Traveller Miniatures?

[Andrew Boulton]

I always thought 6ft was the assumed height.

I never liked 15mm - too hard to paint, and not enough figures available. IMHO 25mm is the best all-round scale.

 

[aramis]

Given my druthers, I'd do 10mm or 15.

Specifically because they won't have the details, they are cheaper to ship, to make, and to base.

Of course, the last minis I purchased at all were 7mm (Warmaster)

Andrew: the US standard is for US Civil War and Napoleonics minis (the first mass produced ones for gaming in the US), and the average soldier was around 5'8" or so. US male average height is 5'8" to 5'10". Mini soldiers are supposed to be average height. 6' was fairly rare in the US Civil War (I've seen entire regiments with no man 6' or taller.

there is a lot of slop room, given that average male height varies by timeframe, ethnicity, and region. (Caucasian males in Alaska tend to be 1.5-2" taller than the US Average for caucasian men.)

I've seen 5'8", 5'9", and 5'10" cited as average man-heights on various manufacturers pages.

And, at 5'10", it makes 15mm on 1"=3m 1:1 ground:figure scale.

 

[siefertma2]

For me, my desire for Traveller miniatures, of just about any scale, comes not just from my desire to use them in Traveller-based games, but from a burning need for a line of quality "generic" science fiction miniatures. The trouble is science fiction role playing, believe it or not, are amoug the least popular gaming genres and those who do sci-fi game tend to only want to play in liscensed settings (e.g. Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5, SG-1, etc.). The reason you see so many fantasy figures is that elves, dragons, and trolls are pretty much public domain and more gamers want to muck around with swords and soccery than laser pistols and science. ("Science is too hard!")

Still, it would be nice for gamers to think of something other than "Warhammer 40K" (BLEECH!) when someone mentions Sci-Fi minis.

 

[marvo]

Originally posted by Mark A. Siefert:
For me, my desire for Traveller miniatures, of just about any scale, comes not just from my desire to use them in Traveller-based games, but from a burning need for a line of quality "generic" science fiction miniatures.

I know how you feel. I have been a Champions player for about 15 year and until HeroClix came along superheroic miniatures were very scarce. Some of the 'generic grunt' heroclix minis can be used for Traveller. Cut them off the bases, stick on regular bases and repaint a bit if necessary.

 

[Plankowner]

Not wanting to hijack this thread any more than I already have, I will post a listing of the 15mm miniatures that I have over in the Duty Free Shop area.

 

[GypsyComet]

The Megaminis releases include several ships and a pack of Droyne. BIG Droyne.

The Traveller Universe really supports three scales of conflict: RPG, Army actions, and Navy actions. RPGs seem to work best in 25-28mm, though 15mm also works, particularly for actions aboard ships. Army actions (as seen in Striker) really top out at 15mm, but could readily be done in 10mm or 6mm. Navy actions (spaceships) vary from "dueling lifeboats" up to the Happy Fun Ball (Tigress) and bigger.

Going backwards, I'm not really worried about ships, as the number of starship miniatures lines in production is, frankly, staggering.

Back to RPG scale, I can also scare up sufficiently generic SF types in 25-28mm to make my games work. I'd dearly LOVE to have a few more distinctly OTU minis in this scale range, but I can make do.

For military stuff, the prospects are rather bleak. Despite a surprisingly large body of 15mm SF out there, the potential of the scale is still barely being touched, Traveller or otherwise. There is also a fair bit of 6mm, and even 2mm, SF out there, but little of it is really applicable to Traveller.

 

[Baphomet69]

I've found that Ground Zero Games makes some decent generic sci-fi figures you can use with Traveller (many of them have the old Traveller look/feel to them - IMHO, of course). They also have 25mm and 15mm terrain, vehicles and buildings in resin. Not to mention they have entire fleets of ships; they seem to be about the same scale as the new Traveller ships coming out from AdAstra, and GZG are the ones that made Full Thrust (as well as Dirtside II and StarGrunt) in the first place.

Also, for ships interiors, HirstArts - a.k.a. CastleMolds makes a line of molds for sci-fi ships interiors in 25-28mm scale. True, you have to cast the bricks yourself in plaster, but it's not too hard, it's fun and his designs are great.

Just my 2 credits on the subject, though I too am DYING for a line of real, official Traveller miniatures. I'd love to see some company like Reaper get the license to produce these. If I ever hit the lottery, I think I'll buy the license and hire Reaper to produce a line of Traveller figures for us ...

 

[Border Reiver]

Just been to Ground Zero Games and discovered their UNSC Marine minis. They ARE Imperial Marines.

And there are loads of other cool minis too. All very Traveller or 2300.

 

[moxiefu]

Use Star Wars Minis

If you want to work with 28mm the Star Wars collectible minis are quite good. Many of the humans have a generic SF look to be usable for Traveller.

Even some of the aliens can pass for Traveller, such as using the Shistavanen Pirate and Defel Spy for Vargr. There are some Geonosans that make a passable Droyne. There is a D&D mini called a Catfolk that makes a good female Aslan.

If you don't want to go through eBay you can order the singles from Popularcollections.com or other companies that sell singles.

I also have taken Heroclix minis and cut down the base. They make great mooks and civilians.