Narrative Figure Set

[FifteensAway]

Okay, this is a bit of a wild concept (and we can all blame General Pettygree's alter ego for this  ):

A set of figures designed to assist in telling a narrative, say standing, walking, running, crouching, sleeping dead, etc, of the same man or woman.  And need, at a minimum, a lead-hero, an antagonist, a love interest, a sidekick, a wise old one, and a couple of henchmen (the henchmen don't necessarily need the full Narrative Set concept).   And I, of course, want this in 15/18 mm. 

[v_lazy_dragon]

Given we are lucky to get matching mounted/dismounted figures for any period outside Old West (and they aren't even routine in that genre) then I can see this might be a bit of a stretch!

I have seen some unarmed/armed variations for civilians/zombie survivors (Recreational Conflict?); and even unarmed/armed/zombie (Zombiesmith?) but these are usually variations on a body rather than distinct different poses...

[Arrigo]

I am failing to see any real use for them, especially in 15mm... and no, I am not a 28mm zealot! 

PP provides his warlords (for AK47) in standing/seated/dead position plus bodyguard. But honestly it is already a stretch. Plus I do not see how standing/walking/running poses help a narrative...

[robh]

....... Plus I do not see how standing/walking/running poses help a narrative...

To avoid having to use tokens/markers/labels on figures when their actions and positions are important to the game.
"Normandy Firefight" works this way with each character figure being represented as a minimum in standing, kneeling and prone positions (running, wounded and dead are also useful).

It is possible to do in 20mm plastics as conversions are simple but I have never seen anything like it in 15mm

[Gabbi]

The only instance of something barely related to this are Dystopian Wars subs that were available in both "surfaced" and "submerged" statuses (actually submerged was a less partially surfaced model, otherwise it would had been plain sea  ) intended to be swapped to represent the ship status.



But using tokens was quicker, plus this way people could buy one squadron to actually play two


Also in Warmachine/Hordes ther are a couple models that can burrow/hide and have a second model to represent this status.
Ecample: https://privateerpress.com/hordes/gallery/grymkin-the-wicked-harvest/solos/trapperkin


But these are just to represent one status. Can't remember any company that make the same model in multiple poses...

[Roo]

Try Peter Pigs various ranges...AK47 in particular.

[FifteensAway]

For a sense of how they would be used, find General Pettygree's posts here on LAF and see how he has used figures to represent characters in various guises/poses when telling his narrative stories.  War in 15mm's various galleries could be enhanced by such figures as well.

For some of us for whom the game is secondary or even tertiary but the figures are primary, an alternate use for our painted figures is to use them to tell narrative stories through figures and photographs and a bit of text.  While that is my goal in pursuing this, robh points out another use for such figures - in some of the more detailed skirmish games such figures would be useful.

The other question is what period for dress.  I would want mine oriented towards the mid-late Victorian era but I would also be able to use 18th century figures (for North America but such would also be useful in Europe and further afield like Australia and New Zealand and colonial settings).

And, yes, to some degree, selective use of existing figures is possible.  But I just think it would be really cool if we had a modest designed range of Big Name Stars figures for this idea.  V_lazy_dragon reminds me that mounted figures should be included in the mix.  There could also be a young version and an old version. 

The 'Handsome but Rugged' leading man
His Love Interest Lady (or she's the hero and he's the love interest?  Equal rights and all.   )
The Hero's principal sidekick (and maybe a Her principal sidekick)
The 'Seemingly All Powerful Evil Antagonist'
The Principal Henchman
The 'Wise Old Sage' from whom the Hero learns enough to overcome the antagonist at some point

To review poses again (it was a long day, late at night post to start this thread)

Armed, Unarmed both on foot, mounted on horse, Seated (but not with cast on chair), Running (different weapon), crouched/kneeling firing (another different weapon), Recumbent but not dead (prone?), Plain old dead.

That is eight poses per figure, 48 poses for the entire list (96 for Victorian and 18th century both), several companies have eight figure packs in 15 mm.  And, yes, I know there is a cost to create each sculpt.  And, yes, I know there is a question mark as to how well such figures would sell.  And, certainly, one way for this to be approached is for the seller to charge a significant premium price for such figures. I have commissioned sculpts so I get the cost element.  And there is always the whole kickstarter approach that can take most of the risk out of the equation - only up front cost might be as simple as some concept art until such time as it is determined there is adequate focused desire measured in committed money to move forward.

Easy to argue against such an idea.  It is always easy to argue against an idea.  But sometimes it is visionary to explore a new idea - when it's not totally a crackpot idea.  As always, not to ask is not to receive.  So, I'm asking.  Maybe it will end up being a crack pot idea and maybe it will show a new direction to take our historical miniatures.  And I'm betting fantasy gamers would salivate at a rate that would fill a large beer stein in a frighteningly short time to have such a figure range!    And who knows just how excited the Pulp folks would get for something like this.

[Belligerentparrot]

Sorry, this isn't going to be in any way helpful I suspect.... but for what it is worth I know a couple of people who have done this using GW kits: if you are moderately good at converting, and patient on ebay/bitz websites, it isn't too tricky to make multiple poses of exactly the same character, distinguishing face and equipment and all. (E.g.the same ganger running/firing/reloading/wounded etc.)

A tangent: all of them have said, in some form or other, "never again!", as the task of painting the minis identically bored them to tears  One guy even looked forward to the "wounded" poses for that reason.

Anyway, I wonder if multi-part, easily convertible kits rather than multiple sculpts of the same figure in different poses might be a more realistic wish? I accept this probably makes much more sense in 28mm than 15/18mm.

[FifteensAway]

"A tangent: all of them have said, in some form or other, "never again!", as the task of painting the minis identically bored them to tears  One guy even looked forward to the "wounded" poses for that reason. "

So, fantasy gamers can only paint one figure the same and then must move on?  Curious.  Historical gamers may paint several score of the same figure (or very similar but in the same uniform) or even hundreds once in a while. 

Having the various poses doesn't mean each needs to be painted the same, except for the obvious face and hair being the same to keep the identity going of the character.  In fact, variety in clothing would help the narrative generally though there might be times to keep them painted the same.  Heck, that might even be a justification to buy three of each set and paint each set to match a particular set of clothing.  I kind of like that idea.

And, by the way, when I said big name star - I didn't mean any real life big star, just a fictional hero.

[Belligerentparrot]

"A tangent: all of them have said, in some form or other, "never again!", as the task of painting the minis identically bored them to tears  One guy even looked forward to the "wounded" poses for that reason. "

So, fantasy gamers can only paint one figure the same and then must move on?  Curious.

Ha, yes, I did think a historical gamer might find that odd when I wrote it! In my experience, a big part of the pull towards small skirmish gaming is the desire to make each mini unique (GW-inspired skirmish gaming in particular). That is what the need to paint each pose of the same character the same was colliding with.