Tell Me About The Miniatures Industry

[Levitacus]

Here is a fantastic site for minitatures news and reviews. It should give you a reasonable idea of what is happening in miniatures.

The Miniatures Page

That should have lots of news you can use...

 

[mac1504]

I was a general manager for a miniatures company for awhile and learned quite a bit about the industry in my time.

GW is the big player on the block, but you'll find hordes that are ready to convert (to another game system) just so they can stick it to GW. There is a lot of money in the minis market- unfortunately GW takes most of it...

I think another player in the plastic mini market would do well, but as mentioned earlier by Pogre, the set-up costs are extremely high. If you do decide to go metal, make sure you find a good quality metal- not all white metals are made equal. We went through quite a few before finding the right mixture that made production much more efficient and the product looked a hundred times better. Casting equipment is better if puchased used- much cheaper and the caster, vulcanizers (for making molds) and melting pots are usually built like tanks- they can take a beating and keep on working.

See if you can talk to the big distributors ahead of time and establish relationships with them. It's a hard-going if you decide to go direct to retailers with your product as opposed to working with the major distributors to get your product into stores. Don't get me wrong- distributors are not going to make you rich, but they will make it easier to get into stores. Many retailers simply will not buy your product from you if they can't get it from their distributor, even if they love it. The big distributors are Alliance and ACD. There are a few smaller ones that are worth looking into, but those two are the titans. Of course this touches on one of the paradoxes of selling your game, many stores won't stock your game if there is no demand- but there can't be demand for something that gamers don't know anything about. Of course, that's where your marketing campaign will have to come in.

That's all I can think of for right now, I'd be happy to answer any specific questions you might have.

Good luck!

 

[Desdichado]

Obviously slanted for investors, but there's clear revenue increase over the past five years, along with profit increase. Most of their money remains in Europe and GB, but they claim to be planning further inroads into North America. It's pretty interesting reading, in the way that incredibly dull crap becomes interesting when you're actually considering getting involved.

Huh. I guess it's been longer than I thought since I read their financial reports; last I remember they weren't making much money at all, and were blaming Pokemon, I think. Good to see that they've turned it around.

I have some interest whatsoever. Let me know if you come across anything. I've got a resume online here:

No prob; I'll start talking to the IT folks in my building and trying to figure out what you need to get in. If I get anywhere I'll send you an email (I think I still have your email kicking around, although maybe not; I don't think I've emailed you since before I reformated my hard drive.)

 

[Felon]

I think there definitely should be more distinction between pre-painted miniatures that are ready to use out of the box, and miniatures that one has to glue together and paint on their own time. They appeal to completely different customers--which a lot of folks who constantly make comparisons between GW minis and WotC minis just don't seem to get--and I imagine the marketing strategies differ as well.

D&D minis sell well, and the randomized distribution is definitely a factor in their ability to offer up such reasonably-priced minis. And anyone who thinks $20 for a GoL pack of 9 minis is super-expensive hasn't priced them against, say, what a single "huge" WizKids mini costs (like a MageKnight giant or HeroClix Sentinel). With an abundant secondary market (i.e. eBay) people can easily field hordes of creatures at a low cost.

Now, as to why exactly nobody out there is making an attempt to cut in on WotC's action (like, say, WizKids) by cranking out cheap minis expressly for gaming, you got me.

 

[Serps]

Huh. I guess it's been longer than I thought since I read their financial reports; last I remember they weren't making much money at all, and were blaming Pokemon, I think. Good to see that they've turned it around.

They haven't really. Games Workshop as a whole has made bumper profits over the last couple of years, but GW US has lagged behind a lot, even after raising prices 2 or 3 times over that period.

I think it has to do with GW US' goal to kill of independent retailers (including US-based web stores) and replace them with Games Workshop retail stores. It's a significant outlay to kit up a store, and so prices were raised to keep cashflow going; not a popular move, especially with the amount of competition from War Machine and the eventual withering of the Lord of the Rings franchise.

 

[barsoomcore]

Where abouts do you live? I'm in Calgary myself and have lots of connections in IT....

I'm in Vancouver. Resume link is in the post above. I'd appreciate any introductions or pointing to people. Although relocating to Calgary is unfortunately out of the question.

My family and my wife's family both live in Calgary. Being a thousand miles away from them is one of the great joys of our existence. Don't get me wrong, we love them. We just love them more because they're a thousand miles away.

 

[barsoomcore]

Hey everyone, thanks for the information and real-world advice.

We're hoping that we can get one of the primary manufacturers to build miniatures to tie into our product -- our product lets users play with their miniatures online. The miniatures have certain requirements that must be met and so existing ones won't work -- we'll need specially manufactured ones, but the hope is that one or more of the current players in the field will see the opportunity for a new line of collectibles and want to join in.

Here's a question for you all: There must be a big difference between WizKids' and WotC's manufacturing process, given that WK miniatures require assembly after casting and WotC minis don't. Does that after-casting assembly cost a dramatic amount? Is it something that WizKids specialize in -- nobody else seems to build minis like that, with little turny dial bits and all.

I'd be interested to hear everyone's thoughts on that aspect of WK's production.

And thanks! You've been very helpful already.

 

[Desdichado]

My family and my wife's family both live in Calgary. Being a thousand miles away from them is one of the great joys of our existence. Don't get me wrong, we love them. We just love them more because they're a thousand miles away.

Not to threadjack, but dang, that sentiment feels so familiar. Speaking as someone who's located a comfortable 1400 or so miles away from both my in-laws and my parents.

 

[nerfherder]

Here's a question for you all: There must be a big difference between WizKids' and WotC's manufacturing process, given that WK miniatures require assembly after casting and WotC minis don't. Does that after-casting assembly cost a dramatic amount? Is it something that WizKids specialize in -- nobody else seems to build minis like that, with little turny dial bits and all.

I'm not quite sure if this is what you mean, but some of the WotC miniatures do seem to be multi-part that are assembled (& glued, presumably). One of the Wizards designers made some comments on their boards about the extra cost of making mounted figures in the Star Wars Miniatures line (because they are multi-part), which is why they are all Very Rare.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Liam