Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Pikes, Muskets and Flouncy Shirts => Topic started by: Elbows on May 12, 2012, 01:04:29 AM
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So...
(warning: sob story ahead).
I love Black Scorpion miniatures. I have just about their entire Old West range, and run convention games with them. Truly fantastic sculpts, and really fit my flavour (I like a dramatic, slightly gritty appearance). Well, having moved on to a heavily modified version of LOTHS, I picked up a slew of BS miniatures...albeit now in resin. They're horrible. Now, BS assures me they're replacing their resin machines, etc., and perhaps I got a bad batch - but I doubt I'll be buying from them anymore.
Soooo...while I'll be using some of my salvaged BS resin Pirates, where else can I get good quality miniatures like that? Most of the other lines I see are a bit "pulpy" if that makes sense. I love the look of conquest miniatures, and may grab some of their FIW minis to stand in, but what are my other options for pirates? I've started kitbashing some wargames factory plastic WSS infantry and cavalry, but that only yields a small number of possibilities.
The scales don't have to match - I know BS miniatures tend to outsize just about everybody by a small bit. I looked a few pages and didn't see a thread detailing the ranges available. Please help me out. I am playing in 28mm.
Thanks guys.
I'm really ware of Black Scorpion, and Foundry.
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http://www.frothersunite.com/files/wk/sc/pirates/pirates1/pirates.htm
This is a bit out of date, but otherwise a good place to start.
I used Warmachine pirates, Foundry, Games Workshop Free Company, Black Cat Bases, Black Scorpion, Freebooter, Reaper, and possibly some others I can't remember right this moment.
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Thanks, that's a good bit of help. Sad to see there aren't too many which appeal to me. I may have to come up with some more fancy kit-bashing.
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I wonder how many customers Black Scorpion have lost by the switch to resin.
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To Black Scorpion's credit - the batch I got were quite bad. When I emailed them, they offered to replace some. I had already invested a lot of time in the "fixing" of the miniatures. Adam will be sending me a small sample pack when their new resin machine gets up and running. I'm not a fan of resin in general, but Black Scorpion is my favorite miniatures designer.
The miniatures are simply too frail for heavy use. Some of mine showed up with cracks in the resin, air pockets, and some metal guides showing through. I have faith they'll sort it out - but as long as they're resin, I think I'm done as a customer.
That sucks, but I'm glad I got all of my Cowboys before they switched. I do think resin is fine (and great on occasion) if you're looking to spend an hour or two filing, green-stuffing, and then painting it for a painting competition. It just serves no place on a genuine gaming table. Like I mentioned previously, I run convention games - which means people (and sometimes, idiots) of all ages handling and playing with the miniatures. I have doubts my BS Pirates will make it one game without swords and limbs snapping off.
In the end though, its their decision, so I can't fault them. I'm just sad to see my favorite designs change - and as it stands now, I won't be giving them any more business. If anyone is reading this and has some Black Scorpion metal pirates, let me know - I'll gladly pay good money for them. I love LOVE the four metal ones I did receive.
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If you are really a fan of Black Scorpion I suggest contacting various retailers and seeing if they have metal stock left. That's what I did recently when looking for figures for my LPL entry.
Of course there is always eBay and the forum market places as well.
I fully agree with you on Resin...not for me.
Cheers
Blue
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^Already started the slow crawl, looking for them. I even told Adam at BS that I'd gladly pony up for any mini's they found laying around, unpackaged, mixed sets etc...no luck!
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Try contacting Nick at Northstar.
He often has odd bits and pieces and if you're lucky might have some old BS metals.
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My collection is made up largely of Foundry and Old Glory. While Old Glory lacks the star quality of of other lines, I think they did a wonderful job with their Pirates particularly the Pirate Captains, and the specialty packs such as Pirate Looters, the Pirate Rowboat, Pirate buried treasure party and the Fat Governor. Take a look at www.oldgloryminiatures.com/products.asp?cat=208
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I had looked at Old Glory previously, but simply can't see enough in their pictures online -- also they state they're 25mm, which concerns me a bit. How do they scale up to average 28mm? (I know BS are bigger than most).
They have some good looking stuff, but I can't see much in their online photos....anyone have a bunch of them painted?
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Our Brigade Games range
http://www.brigadegames.com/Buccaneers-Pirates-Privateers_c_205.html (http://www.brigadegames.com/Buccaneers-Pirates-Privateers_c_205.html)
Here is a picture of the BPP003 pack painted
(http://www.brigadegames.com/assets/images/BrigadeGames/BG-BPP003_lg_p.jpg)
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For a few painted painted pirates from both Old Glory and Black Cat Bases click on the first group picture at www.witchhunter.net/gallery_pirates_mix.html
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Sorry no need to click on group pic, the web address takes you right there.
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I am also a fan of Old Glory, for price and extensiveness of the range. They are't for everyone, though.
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Thanks for the links. I like some of those - the only problem is that most of the ranges look to match each other pretty well - but none have a look like Black Scorpion, which makes it a pain for me. All of the other sculpting lines have a slight comical/skewed look to them --- and thus they all go together quite nicely from the look of things. I may order up some Conquest or Galloping Major FIW models to try to fill some gaps.
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Not tempted by Pirettes?
http://www.markusrothkranz.com/pirettes/pirettes_video2.html (http://www.markusrothkranz.com/pirettes/pirettes_video2.html)
Close to 30 manufacturers do such, some offering only 1 or 2 characters (sometimes oddly hidden, such as Copplestone 'Duellist' in the Cobalt-1 SciFi range), while Eureka and Bronze Age at least have a dozen each.
For individual characters, as for totally irregular bodies, the flagrant differences between miniatures ranges are a plus.
Tabletop units must 'show' their nature: thus, a regular close order regiment has to look as if ready for a 'clones war'. Even if representing the same historical unit at the same nominal scale, figurines from different sculptors show differences, not only in the rendition of the human body, but in the size and details of hats, of weapons... Thus, miniatures from any other manufacturer can be included only for 'special characters', mounted officer, drummer &c. On the opposite, a fully irregular bunch has to appear as an aggregate of individuals, all as different as possible. Here clothes and weapons are personal issue, thus variations are *expected*; people vary widely in height (there would be a difference of # 2.5mm between '28mm' miniatures of Sarah Shahi and Sigourney Weaver) and bulk (compare Kate Moss with Pamela Anderson) :D. In this case the wide differences of style and interpretation of 'scale' between manufacturers are precious; so much the more as one can easily gain (or lose http://adventures-in-the-indies.blogspot.com/2011/07/caribbean-few-pirates-more.html (http://adventures-in-the-indies.blogspot.com/2011/07/caribbean-few-pirates-more.html)) ± 1.5mm by playing with the thickness of the bases (variations of bases thickness are obvious when the minis are in a display case, but disappear on a playing surface). Thus any figurines within the 25<->30mm or 28<->33mm ranges are fully compatible. Even more, indeed: an old French sailors song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hX8YDNUVSs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hX8YDNUVSs) (telling a Jackaroe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAu4dbW4BE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyAu4dbW4BE) -like story) states that a girl was barely 15 when she dressed as a man and joined a ship crew: thus a few members of a totally irregular warband / ship crew, or of a collection of individuals, may still have to grow; on the other hand, people taller than Sigourney Weaver by 8 inches or more *do* exist.
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Don't forget Artizan Designs and Crusader Miniatures have small ranges also for pirates.
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Yeah, I like a couple of the Artizan figures, and Eureka has a couple I could get along with as well.
Thanks for all of the info. Looks like I can stick together a bunch of random figures I like, and see what happens (honestly I have 30 BS right now, so I only need another 10-15-20). Maybe I'll use metals to build a Convention set of models, and keep the frail BS models stuffed away for personal gaming.
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We should probably create a sticky for this very thing. I would love to include picture though of some of our very own models as well as the manufacture list. I would also include intended or "closest" scale.
Thoughts?
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Update: To my surprise I received an email from Black Scorpion miniatures - they're shipping me a sample of their "new" resin pirates/etc. I'm happy to see I was not forgotten (this was months ago).
I'll post impressions when they show up.