How does one Make or Start a Minatures/Wargame?

[milostnik]

Hey everyone.

I have been a war-game enthusiast for years and keep having the fantasy to make one, but often sit down and think how to go about it.
I often write rulebooks and often don't have the miniatures to represent them properly.

How does one go about getting a sculptor to make miniatures for a miniatures game? Is it as simple as paying and telling the sculptor what I want, then they send out the moulds? How do you keep making the miniatures to keep up with supply and demand? How do you go about getting the game out there? Boxing the items? All of the usual things you have to worry about when making a miniatures or board game?

Any info would be much appreciated.

Kind regards

-A

[Lowtardog]

No expert but know people who have set it up.

You would need a scope of what you want sculpted, send ideas, pictures etc. They will give you a cost to sculpt

they send the green (original)

you need to get a mould made for master castings from which then another mould is made to run the sales figures from

so not quite so straight forward and you would often need a caster to produce the second part as sculptors may not cast.

Also bare in mind you may want to have 6 or more figures sculpted to fit on a mould otherwise you wont be getting value for money on castings.

I think once that big cost is out of the way they charge by lead for a "spin" of each mould in quantities. The masters are then used in the future for further casting moulds to be made as they wear out

[Conquistador]

Akula has done this several times (his SF miniatures for garrison troops are (reluctantly) in my to sell pile) but they are wonderful.  Maybe if you send him a PM he can point to to some FAQs/sources?

Gracias,

Glenn

[AndyW]

I would say how BIG do you want to try with it ? small scale and test the water or large scale and hit a particular market

Expect the unexpected, that's been my experience.

Having gone down that route myself i will pass along everything i have learned in the last couple of years.

Sculptors, Artists, Mouldmakers, it will take you time to find the right ones to work with and will be a process of trial and error. For example:

Artwork, say £ 50.00 per turn around image
Sculptor, say around £ 100.00 per miniature ( this WILL vary depending on who you actually manage to get who is interested )
MouldMakers and Master copies, say for a mould of around 15 28mm scale miniatures with around 10 Master copies £ 250.00 ish

Then you would of course have your sundries

Rulebooks, sheets, counters, etc: That's where you need to find a good printer and work out costings after having a small run done and worked with.

You may want to actually sit down and seriously consider just what YOU want from it, as at the end of the day that's the main thing, YOU have to be happy with it.

Plan for every problem, from the littlest to the biggest. You will have them.

You will encounter both heady highs and awful lows with your project but the trick is to roll with the ups and downs and know you are doing it for yourself.

If its something you've wanted to do for a while let NO one tell you you shouldn't do it. The only person who can tell you that is yourself.