to 2 spaces, but can only shoot if they remain stationary. They use 1 die against the adjacent hex, and 3 dice against the hexes at distance 2 and 3.

Horsies - 3 in a squad
Can move up to 3 spaces and attack the adjacent hex. Can overrun like Armor in Memoir '44.

Eagles - 2 in a squad
Can fly up to 3 spaces and attack the adjacent hex. Even if they land in woods or towns or other terrain, they can still attack. Can overrun like Armor.

Magician - 1 in a squad
We used the "leader" token from Risk to represent a magician. They work exactly like Artillery from Memoir '44, except that a rolled star counts as a kill also.

The "dark" side has:

Orcs - 5 in a squad
Can move 1 and still attack adjacent hex. Can move 2 and not attack.

Horsies - 3 in a squad
Same as "light" horsies.

Trolls - 2 in a squad
Move and attack like Orcs. Also scores a hit if they roll a star.

Magician - 1 in a squad
Same as "light" magician.

----------------

We treated Archers and Orcs as "Infantry", Horsies and Eagles and Trolls as "Armor", and Magicians as "Artillery", when reading the grey command cards. It's interesting that the "light" side has ranged units (Archers/Magicians) but the "dark" side only has Magicians for ranged attacks. The dark player has to rush, while the light player hopes to set his archers up so he can get some licks in before the melee units meet.

We played three times; twice the score was 6-5, and once it was 6-2. All three games were very satisfying!

----------------

Another interesting rule that we use even for regular Memoir '44: As soon as one player reaches the point goal, the other player has the option of taking another turn. If he does, he can score more points, of course, but the first player then has the option of taking another turn. This continues until one player passes, at which point the game ends. The player who reached the point goal first gets one extra bonus point.

[Jason Lutes]

Cool, Dave! Nice to hear you got it off the ground. I don't know how many of the M44 expansions you have, but one of them has some simple campaign rules that might be adaptable and fun to use for your fantasy battles.

[Dave Perkins]

Cool, Dave! Nice to hear you got it off the ground. I don't know how many of the M44 expansions you have, but one of them has some simple campaign rules that might be adaptable and fun to use for your fantasy battles.

I have all the expansions! I really do want to make Fantasy Memoir into a campaign sort of game, so I'll keep the thread posted if we try it out. I'd like to get Hero units involved; perhaps they'd even have some basic statistics or skills, like HOMM5 sorts of things.