Kobold Press » miniatures

Midgard RPG Miniatures: Q&A With Mick Leach

Wade Rockett — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 19:25:59 +0000

The Midgard RPG Miniatures Kickstarter is in its final week! Having raised more than $15,000 Eastern Front Studios will be producing astounding new miniatures based on the Midgard Campaign Setting, including the Grisal Dwarf, Raven Mage, Mharoti Emissary and many more. We invite you to back the campaign and get your hands on these cool minis.

Running a Kickstarter in its final days is busy work, but Eastern Front’s Mick Leach tore himself away from Kicktraq for a few minutes to give us an interview.

Q: How did Eastern Front find themselves collaborating with the Kobold King on a new line of cool miniatures for the Midgard Campaign Setting? Did you take a wrong turn down a fey road, or was it a more mundane partnership?

A: Some time ago in 2010, Wolfgang and I talked about the idea of doing miniatures. So it has been a long time coming, and the advent of Kickstarter gave this project a huge helping hand.

Q: Are there any Midgard minis that you have a particular fondness for? How about the fans — have they picked any favorites?

A:The aboleth has been hugely popular.

Q:Tell us a bit about your process, and what makes your minis outstanding.

A: We have several things that help make our minis outstanding! A big one is that we have a large amount of talented sculptors, great concept artists and 3d programers to help us create new Rapid Prototype miniatures.

Q:How did you get into designing and manufacturing miniatures?

A: Having always been a kid who played with army men, and later discovering Heritage Dungeon Dwellers, I was hooked on gaming miniatures before I even knew what gaming or D&D was. I started collecting tons of minis in the 80s and playing AD&D.

I eventually started painting minis while in the Army and found I was pretty good at it. I devoured a Mike McVey how-to small pamphlet until it was literally falling apart. When I left the Army 4 years later after the first Gulf War I returned home and started going to cons down South where I won quite a few contests.

My best friend’s sister was married to an ex-TSR vice president. He introduced me to Andy Chernak of Grenadier, who I first painted for. Later I would clean-sweep a contest at a con in South Carolina where Ral Partha attended. That was where I really got noticed and recognized a professional.

Through the 90′s I painted professionally for nearly every game company that was around back then: Ral Partha, HeartBreaker, Grenadier, ThunderBolt Mountain, Games Workshop, Reaper and GrimReaper, to name a few.

After doing that for a while I moved into doing 15mm full time. It wasn’t easy making it as a freelancer back then, before the Internet became widespread. You had to attend shows, make a lot of phone calls, and work hard to build word of mouth. But I stuck with it, and when the internet hit big, painters were suddenly in hot demand! So I continued painting minis and in 2002 I got the idea to do miniatures.

In 2003 I had the first miniatures for Eastern Front Studios out. But again, hard times came and minis and metal prices shot through the roof. To top it off sickness got the better of me, so I had to set EFS on the back burner for about 4 years.

So it’s come full circle for me, from loving minis as a kid, to painting, to production for myself, and now for others as Kickstarter has opened even more doors. Now we’re working with multiple talented people from other games and now even producing for them — such as Andy Hopp’s Low Life. So yeah, I live and breathe games and miniatures.

Q: If all the Midgard minis had a battle royale, which would be the first to fall, and which would be the last one standing?

A: Probably one of the kobolds. Or Baba Yaga’s Hut.

Fistful of Lead: Gelatinous Cubed

Scott Gable — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:12:23 +0000

Recently, I was bidding on an iconic monster mini on eBay when I came up with a homebrew alternative:

Ingredients

Knox gelatin
Cooking oil spray
Square mold
Victim miniature

Directions

Coat the inside of the mold lightly with cooking oil spray. This will aid in the extraction of the Monster later on. Add the gelatin to very hot water and mix thoroughly until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Insert the victim miniature and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours. When it has set, gently shake out of the mold and clean the vegetable oil off with a paper towel…

Now, this mini won’t last forever, but it should last for an entire gaming session.

Fistful of Lead: All the Monsters on a Budget

Scott Gable — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:12:53 +0000

Some gamers prefer to play using miniatures, but cost can be prohibitive. Not even hardcore collectors have every miniature they need. Including multiples, it’s easy to buy 800 miniatures at a cost of thousands of dollars and still not own the exact minis for every occasion.

There is, however, a way to own almost every miniature you’ll need for several years of play, and all for a modest outlay of around $100. Your players will thank you…

Substitution is your friend

The first secret of doing miniatures on the cheap is that from a distance, humans and elves look a lot alike. An unpainted orc will pass as an unpainted human bandit, town guard, bugbear, or tiefling cultist. A giant can stand in for an ogre as easily as a troll.

In other words, you don’t need to own one of everything, only close-enough substitutes. Miniatures can be repainted, redecorated, or left unpainted where necessary. To begin, then, a good base of general, broadly applicable miniatures is essential.

Your shopping list

55 Assorted Humanoids Although cheap generic minis are notoriously hard to find, wargaming manufacturer Caesar Miniatures sells a line of basic fantasy miniatures that covers all the basics. A set of 19 adventurers plus a set of 35 orcs or dwarves will cover you for a surprising amount of creatures.
Used for—PCs, NPCs, all humanoids, humanoid-form outsiders, lycanthropes, and some humanoid undead
Available from—Michigan Toy Soldier Co. (US), Hannants (UK and Europe)
Price—$23.98 / £9.76

37 Skeletons or Zombies Caesar Miniatures again sell a set of 37 skeleton minis.
Used for—Skeletons, zombies, humanoid-form undead, some demons and devils
Available from—Michigan Toy Soldier Co. (US), Hannants (UK and Europe)
Price—$11.99 / £4.88

12 Mounted Horsemen Again from Caesar Miniatures, a historically accurate Mediaeval Knights (Crusaders) set provides 12 horses with riders. The horses themselves can be used without the riders to represent any Large-size quadruped.
Used for—Mounted PCs, mounted NPCs, cavalry, horses, nightmares, wild animals, all Large quadrupeds including displacer beasts, hellcats, lamia and sphinxes
Available from—Michigan Toy Soldier Co. (US), Hannants (UK and Europe)
Price—$11.99 / £4.88

100 Dogs Twilight Creations produces a board game called Zombies!!!. The game has an expansion called Zombies!!! bag o’ Dogs!!!, which is literally just a bag of a hundred feral dog miniatures.
Used for—Dogs, rats, animal familiars, animal companion, any small or medium animal or quadruped
Available from—Warehouse 23 (US), Maddison Games (UK), but at time of writing both suppliers are out of stock.
Price—$10 / £7.50

30-60 Cheap Giants Where the official figurines run around $8 for a 2-inch giant mini, there’s a cheaper alternative. Mediaeval-style toy soldiers are available in huge bags that cost less than a single official mini.
Used for—Ogres, trolls, giants, golems, inevitables, minotaurs, Large humanoid undead
Available from—Toy suppliers, Amazon
Price—$8.99 / £4.99, or less

5 Demons/Devils Fiends are sufficiently monstrous to warrant their own minis. A careful selection might include two green slaad, two shadow demons, and a Pathfinder horned demon. You can omit these if you’re on a budget, but a change from painted army men is worth a small investment.
Used for—Demons, devils, fiends, slaad, trolls, incorporeal undead, minotaurs, gray renders.
Available from—Paizo.com, any D&D Miniatures singles supplier
Price—$32.95 / £28

10-12 Insects Toyshops sell 2-inch plastic spiders very cheaply, and applied to a base, these can make adequate miniatures.
Used for—Monstrous spiders, giant insects, driders, amorphous and tentacled creatures including otyughs, tendriculos, and chaos beasts.
Available from—Amazon
Price—$3.39 / £2.36

1 Huge Dragon Although most monsters can take substitutes, dragons should not be neglected. Own at least one dragon miniature of Huge size, which can be repainted as necessary. A kid’s toy of a dragon can work surprisingly well, but something like Paizo’s black dragon looks much more authentic. Figures sold as toys are a reasonable budget option for larger minis, as even an inexpensive 4-inch dragon model equates to D&D’s expensive Gargantuan size class.
Used for—Dragons, almost exclusively
Available from—Paizo.com
Price—$14.95 / £12

Miscellaneous Of the creatures not covered by this selection, it helps to get creative. Empty dice boxes are popular as gelatinous cubes that can “engulf” other minis, and small vines or plants can serve as treants or other plant creatures. Use rocks as earth elementals. Keep an eye out for inexpensive toys or other items that can serve as D&D miniatures. Buy or make a few extra mini bases to attach these to. As a last resort, paper miniatures will work for any monster you can find a picture of: simply print it out, fold it over, and attach it to a spare base.

What’s the total cost?
Total cost—$118.24 / £74.37
Total miniatures—266
Average price per mini—$0.44 / £0.28

If this still sounds expensive, see if your gaming group can go in on you with this. Split between five players, a group can have a functionally complete miniatures set for only $23.65 or £14.87 each—less than the price of a class splatbook.

Where to find cheap miniatures

UK-based company em4miniatures sells incredibly cheap unpainted orcs and dwarves, 20p each or £7.50 for fifty. You can also buy mini bases, including slotted bases suitable for paper miniatures.

Caesar Miniatures (see “humanoids,” above) also produces elves, goblins, and a handy array of historically accurate mediaeval, ancient, and modern miniatures.

German company Revell produces the Epixx Fantasy line of figurines, which includes some rather excellent looking dragons. At around 4 inches high on average, these make for fine Gargantuan D&D creatures, and they’re surprisingly well-painted. The only drawback is that with the exception of dragons, the figurines may be too large for D&D scale.

Lego produces a range of fantasy mediaeval men, including knights, horses, orcs, siege weaponry, dwarves, and skeletons. If you don’t mind using Lego in your D&D game, this may be an option.

Old board games such as Battle Masters are full of cheap unpainted minis. If you can find a copy on Ebay, a full set contains over a 100 minis, including infantry, cavalry, archers, orcs, goblins, beastmen, an ogre, and a cannon.

Stikfas figures stand around 3 inches, so they fit naturally as Huge giants such as titans. They’re available for about $5 each from the Stikfas website, and elsewhere.

Official D&D minis are reliable but expensive. They’re perfect for when you absolutely need a particular monster, but using these exclusively is impossible on a budget. Likewise, Warhammer minis cover the fantasy staples very well but are expensive. You can find both them on Paizo’s online minis store.

Appendix: Links

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Player: I get into flanking position with the bottle cap.
GM: Sure. The potted plant takes its attack of opportunity.
Player: Whuh?
GM: It has reach.
Player: Harsh.

Drop us a comment. We use them for minis in our koboldy games.