How has the miniatures business been doing, post-pandemic?

I'm a huge fan of these guys and wish we could get their stuff at more reasonable prices in North America - I'll check out that sale! I browse their catalogue all the time, sometimes getting as far as the shipping page, and then the prices just stack up too high for me.
Sure sign that you're a fan of miniatures, I think we all do that now and then. And their catalog is better than most for window shopping. Or Windows shopping, given that it's online. :)
 

log in or register to remove this ad

That. Their stuff is good quality at excellent prices, especially the large dragon kits.

If we're down to discussing individual companies instead of industry trends, some others particularly worthy of mention include:

Northstar Military Figures - Despite the name, they offer a wide mix of figs rather than just wargaming minis. They're doing particularly well with their modular hard plastic kits for Frostgrave/Stargrave/Ghost Archipelago, which just keep getting better as they refine their skills. I would put them far ahead of even the best GW plastics in terms of versatility and cost, and if you haven't tried building and painting a box or two you don't know what you're missing. And those are just the tip of the iceberg for a large and varied catalog that has something for just about anyone, including a great array of reasonably-priced metals and resins for those who prefer the heft. I'd credit a lot of their success to their strong customer outreach, with regular newsletter updates full of new releases and "Nickstarter" discount preorder deals.

Alternative Armies - These folks are another company with a huge catalog and weirdly little market presence in the US. In addition to some excellent and ever-growing 28mm, 15mm and 6mm ranges for multiple genres, they're steadily bringing back vintage 25-28mm sculpts from the 70s and 80s that have been hard to get for decades now. They run modest ~20% sales on a regular basis (one concludes today, for ex) that make the massive bite of overseas shipping for non-UK gamers a fair bit less painful.

Brigade Models - A much smaller operation in the classic "two guys casting in a warehouse" style, they still have a quite large range of primarily 15mm, 6mm, and aeronef/starship minis, including licensed Hammer's Slammers ranges. Their smaller-scale resin terrain ranges are also very nice, and they dabble a bit in some rather quirky fantasy and historicals. They've been very proactive about retiring and replacing older sculpts and shifted to 3D printed masters earlier than most small casters. I'll be a little surprised if they don't wind up transitioning to selling printed figs and STLs eventually. They're also probably the most likely company to wind up with the massive Ground Zero Games catalog if Jon Tuffley ever retires, as the two businesses have been on good terms for years and they're fairly close geographically. I like Brigade (and GZG) a lot for demonstrating than there's still room for little "garage shop casters" in the modern industry.


And for me, it's hard to say how COVID-19 affected all those companies because I have yet to look for any detailed information, and I don't even know if such exists. But usually, bigger companies have a strategy in case of different situations, so I think they are doing well. They have been on the market for years, meaning they are doing something right. I don't have a lot of experience in business, but I'm working on something, so I always try to look for some info, like this one, about how such global events affect business and what you can do. I came across one article which told me about Project Discovery Phase and how it is important to any business and its' future success. It's something very important to do because it will tell you more about the market, needs and so on. And I 'm sure that each of these companies does it.
I like Alternative Armies and I have a few miniatures, but I don't remember when was the last time I bought something from it. The prices are a little bit too high for me at the moment, but I have some things in my wish list already, and I'm just waiting for the moment to get them.
 

I like Alternative Armies and I have a few miniatures, but I don't remember when was the last time I bought something from it. The prices are a little bit too high for me at the moment, but I have some things in my wish list already, and I'm just waiting for the moment to get them.
I painted this Emperor of Osteria from Alternative Armies almost 20 years ago.

IMG_2537.jpeg
 

I'll keep backing Reaper. Bones 6 wasn't as good as the previous ones, IMO, but compared to everything else it is still the best value around, especially coming from a company that is such a known quantity.
I didn't go anywhere near as hard on Bones 6 as I did on Bones 5. Partially due to the general economic situation, but also because most of the sets had a whole lot of terrain in it, and I'm nowhere near as interested in terrain as I am of actual figures.
 

I didn't go anywhere near as hard on Bones 6 as I did on Bones 5. Partially due to the general economic situation, but also because most of the sets had a whole lot of terrain in it, and I'm nowhere near as interested in terrain as I am of actual figures.
That's fair. I collect both, so it still worked for me. Yet...I kind of have to agree with you. I got the core set and all five expansions and, to be honest, was not all that enthused when unboxing. The quality is still there; it was just...sort of an underwhelming collection. That's at least because my collection is so big that I don't have that many niches to fill, but I also think Bones 6 lacked a strong vision, not to mention a marquee piece like the pirate ship or Baba Yaga's hut.

I'm interested to see if there's a Bones 7 KS.

I just backed the new Cmon Games Cthulhu KS - what a great deal! My $100 base pledge is getting me120 or so miniatures, plus a fun game. I've backed them before, and the quality is outstanding. It's my best miniatures buy for 2024, by far. And perfect for my upcoming Arkham Horror TTRPG campaign.
 

Remove ads

Top