Plastics - Single or Multi-piece mouldings

[FramFramson]

It's a trade-off. From cheapest, to most costly:

- Single-piece is simple and cheapest, but flat. Can be used sometimes for economies.
- Multipart figures which must be assembled in only one way is effectively the same as single-piece, but allows you to make very dynamic figures. This might be used for showpieces which are meant to only come in one configuration (maybe there are head or hand options, but not more than that).
- True multi-piece modular figures allows players to mix and match a smaller number of parts to make a fairly wide variety of figures. A fair amount of dynamism can be incorporated by a very good sculptor, but this is a bit rarer.
- Multi-piece, multi-pose is the most difficult and costly to pull off, and requires the most individual parts on a given sprue, but offers the widest possibilities to the hobbyist.

[Shahbahraz]

I have to agree with the bulk of the responses. I am very much hoping (for example) that the Perry's do a set of Italian infantry compatible with their existing plastic ranges.

Or Japanese and USMC, or Australian/Commonwealth for SE. Asia campaigns.

[Storm Wolf]

As i get older and can't be bothered sticking umpteen bits together now, i say single piece miniatures

[Hobgoblin]

I think multipart, multipose is best. A few random thoughts on those:

1. Non-fighting arms/hands really help a kit. At the weekend, I was fiddling around with GW's Gor and Ungor kits. They're great - but they're really hindered by the fact that just about every hand is holding a shield or a weapon. More pointing/signalling/gesturing hands are always good. The Ungor kit is a bit better in this respect, because the archer hands can be used as empty/spellcasting/whatever. But having them on both sides would be best. It's nice to be able to assemble figures as either warriors or brawlers/ruffians.

2. Lots of heads is the best thing for variety. The Frostgrave kits are good here. A cardinal mistake is to make any head too distinctive. For example, the Wargames Factory orc spure is severely let down by the fact that the only bareheaded head also has an eyepatch. So, rather than being able to have a variety of bareheaded orcs distinguished by hair colour or skin colour or head position, you're forced to make all of them one-eyed (and all blind on the same side). More generic is better here.

3. Weapons should almost always be attached to hands rather than separate (see the Wargames Factory orcs again ...).

4. "Individualising" extras on the sprue are great - side-arms, pouches, bags, trophies, whatever. The Frostgrave kits are very good for this - better than the Oathmark ones on this particular count.

5. For fantasy figures, standards that could also serve as heads are a great idea - as with the GW beastmen, where you can make a skull-faced chaos mutant with the skull that goes on the standard. That sort of utility is great.

6. It's good for limbs and weapons to be free of directional indicators where possible. Long, hanging sleeves that 'fix' the arm position and similar things (ribbons, trophies, whatever) are a bit annoying, as they limit the versatility.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I have bought boxes and boxes of the Perry Medieval figures. First I did about 250+ figures from the WOTR range for the Swiss Burgundian Wars. Then they brought out the earlier medieval 1415 - 1430 range so I did Agincourt with about 250 figures. The ability to make huge armies with each figure an individual was the key to getting me to buy more and more.

[AWu]

In the last 12 months Ive bought around 10 box of miniatures without intention of building them - just for kitbashing.
Thats most fun part of the hobby for me.

Monopose in multiples is almost always a no buy from me (Ive got Gripping Beast set for Late Romans with 5 poses multiplied by 8 sprues but I wanted cheap army fast but I wont buy another box despite needing more of them)

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Definitely multi-pose multipart.

I have a number of Malifaux figures (and yes "By Yan Lo's Beard"), and they are great as individual figures, but are no use for building armies.

The Other Side just has a larger pool of identical figures.

The idea seems to have infected The Great Womble, I have noticed that there seems to be a move to multi-part single pose. This removes one of my key interests, (building individual figures) and one of the reasons I have not bought any of their kits for a while.

On other threads, I mentioned the former Wargames Factory survivors as being almost multi-part single pose (or two very similar poses). That limits the reasons to buy more than one box (or even one sprue).

The Perry figures have been rightly mentioned, as have the Frostgrave (and Oathmark) figures.

Compatibility is a big thing. The Perrys' WW2 range is a bit of a special case, their ranges were not in competition with other ranges (no longer the case, but I am sticking with them).
For mediaeval/fantasy ranges I would only be interesed in something that was compatible.

[armchairgeneral]

Surely a single plastic castings can still be converted easily enough for those who want to?

[Ogrob]

Surely a single plastic castings can still be converted easily enough for those who want to?

Yes, but there's still a big difference between the ease of kitbashing compatible parts and cutting things up.

[twrchtrwyth]

Multipart, like North Star or Perry. Separate arms, and heads.

Malifaux plastics are a different animal, they are designed for dynamic poses not modularity. I like them for animals and monsters but prefer the Perry style for humanoids.

+1

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Surely a single plastic castings can still be converted easily enough for those who want to?

If you are talking about a figure armed with a rifle (or a two handed melee weapon), it is extremely dfficult to convert without major surgery due to the requirement that the figure fit in a two part mould. While a metal or resin moulds can be flexible enough to have gaps between the rifle and the body, that is not the case with a two piece steel mould. As an aside, I wonder if that is why the old old Airfix figures were not made of polystyrene.

If you want to see what I mean, try filling in all the under cut areas on an old metal figure so that it would work wih a rigid mould.

[boneio]

Games Workshop do very nice things with monopose, often multipart. They are a pleasure to assemble vs multipose models.
However, I doubt other companies are ready to do what gw are capable of, in which case multipart multipose is preferred.
I agree with a previous poster that non-weapon hands and little accessories really add to the value of a kit.

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Games Workshop do very nice things with monopose, often multipart. They are a pleasure to assemble vs multipose models.

The problem is that when you have built one Mono-pose figure, why would you build another? The Great Womble has a market size that means it is worth them spending the money on a mould where people buy one or two of a figure. To break even, everybody else has to sell box sets (Frostgrave Wizards is the nearest example).

[Ultravanillasmurf]

Of course, the one thing that has not been answered is what period/market this potential range of figures is aimed at.

That does have some influence. You might get away with a bloke with a sword as a one piece model plus a stick on shield.

What you do not want is the worst if both worlds, such as the Warlord Domari Freeborn.

They are multi-part and almost multi-pose, but with fixed arm geometries. You can do some modifications, but it is hard work.
http://ultravanillasmurf.blogspot.com/search/label/Freeborn

[Doug ex-em4]

Of course, the one thing that has not been answered is what period/market this potential range of figures is aimed at.

Sorry - Fantasy....28mm.

Doug