Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Future Wars => Topic started by: The Gonk on January 24, 2009, 05:54:52 AM
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Just curious. Lots of people talking about the economy and how small producers need us to keep buying figures to keep them in business (or so I tell my wife). So, in your opinion, who's the best small SF producer we should spend our depression dough on?
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Me. :)
http://recreationalconflict.com/ under Lead Bones.
It would be nice if a few people supported us. Like, at all...
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Hasslefree, no problems - great models and great service. A real family run enterprise.
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Yes, well me too! Haha, but seriously, if you want 28mm sci-fi vehciles at an affordable price check out Ramshackle Games (or buy them at Recreational Conflict if stateside, supporting both me and wolfgang!)
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Yes, well me too! Haha, but seriously, if you want 28mm sci-fi vehciles at an affordable price check out Ramshackle Games (or buy them at Recreational Conflict if stateside, supporting both me and wolfgang!)
He's right you know, Ramshackle Games stuff is excellent, my second vote goes to Hasslefree.
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I would say Zombiesmith.
I am aware that I might sound like a hysterical fanboy. But those Quar minis are simply superb and obviously Josh has even more Quar goodness in the pipeline. o_o ;D
And now, in conjuncition with Defiance Miniatures, there will be more (different yet nice...) SF stuff as well.
http://www.quarinvasion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=536
As a second vote I'd go for Hasslefree. They've got amazing minis as well. I like those Grymn.
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Hasslefree - not only the very extensive Grymn range, but also the space pirates, adventurers, space zombies etc etc
:)
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Lots of good people recommended here.
A couple of others, EM4, a nice little range of SciFi minis, including Robots and Mad Max types, great prices and spooky fast service.
http://www.em4miniatures.com/acatalog/Future_Skirmish.html
(http://revford.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/scifi-robots-terminator-rifle-3.jpg)(http://revford.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/scifi-robots-terminator-smartgun-1.jpg)
Then the Corporate Wars range from East Riding Miniatures, I love the Slicks.
http://shop.eastridingminiatures.co.uk/corporate-wars-55-c.asp
(http://revford.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/scifi-weirdos-rifle-1.jpg)(http://revford.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/scifi-weirdos-switch-1.jpg)
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I would say Zombiesmith.
I am aware that I might sound like a hysterical fanboy. But those Quar minis are simply superb and obviously Josh has even more Quar goodness in the pipeline. o_o ;D
And now, in conjuncition with Defiance Miniatures, there will be more (different yet nice...) SF stuff as well.
http://www.quarinvasion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=536
As a second vote I'd go for Hasslefree. They've got amazing minis as well. I like those Grymn.
Another fanboy here singing Zombiesmiths praises, second is or was Mongrel Minis with a close third Musketeer
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instead of complaining about not being able to pay a bill that he knew was comming for 12 months.
Might be able to tell I have no time for financial bailouts.
I hear you, on one level. But let me put out a should for Heresy anyways. Excellent products with a lot of figs that no one else is making (Doctor Hugh, Masterson etc.) Plus, when he is in financial trouble he has a sale!
On an unrelated note, let me also put out a shout for my good friends at Impact! miniatures. They focus on Fantasy Football, but if you're into that you won't find better service or prices.
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My vote is for Hydra. With seconds to Killer B and Wargames Supply Dump. The latter is just coming back. I wish I had the link but search this forum for Wargames Supply Dump returning?
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Hasslefree, Heresy and EM4. Excellent service and free sweeties from certain lovable and fast mail order operatives. :D
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I vote for all of them :D and I hope they all stay in business
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I've been thinking about the viability of small mini companies myself of late. My one observation is that some of these companies will produce minis that IMO are extremely narrow in their marketability. Then they wonder why sales are insufficient to keep them in business.
My take is that you sometimes have to do what you have to in order to do what you want to do. In other words, some independent sculptors may have to set their personal artistic interests to the side in order to produce some more commercially viable figures. Then, once the more commercial stuff is generating sufficient cash flow, make some figs that are off the wall.
I see some posts out there of "please buy our minis" and then I look at the range and respond to myself with "what the hell do I need a naked, unarmed, male miniature for?" Or what will I do with a pin-headed space hooker, besides the obvious?
My point is that if a small company decides it wants to sculpt a bunch of stuff that people can and will use on a regular basis in order to add a) variety or b) financial savings to the ranges they currently have, I'll gladly buy from them.
Case in point, I just spent twenty bucks on a Warrior Monk fig from Gamezone. I don't need the mini, but it reminds me of my bald badass character from D&D that I played years ago. Highly marketable. Oh, and it's also very reminiscent of a GW warrior priest on horseback. Happens to be what inspired my D&D character in the first place...
Pig Iron is doing a bang up job with their separate heads that can and are being used on GW Imperial Guard plastics as we speak.
Atenociti looks like its gonna hit the not-Infinity market with a bang. MERC's might do the same thing for 40K'ish scout squads, etc.
In sum, as a business consultant, I would tell all of the small companies to focus on figures that will sell over figures that are satisfying their own personal interests if they want to stay in the business during a world wide recession.
And that's my two bits on the matter.
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I've been thinking about the viability of small mini companies myself of late. My one observation is that some of these companies will produce minis that IMO are extremely narrow in their marketability. Then they wonder why sales are insufficient to keep them in business.
My take is that you sometimes have to do what you have to in order to do what you want to do. In other words, some independent sculptors may have to set their personal artistic interests to the side in order to produce some more commercially viable figures. Then, once the more commercial stuff is generating sufficient cash flow, make some figs that are off the wall.
I see some posts out there of "please buy our minis" and then I look at the range and respond to myself with "what the hell do I need a naked, unarmed, male miniature for?" Or what will I do with a pin-headed space hooker, besides the obvious?
My point is that if a small company decides it wants to sculpt a bunch of stuff that people can and will use on a regular basis in order to add a) variety or b) financial savings to the ranges they currently have, I'll gladly buy from them.
Case in point, I just spent twenty bucks on a Warrior Monk fig from Gamezone. I don't need the mini, but it reminds me of my bald badass character from D&D that I played years ago. Highly marketable. Oh, and it's also very reminiscent of a GW warrior priest on horseback. Happens to be what inspired my D&D character in the first place...
Pig Iron is doing a bang up job with their separate heads that can and are being used on GW Imperial Guard plastics as we speak.
Atenociti looks like its gonna hit the not-Infinity market with a bang. MERC's might do the same thing for 40K'ish scout squads, etc.
In sum, as a business consultant, I would tell all of the small companies to focus on figures that will sell over figures that are satisfying their own personal interests if they want to stay in the business during a world wide recession.
And that's my two bits on the matter.
Not sure on your obvious dig at Hasslefree with the Kevincus figure??? If you knew anything about it you'd know that this was cast up mainly as a dolly to be used in the Kev Sculpting competition of last year which was highly successful.
Or your obvious dig at Heresy and Andy's cash flow problems and damn bad luck in respect to his casting machine.
Have you actually reviewed the ranges for both companies recently?
I for one do not want to see GW clones, skulls and powered armour everywhere I turn.
Heresy & Hasslefree have great ranges of figures from a number of genres, E4M miniatures run the old Grenadier post apoc/future wars ranges very successfully, you want weird war? Gothic horror, demons? Plenty of companies: you want zombies, future moderns etc... (then Westwind, Zombiesmith, Pig-iron and many more spring to mind).
Anyway now the dollar has rallied against the pound I suggest you lot from over the pond actually buy some good old UK lead product.
The Commander
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Hasslefree obviously has great stuff. However, I like the idea of supporting Zombiesmith better. For one thing, I suspect Kev and Hasslefree are doing just fine. For another, whether Hasslefree makes it or not, Kev will always be sculpting. To some extent, he'll be sculpting just as great stuff for some other company if he isn't sculpting it for his own. If Zombiesmith were to die out, however, there goes a completely unique line of miniatures. My nod goes to Ramshackle as well. Many Ramshackle (hope I'm spelling that right) vehicles cross genres and can be used in many ways. That's pretty cool.
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Ramshackle, em4 and Musketeer. Great companies.
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"In sum, as a business consultant, I would tell all of the small companies to focus on figures that will sell over figures that are satisfying their own personal interests if they want to stay in the business during a world wide recession."
With all due respect, please tell me then what will sell. We bought into Zombies figuring they would be big, especially considering how huge of a fad it is right now. Seriously, all the talk about "can't have too many zombies" everytime some start-up announces a new line of zombies. (sarcasm)Which has been practically every other day for a couple of months now. (/sarcasm) I don't think we've sold but about 20 of any one set so far.
Of course, we could do basics that are staples for just about everyone. Like 28mm WWII troops or Napoleonics. Except that plastics will soon make those staples a no-man's land for metal producers. Except for the niche stuff. :)
Pig Iron and Atenociti are only getting to move on to bigger stuff because they stumbled onto something that people were willing to buy in the first place. Heck, if I had the money I'd be doing separate heads and more sci-fi stuff too among many, many, many other things.
Honestly though, producing figures has been a money pit for the business. Especially compared to just selling other people's stuff. And from what I hear from the companies we represent at shows, they aren't doing much better than making their cost back from most figures. So please excuse me if I sound a little annoyed. I want the hobby to do better and expand, but I don't think blaming the producers for their economic woes is the best way to do that.
Especially since gamers will wax enthusiastic about what they "want" and "need" and "will rush out right now to buy!" and wane considerably when it's time to pony up. :)
"I don't need the mini, but it reminds me of my bald badass character from D&D that I played years ago. Highly marketable."
You're being facetious right? :o
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Technically they're all the smallest company. How many are made up of more than one or two paid people? Or unpaid as is probably most often. :)
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I don't think we've sold but about 20 of any one set so far.
I think that will change once the Big Diver is available...
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I agree that starting a company to supply a "sure sell" is a dangerous business strategy. For one thing, it's hard to determine what will be a sure thing. And for another, the sure things markets tend to get oversaturated. To my way of thinking, one is better off making what one loves, and hoping that it turns into the next fad.
And, of course, the figures have to be beautiful. :)
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Q: How do you become a millionaire in the miniatures business?
A: Start out with $2 million. When you get to $1 million, stop.
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Heresy has a poll going right now asking for buyer imput for 2009. I think that's a great idea. There is nothing more effective than direct market research. The downside as someone pointed out is the plethora of verbal/online written commitments that don't see fruition.
As for my "dig" at Hasslefree & Heresy, it's not a dig at all. It's simply part of the perception of a single buyer. I've purchased much of Heresy's sci-fi range. Top stuff. Marketable because it is useable with many different systems/armies/figures from the same genre, and in some cases uses proven customer markets to attract new buyers i.e. Firefly, Riddick, Dr Who, etc.
Contrast this with kid jedi or the scooby gang and you can see what I mean. I'm not saying so and so shouldn't sculpt what they fancy. I'm pointing out the market reality that a smaller margin of the miniature buying demographic will be interested in Scooby than in a space ship crew...
I agree that the Zombie market has been flooded. Not my gig personally, but I've wondered myself how viable the market would be.
For the sake of clarity, I'm not saying that these small companies should be GW clones. Just that if you want to stay in the business, make stuff people will buy in sufficient numbers, even if it occasionally grates on your artistic whimsy...
Reaper produces what I consider to be one of the most hit and miss figure ranges for sculpting consistency and appearance, but are successful because they have pretty well catered to the D&D/fantasy roleplaying market.
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I think the trick for the little guy is to stay fresh and fill in those gaps that are missing in the genera that you have chosen to support. Since I do WWWII I try and support the other guys in the same genera. I buy stuff from Incursion, a couple things from Darkson and support West Wind, Heresy and Zombiesmith's horror lines so when I host games at a con I give some free PR to my fellow geeks and hopefully expand the genera so we can all take a piece of the pie. The most important this is to keep it playable! I tend not to field anything that is to static like a mini of a guy in a phone booth or a paratrooper falling from the sky. Those are cool minis but are so limited in usability that you will only sell a few. Everyone loves zombies so what kind of zombies should I make? General zeds are covered so why not do WWII zeds. Well Germany is covered so why not Australians, Russians or Japanese. Do WWI, Nappy, Civil War or even Pres. Obama and PM Brown as the walking dead. Hell, even a undead group of kids would be sellers because no one else makes them say for a couple minis here and their but all those Zed Apocalypse gamers have that 1/50 scale yellow die-cast school bus so why not fill it with a bunch of kids, the football team or even the marching band? Also what is missing in your WWII gaming? Recoilous rifles, mortar teams on the move, IR conversions for those IR Panthers, a USO female singer with a Tommy Gun giving some Hell to the Japanese?
Stay fresh and get into the gaming trenches and see what's missing and plug your fellow minis makers when and if ya can so we all can take from the pie,
Brian
PS
I'll be getting one of those divers and make him some sort of comic book type villain called Davy Jones or use him up against Hoff's Scooby Gang!
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We can't all have the business acumen of Scurv ;).
Anyone running their own miniatures company at the moment probably isn't rolling in it. Last time i saw Kev from HF he wasn't driving a porsche (and not just because his feet wouldn't reach the pedals).
Most of the guys out there running small firms are sculpters not businessmen. I happen to think that the majority of them, HF, Heresy, Olley's Armies, Zombiesmith etc etc do a great job in responding to their customer base, in a way that puts the larger firms to shame.
In some cases maybe the marketing could be better focussed, or a bit more restraint shown in rolling out new releases. Many small firms try to respond to the wishlist that all gamers have, and produce the minis that some of us rant on about obsessively "I want a mini of X"....at this point the typical response is often "well i'll buy mini X.....when you produce minis Y and Z to go with it". Point is - if you don't buy mini X when it comes out, these small firms may not be around to produce minis Y and Z.
TBH i'm a bit disappointed, but not overly surprised, that a thread that started out on a positive, has been used by a couple of people to get digs in at various companies.
I'll wait for the usual accusations of "frother" or "Fanboy" - yes i am a Frother, and proud of it, and likewise i am a fanboy of all of the companies i've mentioned above....but then again, that was the point of the thread wasn't it?
;)
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I hope What The?! Miniatures will consider you a fanboy some day AKULA. :D
Brian
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I hope What The?! Miniatures will consider you a fanboy some day AKULA. :D
Brian
Will do my best. ;)
Not sure we need a zombie of Gordon Brown though - he already looks like a dead man walking....
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I think it's kinda funny that the alternative to a saturated zombie market is considered to be Weird War II. ::)
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I think it's kinda funny that the alternative to a saturated zombie market is considered to be Weird War II. ::)
You can never have enou .... oh you get the idea.
lol
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Heresy has a poll going right now asking for buyer imput for 2009. I think that's a great idea. There is nothing more effective than direct market research. The downside as someone pointed out is the plethora of verbal/online written commitments that don't see fruition.
As for my "dig" at Hasslefree & Heresy, it's not a dig at all. It's simply part of the perception of a single buyer. I've purchased much of Heresy's sci-fi range. Top stuff. Marketable because it is useable with many different systems/armies/figures from the same genre, and in some cases uses proven customer markets to attract new buyers i.e. Firefly, Riddick, Dr Who, etc.
Contrast this with kid jedi or the scooby gang and you can see what I mean. I'm not saying so and so shouldn't sculpt what they fancy. I'm pointing out the market reality that a smaller margin of the miniature buying demographic will be interested in Scooby than in a space ship crew...
I agree that the Zombie market has been flooded. Not my gig personally, but I've wondered myself how viable the market would be.
For the sake of clarity, I'm not saying that these small companies should be GW clones. Just that if you want to stay in the business, make stuff people will buy in sufficient numbers, even if it occasionally grates on your artistic whimsy...
Reaper produces what I consider to be one of the most hit and miss figure ranges for sculpting consistency and appearance, but are successful because they have pretty well catered to the D&D/fantasy roleplaying market.
And Reaper (a US company) fleece non us customers through extortionate postage and packing rates. They also fail to support their overseas customers by failing to ship current and new releases forcing people into the shipping moneypit.
Anyway Andy, Kev et al (as part of the Forum of Doom) have always sort buyer's input and as such their ranges reflect both personal taste, sculptor's rights to create whimsys and customer preferences. If you took a look at the FOD forum you would know that. Also your comments in respect to fruition have to be considered in respect to a) just cause the ideas are posted doesn't mean that the sculptor must deliver, b) 1000's of ideas have been provided over the years, (not just this year) and c) one man band's have to go at a steady pace or burn out.
So if firefly, Dr Who and Chronicles of Riddick are draws for new customers, why the hell do you think that the Scooby do gang won't?
The zombie market hasn't been flooded, there are a lot of zombie figures out there, but the ratio of good sculpts to...well shite is about 4:1.
Problem with band wagon's is that everyone is not cut out to sculpt the samething. Sad but true.
TBH i'm a bit disappointed, but not overly surprised, that a thread that started out on a positive, has been used by a couple of people to get digs in at various companies.
I'll wait for the usual accusations of "frother" or "Fanboy" - yes i am a Frother, and proud of it, and likewise i am a fanboy of all of the companies i've mentioned above....but then again, that was the point of the thread wasn't it?
;)
You said it Zed boy! REPRESENT!!! :D
The Commander (Vyper)
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I agree with Wolfgangbrooks about what Angry Angel said. How can you tell what is a popular? I mean, we cant just start chruning out space marines can we?
Zombies, Germans with gas masks, D+D characters, they are popular, but there are also so many sculpts available that its pointless to try to do "me too" versions.
SO really, why the fuck is anybody even wasting thier time making figures for games? If it was all down to market forces and producing whats going to sell, scuplts of lady Dianna (before she died that is!) done in slip cast porcelain would sell by the bucket load. The only way anyone is going to get enthusiastic about what they are doing is by being energetic and free in what they do. THat will be reflected in the final sculpts and in the end effect sales.
Angry Angel is right about having a good marketting strategy, but its freaking hard work! Especially on a shoestring budget....
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Commander Viper:"The zombie market hasn't been flooded, there are a lot of zombie figures out there, but the ratio of good sculpts to...well shite is about 4:1."
Yeah, but the problem is the crappy sculpts are often sold for less. And to many gamers (I would even go so far as to say most) price and quantity is more important to them than quality, especially with horde figures like zombies. Look at Black Orc's Mini Sculpt line; Hideous figures, but they wouldn't still be making them if they didn't turn a profit. And at a dollar a figure they have to be selling a couple hundred of each.
Gonk:"I think that will change once the Big Diver is available..."
Thanks for the vote of confidence. We've seen alot more interest since that's been up in our previews section. And the fighters seems to be shifting some stuff. We just had a two hundred dollar order of the fighter and a bunch of Ramshackle vehicles.
Now if we could only get three orders like that a day...well, there'd be alot of sculptors getting my money for sure.
Scurv: "Maybe those figures need to be balanced out with a bunch of core 'troops' that people will grab a minimum of a 'squads' worth of"
Trouble is finding the critical mass of squadie figures without breaking your sculpting budget. :)
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Mmm. If we are just talking Sci-Fi I'd have to agree with Hasslefree (love their Grymn) and EM4.
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Commander VYper:"The zombie market hasn't been flooded, there are a lot of zombie figures out there, but the ratio of good sculpts to...well shite is about 4:1."
Yeah, but the problem is the crappy sculpts are often sold for less. And to many gamers (I would even go so far as to say most) price and quantity is more important to them than quality, especially with horde figures like zombies. Look at Black Orc's Mini Sculpt line; Hideous figures, but they wouldn't still be making them if they didn't turn a profit. And at a dollar a figure they have to be selling a couple hundred of each.
Gonk:"I think that will change once the Big Diver is available..."
Thanks for the vote of confidence. We've seen alot more interest since that's been up in our previews section. And the fighters seems to be shifting some stuff. We just had a two hundred dollar order of the fighter and a bunch of Ramshackle vehicles.
Now if we could only get three orders like that a day...well, there'd be alot of sculptors getting my money for sure.
Scurv: "Maybe those figures need to be balanced out with a bunch of core 'troops' that people will grab a minimum of a 'squads' worth of"
Trouble is finding the critical mass of squadie figures without breaking your sculpting budget. :)
With A 'Y' you dolt!! :D
(Take your point...ish. However I like my zeds with good levels of gooey detail so maybe I'm in the minority???)
The Commander
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Commander Vyper:"With A 'Y' you dolt!! :D"
So noted. :)
Scurv:"8 figs to a squad is a good number in my book with one or 2 heavy weapons an NCO and a sniper rifle in the mix."
Sounds reasonable. Though I hope people don't get confused if I don't make NCO's as guys pointing off to the side, or with sword and pistol in a heroic pose. :)
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Pig Iron.
They arent THAT small. But compared to GW they are ..small.
I really like the heads they produce, their miniatures are also nice :)
Really love their vehicles!
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I'll toss GZG in the ring since it hasn't been mentioned yet. Other starship lines are cropping up, but I still think the price and quality of the newer Full Thrust stuff is top notch for the scale and genre. Also their 15mm lines for Stargrunt are very good, and keep growing.
The price point is right, the scale makes painting a lot of it a bit quicker, and from my experience the customer service from mail order direct has always been outstanding.
Hasslefree is great of course.
I also really like some of Comfy Chair's stuff too, but they've been a bit quiet lately in regards to their main SpineSpur line. Their orphans, thugs, clown, and chainsaw maniac are all quite nice, and somewhat unique while remaining somewhat generic.
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I'll put my two cents in for Alpha Forge Games. Great line of figures.
Wyrd is fantastic too, although the steampunk theme is not my cup of tea.
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Since I've selfishly talked about myself so much I should probably nominate a couple.
Brigade Models, if just for their Aeronef line. Raven Star Studios, despite the fact that their kits need alot of work they are probably my favorite in terms of detail and execution. I wish he would do more of his 'own' stuff though if you catch my drift. Rebel Minis and Splintered Light, because they are really nice guys and produce neat stuff too.
And all the companies we carry; Hydra and Ramshackle in particular have been very eager and helpful. However, they've been great to work with.
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Pig Iron.
They arent THAT small. But compared to GW they are ..small.
I really like the heads they produce, their miniatures are also nice :)
Really love their vehicles!
In fairness the guys and girls at pigiron as a very small operation with two miniature lines, with options and one vehicle with options.
They've succeeded by:
a) not spreading themselves too thinly
b) hitting a number of genres and gaming systems.
c) being reall useful in the bitz box department, (not blowing my own trumpet here but I suggested the separate head thing and pimped away on WIP (GW conversion site) for a long time).
d) providing consistent complete forces.
Yup small but beautifully formed.
:D
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I second the emotion for Hasselfree and Hydra Miniatures :-*
Also, I think that Bob Murch's Pulp Figures is well-deserving of a mention in this context. In addition to providing excellent figures and quality customer service, Bob keeps the wheels turning with interesting new stuff at a fairly regular pace (you gotta love those recent Radon Zombies of the Ionosphere...!).
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As a long time wargamer I try to spend my hard earned pounds on stuff i want and try to spread it around to a different company each month,there are a lot of lovely figures out there that i admire but do not have a use for .I personally think look at the figures and if you like them, can use them and afford them go for it. But for the record Hasslefree are great and Kev may well always be able to get a job anywhere but i know its great to have your own business and make it succeed,so thats not an excuse not to buy hasslefree lets try and suport all the manufacturers.
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I agree that there are a lot of great "small" companies out there to support. I agree with the cheers for Hasslefree, Heresy, Wyrd, Zombiesmith, Recreational Conflict, and others that have already been mentioned. Recently, I've been really impressed with orders I've received from Bronze Age Minis (beautiful space adventurers in great poses), Black Cat Bases (love the "Lost" figs...and they were extremely quick and generous in correcting a packing oversight), East Riding Minis (great Corporate line...just wish you could buy individuals from their Golgo Island line), and Khurasan Minis (great sculpts, full of character).
I also agree with the sentiment to buy what you like at the price you're willing to pay, but it is nice to help out the little guy while doing it!
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Well I for one would love to have your support.
I am currently burning off a weeks vacation in Mississippi (1300 miles one way) picking up my molds and buying my ex-casters equipment since he decided to wig out on me in late December and quit the business with one week notice. The trip alone is costing me several thousand dollars let alone the cost to set up a casting operation and purchasing the equipment. I guess this is what those credit card checks are for :'(
http://www.brigadegames.com (http://www.brigadegames.com)
So yes, any purchase would help us recover from this financial burden quicker.
Thanks in advance
Lon
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Well I for one would love to have your support...
So yes, any purchase would help us recover from this financial burden quicker.
Thanks in advance
Lon
Hope it all works out.
Here's a reminder of how nicely your figures paint up. (Sorry I don't have any Future Wars stuff.)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v509/orctrader/BoB/LPL.jpg)
And Steve Dean has a whole gallery...
LINK (http://www.steve-dean.co.uk/2007-images/brigade/a-brigade.htm)
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Well, I won't be buying much from anyone, until I find a new job. :(
But I must say that most of the companies, if not all, mentioned, do produce stuff up my alley - only problem is, even with a job I cannot afford everything I'd like to have - let alone manage to prep and paint all I purchase.....
So, allthough I may not agree with everything Scurv writes, I do think he is right when he says that a gamer should purchase what he likes, and needs right now.
I'm not saying this to put off any of you out there producing stuff - I think you're all contributing to the worldwide gaming society in a great way, but there has to be some sort of demand/supply mechanism in this 'industry', too, and those of you wanting to make a fair living out of what most likely started out as a hobby simply HAVE to find a product selling enough to make further investments in your lines viable.
I also think that combining your own ranges with selling stuff from other companies - or keeping your 'normal' dayjob while searching for 'the vein' is a sound strategy (although the latter may take great tolls on your family life).
I do admire the resolve and courage of anyone trying to carve out his own business from scratch, something I would never dare (I have a university degree in languages, business economics, and international marketing, and I'm all too aware of the many snares and pitfalls associated with starting a business).
Plus, I DO think it's a good idea to put money aside to pay one's taxes, when you don't pay direct income tax (we do that in Denmark, and you rarely have any big surprises when it comes to that, but we do have something called B-income (small businessses on the side, or similar) that isn't deducted at the time of earning it, and we DO have to remember to save the taxes up for that...).