Hoosier Gamer Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Anyone know if there's a company making hero miniatures? I'm looking mostly for agents (Viper) and some generic hero & villain miniatures to paint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures Currently no official endorsed Hero Games miniatures. You're best using superfigs or heroclix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Arc Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I think there were some figures produced for Champions, about twenty years ago. I think Grenadier produced them. I'd check out e-bay, I've occassionally seen figures there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures Dang you. I wasn't even thinking about miniatures but after the initial post above I went to the superfigs site and found a whole bunch my FLGS never ordered. So now there's a pretty good load of minis coming my way. There are some robed guys who'll make good cultists/agents of DEMON. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spidey88 Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I've found Heroclix Hydra agents make excellent stand-ins for VIPER agents - VIPER is sort of an homage to organizations of that type, anyway. You should be able to get them for dirt cheap anywhere people trade the figures(they're not very powerful in Heroclix terms), and their uniforms are even the same color. The downside (or upside, depending on your point of view) is that they're already painted. If you are dead set on painting them yourself, there are ways to safely strip the paint (I've heard a half-and-half vinegar or Pine-sol solution for no more than an hour does the trick). There's enough variety in the figures that you should be able to find a few cheap figures that you can repaint in the same fashion. Guys like Doc Samson, Vance Astro, and many others are pretty unrecognizable as anyone in particular with no paint! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures The downside (or upside' date=' depending on your point of view) is that they're already painted. If you are dead set on painting them yourself, there are ways to safely strip the paint (I've [u']heard[/u] a half-and-half vinegar or Pine-sol solution for no more than an hour does the trick). I don't know what kind of paint they use, but the Pine-Sol trick doesn't work very well on Heroclix. Nor does brake fluid, vinegar, or even the mild paint-stripping solution that you can get at the model train store. The only thing I've found that works is Acetone, which is powerful stuff so you have to be careful. You can get acetone for cheap at the hardware store, in the painting department. Soak your figures for 20 seconds -- NO MORE! -- and then scrub them vigorously with a damp toothbrush. That'll take most of the paint off. If enough paint doesn't come off the first time, wait several hours and then do it again (DON'T do it again right away!). Also, you might want to wear rubber gloves when you do it. And make sure the room is well-ventilated. Trust me on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
input.jack Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures [shameless Plug] Or, if you want a ton of cardstock miniatures for about $15, click the link in my sig to IDA Games and look at the "Stand-Ins" line. The "Modern Day" set includes superheroes, civilians, and agents, and has about 150-200 figs in it! [/shameless Plug] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proditor Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I don't know what kind of paint they use, but the Pine-Sol trick doesn't work very well on Heroclix. Nor does brake fluid, vinegar, or even the mild paint-stripping solution that you can get at the model train store. The only thing I've found that works is Acetone, which is powerful stuff so you have to be careful. You can get acetone for cheap at the hardware store, in the painting department. Soak your figures for 20 seconds -- NO MORE! -- and then scrub them vigorously with a damp toothbrush. That'll take most of the paint off. If enough paint doesn't come off the first time, wait several hours and then do it again (DON'T do it again right away!). Also, you might want to wear rubber gloves when you do it. And make sure the room is well-ventilated. Trust me on this. Oh, I found something else to try for Clix. Badger Airbrush Cleaner. There's this guy that swears by it over here: http://www.ellsweb.com/faq/showquestion.asp?faq=5&fldAuto=14 (Near the bottom of the page, look for the pics of the AIM dude and the Super-Skrull) I bought some, and plan to give it a whirl once it arrives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I've used Acetone for my best result, but lately I've been having better luck just putting primer over the paint and ignoring paint-stripping. At least in my case they just look better that way (Probably because no matter how hard I'd scrub I'd never get all that paint off and it would look uneven in places). I've got a bin with a ridiculous number of clix in it. I don't even sort them by rarity anymore because i don't care; I'll get better use out of them as converted miniatures than as e-bay fodder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted February 21, 2007 Report Share Posted February 21, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I bought some' date=' and plan to give it a whirl once it arrives. [/quote'] Let us know how it works! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remjin Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I was going to say the same... why not just prime and paint over what's there? Unless you're using very thick paint, I don't much see the point of stripping them. They come barely painted as is, and if you wantedm you could just detail what's already there. Also, for aents of the occult, try Games Workshops's Necromunda line or their 40K line witchhunters, which has some stuff that may be appropriate. Silver Age Sentinels had a small line of miniatures out which aren't bad. The Superfigs sculpts are pretty bad, but lots of generic stuff there. Some of them are decent, though. Also try Lance and Laser miniatures, they have some decent ones. For power armor I recommend Infinity via http://www.corvusbelli.com, Starship troopers, and the aforementioned 40K by GW, all of differing styles. For more contemporary looks, some miniatures from Hasslefree might work, but a few are NSFW. There's also Eureka, for some variety, Copplestone Castings, and some others I can't remember off-handm When next I reply I'll provide some links and such. So someone reply to this so I remember to post it. I had a bunch of miniature places listed for an article I'm writing for rpg.net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I don't have anyplace to post my latest mods, so this looks good. They're all characters in my campaign but none are from the books. L-R: Couch Potato (PC), Unnamed Water girl (NPC), Unnamed Running Guy (NPC), Daughter of Darkness (PC). The two PCs are for the guy I play CoH/CoV with, and who is a member of my gaming group. The only base that's complete is the second one, with the water. Sometimes it's weeks afterwards before I get back to the bases. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proditor Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures VERY nice Blue! You're almost inspiing me to go back and finish my minis for my Champions group... Almost. CoH is a harsh mistress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoosier Gamer Posted February 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I've had to banish myself from ebay a few years ago. It was too addictive. I may have to summon my self restraint and see about getting back there to bid on some hero figs. [shameless Plug] Or' date=' if you want a ton of cardstock miniatures for about $15, click the link in my sig to IDA Games and look at the "Stand-Ins" line. The "Modern Day" set includes superheroes, civilians, and agents, and has about 150-200 figs in it! [/shameless Plug'] I might just do that! Sounds like a deal. Does this sell at hobby shops or is it only available online? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures VERY nice Blue! You're almost inspiing me to go back and finish my minis for my Champions group... Almost. CoH is a harsh mistress. Thanks! I know the feeling. Just got off of CoH 30 minutes ago. And the two PC's are actually adaptations of CoH characters that player has made for Champions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remjin Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniaturesOkay, those links I promised... well, they don't copy/paste here very well. Hmm... no time to edit it all, so I'll do it anyway for ya'll to extract as you please... these are for "non-mainstream," and hardly exhaustive...***********************Hasslefree Miniatures has modern, fantasy, sci-fi and a fair bit more. A very nice miniature company with only one sculptor who does it the classical way: building the bone structure, muscles, etc. on up until its a finished miniature. Corvus Belli for 15mm historical, Infinity science fiction miniatures, and Warcrow fantasy miniatures. Bronze Age Miniatures has sci-fi, fantasy, historical, and generics. The generics are base miniatures, posed and musculature added, which you can sculpt on to make into whatever you like. Eureka Miniatures has.. well, a large variety, to say the least. Worth looking at. Excalibur Miniatures, with a variety of figures. Wargames Foundry has a wide selection of many miniatures. Probably a good place to start for some of those hard to find genres and the like. The variety is quite broad. Black Scorpion Miniatures has Fantasy, U.S. Marines, Iraqi Militia, and their Tombstone line of Wild West stuff. Interesting company. Also a collectors series that is mostly just for modelers as they're in a larger scale. Heresy Miniatures has Fantasy, Deathball (like Bloodbowl, a fantasy football game), and some science fiction/modern miniatures. Shadowforge Miniatures is most distinct for having very few male figures and an anime/manga line. Honestly, not sure what to say about this one, its a bit of a weird set of miniatures. Superfigs is one of the few superhero dedicated miniatures lines. I actually have a miniature in their Customer Corner, named Inferno. Love them or hate them, its one of the few sets of miniatures explicitly for superhero gaming. Urban Mammoth, makers of VOID and Urban War has a good line of science fiction miniatures. Magnificent Egos is all fantasy. Mostly they pride themselves on character miniatures, so a good start, but they have some very interesting spell effect miniatures as well as an enormous dragon. Old Glory Miniatures has quite a few ranges. Be sure and check under the correct scale, 25mm, and you'll find a good variety of miniatures. Lance & Laser Miniatures and Models has a good variety of miniatures. They also have a line of superhero models in addition to the usual fantasy, science fiction, and some modern. East Riding Miniatures has a few different kinds of miniatures. Looks to be a very small company. Freebooter Miniatures doesn't have an extensive catalog but has quite a few interesting miniatures. Mostly fantasy, but a small selection of future miniatures. Copplestone Castings has a large variety of miniatures for fantasy, historical, science fiction and otherwise. Another good source for some alternate models, as there is a pretty good variety.************************Straight out of the article, no editing, sorry. =(For those interested in slightly more involved conversions, here's a page under construction (still trying to acquire some of the miniatures) for our Heroes 4 Hire game for miniatures showing some of the conversions as they are happening, here.Nothing big, mind, just a regular joe trying to do some custom stuff without wrecking the models too bad. =)BTW, Blue, I especially liked the water based character. The base and all that went together well and the flesh was very smoothly painted. Good job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teh bunneh Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures Nice job on that water base, Blue! Did you use green stuff? Shadowforge Miniatures is most distinct for having very few male figures and an anime/manga line. Honestly' date=' not sure what to say about this one, its a bit of a weird set of miniatures.[/quote'] I've got a few things from Shadowforge. One thing to note is that their anime line is rather a bit larger than 28mm -- more like... mmmm... maybe 40mm. Enormous, really. But their other lines (gladiator, fantasy, gridiron, and wild west) are all heroic 25mm scale, and some of the figures are quite beautiful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures Yes! And as I claim with nearly any picture I bother to post of a miniature, it looks WAY better in person. There's no depth and a kind of "blotchiness" to the photo that isn't there in person. I actually wanted to suspend her in water, but thought better of it. Though the figure was easy enough to do, I'm considering using a clear substance, like resin, and making a second one of her, adding a blue tint to the resin, and making the underwater version. But that's too much work for this week (I GM on Saturday again.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remjin Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures oh, here's a superfig I liked and painted.. Proditor has already seen this one. =) Nothing too fancy, attempted non-metallic metal on the buckle (didn't happen), and kept it simple otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
input.jack Posted February 22, 2007 Report Share Posted February 22, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures I might just do that! Sounds like a deal. Does this sell at hobby shops or is it only available online? Theyre only available online, Im afraid. The cost outlay of doing an actual print run, shipping, and distribution are just too high these days for a relatively small company like IDA. But I honestly think that, if you like cardboard minis (and I do), that youll be happy with them. There are over 250 black and white figures, that you can color and alter in photoshop if youd like or do a custom color job using colored pencils or colored pens. There are also 77 bonus color figures included, besides. Just print them out on white cardstock (I use Kinko's EC2 cardstock), cut them out and tape them up, and theyre good to go! Print up as many of whatever you need as youd like These are, incedentally, the figures my gaming group uses. My roomate Jacob Blackmon (aka Prodigy Duck) and I had been making them for our own use for several years, and an old friend in the gaming industry (Owen K.C. Stephens, whom Ive known since he was in high school) set up a deal with IDAdventures to get them out to the masses. Theyre so cheap because...well...wed already done all the work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remjin Posted February 27, 2007 Report Share Posted February 27, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures My first article on rpg.net about this subject, part of a column, Roleplaying in Miniature: http://www.rpg.net/columns/roleplayinginminiature/roleplayinginminiature1.phtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
input.jack Posted February 28, 2007 Report Share Posted February 28, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures My first article on rpg.net about this subject, part of a column, Roleplaying in Miniature: http://www.rpg.net/columns/roleplayinginminiature/roleplayinginminiature1.phtml Man....we didnt even get a mention.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remjin Posted February 28, 2007 Report Share Posted February 28, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures Well, firstly I didn't know about your paper miniatures until recently, after I wrote it... second, its about building and painting miniatures, and I don't count paper stand-ins as miniatures. However, to be complete and try to give options, I'll be sure to include them as an alternative in a future article where I'll be talking about more things to represent various items on the table. Could you shoot me an email or pm with the link? That way I won't lose it. I'm currently writing article 4, about drybrushing and washing, and the next article or two on other painting methods. By article 8 or so I'll be talking about set pieces and such, and I'll include you with those. Not trying to disrespect you, just trying to keep things prooerly organized and not confuse anyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remjin Posted February 28, 2007 Report Share Posted February 28, 2007 Re: Hero miniatures Wow, I need to look more carefully.. its in your freakin' sig... d'oh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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