In Place of Chainmail?

[mmadsen]

Make them collectable. Sell them at toy stores, Target, etc. because kids like to play with cool plastic figures. This could also tie in very well with the Dragonlance cartoon and Forgotten Realms/Spelljammer TV series' in the works (all potential product lines).

Sounds excellent, kenjib.

Put the standard humanoids in packs with 5 or so.

This reminds me of the eternal problem with action figures. You always have one Stormtrooper or one Cobra "grunt" or whatever, because naturally you'd rather have five different figures if you're paying for five figures.

Strong product branding is important so that you also might also win some potential future RPG customers -- for this reason it's important that WotC does it instead of a different company. That way they can put the D&D logo on it as well as using classic creatures from the Monster Manual and the product identity of their campaign settings.

They could also sell a simple game -- anyone remember Dungeon? -- with lots of cheap plastic figures, like the recent Star Wars duel game.

 

[CRG]

Like I've said a number of times, there aren't alot of sources for bulk rank-and-file troops.

When I find one, I plunder.

For example, at some point the LoTR games from GW will stop selling and go on sale. I'll probably buy 3-5 then, and plan on keeping only a single on intact that I may or may not play in the future. The rest will feed an army.

It's often best if you can find friends who want to do similar activities and you can mesh your army-building-exploits. One of you take all the men, the other all the orcs, etc. Several friends and I did that with BattleMasters a few years back - bought 3 sets, split 3 ways. It yielded a veritable horde of actual figures - I must have 30 mounted knights from those alone, not to mention more halbrediers, etc. than I'll ever need. And two towers, which I will certainly use. Another buddy took all the orcs and goblins while a third took the chaos troops.

The board-games-with-miniatures come in waves. You have to be prepared to pounce once you see something that you like.

Now, what I haven't yet tried in the recent past is writing the manufacturer for, ahem, replacement parts. Back in the Star Wars days (the original days) when I collected the figs, you could write off and get a pack of Star Wars weapons (which was useful as the GD light sabres would always break and really, who could keep track of Leia's skinny-ass pistol?). Maybe with a little research you could net some replacement BattleMaster's figures or maybe something cooler.

Lots of neat figures included in Avalon Hill's History of the World. A bit of digging on the Hasbro web site shows this replacement parts form for History of the World. $10 for a bag with all plastic parts? Sign me up.

The base replacement parts site is here for Hasbro. You can get Axis & Allies, BattleCry and the StarWars Queen's Gambit game (lots of jedi and robots it looks like).

Someone posted a company that sill cast plastic minis and was a miniatures company, not a board game company. If I find the link I'll post it here.
[EDIT]
Found it, previous page on this thread.
[/EDIT]Fortress Figures

 

[Ds Da Man]

How big are those figures? Are the close to 25mm?

 

[CRG]

They look close, but I haven't yet plundered their box to find out. And, as an FYI, the look to be more slender than the Warhammer / cartoonish figures.

The more interesting one for Sci-Fi folks are the replacement parts for The Queens Gambit

Seriously. Not the biggest SW RPG fan but really, 65 of those battle droids for $3? 21 palace guards for $2? 12 of the destroyer droids for $1.50? Those sould pretty cheap. I'm sure the tanks, etc. are out of scale and really, who wants Gungans?

This is the fine art of el-cheapo army building....

 

[Vaxalon]

Fortress Figures are 25mm, and designed to work with the metal ones. They're made of resin, and don't have a very good finish... they need a lot of priming. A layer of enamel would be a good start.

 

[mmadsen]

For example, at some point the LoTR games from GW will stop selling and go on sale.

In fact, since the current game is called the Fellowship of the Ring edition (or something similar), we might very well see a new version this winter -- one with figures and scenarios for Helm's Deep. (Ooohhh...)

Now, what I haven't yet tried in the recent past is writing the manufacturer for, ahem, replacement parts.

I was hoping to find a way to pick up of Weapons & Warriors "replacement parts"; it comes with some great little billmen.

Lots of neat figures included in Avalon Hill's History of the World. A bit of digging on the Hasbro web site shows this replacement parts form for History of the World. $10 for a bag with all plastic parts? Sign me up.

Looks good! Just about any D&D game could use the Byzantines. Some could use the Romans and Spanish Conquistadors as well -- probably the Persions and Egyptians too. I like the Victorian English soldiers, but they're not very D&D.

 

[kengar]

On the subject of plastic minis, someone - I believe on this thread - had mentioned some details on the molding/casting process. The jist of it was that it gets kind of expensive to make the molds, so the cheaper plastic minis aren't as cost-effective. My question is; are there other (cheaper) methods of making the mold and/or minis? If so, what are the drawbacks of those methods?

 

[CRG]

I was hoping to find a way to pick up of Weapons & Warriors "replacement parts"; it comes with some great little billmen.

I know what you mean. I've got quite a few of them. My biggest problem is that I'm frankly full of human halbrediers between that and Battlemasters. You do occasionally see them around in toy stores and outlests - Kaybee or local stores espescially. You've got no change at Toys-r-Us as they cycle their inventory well and generally do a good job of moving out the older stuff.

One year in recent past (not more than 5 years ago) my friends and I went out and bought each other a bunch of board games and cheesey toys (which is funny only considering our age) for Christmas. My mother came over to the house as it was my daughter's first chirstmas and was shocked to see that, yes indeed, Mall Madness and Dinosaur Mountain were not for my daughter but was instead placed under the tree for me...the parts were too small for her anyway, not suitable for children over 3. Adults? No problem.

Somewhere around here I have an unopened Weapons & Warriors Pirate Battle Game box. Bought it for the boats.

Looks good! Just about any D&D game could use the Byzantines. Some could use the Romans and Spanish Conquistadors as well -- probably the Persions and Egyptians too. I like the Victorian English soldiers, but they're not very D&D.

The mounted archers have the most potential for me. You don't see many of those and you sure as heck don't see them cheap and plastic. As far as the victorians (were they the ones with the rifle and pointed/ridged helmets?)...you could probably snip the rifle off or do other mods for them.

I want to caution, I haven't measured them yet...if someone owns this game or cracks a copy of it open, let us all know their approximate size / scale.

 

[mmadsen]

My biggest problem is that I'm frankly full of human halbrediers between that and Battlemasters. You do occasionally see them around in toy stores and outlests - Kaybee or local stores espescially. You've got no change at Toys-r-Us as they cycle their inventory well and generally do a good job of moving out the older stuff.

Yeah, I swung through Kaybee one time while at the mall. That's when I spotted Weapons & Warrior for around ten bucks.

One year in recent past (not more than 5 years ago) my friends and I went out and bought each other a bunch of board games and cheesey toys (which is funny only considering our age) for Christmas. My mother came over to the house as it was my daughter's first chirstmas and was shocked to see that, yes indeed, Mall Madness and Dinosaur Mountain were not for my daughter but was instead placed under the tree for me...the parts were too small for her anyway, not suitable for children over 3. Adults? No problem.

Hehehe.

Somewhere around here I have an unopened Weapons & Warriors Pirate Battle Game box. Bought it for the boats.

I actually thought the pirates and palm trees would've been the draw.

The mounted archers have the most potential for me.

Ah, the Mongols! I knew I forgot one.

You don't see many of those and you sure as heck don't see them cheap and plastic.

If you want cheap plastic 1:72 miniatures, check out a toy soldier specialty store, like ATS Toy Soldiers. The figures are made from "little army man" plastic, not hard resin, but you can get -- oh, my lord, I just spotted this -- 42 gladiators in 21 poses, with 4 lions, for $9!

Or 8 knights, 8 horses, and 20 footmen from the 100 Years War for $7.

 

[scadgrad]

Huge GW fan & was in attendance at last year's GamesDay. The plan for LotR at that point was to have 3 seperate games to release in concert w/ the 3 films. They hinted that one of the games would be skirmish level (the current version), one 'warhammer level', and one similar to warmaster.

Any word as to whether or not the Chainmail rights might be sold off to another interested party?

The guys at Eden Studios have a massive HB coming out this winter, Fields of Blood. Does anyone have any scoop on this new system?